What happens when you let a four year old do their mother's make up?

By Katy Winter for MailOnline

Published: 08:11 EST, 30 November 2014 | Updated: 06:47 EST, 1 December 2014

Splashed with garish colours, smudges and doodles, these chaotic images have a haunting quality as well as a humourous edge.

The project, by artist Elly Heise, allowed young girls total freedom over painting their mothers faces.

Rather than attempting to conceal perceived flaws, the children instead use the face - and in many cases the hands and arms too- as a canvas to be celebrated with bold colours and inventive designs.

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Artist Elly Heise, allowed young girls total freedom over painting their mothers faces

Ashley Donoghue models the look given to her by 3-year-old daughter Aavie. Elly says she wants the project to affect people that feel pressured to present themselves in a certain way

The girls that came in is that they were the happiest with the messiest elements of their work. Here four-year-old Abby Howell applies mascara to mother Kerri Madsen

Photographing the messy results, she had the women stare directly into the lens, creating oddly captivating images which highlight how much our definition of what is beautiful changes as we age.

Elly explains: 'I wanted to make a photographic series that communicates a fresh perspective on beauty by photographing mothers after their young daughters had done their makeup.

'I chose girls from a younger age range to come into the studio with their mothers and gave them total freedom to choose how they wanted to paint their mothers’ faces.

'One thing I noticed about the girls that came in is that they were the happiest with the messiest elements of their work.

Rather than attempting to conceal perceived flaws, the children instead use the face - and in many cases the hands and arms too- as a canvas to be celebrated with bold colours. Here Abby Howell applies mascara to her mother Kerri Madsen

'Women are conditioned at a young age to spend their lives endlessly trying to meet impossibly idealized standards of beauty,' says Elly

Photographing the messy results, she had the women stare directly into the lens, creating oddly captivating images

Splashed with garish colours, smudges and doodles, these chaotic images have a haunting quality as well as a humourous edge

While it might not be a look most would chose to wear during the party season, the makeup is beautiful in its own way

'It made me question the true definition of beauty and how subjective it really is. That is why this project is geared towards any person that feels the need to create their identity based on imposed ideas.

'I want this to affect people that feel pressured to present themselves in a certain way, in particular women who are conditioned at a young age to spend their lives endlessly trying to meet impossibly idealized standards of beauty.

'I also hope this project will appeal to people that are interested in social inquiry and how it can influence our assertion of what is beautiful and what isn’t.

'The references in the title #Daughterdoesmymakeup allude to hash tag culture, which indirectly critiques the idealized online portraiture currently in global circulation.

'I want this to inspire people to re-question their own definition of beauty in the same way it did for me, and to re-consider what we are really raising our younger generations to believe in.'