Edinburgh mum-of-two goes viral on TikTok answering the front door as Freddie Mercury

She was not expecting visitors.
Lyndsay McCallum in her Freddie Mercury make-up.Lyndsay McCallum in her Freddie Mercury make-up.
Lyndsay McCallum in her Freddie Mercury make-up.

An Edinburgh-based mum-of-two has gone viral on social media after she answered her front door while made up to look like Freddie Mercury.

Lyndsay McCallum was not expecting visitors as she practised her make-up techniques at home ahead of starting a course in make-up artistry.

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The 30-year-old waitress is hoping to switch careers to find an outlet for her creativity, and has only been working with make-up for two months.

Lyndsay McCallum as Barbie and Elsa, from Frozen.Lyndsay McCallum as Barbie and Elsa, from Frozen.
Lyndsay McCallum as Barbie and Elsa, from Frozen.

She had built up a following on Tik Tok where she shared her make-up designs, and was intending simply to practise the Freddie Mercury look and share a video.

But after three hours working on the design, the doorbell rang as the postman was delivering a parcel which would not fit through the door.

A stranger might have been shocked by Ms McCallum’s get-up but the postman is beginning to get used to her elaborate make-up experiments, Ms McCallum said.

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He was still surprised at the impressive design, and Ms McCallum posted a video of herself in her make-up explaining what had happened.

It has since gained 1.2 million views.

“It’s a good laugh, I love doing it, but you can tell in the video how shocked I was at what had happened,” she said.

Ms McCallum began creating make-up designs just two months ago, in preparation for starting an HND in make-up artistry at Edinburgh College, which will prepare her for doing make-up for performance and special effects.

As she was the only student in the class with no prior experience with make-up she wanted to get a head start.

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Ms McCallum used to work full-time as a waitress, but wants to change careers in order to be more creative.

She wanted to be a hairdresser, but found it difficult to find training or an apprenticeship due to her age. “I’ve always been quite artistically minded,” she said. “And instead of doing just normal make-up I wanted to do something a bit more out there. I love it now, I’m addicted.

“When I got the place on the course I thought, ‘this is it’. I finally have the opportunity to do something creative. I’ve always found that creativity kept me going through the rough patches in life.”

Ms McCallum has started the induction week of her course, which will be online-only until at least Christmas. Her son Denholm, ten, and daughter Ruby, seven, are both supportive of her new venture.

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Denholm has convinced his mother to agree that if she gets to 1,000 Tik Tok followers from her current 600 she will pick him and his sister up from school in the Freddie Mercury make-up.

“They ken I really would do it as well,” she said, adding that Denholm is quite likely to see his wish come true.

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