Most face painters have heard of Marcela Bustamante. Her elegant, flowing designs and crisp teardrops are an inspiration to artistry and excellence, and most face painters long to emulate them. I hope you enjoy this simple design inspired by her style.
Materials
• Diamond FX white
• Paradise light blue face paint
• TAG pearl sky blue face paint
• Captain Obvious or Monsoon small split cakes
• Sponge
• 3/4-inch flat brush
• #5 round brush
• #2 round brush
• Cosmetic glitter
• Liquid bling
• Gems or gem clusters
Tutorial
Begin by sponging Paradise light blue and TAG pearl sky blue over the eyes and lower forehead area to create a base. Add cosmetic glitter.
Load your 3/4-inch brush from a matching small split cake such as Diamond FX’s Monsoon (a personal favorite) or Captain Obvious. Make a shell shape in the center of the forhead, and add some careful shapes over the eyebrows that point toward the center focal point below the shell shape.
Use a wet brush to clean a spot below the shell shape where you will place your bling cluster or gems. Apply a skin-safe adhesive, and allow it to become a little tacky before you apply your gems.
Once the gems are in place, consider where you’ll place teardrops.
Add teardrops above and below the gem cluster as well as at the corners of the eyes and over the eyebrows.
Marcela is known primarily for her lovely swirls, so I included two of these on either side of the center focal point. Don’t feel that they must be symmetrical.
For added delicacy, add a slender outline around your teardrops as well as dots and starbursts throughout the design. Small details like this add visual interest and value to any mask design.
Run a line of liquid bling around the top and side teardrops as well as along some of the longer teardrops.
In this case the model specifically chose a blue color scheme, but this design can be adapted to any color scheme. Choose the colors you feel will work best on your model. I hope you enjoy making gorgeous masks with this tutorial.
Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary face painter for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. She also writes tutorials for Facepaint.com and articles for Examiner.com as the Chicago Face Painting Examiner.