Nicole hopes Batman villain will make her a hero

Self-confessed “girly girl” Nicole Taylor is unrecognisable as she morphs into Batman adversary Two-Face.

Nicole hopes her stunning take on the scar-faced supervillain will secure a place in the Top 10 of the prestigious NYX Cosmetics UK and Ireland Face Awards 2016.

The second-year Specialist Hair and Media Makeup undergraduate has already got through the preliminary selection and is now bidding to become the cosmetic brand’s Beauty Vlogger of the Year 2016.

In her gender-swap make-over, Nicole turns herself into Two-Face, aka Harvey Dent, who was left with one side of his face disfigured in an acid attack. She did all the make-up and filmed the 90-second video herself.

Nicole, originally from Telford, Shropshire, secured a place among the Face Awards’ final 20 competitors thanks to her woodland nymph make-over. She and the contest’s other top artists were then tasked with creating a look based on the theme of “Heroes and Villains” and Nicole opted for Two-Face.

The Top 10 Face Awards contestants will be unveiled on Saturday (May 28) following judging of Heroes and Villains videos. If she is successful, Nicole will face a fresh make-up challenge – and a public vote.

The ultimate prize is the title of Beauty Vlogger of the Year, a £10,000 jackpot and a place at the LA NYX Awards in Los Angeles in August, return flights and accommodation included.

Horror film fan Nicole, whose YouTube channel Once Upon A Scream has had 140,000 views, says she likes doing all her own make-up and filming. “It means I have no boundaries. It is more personal,” says the 20-year-old.

“I like to do it all off my own back. I feel it is more rewarding if you can say you  did the make-up on your own, filmed it and edited it on your own.

“I did Film Studies at A-level which taught me how to edit film but I also did visual imagery as part of my degree, which teaches you how to film and is really useful for vlogging.”

Nicole says she has always been a “girlie girl,” loves the colour pink and is obsessed with kittens. But she has also been fascinated with horror films and gruesome special effects since she was a child. Her previous work includes a Tim Burton-inspired scarecrow-style Cinderella (it is her most popular YouTube video with more than 45,000 hits) and a terrifying zombie.

“Gore is mesmerising. It’s fun to see people’s reaction to my work,” says Nicole. “My ambition is to work on horror films. I have never been scared by them because you know it is just make-up. When I watch films, I am always saying, ‘I wonder how they did that look?’”