Lifetime is banking on the beauty industry for their next competition series. American Beauty Star, hosted by supermodel Adriana Lima, brings celebrity stylists and salon professionals head-to-head to compete in a series of hair and makeup challenges over the course of 10 episodes.
The series, which debuts Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. right after Project Runway, features similar elements of its companion show from a plugged-in mentor (like Tim Gunn) to a magazine editor judge (like Nina Garcia) to a Victoria Secret supermodel host (like Heidi Klum), and though Lifetime is, of course, hopeful that the new series will have the longevity and awards buzz of Runway, the cable network hopes American Beauty Star will create its own unique brand as the first-ever competition series to incorporate both hair and makeup artistry.
“There’s not too much new in reality competition format. This has a fresh appeal,” Christian Murphy, Lifetime’s SVP of daytime and programming partnerships of A+E Networks, said recently at a New York City premiere event. “Even though it may borrow from some other formats like ‘Runway’ or ‘Top Model,’ what is unique about it is that we haven’t seen something with hair and makeup in a long-form television format. There are shows about hair stylists and makeup artists, but I haven’t seen those two things come together where we’re celebrating the creativity of the artist. We thought it was a good fit to ‘Runway’ and that their audience might enjoy this, but I also think the show has the opportunity to bring in new and fresh viewers.”
