It’s been a roller-coaster of a few weeks for Mandurah’s rapidly-rising queen of make-up, but the ride’s not completely over yet.
Dawesville-based make-up designer Courtney Hollins has now reached the final challenge in the FACE Awards Australia and New Zealand, and will battle it out against five other competitors to take the title of top make-up artist.
So far, Ms Hollins has constructed some amazing face-based artwork in the likes of a zombie clown, a Mad Max-inspired post-apocalyptic wanderer and comic book superhero, so it’s no surprise she’s got big plans for the final stretch.
“I’m pretty OCD about these things, so I have been planning this for a few months,” she said.
“I wasn’t sure I would get to the finals completely, obviously, but I was hoping I would do really well, and preparation has been a big part of that.
“I deliberately made sure the next couple of weeks were pretty clear of clients, so I would have time to prepare for what the challenge was, and have that space to think about it.”
Ms Hollins leapt to national attention in May, when images and tutorial videos of her undeniably artistic work went up online as part of the FACE competition.
Since then, not only has her skill in design and application earned her credit, but her passion and imagination have made her stand out from the pack.
“I’m really glad all the ideas have worked out,” Ms Hollins said.
“Coming into it, I knew I wanted to do something different from the norm.
So right from the start I was making sure that not only were my concepts really, I guess, weird and strange, but also that I had a really good idea of how I was going to approach it.”
Clearly though, in a medium as new and fluid as make-up artistry, there is always room for improvisation.
Ms Hollins’ previous creation, a mesmerising-yet-slightly unsettling “gumball head” for the theme of “Candy Shop”, was a good example of this.
“Originally, I had candy teeth to use as part of the design,” she said.
“But something I probably realised a bit earlier was that hot glue and candy don’t mix.
“Cut to me trying to clean melted sugar off of the whole thing – it was a mess.”
Ms Hollins was able to think quickly, commandeering to Chinese takeout containers into replacement sets of teeth.
It’s this approach – an almost MacGyver-like ability to turn ordinary objects into her fascinating creations – which has arguably gotten Ms Hollins to this point.
And while her final design is currently a closely-guarded secret, those that have kept an eye on her work will likely get more of the same.
“The theme is royalty, so there’s a lot of ways to go there,” she said.
“I don’t want to give away too much yet, but I can say it’s something you wouldn’t expect.”
Ms Hollins’ next round of voting begins on July 5: you can support her by voting on the FACE Awards website.
