Emmy Award-winning makeup artist, monster maker, mad scientist and now author, Steve Johnson is renowned for his contribution to the SFX industry throughout the years. His recent book, Rubberhead: Sex, Drugs, and Special FX was published in 2017 and chronicles his legendary career in film and TV.  Johnson’s company, XFX, did make-up effects for more than 200 films, countless TV shows, commercials and music videos. His film credits include The Abyss, Ghostbusters, Bicentennial Man, Species and Spider-Man 2. Steve was kind enough to answer a few burning questions we had for him about ..read more

Kelseyanna Fitzpatrick is best known for being a part of the Kat Von D Beauty Artistry Collective and can often be found educating for Kat Von D beauty at events and trade shows worldwide. The youngest of the collective Kelsey, (who is only 22) studied makeup in her home town of Vancouver, Canada. Kelsey has made a name for herself as a professional makeup artist with a distinctive avant garde style, her work demonstrates an abstract use of texture and colour. We were lucky enough to get to know Kelsey a little better at this years IMATs London... When did you know you wanted to become a ..read more

We are creative minds. Adapting and finding new ways to progress and succeed is what we do best.Take comfort in the fact we are all in this together. Keep busy, stay inspired and try not to dwell.  Now, considering the current climate and the current government advise to stay indoors, there's no better time to get inspired! So as a part of a continuing blog series we are listing some of our Top 5 SFX Makeup Documentaries, TV shows, Reference Books and even Magazines to keep y'all trucking.  ENJOY! Fantastic Flesh  This documentary delves into the art of make-up effects with indu ..read more

 Never get caught short on set with our guide Handy Guide to Set Bag Essentials, below we list all of your essential set bag products and the best way to utilise your space! Want to join in the conversation?  Now you can! Join the Armoury conversation via our brand new forum.   Makeup can be a dirty job, constantly applying and correcting makeups. Its essential to keep your personal hygiene in check. I wouldn't want dirty hands touching my face, so why would actors or models? Make sure to keep your hands visibly clean when possible and germ free.  Jao is our favourite ..read more

As you probably know, the makeup application is only the final step in a very long process, from the design element, sculpting, moulding, prepaint, costume... etc. etc. It takes a long old time to create a character makeup. But what if that process was between two makeup artists...working from different sides of the globe! Well, that is exactly how Rhino Cop came to fruition. The brain child of makeup artists James Olney and Ed Yates, Rhino Cop was designed and created by these two crazy kids  transcontinentally! With Ed lvining in Australia and James here in good ..read more

Francesco is a professional prosthetics sculptor and has sculpted prosthetics for some of the worlds largest productions such as Star Wars, The Mummy and many other block busters whilst working at the legendary KM Effects, owned and run by Kristyan Mallet. After having the pleasure of hosting Francesco's live sculpting and life casting demonstrations at the 2018 Prosthetics event, we asked him if he would be kind enough to gift us with some of his invaluable sculpting tips and hints.  Francesco completed the sculpt into a screen ready makeup in under 5 hours, whilst also speaking to a ple ..read more

Craig Reardon is very well known as the nice guy of makeup. I was honoured to have attended Craigs talk at IMATS this year and was blown away by the amount of amazing stories, knowledge and insight he had to give.  Craig is one of the most passionate makeup artists I have ever met, he emits knowledge and an unflinching love for the industry, he is not only full of words of wisdom but is insanely humble and generous with his time. Working on some of the biggest blockbusters and most influential practical effects films of all time including: Poltergeist, An American Werewolf in London, The ..read more

If you haven’t already seen the robotic beauty that Birmingham based collective, Father Phantom Studios debuted at IMATs London, where have you been?! Father Phantom Studios, made up of the super talented Ben and Laura, who specialise in creating SFX makeup and collectables from their studio, in the trendy Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham. We were lucky enough to be joined by them and Titanic FX to demo their newest creation. As we are always intrigued to find out more about design and the creation process behind the makeups, we dropped them a few questions. Read all about this stunning creatio ..read more

Sometimes it can feel as though makeup artists have a completely different language. From filming terms, products, techniques and more acronyms than you can shake a stick at, it's easy to get lost within the technical jargon. So here at the Armoury we thought it would be helpful to write a glossary to break down all of those technical terms.  We would love to add and expand this list, so if you feel like theres any terms that you'd like to see below please let us know! A Acetone - A colourless liquid used to clean glue off hair lace and is an ingredient ..read more

Mum of twins, mental health advocate and trailblazer in the makeup industry, Jenny Rhodes Mclean is a Makeup and Hair artist, Superviser & now Designer - with over a decade of experience. In-between her work on the sensational period drama 'Bridgerton', and Netflix hits 'Black Earth Rising' and 'Cursed' Jenny still finds time to revolutionise the industry by implementing Swing Shifts and creating a flexible working project - An initiative intent on building a community that supports those in need of more work life balance . On top of all that, Jenny shares her experience and wisdom we ..read more