The Biggest Challenge Doing the Makeup For Mary, Queen of Scots
As you might imagine, working on a film set in the 1500s — when there aren't many photo references available online — you have to get creative in your research. . . and do a little travelling to museums for inspiration. "You have to study portraits and go to art galleries to see them for real," Shircore said. "You go to art galleries or the old grand houses all over the place here in the UK. There you can see that the women were painted with white faces and rouged cheeks."
Then, of course, came actually recreating the looks, of which you must maintain the period. "That was the biggest challenge — not letting it become modern," she said. "For example, you could be so tempted to use eyeliner and mascara because we're so used to that pretty definition, but you have to resist that because otherwise you just don't get the period feel. You've got to resist putting that red lipstick on. You couldn't use what they used back then because it was full of lead and mercury, but you can crush up pigment to make a blusher, and use soft grease for eyebrows."