Makeup Artist's Haunting Halloween Transformations


For Angie Davis, better known by her stage name, Goldie Starling, creating hauntingly elaborate makeup tutorials was a passion she never expected to garner so much attention.

"It just started as another creative outlet. It's mind blowing. But it's so rewarding because I love doing it, and people love what I'm doing. So it's amazing to me. I feel very grateful," Starling told ABCNews.com.

Starling, 30, of Winston-Salem, N.C., graduated from Winston-Salem State with a degree in graphic design and computer animation, so art and creative outlets have always been a part of her life. But now, the cake decorator by day and makeup artist by night has more than 113,000 subscribers on her YouTube page, with upwards of 14 million views of her mesmerizing makeup tutorial videos.

"I was just bored one night, and found some makeup tutorials on YouTube. I started watching them and taught myself how to do it," Starling said. "I had never really been into makeup before watching videos. It was just another art form, another outlet creatively, and I just kind of became obsessed with it."

Starling sometimes spends up to 30 hours creating her masterpieces, and says it's definitely a labor of love that requires a lot of patience.

"My days off are spent doing the looks. It's just a lot of 3 a.m. nights, lots of coffee. I don't think people realize how much work goes into it. It's pretty exhausting to have to present yourself as these characters. You really have to love it," said Starling.

Her latest character in the works is a human-recreation of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night." But she's also transformed herself into Winifred Sanderson, the witch played by Bette Midler in the Disney movie, "Hocus Pocus," as well as Jack the Ripper, the Black Swan, Davy Jones and a spooky Spider Queen.

Starling has been creating her makeup tutorials for about four years, and now that the hobby has generated a mass following on her YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages, the pressure is on to keep coming up with new characters.

"I try to think of different things people might not have seen before. Characters from my own head that I just use my imagination for," said Starling.

The makeup and other resources used to accomplish the looks can be pricey, so Starling has learned to get creative with materials she has around the house.

"You could use unflavored gelatin, cheerios for barnacles and stuff. It's about being resourceful and finding things around the house that you wouldn't really think to use. You've got to work with what you have. It can get very expensive," Starling said.

Halloween is Starling's favorite holiday, for obvious reasons.

"I've always loved Halloween. It's always been my favorite. So the fact I found makeup and found my passion for it, it just amplifies it."

For a slideshow of Starling's makeup creations, click here.