The art of makeup has been around for millennia—from ancient times to the present day. In the East, there are the time-honored forms of Kabuki theater; in the West, we have Avant Garde artists on the cutting edge of fashion; and the internet is awash with its beauty gurus and makeup tutorials.
Makeup blogger He Yuhong hails from the East, and she’s taking the art of makeup to the next level. You might have to see it to believe it!
The 27-year-old from Chongqing in Southern China goes by the online name Yuyamika. She’s become famous on platforms like Instagram and YouTube for her unreal transformations. Applying makeup to herself, she becomes any famous person that you can imagine, and more.
“Once you see your face as a blank sheet of paper, the opportunities are endless,” she told Xinhua.
Using makeup, Yuhong creates the illusion of contours, complexions, and wrinkles. She becomes famous faces like Taylor Swift, Johnny Depp, and Albert Einstein, and they’re stunningly convincing. Her transformations are so real that you just might be fooled. Just take a look and see—she posts all of them online:
But creating famous faces wasn’t enough. Yuhong wanted to push the limits of makeup to a higher level. So, she decided to accept a challenge. “A netizen commented that I looked like Mona Lisa after I shaved off my eyebrows, and tasked me the makeup challenge,” she said.
“Makeup artists concentrate mostly on trying to recreate the looks of celebrities,” said Yuhong. “Few came up with the idea of transforming into figures from oil paintings. I did it.”
And by the looks of it, she’s succeeded. Yuhong’s transformation into Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci was a sparkling success. “The biggest challenge came from her mysterious smile. It’s very difficult to imitate,” she said. Yuhong had spent days studying the structure, color, and shade, Xinhua reported.
She followed up with another famous Leonardo portrait: Lady with an Ermine. After that came something even more challenging: Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.
Soon, appreciation for the young artist’s work was swelling online. To date, Yuhong’s Instagram page has garnered 590,000 followers; she has 18,000 subscribers on YouTube.
“I’m happy to see that people like my recreation work. I’m greatly encouraged by their positive feedbacks,” she said.
Now, Yuhong plans to create 72 videos, each starting from bare skin to new face. Many will draw from famous oil paintings. Truly inspired work!
