very useful for beginners, but people that have loved doing makeup on themselves for a while will also find a few useful tips and tricks. Kevyn Aucoin's faces appeared in editorial features, fashion shows, music videos, and advertising campaigns as well as on the covers of virtually every major magazine. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it's a book about feeling comfortable with yourself, no matter how made up you are.

According to Kevin, he argues that makeup can make anyone any race they want, saying he can be Asian one moment and Spanish the next. I got this book thinking I should wear more makeup so I won't be mistaken for an undergrad all the time, but it left me feeling like makeup is not necessary at all. Being more of a sunscreen and lipgloss kind of woman today, I think I should go get this book again just for the pleasant nostalgia.The first part of the book focuses on introducing the tools and the techniques: how to contour and highlight, how to shape the eyebrows, the different types and textures of eyeshadow, how to apply false eyelashes. His client roster read like a Who's Who of the entertainment world's elite: this list included Sharon Stone, Whitney Houston, Linda Evangelista, Mary Tyler Moore, Cindy Crawford, Elizabeth Hurley and Bette Midler, among many, many others. He does a GREAT job of summarizing styles throughout the decades and gives you step-by-step instructions with color and makeup suggestions for you to replicate the looks. With color photos, face charts and sketches, these books offer helpful tutorials can make anyone feel like a professional makeup artist. Kevyn does a really great job of encouraging the reader to experiment with makeup, and not just with colors, but also with the way you apply it, location, tools, and more.

Hence, he’s put together this book and packed it with more than 200 illustrations and invaluable tips for professional-grade makeup application. So many beauty resources aimed at trans women seek to assimilate us into a cisheteronormative view of beauty; we are enticed with the promise that we too, if we learn how to use blush, can ascend into unremarkability. However, it's good to be reminded of the theory behind make-up application and it will certainly be of good use as a reference for make-up looks of a certain decade.It features step-by-step directions, instructional full-colour sketches, and a gallery of non-celebrity transformations. Despite all this, the actual content and tips provided me with no new knowledge, being a make-up lover and fervent viewer of many YouTube make-up artists. However, it is an interesting book and it's fascinating seeing the difference between the before and after pics and seeing the stars and models portray beauty icons of the past. This was the first book on beauty I encountered that suggested to me that makeup can be used to express a feeling, a facet of yourself, an aspiration of who you wish to be in the moment. I will insist other people read it so they can tell me what it says and how we could all learn from it.

Having created beautiful looks for Janet Jackson, Cher and Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevyn Aucoin is perfectly positioned to offer tips and let you in on some of his makeup artistry secrets. Beautiful coffee table book, easy to follow instructional manual with products and makeup tools listed to recreate looks featured. Also, a BIG plus, is that Kevyn was not afraid to use women of all colors, black white, asian, whatever.In a book that features 60 instructional watercolor sketches and step-by-step recipes for dozens of different looks, the world's most renowned makeup artist shares his makeup secrets with women everywhere. The typical bombshell looks would have been more memorable and groundbreaking if Kevin used untypical and diverse models instead of simply sticking a blonde wig on a white model and recreating the spitting image of Marilyn Monroe. Beans, Jessie, Paul, and Grant are Ambrose’s best friends that died in war while serving alongside Ambrose. If I had not seen the step by step directions for some of the looks, I would have NEVER guessed who it was!