Carmindy, Celebrity Makeup Artist and Author
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January 04, 2008 @ 12:00 am
Why She’s An It Girl
Carmindy was raised in Southern California, where she started doing makeup fifteen years ago. She has worked in cities from Milan to New York and all over the rest of the world. Today she is the makeup host on “What Not to Wear” and the author of the just released book THE 5-MINUTE FACE (We loved it so much it’s spotlighted in our IT GIRL BOOK BAG!). Known for her realistic approach to beauty, Carmindy urges women to find their best feature and play it up. Her work can be seen in Cosmopolitan, Elle, Self, Essence, InStyle, Seventeen, and Marie Claire. Her watercolor approach to enhancing a person’s natural radiance gives each person a unique look, reinforcing her catch phrase: “Using the right products in the right places.”
She lives in New York City with her husband, Javier.
What Inspires Carmindy?
I’m inspired every day by women I see walking down the street. I’ll turn a corner and see a girl with shiny curly hair and a few steps later will notice a woman with gorgeous deep brown eyes. Beauty is all around us in people and nature. That’s why I developed THE 5-MINUTE FACE. We don’t need to fix and contour ourselves. We need to enhance our natural beauty and with just a little makeup applied the right way, we will look radiant! We need to forget the celebrity-driven, re-touched look that is all around us and look deeper to find the real beauty in each of us.
Carmindy’s It Girl picks:
SUGAR!
This is one of my best beauty secrets. In the shower, buff skin with a handful of regular white sugar—it’s an inexpensive and amazing face and body scrub.
Q-TIPS
These are the ultimate beauty tool. I like to use them to smudge eyeliner so that my lash line appears naturally thicker and my eyeliner doesn’t have that harsh look. And they’re great for spot concealing! Dip a Q-Tip into the leftover foundation that is a bit dried up in the bottle cap. The foundation there is thicker than in the bottle and you can layer it on the spots easily just touching the Q-Tip to the areas you’re trying to cover.
HIGHLIGHTER
Highlighters are my secret weapon and the key to my “5-Minute Face.” These pearly shimmers come in fine powders, sheer creams, luminizing liquids, or light-reflecting crayons and bring light to the face, blending into the skin to become almost unnoticeable—except for an ethereal gleam. Powders go on faster, so sweep a little powder highlighter in three places: under your eyebrows, on the inside corners of your eyes by your tear ducts, and on top of your cheekbones. After you apply it, tilt your face, you can see the tones of the color prisms, giving your face and eyes that luminous glow.
MAKING MY OWN CUSTOM BODY GLOW
I love to customize my own body lotion. I spend far less than I would for a fancy lotion, and I get exactly what I want. Here’s my secret: I buy a big jug of inexpensive, unscented lotion from the drugstore, then add drops of my favorite essential oil (like coconut or jasmine, which you can find at health food stores). Next I add a squeeze of liquid or cream shimmer (a luminizer that most cosmetics’ companies offer). Then shake it all up, and wow! I not only smell yummy, but my body is soft and luminous. What’s more, the glow from the shimmer (aim for a subtle gleam, not an obvious glittery look) makes your muscle tone stand out, even if you don’t have much.
Who does she consider an “It Girl”?
I think the actress Jennifer Esposito is an “It Girl.” A true beauty with incredible talent, she epitomizes natural beauty, strength, confidence, and depth.
For more information please visit, www.carmindy.com
I am a huge fan of Carmindy from What Not To Wear and her natural looks she creates. I was in the drug store the other day and found that she has a makeup line out! I am always looking for makeup that doesn’t look cakey so I thought I would try the foundation and some lip stick (also tried the lip moisture stick. Sorry, I am at work (shhhh...) and don’t know the official names of these products right now. Loved these items! Foundation requires only one small pump on the dispenser. I over did it the first time. Dotted around with my fingers and then smoothed with a makeup sponge. No cakey look and lasts a long time. Lip products are light and smell great. I would recommend this new line to anyone.