What started as a Halloween request from her daughter has quickly turned into a creative outlet for Robinvale mum of four, Crystal Jackson. The self-taught makeup artist has a passion and a natural ability to transform herself into characters that is hard to believe until you see it. She spoke to Ashlee Falvo about how she uses makeup to inspire her kids and to show them that anything is possible.
WHEN her daughter Angel wanted to be Freddie Kreuger for Halloween five years ago, Crystal wondered how she was going to pull it off.
“I wasn’t really a makeup kind of girl growing up; I suppose I’m still not really,” Crystal says.
“For me, I just love being able to use it to transform into a completely different person.
“When Angel said, ‘Mum, I want to dress up as Freddie Kreuger,’ I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I can do that for her’,” Crystal recalls.
“But she had her heart set on it, and I wanted to make it happen for her, so I bought some face paints, watched some tutorials and before I knew it, she looked just like the character.
“She was absolutely thrilled, she was just so happy and I guess that’s where it all started.”
Crystal was hooked on the world of makeup, and has been following her passion for creating fantasy looks ever since.
“I taught myself, basically,” she says.
“I watched videos on YouTube and started following special effects makeup artists on Instagram, and the more videos I watched, the more inspired I became. It just sparked something in me.
“There’s a whole world of makeup out there and heaps of information and tutorials to learn from.
“Your only limit really is your imagination.”
Crystal’s imagination has led her to transform into characters including Game of Thrones characters, the Grinch, Neytiri from Avatar and an array of terrifying zombies, vampires and skulls.
“It can take all day to create a look,” she says.
“There’s so much that goes into it, from applying facial prosthetics to the actual makeup and paint itself – it’s very time consuming, but because I enjoy it so much, it never feels like work.
“It just motivates me, it’s something I like to do for myself to challenge me – but more important than that, it means my kids get to see what it’s like to be inspired and motivated.
“I want for them to look at me and know that even if you didn’t go to a fancy school or whatever the case is, that you can always learn new skills and chase what makes you happy.
“More than anything, that’s what keeps me motivated, is that I’m setting an example for them.”
You can watch Crystal’s tutorials on YouTube by searching “Crystal Jackson Makeup.”
