This week on Face Off, the 11 remaining contestants were tasked with creating original mother earth goddesses. They were also supposed to draw inspiration from their own mothers in the design, but very few people actually took that approach.
You already saw what I would do on the show with this challenge--the first time I would actually do that design concept for a makeup with Sketchy Details @Home. Now let's take a look at what the actual contestants did.
Do we need to talk about RJ? He was the clear loser. Not only did he not actually complete the challenge (no mother earth goddess in the design), he did a bad makeup. The colors were terrible. Even if you buy the kitsch approach, this was the challenge to do a beauty makeup and RJ went full-Halloween mask. I'll miss him since I loved his aesthetic. He just let his own experience on the show get in his way.
The top looks allowed for more debate. I agreed with the judges' choices for the top looks but didn't agree with their ranking.
There was no question that Laura did a beautiful makeup. It's a variation on a recurring theme in her work. She loves doing human/insect and human/plant hybrids. For me, the actual design of the character wasn't as strong as her previous concepts in this style. The paint job was one of her best in two seasons and I loved the color combination. I actually thought the costuming was a bit messy and didn't like what it did to the proportions of the character. It was flowy and fitted at the same time and I think an explosion of colorful fabric on the bottom would have really made the detail pop on the chest piece.
Roy's concept was brilliant. The quality of his sculpt was amazing. I loved the birch-style paint job. Roy is another contestant who, to me, got the proportions off on the body. I did not like the pink cape dragging on the ground. I also think the roots needed to be shorter or longer. Hitting just above or below the knee but not really pushing them out to create a much wider base--think poodle skirt, not pencil skirt--didn't balance the height of the piece. The model looked top heavy. I also really did not like the amount of green foliage on top. More blossoms would have made a very interesting play between winter and spring in the character. That kind of tension would have been a showstopper.
Lyma's makeup blew me away. Once again, she designed a high concept piece with fantastic paint. The prosthetic tree trunk leggings provided the perfect support for the fertility womb--the rabbit was a great touch--and actually balanced out the wild wig on top. I think the chest piece should have gone wider across the chest to better balance the wig (like Jade Jolie said on RuPaul's Drag Race, those shoulders should match those hips, it helps make the body proportions look more believable). Lyma's wig was one of the best that's ever appeared on the show. My favorite details, though, were all in the paint. The ombre effect of the bark on the feet fading into the natural flesh of the model was gorgeous. The blend of colors between the shoulders allowed the model to support the wig with her arms and keep it in the right place onstage. The color combination in the upper body was unexpected but did a lot to soften up the rigidity of the tree trunk base. I thought Lyma was the clear winner.
The judges disagreed. Laura won the challenge. I can't complain too much; all three top looks were incredibly ambitious and worthy of praise. I just preferred Lyma's wild concept more than Laura and Roy's more literal interpretations.
Thoughts on the challenge? Share them below.