First and foremost, I would just like to state that in cosmetology school, there is only a brief course on how to apply makeup. Hardly ever do they go into detail on the proper techniques. Makeup artistry is merely a skill that is either ascribed at birth or developed through experience. So whether or not a person attended "makeup" school or not has nothing to do with if they are a great makeup artist. A lot of Mac makeup artists are branded as doing "bad job" when customers fail to include the fact that they were never specific of what they really wanted in the first place. To avoid "having" a bad experience, try and have some sort of an idea as to what you would like. Makeup artists are there for suggestions, but not to make a decision on what you should wear.