Special effects: Scar testing

 Hello!

Just a warning beforehand, if you are very sensitive to scars (even if not real) you might not want to scroll down.

Okay, I bought some Rigid Collodion almost two weeks ago and it was in the mailbox today after I got home from school. I've been waiting anxiously for it to turn up so I could get to experiment with it! Mom also left so I got to scar myself alone without getting the weird looks or asked why I'm locked in the toilet for an hour. lol

If you don't know what Rigid Collodion is it's a scarring liquid widely used in movies and stuff to simulate shapes of wounds and scars.

I've never used this stuff before but I've been digging information, so I had some ideas what to try creating with it. Okay, I obviously didn't want to put it on my face for practice because... well... it's kinda hard to hide your face without getting very suspicious looks in case I would make an error. So I decided to put it on my right forearm. (note: I'm left-handed, so it's easier for me to practice on my right hand)
I didn't put any base make-up on prior to testing so I can't know for sure how well Rigid Collodion will stick to that. But what I've seen it seems to work just as well.

I tried at first to draw the shape of the scar that I wanted (just a short slightly curved line) in a dark brown eyeliner pencil. I just drew lightly, don't use pressure or it will look unnatural. After that I just started by putting a layer of Rigid Collodion on where I had drawn the "scar". I let the stuff dry between the layers; it dries really fast, probably in under one minute. I must say that the feeling when it started drying was... interesting... xD It felt like something was nibbling and pulling my skin. It didn't hurt or anything but it would occasionally itch for a split-second.
I think I did around 3-4 layers on my first try and it looked like this:

Not really that good but it was a half-decent first try. To remove it you need to peel it off. If you have sensitive skin you can use spirit gum remover. I decided to try using spirit gum remover but when I opened the bottle it had this white cork patch thingy.. which I thought was one of those that you can't take off so you would have to turn the bottle upside down to get it to moisten the patch and then roll it against your skin.. so I turned the bottle and at the first second nothing happened so I thought "meh, weird.." but the following blink of an eye the goddamn patch flew its merry way and almost half of the (unused) spirit gum remover was everywhere in the bathroom. Fucking great. I tried to clean it as best I could but I think it left this weird coating to all the surfaces it hit.. oh boy...
Oh well, I then just decided to pinch my skin together to get one of the scar sides to peel and then just rip it off. It left a red mark but it's very logical seeing that the Rigid Collodion was pulling at my skin.

I decided to try the same technique again but this time with a dark red eyeliner pencil as a base. It came out too cartoony. But during the second try I realized I could use some light powder between every three or so layers to get it to shine a bit less.

And so on the third and final try I decided to blend dark red and brown eyeliner together for the scar base, dust some light powder over it and then start applying layers. This time I put a lot of layers.. I think maybe 10 or so and well, it made a world of difference comparing to the first try! Now I actually think I managed to make what looked like an old deep scar... 3D too. What's good is that it doesn't hurt (I've been "wearing" it for over an hour now I think and I barely even feel that it's there) and it seem to hold really well, unless you move the scar area around too much because then you risk having it peeling and thus ruining the effect of it looking real.

But now. Photos.

I think I love this stuff now, it's awesome. I'm very impressed...
Next time I think I'll definitely try it with my Kenshin cosplay! Ohmaigerd I can't wait to take preview photos! <3

That's all for this time, see ya!