Making Faces

Rating:
Summary: The makeup in this book is totally unrealistic and unnatural
Review: Kevyn aucoin was definately an artist, but I didn't like this book. The makeup he presents is too obvious and fake. The pictures are excellent but he offers little step by step advice. The makeovers are great, in pictures. I would be scared to find someone with that much makeup in the street. This book is certainly missing the real-life/real-makeup element. If he was the master behind so many great looks on celebrities (i.e. Gwyneth Paltrow), why didn't he show us how to achieve their natural but polished style? Maybe he didn't want to give his secrets away!!!

Rating:
Summary: Very neat
Review: I love how the book shows you different types of looks. It's great to learn new technique and practice achieving the looks you never thought of.

Rating:
Summary: From a fellow artist, I can say I only wish I got tomeet him
Review: I am also a Makeup Artist in Los Angeles, where makeup artists are on every corner, and I must say Kevin is/was a true talent. When I read his heartfelt words, I realize he's not only a genius artist, but the most open-minded humanitarian as well. Him AND his work are truely inspirational...his art, I personally think, puts other makeup books to shame. From a proffesional standpoint I think his book is extremely good to have but his book will also be useful to the everyday person as he goes into alot of different helpful techniques. His book is amazing-so if you love makeup, go get it!

Rating:
Summary: Good for the beginner, not so much for the budding expert
Review: This book was incredibly frustrating for me. Yes, the makeovers are beautiful. But a lot of the photographs are completely worthless -- they're in profile, or they're black and white, or they're soft-focus. There's almost no advice on how to choose a quality makeup product or tool. Most frustrating for me was the fact that the breakdowns on the photographs are egregiously incomplete -- in the Lisa Marie Presley ponytail photo, for example, she's obviously wearing a dark eyeshadow in the crease but there's no crease color mentioned, and in the Trish Goff colored eyeshadow photo she's wearing multiple shades of shadow even though it only says she's wearing one.

The other thing that drove me nuts about this book is that almost every single eye shadow look is achieved exclusively with black, white, grey, or brown eyeshadow. I hate basic neutrals and I don't feel they flatter me. I wanted to be shown how to do interesting looks with some colors -- plums, blues, olives? -- and there are literally only three photos in the whole book that have colored eyeshadow. It's really a bizarre juxtaposition of basic, neutral looks with looks that are way too dramatic for anyone but a drag queen or a movie star; nothing in between. Also, it really aggravated me that everyone has flawless skin despite the claims that minimal or no foundation is used.

What I do like about this book is the application techniques (instead of just products) and the stellar contouring photo. I also really appreciate the obvious effort made to include women of color. Conclusion: good for the makeup novice or the average woman, or someone who just likes watching transformations. For the person who already has a good grasp on makeup techniques, though, this book is an exercise in frustration.