We’re all guilty of being so into a tv series that we’ve imagined ourselves as one of the characters. We won’t judge, we do it too.
However for Lottie May Taylor, there’s no wishing needed – her magic power is transforming herself into any character she wants. Geralt from The Witcher? Check. The Grinch? Done it. The Mona Lisa? Of course!
Safe to say we’re proper ‘made up’ (get it?) that we got to sit down and have a chat with the 24-year-old SFX makeup artist.
“I get asked a lot about why I first started doing makeup, but it’s always something that’s been there,” Lottie told us. “My obsession with SFX makeup was born out of my favourite tv shows and games – I wanted to see if I could recreate the characters and special effects that I saw on my screen.”
With each makeup lewk taking three hours to do, you can colour us impressed.
“Every October I do the ’31-day challenge’, which is a look every day for the lead up to Hallowe’en. I love doing the crazier stuff because it really messes with people’s heads.”
“My favourite transformation so far is when I did my makeup to look like Coraline – someone actually got in touch with me on Instagram and said that they liked it so much, they were going to recreate my idea. That was a really great moment.”
Although she gets a great reception from her friends and co-workers at Boohoo, Lottie says that her family are her number one fans.
“My mum, dad and sister are always there supporting me, no matter how crazy I look that day. But my dad doesn’t understand a lot of the characters I do – for example when I did the Grinch, he said that I was ‘a really good reptile’.”
However, it would seem we’re not the only ones who are crazy about Lottie’s skills. The Official Makeup Awards has shortlisted the SFX artist for ‘Creative Makeup Artist of the Year’ in the North West region. Obvs we’re reyt proud!
“Being shortlisted is absolutely amazing. I won’t find out for a while, but the recognition really solidifies what I’m doing as a creative. This began as something I do in my spare time locked in my room, so to be sharing a platform with other amazing makeup professionals is fab.”
We can’t wait to see where Lottie and her amazing SFX skills go next. As people who can’t tell the difference between a matt lipstick and a gloss, we just had to know what her top tips are.
“Find your own niche, use whatever resources you have available and stick with it. Things often come together in the last ten minutes of creating a look. When I first started doing makeup, I was rubbish – my eyebrows in particular have been on a rough journey to get to where they are. If you’re passionate about it, you’ll be fine.”
You can follow Lottie on Instagram and TikTok under @dropdeadg0re.
