Review: Get Positively Beautiful by Carmindy

Title: Get Positively Beautiful: The Ultimate Guide to Looking and Feeling Gorgeous
Author: Carmindy (Makeup Artist for TLC's #1 Show What Not to Wear)
Photography: Peter Buckingham and Devon Jarvis
Pages: 224
Publisher: Center Street (October 7, 2008) (Part of Hachette Book Group)
Genre: Non-Fiction / Beauty
Edition: Hardback - many thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy to review!!!



Perfect for : Personal Use, Great gift for a girl getting into makeup (promotes positive self image), Professionals in beauty/makeup field

In a nutshell: I absolutely love Carmindy Vision! She has a great way of encouraging the reader to think positively about their unique beauty, and to focus on what sets them apart from others, she even includes Mirror Mantras throughout the book to help reinforce the positive thinking. She shows the reader how to find their best feature and how to make it shine! She has provided beauty tips for everything! For the eyes: How to best compliment your eye color, what to do for the shape of your eye, different types of products, how to use them and when to use them. She also covers the skin, lips, cheeks. She has a great (and very helpful) chapter for beauty tools too! Then my favorites - beauty tips for each season, different moods and special occasions! I've wanted to learn that smokey eye look for quite a while - thanks Carmindy!


This is a great new book for a girl just starting to become interested in beauty and makeup (I highly recommend it!) as it will help instill a positive self image and teach good beauty essentials. It would also be great for anyone wanting to update their look, or for beauty professionals.

From the Publisher:
According to a recent study, only 2% of women describe themselves as 'beautiful.' The media instructs women how to 'look ten years younger,' 'cover up wrinkles,' or 'get fuller, plumper lips.' And even makeup products play off womens' insecurities, promising to conceal perceived flaws, define cheekbones, or make eyelashes fuller and longer. The underlying message? That there's something inherently wrong with the way women look and that they have to spend time, money, and energy keeping up with all the ways they should 'fix' themselves.

In GET POSITIVELY BEAUTIFUL, makeup artist Carmindy from TLC's hit program What Not to Wear shows you how to change your mindset from negative fault-finding to a positive beauty philosophy. You learn how to find and focus on your best features and how to combat negative thoughts about your appearance. Carmindy demonstrates easy makeup techniques for eyes, brows, lashes, lips, cheeks, and skin, and how to adapt looks to different weather conditions and 'beauty moods.'

First Paragraph:
Chapter One: First Things First


I believe looking good starts with feeling good.


Before we consider what to put on our faces, we must confront what's going on inside our heads! For a lot of us, it's a blurry mess of negativity. But right now, we can choose to make a change: we can decide to sharpen our focus and start seeing the positive.

My Review:
The first paragraph (and all the ones that follow) really help to set a positive tone for the entire book. Add to that the wonderful Mirror Mantras throughout the book, and you really will start seeing yourself in a more positive light! The book is filled with great information, vibrant colors and great tips for everyone!

Content: The book starts with helping the reader to create a more positive self-image, and proceeds to help you find your "Feature Focus", or the thing that is unique to you, that makes you beautiful. Carmindy provides different chapters to address the eyes, skin, cheeks, and lips. She then moves into beauty tools. Finally, she showcases how to change your look with the changing seasons, and how to create different looks for different moods (romantic, seductive, strong, fabulous and carefree). And who doesn't like beauty makeovers? There is a section dedicated to before and after pictures, with explanations for each transformation. At the end of the book, she provides a Shopping Guide which covers each section and gives suggestions for each product with a range of prices.

Format: The books starts with a positive message, then does a good job of progressing through the different areas of the face and beauty.

Readability: Very easy to read, with clear pictures and easily understood instructions. The pictures show real people, and how they look with the different techniques.

Overall: A wonderful book for all women from girls just discovering makeup, and women wanting to re-do their look, to the beauty professional who wants to redo their technique and incorporate a more positive outlook to beauty! I highly recommend this book!

About the Author: (From the publisher)

Every week, millions of viewers count on Carmindy to teach them about the latest makeup tips and tricks on TLC's hit show “What Not to Wear.” Her unique vision of empowering women through lip gloss has created an army of followers looking for ways to erase insecurities and enhance their natural beauty. Carmindy teaches women not only how to choose their best feature to focus on but also how to see only the positive and celebrate who they truly are.

Since her Southern California childhood, Carmindy has dreamed of traveling the world doing makeup and meeting inspiring people. Through hard work and an unstoppable attitude, she's made that dream a reality. She's painted faces in the studios of Paris, on the beaches of Brazil, and on the streets of Havana. She's lived in Los Angeles, Milan, Miami, and now makes her home with her husband, Javier, in New York, where she has established herself as a top fashion makeup artist and a natural beauty revolutionary.

Carmindy's work can be seen on the editorial pages of leading magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, InStyle, O, Essence, Self, Lucky, Seventeen, Marie Claire, and Glamour. Her commercial clients include Sally Hansen, Maybelline, Sephora, Clairol, Matrix, Avon, Aveeno, CoverGirl, Almay, Bath and Body Works, Crest Whitestrips, and Q-tips. She is the author of two fabulous beauty books titled The 5 Minute Face and Get Positively Beautiful. She has co-created a natural line of cosmetics called Sally Hansen Natural Beauty inspired by Carmindy available in drugstores nationwide.