It’s hard to keep track of lots of things on The Circle — even what day it is. In Season 4, however, there is one clear way for the audience to orient themselves within the show’s timeline: Yu Ling Wu’s daily makeup looks.

For a competitive show like The Circle — whose premise depends on the contestants not being able to see one another — the fact that the 25-year-old Yu Ling paints her face with intricate looks worthy of editorial photoshoots or drag stages might seem odd. Of course, even though the other participants can’t see her, the cameras are always on. Still, seeing Yu Ling at her bathroom mirror or the makeshift beauty counter she set up on the glass coffee table in her little living room, it’s clear that she’s not adorning her face just for other people: Her beats are for herself.

“It’s a meditative practice,” Yu Ling tells us, explaining what makeup has meant for her during the past couple of years, specifically during the pandemic. “It brings about a routine, so when things are spiraling out of control in the outside world, at least I have these little makeup brushes.” And, she says, she applied this principle to her time on The Circle. “Even if [my makeup] doesn’t go the way I wanted it to look that day, knowing that I was able to tap in creatively to myself and just do something fun, that makes my day.” 

Yu Ling doesn’t just use makeup as a method of self-care. She also sees it as a way to access and express exactly who she is, which also happens to be a canny strategy for The Circle, since it helps her vibrant personality come across immediately to viewers. Within the game, though, Yu Ling shines most in small-group chats, so getting other contestants to see her sparkle is slow-going — at first, anyway.

Called out by some for retreating into her shell and being shy, Yu Ling eventually emerges as the kind of person who stands out, and makeup helps her do that. “Every day, I get up and I’m like, ‘OK, we’ve got a blank canvas. What are we going to do?” she explains. “It sometimes feels like I’m putting on my brave-girl makeup face, and if I have that on, then I’m ready to go for the day.” At a diminutive 4-foot-6, Yu Ling is used to having to take that extra step to get noticed. That’s why she arms herself with bright pops of color on her eyes — and coordinates them with fully curated ensembles, no less. Think the pink, green, brown and blue mosaic eyes that match her vintage Issey Miyake pants in Episode 9. It’s her favorite look from the show, and one that helps her achieve influencer status and wield quite a lot of power — not something her fellow contestants might have expected from someone they initially pegged as shy.

But there’s no hiding in a shell for Yu Ling in Episode 2’s “Cake Me As I Am” and Episode 11’s “Portrait Mode” challenges. An artist who can work with more mediums than just her own face, Yu Ling gives dazzling performances that draw upon her education at The New School and Parsons, where she experimented with everything from photography to graphic design to theater to bookmaking. It’s through the latter that she developed an appreciation for fine details, patience for intricate handiwork and the steady hand required to accomplish it all. She credits these skills with facilitating her makeup obsession — though she does admit that after playing 600 hours of Animal Crossing during the height of the pandemic, she’s not as steady with her makeup brushes as she used to be.

Her cosmetic skills developed relatively late; Yu Ling didn’t embrace playing with eyeshadows and lipsticks until she moved to New York City for college when she was 18. Once she started exploring makeup options, though — whether at Duane Reade or Sephora — there was no turning back on an art form that was not only creative but also cathartic. “I love collecting [makeup]. Maybe it’s a trauma response to the fact that I didn’t grow up with too many [products] or that we had too many [other] items that were random and useless that my mom would hoard throughout the house,” she says.

Despite makeup providing her with strength and a means of healing, Yu Ling was warned by her sister about letting her elaborate eye looks — rather than just her personality — take center stage on The Circle. But Yu Ling stayed true to herself. “This is what I love to do, and a major part of my creativity,” she says. “If you don’t like me in my full face, you don’t get me with my bare face. Thank you very much.”

That choice paid off. Fellow Circle contestants have started chats dedicated to Yu Ling’s looks, and she offered to do their makeup when they were all finally able to meet in real life. In a game that’s all about building connections to win influence, having makeup as a conversation-starter has been a huge asset for Yu Ling. Something she’s found true in her regular life, too. “Life is a performance,” she says. “​​Why be boring?”