Making Faces [Paperback]

Kevyn Aucoin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 1999

America's preeminent makeup artist shares his secrets, explaining not only the basics of makeup application and technique but also how to use the fundamentals to create a wide range of different looks. 200 color photos & sketches.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The faces that Kevyn Aucoin has made are stellar and luminous: Cher, Tina Turner, Vanessa Williams, and Julia Roberts are but a few of the stars in Aucoin's galaxy of clientele. More than making do, making up is the art of achieving your own special look, and Aucoin insists that there are no hard and fast rules--except for the obvious ones, such as "Don't put lipstick in your eye."

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

"Kevyn Aucoin's faces appear in editorial features, fashion shows, music videos, and advertising campaigns as well as on the covers of virtually every major magazine, and he's be e Ad a guest on many television programs, including Oprah, the Today show, Good Morning America, VH-I's Fashion Television, MTV's House of Style and Entertainment Tonight. His client roster reads like a Who's Who of the entertainment world's elite: This list includes all of the women who appear in this book, as well as Sharon Stone, Whitney Houston, Linda Evangelista, Mary Tyler Moore, Cindy Crawford, Elizabeth Hurley and Bette Midler, among many, many others. Along with the numerous accolades he has received is a special award from the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America), the first and only time such an honor has been bestowed on a makeup artist. The author of the bestselling book The Art of Makeup, he resides in New York City."

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (September 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316286850
• ISBN-13: 978-0316286855
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.6 x 12.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (307 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Beauty & Fashion

More About the Author

Kevyn Aucoin's faces appeared in editorial features, fashion shows, music videos, and advertising campaigns as well as on the covers of virtually every major magazine. He was a guest on many television programs, including Oprah, the Today show, Good Morning America, VH-I's Fashion Television, MTV's House of Style and Entertainment Tonight. His client roster read like a Who's Who of the entertainment world's elite: this list included Sharon Stone, Whitney Houston, Linda Evangelista, Mary Tyler Moore, Cindy Crawford, Elizabeth Hurley and Bette Midler, among many, many others. Along with the numerous accolades he received is a special award from the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America), the first and only time such an honor was bestowed on a makeup artist. The author of the bestselling book The Art of Makeup, resided in NewYork City. Kevyn Aucoin passed away in May 2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

222 of 227 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a MUST HAVE for anyone who loves the art of makeup!, October 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Making Faces (Hardcover)

I bought this book skeptically after hearing from a friend how helpful it was in describing techniques. The georgeous photos would have sold it for me anyhow, but Aucoin's 'Making Faces' actually taught me how to do makeup. I've always done the same thing...which was basically go natural or play with makeup till I looked like a clown then scrub it all off. It's a simple approach that is easily accessible. The book makes doing eyebrow shaping look easy...and it not only looks easy- by following a few steps it turns out it IS easy. If you want to learn the basics- buy this book. If you want to do a home makeover- go glamorous, sensual, then fun later on - buy this book. If you want to tune your look a bit- get it! I guess I don't have to go on, but if you are like me and need a bit of instruction and cant afford a makeup artist to be at your beckon call- buy this book. At least borrow it from a friend. It's one of the books you'll consistently turn to for tips and tricks. It's an excellent resource and a whole lot of fun. The photos and styles cover all ages, from young and cute teenage to mature sophisticated and sexy women to a really hot guy in drag (double take is an understatement). Aucoin not only uses "Stars" but also 'real' people (meaning their looks aren't a direct part of their job) in showing the techniques and how they cause such transformations.

76 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a makeup tip recipe book, ITS A GLAMOUR BIBLE!!!, July 5, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Fullerton,CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Faces (Hardcover)

Kevin Acoin's book Making Faces is exquisite! As a makeup artist familiar with Kevin's work, I thought this book was going to be just a book filled with trade secrets and inside tips.Once I opened to the 3rd or 4th page, I realised how wrong I was.Not only did I find information that was useful beyond anything I learned in Beauty school, it was full of probably the most beautiful collection of photographs I have ever seen.It really takes a true genious to transform so many gorgeous women into other gorgeous women who look nothing like them.I really liked how he chose to use traditional movie roles as inspiration for some of the pictures.I think this allows the reader to recreate the role of the inginue or heroine!! There is also a really wonderful lesson on facial bone structure that really helps to understand how contouring and highlighting certain areas is really important to bring out a womans (or in a few cases..a mans)features.I photocopied it and stuck it to my bathroom mirror as a guide for applying eyeshadow. The only thing that I didnt like about the book is that he didn't mention the products used.Some women will find it a little difficult to find liquid eyeshadow and gold fleck dust!! I think had he given the brand names it would be a lot easier to find the products. This book is definitely a must for any makeup artist, cosmetic consumer, and any woman who wants to feel beautiful!

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for the beginner, not so much for the budding expert, July 22, 2004

By 

C. Chastine "literary femme" (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Faces (Paperback)

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.