Portsmouth makeup artist - fairy.freak - becomes social media sensation after TikTok videos go viral

Ria Kelly, 22, used her creative skills to captivate hundreds of thousands of people on her TikTok – @fairy.freak.

The former Havant and South Downs College student showed off her makeup talent throughout lockdown last year, and one video reached a staggering 10 million views.

Ria said she was stunned by the response.

She said: ‘I was so shocked, it was a video of me doing a sweep of eyeliner.

‘Because of that blowing up, I thought about doing more eyeliner videos and I started posting on other platforms.

‘All throughout lockdown, every single day, I worked so hard on my makeup because I was bored.

‘I couldn’t leave the house and didn’t have work.

‘That’s what I put my energy into and one video got 10 million views!’

Ria always knew she wanted to turn her passion for makeup into a career.

She learnt various hair and beauty disciplines while studying Theatrical, Special Effects Hair and Media Make-Up, graduating in 2018.

To focus on her dream, Ria decided not to go to university – working at TK Maxx while creating social media content in her spare time.

At first, Ria was too shy to show her face on camera, but waived away her anonymity in January 2020.

While furloughed, Ria poured everything she had into creating her own brand.

That decision has paid off since, as she now has 850,000 TikTok followers and nearly 100,000 fans on Instagram.

Brands started to take notice, and before long, Ria took the big leap of faith and made social media her career.

She quit her retail job in June 2021, and the makeup star hasn’t looked back since.

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She said: ‘I was waiting for the right moment to make this my full time job. It was really surreal and all my colleagues were so supportive of me.

‘It was the best decision I ever made.’

Ria is returning to HSDC South Downs to speak to offer advice to Hair & Beauty students and talk about her career.

She encourages other to keep working on their dreams despite setbacks.

She said: ‘I think if people post on social media they get discouraged if it doesn't do well, but I just kept posting hoping one would do well and it worked.

‘It’s cool that I have managed to make a career out of social media.

‘When I made the decision not to go to university I didn’t expect this job to ever happen!

‘I want to continue working with a lot more brands and see where it takes me.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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