Cosplay/Artist Feature: Leonora
“You don't have to be perfect immediately or ever.”
Leonora is a truly unique artist and cosplayer from Denmark, creating things that make her happy and sometimes sharing with the internet. Most of her account highlights the works she does on the tiniest canvas - a single eyelid.
How long have you done makeup?
I think I started really doing makeup around 2017. A lot of my friends were following beauty gurus and doing more interesting colorful eye looks, so I wanted to try it out for myself! At some point in 2018 I started doing looks inspired by fictional characters (mainly Critical Role), and it all kind of took off from there!
What is your most memorable look?
I'm really proud of the look I did for Hades! It's difficult to interpret a character in a way that is still recognizable to someone who isn't inside my head, but I feel like it translated super well! You can see bits of the LO art style in it, which is very satisfying to me.
Unrelated to Lore Olympus, I also spent an ungodly amount of time creating a look based on Critical Role's Mollymauk. It involved a lot of colors and intricate patterns, I'm still not quite sure how I pulled it off.
Tell us your Lore Olympus story.
I've been in the cosplay community for a while and a lot of my friends/mutuals were talking about it and planning costumes, so i decided to check it out. I'm a bit weak for greek mythology and Hades in particular, and that combined with the super interesting artstyle got me hooked almost immediately!
Who is your favorite Lore Olympus character?
Cliche, but Persephone is probably my favorite. I think she's a bit too relatable to me, which might be the point of the character. Her dealing with anxiety and pressure from a big adult world she doesn't quite understand is portrayed in a way I really appreciate - I'm sure loads of people around my age find great comfort in her.
And of course she's just extremely cute, I'm so in love with her design.
If you could body snatch one LO character for a day, who would it be?
Oooh I'd love to live a day as Hecate! I'd probably fail horribly at any godly duties, but I'd look super cool doing it!
Any advice for those new to makeup artistry?
Don't stop just because you aren't seeing immediate success or your work isn't meeting your expectations. It all takes practice and a lot of the stuff you see others share online is heavily edited - you don't have to be perfect immediately, or ever.
Remember to have fun and focus on your own enjoyment, before you think about numbers and other people's opinions.
And wash your brushes!!!