Face of Thrones

Having Game of Thrones withdrawal symptoms? Christine Wong satisfies your need by giving top tips for Game of Thrones inspired makeup.

Let me begin by energetically asserting that I do not claim to be a makeup expert of any kind. In fact, the majority of my makeup comes from Superdrug, and I don’t have any fancy cosmetic brushes. What I do have, instead of expertise, is an interest in experimentation, which is how this article came to be. I enjoy doing themed makeup, and during the Easter holidays, one of my favourite television series had its fourth season premiere – Game of Thrones.

In honour of that, I decided to do some themed makeup based on the sigils of the three houses most people have heard of, which are the Starks, Lannisters and Targaryens. Before I begin addressing each individual look, I must add that for all of them I made sure I had used a primer and foundation on my face, as well as a white base in order to make the colours of the eyeshadow richer.I used NYX’s Glam Shadow Stick in Diamond (£4.50), then went over that with white eyeshadow from my Bourjois Smoky Eyes Trio palette in Bleu Rock 7 (£7.99), but any white eyeshadow should do. For all the looks I also recommend a good dash of mascara to really take them above and beyond!

This is my House Stark makeup. In terms of reflecting the sigil’s colours, I made sure to use white (which is the aforementioned eyeshadow base) and a light green – I recommend something like Accessorize’s Eyeshadow Illusion in Acid Lime (£2.75) just along the lash line. For the grey direwolf, I simply used a dark grey eyeliner, like Beauty UK’s eye pencil in Dark Grey (£1.99) for a sharp winged look. I decided to keep the House Stark makeup quite simple and relatively cold-looking to reflect the general disposition of the house – they seem quite simple and honest, and their house’s slogan is ‘Winter is Coming’.

For my House Lannister makeup, I decided to get a little bolder. To match the sigil’s colours, first I layered a glittering gold all over the white base I already had on – Makeup Academy has some great glittery eyeshadow palettes, but unfortunately the one I use had been discontinued. I still recommend that brand for this look, for example the Up All Night palette ($4.00) has a really similar gold to the one I used. Next, I dabbed some yellow in the inner corners of my eyes, and used a bright red shadow on the outside corners. Then to blend the red and gold shadows together, I used an orange shadow. These three shadows (yellow, orange and red) that I used were from a customisable Inglot palette, but those who are looking to recreate this look for cheaper can use alternatives, like Makeup Revolution’s Redemption palette in Matte Brights (£4.00) for the orange and yellow, and Barry M’s Dazzle Dust in Cherry Red (£4.59). Lastly, to finish off the fierce Lannister look, I did a thinner, sharp, winged eyeliner using Collection’s Extreme 24HR Felt Tip eyeliner in black. I thought this suited the rich and snarky Lannister house a lot, and that the bright colours matched their slogan, ‘Hear Me Roar!’.

Lastly, I tackled the Targaryens. A house so closely associated with dragons had to have the most dramatic look of all! I used a light rose eyeshadow first, like Makeup Revolution’s Eyedust in Angelic (£1.00), to cover the white base. Then, I used a gold shadow in the inner corners. You can use the same shadow from the Lannister look for this if you wish. I then used a black eyeshadow on the outer corner of my eyes – again I suggest Makeup Revolution’s Eyedust, but in Antic instead – and then to top it all off I added the same bright red eyeshadow that I used in the Lannister look to make sure I tied in the Targaryen sigil’s colours. I then used a cotton bud (but you can also use facial tissue for this) to wipe off the excess eyeshadow and create a winged look without any eyeliner! The super dramatic look seemed to scream the Targaryen’s slogan of ‘Fire and blood’!

Any one of these looks would be perfect for a future fancy dress party, and the products used ensure you have enough extra change to spend on a dramatic costume – not that I have already googled the price of a Daenerys Targaryen costume, adorned with plastic dragons…