Successful #7Days7Faces makeup challenge gives Foyin OG status

Lifestyle and beauty influencer Foyin Ogunrombi created a makeup challenge that blew up and had brands paying loads of attention to her creative influence.

When the government imposed Covid-19 restrictions in March, we were introduced to multiple trends and hashtags on social media; from people baking banana bread en masse to cope with the idleness caused by lockdown, to the #DontRushChallenge, which was a trend across social media where friends coordinate a beauty video from their respective homes and edited together. All these were much-needed entertainment  and relief from the sudden adjustment to the uncertain world we found ourselves in. The longer the pandemic continued, the more creative people became. One of those creatives being Foyin ‘Og’ Ogunrombi — a Nigerian-born, Johannesburg-bred and Cape Town-based beauty and lifestyle content creator — who created the #7Days7Faces challenge.

The concept behind the challenge is to create seven different make-up looks, inspired by different themes (be it food, nature, cartoon characters, album covers, history and the list goes on) for seven days. Ogunrombi says that given the creative rut that most people found themselves in, she was inspired by another makeup artist and content creator Kay Ngonyama’s #21Beats4Kay challenge but she “decided to put my own spin on it and create a space that already provided people with the creative prompts to explore for one week of makeup”. The challenge spread like rapid fire with numerous make-up enthusiasts taking part and Ogunrombi says this meant “everything and more” because the challenge helped her achieve her ultimate goal: to create a community on social media. “It was so humbling and affirming that I managed to encourage people into trying something new, posting their looks and committing to doing something with me,” she says.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Foyin Og (@foyinog)

Ogunrombi is a qualified make-up artist from the House Of Tara International Makeup School in Lekki, Nigeria, and also holds a Bachelor of Business Science Specialising in Marketing Management (Hons) from the University of Cape Town. The 24-year-old who describes herself as a freelance social media creative started out as a fashion blogger during her high school and university years but soon left the space because she didn’t have the time nor could she afford to keep up with the direction of fashion blogging. That’s when she transcended into beauty. “Through YouTube, a trip to Nigeria for my cousin’s wedding and reading the works of other beauty bloggers, I realised [that] I could do that in the comfort of my res room, and the rest, as they say, is history,” she says.

About a year ago Ogunrombi quit her job to pursue a career as a content creator and as rewarding as it has been, she says she’s had a few challenges. But the biggest, she says, has been the inconsistent income and limited social interaction since she’s  been working from home. Even so, Ogunrombi maintains: “I’ve absolutely loved being able to own my time and create the content that I do. I’m much happier in this space and I’m grateful for that.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Foyin Og (@foyinog)

Among other things she’s grateful for, Og says the #7Days7Faces challenge was the big break she had been praying for. “I’d been working with brands before, but the success of the challenge definitely put me on a lot more people’s radars and I am so grateful for that.” While this may have propelled her a level higher, she says, “This year, more than anything, has taught me to have a lot of faith and to not be too bogged down by planning that I forget to live, so I’m really excited about where I am right now and I’m not too sure where I’m going but I’m even more excited to see what opportunities it brings. Maybe I’ll do a product collab, maybe it’ll be my face in a store’s window, or maybe I’ll move across the country. Who knows?” Regardless of what the next move is, the future definitely looks bright for Ogunrombi.