Get Positively Beautiful: The Ultimate Guide to Looking and Feeling Gorgeous

by Carmindy

According to a recent study, only 2% of women describe themselves as 'beautiful.' ( Dove Global Study 'The Real Truth About A Global Report', 2004 ) The media instructs women how to 'look ten years younger,' 'cover up wrinkles,' or 'get fuller, plumper lips.' And even makeup products play off women's 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.'

Genres: Nonfiction, Fashion, Self Help, How To, Reference, Health

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2008

About the author

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.

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.

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 Maybelline, Sephora, Clairol, Avon, Aveeno, CoverGirl, Almay, Bath and Body Works, Sally Hansen, 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.

Carmindy is always looking for the next great way to communicate with her fans. She writes a monthly e-newsletter featuring answers to questions submitted through her Web site www.carmindy.com, and is a freelance beauty writer for several other high-traffic beauty Web sites.
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Reviews

[Beth Cato · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is absolutely NOT the sort of book I would ever buy or pick up on my own as 1) I use a bare minimum of make-up 2) I find cosmetics rather intimidating, and I'm self-conscious about shopping for them. However, I won this in a gift pack earlier this year, and after a few days of feeling like I look bleh, I figured it was as good a time as any to read it.[return][return]Actually, I was pretty impressed with the book. It lives up to the title, emphasizing that THINKING positively will reflect in a person's face and empower them more than make-up alone ever could. True, that. Carmindy (who does make-up on the show What Not to Wear) also emphasizes focusing on good facial features rather than covering up the bad. The book has chapters on each part of the face - lips, eyes, skin, cheeks - and shows techniques on how to handle different shapes/textures/colors. I especially liked the examples of how to apply eye shadow for different shapes and times of day; it makes me feel like actually trying out eyeshadow for the first time in, oh, three years. There's a chapter on tools, explaining different sorts of little brushes and thingamajigs. The back of the book shows real women of all ages and ethnicities and how they look before and after. Carmindy is very good at her job.[return][return]That said, sometimes the positive-emphasis was a bit overdone. Almost ever paragraph had sentences like: Fabulous! Gorgeous! The book also isn't bound for friendly use in a bathroom. It's hardcover and oversized like a coffee table book. Pages don't stay open on their own. As far as functionality, it would have been more prudent to make it glossy and spiral-bound. Those are the only gripes, though. It's a nice book for gals like me who might want to dress up every now and then, but don't exactly know how. I actually went out and bought a lip liner and pencil eye liner today. Whoa.

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing.

After reading positive reviews I purchased this book to help update my make up look. This book was no help, and was filled with the same old, same old. The pictures were very small and not helpful. If you ever watched the show What Not to Wear, you have seen the contents of the book in Carmindy's segments.

[Kristie J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book to give you an overview of all the different kinds of makeup, makeup tools and brushes, and basic concepts and colors as well as a wonderful philosophy to stop worrying about your "problem" areas that other people probably don't notice anyway, and put the emphasis on your best features and strengths. I appreciated the positive message that all women are beautiful. There are beautiful pictures, including a number of before and after shots, which are inspiring. By the end of the book, I was getting confused with all the details for women of different skin tones, different looks, etc. I really liked Carmindy's other book, the 5 Minute Face, which focused on detailed instructions to create a great look fast.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

A useful reference book for make-up and beauty basics (and I stress, basics), which is just what I needed. What was missing was an explanation of the difference between items like, for example, using a serum vs. a lotion or a cream moisturiser. Still, as I said, a useful reference book for lots of other things.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brightly illustrated and filled with positive affirmations, practical tips, and product resources.

[Wendi · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

Extended 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!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guide seems to fill in all the information missing from her previous book "5 Minute Face". With her previous book, I was hoping for more detailed descriptions on application and definitions of make-up tools. I found both of these in this more textually dense book, in which she provides instructions for unique eye, skin, cheek, and lip types. I also enjoyed the section where she describes make-up looks to match certain moods, which I found to be much more practical than looks for specific occasions.

While the first four chapters promote inner beauty and a positive self-image, it quickly gets redundant and tiresome. Throughout the entire book she uses sickeningly cheesy language like "yummy," "lovelies," "lippy," and my least favorite "goopy." Even though I thought of vomiting when she used phrases like "yummy skin treats," it turns out that this was a positive, and perhaps purposeful mind trick. After getting halfway through this book, I noticed that every time I went to the mirror I couldn't help but thinking ridiculous thoughts like "hey gorgeous" and "those are some sparkling eyes." So even though the language is abrasively chipper, it certainly doesn't hurt one's self esteem.

Another thing I disliked about the language was her color descriptions. I have no idea what the difference is between warm rose, cool pink rose, true rose, and deeper rose. I thought that when buying make-up, things would be conveniently named exactly as she described them, but this was not the case. Everything had useless names like "flirtatious", "sassy", and "minx". I also tried google-ing the color taupe and got a lot of different results. It would have been enormously helpful if she had included a color palette of exactly what she had in mind.

Overall, this is a useful book filled with tips and tricks to improve your look and technique. I can now say that I actually know how to apply eye shadow, which I've always failed at before. Definitely a good reference book to have on hand.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from a goodreads giveaway. I don't watch Carmindy on her TV show or any other, and had not heard of her before winning this book. (Which I did want to own)

The Pros:

I'm not good with makeup. I've been working the same basic ideas my entire life. There are a couple of tips in here I'm really looking forward to implementing.

Spilling the goods on what makeup she uses, both the pricier version and the budget-friendly version.

The cons:

This book has more exclamation points than you can shake an exclamation point at! You! Are! Pretty! You! Look! Smashing! How will you look? Amazing! What does it spell? Gorgeous!

10 years ago I thumbed through a friend's copy of Kevin Aucoin's book, Making Faces. The tiniest tidbits I remember from that book still shape some of my makeup skills that I'm impressed with. I was really hoping for more instruction here. The eye section where she said what to put where with the 3 hues were helpful. I wanted more of that!

Towards the end photos of her are better, but in the first half every picture of her freaked me out. Glazed eye open-mouthed valium creature!

The makeovers in the back are 50/50. Some look truly beautiful, some look okay, and some look like men.

The verdict:

This is what Seventeen magazine looks like in book form. Chipper, yay for you, and somewhat helpful to boot.

For $15, this large picture-filled book is a steal for the people purchasing it. Now, the people purchasing it should be salon owners. This is the kind of "I'm so pretty" material that you should be thumbing while getting a pedicure and highlights.

[Marta hoelscher · Rating 5 out of 5]

By: Carmindy

Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Center Street (October 7, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599951436
ISBN-13: 978-1599951430

"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 philosphy. 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 let me say that this book is simply gorgeous! The photography and layout of the book is superb and very eyecatching. The thick, glossy pages make it almost sinful to browse and read through this book. I was expecting the usual makeup/beauty book, but that's not what I got. This book is as much, if not more, about becoming a beautiful you from the inside out. Carmindy wants every women to realize that she is unique and is beautiful and to use those attributes to present your best you to the world. Definitely a great book!

I got this book from Hachette Book Group, USA...Thanks!

[Bobbie Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get Positively Beautiful,
The Ultimate Guide to Looking and Feeling Gorgeous
Written By: Carmindy
Published By: Center Street, a division of Hachette Book Group USA Inc., 2008, First Edition, 224 pages, hardcover
ISBN 978-1599951430

Get Positively Beautiful is a fantastic book that entertains as it educates. With a very straightforward yet glamorous layout, this makeup guide will make you feel comfortable and relaxed in an otherwise confusing jumble of brushes, blushes, creams and powders. With very detailed and concise descriptions of different makeup, tools and their uses, Carmindy puts her proverbial arm around your shoulder and shows you just how you can enhance your inner beauty and help it shine outwardly. With many stunning, colourful, close-up photographs and more then 10 dramatic before and after makeovers, this makeup guide gives you all the knowledge and confidence necessary for you to be able to tweak and/or improve your personal...


**Please follow the link to read the whole review:
http://bookreviewsbybobbie.wordpress....

[Kathy (Bermudaonion) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get Positively Beautiful by Carmindy of What Not To Wear fame is a make-up manual that covers every aspect from skin care to what tools to use. She says, “I believe looking good starts with feeling good,” and she emphasizes the positives. She goes over how to sustain your look when you travel and through all seasons. There are quite a few makeovers in the back of the book that are fun to look through. The best part of this book, in my opinion, is Carmindy’s attitude. She says we should:

* Drop The Flaw Focus
* Kick Away Corrosive Comparisons
* Revel in Your Fantastic Features
* Embrace the Beauty Ritual
* Change the Game and Win Every Time

Carmindy admits that changing your mindset isn’t always easy, but her infectious attitude rubs off on you as you read this book. Throughout the book she stresses forgetting your negatives and accentuating your positives. She says you need to “commit to thinking differently about your beauty.” I think this would be an excellent book for a teen just learning to use make-up.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK. Well, it's taken me way too long to review this book. Note to self ... do not enter book giveaway contests right before school starts. You won't have time to properly deal with winning!

And truthfully ... I guess I kept hoping I would like it more (received it as part of First Reads).

So I will say this. If you are looking for a book of affirmations this is a great choice. Way too many people are caught in the trap of looking in the mirror and hating what they see. Or in comparing themselves unfavorably to unrealistic media portrayals of beauty.

Very nice art direction in terms of models (all ages and ethic backgrounds), as well as color in the makeup examples.

But for practical application this book just did not "do" it for me. I need more detailed photos of the as you go step by step process for makeup. Telling me to swoop something over the apples of my cheeks ... I'm all thumbs and can't really apply that.

So I'll have to keep trying to get my practical tips from real live people. And I'll keep this book for the info on tools and some of the Q&As.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly enjoying watching Carmindy on "What Not to Wear" so when I heard about this book, I picked it up from the library to peruse. She almost lost me at the beginning when she wrote about her little "indulgence" being Creme de la Mer face cream but she quickly redeemed herself with excellent, straightforward advice.

I'm not a girl who often gets excited about make-up (I don't wear it on a daily basis) but after reading this book, there are a couple of products and techniques I want to try. The layout is clear, concise and easy to read. I appreciate Carmindy's reinforcement throughout the book that make-up is meant to enhance your features, not recreate them, and I think that's what has encouraged me to get my own copy of this book for future reference.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the time I got this book I was completely makeup obsessed and refused to leave the house without a full face of makeup, seriously. So at the time I thought this book was about tips and tricks but that was only part of it, so I had given up on it thinking it was a useless book unless you where having a mid life crises. But now that I really think about it, and now that I rarely ever wear anything on my face other then your moisturizer and lip balm, that what is written in this book is 100% true. If someone ever needed a confidence boost for their natural beauty but still wanted to learn how to apply makeup correctly and the true meaning of less is more then I'd suggest to them to go pick up this book and to read it page for page.

[Sarah Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up from the library at random today. I was super excited for my next Bobbi Brown-like experience with Carmindy. Disappointment. The text was weird and the images were all of gobs of makeup, and not enough humans wearing it. And while I love the I-was-a-fat-girl-they-called-basketball-head story and photo of Carmindy and the general love yourself message, it was sort of lost with the makeup gobs.
The only redeeming part are regular women without and then with makeup towards the back. The photos of each woman, young and old, traditionally pretty and not, were great.
But overall this was a pretty crappy book. I'm not sure what the point was.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great, especially for women who are just deciding to wear make-up or those who want to know how to wear it properly.
What I did like about this book was that it shows how to wear make-up for all different types of facial features and shapes. Plus, there are before and after pictures, which I love.
What I felt was lacking was MORE PICTURES! Though there are pictures in the book, I feel that there should be more on a book about make-up. There are a good amount of pictures of Carmindy, though.
With that being said, after looking through this book I did go experiment with make-up with some of Carmindy's suggestions.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a self-help book about how to put on makeup but also gives you some positive quotes and also how to give yourself a positive compliment before you put on makeup. When it comes to makeup, I only put on lipbalm, BB Cream, and whatever lipstick I have in my bag these days. But after reading this book, there were a few things I was tempted to try out, but is still scared to do. Foundation? Haven't found the perfect one yet. Mascara? Fuhgeddaboutit. I'm still looking for a new one since my old one got old. But I do reconmend this book one hundered percent to someone who's either slowly but surely wanna know about makeup or just know about it but wanna feel positive about it.

[Chelsea C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading my 50th Book this year. To be honest it's probably one of the most interesting beauty books I've read because the focus is emphasized more on actively committing to change negative self talk. The book doesn't only give tips on how to be beautiful on the outside but gives you tools, tips and advice on ways you can positively boost your self confidence beyond the beauty products. For instance at the start of the book you are encouraged to make use of daily mirror mantras and try to always come up with one positive self thought for every negative one. I also enjoyed the use of real looking makeup with the models in the last few chapters embracing flaws.

[Cate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally changed how I do my makeup. PLUS--her Sally Hansen products are AMAZING!

My only complaint was that I got tired of the rah-rah stuff about how beautiful I am. I don't care how much you say it, when I compare myself to Carmindy, I ain't the one getting a modeling contract, if you know what I mean.

But she does teach you how to bring out the best in your looks, and do it in a very natural, attainable way. Great for "regular" folks.

Give yourself a makeover and use this book to do it!

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked her schtick about focusing on what you like about yourself, instead of on your flaws, but that is not a new concept for me, nor was it quite what I came here for. (I mean, if that is new to you -- she's right!) I felt like it was a more surface approach than I was looking for -- not as in-depth with specific tips and tricks as I wanted.

And while there's not a total lack of racial diversity among her models, there could definitely be more. The "real women" section was better than the rest of the book in this regard.

[Marcy Strahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly a Self help book to enable women to love themselves the way they are.
Teaches you to embrace your flaws & how to accent the positive things in your looks & personality!
With alot of "Mantra type"..."I love Myself & I am beautiful in my individuality" ..this book motivates with a helpful splash of Beauty how too's thrown in.
Great book from anyone needing a little Self worth boost...along with helpful guidance in using cosmetics properly!

This is the kind of book~if you found on a coffee table of a trendy Salon or Doctors office:
You would be tempted to steal & take Home.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book from a Goodreads First Read giveaway. I liked a few of the tips and could apply some to my everyday-workday look. I occasionally watch ‘What Not to Wear’ but I kinda pay more attention to ‘wear’ part and not the makeup and hair parts. Carmindy is probably good one on one with someone but her actual book instructions were a bit lacking. When I was working at book store I got more of a ‘how to’ and more tips from Kevin Aucoin’s book, Making Faces. Heck, I think there’s probably more instructions located at his website than what’s in this book.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from the library, and now I want to own it! I love Carmindy's positive attitude toward accepting and enhancing our unique natural beauty... so empowering. This would be a great gift for a 13 or 14-year-old girl who is just getting into makeup. Carmindy makes looking beautiful super-easy, and I love that she includes product and tool recommendations. The only detraction is Carmindy's overuse of excited adjectives, such as, "Devastating!" Not a big deal though. :o)

[Jazmyn Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book on from a goodreads giveaway. This book was actually very empowering! After I finished reading it I felt more confident about my looks. I have ALWAYS been very negative when it comes to my looks, but this book made me feel beautiful. I recomend it to all women who have self-esteem issues.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carmindy again gives out great advice on how to apply make-up and what brand to buy. At the back of the book, you can choose from a non-expensive product or if you would like to splurge, a product that is a little pricey.

[Regina Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very similar to the previous book I've read by her, saw few new tools and a little different looks to play around with. Would be nice to see something of fantasy works by her - like for specialty party.

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was nothing I thought it would be. I was hoping for real advice from a professional in the industry to give to other makeup artists. Instead it was a book about feeling good about yourself and makeup tips I learned as a teen.

[Arielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to have on the shelf with lots on tutorials, tips and advice. Love all the photos and examples. And I like the attitude and positive message throughout the book! She really is a lovely person and I love her work!

[Lovedone · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely beautiful book that takes a different view on beauty: it starts from within. Such an entertaining yet mind opening book with so much fun information! Highly recommend it for those who are interested in inner & outer beauty :)

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I would have bought the book when I met Carmindy. Then she could have signed it. Oh well.