Hi all, it’s your favorite friend Jay, or Jaylan Salah as you formally know her. I will be here covering, among other things, Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Wow, so Hair and Makeup. This category can either elevate a film entirely or bring it down in the dumps. Yes, the award started with best makeup until 2013 when hairstyling was involved, but hair has always been present and part of the award game. I always think of my fascination with masks, facial feature alteration, and actors fully transforming or concealing themselves. In films like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, think of the Count’s slicked hairstyle and his prosthetics as he emerges each time from bat to wolf. Remember how foxy the women of Bombshell looked with all the lashes, base powder, high wigs, and lip gloss? Or go back and think of something like Mask (1985) where Eric Stoltz gives an electrifying performance while carrying feature-altering prosthetics on his face. Then it’s 2023 and the masterpiece that is Poor Things shows Bella Baxter’s signature long, pitch-black hair, and the look is so iconic that it amplifies Emma Stone’s spectacular performance.
Hair and Makeup artists have been known to create monsters and aliens, freaks and characters with facial deformities, but also accentuate a mole or hide a scar, an actor can go from 20 to 70 in a movie and people won’t believe how hard these people have worked to bring out a look that will last only for a minute on screen. Honoring those people doesn’t stop at cheering on who will win in the upcoming Oscar season but putting a spotlight on each and every one of them, why they have been picked, and the extent of their hard work; all the while enjoying the final result and falling in love with movies all over again.
So come along for the ride and let’s take a deep dive into what makes actors stunning and monsters scary: Hair and Makeup!
