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3/23/10

Beauty Books Reviews: Kevyn Aucoin, Bobbi Brown, Nars, Makeup For Asian Women

The first two books are (L) Kevyn Aucoin's. I never knew or heard about him until I searched the net for beauty books. And when I explored the books, I was floored by his incomparable talent and creativity. His books are very inspiring, and if possible, made me love make-up even more.

Kevyn Aucoin Making Faces

Inside Making Faces 






In 'Making Faces', Kevyn talked about the basics, like the different textures of make-up (foundation, concealer, lip and eye products), tools, and eyebrow shaping. Then he explained how to highlight and contour using detailed images. He also showed us the makeovers he did on his family, friends and celebrities. The color sketches are very easy to follow and that, I think, is the USP of this book.
Rating ~ ♥♥♥♥♥



Kevyn Aucoin Face Forward

Inside Face Forward

In his second book 'Face Forward', Kevyn proved to be a genius in the art of make-up. He transformed people into classic icons. This book  mostly about makeovers. It's an experienced 'Making Faces'. It's bolder. Beginners should go through 'Making faces' to fully understand 'Face Forward'
Rating~ ♥♥♥♥♥

If you have to pick just one of the two books, I suggest 'Making Faces' because you'll find everything you need to know in there.





Bobbi Brown Beauty covers everything - Skin basics, make-up for different ethnicity, make-up for different occasions, how to become a make-up artist. If you're not much of a reader, you will not like this book because it's mostly blah and some more blah (On paper. About 200 pages. Front and back!) I love to read, but only when it's a thrilling novel, not a beauty book. Imagine watching a girl explain to you how to apply make-up with her hands in her pockets. Yeah, it's exactly like that. This book didn't excite me at all. There's something very old-fashioned about it. Having said all that, I did manage to read the whole thing and learned some things from it.
Rating ~ ♥♥♥♥♥
P.S. I love Bobbi Brown cosmetics! =)




Nars 'Makeup Your Mind' is all about makeovers, which are demonstrated using photos with added transparent overlays on which descriptions and names of the products are written. Contents also include: Make-up mistakes, useful tips, how to accentuate your eyes, skincare advice from a dermatologist. The pictures in this book look amazing.
This book is very heavy! It's a hard cover with spiral binding. You'll need a place to put it while you flip through it.
Rating ~ ♥♥♥♥




Make-up for Asian Women was written by Jacelyn Tay, a Singaporean actress. She wrote this book based on her own experience with make-up as an Asian woman. Which explains why it is basically focused on one type of "Asians" and we all know there are so many types of Asians
I got this book mainly as an airport read because it's small (61/2"x7") and light, so it's easy to travel with. 
It does cover the basics of skincare and make-up. The layout is done neatly, hence very easy to read.
Rating ~ ♥♥♥♥♥

♥ Cynthia Z ^.^

13 comments:

  1. bobbi brown is unbeatable! thank you for informing about these beauty books. :)

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  2. that book has been talked about in my country cynthia. its a famous makeup book.

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  3. lovely review hun! will definitely check some out :)

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  4. Oh God! :D.. talk about coincidence!

    I just finished writing a very similar post myself on beauty books! LOL

    Luckily none of the books match - but still i'll post it after some time now!

    I love reading books! & will def watch out for these. I don't have any of these right now. Thks for the reccos & reviews :)

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  5. I know about all these books but was always skepticak about buying them. These are expensive and there were not too many reviews I could rely upon. Glad you wrote this post. exteremly helpful. :)

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  6. Thanks for the book review CZ.

    Had never considered buying a makeup related book till now. Which one would you suggest for a typical beginner?

    The NARS one or Making Faces?

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  7. @Tanveer~ Oh really!lol..that is a coincidence!

    @Rati ~ I'm glad u find it helpful :)

    @GGG~ I suggest 'Making Faces'. It's the best for beginners as well as for those who aren't beginners anymore.

    ♥XX♥

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  8. @Rima ~ My pleasure :)

    @Jing~ Which one Jing? :D

    @Shifa~ Thanks girly

    ♥XX♥

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  9. I Think I NEED them in my life
    so frustrated with ol those science books:s

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  10. Hey! a lovely review hun, all these books look interesting to me, I am sure there must be plenty of tips and tricks to learn from these books. I would check out the first and second one xoxo

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  11. @Palak~ U must be after studying so much! :D

    @Sonali~ Those 2 are the best girl

    ♥XX♥

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  12. That was a great post summing up some of the great beauty books out there. I'm embarrassed to say that I've never read any of these before. :( So, I found this review very useful. Thanks, Cynthia!

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  13. im downloading one right now ;) thanks for the post!

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I ♥ finding little notes in my Vanity Case, so do drop one. I read all of them & I try my best to reply to each & every one of them [check back in 2-3 days =D] but most times it's physically impossible! Either way, I love to hear from you & really appreciate you taking the time out to share your thoughts <3

Thank you for reading! :)

♥xx♥