Daily Inspiration: Meet Angie Acosta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angie Acosta

Hi Angie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The first time I ever touched makeup I was about 6 years old. I used to wear eye glitter and blue mascara to school. Growing up I thought I wanted to be an actress. I took acting classes as a kid and I always showed up with bright red lipstick on. I was always super interested in films, and loved watching behind the scenes. One of my all time favorite films is the Alice in Wonderland live action movie. I always really loved to be creative and let it show. I really liked to draw and paint too all throughout school. The first time I had touched special effects makeup I was 12 years old trying to be Jeff the Killer for halloween. I had grown up with a big interest in horror movies. Friday the 13th Part 4 really inspired me, and the original Jason design from Tom Savini really sparked my interest with sfx, When I was about 14, that’s when I knew I wanted to be a MUA. I used to watch a lot of beauty gurus on Youtube growing up and got really inspired. In high school, I was known for doing crazy graphic liner looks everyday. I did everything from butterflies, ufo’s, sunsets, cut creases, monochromatic looks, galaxy, paint splatter looks and more. After graduation, I immediately went to my first makeup school. I started at Multimedia Makeup Academy in Troy, MI Summer 2021 until 2022. During my time in school I did both beauty and special effects classes. My favorite part of my time in school was definitely the day we learned frostbite. I realized during my time in school that my heart leads towards the sfx side of makeup compared to beauty. I had started my first film in 2022 during my time in school, called Runnin’ from Wolves which had just released back in the winter time of this year 2024. You can find it on Tubi and Amazon Prime, it’s an action thriller movie that involves two men becoming enemies which leads to a murder. It takes place here in Detroit, and I did all the makeup. I had worked on another film during my time in school with one of my instructors, which will be releasing soon. The title is Finding Nicole, and is a true story about Domestic Violence. I was super grateful to have had that opportunity for such a meaningful and impactful project.

I’m a self taught body painter, with using myself as my canvas. For 3 years, I did the 31 Days of Halloween Makeup Challenge, and that’s how I started to body paint. I really wanted to make my looks more complete than just buying costumes. In 2022, I started working at Erebus Haunted Attraction in Pontiac, MI as an airbrush makeup artist. We have an awesome makeup team, and it really feels like a family there with such a welcoming atmosphere. Since then, in 2023 I worked on the 48hr film project called “Final Feast” with two other makeup artists with whom I met from MMA Makeup Academy and our film ended up winning 4 awards, including best makeup/visual fx. I couldn’t have been more proud for our team. I’ve worked on some short films, a tv mini fan series called “Power Rangers Rail Riders”, a few features, and i’ve also done some stage makeup in the past.

In fall of 2023, I went out to Los Angeles, California to continue school. I went to a school called Cinema Makeup School for their Creature Concept Design program. In that program, I had three courses. In the first course I had Jarett Fajardo. I learned how to photoshop with digital fx to touch up my portfolio, fix things in photos, and do makeup with photoshop. You can create a whole beauty makeup, or you can create a whole creature or character with photoshop to show clients some ideas before anything is final. I’ve recently been practicing with photoshop a lot to get better with it, and it’s actually something I really enjoy as well. The next course was with Anthony Stewart. In that class we sculpted a maquette which was my favorite out of the three. I learned a lot of new sculpting tips and tricks, and how to assemble and sculpt a maquette and really learned some anatomy with that. In that class, I sculpted a three headed shark which I was proud of. I had named them Amy, Cheryl, and Judith. My third course was a Z-Brush course with Jarett Fajardo. Z-Brush is a program where you can digitally sculpt on a computer to later 3D print your sculpts. In that class, I did a frog sitting on a lilly pad. Z-Brush is definitely something I wanna keep practicing with, as I wanna be able to make props in the future with it for myself and for others. I wanna be able to know a lot of different things, so I can provide lots of different services for different clients and purposes. I learned so much when I was there, and I had some really great instructors who really had a great impact on me as an artist going forward.

Just recently, I wrapped up on a feature whom which my instructor from MMA Makeup Academy had brought me onto. It is called “The Fathers”, and is a psychological horror. I’ve been very grateful to have such great opportunities while being in Michigan. However, I do plan on relocating in the future for more job opportunities. I would really love to work in a lab or a studio sculpting and painting pieces, and I also love being on set to really see it come together. It would be nice to open my own studio in the future.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Yes and no. I would say for the most part it’s been smooth, but I’d say figuring out what methods when it comes to doing certain makeup applications/lab work, work best for me and figuring out what I prefer has been a journey. Doing makeup on yourself is a lot different than doing it on someone else. I practice on myself when I can, but I always love finding new faces and practicing on friends. Doing old age makeup on yourself is definitely not the easiest. There’s a lot of different ways you can mold when it comes to prosthetics, and I wanna be someone who’s tried it all and all methods. It’s always great to talk to other artists and always connect to share ideas and also pick up tips from one another. I’ve taken Stan Winston online courses to always keep learning and advancing my skills. I’ve picked up great tips from it and it is also a great refresher. I never try to limit myself when it comes to learning, there’s so much more involved with makeup than many people realize.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I definitely would say I specialize in Special FX Makeup, but I definitely can do both beauty and fx. My favorite things to do with fx is frostbite, burns, body painting, and airbrushing. For beauty makeup, I really enjoy doing Avant Garde type of looks and also clean natural looks. I started doing graphic liner looks on myself, and then I decided to really do more and try painting on myself. I have painted clothes and different character designs on myself for looks. Whenever I have free time, I always try to do a look on myself, whether it’s an editorial look, a body painting look, a gore look, a character look etc. I’m always trying to think of something new I could do with makeup.

I always love working with new faces too, especially during haunt season. Every single night, I never know who will sit in my chair and what room they will be in, so it’s always on the spot coming up with an idea. I definitely went out of my comfort zone this past 2024 season, but i’ve fallen in love with airbrushing after doing it at the haunt. Sanitation is also something I am super big on, it’s the absolute key that comes with being a makeup artist. Making sure nobody has any allergies is also another important step that comes with being a makeup artist.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My instructor at Multimedia Makeup Academy Nicole Hooks had brought me on the feature Finding Nicole which was such a great opportunity and she’s been a great help to me with my career going forward and has given me great advice. She recently had brought me onto another feature called “The Fathers”, which was a great experience as well.

My two instructors at Cinema Makeup School Jarett Fajardo, and Anthony Stewart both had big impacts on me for the time I was there as an artist and inspired me to always keep creating and gave me great advice that i’ve definitely kept in mind since then. I had a really great seminar at Cinema Makeup School with Mark Viniello. The seminar really gave me more insight, and made me really wanna push myself further.

Jay Alexander had edited my first demo reel, and was also the director of my first feature “Runnin From Wolves”. At Erebus, our makeup team is lead by Tracy Noe who has had a really great impact on me as a haunt artist. He’s really helped me when it comes to airbrushing and different haunt styles. I’ve had some really great connections with people here in the film industry in Michigan as well, and a lot of support from friends growing up, and I’ve met so many great people on this journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://angiespfx.weebly.com/?
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angiespfx/profilecard/?igsh=MWRyNWNtMW9lcXFxeg==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/X4QCVKfS8xdSH5fV/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14167569/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Image Credits
Tim Wilson

Tiffany for “Willis Rd”

Justin Faraj for the “Buried Alive” section in Erebus

Angie Acosta’s pirate look

Crystal Drake with MMA Makeup Academy with Zora Engalan for “Ruby Woo by Mac Cosmetics”

Angie BTS from Final Feast with Will Redwine

Cinema Makeup School Completed Program Artist Diploma

Ashlyn Manson for a hand burn

Angie’s painting of a robot leg

Cinema Makeup School for Three Headed Shark Final in Creature Maquette

Erebus Haunted Attraction BTS on Halloween 2024