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Best Beauty Books for the Makeup Obsessed

ByCordelia

Best Beauty Books for the Makeup Obsessed
For my Beauty Spotlight Team feature, I’m sharing one of my biggest guilty pleasures. I’m a bibliophile. At one point I owned over 10 tons of books, literally! (I had them weighed when I moved cross country) A few years ago I donated of almost all of our physical books to a local library. The only physical books I kept (aside from my David LaChapelle, our roleplaying games and programming books) were my beauty books. They’re really the only physical books I buy anymore, making them my guilty pleasure because I buy all the rest of my books in digital format. Below are the ones that I feel makeup obsessed people will love. At last count I have over 700 books in my Amazon Kindle library (I’ve only downloaded around 257 on my latest Kindle Fire HD 7 tablet). All books purchased by me except for 500 Eye Makeup Designs, which was a press sample.

Best Beauty Books for the Makeup Obsessed

Face Paint: The Story of Makeup by Lisa Eldridge
This is the newest book in my collection and it’s so cool! It tells you all about the history of makeup. Even my friends who aren’t into makeup think this is an awesome book.

Amazing Face by Zoe Foster
This is another new one I added to my collection. So far, it’s made me laugh out loud several times.

500 Eye Makeup Designs: Inspired and Inventive Looks for Mood and Occasion by Kendra Stanton
My friend Kendra (Citizens of Beauty) created this book and I love it! It’s filled with so many pretty looks.

Making Faces by Kevyn Aucoin
Everyone needs at least one Kevyn Aucoin book. I think this is the best, though all of his books are great.

Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself by François Nars
This is filled with so many gorgeous looks and helpful overlays for how to achieve the looks.

Jemma Kidd Make-up Masterclass: Beauty Bible of Professional Techniques and Wearable Looks by Jemma Kidd
This was one of my first makeup books and I found it very helpful as a beginner.

Makeup: The Ultimate Guide by Rae Morris
I love this book! I feel like it is filled with a lot of great tips.

Color Me Beautiful Makeup Manual by Color Me Beautiful
This is helpful if you’re interested in learning what colors are flattering based off of skintone, eyes and hair (they call them seasons).

Makeup Is Art by Academy of Freelance Makeup
This book is filled with so many neat, creative looks.

Express Makeup by Rae Morris
This has a lot of helpful, quick makeup tips and great photography.

Eye Candy by Linda Mason
I bought this book solely for eye makeup inspiration in 2011.

Asian Faces by Taylor Chang-Babaian
I bought this to learn techniques for different eye shapes. This is when I realized that hooded eyes and monolids could use some of the same techniques (aka faking a crease on the browbone to add depth).(see celebrity inspired hooded eye makeup tips!)

The Beauty of Color by Iman
This is a beautiful book that I picked up to help me better answer some reader questions and offer better recommendations.

Face Forward by Kevyn Aucoin
I just wanted another Kevyn Aucoin book, so I bought this one too. He was so incredibly talented.

Makeup Makovers in 5, 10, 15, and 20 Minutes by Robert Jones
I picked this up to learn how to do faster makeup looks.

Jemma Kidd Make-Up Secrets: Solutions to Every Woman’s Beauty Issues and Make-Up Dilemmas by Jemma Kidd
I bought this for the making makeup work for you section.

The 5 Minute Face by Carmindy
I bought this to learn how to make helpful recommendations to my friends who don’t wear a lot of makeup but still want help.

Don’t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me by Paula Begoun
While I don’t agree with everything Paula says, I do agree with a ton! I don’t like skincare products in jars (I wish this would just die already, airless pumps and squeeze tubes all the way!), but I do love me some teal eyeshadow. (This is a rare exception in my beauty book collection and it’s in kindle format.)

It’s OK to have Lead in your Lipstick by Perry Romanowski and Randy Schueller
I love their blog, The Beauty Brains, so I had to buy their book. They also hate jar packaging. (This is a rare exception in my makeup book collection and it’s in kindle format.)

Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style and Success by Michelle Phan
I bought this and it was a really quick read. Very interesting. She lived in Tampa!

Love, Lashes and Lipstick by Mally Roncal
Another really quick read, but enjoyable.

I do have a few beauty books that I own that I would recommend skipping:

  • Everything Eyes by Bobbi Brown – just basically one big ad for glasses
  • About Face by Scott Barnes – not useful enough step-by-steps, though lots of pretty pictures. He’s very talented.
  • Face to Face by Scott Barnes – lots of great looks but not enough useful instructions for me.
  • Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual by Bobbi Brown – I really think the Jemma Kidd or Kevyn Aucoin books do a better job.
  • Makeup Makovers by Robert Jones – Another one that is just ok, I think the Jemma Kidd books are better.

And I have books in my collection that I’ve purchased but not yet read:

The Makeup Book that I’m now most anxiously awaiting that I pre-ordered in 2013 and is coming out this December 2015 is

And while writing this post to share with you, I bought two more books

To be honest, I’ve got even more books than listed here. Like I said, I’m truly beauty book obsessed! I enjoy reading them and collecting them.

What are your favorite beauty books?

Cordelia Frost is the creative force behind Phyrra, a treasure trove for cruelty-free indie and goth makeup enthusiasts. She's the author of the game-changing 'Hooded Eyes Makeup Manual' a must-read for hooded eyes makeup.

Cordelia's world is a kaleidoscope of alternative beauty, gothic fashion, and life-enhancing tips, making every visit to Phyrra a journey into a more colorful and inspired self.

32 Comments

    1. Makeup your Mind by Francois NARS and the 2 Kevyn Aucoin books, I admired and admire him so much, not just because he was such an innovator, his story, his spirit. I used to wear Bobbi Brown when I first got into makeup, I wouldnt recommend her books. I also think, besides being not CF, I don’t see any innovation or inspiration from the brand from 2003 to now

  3. I never thought about looking into makeup related books! Maybe I should do some searching hehe!

  4. Great list! I love the dearly departed Kevyn Aucoin books. I just ordered Face Paint by Lisa Eldridge and I can’t wait to read it! I’m a fan and love reading about this history of makeup.

  7. Wow, what a collection! I always like to see your makeup book recommendations. I previously owned the two Kevyn Aucoin books, Carmindy 5-Minute Face, and my grandmother gave me her copy of the Paula Begoun Beauty Bible. I purchased the two Jemma Kidd books based on your last makeup book rec post and I love them. The next one I hope to get is Lisa Eldridge book.

  14. Kendra’s book is so pretty. I have been meaning to pick up Kevyn’s books, too. I had no idea there were sooo many makeup books! This could be a bad addiction for me to start!

  16. I don’t own any beauty books, but I want “Lisa Eldridge’s Face Paint: The Story of Makeup.”

  17. So interesting. I don’t own any beauty books, and I’d like to get at least one plus the Linda Mason book that’s been on my list for ages. i took a quick look at How Not to Look Old and the Christie Brinkley book on Amazon, but I think one of the look books that you recommend would be a better place to start

    1. It all depends in what you’re looking for. I enjoy reading them, and I sometimes loan them to friends. The books like Francois Nars and the Kevyn Aucoin are true pieces of art.

  18. I love your library. I have a lot of makeup books but not like this. I’ll be interested in your take on the Christie Brinkley book.
    This is an obsession I’m totally on board with.

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