This 6-Year-Old Is Already an SFX Makeup Prodigy

At just 6 years old, Dakota Patton has already garnered praise from some of the most esteemed brand founders and media professionals in the entertainment industry. "You're incredible," Danessa Myricks told Patton as she kneeled to get down to her eye level at the 2024 Makeup Show. "You're really, really smart, and you're really, really talented," talk show host Steve Harvey also said to her during an interview.

Yes, you read that correctly. At 6, Patton is perhaps the youngest special effects makeup artist to reach her level of caliber; she's affectionately known on social media by her followers as the princess of SFX.

Dakota's father, Jarell, tells PS her interest in makeup started about three years ago, when she was only 3. During a family movie night, where they watched "The Dark Knight," Dakota became fixated on painting herself as The Joker. After some convincing, she convinced them to take her to Party City for makeup supplies and help her set her in the bathroom. If nothing else, he thought, it'd make a funny TikTok video — but what happened took him by surprise. "From her color coordination to the way she recreated the details, everything was spot on," he says.

After watching Dakota recreate that makeup magic for both Pennywise and Venom Jarell was convinced of her talent. "YouTube videos made me feel like I could create the makeup looks," Dakota says. "When I first started watching them I would look at Madeyewlook [real name Alexys Fleming]'s page a lot."

This seemingly fleeting interest turned into a passion that Jarell says the whole family supports. "When I realized that she was taking it so seriously, I had to make sure that I was supporting her," he says. "From my wife and I down to all of our other children, it's a joint effort from the whole household."

Though some people may be concerned about a 6-year-old's affinity for blood and gore, Dakota says that she has always known that any of the scary characters she saw on TV or at amusement parks were fake. "When she was going on five years old we went to the [International Makeup Artist Tradeshow] in Los Angeles," Jarell says. "When we were there, they were doing demos of zombies and other pretty scary characters, but I always made it a point to let her know that they weren't real."

Special effects makeup is something Dakota has made clear she's "always known how to do," and her current goal is to become the best makeup artist in the world. For now, Dakota is looking forward to an upcoming trip to Disney with her family, where she'll be recreating a Moana look. She's given the rest of the Patton's a role too: "Dad could be Cinderella," she says. With her makeup skills, it doesn't feel too far-fetched to think that Dakota may be running the entire Disney makeup department altogether later down the road.

However, if one day she decides to change her mind, her parents will support her every step of the way. "Even though she's still young, if she came out and said 'I don't want to do makeup anymore,' we'd have her back completely," Jarell says.

Ariel Baker is the assistant editor for POPSUGAR Beauty. Her areas of expertise include celebrity news, beauty trends, and product reviews. She has additional bylines with Essence and Forbes Vetted.