How To: Stage Make-Up Edition

We created a video with Professional Make Up Artist & Bikini Competitor Nicole Pucillo (IG: @motivationalmakeup), who talks about the Do’s & Don’ts of Stage Makeup!

Watch the full video here! 

As a company, we are focused on perfecting your entire stage look. We recognize that the cost of competing is very expensive. While getting your makeup professionally done is always an option, many choose to do their own makeup! This video was specifically recorded for the bodybuilding stage. Nicole is a bikini competitor herself and has been doing/teaching makeup for 10+ years. It is very important to realize that your stage makeup will differ greatly from your day to day makeup. This video highlights how you should do your makeup differently for the stage and what you should avoid.

Starting off, skin care is very important when doing your makeup for a special occasion, like a bodybuilding competition. It is crucial to exfoliate your face before applying your show day makeup so that you are starting with a fresh, clean face. Next, the eyebrows: Nicole states that the point of filling in your brows is to draw attention to your beautiful eyes, instead of your actual eyebrows. Eyeshadow talk: should you match your eyeshadow to your suit? No, you don’t want to do that. Tacky. Think about the color of your eyes and something that compliments your suit, instead of matching your suit color. The goal is to look beautiful overall and not look like you are in a costume!

Nicole recommends a high-definition, medium-full coverage, buildable, non-transferable foundation that won’t have any flashback. A foundation that has these qualities is made for long wear, as we know competition day is a super long day and can get hot! You want it to be a shade or two lighter than your body. Aka: DON’T match your face to your tan! Also, it is important to have a few different foundation shades on hand, but stick to warmer tones to avoid looking gray/ashy with the color of your tan.

Something to note: avoid using a lot of highlighters. Because of the hot stage lights and the long days, the glow of the highlighters could make you look greasy on stage. For this look in the video, Nicole actually used concealer to highlight and create dimension, so that it stays matte with the rest of the face. Blush..a must! Up close, the blush might look a little much, but from far away when you’re on stage, it will be just right, to give you some life and that pop of color. Tip: match the blush and lip together for that pop. Amp up the blush and lip color because what you see on and off stage are completely different!

Once the overall look was complete, Nicole used a translucent setting powder underneath the eyes and rest of the face. She highly, highly recommends a setting spray! The one she used in this video was: “Urban Decay All-Nighter”. This step is also crucial to keep everything in place. Don’t forget to Prime & Set.

We hope this was helpful to you if you are choosing to do your own stage makeup!!