EYE ON FASHION

Carly's MakeUp Secrets

by Iris

The following "secrets" of the makeup used for "Carly" on GH was published in the April 26, 2005 issue of ABC Soaps In Depth. The question was answered by GH makeup artist Corina Kramer.

"With Tamara, we use Prescriptives liquid foundation, and we set it with a loose powder." For blush, the choice is a peachy shade by M.A.C. According to Kramer, "It warms up skin tones. Peach, actually, looks good on pretty much everyone." Lip liner and lip gloss? "She usually uses M.A.C. Spice [lip pencil] and then some kind of Lancome Juicy Tube gloss. Almost every color. We like all of them on her." For her striking eyes, the choice tends towards earth tones. Kramer confides "We prefer warm colors on her; she doesn't really look good in purples or greys. We try to stick with warm browns or chestnuts or burgundies on her eyes. In the crease of her eye, we'll usually do a warm brown. I really like these three-color eye pallets from NYX. There's one that is rust, orange and bronze. We use that a lot with Tamara and mix them together."

Now that you know the secrets, you can try these products yourself and get "the Carly Corinthos look"!

Carly’s Clothes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

by ScarletRose

Since Tamara first started on GH four years ago, we’ve been treated to a little bit of all of the above. Unfortunately, Tamara with her flawless fashion sense doesn’t get to dress her character so we’ve had to deal with some missteps along the way. Even if we’ve tried to, who could ever forget that hideous blue snake print dress from her very first day? After that disaster there was nowhere to go but up! That started a trend, which put Carly on a roller coaster ride fashionwise with low valleys, high peaks, and some hills in between. Let’s take a look back now at Carly’s sometimes bumpy fashion journey through the years.

As I watched the show back in May 2001 and throughout that summer, I was reminded of something said by Marlon Brando’s character in the movie The Godfather. Minus the cotton ball stuffed cheeks, I stared at my screen shouting “Look what they’ve done to my girl!” Gone were the sleek pantsuits, the trendy tops, the stylish dresses. In their place was the aforementioned hideous snake print monstrosity, the slightly less hideous wedding dress which our poor girl was forced to wear to bang on the PH door and all over town as bonus points were given to any Carly fan who watched that sober, and the infamous outfit we affectionately referred to as the “clown suit.” For basically all of August, Carly was forced to wear that purple and blue concoction which was more suited for members of Barnum and Bailey’s circus instead of the town’s mob moll. In fact, Carly’s clothes were so bad that I cheered when Sonny and Carly made love and were in bed one episode. Not just because I loved the couple, but also for the reason that I wouldn’t have to see the next dreadful outfit my favorite character would have to endure.

Then fall came around and so did Carly’s clothes. Faster than you can say Oscar de la Renta, Carly’s wardrobe went from revoltingly bad to gloriously good! Sonny and Carly’s trip to Martinique kicked off a long period of fabulous Carly outfits. There were lovely shades of brown, prints, stylish black tops, the fiery red that suits Carly’s personality and Tamara so well, and form fitting dresses one of which at the Club 101 opening had first Jax then Sonny looking at her like she was the only one in the room.

But, it was summertime during 2002 after Carly was reborn so to speak after her plunge over the cliff that her wardrobe was reborn as well and really started to shine. The great fashion period was kicked off with her beaded wedding dress for her 3rd wedding to Sonny and continued pretty much all the way through the end of last year. That summer and into fall saw the show finally figure out how to dress Carly looking like a million bucks in any type of clothing. From fabulous silk robes and stylish bathing suits to equally fabulous dresses to especially fabulous leather to the sleek pantsuits reminding us of days gone by, Carly would have been named to the top of Mr. Blackwell’s best dressed list no contest.

The show managed to top themselves though in dressing Carly when she became pregnant with Sonny’s baby. Has there ever been a female with better maternity wear than Carly? Not likely! The designs and colors of nearly every outfit she wore from the day she found out she was pregnant up until the unfortunate day Ric decided to stash her in that crazy panic room and make her wear what looked like Wal-Mart or K-Mart clothes **sob**, Carly’s wardrobe was the best part of the show. We made up polls to vote for our favorite maternity outfit, and every day you saw more excitement over Carly’s clothes than over who was trying to kill who or who was sleeping with who or who was breaking up with who on the show. The sparkly red dress Sonny gave her on their island trip where they felt Morgan kick for the first time as well as the sparkly purple dress she wore to Jason and Courtney’s first wedding had us all drooling with envy. Then Ric confined Carly and us to Panic Room hell consisting of sweatshirts and ugly ass colored non-designer tops, pants, and shoes taking away all our pregnancy outfit joy. No more favorite outfit polls for us! This is hard for me to admit, but I do have to be grateful to Lorenzo Alcazar for one thing. After taking Carly out of the Panic Room and to his yacht, he supplied her with the wonderful clothes to which she and we had become accustomed to. Then after our girl was finally freed for good from her multiple kidnappers and came home, her fashion sense picked up right where it left off taking us through the end of her pregnancy and the end of the year.

Then tragedy struck in more ways than one as not only did her marriage break up but her beautiful colorful clothes went the way of Carly in relation to the PH: out the door. They were replaced by one drab, dark, and lifeless outfit after another. If there was a day Carly wasn’t wearing black throughout the winter into the spring then it was time to mark that down on your calendar! I guess maybe this went along with the fact that she was mourning the end of her marriage along with millions of fans so maybe it made sense storywise. But that didn’t make it any easier to see the steep decline of our girl’s wardrobe from such a high peak down to such a low valley. Hope springs eternal though and so does Carly’s wardrobe. As the temperatures have caused it to heat up outside, her fashions have followed along that same line. These days Carly is constantly decked out in fiery reds, wonderful whites, darling denims, and beautiful blues as the world has spun back on its axis. Now all we can do is hope that the trend continues and Carly rides this peak into eternity!

"My Style" with Tamara Braun, featured in the Aug. 31, 2004 issue of Soaps In Depth.

To see the article larger, and read the comments from Tamara about her wardrobe,
simply click on each box.