’DON’T PUT IT ON ME, GIRL’ From Kelly to Courtney by Mathias Alan
Recently I had a creative twist handed to me on my weekly series THE SOUP for E Television. The producers and writers of the show asked me if I could transform one of our associate producers, Kelly Levy, into newly infamous media whore Courtney Stodden. Courtney has been in the press recently because she is a 16 year old girl who just married a 51 year old actor named Doug Hutchison. Their July 2011 tv interview with Lara Spencer on Good Morning America ignited a storm of accusations that the 16 year old Courtney had a few screws loose, or possibly high on some illegal substances. Her eyes rolled back in her head, her neck was loose and flaccid, and her lips puckered in between words seemingly uncontrollably. It’s really hilarious to watch, and her mannerisms are so comedic that an impression of her was destined to pop up on THE SOUP.
The week that we needed to have Courtney Stodden created wasn’t a usual taping night. I normally go into E at around 630pm, get Joel McHale ready by 730pm, tape the show in front of a live audience between 8-9pm, and then the whole team is out by 930. But this particular week Joel was working an extra long days on the set of his NBC show COMMUNITY, so I was told in advance we would be shooting at 9am on Friday. The day before taping, I received an email from our producer Hathaway asking me to be prepared to fix up Kelly as Courtney. I had done this look the first time on her the week before, so I knew what to bring.
I arrived at E to meet Kelly at 715am, she had clean hair and a freshly washed face. I had about an hour to make this happen so I quickly got her hair dirty with some root lifting spray called CATWALK ROOT BOOST, and SESSION SERIES SEA SALT SPRAY both by TIGI. I quick dryed her hair with a blowdryer and my fingers, and then heat set a curl into the crown and temples with a heat protection spray by PAUL MITCHELL called HOT OFF THE PRESS. We were laughing because Kelly shared with me that Courtney herself had tweeted about Kelly’s impression of her in the previous few days! Here’s the quote “Sending all of my exotic love & sexual gratitude to the actress who portrayed me on The Soup last night on E! ;-)” Is that wild, or what? Once Kelly’s hair was up in a pin set, I started on the Courtney Stoddard 1980’s glam eye work. I needed the white frosty lid and brow bone color to really pop on tv, so I layed down an ivory cream eyeshadow base by POISE followed by a blend of the FACE ATELIER eyeshadow shades white, taupe, midnight blue, charcoal, and black. The pitch black cream eyeliner was a key element in really dramatizing the Courtney “too heavy for a 16 year old” eye. I love the new L’OREAL COLOR TRUTH CREAM EYELINERS for a smooth application and long lasting finish. I even smudged the black cream liner under her eyes into her wetline and extended the line out to meet the corner of her lid crease for that “over the top Dynasty drag,” as I like to refer to it. Two pairs of black lashes were glued on before I moved onto her skin. Kelly has a pink undertone in her complexion, but Courtney is much more “California tan” so I have to completely cover up Kelly’s hue with a MINERAL CREAM TO POWDER FOUNDATION and PRESSED POWDER FOUNDATION in two different colors to highlight and contour, both by YOUNGBLOOD. I then like to use the SMASHBOX Halo Hydrating Perfecting Bronzer because it is a loose powder that is very easy to blend and build. Courtney’s overly darkened eyebrows are another key element in her look, and I used SENNA FORM-A-BROW trio in dark to create that perfect shape. The finishing touch was using a combo of OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE COSMETICS LOOSE COLOUR CONCENTRATES IN GLISTEN patted onto her lips to create that frosty lipcolor that is essential to the Courtney Stodden face.
JOEL MCHALE needed to have his “on camera face” applied as well, so I ran into his dressing room once he was done punching up the final script with the writers. After almost 5 years together, I’ve got his method down to 10 minutes then I’m out the door back to the first makeup room. Once I had completed Kelly’s hair, with a lot of help from my teasing comb and two tracks of blonde extensions, we went into the studio to prep for her walk on with Joel. By this time, Joel has already greeted the audience and told a few jokes about his home life and the set of COMMUNITY and begun the first act of THE SOUP. Normally, I walk into the studio with Joel and make sure his hair is perfect before he jumps out onto the shooting floor, followed by me taking my seat in the front row. But Kelly’s Courtney extensions are so long and cascading that I walked in with her to help Mario the audio guy get her mic’d without tangling the chords into her mane. The audience was on fire that day, and almost riotous when Kelly appeared from the sidelines to enter in as Courtney Stodden. Her impression was hilarious, and she stayed in character and on point the entire time she was in front of the camera with Joel shooting their bit. The cast of SNL would have been laughing at her, she was that GREAT!
