She's a trained MUA who has done makeup for actors/models/etc. I think a client's opinion is far more valuable than what your 'industry' think.. because seems the latter's opinions are quite shallow and egoistic. It's natural that when your own competitor starts to do better than yourself, one tends to put them down :) They might look like drag queens where you are but here, they are made up quite stylishly. Who cares what the insiders in your industry are saying? I am gonna go with my own experiences and judge them by their work.. not by other stylists' opinions who think they are better than anyone else. And frankly my dear, noone is offering to pay you anything to use their products, we are happily buying them ourselves. Peace.
How are my opinions egotistical and shallow? Have you ever been to a MAC convention? And please, I find it rude that you pass judgment on me. I have friends who are former employee's of MAC and now that they've seen the "light," of the true freelance and agency makeup industry, they have solidified my opinion. I don't think I'm "better," than anyone else. But this is my career. I would find it fairly presumptuous for someone to tell a professional what to do. It takes 3-5 or more years of training for a makeup artist to start working in the real world. That's a long time to study. :)
And the reason artists affiliated with MAC do fashion work is because the company buys out the client. They aren't hired on talent, they're hired on price. A MAC artist is paid 22 dollars per hour (often), while a freelance makeup artist could get upwards of 200 dollars per hour or more. Who's pocketing that extra money? The company. They steal from the artists. So no, I don't find my opinion shallow at all. I support artists and I loathe any company that steals from any their clients (sending less experienced artists, and thus stealing from both the client and the artist). They degrade talented individuals.
As with anything, I would not patronize any business or person that has poor ethics and morals. That may be the difference between me and other people.
So, as I've stated my opinion before. No industry professional I know of chooses to use MAC above other products. They simply don't cut it in any aspect.
Instead of insulting me, perhaps my words should be taken into consideration. I don't benefit in any way from this thread-- all I'm doing is trying to inform people of what I know.
So don't attack the messenger :)