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S09.E07: All That Glitters

Tara Ariano

By Tara Ariano
in Face Off [V]

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Demented Daisy

Demented Daisy

I am annoyed at the number of times "drag queen" was used as a criticism in this episode.  I could post pictures of dozens of drag queens who use only shading and contouring, not prosthetics, to look more feminine than any model on that stage tonight.

 

Face Off, I expect better from you.

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Quilt Fairy

Quilt Fairy

Stevie was fucking robbed. She did a makeup, Meg did a mask. I can't believe how upset I was when they said Meg was the winner.

 

All-around, really poorly done. I don't understand how you can call yourself a makeup artist if you can't apply makeup. One consideration I will give the contestants, however: the male models on the show are, well, male models, with very manly features. In Shakespeare's time boys, not men, played a lot of the female parts.

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Ketzel

Ketzel

(edited)

That was just . . . I have no words. I didn't think a single one of the contestants succeeded in making their model believably feminine. The skill level over all is extremely low - and once again we have a mass panic at the thought of having to do beauty makeup.I'm not surprised that Mr. Westmore's mentoring has become so basic and specific. When the contestants can't tell what forms make the difference between a sculpt reading "male" and a sculpt reading "female," I guess it's necessary to stand there explaining that cheeks need to be rounder and, oh the Adam's apple needs to be hidden.

 

And what was up with Stevie (?) worrying about never having done "ethnic" skin tones before? I suppose her own "non-ethnic" skin tone is the default?

 

Edited by Ketzel
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Quilt Fairy

Quilt Fairy

The models were so broad of shoulders that none of the silhouettes were remotely feminine.

I know you didn't intend it that way but the phrase 'broad of shoulders' just makes me laugh. They were all also high of cheekbone, square of jaw, narrow of hip, and tight of butt.

  • Love 24
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bilgistic

bilgistic

I really don't know how the judges found anything nice to say to any of the contestants. That was the worst bunch of makeups I've seen in the entire run of the show. Not one was redeemable. Ophelia was maybe the worst--that Baby Jane situation will haunt my dreams.

  • Love 7
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Quilt Fairy

Quilt Fairy

The Ophelia one pissed me off. I just saw "Hamlet" live on stage three weeks ago, and her method of death was suicide by drowning. So why did she have all of those scabs and pustules all over her face?

His edges were crap so after the fact he created a backstory that because she was insane she was picking at her face.

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Mr. Simpatico

Mr. Simpatico

 

All-around, really poorly done. I don't understand how you can call yourself a makeup artist if you can't apply makeup. One consideration I will give the contestants, however: the male models on the show are, well, male models, with very manly features. In Shakespeare's time boys, not men, played a lot of the female parts.

This is a very good point. I think they should have either gotten a special group of models (young boys or specifically feminine looking men) or had a gender switch of transforming the female models into some of Shakespeare's male characters. Pretty much all the make-ups were pretty bad (though I probably would have sent Evan home rather than Ricky), Meg's worked mostly I think because she got to do a scary otherwordly make-up (which is in most of their wheelhouse sculpt wise) and not just a Ophelia or Lady Macbeth "regular" woman. 

 

The only thing I was impressed about this episode was when Kevon knew Joan of Arc by the name on the card, Joan La Pucelle...

I did like that BUT...maybe because I am a bit of a Joan of Arc fanatic but that make-up was one of those that impressed me least. WTF with the scar across the face? There have been so many pictorial/sculptural/media versions of Joan of Arc from her time to our own that I thought Kevon lucked out beyond the rest of them. She WAS an actual historical figure so we do know a bit of what she looked like - dark hair, short, stocky build (perfect for a MAN!), and she was a teenager. The thing was Joan wasn't a woman trying to look like a man (though she was accused of that by the English), she cut her hair short because long hair got in the way of battle and the page-bowl cut (which Kevon didn't give her) was type of the day for the military and she wore men's clothing because it prevented her from being molested. Her fellow soldiers and the enemy never confused her with a man. If I was Kevon I would have highlighted the two most obvious feminine things about Joan that could have been made with make-up - the fact that she was only 17 (so would have looked like a young boy with a very smooth face - not a badass scarred adult man) and by historical accounts had a very feminine body (with "beautiful breasts" as one comrade put it) and that could have been made with prosthetics. I know that's nitpicky but his Joan looked like a generic soldier with bad hair and bad skin. A wasted opportunity. 

I was surprised that Jasmine was the ONLY one of the contestants who seemed to dramatically alter the body shape of their male models to look like a woman's (in this case a pregnant one). Maybe they were all spooked by the judges going off on Jordan's fabrications from Star Trek week?

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GaT

GaT

Why do they have fully costumed models for a focus challenge? They’re obviously not just focusing on the face if they’re doing the entire body. I thought every one of the makeups was crap. they troweled the makeup on, it looked terrible.

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Iguana

Iguana

Yay to Face Off for having a non-monster challenge. Boo to face off for having incredibly crap make ups this week. Even the winner still looked fake as hell, although it was at least the most feminine face. Almost all the looks were these horrid thick make ups, like the buttercreme icing on a birthday cake, or stiff and oddly textured, like house paint over spackle that was still moist. I'm surprised the judges didn't go with there being no winner this week, and putting about half the contestants in the bottom.

I must admit that it is comforting to come here and see that y'all thought tonight's make ups were bad, too. I would say this is the least successful challenge in several seasons, possibly the whole series. How disappointing.

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pnina

pnina

This had to be one of the worse shows ever for Faceoff. There was not a single look that I liked or thought had been done by anyone with any real skills. The "winner" was actually the best of the worst.  A very lackluster group of contestants.

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phoenix780

phoenix780

I thought Lady Macbeth looked like one of the Real Housewives (specifically Kim from Atlanta), which in this context is a compliment.  The rest...I agree with the majority so far in that it was pretty weak.  I know there was real skin separating the nose/cheeks/chins for a lot of them, but it showed so much on the closeups.  

 

I wish they'd have had Ve give a live demo.  It would have been cool to see her work, and maybe the results would've been better if people could have studied her technique.  Plus, I'm sort of curious how she pulled it off, since none of the contestants really did.

 

The whole feminine fairy thing I also found annoying.  Same with the witch, actually.  There are enough female characters in Shakespeare to have given them all humans, I think.

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seacliffsal

seacliffsal

I thought it sounded like a good challenge at the beginning. But then...oh no. I agree with others that it always seems like beauty make-ups throw everyone off although it seems like a required basic skill for make-up artists. I ended up doing other things and just having the t.v. run in the backgound which is the first time I've ever done this with Face Off. Bad executions. Disappointing episode.

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Kromm

Kromm

(edited)

Stevie should put on her resume "came in second a zillion times on Face Off". She's always the Bridesmaid, isn't she?

 

I did think the skin tone on her model was REALLY bizarre though.  Nobody has that skin tone. It looked like Blackface (which is even worse when the model under it WAS black).  Still, she's come in second SO often maybe she's due better placement, even so.

 

I knew early on that if the Insect makeup worked, Meg would win.


And what was up with Stevie (?) worrying about never having done "ethnic" skin tones before? I suppose her own "non-ethnic" skin tone is the default?

I think she's due a break just for the bad choice of language to describe the situation.  I mean it's true the makeup techniques are pretty different. Personally I think we saw the proof she had no experience in this area. Despite what the judges said, the color she settled on was outrageous. What must have been great were her edges and anatomical choices. 'Cause that skin color just looked nutty-coo-coo. 

Edited by Kromm
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Quilt Fairy

Quilt Fairy

Did anyone else notice they only had a top and bottom 2 this week? I would have been more than pleased if they said there was no winner this week. Didn't they do that once?

 

I guess I liked Stevie's better than other people did. Even if you didn't like the paint job, she did soften her model's face into something resembling feminine.

 

Oh and "Hecate"! I forgot about "Hecate". Although wouldn't you know I just looked it up and it says "HEK-a-tee; in Shakespeare, HEK-et". Apparently the (mis)pronounciation was common in Shakespeare's time.

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azshadowwalker

azshadowwalker

For all her fussing about the skin tones, Stevie actually did a better job with Hippolyta than I expected--not sure why she went quite as dark and orange as she did but she did a decent enough job at the end. 

 

The reasons I had no problem with Stevie coming in second were both the colors she used and the fact that you could so clearly see where the prosthetics ended and the model's face began. 

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LoneHaranguer

LoneHaranguer

 

Stevie was fucking robbed. She did a makeup, Meg did a mask. I can't believe how upset I was when they said Meg was the winner.

The judges were being kind not to just declare Meg as the obvious winner. In fairness, I noticed part way through the morphs that all of the models were particularly masculine; the producers weren't making it easy, and it's no wonder nearly all of the contestants decided that just using makeup wasn't going to do the job.

 

 

Pretty much all the make-ups were pretty bad (though I probably would have sent Evan home rather than Ricky), Meg's worked mostly I think because she got to do a scary otherwordly make-up (which is in most of their wheelhouse sculpt wise) and not just a Ophelia or Lady Macbeth "regular" woman.

Meg got the shapes right. You shouldn't have to be doing a supernatural character to accomplish that. One thing I remember from my high school lessons on Hamlet is that Ophelia is supposed to be a teenage girl (and Hamlet twice her age, though most productions don't go there for obvious reasons). That makeup wasn't coming close (even before the failures), although the contestant mentioned that the character was supposed to be young.

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Canada

Canada

Why is it that week after week on this program, the contestants are able to produce face pieces with beautiful smooth skin, which they are able to paint flawlessly, yet this week it all went to shit?  The skin textures all looked awful and some didn't even work once they tried to get make-up on there.  Did they all just get freaked out by the making-men-women thing?  Awful, awful week.  Not one of those creations looked any good to me.

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Glade

Glade

I think of Rachel Bilson every time I see Meg, she bears such a strong, adorable resemblance.  I don't know if I'm more upset that she did a monster and won, or that almost everyone else did such boring crap with their 'characters,' just some horrible dresses, wigs, and bad makeup.  Really, that's all you could up with for Tatiania???  She was the queen of the faeries, not the queen of England.  What was worse was all the squealing, as if it's that unimaginable or difficult to blur gender lines.  Heteronormative squares... The one who didn't use prosthetics could have at least asked her model to shave.  But drag queens look a lot better then this. 

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DHDancer

DHDancer

What astounded me was that no-one used their female model heads/busts to help them!   Sitting right there were the direct comparisons of men to women facial differences.  And what was with all the bad hair?  They all managed to further distort their finished looks with seriously bad hair too far down foreheads etc.    Yep, really really bad efforts all round.

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BensBritches

BensBritches

(edited)

I've never been a fan of the makeup in Mrs. Doubtfire...

 

I'll duck with you as I always thought  RW looked like a man in a dress.  God, this episode has to go down as one of the worst in the history of the show.  I really wish the judges had reamed the contestants out and either didn't pick a winner or admitted they were picking the least bad of an awful bunch. I'm surprised they did not comment on the harsh edges on both of the top looks... you can absolutely see the edges (particularly around the chin area) on both Stevie and Meg's models.  I hated Stevie's paint job, personally, so if there had to be a winner, I was OK with Meg winning. But I still can't get over the fact that all the make-ups were deeply flawed and the judges did not say anything to this group as a whole.

 

I too thought perhaps there as something to the heat in the workroom that lead to the paint not going on smoothly or the latex bubbling and cracking or the glue not adhering.  But if this were the case, I would think the contestants or the judges would have said something so the audience did not automatically think the contestants are just not skilled this season (which is my take away from this episode since I was given no other information).

 

Anyone who watches RuPaul's Drag Race knows that while some drag makeup is over the top, most of these men know how to apply makeup to feminize their face in a highly flattering manner.  It's all about contouring... and not all drag queens have naturally "feminine" faces, they achieve it with make-up, good wigs and perhaps a good waxing! It does take talent to transform a male face into a female-looking one, but I would never have guessed it would be so hard for these so-called "makeup artists/professionals." 

 

Disappointed in this season all the way around.  No stands out for me.  I still don't know half the contestants names, which at this point in the game is truly saying something. Have no feelings about Ricky going home (even though I would have sent Evan home) because I could not have put a name to his face before last night for the life of me. 

 

When does next season start? 

Edited by BensBritches
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Kaoteek

Kaoteek

Last week, I predicted that this challenge would be a disaster, but I didn't know it would be that bad. Yeesh.

 

That said, I mostly agreed with the top two (the top one, really), and the bottom two, but still... pretty mediocre results. I liked the camaraderie & the wig competition, though.

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Pallida

Pallida

Add me to the list of people annoyed about the negative comments about drag queens.  Drag queens utilize makeup to present the illusion of being females (and sure, at times, it's hyperfemale or overly exaggerated, but it's performative).  These artists could learn a lot.

 

I believe there have been several comments this season about the artists needing to know more about anatomy, and this challenge showcased that.  I took one forensic anthropology class 9 years ago, and I think I know more about facial bone structure and features that are more "typically female" than they do.  Some tried to change the brow ridge, but if they had watched any RuPaul's Drag Race, they would have seen better ways to do it...

 

Contouring utilizes darker and lighter tones, so I understood Stevie's concerns with not knowing how to work on darker skin tones.  However, the colors she used looked far more like a joke about someone addicted to tanning.

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Texasmom1970

Texasmom1970

I think of Rachel Bilson every time I see Meg, she bears such a strong, adorable resemblance.

Thank you, been driving me crazy who she reminded me of. I think her hair color and with the shaved side was throwing me a bit trying to remember the actress.

  • Love 1
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starri

starri

The conflating of drag queens with transgenderism (looking at you, Jasmine) kind of bothered me.  And then I immediately undercut my own point by thinking that Kevon's makeup looked like Caitlyn Jenner.

 

I didn't love the challenge, but I do think Meg was the right winner here.  And on a pure makeup level, I think Jasmine's was probably the most successful, because she didn't desperately cling to a prosthetic that wasn't working and instead focused on what she was good at.

 

I'm hoping we get a better result next week.

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Linderhill

Linderhill

 

Worst pronunciation of Hecate that I've ever heard in my life. As bad as the make-ups.

This drove me crazy.  I don't care if its supposedly a "Shakeperean" pronounciation, it was ignorant.  I am glad that he didn't end up going with the the zombie idea tho' because that would have been just as ridiculous.

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grumpypanda

grumpypanda

I came here just to say that this was worst Faceoff challenge ever but apparently 30 other people beat me to it. The whole concept of this challenge would have been fine as a foundation challenges but it didn't work for the main challenge because swapping genders shouldn't require full on masks.

Every makeup was bad including the top two. I can't believe Stevie was in the top when it was unbelievably clear where the prosthetic started and ended.

I hope next week is better because the only makeup I've liked all season was the Frankenstein looking character from the literary mash-up challenge. I can't figure out if this is just a weak group of contestants or if the challenges just suck this season.

On a positive note, Jasmine looked quite pretty in the lab with her hair braided and without that ugly black lipstick.

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Quilt Fairy

Quilt Fairy

(edited)

I can't figure out if this is just a weak group of contestants or if the challenges just suck this season.

I don't think this season's challenges suck at all. I know I had really high hopes for this one! (Dashed, obviously.) TPTB seem to be listening to viewer complaints (or at least OUR complaints!) about "nothing but monsters and aliens" and going back to the types of challenges we saw in the first couple of seasons, which required a more well-rounded skill set. The epic fail is due to the contestants, IMO.

Edited by Quilt Fairy
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snakenax

snakenax

 

Boo to face off for having incredibly crap make ups this week.

I'm honestly surprised anyone was surprised by that, or really when that happens for any of the 'real person' make up challenges the show has had, like it's previous gender swap, old age etc make up episodes which also had uniformly bad performances. This is for a obvious reason: such make ups take much longer to create and apply than the usual make up the show and are actually a fairly specialized skill(the people studios turn to for that kind of make up can basically be counted on one hand) and so what you get are a bunch of people doing their first time at a very technical and involved skill that requires fine knowledge of anatomical detail and that only look right when given eight hours to apply and cover with make up.

 

It's not like this group was uniquely bad there, the first season had a lot of long term industry professionals who did embarrassingly badly in that season's gender swap episode(and the less said about season 2's old age make up the better).

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qtpye

qtpye

(edited)
Anyone who watches RuPaul's Drag Race knows that while some drag makeup is over the top, most of these men know how to apply makeup to feminize their face in a highly flattering manner.  It's all about contouring... and not all drag queens have naturally "feminine" faces, they achieve it with make-up, good wigs and perhaps a good waxing! It does take talent to transform a male face into a female-looking one, but I would never have guessed it would be so hard for these so-called "makeup artists/professionals."

 

 

If you ever see RuPaul himself out of drag...you will notice he does not have particularly feminine features.  However, he has no problem transforming himself into a stunning woman.  I wish he had been on this episode as a consultant.   The contestants could have seriously used his help.

 

I think Vee Neil is a goddess, but I have to agree that Mrs. Doubtfire was not a good male to female transformation. It has almost become a joke how no one in real life would believe that Robin Williams was a woman.  In fact, Arrested Development parodied it by having Tobias Funke wear a wig, old lady clothes, and bad make up try to pass himself off as "Mrs. Featherbottom", when he looked nothing like a lady.

 

Does anyone think it was kind of ironic that the eliminated contestant, Ricky, actually did have pretty feminine features?  If  I did not know better, I would think he was the contestant this year that also worked as a female impersonator.  I think that guy has been eliminated, which is too bad, because he might have produced a decent makeup in this challenge.

Edited by qtpye
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Biosynth

Biosynth

Maybe it's me but the only thing I could see in looking at the Hippolyta makeup was Tiger Lily from Peter Pan.  All she/he needed was a feather.

 

And the fake chin was really in your face.

 

I did like the winner's look though.  And I'm glad Jasmine was safe.

  • Love 1
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Canada

Canada

If you ever see RuPaul himself out of drag...you will notice he does not have particularly feminine features.  However, he has no problem transforming himself into a stunning woman.  I wish he had been on this episode as a consultant.   The contestants could have seriously used his help.

 

I think Vee Neil is a goddess, but I have to agree that Mrs. Doubtfire was not a good male to female transformation. It has almost become a joke how no one in real life would believe that Robin Williams was a woman.  In fact, Arrested Development parodied it by having Tobias Funke wear a wig, old lady clothes, and bad make up try to pass himself off as "Mrs. Featherbottom", when he looked nothing like a lady.

 

Does anyone think it was kind of ironic that the eliminated contestant, Ricky, actually did have pretty feminine features?  If  I did not know better, I would think he was the contestant this year that also worked as a female impersonator.  I think that guy has been eliminated, which is too bad, because he might have produced a decent makeup in this challenge.

 

He did say that his boyfriend is a drag artist.  Probably why he did that part well.

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Linderhill

Linderhill

I'm still trying to figure out why the first thing all of the contestants seem to do was to cover their model's cleft chin. Did they have the mistaken impression that only men have cleft chins? Plenty of women have them so its not a particularly masculine trait. And it seemed like practically all of those chin pieces didn't get blended in well.

It is interesting that beauty make up seems to be such a feared challenge for the contestants on this show when historically, most if not all of the winners are proficient at it.

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needschocolate

needschocolate

I'm still trying to figure out why the first thing all of the contestants seem to do was to cover their model's cleft chin. Did they have the mistaken impression that only men have cleft chins? Plenty of women have them so its not a particularly masculine trait. And it seemed like practically all of those chin pieces didn't get blended in well.

 

My guess is that they figured it was easier to hide any stubble by covering the whole chin. 

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