Face Off pulled a fast one by surprising its remaining makeup artists with a slightly altered challenge concept. Behold, the Focus challenge!
Before getting to the grit of this big twist, let us rewind to last week, where we were left with four contestants facing elimination in the “to be continued” 100th episode. Jason, Missy, Meg and Nora were all on the chopping block for their poorly received undead engaged couples. To refresh your memory, here’s a look at those finished makeups again.
Meg and Nora
Jason and Missy
It was Missy the judges said goodbye to this time.
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“There was a lot that went wrong with both of your characters,” judge Glenn Hetrick said. “Two of the biggest missteps were your muddy paint job and the poorly executed bone shoulder.”
Missy was openly disappointed as she fought tears away. “I still have a lot more to show. I still have a lot more to prove. I need to keep my mind open.”
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First individual face off
Now back to the Focus challenge twist. What exactly is it? “Focus challenges are similar to Spotlight challenges, but they require you to focus your efforts on the most important part of any successful makeup: the face,” host McKenzie Westmore told the contestants, who were excitedly shocked by the news. “Because the scope of your work has been limited, you’ll only have two days to complete your Focus challenge. With this focus on the face comes a more stringent judging criteria. The judges want to see attention to detail, which means clean makeups with great edges, great blending and great painting.”
This first Focus challenge also brought the first opportunity so far this season for the contestants to compete individually. Their task was to create a protagonist character in a mash-up theme combining classic literature and horror in the same vein as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
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How did they do? Here’s a closer look at each finished makeup, where they ranked and the mash-up theme each contestant selected.
Finished looks in the middle of the pack
These are the teams that were classified as “safe” by the judges.
Kevon: The Legend of King Arthur and his Undead Knights
Jordan: Gulliver’s Travels in the Underworld
Ben: The Legend of King Arthur and his Undead Knights
Ricky: The Exorcism of Monte Cristo
This was my personal favorite of all the finished makeups, which is why it’s the main image in this entire story. I definitely think it deserved a better placement than a middle-of-the-pack ranking.
Nora: Gulliver’s Travels in the Underworld
Libby: The Exorcism of Monte Cristo
Evan: Sherlock Holmes — Bloodsucker
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Best of the best
The following makeups were labeled as the “top looks” of the challenge.
Scott: Don Quixote — Monster of La Mancha
He wanted to make it look as if his creature was created from the parts of dead workers, much like Frankenstein. “There’s a strong understanding of anatomy and anatomy that’s been afflicted,” judge Neville Page said. “Brilliant.” For those reasons, the judges named Scott as the overall challenge winner.
Jasmine: Sherlock Holmes — Bloodsucker
Her creation was Sherlock’s vampire daughter who has taken over his investigations. “It’s well applied. It’s beautiful far away — and it’s even better up close,” judge Ve Neill said.
Glenn said she accomplished all the goals of the challenge “exceedingly well.”
Stevie: Don Quixote — Monster of La Mancha
“The level of detail that you accomplished in such an inordinately small amount of time is, in and of itself, something to be very, very proud of,” Glenn said.
At risk for elimination
The following makeups were labeled as the “bottom looks” of the challenge.
Meg: The Scarlet Letter — Puritan Poltergeist
“I am distraught. I just know that this is not gonna go over well,” Meg said before presenting her finished makeup to the judges. Her fears were right.
“It looks very bizarre to me,” Ve said. “It’s a poor sculpt. It’s a poor paint job. There’s just so many things that have gone wrong for you this week.”
Jason: The Scarlet Letter — Puritan Poltergeist
“I don’t think she looks demonic,” Ve said. “I don’t think she looks childlike. I think she looks like a weird vegetable that’s pink and purple. I don’t know how these furrows in her skin look demonic in any way.”
Brittany: Great Expectations of a Serial Killer
The judges felt as if she bit off way too much for this challenge by trying to do a burn and old-age makeup mixed in one character. “You just tried to do something too big and too difficult for this challenge, and it showed in the final results,” Glenn said.
In the end, Brittany was booted from the competition. “I’m going out on a makeup that I’m not proud of, but I’m just so very thankful to have been here. I have learned so much, and I hope to have a long career here in Hollywood.”
Images: Syfy
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