The foundation you use for your appliance will largely be decided by the material the appliance is made of.
If your makeup appliance is made of foam latex, a good choice for coloring after application is rubber mask greasepaint, or RMGP; Graftobian,
Kryolan, and Mehron each make RMGP. RMGP is best applied with a rubber sponge and by stippling on the color over the entire prosthetic. If RMGP is only used to color the appliance and not for the rest of the makeup:
1. The greasepaint should be stippled over the edge of the appliance and onto the immediately surrounding skin and blended with your fingers, sponge, or brush to blend with the makeup used for the rest of the face or other body parts.
2. The RMGP should be powdered, pressing in as much powder as the greasepaint will absorb and then lightly brushing off the excess with a powder brush. RMGP may require periodic powdering to prevent shine.
3. To help the makeup look more natural and to help conceal the edge between the appliance and the skin, stipple additional colors (these can be RMGP or creme makeup) to add variation to the base color.
■ Using a stipple sponge or piece of latex sponge applicator, rubber sponge, or piece of sea sponge, apply a shade that is three or four times darker than the base color, then powder.
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Next, stipple a color that is three or four shades lighter than the base, and powder.
■ If you are working on a face, apply a creme pink or red (rouge)—if appropriate to the character—to the cheeks. Then powder. Do the same for the nose, if needed.
Much of this will depend on lighting conditions for the makeup and whether it is for stage or screen. Often what looks good under makeup lighting will look quite different under stage or shooting lights or even sunlight. If appliance edges are still visible, apply some detailed stippling with a small pointed brush or piece of stipple sponge.
■ Where the edge is visible as a result of shadows, use a lighter stipple to counteract them.
■ Use a dark stipple to offset highlights.
Creme foundations such as the ones available from Ben Nye seem to work just fine with foam latex also and can be applied in the same manner as RMGP.