Claudia's Makeup in a Zombie Apocalypse

As part of Claudia's character profile, whilst growing up she became obsessed with horror movies and bases her style of women in horror she is infatuated with at the time. I want to base her look around the classic 'Film Noir' look, a Femme Fatale. After research Rita Hayworth in Guilda, I wanted to base her look loosely around her dark eyes and sultry eyes and bold lips. My favourite aspect of the look is how her false lashes form a dark shadow on her eyelids, adding to the sensual look. However, of course, in a zombie apocalypse makeup products no longer exist. In the role of the makeup designer, I need to visualise and design a look that would be achievable and realistic in the apocalyptic world with the resources Claudia could get hold of.

Claudia's Ideal Look

In a non-apocalyptic world.

Dark, glossy and smoked eyes with a bold red lip

This look cannot be achieved in this world and would not be appropriate for me to design for The Walking Dead. However, I still want Claudia to have some essence of this look to give her a signal to the audience of who she is - like other villains may have a scar or an eye-patch. Interestingly, after watching Mad Max recently I research how the makeup looks were achieved. Specifically, Furiosa from the movie has an oil-like war paint across the top part of her face. Mad Max is also an apocalyptic story. Makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt explained to the New York times how they went about designing a suitable style. 

“We had to find a way to tie that makeup into the story. We thought, these people had nothing but the materials around them, which would have been grease from the mechanical stuff they were building or clay from the ground.” So she used black makeup mixed with some pigment highlights. When Furiosa grabs a wad off her rig’s steering wheel to reapply it, “it was like she was putting on her war paint.”

(Harris, 2016)

The idea of using resources such as grease and clay inspired me to re-create this. At the end of the world, the use of cars is scarce and they would be scattered all around the place so grease would be easily found. In my story, after requesting her 'slave' Mrs Laderman to collect it whilst getting her human victims, Claudia will keep a stash of grease after discovering its effect in her flat to uphold her look. For the lips, as she is devouring human flesh I will make her lips look blood stained - a similar blood red to the woman she idolises would wear. Making each of these aspects realistic will make my character more believable and will allow her to fit into the world of the Walking Dead better with a twist on her look to keep her original.

Following Lesley's techniques, I will
try out a combination of products
to achieve the same affect as
grease (as obviously this can't be
used on my model's eyes!).

Again, for this aspect of the look I will create my own fake blood to make sure it is edible as it will be on the lips! It will also be interesting to have it in or coming out of the mouth.

References:

• Rachel Lee Harris. (2016). Behind the Makeup and Costumes of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. [27^th March] Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/movies/mad-max-fury-road-and-the-furiosa-factor.html?_r=0