Queen Amidala make up tutorial

One of the most distinguishing features of Queen Amidala is her make up. When I wear my Amidala I'm pretty sure that people don't recognize the costume, but they do recognize the face and understand that it has something to do with Star Wars. Through the years I've come up with a way that is actually pretty quick in achieving the look that I want.

First some background though. On Padawan's guide you can read this about the make up used for Amidala during Episode 1.

The Queen's makeup was designed with a Japanese Kabuki style. For the porcelain white base color makeup artist Paul Engelen used RCMA Ivory (He found clown white was too bright and made the eyes look red). The powder applied after the ivory base was Channel 01 Aube Power Lumiere PressÈ. The circles on either cheek were done with red "lake" lip pencil. This same color was used on her top lip and the center section of her lower lip. Nars "Fire Down Below" is the brand and exact color. A white base color was used on either side of the red mark on the bottom lip. Other makeup used included Lancome Elancil black mascara and Givenchy Prizm Topaz (eyeliner?). The eyebrows were sculpted in brown/black.

Now of course it's not just go out to hunt for the make up listed above and start applying it, because if you look at Amidala in her different costumes it's clear that the make up isn't the same on all her costumes.

 In her most iconic red dress you definitely have the porcelain white face.

In her travel gown, the one I've made, her face is not as bright white and her skins shows through a bit.

In her parade gown at the end of the film she uses even less make up, in fact I think the advice for this to go rather for a very pale foundation rather than applying white make up.

Now I'm doing the make up that's inbetween the porcelain-doll look and just the pale face. For make up I'm using things that I've picked up in different make up stores, hobby stores and party stores. I don't think the specific brand names are really important, since most brands carry similar products.

The first thing I do is to apply a layer of foundation primer. This is just to even out my skin, and protect it from the coming layers of make up . Then I apply white eyeshadow around the eyes, both above and under, and along the sides of the nose. I've learned that those places are hard to get fully covered otherwise.

As you can see I have also attached the hairbuns that will keep the veil in the right shape. This was actually an experiment, since I've gotten headaches from my previous hairpiece. This time I tried to just pin two foam donuts in shape, and it worked. No headaches at all. They were a bit too big, but now when I know that they can work I will create something more proportional, and attach combs to them instead of just pinning them on.


Anyway, the next step is to to apply the base layer of white make up. I'm using Kryolan aquacolor, meaning that it's water soluble and is applied with a sponge. The trick is to put it on smoothly, the worst that can happen is that the sponge is wet enough to leave a mark, I've found it's almost impossible to blend and smooth out such an edge. For that reason I'm using as little water as possible on the sponge and goes all over the face dabbing it lightly on.

The next step is to finish the eyes. I'm using black cake eyeliner and black mascara for the eyes and a darkbrown eyebrow shadow.

After that I use a cream white clown make up on the lips. The clown make up stays on a lot better on the lips than the cake make up. It's quite thick though so I only try to put very little on. For the clown make up I'm using my fingers to apply it. From the lips I work very think layers of clown make up onto the face, to blend the line between the lips and the rest of the make up, and also to sculpt the face a bit. I try to put a bit more on the cheeks for example. If there are any spots that are uneven I also work with my fingers to mask them. I finish everything by powdering baby powder all over the face to make the white make up set.

Then comes the tricky part, the part that I love to have help with, but I mostly need to make do on my own. It's the red dots on the cheeks. For this I'm using Lumene Lingonberry Lip Lacquer, and this is the only place where I really recommend a certain brand. When this one runs out I'm going to have a hard time finding anything like it. It's quite wet and shiny, and the applicator is round. That means that I only have to put it straight on, and I get a nice circle. In order to aim I try to just look straight ahead in the mirror and put it under my pupil. This is tricky, especially when you need to get another dot on the same level on the other side of the nose. I love it if I have somebody else around to help me. I have a tendency to make my dots a tiny bit too small, but I rather have two small but uniform dots than if I have to keep adjusting them, by making them bigger. Trying to remove the dots inevitable needs to the whole makeup disappearing and I have to start over with the white make up.

Then I go and put the rest of the costume on, leaving the lips until the very last thing I do.

I think this picture of me attacking an unsuspecting AT-ST driver is probably the best close up of the make up, at this time it had been worn for 1,5-2 hours. You can see that the upper lip has rubbed off on the lower lip, but otherwise it's holding up.

 This photo of me posing with a jawa was taken at the same time and shows the whole face, and that the buns are too high on the head..