Makeup artist inspired by Doja Cat’s Paris Fashion Week look sticks 13,000 rhinestones all over her body

A makeup artist spent more than a day sticking 13,000 rhinestones all over her body - after taking inspiration from Doja Cat’s Fashion Week look. The singer turned heads by gracing the red carpet of Schiaparelli’s Paris Fashion Week show in January covered in more than 30,000 ruby red Swarovski crystals, including covering her entire head, neck, shoulders, arms and hands.

Her appearance caught the attention of mum-of-two Holly Murray, 31, who decided to emulate the bold and sparkly look. It took her a total of 27 hours for her to get every rhinestone in place, and she had to sit in front of a mirror to ensure each one was positioned perfectly. She posted a video of her transformation process to her TikTok page, Holly Murray Make-up, which has gained over 21 million views.

Murray, who also uses makeup to make herself look like film characters including Pennywise the clown from IT and blue alien Neytiri from Avatar, said she had to mentally prepare herself before undertaking her latest challenge. She said: "I saw Doja come out and I thought ‘What an icon, I have to have that on my face now’. She looks like one of the X-Men.

"I wanted to do it red, but TikTok often puts warnings on red things, and I didn’t want to put in all that effort just to get a warning on the video, so I steered clear of red gems. I’m still tired and still recovering - 27 hours from start to finish, it was disgusting. I had to put them all on one by one - I should have got bigger gems. I get loads of comments asking how I’ve got the time to do it, but it’s more that I’m passionate about it. It’s not only my job, but also the way that I kill time."

Murray, a makeup creative from Accrington, Lancashire, spent £60 on the rhinestones needed to complete the look. She began by putting a bald cap on, added latex, then applied the rhinestones with medical adhesive glue to protect her skin. She said: "I ordered the gems on Amazon, and it was more about getting myself in the right headspace to be sat for 27 hours. When doing the rhinestones on my neck I couldn’t look down, so I was just using a mirror - it was pure eye-strain central."

Murray thinks it was worth the time and money she spent creating the look because she was happy with the final outcome - though she said she’ll now be taking a well-earned break. "I think it was worth it in the end. In hindsight, I’ll probably book a holiday after the next one," she said. In a follow-up video, Murray also showed her followers how she removed all the rhinestones.

Murray has made a career for herself on TikTok by doing various impressive makeup transformations. On her account, she also tries out viral makeup trends and is best known for her realistic celebrity and horror character transformations, such as Beetlejuice, Pennywise and Austin Powers. She says her account is a “bit weird and odd” but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

She said: "When people ask what I do I tell them I am a children’s entertainer and I also do a bit of TikTok. When I tell them I cosplay as different characters, including some scary ones, I get a few funny looks.”

Murray says the rhinestone design was not her hardest of the looks she has done, but was the most tiresome. "I wouldn’t say it’s my hardest you know - I’d say it’s the most tedious but my hardest would be my Pennywise look and painting the ruffles on his shirt.”