This week on Face Off, the 12 remaining makeup artists finally competed in their first solo Spotlight Challenge. They had to create original underground monster/prisoners inspired by random things in randomly assigned underground rooms. I already explained my problems with the design of the challenge in the new Sketchy Details @Home episode, so let's get right to the makeup.
This wasn't a hit or miss challenge; this was a hit, miss, or muddy the waters with odd choices challenge. The contestants mostly seemed as lost as I was watching the show. A lot of the designs were just weird and not in a good way. It looked like a lot of Halloween masks walking across the stage, especially with the costuming.
The judges and I mostly saw eye to eye this week. Our top and bottom looks were the same. We just didn't necessarily agree on the final ranking.
Frank landed on top with a very disturbing design. His creature was reduced to a mess of wrinkles and spikes in his underground imprisonment. The focus was 100% the mouth and it was the perfect choice. It was disturbing and believable. Too bad Frank put the model in that cut up but otherwise pristine orange cellblock costume. It really brought the look down and contrasted too much with the delicate gray skin.
Laura was once again on top with another stunning creation. Her monster was all about the claws and the styling. You could see the evolution of this poor prisoner, fingers fusing together and hair ripping out after years of abuse. Ve pointed out that the skin was too pink to be believable, but I disagree. You can't commend Frank for realism with his spike-mouthed no-eyed monster and then say Laura's paint made her character unbelievable. It's especially true considering the color palette of the winning makeup.
Miranda, once again, won. This time, I agreed. Her monster was shocking and fully realized. From the sunken beady eyes to the realistic wrinkles all over the body, this makeup sold me on almost everything. I think the teeth were too shiny and rounded to fit the story. Otherwise, it was a stunning piece.
Adolfo wound up in the bottom looks because of a bad paint job. Such is life on Face Off. He aimed for a warm, ruddy color and wound up at pumpkin orange. Orange is a color that just doesn't show a lot of detail. A better paint job could have saved the facial appliance with the too large a cutouts around the eyes (mask-like was tossed out by every judge and I agree), but nothing Adolfo did with an airbrush helped.
Roy was in the bottom for not finishing his makeup. He tried to fabricate a huge and impressive creature that, conceptually, could have won the challenge; he failed to complete it. The good facial prosthetic and terrible tentacles and costuming landed him in the bottom three. I would have sent him home. It was a terrible last minute fix made worse by poor choices. The facial prosthetic alone and better costuming would have let him slip through safe.
Scott was in the bottom three for being as confused as everyone else. His design had no cohesion and the color palette seemed arbitrary. There was no balance to his appliances. Also, he hit one of my worst pet peeves when it comes to costume design: hanging threads. Either shred the whole hem for a fully disheveled look or cut the hanging threads so you can't see them. I'm not joking about the pet peeve issue; I used to sit in orchestra pits for school musicals with a pair of scissors so I could run onstage during rehearsals and cut off the hanging threads.
Ultimately, Adolfo was sent home for a bad makeup job that made a mediocre sculpt look cheap and poorly made. I can't disagree too hard. Adolfo's one shining moment was his collaboration with Lyma on the Humpty Dumpty/Lady Gaga hybrid last week and that worked because of Lyma's paint and costuming. Adolfo's been struggling the whole way through and he finally got tripped up enough to be sent home.
What did you think of the episode? Share your thoughts below.