Carmindy's 5 Minute Face

I wanted to do a book review for Carmindy's "The 5 Minute Face".

The Good: As many people know, Carmindy is the makeup artist on TLC's popular tv show "What Not to Wear". I was really excited to receive this book and couldn't wait to read it. The book is beautiful illustrated and the makeup on the models and Carmindy is flawless and gorgegeous.

Carmindy believes the secret to looking beautiful is to enhance your best natural feature. Such as if you have beautiful eyes, you should play on those instead of complaining about your thin lips and wasting time and money in order to plump them or using smoke and mirror tricks with gloss and angels etc. I think this is good advice as too many women compare themselves to actresses/models and these women are not examples of real women. You may want Angelina Jolie lips and try potions and injections to try to achieve that look when you are really missing what beautiful almond eyes you have and should focus on how you can make those stand out. It's about embracing what you have and not what you don't have.

She also talks about trends and while they look great on the runway, they don't always translate to real life so don't get sucked into buying every limited edition colour because they change constantly just like fashion. In my opinion, you don't need to add 1 more blush to your 20 blush collection just because this one was released by Dior winter 2007 collection. Remember you can duplicate almost any colour so there is no need to be a slave to trends.

The Bad: I found this book too basic. You can basically get the heart of the message of the book by looking at this one youtube video which actually explained things a lot better than in words.

This book is good for beginners who know nothing about makeup but when one is intermediate or an expert, this book just goes over the beginning steps. I guess from that point I would recommend online videos like on youtube or videojug or pictures of tutorials on popular makeup sites.

Also, I found that the advice given was minimal. That is to say, there wasn't enough material covered in the book. There are a lot of empty white spaces in the book and one page will include 61 words and 2 large pictures of swirls of liquid blush with a picture of Carmindy on the other side. Sixty-one words? Really? That's about 6 sentances. Could the author just not think of more things to say? Did the publishers want the book to appear larger then it is so they filled it up with more pictures the necessary and white spaces in order to justify the price by increasing weight and volume? Did they try to stretch the material as much as possible by expanding the book by 110 pagess? If she wanted a 200 page book then why didn't she write more detailed descriptions of how to apply makeup and other advice that only makeup artists would know. I've learned more on the internet through "everyday women". The words are scattered throughout the page and put into "cute little graphic bubbles" with labels such as "The Freckle Factor" and "Please love your freckles and don't try to hide them behind concealer. Let them show'". It seems like something you would read in a teen magazine.

I happen to be blonde and her advice is very simple like "Choose shades for the eyes in cool browns, taupes, bronzes, granity, mauves and plum". It is so simplistic! I don't need help choosing the colour but about the application of the colour. I also believe that most women past their teens already know from experience what colours looks good on them. I also believe that women can make almost any colour work but it all depends on technique and good brushes. I also believe that women can get stuck applying the makeup that was popular in their 20's and carry on the same technique decade after decade. Like my Aunt who's frosted blonde hair and bad 80's makeup techniques age her. If she only listened to Carmindy, her makeup would probably look the same because she isn't using modern techniques.

I would have liked more before and after shots or detailed tutorials on how to do different techniques such as tightlining, getting glossy eyes, different techniques for eyeshadow application, descriptions on how to contour cheeks, where your crease is etc.

There is one chapter on "special occasion looks". I really liked the look of the "holiday face" which showed a look of an alluring 1920's feel with a light modern twist. Great. How do you achieve the look? By using the same 5-minute face steps as before but this time you apply plum shadow and smudge, apply a deep plum lip stain to your lips and apply two coats of black mascara. That is all she writes on how to achieve the look. I've seen better descriptions in the newspaper.

As it is, this is her 5-minute plan:

0:00-01:00 Apply Foundation / Tinted moisturizer - I don't do this step

01:00-01:20 Pat on concealer

01:20-01:55 Spot conceal any redness from tiny veins or breakouts - I don't normally do this

01:55-02:15 Use powder to set makeup - I don't do this

02:15-02:45 Sweep on highlighter - Applied on the brow bone and the inner tear duct area as well as the top of your cheekbone. I usualy leave this step for last after eyeshadow and blush but if you don't want to apply eyeshadow then this is a good step to open up the eyes. Note, I just saw a video on youtube where she explains that you can highlight using a chubby pencil... much better then loose powder.

02:45-03:05 Blush

03:05-04:05 Line your last line

04:05-04:50 Apply Mascara

04:50-05:00 Slick on lip color

My list wouldn't look like this but I have pretty flawless skin without foundation (modest, I know but that is one of my best features) so I don't need to spend a lot of time evening out my skintone. My biggest complaint is she hasn't even applied a wash of shadow on the eyes. If I don't use concealer on my lids you can see they are veiny and red and this doesn't provide a polished look.

Overall impression: I guess it is a fun read but I wouldn't be looking at this book time and time again. I will try the 5 minute routine for when I don't want to put on that much makeup or have little time. I read about new products I haven't heard of and I like how all the eyes on the models do look bright. Would I recommend purchasing the book? Hmm.. no, just look at the youtube video. That video of her doing the 5-minute routine is much more informative.