The various transformations Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto went through in "Dallas Buyers Club" are amazing, and they only cost $250.

For a 28-day shoot, where she had to constantly change the looks of two actors, Robin Matthews made her $250 budget count. She's now nominated for an Oscar in the best makeup and hairstyling category.

"The Academy just gasped when they heard that," Matthews said to Vanity Fair,

The two actors lost weight to play the roles, and the result of a healthier appearance was not at all because of weight gain. The small budget took the two from AIDS patients on the brink of death to nearly normal and healthy looking. Sometimes, she had to transform the men five times in a day.

"They maintained that 40-pound weight loss throughout. So when you see them in the film, and they look like they're 25 pounds heavier and healthier because of the medication, that's just makeup," she said.

A prosthetic piece helped to make Matthew McConaughey's cheeks fuller, but it was mostly just makeup. "I lined the trailer walls with pictures of skulls and skeletons and looked for the bones I needed to draw in. I basically highlight and contour every bone or tendon, and sometimes veins, that I can find in their entire body. It's full body makeup," Matthews said.

When she couldn't afford prosthetics, she got creative.

AIDS patients develop rashes called seborrheic dermatitis, and to accomplish that look, she used grits and cornmeal, which she actually took from her mother's pantry since she didn't even have money to buy them.

Matthews called "Buyers Club" the "most under-budgeted movie" that she's been a part of. The producer even used her personal credit card to feed the crew.

This is the first Oscar nomination for Matthews, who has worked on "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" and the documentary "Playboy."