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Ever since Meghan McCain returned to The View from her maternity leave, fans have seen her switch up her looks almost on a daily basis. From glittery eyeliner and red lips, to top knots, braids and Princess Leia buns, the 36-year-old has rocked them all.
Along the way the Republican co-host has praised Carmen Currie, the talented woman behind the stunning looks. “@ccprostyles is the most incredible, creative hair and makeup artist,” Meghan wrote in a Feb. 23 Instagram post showing off the bejeweled middle hair-parting she rocked on TV that day. “Such a privilege to work together every day getting ready for @theviewabc.”
Carmen values their collaboration behind the scenes too. “I really, really enjoy working with Meghan,” she tells HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY, adding, “We get along great. We laugh. We share some of the same interests in music. We have a great relationship.”
Carmen started working with Meghan in September 2020 and resumed in January when the new mom returned to The View, after taking time off to have her baby Liberty, who is now 5-months-old. The blonde appears on the show remotely, filming from the ABC News Bureau in Washington, D.C. where she is currently located. For 20 to 30 minutes a day, she sits in the makeup chair, while Carmen (who you can see in the Instagram post below) works magic while wearing a mask, plastic face shield and gloves.
Asked how they collaborate on their various styles, the former model says it’s simple. Meghan gives her free rein to create. “From the first time of us working together it’s just like, ‘Hey, do you,’” Carmen says of Meghan’s directions. “’I know you’re a good artist. Just do you.’”
“[Meghan] just really lets me be me artistically. However, she’s really artistic herself and she’s open to things too,” adds Carmen who has also worked with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “I’m really excited to have someone that I could just do a little bit more fun looks on… I get to play more with color and hairstyles and it’s great. It’s an outlet for me.”
Meghan’s Princess Leia buns style is one of the looks that grabbed the attention of The View fans. (“Yaaas @MeghanMcCain for these beautiful blond [sic] buns!” one viewer tweeted on Feb. 10.) The buzzworthy look was surprisingly simple to achieve, according to Carmen.
“Part [the hair] down the middle [into two ponytails],” she says, as she walks through the steps, which included pulling a few tendrils out to frame Meghan’s face. The buns were created with temporary extensions. “I like to wrap the hair extensions around her ponytail and just simply create a bun shape with that and pin it nice and secure,” she says.
Meghan and Carmen love using the Hidden Crown extensions line. “Some of them are clip-ons,” the hairstylist says. “I don’t always use clip-ons because I can pin it with bobby pins. Nothing we do is permanent as far as extensions because I like the versatility.”
When it comes to hair products, Carmen is a fan of the Oribe range. For example, she uses the Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray to give the hair “a little bit of roughness” so she can “tease it” and “have a foundation for the clip-ins.” When Meghan is rocking a slicked back top knot, Oribe’s Crème for Style from the brand’s Signature range is her go-to.
“A little bit goes a long way,” Carmen says. “I’d just put it in my hand, warm it up and then try to spread it out as evenly as possible to your hair. I would use a bristle brush to get a [smoother] appearance.”
Another look that has created a lot of buzz on social media is Meghan’s bejeweled eyeliner, which some Twitter followers mistook for glitter. Carmen points out that – while they do use glitter sometimes – that look in particular was created by gluing rhinestones (yes, rhinestones that you can pick up in any arts and crafts store), just over her eyes.
“I put a little bit of eyelash glue [above] her eyes and then I put them where I want to see the rhinestone,” says Carmen who recommends using water soluble glue that comes off easily when wet. “Make sure the glue is tacky before you lay down your rhinestone,” she advises.
As for the size of the gems, Carmen adds, “Just make sure it’s something that fits the entire eye, if that’s what you prefer. I use smaller rhinestones and then move to a bigger rhinestone from the inner corner of her eye to the outer corner of her eye.” She also recommends using either a rhinestone application pen or “special tweezers” that are “curved at the end and thin” for precision.
While Meghan has received some online shade from her haters, she is thrilled with her various looks. “I’m just having fun switching up, playing around and experimenting,” she tweeted on Feb. 25. “It’s covid and I just had a baby, let a b*tch live!”
“I like to say that she’s more like a modern woman,” Carmen says of her client. “A modern woman to me is someone who [lives] unapologetically.” In that way, Carmen believes they’re very similar. “I like to create and that’s me, unapologetic. Just really confident in self, really OK with doing something out of the box and [I] don’t necessarily need any validation to do that.”