Student impresses on national stage at recent WorldSkills UK competition

Brighton MET student Irene Rico Llavador recently took part in the national qualifiers of the WorldSkills UK SFX Makeup and Hair for Film and TV competition in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

The competition is designed to assess the abilities and skills of the different competitors entering the fields of creative media makeup, special effects makeup, and hair and makeup for film and TV.

To get through to this stage, WorldSkills UK hosts an entry stage, where people from around the UK are encouraged to enter and do the makeup from home, with some contestants being invited back to take part in the next stage.

Irene, who studies media, hair, and makeup at the college, revealed the brief for the first stage of the competition featured a fictional scenario revolving around a car accident. She said:

“We had to do two different makeup tasks, recreating a brief they gave us. The story was that there was a person in a car accident and then a paramedic came to help that person.

“So, we had to recreate an injured person with some cuts on the face and some blood and stuff, and then the makeup for the paramedic as well, which would be more a natural makeup.”

She then described where she was when she received the news, she had made it through to the next round:

“I was in Spain when they made the decision because I was visiting my family and I got an email. I got really excited because I knew there were a lot of people who submitted their work for the competition.”

Irene also talked more generally about her time at Brighton MET College, adding:

“I think it’s been really good. I didn’t really know if I wanted to do makeup as an actual job before coming here, and I think it’s helped me realise that it’s a thing I can actually do and take further.”

Later this summer, a select few from the latest round of national qualifiers will be invited to take part in the national finals, which will take place in Wales in late November.