Meet the makeup artist behind The 13th Gate’s haunted looks

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Sarah Brown has turned her passion for makeup into a beauty business in Gonzales, while also serving as lead makeup artist at The 13th Gate haunted house. “I just wanted a place where women, men, whoever could come in relax and feel their best selves when they leave here,” Brown said. Brown’s salon, Kiss and Makeup, is where she applies her skills during the day. At night, she works at The 13th Gate. “Basically, it’s studio by day,” Brown said. “Haunt at night.” “It is insane and chaos, but it makes sense,” Brown said. Autoplay A career she didn’t know existed Brown said she did not know special effects makeup was a career option until she moved to Orlando, Florida, for school. “I really wanted it to be my career and at that time makeup was not a thing,” Brown said. “I moved, went there and that’s when I learned about special effects makeup. I had no idea about it before then when I went to school it opened my eyes and that’s when I dipped my toes in.” After earning her license in Orlando, Brown returned to Ascension Parish and answered an open call for makeup artists at The 13th Gate. “Went to auditions, this was 18 years ago, I didn’t know what was going on,” Brown said. “I had a bright pink shirt on like I don’t look like myself at all and I go the job.” Running the department Nearly two decades later, Brown now runs the entire makeup department at The 13th Gate. “We have 100-110 actors to get ready in an hour and a half,” explained Brown. “My whole team, we run as a unit and we help each other,” Brown said. Brown said transforming actors involves more work than people think. “It’s not just throwing some blood on people and going,” Brown said. “There’s a whole story, we prepare everything. When you’re walking through and the makeup doesn’t stick out to you, that’s what we want because you don’t want to look at somebody and say oh, they have five prosthetics on or one or whatever. You look and you just see a character.” Building a character Kirsten Almeida is one of the actors transformed by Brown’s team, covered in blood spatter, face paint and prosthetics to become a kitchen demon. “Making sure we look the part because even though it’s low lighting in the house we need to sell the act and the more detail we get the more the actors can get into character,” Almeida said. A favorite monster Although Brown has created many nightmares over the years, she does have a favorite character. “The classic, vintage clown,” Brown said. “I love blood and guts, but that classic vintage just you know, and it scares people. People are terrified of clowns. I mean I want to scare people.” More than a paycheck Brown said her work at The 13th Gate is like a second home and has led to lasting friendships. “I have met a lot of lifelong friends there, it’s a good community you know, it’s just a good place to be around and you feel like yourself,” Brown said. “Rather than on everyday life you can let loose and be creative.” “I mean I love it,” Brown said. “I would do it for free. I would. That is my passion in life.” The 13th Gate is open every weekend through Nov. 7. Click here to report a typo. Please include the headline. Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox. Watch the latest WAFB news and weather now.