The first section offers, in his own words, Aucoin's favorite ideas, tricks, and techniques for enhancing, defining, and altering facial features with makeup. You'll learn how to care for your skin, what foundation to use with your skin type, and transformational magic for that central player in the drama of beauty: eyes. Through his gallery of noncelebrity before-and-afters, Aucoin shows clearly how to use his fundamentals to achieve dozens of different looks.

The gorgeous final chapter reads like a list of exotic characters in a play--the Vamp, the Siren, the Diva.... In fact, such celebrities as Isabella Rosselini, Demi Moore, and Nicole Kidman pose as these dramatic, splendidly made-up characters. These sumptuous photographs are accompanied by full-page illustrations listing the "ingredients" required to create these looks as well as simple directions for achieving them. The introduction by the author, at once amusing and endearing ("...trying to conceal the fact that I was a gay, effeminate, hyperactive, adopted child with a serious lisp in southern Louisiana would have been like trying to hide Dolly Parton in a string bikini!"), and Aucoin's commentary throughout, makes Making Faces a unique reference book--beautiful, informative, and personal.

Product Description
In Making Faces, Kevyn Aucoin, North Americas preeminent makeup artist, shares his secrets, explaining not only the basics of makeup application and technique but also how to use those fundamentals (sometimes in unconventional ways) to create a wide range of different looks. Making Faces features step-by-step directions, instructional full-colour sketches, and a gallery of noncelebrity transformations, as well as fabulous images of stars and supermodels as youve never seen them before.Lush and enticing, Making Faces satisfies on many levels: extraordinary photography, surprising makeup looks on A-list celebrities (Julia Roberts, Demi Moore, Courtney Love), and recipes for doing it yourself. ~ Mirabella Kevyn Aucoins new beauty bible is the Genesis, Chronicles, and Revelations of makeup. ~ Allure Kevie isnt a makeup man, hes a magician. He creates an atmosphere of beauty mixed with magic. ~ Cher Kevyns progression of work over the years has elevated makeup to an art form. ~ Tina Turner Kevyn enables each and every one of us to play the character we want to play, be the person we want to be, and most important, feel the best that we can feel about ourselves. ~ Drew Barrymore

When I saw Courtney Love's makeover, I thought "it can't be her". We are so used to see her as a punk rocker. After reading this book, I took the opportunity to purchase some of the hard to find products. I had quite a fun time trying to explain whom & what they were for. "Making faces" is very inspiring to me because of the many ideas. My reason for that is that I'd rather use the more daring ideas, not forgetting my "daring is better" motto. Kevyn obviously uses that motto too!

There's more to read about the models on their pages. Kevyn's point of view on his models is interesting, as I see a totally different side to each of them. What else can I say? The book is a great gift to recieve, as happened to me. I recommend it to anybody who appreciates talent makeup-wise. What I would like to see though, is Kevyn's 2nd side. He should do a makeover on himself, as a treat to his readers. It would probably be a laugh, as he's more masculine & chiseled.

"Making faces" is an encouragement to woman & makeup artists of all ages. The one thing I'd be even more encouraged about is if Kevyn could put (stores where the products are available). I had to search high and low for 2 products, only to fing out they weren't the official thing. If Kevyn included the store names most shopped, and local store names too, it would make the trip more fun.

The color photos are amazing! I never really appreciated photography until now! Also, I must mention the incredible hairstyles for his models. The whole book leaves me excited. The possibilities are endless now. As I said before, "Making faces" is a great inspiration for me & my friends. It even raised some interested eyebrows in my own family!

Get the book now, considering the holidays are over. I think you'll appreciate Kevyn Aucoin for his magic & talent. Of course, the prices will be cheaper after 4 years of publishing. I recommend the hard cover, even though I have the paperback version. This is because I prefer books that don't fold and crease too easily. Enjoy!

Bye for now. Did my review help you?


Look beautiful no matter your age, size or heritage   August 29, 1998
 31 out of 35 found this review helpful

If you're serious about applying makeup, this book is for you. Aucoin gives detailed instructions on how to achieve any makeup look from natural to extremely dramatic. He also lets the reader in on the secrets of the stars: you too can look like Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe, if you follow his instructions.

I was especially pleased to see Aucoin's techniques demonstrated not just on glamorous stars but also on normal people of all ages and sizes and both sexes. He's got a lot of common sense, too; he puts only minimal makeup on his teenage models (they still look like teenagers after he's done -- what a concept!) and he doesn't think much of child beauty pageants.

The book isn't perfect, though. Aucoin advocates putting eyeliner inside the lash line. Most eye doctors will tell you that's a bad idea, and so will most of us who lived through the first time this idea became popular. Pinkeye, anyone?

He also doesn't put much emphasis on choosing the right colours for the reader's complexion. He advocates complete freedom, which of course is fine for someone experienced with choosing their makeup colours but doesn't help the neophyte who needs advice.

But those are pretty minor complaints. This book is a fantastic tool for the person with some experience in applying cosmetics. I recommend it highly.