Since last week was Halloween, we did not have "Beauty Literotica", our bi-monthly book review. Did you miss it? This time, I am very proud to review an excellent book by professional makeup artist Robert Jones. It was sheer luck that I found it from the local library and "Looking Younger" is a joy to read.
Looking Younger by Robert Jones
Image courtesy of Robert Jones Beauty
Overall, this is a big makeup book that is suitable for a coffee table display. It contains choke-full beautiful pictures of people that Mr. Jones did makeover. The techniques are very well explained and at one point, I felt like being in a makeup school learning everything from scratch. The tone of this book is pleasant and explanatory with a dash of humor. I felt like he was standing in front of me and explaining various techniques to me.
Two things that stood out from this book are applying foundation to people with multiple skin colors (face masking) and contouring. If you are a makeup artist whose clientele are minorities, you need to read the face masking part very carefully. I did not know the difficulty that people go through when they have many different varieties of skin colors in their faces.
The lady after applying foundation with face masking method
Face masking, step by step
For contouring, "Looking Younger" goes into detail of how to contour different face shapes to look oval. After reading various makeup books, I come to a conclusion that male makeup artists love contouring very much. In books written by Kevyn Aucoin, Sam Fine, and Robert Jones, this technique is covered heavily. However, female makeup artists such as Bobbi Brown and Carmindy dislike contouring and prefer highlighting instead. I guess contouring is up to people's preference but just in case you need to know how to contour, here is a basic:
This contouring guideline is similar to that in Kevyn Aucoin's book "Making Faces"
I love this blue smokey eyed look
For those who are aspired makeup artists, this book is a must-read. The information covered in "Looking Younger" is intensive and valuable. I appreciate the full-size pictures as well as a step-by-step guide to applying full makeup. While the target audience is matured women, I think all the techniques can be used for everyone. The transformations are amazing and most of the ladies are in their 40s and 50s.
5 Minutes for Books has a wonderful review of this book as well. The author even followed some tips from the book and looked amazing!
That's all for Friday! Have a nice weekend, everyone!
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Thanks for the review Dao. The face masking technique looks like an interested and helpful read.
ReplyDeleteDear Gio,
ReplyDeleteI did not know about that technique until I read this book. I guess if you have multitonal skin color, the technique is useful to balance things out. This is a great book, I hope you'll get a chance to read it.
Once upon a time, Mcnunu bought the MAC shape & sculpt powder upon recommendation by her (male) MUA. She went home and realised she has no idea of what to do with it. It has sat untouched for 2 years. That contour and highlight diagram looks really useful. I'm gonna try it!
ReplyDeleteHi McNunu,
ReplyDeleteHaha, you were lured by a male MUA. To be honest with you, I still don't understand why male MUAs love contouring so much. After seeing how they do it, I have to say they do wonderful jobs sculpting people's face. I'm glad you know how to sculpt your face now.
that seems like a really great book. thanks for sharing! Yeah, I saw those at michaels too, haha. But I think Heidi Klum didn't even try to fight the company because they had such a huge legal team. But LV didn't roll over, obviously. There's plenty of knock offs, just not many good quality ones. anyhow, she's got a pretty makeup line at vs this season!
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteLV vs. Van Cleef and Arpens, the epic battle :)
Whenever I get to the store to get the Heidi Klum collection makeup from VS, it's always sold out. From what I've heard, the pigmentation is a lot better than from the permanent line.
Glad you like this book :)