AFTER spending many years perfecting her artistic abilities, Essequibo Coast resident Wazeefa Barakat, is using her face to recreate fictional characters.

Perfect for costume parties and dramatic plays, her work has been gaining traction on social media. She hopes that it will one day be widely embraced by Essequibians.

The Buzz recently spoke with the 25-year-old woman, who has used her love for the arts to create a household name for herself.

It was discovered that her shape-shifting makeup skills are just as popular as her charcoal drawing which is perfect for someone who is looking for a unique portrait.
Like most makeup enthusiasts, Barakat’s journey began with curiosity and rummaging through her mother’s makeup bag.

“I started experimenting with my mom’s makeup. It was very horrible at first. I didn’t know what I was doing and I started looking at YouTube videos and practising until I got it right,” she told the BUZZ.

Her curiosity for the arts peaked in high school when she was given an assignment which saw her exploring the composition of the human face. The assignment also tested her skills on paper.

“Later on in school, we did the anatomy of the human body and we had to draw the face. I went home and I looked at videos and my drawing came out really good. I had to draw for like half of the class [and] that’s when I realised that I was really good at drawing, and I kept on doing it,” she recounted.

“I just wanted to use my face as a canvas and so I just did it on my face,” she said as she explained what lead to her using makeup to produce her signature looks.

Barakat said: “I’m still discovering parts of myself and what I’m going to be doing.”

The marketing manager hopes to one day turn her “hobbies” – makeup and charcoal drawings – into her full-time job.
She said that she has gained a lot of recognition and her unique skills are in high demand.

She also has plans to widen her makeup and drawing skills.

“I want to get into cosmetics, like microblading, lip blushing, lash enhancement and aside from that I want to become a special effects makeup artist…I also want to try acrylic,” she said.

Meanwhile, she took the opportunity to speak about her most recent makeup creation in celebration of Halloween. This saw her transforming herself into the infamous Jack Sparrow character from the film series Pirates of the Caribbean.

She told the BUZZ that she was awe-struck by her own work.

“I was so impressed. I wasn’t sure it was going to come out that good,” she said adding that it took her about five hours to complete the look.