Face Off 08x04 - Royal Flush

SPOILERS

We immediately jump into this week's episode, where they go to a casino that's used in filming.  Their task is to take one of the face cards of a traditional deck of cards (including the joker), and create a Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland kind of character out of it.  It also has to include the suit that they get along with the character.  This is also their first individual spotlight challenge, so we'll get to see some of the cream rising to the top.  I have to freeze frame this to get all the cards to people down, since they do it as quickly as they can:

Jamie - King of Spades, Adam - King Of Clubs, Rob - Jack Of Spades, Emily - Queen Of Hearts, Daniel - Queen Of Diamonds, Stephanie - King Of Diamonds, Darla - Jack Of Hearts, Regina - Joker, Anthony - King Of Hearts, Ben - Jack Of Diamonds, Logan - Queen Of Clubs, Kelly - Queen Of Spades, and Julian - Jack Of Clubs

Some people decide to go more literal, but there is also the other meanings of the cards, and Ben wants to use the other meaning of the Jack of Diamonds, which is Patience.  So he's going for an older character.  Adam decides for a play on words, and since he has the King Of Clubs, he's going to do the King of Nightclubs.  Daniel (who they're subtitling for AGAIN.  JESUS) has the Queen of Diamonds, and he's worried.  He's never even held a lipstick (really...?), so he has no clue about how to do a beauty makeup.  I know he's only been at this for less than a year, but to all you budding makeup artists out there (especially of the straight male persuasion) - LEARN BEAUTY MAKEUP.  YOU WILL HAVE TO DO BEAUTY MAKEUP SOMETIME IN YOUR CAREER.  IT'S NOT HARD.  (jumps down from soapbox)  Jamie, who got the King of Spades, is actually the last person to get a model, and there's only a female left, so she's already up shit's creek, and has to figure out how to make this work.

The coaches show up, and Anthony's like 'aw shit' when he hears that Jamie got stuck with a gender swap, since that's just added nonsense that you don't need on top of an already crazy deadline.  So Jamie has to change her whole concept, and goes more for a Napoleon complex dandy/silly kinda dude.  Anthony (of Team Rayce) has the King Of Hearts, and focuses on the fact that that particular card is stabbing himself in the head, so his King is brokenhearted because he saw the Queen of Hearts die in front of him.  He's also doing a gender swap, but he did it by choice because he wanted it to look very gaunt.  Emily has the Queen Of Hearts (basically the character that this whole challenge was based around), and she decides to go more in the human heart shaped way.  She's off to a good start.

Daniel's in a really bad place.  He hates his concept (NEVER a good place to be), and his sculpt looks like a man.  So, after talking with Anthony, he decides to scrap it.  So now he's behind AND needs a new concept.

Mr. Westmore also comes through, and his visit seems REALLY fast, but I guess that's because there are 13 makeups to go through.  We see some more ideas, like Rob with the one-eyed Jack, doing a Musketeer kinda character with a spade eyepatch, and Regina having her joker have a face on the front and back of his head.  Logan wants to do a heavier set Queen with the club right in her face.  He's having some issues with the wrinkles obfuscating the club shapes, so he has to work on that.  Rayce is concerned about him.

On Day 2, we see molding and more cowl work, and Darla is making hers have sculpted hair.  Regina is already editing, and just using the same face on the front and back instead of two different faces.  Emily is working on her asymmetrical wig, and it's looking AWESOME.  Anthony wants to have a literal bleeding heart to show that his King of Hearts is brokenhearted, but Rayce warns him that it could be too horror, and that he'll be called out on it (with a cute little impression of the judges).  So now all he has is a face piece, and he's learning about the 'Face Off Freak-Out'.

Julian doesn't know what paint scheme he wants to do, so he decides to pour gelatin into the mold so he can practice, but it won't set, so now he's gotta scrape it out and power wash it, and he wastes a bunch of time with it.  Sometimes those decisions work out, and sometimes they go horribly wrong.  It's really in the hands of the mold gnomes.

On Application Day, Stephanie gets the unpleasant surprise that she's had a last minute model change.  Kevin can't come, so she's got Omar instead.  They look NOTHING alike - one in Japanese or Korean, and one is Arabic.  It actually looks like that Jamie got a model change too.  It said at the beginning of the episode that she got Akemi, who has a very round Asian face, and now she's with Alexandria.  They don't say anything about it, but I NOTICED.  I NOTICED.  I watch this show so much that I know all the models' names and faces, so you can't fool me, show!

Anthony is having problems with his gender swap idea, since all the wigs are making it look really feminine, and everyone else took all the other wigs.  Daniel is now trying to do the beauty makeup, and he's not feeling it.  In last looks, Emily puts his eyelashes on the model for him.  I'm sure after this, learning how to put on fake eyelashes will be one of Daniel's top priorities.  Regina's REALLY behind on her Joker.  The paint looks messy, and she still doesn't have the back face on.  In Last Looks, Anthony is HATING his, and he calls it a tornado of crap.  He's very concerned.

Let's take a look at the final creations:

Stephanie's King Of Diamonds:

It's... not bad, especially considering that she had the model swap issue.  You can see some definite issues around the mouth where the prosthetic didn't fit properly.  I think the judges do give her some latitudes on that, though.


Jamie's King Of Spades:

I don't hate this one as much as the judges, but it's REALLY rough up close, and the hair is halfway between sculptured and vacuuformed, so it looks kind of weird.


Kelly's Queen Of Spades:

I actually REALLY dig this one, and like it more than one of the other ones in the Top Looks.  Kelly had Nayeli, or the model with the HUGE ASS eyes as you may have noticed if you've seen a few episodes of this show, so the eyes look freaky as hell.  She's the perfect matronly magistrate.


Logan's Queen Of Clubs:

Conchita Wurst!!!  Yep, looks like she's got a beard.  I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, but even Logan admits that she's Beautiful and Bearded.


Julian's Jack Of Clubs:

I'm not as enamored with this one as the judges are.  It gets a Top Look, and it's very well done.  I'm not taking anything away from Julian's work, but I guess it just comes down to my personal preference, and I liked Kelly's Queen Of Spades better.  But there's some great work in the face, especially with the shapes of the clubs, which are far more organic than the other Club characters.


Ben's Jack Of Diamonds:

Kinda looks like old clown makeup.  If that was the look he was going for, it's well done, because it does look like old makeup that's been worn for several hours, but I don't think it was....  Love the weird old lady eyebrows, though.


Adam's King Of Clubs:

Welcome to Pimptown.  Population: This guy.  It's actually a pretty cool makeup though.


Rob's Jack Of Spades:

The whole spade eyepatch thing kind of got lost, which is a shame, because it's one of the more solid concepts.  He also has issues with lifting, and Glenn practically rips the face off the guy.


Daniel's Queen Of Diamonds:

...It didn't turn out very well.  He had problems all challenge, and it really showed that he just didn't have a solid concept.  The mouth is really distracting.


Emily's Queen Of Hearts:

Soooo pretty!!!  Everything about this one turned out fabulous!  And she's only 18!


Regina's Joker:

Where's the suit?  I LOVE how well the forward/backward thing works (and it works REALLY well because from far away, you can't really tell), but she didn't really use one of the suits in her makeup.  The face paint also looks rushed (which she was since she was behind).


Darla's Jack Of Hearts:

There is something SO sexy about this guy.  Is it just me?  Darla was my pick for the whole thing if you remember, so it's hopeful to see her kicking some ass with this design.


Anthony's King Of Hearts:

It's a hot mess.  And I'm sure Anthony would agree with me.


So, we get to the top looks, and it's Darla, Emily, and Julian.  The bottom looks are Jamie, Daniel, and Anthony.  I predicted Emily to win, and she does!  Glenn's in awe of how good she is at her age.  Also, all of the top looks were from Team Laura.

I really wasn't sure who was going to get kicked off for bottom looks.  I was pretty certain that Jamie wouldn't, because the other two were just too full of problems.  Turns out it was Daniel.  I suppose because at least you could tell that Anthony's was inspired by hearts, and the diamonds weren't as evident in Daniel's.  So, Anthony now lost 2 members of his team.  Rayce still has all of his.