DieHard TryHard: Face Painting

By Staff Writers Felicity He, Finnegan McCarthy, Mansi Mundada & Prisha Virmani

As the weather gets cooler and Halloween approaches, the face paint palettes of MSJ students finally emerge from a year-long hibernation. Inspired by the seasonal tradition of spooky costumes and festive makeup, this DHTH follows four Smokies and their experience with the art of face painting — just in time for Halloween.

Before

Felicity He

It’s well known among my friends and family that I can’t do makeup. I cannot contour my nose or blend out blush, much less draw a straight line. However, if there’s one thing I can do, it is spending long minutes cross-legged on my bedroom floor, creating and then intensely judging my pre-shower attempts at avant-garde makeup. The keyword here is attempt, shown by when I painted on a totally fake-looking burn scar for my Zuko costume last year. Just as Ozai cooked Zuko’s left side, the ugly splotches of color cooked me, which leads me to believe that simple is the way to go for this DieHard TryHard. After all, less is more, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll end up on top.

Finn McCarthy

Billie Eilish once asked the question, “What was I made for?” While it sounds like she has some soul-searching to do, I know exactly what I was made for. Having spent the past 11 years training for this exact moment, I know that I have what it takes to create the most beautiful and colorful design out there. With a little creativity and more colors than a Crayola factory, I will paint my way to victory in this DHTH.

Mansi Mundada 

With years of art experience in my back pocket — from the mountain of eraser shavings created on my desk after many attempts to perfect not-so-perfect drawings to the amount of pages I’ve outright murdered with splattered paints — I’m confident that my art skills will secure my spot at the top of the podium. Although I’ve never touched face paint before this DHTH, I know that my creativity and years’ worth of painting disasters — I mean, masterpieces — will carry me through this challenge. I just know I will be able to make the most magnificent face painting the judges have ever seen.

Prisha Virmani 

Armed with nothing but raw talent and a medium I barely know,  I’m stepping into this challenge with the boldness of Kahlo and the precision of a surgeon — at least in my imagination. Sure, I’ve barely touched face paint, but details don’t matter when destiny is calling. After a couple of third-place finishes in past baking challenges, maybe painting is where I’ll finally win. I have a plan tucked up my sleeve and when the clock starts ticking, the competition won’t know what hit them. With a steady hand, a splash of chaos, and unshakable faith in my creativity, I’m ready to paint my way to first place. 

 

After

Felicity He

My second place finish was totally unexpected,   c especially as I was going up against much more artistically inclined competitors than myself — with Finn’s 11 years of experience, Mansi’s years of art training, and Prisha’s creativity. I’m glad my mostly-steady hands, clear artistic vision, and probably-expired face paints compensated for my artistic inability and took me to this high a rank. Even though I wasn’t the best face painter today, the flower I painted on my face has come a long way from my sorry excuse of an attempt at drawing Zuko’s scar. Next DieHard TryHard, though, I’m definitely aiming for first place.

Finn McCarthy 

I guess I was a little too dead-icated — because I absolutely killed this DHTH. When I looked at the competitors around me, I realized that they had gone for smaller, but much more detailed designs. Panic set in — was I being too ambitious? Too confident? Was painting my entire face green to look like a zombie a mistake? But with shaky hands and the cheapest face painting set from Michaels, I clawed my way to the top, winning my first DHTH. In the end, accidentally ingesting all of that face paint was worth it. I can only hope that future challenges will be just as bright.

Mansi Mundada

After forgetting to bring water to dip my brush in and having to use my water bottle, my expectations diminished the second I started painting. My result proved my fears right. My brush had a mind of its own and left my face painting looking less like a masterpiece and more like a crime scene. No amount of wipes could save me from the atrocity of a fox I ended up painting on my face, and everytime I tried to fix a smudge, it somehow made the design worse. Yet even though my face painting was a mess, experimenting with facepaints was fun and pushed me to try something new. Maybe in the next DHTH, I’ll be much more successful, but until then, I’ll just have to “brush it off” and keep trying. 

Prisha Virmani 

Even with painted flowers on my side I’m cursed with third place. Maybe it was too much, too little, or simply a matter of inexperience. Still, there’s something poetic about my streak, as if the universe has decided that bronze is my signature finish. But in this moment, third place doesn’t feel like failure; instead, it feels like fuel. This challenge pushed me to stretch my creativity in ways I never expected — I literally used a plastic bag to add the flowers to my face — experimenting with texture and form in a way that taught me to improvise on the spot. Maybe I’m not a champion yet, but I’m building a collection of near-victories that are bold, colorful, and entirely me.