Makeup Training, Makeup Products, Makeup Tips Part 2

Nov 2, 2011

Angel M.

Angel Michele – What can I say, it has its pro’s and con’s. More pro’s than con’s I should say. It’s a great place to ascertain information and public opinion. I love watching videos on Youtube – I even have a Youtube account – what I hate is when people don’t read enough into the information they’re given. A lot of falsified information is spread like a virus via Youtube and it’s not YouTube’s fault, it’s the public’s fault and I hate that about the public. You know, Doctor Oz can tell the public not to drink apple juice due to its high arsenic levels and the public goes into this frenzy boycotting apple juice not doing one ounce of research on their own. Never minding the fact that there is organic arsenic – which is in many of the foods we eat and passes just fine through our system and inorganic arsenic – which is in rat poison and will kill you. They never stop to wonder why apple juice has never killed them before, they just panic. I feel that youtube like any public media can promote a poisonous view on many cosmetic brands as well as skin care and makeup routines.
Jo-Jo – I’m glad you made this point, because you recently did a Bare Escentuals video where you pretty much went on a brand bashing crusade. People were even talking about this video on twitter, so can’t you say that you are also responsible for poisoning the well – sort of speak?
Angel Michele – Not really. The video more or less speaks to what I’ve just said about public media. In the video I was pointing out the fact that many people believe and swear by things without researching them. It wasn’t so much Bare Escentuals that I was attacking; it was the “stupid” people who use Bare Escentuals.
Jo-Jo – So would you encourage your clients to use Bare Escentuals?
Angel Michele – Probably not. But I also don’t encourage my clients to use Cover Girl foundation or Revlon foundation. Bare Escentuals is not a good foundation base. It will only work well on a person with flawless skin and a person with flawless skin will do better with a mineral tinted moisturizer. Let me explain this real quick to clear any confusion. Bare Escentuals is not for everyone and 95% of the people who use it shouldn’t be. The problem is 100% of the people who use Bare Escentuals are ignorant about makeup…very ignorant. Throughout the 80’s and into the 90’s the Bare Escentuals consumer was claiming to not wear makeup because they “didn’t need it”. A foolish argument to begin with because no one “needs” makeup – if we needed it, it wouldn’t be taxed. Many make-up artist including myself went on this crusade trying to explain to this particular consumer how makeup can improve your physique and enhance your best features. We got nowhere because we were actually fighting the wrong battle. We gave this large group of women more credit than they deserved. Then Leslie Blodgett emerged (she herself was one of these women so she knew how to relate to them) with her infomercials explaining makeup as you would to a two year old. When I saw these infomercials I thought they were very insulting…the whole swirl, tap, buff process – I find that (like many infomercials) she made this particular consumer look very ignorant. Unbeknownst to me and many other artist…the consumer was that ignorant. The whole “natural beauty without makeup” was a lie; the underlying problem was they had no idea how to do makeup. Leslie came along and made the application seem easy and everyone bought into that. They didn’t necessarily buy a quality product; they simply purchased a good gimmick. Now here is the reason why I dislike the consumer – the hell with the product. Had they have told the truth in the beginning about the real reason why they were apprehensive about makeup they could have been educated on how to use it properly. The problem now is that they think they know everything about makeup and to give them real education you have to tear down everything they think they know…and this is difficult.
Jo-Jo – But isn’t that just brand loyalty? Aren’t there people who feel that way about MAC or Estee Lauder?