Now notice the woman just beyond with her high-bred aristocratic face. The "executive" nose, with its delicate arch, are especially indicative of her character. The eyebrows likewise are arched, over a full forehead; very imaginative. The eyes, slightly veiled in their expression, show her to be plunged in deep and somewhat troubled thought. Her eyes are veiled because she does not see clearly a way out of her problem, but that way out will be, we are sure, something noble. Her problem is not so exclusively an intellectual one as that of the man we mentioned: it must be some economic or philanthropical question—her chin is finely chiselled and held with exquisite poise, strong and at the same time delicate. Her complexion has the "pale cast of thought", but is not unhealthy however. The flesh lies easily upon its firm base. It will never warp into deep furrows. See, now she has solved or put aside her problem, for a moment, and her eyes are open and clear, and her smile, as she recognizes a friend, is engaging and unaffected. Her sympathies are less personal, more detached, but none the less real, than other women's.
And now see this man who has just entered. He, too, is an aristocrat, but as he turns, we can observe that there is a one-sided twist to his face. The bone formation in his face is similar to that of the woman's, but his expression is exaggerated by a muscular habit of the mouth, possibly occasioned by the loss of teeth. His eyes are open, but they express impassive coldness. He has taken life with a sneer. His brows are not arched, although one of them is artificially raised: the result, undoubtedly, of boredom.
Habitual good-humor ages the face in a pleasant manner. It is the only thing that never grows old: do you remember what genial sparkling eyes Joseph Jefferson and Mark Twain had?
Bearing in mind these summary character studies, let us turn to the more practical side of make-up:
Regarding straight make-up—i.e. make-up which is designed to offset the glare of the lights—it can safely be asserted that most professionals make-up too heavily. This is partially due to the fact that the lights in the dressing-room are seldom of like intensity or kind as those on the stage. Billie Burke and Blanche Ring occur to us as having achieved happy results in making-up, the former with a rose-bud prettiness of white and pink, the latter by using so little color and blending that little so well that it is scarcely perceivable. Both these actresses use very little rouge on the upper eyelids, an excess of which is one of the commonest faults. The only purpose it can serve is to soften the upward and whitening glare of the footlights. The skilful use of rouge is the most important and least understood of all the numerous elements of this art. First as to shade, most of the rouge used is blue. It does not blend with most powders, but produces a hard contrast, and appears unnatural. The placing of the rouge, too, is very important in obviating natural defects of proportion in the features, which distances always intensify. Any spot left white is projected as if with a high-light. If the nose is too wide, it can be narrowed by shading the rouge up to its center line. If it is too prominent, it will be less apparent if shaded slightly all over. The same rule applies to the chin, the jaw, the ears, and the forehead. Some people lay in a general foundation of grease rouge before putting anything else on, but this is likely to give a muddy effect. If used only on the cheeks, with the dry rouge over all for shading, the effect is far more natural. Some also lay in a foundation of pink paste—called "Exora"—but the result is nearly always pasty, and should never be used except to cover some blotchiness. The lighter the make-up, the greater opportunity will there be for mobility of expression.
The same moderation should be exercised in making up the eyes and mouth. Brown on the lashes and eyebrows is softer than black, especially for blondes. Heavy black leading above and below, accentuated by broad shadows on the lids of dark blue, make them look like burnt holes a short distance away. Few eyes are large enough to stand it, and those that are, do not require it. A little light or dark blue close to the lashes of the upper lid is necessary, but very few eyes need any make-up at all on the lower lid, except a faint shadow, perhaps, of light blue. A little dab of lip rouge in the inner corners of the eye adds an effect of brilliancy. If the eye itself slants, it can be straightened by a line of brown or black, drawn in the opposite direction, and beginning just inside the outer corners. The line of the upper lids and the eyebrows should be extended in almost every case, to give an effect of breadth to the eyes.
If the face needs lengthening and the eyebrows are not too heavy, they can be covered with flesh-colored grease paint, and another pair painted above them. There is danger in this, however, of opening the frame of the eyes too much and giving them a foolish expression. The arched brow tends to elongate, the level, broad effect to shorten, the face.
The mouth also needs careful treatment. As to color: the dark red rouge so often used gives the appearance of a bloody gash. The English hunting red, a sort of bluish vermilion, is best, because most natural. Only the very smallest mouths can stand being made up to the corners, because in smiling, the mouth stretches, and will look too large if deeply colored all the way across.
A line of white grease paint drawn down the bridge of the nose will straighten it; or, if it be too small, lengthen it. The nose may also be completely transformed by putty.
This brings us to what is known as the "character" make-up. Here again one is confronted by numberless problems regarding the use of colors. At best, character make-up is only the adjustment of one physiognomy to the habitual expression of another: complete transformation is out of the question. Nevertheless, the human face, being mobile, may assume expressions which are not habitual to it. However, it must be borne in mind that to superimpose a purely imaginary countenance over a natural one, regardless of what that natural one is, is a fatal mistake, because when the natural face attempts to express itself under the other, the effect will be lost.