As if being in the mainstream paper wasn't enough, the day before Carnaval some friends discovered this closeup of me from last year's Carnaval in an ad in a local gay/lesbian scene magazine. You KNOW you've reached the DRAG QUEEN level of makeup expertise when that happens; I was SO flattered!
Because Dana does such an incredible job each year of documenting Carnaval, I encourage you to visit her site in addition to my pages. She has way more photos and with Lane's help always manages to capture the very essence of Carnaval. Dana also had the honor of being contacted by the Carnaval website webmaster, and now her fabulous site is linked all over the "official" site and they even used some of her writing directly on the site! If you've never taken the time to visit Dana's site, click here to see her special Carnaval page. Just start reading and you'll soon see why the event promoters were so happy to find it. Ok, so enough with the chit-chat and ON TO THE PHOTOS!! First, as Carnaval is no time to be modest, some pictures of ME!!
My costume theme this year was "fountain". I'd initially thought the fountain would be Japanese style with Coy as the centerpiece, but it never quite clicked. As you can see, the fish got ousted in favor of SWANS!! Yes, SWANS I SAY!
Closeup of my makeup. I was so pleased with how this came out! Kearson and I took my folks to see Cirque du Soleil's "O" show in Las Vegas last winter and SMART Kearson bought a program. They do AMAZING makeup and I drew my inspiration from several of the characters.
Extra closeup of my eye makeup. This was the first time I'd tried using bottom false eyelashes. It will not be the last. I did my makeup 3 times this year. An initial trial run, for the paper, and then the final. Each time the look was refined just a bit more. I think the first run I used only blue, black and white. For the newspaper shoot I added in the touch of purple, and the final touch for Carnaval was just a hint of spring green on my forehead, cheeks and by my eyes near the hairline.
My FAVORITE picture with hunky Kearson in his kilt and me being all sassy.
Kearson really topped himself as far as costumes go this year! He bought the Utilikilt at this year's Celtic Festival in November, and this was his first time to wear it out. The whole costume was his idea - from the plaid to the idea for the Celtic knots on his face. My only complaint - couldn't get him to "go native" under his kilt. Phooey. Oh, well - the plaid boxers were still in keeping with the theme!
Closeup of Kearson's face paint. That's right, FACE PAINT. You KNOW Kearson wouldn't be caught dead in makeup! Can you believe he sat still not ONCE but TWICE for over an hour while I did the trial run and then the final painting? (Word to the wise on Celtic knots: Hard to draw. REALLY difficult to paint on a human face. Choose the simplest design you can find, take your time, and be prepared to "erase" alot!!
I can't begin to describe how amazing Dana's costume turned out. She'd done Carmen Miranda two years ago, and did a different Carmen Miranda this year with bananas instead of mixed fruit in her headdress. I LOVED how her makeup turned out and thought her use of the long string of beads was especially inspired. Be sure to visit her site for more photos of her costume. Including a super-cool animation of her going from no make-up (somewhat incredible in and of itself if you know Dana! ;) to fully made-up in all her Drag Queen GLORY! It's been fantastic to have Dana "back in action" this year. If you recall, she'd just had Lila a few months before Carnaval last year and so didn't go to the party or get to go "all out" with a costume (though she DID manage to get fabulous and come out just for pictures - how cool is that?!) Much like the ACL music festival is Sondra and my annual bonding event, Carnaval belongs to Dana and I.
Sondra spent all morning being airbrushed in pink, lime green, and with polka dots all over! She did her hair up in little spirally curls, used trim with shimmery dots on her top, and finished the look with a lime green boa and eyelashes to match. And of course glitter on everything! I think it's fantastic that Sondra incorporated a bit of her wonderful sense of humor into her costume this year. If you know Sondra, then you know how just plain funny she can be, so I think this costume really expressed her personality. And from what she tells me, she had the most fun ever getting ready for the event this time!
Sondra's friend Dick (who, along with Rob, did Sondra's body paint) was SO nice to let us use his studio as our launching point this year! Nice high ceilings and close to the event so a cheap cab ride. Here's a group shot of all the ladies with Sondra on the left, then Kara, Dana, yours truly, Jennifer, and Susyn. Don't worry - more closeups to come!
Group shot of the whole Carnaval crew! You know the women, so men from the left: Lane (top row), John, Kearson, Nate and Dick. I don't know how Jon and Rob escaped the group shot. Drat!
