The Album Cover Challenge

The pandemic hit us all hard at some point in 2020 with everyone stuck at home. The boredom was real so my team and I decided to be a light in the industry. We initiated makeup challenges on Instagram and Twitter in May 2020 🙂 A makeup challenge is a fun test of one’s makeup skills.

Album Cover Challenge Part 1 whose Instagram post received 426 likes, 139 comments & 75 saves

I was shocked at the amazing talent I came across in the course of this project! This level of skill and art is the kind that genuinely touches the soul.

Here were some of my favorite looks:

Not sure you’re ready for this :p

Stephanie Ng’ang’a from Kenya (IG:@stephanienganga)

Vanessa Lubanga from Kenya (IG: @iluvuvanessa)

Vanessa Atika from Kenya (IG: @the_atika)

Daniella Almona from Nigeria (IG: @almona.d)

Maureen Mutuku from Kenya (IG: @maureentheartist_)

Venus Cherop from Kenya (IG: @venus.cherop)

Here are some of the best looks as voted by our audience

Tinashe Mwaniki from Kenya (IG: @tinashemwaniki)

Nicole Midaye from Kenya (IG: @with_wendo)

Just when I thought the challenge was done and dusted requests to do part 2 started coming in, and so we made it happen!

Album Cover Challenge Part 2 whose Instagram post received 524 likes, 98 comments & 73 saves

Sauti Sol had just released their latest album and I thought why not promote local Kenyan music? 🙂

Here are some of my best looks from part 2

I’ll let you be the judge 🙂

Shiro Thenya from Kenya (IG: @beatsbyshi_)

Shiko Mwangi from Kenya (IG: @shykohmwangi)

Award-winning makeup artist Sandra based in Kenya (IG: @makeupbysandra_ke)

Marina Mumbi from Kenya (IG: @marinamumbi)

The brand had no active social media presence before the pandemic so the success of the challenge helped in the grand scheme of things. We create a notable online presence long before introducing a product or service into the market with the intention that our audience get the motivation to create during that time. I was also importing and selling skincare products by word-of-mouth as a campus student prior to this and wanted to go a different route. Read more on that business here.

My part 2 Album Cover Challenge look by Shishi Wanjiru (Photographer) — My part 2 Album Cover Challenge look captured by Shishi Wanjiru (Photographer IG: @shishi.wanjiru)

I collaborated with micro-influencers, posted content on our recently created social media pages, and responded to direct messages and comments in the course of this project. We had over 100 looks within just 2 weeks from our audience based in Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Australia, and the UK and over 1,000 comments on this compilation video on Instagram. The biggest win for me personally was touching people’s hearts at the right time 🙂

Here’s what some of the people who took part in the challenge had to say: