Professional critique of Carmindy from WNTW

[bjorne_again]

Hey guys. This is something sorta fun, and hopefully educational for the pros here. Can we all critique the work of Carmindy on What Not To Wear? I might be missing some of the no-nos she does, but who knows. I am generally OK with what she does, but have a few serious concerns about the professionalism of the makeup application. Here are a few off the top of my head, though

Here are my complaints about Carmindy:
-I see her use gloss and lip palettes all the time, and double dip her brush often. with a lipstick palette, it's *possible* to santize by spraying and wiping, but with her gloss palettes, she just doouble dips and double dips into a big pot of gloss! how the heck would you santize that?
-mixing products on her hands, blowing on brushes to get rid of excess powder... I use a steel palette and knife to take product out of a satitary product, and tap brushes to remove excess powder. blowing on them? ick.
-Use mascara wands from the mascara, and double dip. *Maybe* she gives the tube to the person getting made up?
-BAD pencil eyeliner. it never seems even. ditto to the rare times she does liquid or winged liner
-not fixing under eye circles, but putting foundation over the entire face. sometimes the under eye area ends up looking reallllly gray/green/dull
-never curling lashes! i think that's SO important on a lot of fair women with straight, blonde/light brown lashes. no amount of mascara will make up for droopy lashes.
-using the same palettes on everyone. not everyone needs peachy pink shimmery and glossy lips and petally cheeks - sometimes i think she goes too far from with the 'fresh face' look. 50 year olds often look better clean, refined and defined, not fresh.
-sometimes i think she uses odd liner colours/shadow colours and makes eyes look smaller
-i hate some of her rules, or that she even has them, like never doing lip liner and forcing people with wild makeup to tone it down(like this hot girl who had fabulously colourful makeup, applied WELL, and it reflected her personality)

my biggest problem with her is her "5 Minute Face"
There is no way you can put on a full face of foundation, mascara, eyeliner, 2 shades of shadow, fill in brows(though sometimes she doesn't), do cheeks and lips in 5 minutes and have it look flawless. I just don't believe it. *maybe* if you're an MUA and you have been doing it for 30 years, but most of the women she has on the show rarely wear makeup, and i don't see how they can master these things? Even I can't do all that stuff in 5 minutes, and i know my face pretty well and am an MUA...

Things she does well:
-Generally makes face skin look even, often boosts the tone to something more lively(minus concealer issues)
-making people look fresh - it works most of the time
-picks good shadow colours for eyes, if boring
-uses enough mascara
-nice use of soft lip and cheek colours - some of the time, sometimes this backfires, but generally it's ok

Anyone know why she always uses spray foundation on sponges? is it a reallly, really good foundation? apparantly it's ERA, right? but i've never really heard anything about it.

Anyway, I feel like she's a pro who has been doing this for a long time, so she must know a lot I don't. Are there any things you see wrong with her technique? Does anyone else have any professional critiques of her, and positive comments(like some of her tricks, if you remember them?)

Also, if you have any comments on Damone Roberts from 10 Years Younger, feel free to critique him and his airbrushed face, too! Have fun, and hopefully this will be educational, too.

 

[GreekChick]

I don't catch TLC so I can't watch What Not To Wear. I have however come across Carmindy's book, The 5 minute face. Maybe I was expecting something along the lines of Kevin Aucoin's Face Forward or Making Faces but this book did not impress me at all. The makeup seemed so boring, and I agree with you on the fact that you cannot complete all the steps she gives in less than 5 minutes, and come out looking like a model in her pictures.
If I only have 5 minutes, the most makeup steps I can complete are under eye concealer, foundation, powder and blush. Anymore than that, and you can bet my makeup will look horrid.
I really thinks she's giving women false expectations. Good makeup requires good blending. Unless you're Speedy Gonzalez, you cannot do all the steps she mentions in 5 minutes, without looking like you haven't blended everything.

 

[bjorne_again]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreekChick I agree with you on the fact that you cannot complete all the steps she gives in less than 5 minutes, and come out looking like a model in her pictures. I really thinks she's giving women false expectations. Good makeup requires good blending.

You hit the nail on the head there, I think. really well put! I'm pretty darned sure that supermodels and actresses still need like 45-60 minutes to get their makeup done, and there are probably only a handful of people in the world with the perfect technique to quickly do makeup. make up WILL make you look worse unless it looks gradated(unless it's a deliberate line), mimicking the way skin tone changes, and that takes time, effort, and technique!

 

[pixichik77]

Sometimes she uses her own products, but often you will see her using a product (mascara, blush) that later surfaces in the "victim's" bathroom when she does it herself. They are given makeup during the show...

 

[dmenchi]

i heard she does a face chart and people are send to sephora to purchase the items. also she uses usually maybelline mascara andf i'm positive they give it to the person..it's so cheap (and horrible IMO)
i agree her makeup always looks the same..it's a litytle boring! but she's sweet, lol

 

[ChrisChick]

Not a fan of her but most artists and myself use our hands as palettes to ease in blendability. As long as your hand is clean I see no problem with that. Fashion week had a lot of us artists running around with paletted hands!

 

[amoona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjorne_again -I see her use gloss and lip palettes all the time, and double dip her brush often. with a lipstick palette, it's *possible* to santize by spraying and wiping, but with her gloss palettes, she just doouble dips and double dips into a big pot of gloss! how the heck would you santize that? -mixing products on her hands, blowing on brushes to get rid of excess powder... I use a steel palette and knife to take product out of a satitary product, and tap brushes to remove excess powder. blowing on them? ick. -Use mascara wands from the mascara, and double dip. *Maybe* she gives the tube to the person getting made up? -never curling lashes! i think that's SO important on a lot of fair women with straight, blonde/light brown lashes. no amount of mascara will make up for droopy lashes.

Ok I have no idea who this lady is but it's very common for make-up artist to double dip their mascara and use their hands/work off their hands or double dip their brush into their lip palettes. That's how it works backstage at fashion week and at Macy's Passport. I know of numerous make-up artist who do this as well. Granted when I'm at work or even doing a wedding I don't do that but in the real world of make-up it's common.

Also I don't curl people's lashes either. However it's more out of a strong fear of hurting someone haha.

 

[lara]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amoona Ok I have no idea who this lady is but it's very common for make-up artist to double dip their mascara and use their hands/work off their hands or double dip their brush into their lip palettes. That's how it works backstage at fashion week and at Macy's Passport.

I can't speak for what it's like in the US, but every Australian/Melbourne/Sydney/Hong Kong Fashion Week I've worked has been sponsored by a cosmetics company, so each show is usually issued with enough product to allow for single-user items (typically mascara, liquid liner, lipstick, gloss, lip palettes) to be exclusive to each model, ergo the double dipping. I'm working a sponsored parade in three hours (which reminds me, time to a final kit check!) and I'm being supplied with single-use items for every model.

I still hate working off my hands, though. I'm a mixing tile queen!

In that show Carmindy isn't working in a typical make-up professional environment. She's working one-on-one with a client in a show that supplies a certain dollar value of product in each segment (clothing, hairdressing, make-up). The products are going to straight to the client as part of the make-over package. If you're going to critique someone's practices for the sake of critiquing them, you might want to pay some heed to the environment they're working in. There's a golden mean of hygiene standards used in a shared kit, but when you're working one-on-one with someone and using what's going to be their own product, single-spooling your mascara is just going to do is waste time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjorne_again sometimes i think she goes too far from with the 'fresh face' look. 50 year olds often look better clean, refined and defined, not fresh.

I don't even know where to start with this. Fresh isn't exclusive from clean, defined and refined, nor is it exclusive to the under-25 set. Break down that Bobbi Brown mentality, otherwise you're going to be in for a rude shock when you tell a 50 year-old woman that and she rightfully tells you to go jam it.

 

[dmenchi]

i couldn't agree more! Thank you ! thank you ! thank you!

 

[Bernadette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amoona Also I don't curl people's lashes either. However it's more out of a strong fear of hurting someone haha.

It's MAC policy not to ever curl anyone's lashes but to walk them through it. It's a legal issue.

 

[_trimm_trabb]

I don't mind her for the most part; yes, the makeup she does is pretty basic and boring but the person usually does look much better. And simple makeup is appropriate for most (key word: most) guests on the show because many of them never wore any makeup. However, she does some really dumb stuff occasionally that really bothers me.

For example, one girl on the show was very enviro-conscious and Carmindy knew ahead of time that she wasn't comfortable with using makeup brushes made of animal hair. So, she showed her an assortment of wonderful, high quality synthetic (talklon, Too Faced's "teddy bear hair", and the like) brushes, right? No! She told her to apply all of her makeup, from lipstick to eyeshadow to liner to concealer, with Q-tips (except for creme blush which she used her fingers for)! Using Q-tips for EVERYTHING every time you do your makeup is not only shoddy and messy, but if anything creates MORE waste, being LESS environmentally friendly! WHY on earth would she recommend that to somebody who is very eco-conscious, especially when there are so many well made synthetic brushes out there? Stupid!

 

[dmenchi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _trimm_trabb I don't mind her for the most part; yes, the makeup she does is pretty basic and boring but the person usually does look much better. And simple makeup is appropriate for most (key word: most) guests on the show because many of them never wore any makeup. However, she does some really dumb stuff occasionally that really bothers me. For example, one girl on the show was very enviro-conscious and Carmindy knew ahead of time that she wasn't comfortable with using makeup brushes made of animal hair. So, she showed her an assortment of wonderful, high quality synthetic (talklon, Too Faced's "teddy bear hair", and the like) brushes, right? No! She told her to apply all of her makeup, from lipstick to eyeshadow to liner to concealer, with Q-tips (except for creme blush which she used her fingers for)! Using Q-tips for EVERYTHING every time you do your makeup is not only shoddy and messy, but if anything creates MORE waste, being LESS environmentally friendly! WHY on earth would she recommend that to somebody who is very eco-conscious, especially when there are so many well made synthetic brushes out there? Stupid!

This makes me mad!!! i can't stand people who are so wasteful ( i usually cut all my q-tips in half and also cotton rounds, cause if you need to correct one little thing you don't really need a whole the whole thing LOl)....Thanks for shring this

 

[amoona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bernadette It's MAC policy not to ever curl anyone's lashes but to walk them through it. It's a legal issue.

We've never been told that. Oh well either way I don't do it.

 

[Jacq-i]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjorne_again -i hate some of her rules, or that she even has them, like never doing lip liner and forcing people with wild makeup to tone it down(like this hot girl who had fabulously colourful makeup, applied WELL, and it reflected her personality)

I saw that episode! I was mad, she made her cry too!

I thought her make-up was fab, and was surprised that Carmindy harped on her!

 

[jenii]

I find she tends to be really rigid about what kind of makeup people "should" have on. Like toning down anything bright. Ugh, neutral is not always better.

But, I also don't generally like what they say on that show. Like, overweight women? Whenever I've seen one on the show, she ends up getting as covered-up as possible, and put in really plain, boxy clothing. As if to say "no, you're fat, so you should cover everything up and wear something shapeless."

That's just in episodes I've seen. Maybe they generally don't do that, but I only know what I've seen.

 

[FacesbyNiki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _trimm_trabb I don't mind her for the most part; yes, the makeup she does is pretty basic and boring but the person usually does look much better. And simple makeup is appropriate for most (key word: most) guests on the show because many of them never wore any makeup. However, she does some really dumb stuff occasionally that really bothers me. For example, one girl on the show was very enviro-conscious and Carmindy knew ahead of time that she wasn't comfortable with using makeup brushes made of animal hair. So, she showed her an assortment of wonderful, high quality synthetic (talklon, Too Faced's "teddy bear hair", and the like) brushes, right? No! She told her to apply all of her makeup, from lipstick to eyeshadow to liner to concealer, with Q-tips (except for creme blush which she used her fingers for)! Using Q-tips for EVERYTHING every time you do your makeup is not only shoddy and messy, but if anything creates MORE waste, being LESS environmentally friendly! WHY on earth would she recommend that to somebody who is very eco-conscious, especially when there are so many well made synthetic brushes out there? Stupid!

Umm. excuse me but back when I started with Clinique (2001), that's all they used. I can do some damn good make up only using q-tips and cotton balls, so please don't knock it until you are in a position where that's all you have.

 

[amoona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FacesbyNiki Umm. excuse me but back when I started with Clinique (2001), that's all they used. I can do some damn good make up only using q-tips and cotton balls, so please don't knock it until you are in a position where that's all you have.

haha omg my clinque girls have told me that. sometimes u gotta work with what u got!

 

[jenii]

I don't knock the idea of using Q-tips to do makeup. In a pinch, they get the job done. However, I wouldn't suggest that someone do that exclusively, especially when so many nice brushes are available on the market.

 

[_trimm_trabb]

Quote:

Umm. excuse me but back when I started with Clinique (2001), that's all they used. I can do some damn good make up only using q-tips and cotton balls, so please don't knock it until you are in a position where that's all you have.

Let's calm down now. My point was, she wasn't in a pinch, she had other options. And she was trying to market it as more environmentally friendly, which it just isn't. It really didn't have anything to do with cases where that's all you have to work with, in which case, you have no choice. Also, sure, if you are a professional and know what you're doing (like you or Carmindy), it wouldn't be a problem. But this girl has never even worn eyeliner before. Doubtful that she'll be able to make her makeup come out the same way Carmindy did using only Q-tips and cotton balls.

 

[FacesbyNiki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _trimm_trabb Let's calm down now. My point was, she wasn't in a pinch, she had other options. And she was trying to market it as more environmentally friendly, which it just isn't. It really didn't have anything to do with cases where that's all you have to work with, in which case, you have no choice. Also, sure, if you are a professional and know what you're doing (like you or Carmindy), it wouldn't be a problem. But this girl has never even worn eyeliner before. Doubtful that she'll be able to make her makeup come out the same way Carmindy did using only Q-tips and cotton balls.

Awww...