Blush;Episode 3

Sorry that I am just getting around to blogging Blush. I am finding very few people that are watching this-is it because it is on Lifetime and people don't know about it-?
At any rate, I was glad to see that the judges did a challenge completely based on eras, because it took Sharzad out immediately. Apparently the only reference she has in life is Madonna, but unfortunately that will not help her with the 20's. Maxi continued his Big Freak role, leaving the apartment in a huff in a black lace dress and matching parasol. Why do I get the sense that he is not truly eccentric-that he actually works at a Bob Evans and wears polo shirts-but he just needed a gimmick to get on the show-?
Naturally I want to talk about the bridal challenge. First of all I felt sorry for these brides, having to worry about these people on their wedding day. I am still conflicted as to how this was even a challenge. My feeling was that they ought to be judged for their professionalism with the clients; their ability to translate the bride's wants and needs, and ultimately how happy the bride was with the finished look.
Evidently that was not enough for the judges because they felt the need to insult the looks even when the brides said they loved them.
The judges really liked the Asian bride, but I felt that her skin looked unfinished, and one of her bridesmaids was way more glam than the bride-a huge no no in my book.
Joanna Schlip was especially dismayed by the bride I posted above. Okay, so I feel the look was very dated and probably more "local news anchor" than blushing bride. But I do really believe the bride loved it. So what's the harm? I feel that my job is to try to steer my client into what will flatter her features, compliment her dress and hair, and make her feel comfortable and beautiful. And hopefully her aesthetic is in harmony with mine-but what if it's not-? Just as an interior designer must morph into shabby chic, post-modern, or French Country, I have to give the client what she wants.
Why is it so cool for one bride to embrace the forties glam look, but it's not so okay for a bride to want to look like an 80's newscaster? I feel like Schlip was trying to inject her own taste into the judging, but it's not her wedding. We all see people out and about with tendrils, "mall bangs" and mullets and wonder "What hairstylist still does that to him/her?" At what point does the stylist coax the client into this decade-or is that client simply fabulous for doing their own thang?
I have many brides who put their face entirely in my hands and say "You are the expert. You tell me."
Conversely, I have brides who want Specific Looks; Goth; Drag Queen(seriously)...I have clients who desrire much less makeup than I would personally recommend-and much more than I would recommend. All I can do is show her how I think she looks most gorgeous and let her make her own decisions from there. If I bully someone into "my vision", she will hate looking at her wedding pictures forever.
One of my hairstylist friends did a wedding a few months ago where the theme was "Barbie Fairytopia"-think huge, over the top, hoop skirted dress with plunging neckline, yards and yards of hair extensions, and RuPaul makeup. Ooookay.Was it her job to tell the client that wasn't so much her taste and she wasn't willing to do it-?
So you tell me; what is the stylist's responsibility?
Rant over. Seacrest out!

"Blush"-episode two

I should preface this by saying that I am not particularly well versed in reality shows, but I wish that they wouldn't edit the footage in such a way that it is completely obvious from the first moments of the show who will be going home.

Rainell is fearful, defensive, baiting Myke for being experienced-huh-?- and she utters what will be my new catchphrase in the coming week, whether anyone gets the reference or not; "Somebody had to get the monkey."

Poor Marcel from friends-this is what he is reduced to?

My first comment in the animal/body makeup challenge is- that is Max Factor makeup? Riiiiigghht. I am sure that I can go to the corner CVS and get that black pigment that they used to make the zebra.

But okay we know who the sponsor is, I get it. Couldn't they give these hags a freakin' airbrush machine?

The eye for the zebra look blew me away-though it wasn't clear whether that was Todd's or Nolan's work. I kind of hate that it appears that Charlie Green loves the gay boys but hates the women. Again; probably editing. But overall I just love her presence on the show and her kookiness. You can get away with so much as a Brit-an American woman, same age, turned out like that-? Plz.

Overall this challenge was a little disappointing. The real drama comes when Djak comes to do the fashion shoot.

I was really hoping to see Nolan without makeup at the 5am wakeup call, but no dice. And although they were hustled to the set "in 15 minutes" they were all flawlessly made up shortly therafter. maybe they are such brilliant arists that they all did it in the car on the way over?

Okay, the challenge.

Here's where I had to start hurling powder puffs at the TV. Once again, the contestants display way more swagger than knowledge. No one understood the direction, very few were familiar with the makeup look of the forties, and none of them were able to take Djak's criticism and adjust to his vision. Of course we get a classic tantrum from Maxi, complete with tears AND a mini fan. Oh-and a mirrored headdress.

Sharzad's style is much like the she does her own makeup; very dated and done in a way that ages the subject drastically. Sign me up; we all want that. And Rainell had her conviction that purple eyehadow was a big iconic look of the forties and refused to change it. Maxi thought he could erase a woman's head and magically make her Dita Von Teese. Farah really did kick some butt though. But everybody else just did their own thang-some very hot-but not what the photographer wanted.

And of course next week they are doing bridal. I cringe because they will all make the requisite bridezilla jokes.

What did everybody else think?

Blush; makeup reality series on Lifetime

So who is watching this?

I just watched the first episode today and I am hooked. Obviously they have some wackos on there to add the drama, like any of these competition shows. I mean really Maxi? A mask?

But it is clear that they were more concerned with personality than with skills. The first person that they eliminated had no business even being in the original mix. I am sure she does a perfectly nice beauty application, but she just had the imagination of the back wall of a handball court. I absolutely howled when she said "Glitter? Feathers? Those will just not stay on if you're dancing at a disco." She kept going on about how she was going to stay true to what she was good at but she had more makeup on her own face than she put on either one of her models.

And the 25 year old-"Sharzad"-who protested that she shouldn't be expected to know anything about disco at her age. Well she didn't know anything about Madonna either. When Charlie Green told her she had to get her references right, I cheered. Any artist-an actor, director, cartoonist, photographer, etc.-has to know all major pop culture references, have a working knowledge of world history and of different eras. Matthew Weiner was just a baby in the 60's, but she sure knows what he's doing with Mad Men.

Maxi boasts that he's "done more music videos than anyone on the planet". He just never lets us in on what planet that is. He is clearly talented-what is unclear is if he is truly as insane as he appears or if it's all for show.

Nolan seems to be a favorite but I was a little "meh" about his work so far. The eye was cool in the "disco" one but nothing about that look said disco to me and the makeup on the face seemed a bit sloppy.

I did like that the women they worked with in the second challenge all had pretty average to poor skin-you could really see which of them had actual skill with perfecting the face. In fact, Maxi kind of lost it when he saw the pics because he had expected them to be photoshopped so he spent all his time on the stencils and none on covering his model's acne.

How about Todd putting curry in his poor model's eye? Priceless.

So what did everybody else think?