Bioluminescent Alien Makeup

Lauren Bennett

Hi all! I'm Lauren Bennett and this is Baileya, my bioluminescent alien. I've always been fascinated with the color-changing abilities of octopuses and cuttlefishes as well as bioluminescent organisms with their beautiful light displays, so I wanted to do a makeup that reflects those properties by way of UV paint and LED lights. I made 3 overlapping silicone appliances for the head, a spine piece, and 2 shoulder pieces. I incorporated 9 LED strips glued under the prosthetics to give the illusion of a ray of light moving across the head with the help of my friend (credit below) who sauntered and programmed them to meet my vision. I also incorporated a real bioluminescent organism called a Tomopteris along the back of the head and spine as a kind of glowy cerebral element. 

I started designing this project as soon as I heard there was another character making contest and I'm so happy I was able to get it done in time! It was my first time making a two part mold over a core for a cowl piece and I definitely ran into some setbacks, having to do a lot of patch work on application day and move the spine piece up onto the head. Still happy to see it all put back together, this was so fun to make!

Please check out the video to see the light display and UV paint in action:
https://youtube.com/shorts/rrf-Tx6ScFU?si=_9zbZHzlRUorWGQN











Makeup: Lauren Bennett (@soulfirefx)
Photos/Videos: Harrison Webb (@justharson)
Lights: Richard Campuzano (@richard__760)
Wardrobe: Dollskill

Lauren Bennett

Rushed to post so quickly I forgot to credit my amazing model, Savannah Porter (@savannahporter11)!