Because it’s so easy to fire up a video makeup tutorial, sometimes I forget about good ol’-fashioned makeup books. I have quite a few and look through them often (but not as much as I used to before YouTube was a thing).
A couple that I think are super helpful are by makeup artist Robert Jones.
- Makeup Makeovers in 5, 10, 15, and 20 Minutes: Expert Secrets for Stunning Transformations: The step-by-step tutorials in this book are easy to follow, and the looks are classic, timeless and totally wearable. I like that the makeup is shown on different skin tones and face shapes, too.
- Makeup Masterclass: A Complete Course in Makeup For All Levels, Beginner to Advanced: Although very advanced makeup peeps might find this book basic, I still think it’s useful for beauty lovers of all levels since Robert does a great job of breaking down the “why” behind his techniques. The chapter that covers shadow placement for various eye shapes (hello, hooded eyes!), is especially helpful.
How about you? Do you read makeup books? What are your favorites?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. TGIF!
I wrote a 70+ page PDF to go with my stage makeup DVD. It was fun but it was hard to try to capture everything I thought would be important to a beginner through very experienced level (of makeup *and* stage experience).
But omg there was one makeup book that I read in spring of 1998 that I wish I could remember the title. It was such an excellent book that talked about how to enhance your features for a “natural” look and included so many different ages and complexions of women. The big take-away for me was the advice to tightline the upper waterline. I saw immediately what a change it made to the eyes, although it was such a tiny technique, and I’ve never stopped doing it since.
Happy….Friday! yeah, Friday!
Hi Karen, Since working from home in quarantine (which I just found out, will probably last through the end of the year!) I have gotten hooked on youtube makeup videos, but I think it is fun to read books, too. Two that I actually bought years ago and still like to look through are Bobbi Brown Living Beauty, which was written back in 2007, but her looks are so timeless, I think they still hold up today. The other is not really a makeup book, but there is a section on beauty and makeup, and that is “How Not To Look Old” by Charla Krupp. Definitely want to check out the Robert Jones books – luckily, our library just reopened this week! YAY!
I have not read makeup books but now I want too! I am trying to limit my social media and gasp read more! I will definitely check out the books you recommended! I have a library card now too! Reading here I come!
I remember some Kevin Aucoin and Bobbi Brown ones from the library for sure!
Thanks to Amazon, I have 17! In case anyone wants to look into them, they are:
Kevyn Aucoin’s Making Faces and Face Forward;
Iman’s The Beauty of Color;
early beauty YouTuber Lauren Luke’s Lauren Luke Looks;
Carmindy’s The 5-Minute Face and Get Positively Beautiful;
Jemma Kidd’s Jemma Kidd Make-up Masterclass and Jemma Kidd Make-up Secrets;
Dancing with the Stars makeup artist Melanie Mills’ Glitter & Glam;
Scott Barnes’ About Face and Face to Face;
Linda Mason’s Makeup: The Art of Beauty, Teen Makeup (there’s a zodiac section in the back of this one that describes different color schemes for your sign!), and Makeup for Ageless Beauty;
British makeup artist Gary Cockerill’s Simply Glamorous;
and British drama school makeup professor Rosemarie Swinfield’s Period Make-up for the Stage (one of the models in this one is a young David Oyelowo!) and Stage Makeup Step-by-Step.
I’ve been rotating through the books (and some old tutorial cards from Flirt! Cosmetics, a brand that used to be sold at Kohl’s and that I think is now defunct) and doing a different makeup look every day since the quarantine started-I technically started doing it before, but didn’t start recording the daily looks in a Word document until I was stuck at home with nothing to do.
Just to clarify, I said “thanks to Amazon” because that’s where I bought most of the books. I don’t have any sort of sponsorship with any company.
This list has made me want to go on a book shopping spree and also find those make up cards if anyone has them on ebay. Are you going to upload the looks to a blog when you are ready? I’d love to see them. I started out lockdown doing different looks but got lazy as it was taking up over an hour of my day.
I used to, but haven’t in a while, maybe because YT is easier and quicker. A book can sometimes be easier to follow though, and offer background information as in why a certain brush or placement might be a great choice, something most videos just gloss over.
I read a book by Way Bandy many years ago and he completely changed my make up outlook.
He said Take Pictures !