Blanche Macdonald Centre Uptown Campus

My review is purely for the Facial service here by the students that I had last month in January. It’s going to have both good and bad highlights, but overall I was very happy and I would return. Just a quick note: if you are very shy about being in groups of people, or want a private room to yourself with an esthetician, then this environment may not be for you.
PS, I am in no way affiliated with Blanche, nor do I study at Blanche. I don’t even work in beauty. My best beauty routine is putting on lipstick and running out the door with uncombed hair. Anyway, I was searching on the internet for «cheap facials» because I like to be very frugral, and when I asked around on Facebook where I could find cheap facials, people told me to search up beauty schools for student facials. Since these are students, you’re going to have realize they do make mistakes and are learning. For example, while I was getting my facial done, other estheticians (and maybe mine too) were dropping stuff. It kind of breaks the peaceful atmosphere, but I’m not going to fault anyone for it. They’re training on the job and maybe they’re a little nervous. We were all once students too.
The Good:
* $ 30 for a 90 minute facial, total comes to $ 31.50 after tax. I left a $ 5 tip for the student, although I don’t know if other clients tipped.
* professional receptionists at the front, left me phone reminders for the appointment
* had a polite and friendly esthetician student
The Not-​So-​Good:
* you are led into a shared room full of other women (not your own room) for your facial. These other women are getting facials and massages. Anyway it was a bit of a surprise to see this, but not a big deal for me
* no real changing room, you change in the washroom and they give you a shallow small basket to put your clothes into.
Summary:
Overall, don’t be so picky here when you’re paying $ 30 for a facial. Professional spas out there are charging $ 70 — $ 120 for 90 minutes. So you’re getting an excellent deal and you’re aware that these are students in training. The esthetician student was excellent and very nice, so I would say I would definitely return. As for body massages, maybe when I feel more confident about my body before I enter the group room for that. :)

After attending film school I took a 6 month course at Blanch MacDonald as I was interested in learning about sci-​fi make-​up. I wasn’t going to make this my primary career graduating, however, just an additional skill, especially since I would be working on independents in which I would be required to wear multiple hats at once. I paid $ 12,000 for a 6 month course. The course is good, however, what they fail to tell you is the reality of what the job market is like after you graduate. They pump out so many of these girls to do the same thing that finding a job after is extremely slim (steady job). My best GF took a course in their regular make-​up department and she is still trying to pay for the course through the slim gigs that she gets. False promises for the students. As mentioned, this was just an additional skill for me at the time for my film resume.

Service: 60min full body massage with student — $ 30
I love my regular spa and always recommend it to my friends and clients. However, I wanted to try something new and CHEAP. $ 30 for a one hour massage sounded perfect at the Blanche MacDonald training facility. Being that I work in the beauty industry, I understand how we need models while in school. My expectations were not outrageous. I really just wanted hands massaging me however for an hour. Nothing fancy.
There are several reasons why I was unhappy with my experience here, but the worst parts of my experience were:
a) No change room? We are expected to change in a large laundry/​storage room with no privacy whatsoever, and no area to lay our clothes down or hang anything. I was given a tiny basket to place my items into and carry back to my bed. The lack of privacy astounded me. I don’t care about being naked infront of people, but I certainly don’t want to see a bunch of old naked women. Privacy = essential.
b) The «bed» (it was more like a gurney) was incredibly hard and uncomfortable. I like firm but this was insane. Immediately, I did not feel comfortable or at ease.
c) The student failed to interact with me in any manner. She did not pay attention to my form where I indicated firm pressure, nor did she ask what type of pressure I would like. I don’t expect a student to perform deep tissue, but medium pressure would suffice. I did not even receive light pressure — just hand motions and oil swirling.
I’m not sure how the instructors assess when a student is ready to perform services on models. I think students should perform services on the instructors first, then each other, to acquire appropriate feedback until they are competent and ready to serve the general public who PAYS, still, a good chunk of money.
For the «service» I received at Blanche… I could’ve swirled oil on my skin at home and had my dog jump on top of me.

Things may have changed and hopefully have gotten better since I graduated from BMC in 1999. I’m sorry to say but I feel like I didn’t get my money’s worth here.
The theory of anatomy and physiology was a good part of the program. I really liked the Esthetics director and our instructors, and our skin care instructor was going to be taking on a new job with a skin care line (good for her! Very happy for her as it is a great job to have!) so I feel like her focus was not 100% on her students and her focus was going toward her new job instead. Our make up artistry instructor would tell us what we were doing in class looked great but when it came to practical exams, she marked us so brutally on what she said was great in class. GRRRRR! Our mani/​pedi instructor was great esthetician, was nice and had a good sense of humour too. However, I didn’t like that she talked about other students when they were not there. Made me think what is she going to say about ME when I’m not there?
When I started my program, I asked about applying for burseries. I was told by the executive director that because it was a private institution, that I couldn’t apply for burseries and found out at the end of my program upon graduation that some BMC students got bursreies! WTF! GRRR… I could have gotten burseries afterall. By the time I found out, it was too late for me to apply.
After graduation, I met with other estheticians who graduated from other esthetics training centres only to find out that they paid less than what I paid the BMC and that they learned a lot more than what I learned at BMC.