Fresh from backstage at fashion week, Val Garland is sharing a very different beauty project with her fans today. The make-up artist and Vogue contributing editor is a judge on new BBC show Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star, a sort of MasterChef for make-up artists which is hosted by Stacey Dooley and sees 10 aspiring MUAs go head-to-head for the top prize.
“It was so much fun to film and so great to see the passion of these MUAs,” Garland told us over the phone. “They are all great make-up artists in their own right, but what the show does is test their ability to work under pressure and across a whole range of different schools of make-up. The camera is on you the whole time, and the pressure to do good make-up in a short time frame is pretty huge. Some people can hack the pressure, others fall to pieces, but hopefully all of them walked away having learned something. I was really pleasantly surprised by the daring and creativity of some of the artists.”
Garland judged the show alongside fellow make-up artist Dominic Skinner, sending home one MUA each week. A different creative brief each week means that the artists’ versatility and creativity is tested to its limits, whilst guest judges from the worlds of fashion, film and beauty ensure they’re kept on their toes.
“It’s so interesting because YouTubers have a very different approach to make-up compared to, say, editorial. In the world of Insta you can slap on make-up, and it’s also all about the process – you’re showing how you got there. But in editorial, you often put very little make-up on the skin. Both can be great, but they’re different disciplines,” Garland says. “There are so many lessons to be learned: for example, glitter might look great in real life, but under the wrong lights or on camera it might look like black dots on the skin. You only learn these things through experience. Ultimately they’re all very passionate, and you want to champion them and celebrate them.”
Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star starts on March 6 on BBC One at 10.35pm.
