The Beauty of Color: The Ultimate Beauty Guide for Skin of Color [Hardcover]

Iman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 2005

From the beloved fashion icon and cosmetics entrepreneur, the first book to embrace global beauty and women of all ethnicities.

Few faces are as instantly recognizable as that of Iman's. She's been a groundbreaking supermodel for the world's top designers and a muse for photographers, and she is the founder of the world's most popular cosmetic brand for skin of color.

Now, in an era when the face of beauty has changed-and the most celebrated women in Hollywood include such stars as Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, and Lucy Liu-Iman delivers a new approach to makeup and skin care. With The Beauty of Color, she revolutionizes the way women of color can think about the way they look and feel. Iman resists categorizing people according to ethnicity, and instead embraces the whole range of skin color-light to dark. This is the first beauty and makeup book to truly address skin tones across the spectrum-Latina, Black, Asian, Indian, Native American, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, as well as women of mixed ethnicities.

Inspired by her two illustrious careers-first as a world-class supermodel and then as founder of two of the world's top cosmetics lines-Iman is uniquely aware of the difficulties women of color have always had with skin care and makeup. In The Beauty of Color, Iman teaches readers how to work with skin care regimens and palettes targeted to their exact skin tone and type.

With stunning color photographs and images on every page, the book itself is a work of beauty, featuring Salma Hayek, Tyra Banks, Venus and Serena Williams, and other celebrities, as well as ordinary women of all ages. Unique, informative, and creative, The Beauty of Color is not only the first book to show women of every shade how to look their very best, but is also a landmark celebration of global beauty.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Discovered when she was a university student in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1975 by photographer Peter Beard, Iman went on to become an international supermodel. To address the needs of women of color, she launched a line of cosmetics, Iman, in 1994, and with this beautifully illustrated coffee-table book geared to black, Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Asian women, and timed to coincide with the debut of her second cosmetic line, she's poised to become the voice of beauty for this underrepresented group of women. In a conversational tone, Iman shares solutions to basic makeup and skin care quandaries (how to use blush, test foundation and choose tools) and debunks myths (dark skinned women don't need sunblock, ethnicity determines skin color). Other sections show how to "get the look" from "Ghetto Fab" to "So Fresh So Clean." Gorgeous photographs of well-known faces (Salma Hayek, Tyra Banks, Ling) with personal tidbits of advice and real women makeovers, from teens to women over 50, round out the offerings. Fun and flirty, with a confidential, insider feel, this combination of celebrity and self-improvement, capped with artistic portraits of women famous and not, indicate another success for Iman.
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About the Author

Iman , the daughter of an African diplomat, was born in Somalia. She was raised speaking five languages, and was studying political science at the University of Nairobi when she was discovered by photographer Peter Beard, who arranged for her to seek a modeling career in the United States. She quickly became the most successful black model and an international star on runways and in magazines. Iman remained at the top of her field for fourteen years, appearing in countless publications and advertising campaigns. In 1994 she started Iman Cosmetics for skin of color and in 2000 launched a second line, I-Iman Makeup. She is the author of I Am Iman, an autobiographical sketchbook of her working life. The mother of two daughters, she is married to musician/actor David Bowie.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (October 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399153187
• ISBN-13: 978-0399153181
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #585,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The splendor of diversity, October 31, 2005

By 

A reader (Rocky Mountains USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Beauty of Color: The Ultimate Beauty Guide for Skin of Color (Hardcover)

Most beauty books seem to rehash the same ideas or showcase looks that can be created by anyone who is somewhat familiar with makeup. This book is refreshingly different, and how! An immense amount of thought and creativity has gone into putting this book together. Iman and her team have gone into great lengths to portray a wide variety of looks on a broad spectrum of women. The makeup is so artfully done that you could come up with your own ideas by putting together components of several looks.

Another plus about this book is that the author doesn't resort to a common book-bulking tactic used by many cosmetics mavens. Here you don't see layouts of bare-faced (or nearly so) women with inane captions like "look how beautiful she is with only eyeliner". I think many women look to beauty books to give us creative inspiration. If we looked good w/o any goop on our face, we'd know it by now, saved a lot of time and $$$ and not bothered with makeup books. "The Beauty of Color" really delivers the goods. Congratulations to Iman (and team!) for a job well done!

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Book. Instructive & Beautifully Illustrated., October 20, 2005

By 

D. Jefferson (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Beauty of Color: The Ultimate Beauty Guide for Skin of Color (Hardcover)

This book is all around wonderful. Not only are the pictures beautiful, but the book is very informative. This book is not only for women of color (African American, Latina, Asian, Indian, etc.), it is for all women. Iman instructs readers on many issues pertaining to makeup application, color palette selection, and skincare. The book instructs the reader on how to obtain certain looks with makeup. For example, she shows readers how to obtain the natural look or the glamour girl look. She even shows readers how to obtain the vampy and ghetto fabulous looks. In addition, she instructs readers on how to select the correct foundation, blush and bronzer colors based on individual skin color. Furthermore, the book also discusses skin care issues. Its instructions on skincare are not one size fits all. It gives care instructions to those with oily, dry, combination, and normal skin. It even includes instructions on how to take care skin with hyperpigmentation.

The book is beautifully illustrated and contains a wealth of information on makeup. Regardless of your age, if you love makeup and want to apply it correctly, buy this book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Book, October 23, 2005

By 

Lili P. (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beauty of Color: The Ultimate Beauty Guide for Skin of Color (Hardcover)

I really love this book! It's full of beauty tips that I can really use when applying my makeup or trying out a new look. I especially like the combination of models Iman chose to photograph-- from "real-life" people like me to celebrities such as Salma Hayek. Even the book itself is beautiful. I have it sitting on my coffee table for my friends and family to enjoy!