Introducing SFX Makeup Artist Reinan Koubani

Her face is bloody, bruised, and distorted. However, it’s not real. It’s just makeup – mind-boggling special effects makeup (SFX). In recent years, SFX makeup has become a well-admired and sought-after career and talent. This field of makeup artistry now lives beyond the movie screens. Like many other artists, amateur and professional SFX makeup artists now use their social media platforms to display their work, showing their followers the art behind SFX makeup and body painting.

There are many young SFX makeup enthusiasts hailing from Sudan, one of whom is UAE-based 25-year-old Reinan Ali Koubani. Using herself as the canvas, donning box braids, Koubani shares pictures and videos of herself on her social media platforms with her latest experiments and projects with SFX makeup. Her makeup videos are well-edited with unsettling visuals and graphics to further enhance the effect of her spooky SFX makeup.

The SFX makeup artist is a graduate of medicine from the University of Al Gezira, and is currently pursuing the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).

500 Words Magazine chats with Reinan Koubani about SFX makeup and body painting, her talent in makeup artistry, and her affiliation with Habbak Support Group.

How did you get into the artistry of makeup?

I’ve tried different art forms growing up from playing the violin to drawing and painting. My parents were very supportive of me trying different things. It’s when I turned 17, I tried makeup for the first time. At the time, my understanding of makeup was very basic. I thought it was just glam. SFX makeup wasn’t very popular outside the film industry, but once I thought of makeup as an art form, everything changed and I fell in love.

Your style is quite unique. How would you describe it?

I would describe my art as a combination of glam and fantasy with gore elements.

You are quite fascinated by anime and cartoon characters. Tell us more about that and why they influence your work?

My love for anime introduced me to many of my now favourite Japanese artists and their work that’s cute “childlike innocence” but also very sinister.

Tomie 🖤 pic.twitter.com/4YdcAxN8TM

— Art Vandelay (@reinan_koubani) May 30, 2020

What type of products do you use? Paint or actual makeup or a little bit of both?

I love using face and body paint and mix my own colours. Recently, I started getting into making my own scar wax and fake blood.

Tell us about Hababak Support Group and your affiliation with the cause.

I was talking to one of my friends about creating a space where people can talk without getting judged – a space to raise awareness about mental health. She then introduced me to a group who were planning on doing just that and together we launched Hababak Support Group. I’m very proud with the work we’ve done and pleased with how people received it and the number of people we’ve helped.

We established Habbak Support Group in June 2018 to educate people about mental health, and gather information about psychiatrists and psychologists in Sudan to make it easier for people to find them. We talk to people who need someone to talk to. We encourage those who need to professional help to seek it and help them find it.

Do you consider what you do as a hobby or more as a career?

Makeup is a hobby to me and I also consider it therapy – a few hours you spend with yourself listening to music or a podcast with no rules or lines you have to draw in.

What are your goals as a makeup artist or a visual artist in general?

I can’t think of specific goal. Makeup brings me happiness and that’s all I want right now.

You’re very supportive of other Sudanese makeup artists. What’s your opinion on makeup artistry in Sudan? What are the dos and donts?

SFX makeup artists and body painters don’t get the recognition they deserve and there are barely any job opportunities for them. Most of them just focus on doing bridal makeup, so I think it’s important for us to support each other and collab together.

For more information on Reinan Koubani and to follow her work, find her on Twitter @reinan_koubani and/or Instagram @destinysglamchild.