Demo Artist: Karen Huwen

🎨 Karen Huwen – Demo Artist for FACE Conference 2026

Based in Somerset, Karen Huwen has been face painting since 2010, after stepping in to help out a family member on jobs she couldn’t cover. What started as a helping hand quickly turned into a full-blown passion, and by 2013 she was painting under her own business name, Wow Factor Faces.

Karen is best known for her signature “grown up glitz” eye designs, full of sparkle, elegance and impact. But she also loves creating soft, girly, swirly fairy designs, blending shimmer with movement and detail.

Her career has taken her around the world. She was invited to Florida in 2014 to film for FABA TV, where she met Heather Green and Marcela Bustamante and visited Silly Farm – an unforgettable and inspiring experience. Karen was also invited to compete internationally at the Daegu International Body Painting Festival in South Korea, a huge televised event with a live audience. Making it through to the finals was one of her proudest career moments.

Another highlight came when she was head-hunted by a publisher to create and write the book Face Painting by Karen Harvey (her previous name). The book has since been translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, and it continues to be a resource for painters around the globe.

Karen draws her inspiration directly from her clients. She looks at what they’re wearing, their jewellery, hair colour and overall vibe, and builds her designs from there. She doesn’t work from a fixed menu and rarely knows exactly what the finished design will look like until she’s done. Everything is created in the moment.

Fun fact: Karen has been self-employed since the age of 22. She previously ran a graphic design company for 15 years, winning multiple industry awards before stepping away from the business.

For the FACE Conference 2026, Karen is most excited about the unpredictability of her demo. She doesn’t plan ahead and will be discovering the design right along with the audience. What attendees can expect is plenty of fun, lots of layered effects and a wide range of brush techniques that can be adapted to their own everyday painting.

Watch Karen live on our Facebook page on Wednesday, 26th November at 19:30

If you are interested in joining Karen at our upcoming FACE conference, click the button below…