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my name is paige, i am a makeup artist student at stockton riverside college doing creative makeup.

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for our final project, we are holding an in house competition like glow up. on the day we recieved our briefs we had a meeting with the makeup team to analyse the brief and start thinking of a theme for the competition.

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on our first week of the competition preparation, we decided on a theme which will decide all of the makeup looks. we eventually decided on “in a land far far away” which consists of mythical creatures, versions of disney characters and grimms tales. from this meeting i had a rough idea of what i wanted to compete with. as greek mythology is a thing im very interested in, i decided to do a fairy nymph who lived in the forest.

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For the competition, the idea is glow up. glow up is a show on bbc about makeup artists from around the country competing to create a name for themselves and get opportunities from leading makeup brands or sets of tv shows and movies.

the in house competition will be hosted all day with an opportunity at the end for friends and parents to come into college and see the work on display.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc3P3pKajo8

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the week after we decided on the theme for the competition, we held a meeting with all of the makeup team to discuss our initial ideas for the project. as we were all struggling to choose a character or makeup to design. we brainstormed some ideas such as grimms tales, disney or far away land creatures such as fairies or dragons.

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on the first day of practical work, i wanted to practice some body painting as a lot of my design will consist of my model being painted all over her body. i started off by placing half a photo of a flower down and completing the image with body paint. after this i painted an entire flower peice. i made sure to try out different colours as to test to see which ones went well together and the theme.

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As greek mythology is a great interest of mine i wanted to really do my research on the background of this character. i decided the best story to match the nymph links to Circe, Circe is a master of deceiving and a puppeteer of sorts. She turns people who invade her land into animals and can use different methods of persuasion to get what shes after. She rules over dozens of nymphs as their queen. She protects them from outsiders and in return she asks for endless loyalty. my character, because Circe protects the land from outsiders, feels lonely and isolated in her place of Circes kingdom.

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for the project, i focused on practicing all of the aspects of the whole body look in pieces. i started off with body painting as i want the flowers and vines to be perfect. i painted a flower on kellys back while looking at references of real flowers and took my time with the shaping and colouring of it. kelly suggested that i paint the middle of the flower first as it gets muddy when i paint it on after the petals. i love how the flower turned out and decided to add more red into my colour scheme to break up the patterns.

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For the initial design of the costume, i wanted a lot of the body to be shown as im adding lots of body painting and sfx work. Because of this, i decided to embellish a bra with flowers and gemstones to make it look beautiful and have a magical effect which also matched with the rest of the makeup. I wanted to have a long skirt with a large leg slit in order to show the design of the leg and the SFX injury work up to the knee of the leg. i wanted the skirt to be almost draped off of my model as if it had been tied around her waist.

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For my initial face chart i wanted the character to look sad as shes isolated in the forest by herself so i decided on a 1920s look to make the eyes and eyebrows look sad and dreary. i wanted the skin to be glowing as shes a mythical fairy, so i decided to add highlighter around the cheeks, forehead and nose. For the neck, as the character will be wearing not much on the top, i wanted to add something to the neck and chest. so i decided to add gold pigment down the neck and collarbones. i decided on orange eyeshadow in order to help the eyes pop out of the face with shimmer to make the face look more magical and fairy-like.

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In the april half term, i had a trip to visit my sister in brighton, during this trip we went on lots of nature walks which inspired me to start my costume. I bought fake flowers and leaves and also gemstones and embellishments. Initially, i used superglue to add the gemstones but it ended up creating a stain in the fabric and the gemstones became cloudy and sticky. Because of this i decided on a hot glue gun and it worked perfectly. Once i had finished the costume top, i tried it on and all of the pieces looked perfect and fit well together which i was happy about as i was worried the big flowers would fall off.

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To promote the competition and keep track of everyones progress, me and Neve decided to create an instagram account to post about the makeup artists and their looks for the competition. We started out by adding “meet the artist” posts with a photo of each makeup artist and a description of what they study and what they would like to do in the future. After this, we decided to create highlights for each makeup artist that had timelapses, photos of previous work and finished looks that they had created. We plan to update this weekly to keep it all up to date on how the competition preparations are going and how people are practicing their looks.

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When we came back from half term, i decided to practice what would be put on the leg of my character. this consisted of body painting and sfx of a vine wrapped around her leg. Initially, i used scarwax but this ended up not mixing well with the paints and wouldnt last very long, so Neve suggested to use silicone or latex.

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For the hair i wanted to go for a greek goddess style with a half up half down with big curls and twisted front peices to make it bigger and more flashy. After i did the hair, i decided to use a heated tool as the heated curlers dropped after a while and wouldnt last on the day of the competition. When the hair was done, i felt as though something was missing so Neve suggested to add gold flakes through the hair as they will be placed around the body and it will match well.

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I decided to practice the makeup on the arm as i wanted it to look dirty as if she had been digging through the mud in the forest as she had nothing else to do while isolated. I loved how it turned out and Nina suggested that i add more dirty and down powder around the gold flakes to make them look more implanted into the skin.

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I wanted to practice my initial design and started with the eyes first which i loved the shape of them and i added pink blush all up the cheeks to the forehead which i loved a lot. I wanted to initially add lashes but i decided mascara would look more natural and pretty with the eyeshadow. i added the highlighter and it looked beautiful. My initial idea was to add gold flakes around the face but once i added them Sophie said it might be too much if they are everywhere. So i wanted to have the face just as it is and leave it as its own thing.

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When i arrived on the day of the competition, i started by setting up my makeup bay, as i was at the back of the room i had a lot of space which i preferred as it let me move around my model and make sure everything was perfect as i moved along with the makeup. I started by painting the leg of my model as that was the plan i had created. i added light green paint the the entire leg up to the knee and used a fan brush with a darker green paint to create a mossy effect. I then went back in with the lighter green and added more texture and added some grass to the top of the knee. After this, i added silicone in small sections and blended it to the leg before placing fake vines inside of the silicone to create the effect of the vines being imprinted in the leg. After i added all of the vines so they looked wrapped all around the leg, i went in using the ben nye bruise wheel and added redness and texture to the injury before adding fake blood to make the vines look imprinted into the leg.

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For the final costume design i changed some things, i wanted to add some dirty and down powder to the bottom of my skirt so that it didn't look too clean as the fairy would be sitting in the dirt a lot of the time. I also added fake moss and leaves to the shoes so that it looked like the forest started to take over the nymph slowly. For the wings i added gold leaf and popsical sticks in order for it to be stuck onto the back as if it was coming out of the fairy's skin.

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For the hair, i decided on using a wig as my models hair was too short for the design i wanted. I used a lace front blonde wig with dark roots in order for it to look more natural. i twisted the front two pieces of the wig and pulled them to the back of the head before plaiting the end and tying it. I brushed the wig out and used hairspray and a disposable spooly to put down the stray hairs. I decided to keep the rest of the hair straight as then when i placed it behind the models back, it would sit nicely and not get tangled into the wings.

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For the headpiece, i wanted something magical that would match with the colours of the rest of the look. I found a halo shaped headpiece with green leaves and purple lavender flowers. It had gold embellishments and an amethyst crystal in the centre. I decided to place it central in the middle of the wig behind the twisted front two pieces.

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When i designed my final makeup, i wanted to test it on myself. I started by blocking down my eyebrows using hyrdrogel, loose powder, colour corrector and concealer to make my eyebrows dissapear. After this, i used an eyebrow pencil to create saddened shaped eyebrows. I made sure the eyebrow shape was thin as i wanted a 1920's look.

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As i was using silicone and latex on my model, i wanted to do an allergy test for both of the products. For this, i arrived at my models house and applied latex and silicone on her wrist and waited about 15 minutes to test if there was a reaction or redness on the skin. As there wasn't any reaction, i decided to place the latex and silicone on my models back as that is where they will be placed on the day of the competition. They stuck well and didn't cause a reaction so i was ready to use these products on the day of the competition.

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In the first weeks of the preparation of the competition, we all had a lesson on body painting. From this lesson i decided i wanted to use a lot of body painting for the final look as i took inspiration from the flower designs and colours. Because of this, i decided to start practising the shape of flowers often and the colours i would be using. From this lesson i learned a lot of techniques i would be using such as the brushes i could use to get different effects, colour theory and pigment of each colour of paint. While practising brush techniques, i learned that i could use a fan brush with green water activated paint to create grass blades on the leg of my model.

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A couple days before the project, my model had messaged me saying she had dyed her hair an unnatural colour. This was a problem as on the final day of the competition her hair would not match the design of the makeup or costume. Because of this i decided to use a wig so that the hair would match the rest of the design. When i went to try the costume i had made for my model, the top ended up being too small. For this, i had to fix the top so it became bigger, I stretched out the back straps on the top so that it fit properly onto my model and it ended up fitting perfectly.

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As my model has green/blue eyes, i decided to use a burnt orange and gold shimmer on the eyes as they're opposite on the colour wheel. When i used this colour, it made the eyes pop and made the eyes the main focus of the makeup on my models face. For the skin tone, my model is quite fair and has cool toned skin. So for this i decided to use a liquid foundation in the shade "fair". This made sure i matched my models skin tone to the colour of the foundation.

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Colour theory bases itself around a colour wheel, this includes primary, secondary and tertiary colours. The colours around the wheel have a colour opposite them. For instance, if using blue, since orange and yellow are opposite it means those colours compliment each other well. For my design i used the colour wheel for the face, body and costume design. I feel that the colour wheel is very important as it ties the colours of the look together to make the design co-operate with the rest of the look. (Basic color theory, 2025)

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Basic color theory (2025). https://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory.

Glamour (2022) 'Wig maintenance & styling: what you need to know according to experts,' Glamour, 25 January. https://www.glamour.com/story/wig-maintenance-and-styling-tips.

DeGuzman, K. (2025) What is SFX Makeup — The Magic of Special Effects Makeup. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-sfx-makeup-definition/.

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When preparing the hair to be placed under a wig, its important to make sure the hair is flat and protected. For this, i wrapped the hair around and pinned it down before hair spraying the entire thing in my practice. After this, i placed a wig cap on top of the hair and tucked all of the pieces of stray hair underneath. When applying the wig, its important to make sure the lace is just after the hairline in order for it to look natural. I placed pins in the hair to make sure it was securely attached to the wig cap. (Glamour, 2022)

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Body painting can be used to change a models look entirely. It can also be used to add beauty to a full look and create a feel for the design. When i used body painting, i wanted to enhance the magic and beauty of the nymph. I wanted the body to look part of the forest she resides in so i added greenery and flowers. By doing this, i created a look that felt real and put across the vibe i wanted to create.

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SFX is the using of prosthetics, products and makeup to create a look of a real injury on stage or screen. Some benefits of using SFX makeup include creating a character, creating injuries to be seen on screen that look realistic. Without SFX, stage and screen be what it is today as SFX holds an important role of creating realism and feel to film and theatre. (DeGuzman, 2025)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbSgAZtRJM4

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For my design, i wanted to add wings to the back of the model using silicone and latex as if they were coming out of my models back. As a lot of my design had gold involved, i wanted to add gold flakes to the end of the wings in order to tie them in to the rest of the design. To attach the wings to the back of the body, I added popsicle sticks in between the feathers of the wings and attached them with latex. I then painted them black to match the colour of the wings. This meant that i was able to attach the wings without the feathers being damaged and to make sure they were securely attached to the back of my model.

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For the shoes of the costume, i really wanted to create the effect of the forest taking over the lower half of the body. To create this, i added fake leaves and fake moss to the shoes using hot glue. After creating the shoes i saw the entire vision of the costume and i was really happy with the results as i visualised how it would all look together and it looked exactly as i envisioned it.

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For my collaboration work with Neve, We added highlights for each person and added time lapses and photos from the competition preparation. This meant that we could keep track of everyone's progress and everyone had a place to look for all of their work so far. Me and Neve worked together to create the page and added our names under each post to make sure we could keep track of who added what post and highlight so we could divide the work evenly between the two of us.

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For the second makeup meeting, we spoke about our ideas for our designs for the competition and gave suggestions to each other on how to achieve our looks. Cordy had mentioned that she wanted to create a bug like creature so i suggested altering a bra and embellishing it to create a bug eye on her models face which she really liked the idea of. Luna had suggested to me that wings on the back of my model would be a great idea as it would create more realism and magic to the character and i took that on board with me.

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On the third week, we had another makeup meeting, after this meeting our makeup meetings would consist of how we were getting on with our practice and our designs. On the third makeup meeting we decided what day to hold the competition and if we should make it an event for parents to come and witness. We decided to not make it an event as we thought we would rather focus on the final makeup looks. We also decided that the Thursday of the final week would be the best day to hold the competition as that would give us more time to prepare and make sure we were all fully ready for the competition itself.

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For my final face chart, i traced a photo of my models face so that i could see the makeup as it would look on my models face. I kept most of the makeup the same as my initial design, however, i decided i wanted to add gold metallic powder to the neck and a small section of the chest of my model to tie in to the rest of the makeup. I felt like that addition of the makeup really pulled the look together fully. For the final makeup design i also decided to add elf ears to add a more magical and fairy-like look. I covered the ears in foundation and added some pink blush to the tips of the ears to link to the blush up the cheeks and forehead of the face.

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For the final body chart, i kept the design very similar to my initial design. However the only thing i changed about it was that i decided i wanted the skirt to just be white with some dirty edges as if my character had been sat in the mud while in the forest. I also decided on adding fake moss to one arm of the model so it wouldn't be blank in comparison to the other arm which had dirty and down powder and gold leaf attached to it.

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After finishing the leg, I decided to put the shoes onto my model as i didn't want the green paint i had just painted to be rubbed off as my model walked around. My next step was to paint my models stomach. To do this, i stuck to my design and used it as a reference as i painted. I painted the vines on first as i wanted them to look seamless and natural along the curve of my models stomach. After this, i started to paint the flowers attached to the vines, i started with the largest flower and used images on my mood board for reference. I started by painting the outline and then the centre of the flower, after this i filled in the gaps and cleaned up the edges of the water activated paint. I was very happy with the outcome as it made the impression of the flower coming out of my models skin.

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After completing painting the stomach, I decided to put the costume top on my model so that none of the water activated paint would be smudged as she moved around. I then started the SFX work on the arms. I started by mixing together vaseline and dirty and down powder and applying it around my models fingertips. After this, i brushed the powder all up her arm to the elbows and then applied more vaseline and dirty and down powder mixture to the arm and rubbed it in using my hands to create a more natural effect as i didn't want it to look brushed on intentionally. After this, because the arm was sticky, i used that to my advantage and stuck gold flakes onto the arm. After applying the gold flakes, i brushed some dirty and down powder around the edges of the gold flakes to make them look more implanted into the skin. For the other arm, i brushed dirty and down powder over the entire arm up to the elbow again and then used latex to apply fake moss in patches around the arm.

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After completing the arms, i decided to move onto the face makeup. To start off, i prepared the hair read to put the wig on. I did this because with the hair in the wig cap, my models hair would not be in the way of the the makeup. I started off the makeup by blocking my models eyebrows down by using hydro gel, loose powder and concealer. I then applied foundation to the face and ears making sure to work from the centre of the face outwards so that the makeup faded naturally into the models hairline. After this, i applied the eye shadow, i applied a base colour that matched my models skin tone before applying a light orange to the lid in an oval shape, after this i applied a burnt orange colour to the crease of the eye, again in an oval shape to create a saddened look to the eye shape. After this i applied a light shimmer over the lids of the eyes. After completing the eye look, i moved onto the eyebrows, using an eyebrow pencil to create a sad, thin, swooped shape. I then moved on to adding cream blush and cream contour to the face making sure that the blush touched the highlights of her face and the contour was in a natural position. After this i added loose setting powder under the eyes, the chin and the forehead to make sure the makeup stayed in place. Once i had completed that step, i added powdered blush over the places i applied cream blush and then added powdered highlighter to the high points of the face. I then moved on to applying just mascara to the lashes to create a natural lash look. For the lips i created a thin 1920's inspired shape with red in the centre fading out into the skin tone before adding gloss to the entirety of the lips. I then moved onto the neck in which i added gold metallic powder downwards towards the chest area of my model.

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When i had completed the face makeup, i moved onto applying the wings. Applying the wings was fairly simple. I mixed A,B and C of silicone and placed the wing on the back applying the silicone over the top of the wooden Popsicle sticks. I waited for the silicone to cure on both wings and applied a layer of latex over the top of both of the silicone moulds i had created to create more of a hold onto the wings so that they wouldn't fall off in case my model sweated or knocked them while moving around. After applying the wings i placed the wig on my models head and pinned it in place using hair pins. I applied the headpiece to the top of my models head and pulled the wig to be placed against my models back before adding the elf ears i had customised to match my models skin tone. After these processes, i added the skirt which was the last part of my costume and i had completed the makeup.

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After judging had finished, i helped my model take off the makeup i had done and we waited for the results. I was absolutely delighted to have known that i had placed third in the competition i was very proud of the work i had done and the hard work it had taken to get that far.