The International Makeup Artist Trade Show was originally created for professional makeup artists.  With that said, there were some vendors at IMATS that sold products that..  well, we’ll just say aren’t appropriate for day-to-day situations.

I saw a lot of interesting booths that cater to the special effects side of of the makeup biz, from body art to gruesome and life-like creatures from another world.

At the event, I saw some artists working on body painting .  I must say, it’s pretty amazing to see what can be done with it. Grex, an airbrush body painting company, was making the man above look very contoured and muscular. The overall look had a sculptural, hard superhero effect.  Grex even attached the white Mohawk to the guy’s head!

Most booths used the airbrushing technique to body paint and then used small brushes for more detailed work.  They can also use stencils to apply small appliqués like flowers or dots.  At the Grex booth, they were selling all the products you might need to start body painting. Although body painting is not for the average consumer, you can purchase an air brush for flawless coverage, and use it for some simple body painting on Halloween!

Special effects makeup is a type of cosmetics makeup artists use in movies, fashion, theatrical productions, and other industry jobs. These are definitely not for play since many of the materials used are industrial strength to look authentic. The above dummy is covered in layers of silicone, rubber, and special makeup. It looks real to me!

Here are examples of special effects makeup and masks from movies like Star Trek. They are gruesome in real life, but a picture’s worth a thousand words! It truly takes skill and time to create such realistic masks and such.

Dinar’s Stencil Catalog sells stencils, supplies, and tools and is more consumer friendly than the body painting and special effects booths. Their products can be used for tattoos, face painting, and even eye makeup!

Would you ever consider purchasing a kit of Body Painting, Special Effects Makeup, or Stencil Art? Or even going to school for this kind of cosmetics work?

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