Johannesburg, June 2022 – The winners of the 2021 Kryolan SA #KryolanColourAddict Brand Ambassador search have come a long way in the year following the competition. The winners won over judges and the public with their impressive skills and dazzling original makeup creations and are now poised to make a big splash in their industries – in 2022 and beyond. Ambassador Chadwynne McCarthy discusses her love for makeup and her promising future.
Where did your love for make-up begin?
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been in love with horror/thriller movies. It amazed me to see how artists were able to create monsters or even just simple cuts and wounds that would terrify people. They did it all using only makeup, which seemed incredible to me, and I knew I wanted to learn how to do that.
“My earliest memory of playing around with makeup was when I was around seven or eight years old. I found one of my mother’s eyeshadow palettes that had the perfect green and purple shades that I would use to create fake bruises or veins to scare her with. I then learned I could use those same shades to make my eyes look pretty too. And it just sort of became something I’d play around with on myself and my father because he’s always been a very willing Guinea pig.
Funnily enough, as an eight-year-old (before YouTube and google), I never thought tomato sauce was good enough for blood, so syrup and food colouring was my fake blood mixture of choice. I would say now that my signature look is blood, pus, gore and things you don’t see every day.”
How has being a Kryolan ambassador impacted your career?
Working with Kryolan has not only given me the opportunity to learn more and become more confident in my art; it has also opened a lot of doors in my career, working with brands, campaigns and even production opportunities.
“Kryolan is such an established brand that everyone loves and trusts, and if they believe in you, everyone else will too. The first year that I signed with Kryolan I realised that my first-ever special effects product was a bottle of liquid latex and I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I finally have my full circle moment’.”
What has working as a Kryolan Ambassador meant to you?
“One of the best parts of being a Kryolan Ambassador is how much this brand encourages creativity and freedom to express yourself in your art. When I started working with Kryolan, I thought special effects makeup was all I’d want to do. Now, I’ve grown into loving, appreciating and doing body paint as well as glamour.
“Kryolan has helped me grow as an artist and gain the confidence to try out new things. They have supported every crazy idea I’ve had, and their amazing products have helped me execute them. I’d also love to thank Cuan (Cuan Kemp, head of Makeup, Education and Social Media for Kryolan) for always being so helpful, positive, kind and for always making me feel like I’m a part of the Kryolan family.
What does the next part of your journey look like?
“I’ve recently had an opportunity to work in production and I would love to broaden my skills within the film industry because that’s what drew me to special effects makeup initially. I’m also really excited to have renewed my stay with Kryolan and cannot wait to continue creating with them.”
To follow Chadwynne’s upward trajectory in the world of makeup, find her on Instagram (@thechad15), Tiktok (@thechad15) and YouTube (Chadwynne). As Chadwynne’s Tiktok profile write-up says, in her own words, “I do cool things to my face. Sometimes beauty, sometimes blood.” And as the wording suggests, anyone who follows this creative, colourful personality will attest that Chadwynne is anything but predictable, always entertaining and inspiring to watch.
ABOUT KRYOLAN:
Kryolan is a professional make-up brand that was founded in post-war Berlin in 1945 by Arnold Langer, who had a passion for theatre and science. Since then, Kryolan’s collection has grown to include over 16000 products, catering to a wide range of faculties within the make-up industry. Kryolan’s six fields of competence are TV & film, fashion, body art, theatre, SFX and consumer.
For more information on Kryolan, visit https://za.kryolan.com
