Arts University Bournemouth student wins BBC Three's Glow Up

AUB makeup student Sophie Baverstock won the show in yesterday evening's tense final which saw her compete against fellow contestants Craig and Dolli for the title.

The trio presented their final work to industry professionals in a bid to become Britain’s next makeup star and win a host of opportunities to work with key industry contacts.

The outcome of the show has sparked celebrations among staff and students at AUB.

Twenty-one-year-old Sophie, who came to study BA (Hons) Makeup for Media and Performance at AUB after completing an Arts Foundation Course in Suffolk, has worked on a range of disciplines at university, including prosthesis, studio work, and theatrical performance.

Sophie’s successes on the show included work to demonstrate her skills in the use of colour; creating a facial representation of the work of artist Francis Bacon, which earned her a coveted ‘ding-dong’ seal of approval from Glow Up Judge and L'Oréal Paris Global Makeup Director Val Garland.

Speaking about Sophie’s time at AUB, Sara Taylor, course leader for BA (Hons) Makeup for Media and Performance, said: “I’m absolutely delighted for Sophie. The programme has showcased Sophie’s talent, ability and specialist subject knowledge as a professionally trained Make-Up Artist.

“In her degree studies, over the last three years, Sophie has worked so incredibly hard to ensure that her transformational work is sophisticated, creative, seamless, intelligent and contextually accurate.”

She added: “The quality and calibre of her practical applications highlight the importance and significance of studying the full-time degree BA (hons) Make-up for Media and Performance. I look forward to watching her career developments with great interest!”

Diagnosed with autism at 17, Sophie has used the show to engage and speak to others living with conditions that affect social interaction like autism.

Sophie Baverstock had to balance her time on the show with her university studies. Picture: Jon Beal/AUB

Sophie said: “Being a young woman who’s autistic is difficult because there’s a lot of preconceptions and misinterpretations as to how I’m meant to behave and how I’m meant to be.

"I wanted to go on Glow Up to show that there are people who’re in the creative industries that can thrive when they’re feeling comfortable!"

The makeup artist, who is still deciding what to do after her win, took on the challenge of completing her final year studies at AUB while working on the show, using days between filming to write up each creative brief and examine strengths and weaknesses in her work.

Sophie even missed Christmas celebrations as she was too busy preparing her wig-making skills for the show to take time away.

The ten contestants on the show, which included six makeup artists, a care worker, journalist, photographer and beauty guru, battled through eight rounds to fight for the title, working on areas of makeup design like glamour, retail, film and TV and experimental.

She added: “When I applied for the show, and the lecturers at AUB sort of gave their go-ahead, I was definitely getting the satisfaction from their belief that I could do it and that was in the back of my head the whole time. If it wasn’t for Wayne, Caroline and the whole makeup team, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do it.

“The competition was just so open, and I knew from the moment we had to take our makeup off for before and after shots in the first episode, we’d have to give everything to it. I was very intimidated when I got to filming because I was the least experienced.”

“But as soon as I got to the prosthetics week, I realised that a lot of people watching probably don’t know as much about what’s going on, and that’s been really fun! This is when we can show audiences why people come to university to study Makeup.

"I really like to push this so much, as there’s a level that makeup artists can really aspire to!”

To read more about AUB’s BA (Hons) Makeup for Media and Performance, visit aub.ac.uk/makeup.