Glow Up Entries

Well, Glow Up finished ages ago and I'm only just getting round to posting this! I've been meaning to put together a little post explaining my weekly entries to The Girl Meets Brush (GMB) Academy Glow Up Inspired Challenge Series and I'm finally doing it! Let's call it an attempt to relive the show...

Throughout the BBC series, GMB founder and celebrity MUA Lynne Mills set weekly tasks within the academy inspired by that week's episode, with weekly winner and runner up awards. There would be an Overall Winner of the series, Overall Runners Up and a Rising Star award. The talent within the academy is insane and I was thrilled to win a few runner up positions and one winner position over the 8 weeks but didn't expect to be anywhere near any of the overall awards. To say I was surprised when I was announced as this year's Rising Star is a huge understatement. 

To win this award you had to have "consistently submitted & shown creativity as well as development throughout" the competition. 

The challenges did push me and I do think I can see development over the weeks. I thought I'd use this post to go into a bit more detail about all my entries and explain the meaning behind them. 

Week One - Create a look that shows what makes you unique. 

Earlier in the year I made the decision to step away from clinical midwifery. I loved my job but honestly it was killing me mentally and I know I made the right decision. I will always be a midwife at heart though. I wanted to create a look based on a quote that has stuck with me throughout my nearly 13 years in practice as a student and qualified midwife:

"A midwife must possess the hands of a lady, the eyes of a hawk and the heart of a lion."

Week Two

Task 1: What does freedom mean to you?

Awarded a runners up place 🏅

Admittedly, the look I created here has a lot of ties to the background of my week one entry 😆 For me, makeup is where I find my freedom.

Having handed in my notice and left my job as a midwife in the NHS I feel free to pursue my career as an MUA and explore what I enjoy doing so much. I'm free from night shifts, burnout, stress, etc and can actually explore the makeup industry. This is what I want to be doing and it feels so wonderful to have the energy to focus on it. 

In this look I'm peeling away the minimal makeup I used to wear to work and revealing the colourful, glittery creative artist beneath.

Task 2: Create a beautiful jewelled lip

If you're gonna do a jewelled lip, you may as well go bold right?! Plus, I don't often get to embrace green lipstick and I quite like it! 

I kept this one pretty simple, making sure I was happy with my placement and symmetry. 

It's not the most practical makeup, but I did love it! Plus, it would probably help me improve my efforts with Slimming world..

Week Three - Create a makeup look inspired by your favourite artist or artistic movement. 

Awarded a runners up place 🏅

There was no thumb twiddling at all for this brief as I knew straight away I wanted to create a Pop Art look. This is such a fun artistic movement! I love the play on the dramatic expressions (not that I'm a drama queen...) but also love the Pop Art posters with the 4 colour squares so wanted to incorporate a poster art feel. 

I actually really enjoyed doing a full look using only paints - no makeup used at all.

Week Four

Task 1: Create a TikTok makeup video 

Here's the final look from my video but I'll pop the link here if you want to see how I got there ⬇⬇⬇

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMessmNu4/

I thought I'd go for a simple transitions video creating a glam/night out look since I think so many of us are desperate to throw our lashes on and get out out again!

Task 2: Create a makeup look that looks as though it has gone through a face filter, choosing any type of filter or inventing one of your own.

I did it.  I went bunny.

There was no TikTok required for this task but I couldn't resist making one so feel free to find it on my TikTok! 

Week Five

Task 1: Create a makeup look that is Out of this World

Awarded a runners up place 🏅

When I started thinking about this brief I was drawn to the moon, it's rough surface and, particularly, the craters. Remember the "crater face" insult that's thrown around in Grease? I thought perhaps a crater face could be a thing of beauty for Moon People. Uneven skin/bumps/craters/pores could all be embraced and even considered attractive. 

Not much primer needed for Moon People eh?!

Task 2: Create a graphic glitter eye

This was an entry I absolutely loved! I got Tobias fully involved and asked him to choose the colour and shape. Is it brave or stupid to ask a 3 year old?

I reckon it paid off anyway..!

Week 6

Task 1: SFX Makeup - Create an injury.

I used my very willing and supportive husband for this entry! Anyone who knows Pete knows he's a very keen cyclist ( I often wonder if he loves his bike more than me) and I live in fear of him being involved in a nasty crash. Naturally, therefore, Pete + a cycling injury = where my mind jumped straight to after reading this brief. 

He made the mistake a while ago of telling me about road rash so I opted to create this on the upper arm, a deep cut on the face and a black eye. I used liquid latex, tissue and sfx fake fresh blood, then added detailing with SeneGence ShadowSense. 

Task 2: Create a makeup look that is inspired by any of the Seven Deadly Sins

Awarded a WINNERS place 🥇

I chose to portray envy. I can definitely relate to the concept of the green eyed monster so wanted to create something around that theme. I wanted to do a half face to show that envy is very much there underneath the surface. I didn't want to dramatically change any facial features as envy is a human struggle, so I didn't want to go too monster.

Week 7

Task 1: Create a look for a music video. Choose an artist and one of their songs, and create a look that is bold and dramatic enough to stand out on camera. 

Awarded a runners up place 🏅

I chose Welcome to the Black Parade, My Chemical Romance for this entry. I was 16 when this was released and was all about emo pop rock! ♥ I wanted to create a striking look for the vocalist that portrayed rebellion, angst, chaos and a real depth of emotion whilst keeping it gender neutral. I planned initially to finish with a bold black lip but once I'd done the eyes I decided it would be too much so went to the other extreme! I tried instead to create an otherwise blank canvas so the eyes were the only focus. 

I did use an app to darken my hair but the image is otherwise filter free. 

Task 2: Create a look inspired by your "guilty pleasure"

I'm 31, I'm a mum, I work and I've always got a million and one jobs to do...but I love taking some time on my phone and playing Project Makeover 😳🙊 (it's basically like Candy Crush with some makeovers thrown in 😂). 

This is absolutely a guilty pleasure for me because 

1. It's embarrassing 

2. I could absolutely be getting on with jobs!

It does help me to switch off though and clear my mind. It sounds so silly but it really does provide a bit of an escape.

Week 8

Task 1: Create a look that represents your Signature Style as an MUA 

I LOVE to play around with different colour combinations, sometimes clashing, sometimes complimentary, sometimes monochromatic with different tones. Colour = fun and makeup, I think, is all about fun, creativity and empowerment. I love to bring bold colour into everyday makeup - it's something I didn't used to do but it's brought me such confidence. Why save colour for fashion shoots/big events/runway? If I can help anyone to feel more confident in themselves then that to me is doing a good job. 

Task 2: Create a look that represents why you are Unstoppable as an MUA/who you are as an MUA

Awarded a runners up place 🏅

What makes me unstoppable as an MUA is the care and compassion I bring to my work. With a background in midwifery I am a natural carer and I find such joy in helping people to feel strong, empowered and to recognise and express their beauty. 

The Red Lotus flower signifies care and compassion. It represents love and the heart. This is the perfect way for me to describe and express my passion and motivation behind makeup. We are all strong and beautiful and we all deserve to know that. 

Phoof. If you made it to the end of this blog post I'm impressed. 

I'm so grateful to GMB for running this challenge, for the awards throughout and for my overall award. 

When does the next series start..?!

Love Clare x