18-Year-Old Erin Timony Painted a Van Gogh on Her Face
YouTube beauty guru, Erin Timony, also known as FreshBlush. (Photo: Erin Timony)
At the fourth annual NYX FACE (Fine Artistry of Cosmetic Elites) Awards hosted by Kelly Osbourne on Saturday, August 22, talented makeup artists ranging from professional editorial stylists to YouTube vloggers — with plenty of overlap — competed for a grand prize of $25,000 and $1,000 worth of NYX cosmetic products for their kit. One of the finalists was 18-year-old San Diego-based YouTube guru Erin Timony, also known to her fans as doll-faced vlogger FreshBlush with over 7.6 million views at press time. Timony was one of the six top contestants, whittled down from 60 in the first round, and culled from over 3,000 total entries for the competition. During the three rounds of competition, contestants perfected avant-garde looks on their own faces, which they also filmed on their own. While another makeup artist, Mykie of Glam&Gore, won the grand prize, Timony’s artistic creations are worth noting for their ingenuity — especially since she’s never been to professional makeup school.
The ‘Starry Nights’ look. (Photo: Erin Timony)
“Before the FACE Awards, I had only done very natural looks,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. Now, I know that makeup can be so much more than just looking pretty, and that it’s a dramatic art form. It’s pushed into the avant-garde.” This was Timony’s second year in a row facing off at the competition, and while it will be her last time competing there (she wants to give other vloggers a chance), she’s busy enough being a college student. Timony graduated one year early from high school and started studying at MiraCosta Community College, with the aim of transferring to a four-year university to study film, in order to produce higher quality videos and improve her growing brand.
The psychic look. (Photo: Erin Timony)
“It’s interesting because I was super duper shy in middle school — you wouldn’t tell now, but because I was so shy, I made a YouTube channel,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. “I didn’t have many friends and switched schools many times. I found that I could connect with thousands of people without leaving my bedroom, which is a shy person’s dream.” Many of Timony’s subscribers were middle school students like herself, looking for makeup tutorials for a dance or class. Many of them emailed her to tell her about how her video tutorials have improved their confidence levels. In one video she posted when she was 14 called “‘I’m So Ugly!’” Timony responded to the teenage girls who apologize for being “ugly” just because they’re not wearing any makeup. “No one needs makeup, and no one is ever ‘ugly’ without it. It’s horrible that so many girls and women feel so dependent on makeup,” she wrote in the text-based video. “Makeup is fun. You can do anything.”
The sparkly mermaid look. (Photo: Erin Timony)
Timony’s creations at the FACE Awards this year are a testament to her belief that makeup, whether it’s for school or for a performance, is fun and full of possibilities. Check out the three rounds of competition below:
1. Timeless Beauty
“I figured that everyone was going to do makeup throughout the decades for this theme, so I wanted to do something out of the box,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. I was inspired by how art is timeless.” The three artworks she referenced were Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss,” Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” and Lynda Benglis’ many sculptures made of acrylic paint and sparkles. Timony’s trick for glitzing the lips is putting Luster Dust, a fine shimmer powder used for pastry decoration, over a layer of lipgloss. Her go-to tool is the richly pigmented NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil ($5), which she uses over an eyeshadow base. “It’s not just for the eyes,” she says.
2. Paranormal Activity
For this theme, Timony transformed herself into a psychic and a zombie, painting her entire face with a white cream base, finished off by NYX Studio Finishing Powder ($10). When she’s doing heavy-duty makeup applications like these, she uses NYX Honey Dew Me Up Skin Serum & Primer ($17). “It has sheer golden flecks that dissolve into your skin,” Timony says. “But normally I just use Cetaphil.”
3. Mermaids and Mermen
“I brought 20 wigs to the competition,” Timony tells Yahoo Beauty. While she didn’t know what the themes were beforehand, she knew they would come in handy for the transformations. For her sparkly mermaid look, she covered her entire face in clear lipgloss in order to get supernatural beyond dewy skin. To unclog her pores, Timony uses the Clarisonic Mia Skin Cleansing System ($99).
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