By day, Holly Murray is a regular East Lancashire mum – but by night, she transforms herself into celebrities and horror characters in a bid to entertain her 2.2 million TikTok followers.
Holly, from Accrington, is a self-taught makeup artist and face painter who has carved out a career for herself on the video sharing platform, TikTok.
On her account, Holly tries out viral makeup trends and is best known for her celebrity and horror character transformation.
Beetlejuice, Pennywise and Austin Powers are just some of the incredible and realistic characters she has transformed herself into.
Holly describes her account as a “bit weird and odd” but adds that 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.”
Holly, 30, started her TikTok account at the start of lockdown but only started to take it seriously last July.
She said: “I started it back up last July and that’s when I really started to put time and effort into the account.
“As soon as I started posting I started to get some good videos and a lot of clicks.”
Holly’s transformation into Suicide Squad’s Enchantress was the first of her videos to hit one million views – but her Annabelle video, which to date has 17.2m views, is what really motivated Holly to keep pursuing this as a career.
@hollymurraymakeup Enchantress spin 🖤 #makeup #10secondsvs #makeuptip #horrortiktok #fyp ♬ original sound - Statistics
She said: “As soon as I did Annabelle that was it. I thought ‘yes, this is something I want to do and I want to keep doing this forever’."
@hollymurraymakeup This audio 😱❤️ Annabelle recreation! Who should I recreate next?!
♬ possibly in michigan - shaywee 👹
The impressive and realistic looks don’t come easily and Holly, who learned everything she knows from YouTube videos, can spend upwards of 14 hours on a look.
While busy with ‘mum life’ in the day, she often stays up overnight in a bid to get the looks finished before the next morning’s school run.
She said: “I try and post every day and fit in three big looks a week – which is proving difficult with two kids but I usually do it at night while they are asleep.
“I will prepare and plan when they are at school and when they go to bed at around 8pm I will get started.
“I am so tired 90 per cent of the time and if you see me in the street I usually have puffy eyes and stained skin – but just know I will have a banging video coming out the next day.”
Her favourite look to date was her transformation into Pennywise the clown from Stephen King novel and movie franchise, IT.
The look took 14 hours to complete with the original video amassing more than 76 million views.
@hollymurraymakeup You’ll float too 🎈 Pennywise makeup! Who should I create next?
♬ original sound - Kathryn Denny
Holly also introduces prosthetics and fake teeth into her look, which she makes herself.
She said: “Some of them have funky teeth so I make them too. I’ve done all this work with makeup so I’ve gotta get the look right, haven’t I?
“I try to make as much of the costumes as I physically can – I am a bit cheap and don’t like spending money if I know I can make it.”
If you think the horror looks will keep you awake at night, Holly has also done some impressive celebrity and movie transformations – and their likeness is just as impressive.
Nancy from The Craft, Austin Powers, Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman are just some of the characters she has turned herself into.
@hollymurraymakeup One from the drafts! This has to be the most iconic scene, right?! Pretty Woman 💋
♬ original sound - •Those We All Love•
Holly says her two children are her biggest fans and often call her ‘TikTok famous’.
She said: “My nine-year-old will often say ‘mummy is TikTok famous’. Teachers stop him in the hall and tell him they’ve found my TikToks.
“They are my biggest fans. I will finish my looks an hour before my daughter gets up and she will get in bed with me and asks to watch the video from the night before.”
Holly says her TikTok account has given her many of incredible opportunities and the chance to work with big brand names, such as Amazon Prime and Fortnite; she has even been interviewed by Good Morning America.
She was assigned to a management team in August last year after gaining more than 290,000 followers on her platform in just a month.
She said: “It’s been the most bizarre few months - but it also so exciting. I am never one to look at the things I have done and be proud of myself.
"I am always doubting myself and so self-critical that I almost don’t post half the looks that I do.
“But I do look back at what I’ve achieved in the last year and I am proud.
“I can’t wait to see what can come of my TikTok career and I don’t have any plans to stop in the future."
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