By Antonio Dey
Twenty-two-year-old Annada Aaliyah Anthon is adamant that she can take her dual talents of transformative make-up and celebrity impersonation to the next level.
The young woman, who hails from the serene village of Liverpool, Corentyne, Berbice, in an interview with Stabroek News recently, said that because there were many local make-up artists and beauticians, it was incumbent on her to perfect her craft more entertainingly and appealingly.
“One day, I was trying to figure out who I could imitate and I started fooling around and thought about maybe attempting to be like Shenseea, but it didn’t come out too good. So in the comments section, persons were like ‘why don’t you try Skeng?’ And I tried my hand at it and I was successful,” she said.
of Burna Boy
“I always loved make-up artistry but I realised a lot of the make-up artists were just doing the normal form of make-up so I decided that I should do mine uniquely, you know.”
Anthon, who is also a dancer and content creator, had her followers in awe on her various social media platforms following her impersonation of Jamaican Dancehall producer and musical sensation Rvssian (pronounced Russian). Her TikTok account, where the video was uploaded, received over 326,000 likes.
She related to this newspaper that it took her approximately eight hours to get herself to look like Rvssian, “because his features are different from some artistes. There are some artistes who take less time. Rvssian was kind of hard to do because I had to fill in the ears and fill in the nose.”
The elated young businesswoman said that Rvssian messaged her privately and expressed his gratification and pleasure at what she did. “He was amazed and told me to keep up the great work, and for that I felt more motivated,” she revealed.
With the use of digital technology and impressive editing skills, the local creative goes to the length of imitating the voices of celebrities such as Chris Brown, Burna Boy, 450, Rihanna, Cardi B, Skeng, and Kraff Gad. She has even impersonated Michael Jackson with her “Thriller” outfit and zombie apocalyptic make-over as well as Disney characters like Maleficent.
Asked to detail the steps in formulating these characters, the passionate creative said that most of the materials used are from “nature”, as she is good at customising. Anthon noted that there are times when the clothing required to fit the character is not available in stores. Then she relies on innovation and creativity.
She is very selective and sceptical of the colours and backgrounds she chooses to generate her characters. “Sometimes I experiment with colours and backgrounds. However I realised that black is better and more effective,” she said. To define the features of her chosen characters, Anthon uses clay, liquid latex and large cotton balls.
“For the liquid latex, I would have to carve out something on a rubber material and shape out an ear, eyes or whatever human
organs and place them in that liquid material. Of course, you have to allow it to dry so that you can get it the next day,” she explained. “… I would buy these cotton balls and use them with liquid latex. The process entails rubbing the latex on the cotton ball, and then you paste on a material and I would turn into whatever size that I want, whether it is an ear, head, face etcetera.” Asked if anyone assisted with the production of her videos, her response was that she does everything herself as no one would understand the procedures and technicalities of putting together the various characters like she does.
Disney character Maleficent
Notably, Anthon plays double roles in most of her video content which often portrays societal themes. Describing what she does as a “God-given talent”, Anthon said she prays for new ideas. “Yes. Every time I want to try a new character I pray about it. For instance, I wanted to do Cardi B which I tried two times but it did not come out the way I expected. So I said, ‘God I want to get it, help me’ and the third time it was very close in terms of impersonating her,” Anthon relayed.She said that her family is very supportive of her talent as well as local and international fans. She has received both constructive and destructive criticism, but the 22-year-old said she took both in good faith and continued to perfect her craft. Anthon said that several local creatives have also contacted her to do make-up celebrity transformations. The young woman has a beauty salon in her hometown and hopes to establish a branch in Georgetown, but noted that her make-up impersonations allow her to generate income which aids in purchasing her materials to make characters and costumes. The digital creator, who is desirous of travelling to the United States to decentralise her talent,
urged those with a gift to learn how to be creative, contented and patient. Anthon who currently has 91.6 and 180.7 thousand followers on Instagram (IG) and TikTok said that she didn’t have all the necessary materials to perfect her talent but patience and persistence kept her going.
Those who are interested in make-up transformations can follow the young entrepreneur on IG @iam_annada and TikTok @annadaanthon001.
