Face Off Season 11 Episode 4 Recap: Snow Queens
For its fourth episode this season, Face Off’s all-star teams got the cold shoulder from McKenzie. But she’s not mad. This week’s challenge is snow queens.
Hello special snowflakes, and welcome back to your favorite Face Off recap. The remaining all-star teams for this winter-themed challenge are:
- Emily Serpico & Tyler Green
- Ben Ploughman & Evan Hedges
- Keaghlan Ashley & Melissa Ebbe
- Gage Hubbard & Rachael Wagner
- Niko Gonzalez & Cat Paschen
- Logan Long & Adam Milicevic
- Cig Neutron & George Troester
This Week’s Challenge
They head into the studio, but in their way is a winter wonderland right in L.A. Whatever could be going on? It’s this week’s challenge: snow queens!
FACE OFF — “Snow Queens” Episode 1104 — Pictured: (l-r) Evan Hedges, Benjamin “Ben” Ploughman, Logan Long, Adam Milicevic — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Today’s spotlight challenge is to create a beautiful, powerful snow queen based on a unique snowflake. The artists dig around in the snow for seven big, plastic snowflakes. Since this is a fairly straightforward challenge, they lose a day in the studio. They have two days to create their snow queens.
FACE OFF — “Snow Queens” Episode 1104 — Pictured: (l-r) Gage Hubbard, Rachael Wagner — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Keaghlan and Melissa decide to go evil with their character. Emily says snow queens have been done so many times she wants to do something really unique, so their concept is “evergreen ice queen.” They want her to resemble a fir tree covered in snow. Cig and George have immunity from last week’s challenge, so they go for something weird. Their character died while trapped under the ice. They plan to run their face piece in silicone for a transparent look, so the model’s skin tone shows through. Cig and George will paint the model’s face first and then apply the silicone face piece so it looks like she’s trapped under ice.
Logan and Adam opt for a warrior queen. Ben and Evan go for a dark, black ice character. Keaghlan and Melissa’s snowflake has shards sticking off it, so they plan to work that into their queen. Niko and Cat’s queen will look like an ice sculpture inspired by the statue of liberty, since that’s what their snowflake looks like to Cat. Gage and Rachel plan an elemental ice queen with ice spiders.
Back in the Studio
The artists all seem pretty confident in their ideas as they dive into sculpting phase. Teamwork is totally happening here.
FACE OFF — “Snow Queens” Episode 1104 — Pictured: Keaghlan Ashley — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
For his mentoring session, Michael tells Logan and Adam to make sure their crackle design doesn’t look like a puzzle. He asks Ben and Evan about the saturation of their shade of purple. Michael likes Cig and George’s idea, but tells them to not make the tip of the nose black to represent frostbite. He recommends that Cat and Niko do a foam latex overlay instead of silicone, because that would be too heavy.
His advice for Keaghlan and Melissa is to use only one material for their icicles, because some of them are looking like horns. Michael isn’t nuts about Gage and Rachael’s idea for teeth, and tells them to focus on their spectacular cowl. He tells Emily and Tyler they have really great texture going, so they should focus on washes and not so much on brushes.
FACE OFF — “Snow Queens” Episode 1104 — Pictured: (l-r) Gage Hubbard, Rachael Wagner — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Now the contestants are on to hair, molding and pre-painting. Rachael’s using LEDs on her headpiece. Niko and Cat haven’t yet worked their snowflake shape into their character, so they start fabricating and ice torch and crown pieces to do that.
FACE OFF — “Snow Queens” Episode 1104 — Pictured: (l-r) George Troester III, Cig Neutron — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Today’s mold drama victims are Adam and Logan. There’s a crack up the back, so if they run it in silicone it will probably leak. If they use foam latex, however, they can’t get the precision shapes they wanted. They take a chance and use silicone anyway. At the end of Day 1, Cat and Nico feel behind because of their inexperience with fabrication and they’re doubting themselves.
FACE OFF — “Snow Queens” Episode 1104 — Pictured: Logan Long — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Application Day and Last Looks
On application day, everyone’s moving right along. Niko and Cat are still trying to decide if they’re going to keep the crown they fabricated, because they don’t think it looks great. It’s also cracking so they scrap it. Rachael and Gage’s edges are looking bad and need to be repaired. Ben and Evan’s edges are taking way too long and they feel like they’re falling behind. By the end of the day they haven’t done any beauty makeup and they’ve only finished 20% of her paint job. Everyone else’s makeups are almost done (and looking pretty great, I might add), so Ben and Evan are hoping for a miracle in last looks.
FACE OFF — “Snow Queens” Episode 1104 — Pictured: Cat Paschen — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
In last looks, Ben and Evan are still applying their cowl. As they finish up, everyone’s makeups are looking quite beautiful, so they’re really happy. And so it’s on to judging. How did everyone’s snow queens turn out? What did Glenn, Ve and Neville think of the makeups?
Mushy Middle
Cig and George’s Snow Queen (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Cig and George: Their frostbitten snowqueen looks gross, like it’s supposed to. It’s interesting and well done. Glenn likes the use of silicone and syncopated lines, but the jawline looks a little masculine. Ve doesn’t think this makeup should have been used for this challenge.
Ben and Evan’s Snow Queen (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Ben and Evan: This queen character doesn’t really read like ice to me; it’s green and platinum. Ve thinks the chin piece looks like a beard. Glenn says the paint job went too dark. Neville says it kind of looks like road ice and Ve says maybe that’s what they meant.
Gage and Rachael’s Snow Queen (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Gage and Rachael: The judges like the concept, but not the execution of her forehead icicles. Ve wishes they’d focused more on the beauty makeup on her eyes.
Top Looks
Adam and Logan’s Snow Queen (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Adam and Logan: Their ice queen is the best use of stencils Glenn has seen. Ve loves the incredible profile and subtle beauty makeup. Adam and Logan’s ice queen is beautiful, spectacular and strong. The forehead shapes that are inspired by the snowflake, combined with the blue on white shading, are just stunning.
Emily and Tyler’s Snow Queen (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Emily and Tyler: The evergreen ice queen is absolutely beautiful. They successfully conveyed their narrative of their queen melting away in the oncoming spring, and the silhouette of the hair form is perfect. It’s super complex and they did a huge amount of work. Ve says she’s exquisite and could step right onto a movie set. The judges are blown away by the paint job. All the colors Emily and Typer chose were perfect. It’s sophisticated and complex.
Bottom Looks
Cat and Niko’s Snow Queen (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Cat and Niko: They were not successful this week. Niko and Cat’s makeup is very simple, and the character really looks just like the statue of liberty. It seems uninspired and derivative, and lacks the symmetric beauty of a snowflake. It’s nice, but it’s very vanilla. The snowflake is not reflected anywhere in the character.
Keaghlan and Melissa’s Snow Queen (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Syfy)
Keaghlan and Melissa: Glenn says the problem with this makeup is the proportion, and the way the heavy ice crown brow foreshortens the model’s face makes her look oddly masculine. Ve says it looks like the crown has slipped down out of place. Neville has some physiological issues with the placement of their crystals. It’s not awful, it’s just off. Elongating the makeup and lifting the crown off her brow would have made all the difference.
This week’s winners are Emily and Tyler for their absolutely exquisite makeup and creative concept. Ve was almost falling out of her seat in her excitement for the evergreen ice queen. I had high hopes for Emily this season and it looks like she’s living up to them! You are also very creative and talented, Tyler. The two of you make a great team.
As far as the bottom looks, Cat and Niko’s statue of liberty concept just put them on the wrong path. They are going home. Although Keaghlan and Melissa’s proportions were off, the better aspects of their design and makeup kept them in the game for another couple weeks. Both teams look like they were kind of expecting this outcome. Cat couldn’t even look at the judges, while Keaghlan and Melissa stood with their chins up while awaiting judgement.
Next: Face Off Season 11, Episode 3 Recap: Mattel's Monster High
Looks like Valentine’s Day was not good luck for adorable artist couple Cat and Niko. But they still have each other and masses of talent, so I’m sure they have a bright future. I will miss seeing Niko’s hair, though.