History Series / FaceOff

* HillbillyHorrors: The basis behind Stella's creation for the Theater/HalloweenHorrorNights challenge

* PutOnABus: All of the eliminated contestants...
** TheBusCameBack: ...who return at the end of the season to help the finalists with their enormous final challenge.
*** For season 5, the bus came back for 8 contestants eliminated from previous seasons. [[spoiler: The returning contestants are Frank and Tate from season 1, Miranda and RJ from season 2, Alana, Roy and Laura from season 3, and Eric Z from season 4.]]
** [[spoiler: Season 3 offered the opportunity for an eliminated contestant to return.]]
** The web spin-off ''Face Off: Redemption'' allowed fourth-season contestant [[spoiler: Eric Z.]] to win a spot on Season 5.
** Season 11 features only returning contestants.
** All-Star competitors return in the SpinOff ''Game Face''.

* LivingToys: The "Magical Marionette" challenge from Season 11, taking inspiration from ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}''. Also the [[CreepyDoll Deadly Dolls]] challenge in season 8 and Child's Play in season 10.

* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: Season 6 had a cryptid challenge. Among them were the {{Chupacabra}} and TheJerseyDevil, and also the lesser known Mapinguari (from TheAmazon), Vodyanoy (from [[Myth/SlavicMythology Slavic mythology]]) and [[Main/YowiesAndBunyipsAndDropBearsOhMy Bunyip]] (from [[Myth/AboriginalAustralianMyths Aboriginal Australian mythology]]).

* {{Bishonen}}: In season 1, one of the challenges was to take soon-to-be-married couples and turn the groom into a bride and vise versa. Connor exploited his first pick to choose the Asian couple with a pretty boy groom, reasoning that making women look like men isn't as difficult as making men look like women.

* {{Planimal}}: The "Dangerous Beauty" and "''Film/HungerGames'' predator" challenge.

* RealityShowGenreBlindness: It's pretty surprising that so many contestants don't learn how to do beauty makeup prior to getting on the show. It's fundamental for many challenges and many character archetypes, and many grandiose designs have fallen flat because the artist didn't know how to do a proper beauty makeup.
* RealityTVShowMansion: Where the artists live during the competition.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted. So far there have been 3 Anthonys (one of which prefers to go by "Ant"), 2 Gregs [[spoiler: (Both of whom where the first to be eliminated in their respective seasons)]], 3 Erics (2 of which were on the same season and had to be referred to as Eric Z and Eric F), 2 Lauras, 3 Jasons, 2 Scotts, 2 Georges, 2 Sams, 2 Katies, 2 Jos (One male and one female) & 3 Megans (one prefers to go by Meg). Season 10 had Robert and Rob in addition to Melissa and Mel.

The first season premiered in January 2011, and the second season ran at the same time in 2012. Since 2013, two seasons have aired per year, typically one premiering in January and the other in July or August.

Season 13 was announced to be the shows final season.

* BilingualBonus: Fellow contestants Cat and Niko are dating, the challenge after Cat is eliminated the remaining artists go to Japan (which has always been a dream of Cat's). What is the Japanese work for cat? Neko.

** Also from season 3, most of Rods characters had almost identical faces. Ve pointed this out to him, but try as he might he still leaned towards the same shapes and was eventually eliminated because of it.

''Face Off'' is a [[RealityShow reality show]] broadcast by Creator/{{Syfy}} where makeup artists compete by designing and applying makeup and prostheses. It is hosted by [=McKenzie=] Westmore, and the judges and guest judges are accomplished leaders in the industry. Every week the artists complete challenges and the judges eliminate a contestant until only three are left, who then compete one last time for the grand prize. The prizes change from season to season, but they usually involve a cash prize and a supply of makeup.

* BlueAndOrangeContrast: Laura's cubist man for the "Living Art" challenge, also Kris' ethereal duo from "Living the Dream"

* LivingToys: The "Magical Marionette" challenge from Season 11, taking inspiration from ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}''.

* CastOfSnowflakes: A given when you have show centered making monsters, creatures and characters of every shape and dimension.

* ShoutOut: You should expect a lot of them from a special FX-themed show. There are countless references to movies, TV shows, books, artists and even music videos that either inspired the challenges or feature the tropes being explored by them.

** Some challenges also seem to have Product Placement as part of their intent (''[[Franchise/GIJoe G.I. Joe]]'' and ''[[Franchise/MonsterHigh Monster High]]'', for example), and others are obviously meant to promote [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Syfy]] shows (''[[Series/{{Defiance}} Defiance]]'' and ''[[Series/TheExpanse The Expanse]]'').

** And again with the "''Franchise/MonsterHigh''" challenge in All-Stars.

* SnakePeople: With human bodies and snake heads, unlike the usual application, in Season 7 "Serpent Soldiers". The same for S3 Roy's Wesen in the ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' challenge and S9 Jason's Mayan gatekeeper.

* OneSteveLimit: Zig-zagged. So far there have been 3 Anthonys (one of which prefers to go by "Ant"), 2 Gregs [[spoiler: (Both of whom where the first to be eliminated in their respective seasons)]], 3 Erics (2 of which were on the same season and had to be referred to as Eric Z and Eric F), 2 Lauras, 3 Jasons, 2 Scotts, 2 Georges, 2 Sams, 2 Katies, 2 Jos (One male and one female) & 3 Megans (one prefers to go by Meg). Season 10 had Robert and Rob in addition to Melissa and Mel.

* GoodAngelBadAngel: [[ConversationalTrope Mentioned]] in Season 11 "The Devil is in the Details", being the inspiration for the challenge of that week.

* EatsBabies: Tate's Troll in the Season 5 premiere is said to swallow babies. The model holds a bloody baby to sell this.

* SnakePeople: With human bodies and snake heads, unlike the usual application, in Season 7 "Serpent Soldiers".

* ObligatoryJoke: Some of the obituaries for the "Whimsical Ghost" challenge (season 10). For instance, the circumstances of Finn Waters' (a swimmer) death are deemed "fishy" and Thomas Watts (who died via electrocution) is said to have lived an "electrifying" life.

* TearOffYourFace: Julian and Ben's entry for the S8 "Sound Effect" challenge is a demon who does this to people and wear the faces himself. They call him "[[TitleDrop Face Off]] demon".