Spotlight...Audrey Watson
Chicago-area dancers are thanking their lucky stars for makeup pro Audrey Watson. Audrey teaches Russian Pointe Dance Boutique customers how to use professional stage makeup (the Boutique carries Ben Nye and Kryolan), and is also available for special seminars (such as one last summer for students at Ballet Chicago).
In the Boutique, she spends "from five minutes to two hours" with individual customers, to make sure that they are totally comfortable with using the makeup. Some are familiar with stage makeup and just need help choosing colors, but others are novices and need instruction and reassurance. "Dancers are sometimes afraid they won't put it on properly, or they see how it looks close-up and think they will look like clowns on stage," she says.
One technique Audrey uses is to make up one side of the face, and then have the customer try to match it on the other side. To help customers understand that stage makeup has to be much stronger than street makeup, she encourages them to step back from the mirror to get a better sense of how the makeup will look from a distance, and reminds them of the effects of harsh stage lighting.
Every face is different, so that general instructions can't match the individualized advice and techniques that Audrey provides for Boutique customers. She does offer some tips that apply broadly, however.
For example, she recommends that all dancers use bright red lipstick, whether or not it is their preferred shade for everyday wear. "If it's not bright red, the lips will disappear under harsh lighting," she cautions. For dance, she recommends using lipstick only on the natural lip, unless the lips are "super, super thin. For theater, if you are going for a different look, you can do different things" with lipstick, she adds.
The eyes are very individual, so that Audrey carefully assesses each face before making recommendations about color, shade and placement of makeup. For those whose eyes are deep-set or small, she emphasizes the importance of highlighting under the brows. "It will accentuate the arch and make your eyes look more open," she explains. Some dancers may benefit from using light colors on the eyelid itself. "It reflects the light and makes the eye look bigger," she says. "Any place you put dark color, it will recede – it will look deeper."
It's important to remember that stage makeup, like Ben Nye and Kryolan, is different from everyday makeup. "It's very highly pigmented," Audrey explains, "and the color is a little more true. [To get a similar effect] with over the counter products, you might have to put on several coats. [Stage makeup] also stays on really well, and is designed to be sweat-proof, which is really important under stage lights." She adds that a lot of the makeup she sells is suitable for everyday wear "if you put it on lightly. I wouldn't recommend wearing the foundations, which are quite thick, but the eye-shadows are suitable and stay on really well."
Audrey was always interested in art and history, became fascinated with theater during high school and studied costuming and makeup as a theater major in college. "I always liked costumes, including historical costumes, and I could sew," she says of the impetus for her earliest theatrical work. Makeup is an integral part of costuming, she explains, and her long-time interest in creating visual art came into play. "Makeup is very interesting, very hands-on and a lot like painting - I really liked that," she says.
With a bachelor's degree from Purdue University, Audrey has presented her theatrical work at the 2005 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (as a Regional Finalist), and worked as a costuming intern with Walt Disney World Resorts and the Texas Shakespeare Festival before joining Russian Pointe last year.
