(I’m a little type A and did a lot of research on various things before my first recital—here’s the post I wish I’d found when I was searching! If it helps even one person, fab!)
Hi everyone! I’m an adult ballet dancer and just had my very first recital/performance over the weekend! It went really well and was a lot of fun. I am very type A and anxious and did a lot of research into things before the performance, especially regarding makeup and hair.
I wear zero makeup day to day, have chin length hair, and the most I’ve ever styled it is for ballet class. You can imagine stage makeup and hair felt daunting!
If this can even help one person, it’ll be worth it.
Here’s what I learned and used (I’m not formally endorsing anything or whatever, just trying to be helpful! Of course what worked for me may not work for you, etc etc, and I’m not a professional, etc etc):
***Hair***
We just had to have a classic ballet bun.
Products I used:
-Garnier Fructis Pure Clean, extra strong gel
-Tresseme extra hold hairspray mist
+ Bobby pins, hair net, u shaped pins, bun helper (like an old sock bun but actually meant for hair), wax stick for baby hairs
My hair is very fine and soft/smooth, holds zero style, and is short for a bun. It didn’t take much of the gel to help keep everything in place. I use a bun donut thing but squish it down to flatten it a bit using Bobby pins in the donut itself. It doesn’t look thick and weird, and using U pins and the hair net you can make a nice, neat flat bun that rivals the buns of people with lovely long hair!
These products aren’t super scented either so may be good if you or others are sensitive.
***Makeup***
(I owned a lot of various stuff already despite not really wearing it, but was mainly concerned about foundation which I don’t wear, and transfer proof red lips)
My studio loves a red lip and pink cheeks. Yours might not. If they didn’t tell you what look to go for, ask.
Here’s what I used for products:
-Benefit porefessional foundation (this stuff ROCKED! I hate foundation but this was awesome and felt good all day)
-Ilia skin blur concealer
-Laura Mercier loose powder
-Benefit hoola bronzer
-Bare minerals blush + a little bit of nyx buttermelt blush for a brighter pink
-Morphe taupe eye shadow palette
-black and brown eyeliners
-Maybelline great lash mascara
-?? 3/4 length fake lashes (idk brand, pack of 8 or something, cheap)
-Sephora collection Cream Lip Stain 10HR Liquid Lipstick, I think I used Electric Ruby color (but I had to test them in store to make sure they weren’t too warm or cool on my skin—lots of color options!)
I tried nyx lip stuff and found it super sticky. I defs could have used drugstore products for the things I purchased, but I wanted to color match and test them and ya just can’t do that!
What I didn’t know about red lipstick is that one red does not fit all. You want your red to lean more orangey on your skin, or you run the risk of it coming off purple/blue/black on stage apparently. Try things on the back of your hand and you’ll see how different reds lean warm/cool/pink/brown/etc on your skin!
This video on makeup was a life saver:
Stage Makeup Tutorial - Easy AND Advanced Looks for Everyone! | Kathryn Morgan
She also has other great videos on makeup (and other ballet things!)
I maybe spent too much time and energy on getting the stage makeup thing figured out. Ultimately it hardly mattered, BUT I did feel confident which can only help.
***Recital day***
This was my first dance recital. I grew up competing in other sports and did theater in high school, but this was a new one for me. I haven’t been on stage in more than 10 years. It was WAY more nerve wracking than it was back in high school!
We did a run through on stage before the performance. Doing our dance somewhere other than our studio was weird, and I genuinely felt like I had never danced before. A change of scenery can apparently make a big difference sometimes! It wasn’t just me though, others felt that way too. It made me nervous at first. We’d practiced a lot! But I focused on my muscle memory and really feeling my body cues and it went well.
Could I have had several better fifths? Yes. Was I on my leg? Not so much. I’m positive that if I were to watch a recording I’d cringe. But did my friends and family in the audience care or notice? Nope! They loved it and I felt good about it overall.
Getting out there as an adult, especially a first time performer, is fun and brave and exciting! It was really cool to see the kids at the studio being so professional too. Everyone did such a great job and it made me very proud.
If you are a first time performer, congratulations!! It might feel scary or weird or like you forgot your dance. Remember all the time you put in. And have FUN!
I hope this is helpful to someone out there :)
EDIT to add: I also used ELF grip primer under the foundation, it felt sticky going on but ultimately I was really impressed with it as well. Once it was on and dried (?) I didn’t feel it. It’s blue/green in its little bottle and they have minis!