Episode Recap: Mother Earth Goddess

Roy and Scott are still shaky from last week's elimination as they head to a beautiful arboretum to meet McKenzie and learn about their next challenge. Using flowers they find around them as inspiration, they'll create their take on one of the most iconic figures of our imaginations: Mother Nature. And to make this personal, they'll also be bringing in elements from their own mothers as a tribute to their own iconic figures. Last season's winner, Anthony, makes a surprise visit to give them some instruction on keeping their makeups feminine and beautiful.

As the artists dig into the challenge, eager to make something beautiful for their mothers, Frank finds himself caught in a creative and emotional funk. His father died last year and his mother's Parkinson's disease is getting worse. Thinking so much about his love for his mother is bringing him down, and it's not until midway through the lab time that he's able to push through with a sketch and get to work. As much as this hurts, he wants to do his parents proud in this challenge and on this show. The only way to do that is to give it all he has.

Anthony joins McKenzie and Mr. Westmore for the walk-through, where he suggests that Lyma, who's making a big, pregnant belly for her goddess, turn it into a home for an animal. He also directs Laura to make the caterpillar features of her makeup more rounded, giving it a softer feel. As time ticks by, Laney is ready to crack open her mold but needs Tate's help. As she's working on the back half of her cowl, Tate tries to get the mannequin out of the front and pulls so hard he rips the head off. The mold will survive, but Tate, with only minutes on the clock, needs to help her clean it out AND fix the mannequin so she can use it for the actual prosthetic. He works some magic with epoxy glue and duct tape, and Laney can breathe again.

The following day brings more challenges for her - when the wardrobe she requested arrives, it's not at all what she had in mind and she has to whip something together to make her vision complete. And when they set up at last looks, the makeup makes her model so sick that she has to leave, and Laney gets only a portion of the time her comrades receive. She's worried she might not have a makeup at all, but her model recovers and the makeup lands in the safe zone this week. RJ is also worried about his makeup, but for very different reasons. When he was in the finale on Season 2, he created a Mother Earth goddess, and doesn't want to repeat himself, so he goes in an entirely different direction with a 1960s housewife sprite. He gives her a beehive and an assortment of flying insects as her crown, and while it's a cute effect, it's not as lovely and elegant as the rest of the work this week.

RJ's feelings were on the money and the judges place him in bottom looks for a poor decision on the concept and degree of disregard for the challenge. Also in bottom looks is Scott, who used his mother's farm upbringing as inspiration to make a red goddess of the harvest, and Eddie, whose highly adorned makeup is more of a costume and more masculine and boyish than feminine. Although the judges love RJ with all their hearts, the competition is now at a higher level than ever and his work this week just didn't reach that height. They wish him goodbye, and he embraces them warmly before he leaves.

Laura, who has been working with a song - literally - all through the competition, is in the top looks. Neville loves her color choices so much, he just might steal the palette! She's done a tremendous amount of work and done it very well. Lyma also lands in the top for a unique profile, gorgeous wig, and inspired belly, and Roy, who used the shape of a tree to his advantage with a sublime grey and pink color combination, joins them. Laura is named the winner this week, and she's extremely gratified that all her hard work is noticed and rewarded.