Creating realistic make up effects is certainly an art form. People in this field study their craft endlessly to achieve maximum impact. I am in no means an expert in the field of make up effects BUT I have dabbled in areas from time to time to see what sort of impact I can achieve with my friends and family. I first learned this very simple technique several years ago and decided to just see what kind of reaction I would get when I went to work one moring with a pretty big bruise on my arm. Needless to say it was very effective.

There is a color wheel from BenNye called "Cuts & Scrapes" that I used to make my bruise. They also have a "Bruises" color wheel that has a green and deeper purples/blues in it. If you can't find these particular wheels the colors you'll need are as follows as well as some make up sponges.

-yellow or a greenish yellow

-red

-violet

-bark blue or black

The secret is all in the blending and not using heavy amounts of color. This is really a simple tutorial.

A base coat of violet is first. Try not to make the bruise a perfect circle. It needs to look irregular to look realistic.

Soften the color as you go out so it doesn't have any hard edges.

To make the bruise look really deep, add a little dark blue or even some black.

Adding red will lighten the bruise.

To make a bruise look old (healing) add yellow to the surrounding bruise. Blend well.

That's it! Very simple and cool. I would have to say that the older bruises looked the most realistic because even after the initial shock of seeing it, it still looked very real. Why not give this simple technique a try.

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