I would like your imput, folks, regarding communal make-up boxes.  I'm talking about a box of make-up that the entire company uses.  Do you have this in your CT or is everyone responsible for getting and maintaining their own make-up kit?  I've been in groups that do both and their are pros and cons.  Also, do you require theatrical make-up, or do your actors use street make-up?

I just thought of another thing, since I know you have a million kids in your cast!  It is SO much easier to have the kids come already made up from home. Then all you will have to do is "dirty up" the Herdmans!

Anymore these days with the increase in communicable social diseases as well as the more mundane, yet equally as debilitating things such as pink eye or a variety of skin irritations, it is NOT a good idea to have a communal makeup box.  Usually NO-ONE takes care of the stuff, it gets OLD and even though you can still use it, you can never be sure it's germ free.  THERE ARE ways to HELP insure - even not perhaps eliminate - germs being transmitted.  And that's to keep a spray bottle of 99% alcohol or anti-germicidal/anti-bacterial soap in your kit or around the theater whenever there is no other alternative.  The use of Clorox wipes is good but a good thorough cleaning of brushes with anti-germicide/anti-bacterial soap will help not only preserve them but help kill the possibility of germ transmission.  You can spray most makeups with 99% alcohol and it helps a lot if you have to do things in a hurry.  And fortunately it evaporates fairly quickly thus not destroying makeup products that might still be good and usable.

These days, the industry standard - in professional makeup circles and union shops - all makeup budgeted for is done for each individual actor based upon need.  And that's why makeup budgets are so high in films especially but even in theater makeup work.  One of the things that saves on the expense is that if it is possible, to portion out makeup that more than one person will use.  That means having small, perhaps disposable containers or plastic trays (or even glass that can be washed and essentially sterilized) to be able to portion out makeup enough that an individual actor can use.  Brushes CAN be shared as long as there is someone willing to clean them after EVERY use.  Beauty supply shops carry comb and brush germicide/fungicide solutions that can take care of those issues.  Union shops anymore do NOT allow unsanitary practices - otherwise they CAN be fined and even shut down by the union or the health department. So great pains should be given to keeping things that are of a communal use nature, as clean and free from potential problems as possible.

Having said all that, I have always thought it was best as an actor, to have my own kit - as every actor should.  There is such a world of difference in product out there that the only real way to know definitively, that a product is safe to use for a particular actor who might have some allergies or aversions to brands, their ingredients or the look provided by specific products, is to buy and use your own that you KNOW is what will work for you.  Likewise, it is incumbent upon the makeup artist who is designing and executing makeup work for any actor, to ask a series of information gathering questions as to the products an actor might LIKE to use that they are comfortable with knowing it won't create problems for them.  As well, with those who have no preferences or who don't know what will work, then it's a matter of using the safest products with the best track records which are designed for professional use - and then TESTING product for any allergic reactions by the wearer (the actor).  Then when it comes to purchasing product for a project, each actor should have specific things set aside for them so there isn't any possibility of cross contamination from user to user.  This leads into the question you had of what kind of makeup to use. Should you use theater makeup or can you get away with standard STREET type makeup. Answer is - it depends. MOST OF THE TIME you CAN get away with standard makeup products.  Obviously the theater makeup is manufactured with greater levels of pigmentation to allow for better coverage with more minimal use - and the product does last a lot longer than day-to-day stuff might.  But it's also more costly.  And as I've said in another post, lighting improvements these days allow for less coverage than in the past and good designers doing their jobs so very well that they can make us ALL look good with the right color gels and such.  So the answer is yes - as long as there isn't a specific need for a specific LOOK that is intended to be achieved.  But the ONLY way to know is to test it under the lighting conditions (or even bright lights of a makeup room will help) and it will give a good indication of whether the makeup you use WILL suffice.  Makeup tests should be part of the process in putting show up allowing for time to make the necessary adjustments if needed.

It's a very real issue. And in my estimation, if you're an actor, you OUGHT to have your own makeup. Then if there is a specific need for product you don't have, you should retain the RIGHTS to work with the makeup designer or artist in finding and using products that YOU as an actor are happy with - if you can come to that agreement.  The makeup artists job is to provide for the actor what they don't have but might need, keeping in mind the actor's comfortability and safety.  And as with communal makeup - rule of thumb - if you wouldn't use it on yourself, then you shouldn't use it or allow it's use on anyone else.  Some people simply may not care.  But then there is this game called Russian Roulette!!!?? And that's one single shot - but we all know what that one shot CAN do.  NOT to be scary - but if someone is HIV positive and doesn't know it - and someone uses their makeup - well you see the potential hazard.  THAT is a serious disease but even simple things like pink eye or other skin issues are not any fun either.  And I'd hate to feel responsible for someone else's ills because of MY problems when allowing the use of my makeup on them. THUS I keep all my tools, brushes, makeup as clean and germ free as possible.  The only way for safety.

Tony

Originally posted by POB14 If you don't know somebody well enough to rub your face against theirs, you shouldn't share their makeup.

 

  HAHAHA!!! WHAT A GREAT LINE - I'll use that next time someone brings this up about using someone else's makeup.   VERY funny but TRUE.  Trouble with this line though is that MANY (I won't say most) theater people wouldn't care - too OPEN and free to care.  BUT I DO agree.  I mean we as actors, sometimes are called upon to do.....uh....mouth to mouth on stage, and that's bad enough for sharing germs.  But share makeup??  NO WAY!!! HAHA!!! SO I'd say SOME people simply don't care.  WHEN I am doing it or when I'm responsible - it will NEVER happen.  Funny line!!  MAY I USE IT??  THANKS

 

Originally posted by POB14 Off topic, but my favorite stolen line of all time was directed at a less than professional actor whose antics I have described elsewhere on this board.  My friend said of him, "I never knew where my craw was until he got stuck in it."    I actually offered to buy that line from him .

I predict that one will be stolen often.  (I'm seeing it as a political statement on bumper stickers....  Oh my god! POB, What have you done?)