Phoebe Roberts

Had a second crack at my Crow makeup! I think I made a real stride forward.

This time I remembered to prime my skin first, the way I did for my Death makeup, and it made a big difference. I used Nivea Men’s Post-Shave Balm, which is a great cheap primer for full-face makeup. I also made more of an effort to “pat” the greasepaint over my skin with the sponge rather than drag it. These combined to make a much more even white expanse, unlike the streaky, uneven version from last time.

It had the effect of being kind of aging, emphasizing my eye bags, rather than the smooth, less patchy result I got this time. I also took the picture in better natural lighting this time, which likely helped.

That was the biggest difference. But I also used better products this time. I bought black and white eyeshadow, as well as an actual black lipstick. They’re just Nyx brand, not super high quality, but okay. I attempted to highlight with the white, but it didn’t make much difference, so I then switched to trying to use it as powder to set the greasepaint. I also contoured with a much lighter hand, and even though it doesn’t blend with the greasepaint very well, I think I achieved more of a carving effect, rather than just making dark places on my white mask.

The last thing I did was take a little more care about my eyeshadow. I filled in the entire expanse from my lid to my brow bone– which is not much, since I have Cara Delevigne-style heavy, low-set eyebrows –but with a careful angle from corner of my eye to end of my brow. I also didn’t go too close to the insides of my eye, or too far below it, which I think makes things look neater and brighter.

It’s certainly not perfect. My eye and mouth spikes are still a little sloppy and not as opaque as I’d like. I should probably just use liquid eyeliner for that rather than pencil. I also notice there’s a spot in my hairline that’s still noticeably pink. And I’m just so damn sloppy when it comes to applying lip color. But overall, I’m really happy with this improvement. Not only do I think it looks closer to the Brandon Lee original, I think I look prettier in it. Never going to get mad at that!