See, this is why I love this show!  It’s not always about horror make-up, but creating something other.  This week’s challenge was all about the beautiful, but deadly: Sirens.

The artists climb aboard a Coast Guard ship for McKenzie to announce their challenge.  The episode, aptly titled “Siren Song,” puts the myth of the Siren front and center, but of course, no one’s making a mermaid.  Instead, the artists are randomly paired, then pick a sea creature as inspiration.

• Omar & Sidney use the Portuguese man o’war as their inspiration
• Ricky & Ben find inspiration in the blue sea slug
• Kevon & Meg have the textile cone snail to draw from
• Scott & Stevie get the blue-ringed octopus
• Nora & Brittany might not know what a flabellina nudibranch is, but they chose it
• Joran & Jasmine chose the yellow boxfish — I can’t believe how cute it is!
• Jason & Evan have the beautifully colored peacock mantis shrimp to inspire them
• Libby & Missy have the striped surgeonfish for inspiration

After sketching on the ship and the normal three days of fabrication, here are the final results:

Right before these looks took the stage, McKenzie let the group know that two would be going home tonight.  My favorite look above might just be Jordan & Jasmine’s, which might sound weird, but the face was oddly lovely.  This lands in the safe category along with Ricky & Ben’s (the shapes of which really gave me a Zora/Princess Ruto vibe!), Scott & Stevie’s, and Jason & Evan’s.

Top looks are Kevon & Meg’s super creepy but ghostly beautiful monochrome creation, and Nora & Brittany’s, which captured the shapes and colors of the creature so well.  Kevon & Meg’s wins the top spot, and Meg wins the challenge for her work on the face.

This leaves Omar & Sidney and Missy & Libby for the bottom looks.  I don’t know what I would do to make a jellyfish beautiful, but Omar & Sidney didn’t do it either.  I can’t get over Missy & Libby’s– the paint looks bad, the headpiece looks disjointed, and the inspiration doesn’t show through in the least bit.  The judges, however, chose to eliminate Omar & Sidney, who just didn’t look like they had put in as much work as the rest of the group.

Which sea siren is your favorite?!  Any thoughts on how to make a jellyfish pretty?