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Sophie Thompson
Aug 13, 2025
Getty/TikTok
Every so often there's online drama that has us more invested than any TV show could, and that's currently the case as one beauty entrepreneur faces questions about a missing competition prize.
A TikTok account, known as MalachiArt, this week dropped a three-part video series detailing how he was a makeup artist that had entered a competition through beauty brand, MadeByMitchell, known as Full Face Of Colour Case, in 2023.
He'd submitted an entry, been publicly and privately informed that he'd won, and would be launching a collaboration with the brand's founder, Mitchell Halliday.
Through the videos, Malachi went on to detail how he'd drawn up concepts, planned shades, and thought this would be the opportunity that "got his foot into the industry door".
Except, he claims he got ghosted.
"This journey started publicly so it’s only right it ends the same way", he penned alongside the first clip, which now has over 237,000 likes.
@malachiart Part 1 of 3 - 2023 @madebymitchell This journey started publicly so it’s only right it ends the same way. This is my own account of events from the full face of colour case competition in 2023, told chronologically from my perspective. I can’t speak for what happened behind the scenes of Made by Mitchell’s side, I can only share what I personally experienced and documented at the time. I want to be clear, I’m not sharing this to see MBM fail. Whilst I don’t know if I can get to a position where I can support them again, I still believe MBM has done wonders for this industry and remains one of the most inclusive brands out there. I’d hate to see that inclusivity lost. I’m sharing my story for my own closure, and for the people who supported me from the start. Most of my following came from this competition so this is for you. I’ve split the whole video into 3 parts year by year. Part 1 focuses on 2023, keeping to the facts and avoiding speculation wherever possible. I wish it didn’t come to this. Malachi x #fullfaceofcolourcase #madebymitchell #makeupstorytime
Here's how it went down...
What happened between MadeByMitchell and MalachiArt?
The TL;DR version is that MalachiArt won MadeByMitchell's Full Face Of Colour Case competition in 2023.
The makeup artist submitted five looks to be considered, and out of thousands of entries, won the opportunity to collaborate on a full makeup collection with the brand and its founder, Mitchell Halliday.
However, Malachi alleges that despite having some initial meetings with the brand, he eventually got ghosted and stalled, and is still yet to have his vision brought to life two years later.
In response, he released a three-part TikTok video series (with each episode up to 40 minutes in length) detailing every meeting and interaction he says he'd had with MadeByMitchell and Mitchell Halliday, up until today.
Those interactions included supplying concepts, shade names, a marketing plan, packaging ideas, and a personal art book with the details documented.
@malachiart Part 3 - Finale - I never got my notebook or art book back for those asking, at the second meeting he told me it was ✨lost✨ ALSO - I am not saying made by Mitchell have stolen ANY of my ideas, the ideas referred to in part 1 have been organically released in the beauty community and the ones that haven’t have not been used. This has been emotionally draining, but I’ve poured my heart and soul into this, I want you to know I won’t be working with @madebymitchell and that I’m very much looking forward to the future and finally putting this behind me. Always stand up for yourself even if it makes you nervous. #madebymitchell #fullfaceofcolourcase #makeupstorytime
Malachi even claims he started "working out and losing weight" so that he would "feel comfortable" when they shot campaign images together.
He claims Mitchell offered him a partnership that was "financially and socially life-changing", however, as time went on and he began getting passed around from person-to-person, it became clear that other senior members of the MadeByMitchell team had no idea that the collaboration was happening - or at least at the level Malachi claims he was promised.
Malachi claims he was sent contracts with wildly different terms than what was outlined in the competition, and struggled to get answers on why.
"I have lost income, I've lost time, and I've lost opportunities waiting in good faith", Malachi read, reciting one of his final interactions with Mitchell.
Malachi reportedly cut off contact with the brand on 9 July 2025, after receiving a further email claiming that his collaboration was still in the works - but he felt like the brand was buying themselves time once more.
"If you did genuinely want to give me what you offered then thank you, but still I can't support anything like that anymore now", he concluded.
Has MadeByMitchell responded?
On 12 August 2025, MadeByMitchell founder, Mitchell Halliday responded to the claims in a TikTok video, and seemingly took full accountability for the promised collection not panning out the way it should have.
"I want to apologise to Malachi for how this experience has felt for him...and not being able to push this through the gate the way I intended to", he told followers.
"I'm not just doing this because of the video that's gone up, I'm doing it because it's what needs to happen."
Mitchell went on to say he apologised to Malachi privately before the video came out, and went on to brand him "one of the most incredible makeup artists" on the planet.
He blamed the "overnight" explosion of the MadeByMitchell brand for why things got so out of hand, and that his "tiny team" were struggling to keep up with the demand.
"Something that I've learnt about myself over the last six months, is that I try and overpromise things and I take on too much", he added.
"I don't really delegate the best way that I should."
The 26-year-old went on to say he still believes the pair can "make magic" together, and that he'd drafted an agreement for Malachi to either accept or turn down.
"I'm never too big or too proud to say I've made a mistake", he concluded. "I'm sorry Malachi for not prioritising this the way that I should have."
Indy100 has reached out to Mitchell for further comment.
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