Glow Up’s Ailish McBride on being a colour-blind make-up artist

Whether it’s trying to cover up blemishes, match your foundation to your skin tone or create a bold eye look, picking out the right colours is an important part of doing your make-up.

But what if you can’t tell some of them apart?

That’s something Ailish McBride struggles with as a partially colour-blind make-up artist (MUA).

The 20-year-old didn’t find out she had the condition, also called colour vision deficiency, until a couple of years ago.

But she says it runs in the family – with her dad and sister being fully colour-blind.

“Being a make-up artist is hard for me,” Ailish tells BBC Newsbeat.

“Red and orange look the same to me and light blues I kind of see as grey,” she says.

That makes mixing purple particularly tricky and she also struggles to see pastel colours.

The cosmetics student from Belfast features on the latest series of BBC Three’s Glow Up, where she opens up about her condition.

The show, hosted by model Leomie Anderson, sees 10 contestants from across the UK battle it out through weekly industry assignments and creative briefs to become the country’s next make-up star.

“I didn’t see me being colour blind as a setback in the competition because I know my skillset,” Ailish says.

“It was a bit tricky in certain situations but I’m proud of how I worked through it.”

In the first episode Ailish decided not to hold back, experimenting with an explosion of colour inspired by her own creativity.

“I love to challenge myself,” she says. “I don’t like to settle into a little box.

“I wanted to show people that even if you are colour-blind, you can still do big, bold, creative looks.”

In the first episode, judges Val Garland and Dominic Skinner said her final look was flat and simplistic and Ailish ended up in the Face Off, going head to head against contestant Joe Tiernan to stay in the competition.

However, Val told her: “I think it’s amazing you’ve got this much colour down being colour-blind”.

“That is showing a very determined make-up artist.”

Ailish thinks she was able to execute her looks after learning more about colour theory, helping her understand how to mix together the shades she needed.

Plus, after freelancing in the industry for a few years, she’s become used to labelling all of her palettes with the names of corresponding colours.

It’s estimated that about 3 million people living in the UK are affected by colour blindness, according to Colour Blind Awareness.

It affects more men than women – with about one in 12 males having the condition compared with one in 200 females.

There’s no cure and it’s also not clear what causes it, the NHS says, but often it runs in families and is something people are born with and adapt to.

After finding herself in the red chairs and at risk of elimination for two weeks in a row, Ailish became the second MUA to leave the competition on Wednesday.

She was seen getting emotional in the second episode, needing a hug from judge Val after her look failed to impress.

“I get quite bad anxiety,” Ailish tells Newsbeat.

“It was overwhelming at the time and I really let myself get in my head during the show.”

But Ailish was still proud to have even featured on Glow Up, which has been her dream since she first watched the show aged 14.

Having recently finished her degree, she’s looking forward to pursuing more of her goals by picking up work on films and in theatres.

And while she may not have got one on series 7, as she starts this new chapter, Ailish asks: “Can I get a Ding Dong?!”

Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star is on BBC Three at 20:00 on Wednesdays and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.