I’ve come an extremely long way with my makeup skills. I mean EXTREMELY long. If you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning you know exactly what I mean. I’ve learned a lot over the last almost 5 years since starting this blog, enough to be able to beat my own face and give a beating to others, but I am always looking to learn more. You should always be actively trying to enhance your skills whether it be learning new techniques or mastering the old. A good way to do this is through the use of Beauty books which contains insider tips from the pros along with pictures and very descriptive step by step tutorials to help you along. Take a look at my little collection.
In Making Faces, legendary Makeup Artist to the stars the late Kevyn Aucoin shows you that “There are no rules when it comes to makeup.” He explains the basics of makeup application with illustrations and step by step tutorials, and shows you how to apply these fundamentals in interesting and unconventional ways to create new and exciting looks. It features non-celebrity as well as celebrity transformations and it’s very easy to follow. I like that it features a lot of everyday looks that the average woman can wear and not just over the top glamorous looks.
Another one from Kevyn Aucoin, Face Forward also has amazing transformations from very natural looks to super glamorous along with detailed steps and illustrations to help you achieve the look at home. It features lots of celebrity looks and tutorials to achieve celeb inspired looks like those of Billie Holiday and Veronica Lake. There are even some men thrown into the mix.
Scott Barnes is a celebrity makeup artist who is best known for giving JLo her signature glow as he was her makeup artist for 11 years. In About Face he shares his secrets for show stopping looks that you can use everyday along with a host of tips and tricks. The book focuses a lot on contouring, highlighting and defining features. The transformations are pretty amazing.
Speaking of contouring, the latest addition to my collection The Power of Contouring by famed makeup artist Danessa Myricks will have you beating your face to the makeup gawds hunty. Contouring and highlighting is the area that has my current attention as I’ve really been working on stepping my game up in this area. I’ve always dipped and dabbed in highlighting and contouring with the use of shimmering powders, creams and bronzers but for the past few months I’ve been working more with concealers and different shades of foundation along with trying different techniques to achieve the best look, so this book could not have come at a better time.
I highly suggest that you add a few beauty books to your collection, especially if you are or inspire to be an MUA as an investment in your craft. I plan to add a few more books to mine.
4 Responses
I have Kevyn Aucoin’s Making faces and it’s helping when making references when I’m teaching a class. Bobbi Brown’s Makeup manual is a good book too as it teaches you a lot about Ethics of the business in addition to how to achieve various makeup looks. I have my eyes on The power of contouring and About Face. Hope I can find them here in Nigeria. Thanks for the post
You’re welcome. Thanks for the info!
Where can I find the Power of Contouring? Searching on Amazon + EBay but no luck.
Honestly, I’ve been searching for it as well to include the link with no luck :/