The countdown is on. BBC Three’s hit make-up show, Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star, is back and better than ever. This year’s host Maya Jama is also back for her second consecutive year, she joins resident judges and make-up royalty Val Garland and Dominic Skinner for season four with a glittering new cast of budding make-up artists.
“This is only my second series of Glow Up but I’ve learned so much and I can’t wait to put my skills to use!” reveals Maya in her excitement for the new season, which is sure to include lots of glitter, maximum contouring, and a full beat.
We’re chatting over zoom, Maya is bare-faced with the glorious LA sun shining as a backdrop, while Mariah Jama (her precious Pomeranian dog) barks in the background wanting to join in on the fun.
Maya also confesses to being obsessed with layering hair oils and face oils, I too admit that my secret for donut skin is slugging. “Slugging, what’s that she says?” As I tell her about slugging, a term coined by the skincare corner of TikTok, which essentially means going to bed with a slippery face. Her response? “Oh, I have been doing that for years, babe. Although now I’m in a relationship, I do try not to scare my partner with a donut for a face.” I’m with you Maya, but needs-must when we’re all trying to find our glow-ups overnight. “Don’t worry, there are a few nights a week I just don’t care and overload,” she says.
We also delve into her shaving her face because TikTok told her to, having fuzzy cheeks, eyebrow horror stories, and more. Here is Maya Jama’s guide for glowing TF up…
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My overnight glow-up secret? Go heavy on the hair oils before bed, then ice balls in the morning
“When you’re sleeping, that’s your chance to load on every single hydrating product you can find. After a long hot shower, moisturise every inch of your face and body. For me, the key to a good foundation base is a really hot face wash, and then a freeze face wash using either a flannel in the fridge to ice your face or cold spoons first thing in the morning. I’d do anything to give the illusion of smaller pores. I have big pores. You just can’t see them on the camera, but that’s probably because they’re iced off most of the time.”
TikTok told me to shave my face, so I did – and now I have fuzzy cheeks every two weeks
“I’m not really active on TikTok but was into it during lockdown and one of the beauty tips I discovered is that shaving your face is a thing? I did actually shave my fuzzy facial hair with those little scraper things. I saw a tip where this girl put oil on her face and then shaved her whole head and then when she put on her makeup, it was just so easy to put on. So I did it, which was great for a couple of weeks, but now I’ve got fuzzy cheeks every two weeks because I swear it feels like they grow back thicker and darker. So I have to keep it up. That was the last time I tried something I learned from TikTok because I was a hairy-mallery for a bit, but now it’s just part of my routine. Some days I have a bit of patchy blusher and I’m like ‘ohh that’s the cheek hairs creeping back in, let’s get rid’ – it’s quite funny.”
Blending bold caps is my new Halloween beauty go-to
“One of the best hacks I learned from the first series of Glow Up is the blending of the bold caps, and using prosthetics. I still haven’t got the hang of it myself, but it blows my mind every single time, how they can turn alien prosthetics and make it look like your actual skin. I’ve watched very closely many times so this Halloween I’m gonna try and work on my melting of the prosthetic skills.”