We all love make up don't we ladies?

It might takes us months or years until we find the right product. I am always on the lookout for talented make up artists in the UAE so when I find out about 17-year-old Emirati, Nouf Al Jahdhami, I couldn’t help but admire her work.

But, she is not your typical make up artist. Nouf is into special effect make up. Yes at her young age, she is already planning a career in the growing Emirati movie industry. Check out what she had to say to Abu Dhabi Week:

Hey Noaf, I am sure our readers are intrigued to know more about your passion with special effects make up and how it all began. Please spare no details!

It started two years ago with a mere interest in basic and beauty make up. I didn’t feel like it satisfied my urge to be creative and do something artistic. Special effects make up is all about illusions, transformations and bringing to life what is unreal, which is why I was drawn to it. I love to find distortion in an object or human, then it becomes completely beautiful. Make up is not always about bringing out the natural beauty of a person.

What made you go for this type of make up?

It’s the fact that creativity is limitless in this type of make up and you can discover worlds of characters. A make up artist is not bound by a set of rules of dos and don’ts and it’s amazing to watch the transformation of a model or actor right in front of you.

Are you self taught, or did you go to an institution in the UAE?

I am self taught and proud! I looked for institutions that could provide the essential skills I need to execute harder looks, but unfortunately there aren’t any at the moment.

But, where do you purchase the make up from?

Most of the make up I use is from the US. I rarely find what I desire here.

So let's say I want you to create an 'abused, beat-up to death look', how long would it take you to do that?

It depends, if the look is supposed to be bruised and abused then it would take me around two hours, but if it’s mere discoloration and little bruises and scars here and there, then about 45 minutes.

Do you think there’s demand for this type of make up in the UAE?

Well, for photographers and digital artists, definitely! My job is to give people something imaginative yet realistic to look at, and give photographers and digital artists a solid foundation to work on.

As for filmmaking, there will be more of a demand as Emarati directors are getting into the horror/thriller genres. Some make up artists don’t know how to pull off certain looks and even complicated looks such as the ones in Pirates of the Caribbean or Lord of the Rings. If one fails, everything fails despite one part being really good.

There are a lot of young ambitious Emirati movie directors and producers; did you look into collaborating with some?

Hopefully soon. At this point, I’m more into growing my portfolio to showcase it to the public.

Halloween is not far off; do you receive requests from people asking you to paint their faces?

Last year I did receive many offers!

How can our readers, see a sample of your work, or book you for an appointment?

Hopefully after Ramadan my website will be up. In the meantime they can check my blog (beautysjunk.tumblr.com) and look through the pages. They can view my albums on Facebook (Nouf AlJahdhami) and contact me by email ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

What are your future ambitions?

In two months time I’ll be hosting my own exhibition, demonstrating my work in three mediums –photography, human mannequins and short film, and in a seminar.

My lifetime goal however, is to create an industry that specialises in special effects make up for photography, film, and theatre in the UAE and the GCC countries, that will hopefully compete with the US and UK.

Good luck to you Noaf. Ladies, check out a sample of her work below. Scary huh?