Carmindy - The 5-Minute Face: The Quick & Easy Makeup Guide for Every Woman

the

MINUTE

FACE

The Quick & Easy Makeup Guide for Every Woman

CARMINDY

BEAUTY PHOTOGRAPHY BY PALMA KOLANSKY

To my beautiful mother, Julie, my inspiration,
and my father, Jack, who always encouraged me
to follow my passions in life and create my
own destiny. I love you!

No wonder. Ive noticed a bizarre trend in recent years. The more we have advanced as women, the more insecure we have become. When it comes to our looks, we only see whats wrong with us, how we can fix it, and how we can achieve someone elses idea of perfection. And we are deluged by that promise to make lashes longer, to eliminate cellulite, and to erase wrinkles!

I believe we must retrain our brains. Instead of searching for what is wrong, we need to focus on whats rightwhat we already possess that is beautiful. Women constantly ask me questions like, Carmindy, how do I make my lips look larger? Meanwhile the woman asking has the most extraordinary brown eyes I have ever seen. She doesnt even realize this because shes obsessed with making her lips look huge. What a shame!

Heres my philosophy: When it comes to using makeup, I believe in using the right products in the right places to highlight your best features, instead of piling on products to re-create your face or hide perceived flaws. I dont believe that women are flawed or that there is any set standard of beauty they MUST meet. In my fifteen years in the beauty business as a makeup artist for countless magazine and advertising shoots, and now as the makeup host on The Learning Channels What Not to Wear television show, Ive worked with models, celebrities, stay-at-home momswomen from all walks of life. There is beauty in everyone, and I help each person see it.

How? For one thing, I show them how simple makeup application can be. I apply it like a watercolor painting: I use sheer washes of color that allow ones natural beauty to shine through. Relearning how to use makeup to enhance your features will help you embrace and celebrate your glowing skin, lovely lips, sparkling eyeswhatever you possess that is truly beautiful. Your insecurities will vanish, and using makeup will be a lot more fun.

Thats why Ive written this book, The 5-Minute Face, and why Ive spent so much time on this approachI want makeup to be a fast and foolproof way for all women to maximize their beauty potential. And I want all those women out there to see beauty in themselves and to celebrate the way they look. Its amazing how one seemingly simple tip can unleash a whole wave of self-esteem. Now its time to embrace your natural beauty, enhance your best features, and enlighten your sense of self.

I BECAME INTERESTED IN MAKEUP WHEN I WAS FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. MY mother was a watercolor artist, and I would sit with her and watch her paint for hours. It was also about that time that I remember digging up old photos of my grandmother and my mother from their modeling days. I became fascinated with those glamorous images. Seeing my interest, my mother bought me a subscription to Elle magazine and I was hooked! I wanted to look like the women on those pages, and I wanted to make everyone else look that way, too: clean, healthy, gorgeous.

For Christmas one year, I asked my father to build me a Hollywood-style makeup mirrorthe ones with the big lightbulbs all aroundand a directors chair. I began doing makeup for friends and neighbors, re-creating what I saw on those fashion pages and incorporating some of the techniques I had learned watching my mother paint.

That became one of my hallmarks: my watercolor approach to makeup. The more I followed this method, the more I realized how gorgeous skin looks with minimal makeup. I also mastered the art of choosing just one great feature to showcase. For me, its about finding the positive and playing it up. And Im going to share all of my techniques with you.

One of my main goals when I apply makeup is to let my clients skin show through; I dont cake on foundation or concealer. But in order for skin to be in its best possible shape, youve got to treat it well. It isnt hard. Just find the right cleanser, wash your skin in the morning and before bed, and use moisturizer regularly (a daytime lotion with SPF and something richer, like a cream or serum, at night) to make your complexion radiant. And when skin glows, so will the rest of you. Below, find your skin type and take note of the easy-care steps.

Oily skin tends to break out more, even into your forties, but regular cleansing can go a long way to keep your face clear. By about age thirty-five, you may notice that oil output slows and skin is more normal. And, good news: that extra oil keeps your skin looking soft and youthful longer than other skin types.

• THE RIGHT CLEANSER Forday, use a foaming gel cleanser. The lather will help break down sebum (skins natural oil), and since foamers typically dont leave extra moisturizers behind the way creamy cleansers do, they are your best bet for keeping skin clear.

ACNE AID

Follow the skin advice for oily skin, using a foaming gel cleanser and oil-free moisturizer. If you get a few pimples now and again, you probably have normal skin; dab benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid pimple treatment on spots at night to speed healing. If acne is persistent, showing most days of the month, or you have undergrounds, also called cystic acne, consider seeing a dermatologist. He or she will have a wealth of advice to help clear your skin. Keep in mind, cystic acne is most likely to cause permanent scars, and ignoring them is the worst thing you can do.

• THE RIGHT MOISTURIZER Use an oil-free lotion. A lot of women assume that if their skin is oily, they should skip moisturizer. Not true. Your skin will feel dehydrated and will overcompensate by producing more oil. Trick it into thinking it has enough moisture by using an oil-free formula. This will also function like a primer to even skin texture so foundation goes on smoothly, which will help makeup last longer.