Face Forward
by Kevyn Aucoin
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Book Reviews of Face Forward
Book Review: The Work of a Genius
Summary: 5 Stars
Considered to be the best in the fashion industry, Kevyn Aucoin has shown that he is a visionary genius when it comes to transforming people with the flick of a brush. Mr. Aucoin, who left Louisiana and moved to New York in order to pursue a career and live life as a gay man without the ignorance and intimidation that plagues the South, has made himself a major force among Hollywood's elite due to his amazing ability to transform normal faces into breathtaking works of art. With great friends that include Cher, Winona Ryder, Madonna, Tina Turner, and Julia Roberts, Aucoin has had the luck and success that he deserves. In his first book, "Making Faces," Kevyn introduced his special kind of magic to the world when he showed how easy it is to transform yourself with blush, lipstick, tweezers, and other beauty aids. However, in "Face Forward," Kevyn decided to employ some of the most famous faces in the entertainment world (in addition to several non-celebrities) in transforming them into personas of the past and present.
When I first opened this book, my mouth gaped on how powerful Kevyn's work can be. I couldn't believe my eyes on how he was able to transform Tori Amos to a Native American woman. He is amazing, and many other celebrities in this book will make you open your mouth in awe. Seeing Gwyneth Paltrow as James Dean, Liza Minelli as Marilyn Monroe, and Tina Turner as Cleopatra will blow you away. I especially loved seeing how he transformed his own mother into various radiant personalities that truly show that age is nothing but a number. Ms. Aucoin must be extremely proud that she has son with such immense talent.
Kevyn's work will blow you away! Purchase this book and discover how much of a genius Aucoin is. I can guarantee you will not be able to put this book down at first. Mr. Aucoin's work and words will leave a lasting impression on how the idea of beauty can be interpretated by many. In his own words and work, Kevyn proves that you don't have to be beautiful on the outside, but rather beautiful inside.
Book Review: Exceptional, from both artistic and "how-to" perspectives
Summary: 5 Stars
If you've ever looked at fashion magazines and wondered what makeup techniques went into creating the look, "Face Forward" may give you all the answers you need. Not only did Kevyn Aucoin do all the makeup in this book, but he also wrote it and contributed to the photography, art direction and design. He is a genius. Period.Outside of the introductory chapters, the book is divided into five main parts: 1) "Behind Beauty," where Kevyn describes how he treats the face to bring out a wide range of attributes; 2) "Face to Face," which consists of in-depth photography and illustrations of the steps involved with creating beautiful looks; 3) "Dimensions," where Kevyn explores the "classic personifications of beauty" by making up actresses and models to look like stars of the past; and 4) & 5) forward-looking concepts of makeup techniques and the future of beauty, also using the faces of actresses (and even his mom).
I think it's great that someone as talented as Kevyn can be so generous in explaining his craft, but even if you're not into that, "Face Forward" holds up fantastically on its merits as an art/photography book: the resemblance of the current stars to the past ones is incredible (e.g., Winona Ryder as Elizabeth Taylor).
This book may be a little advanced for makeup artists who are just starting out, but hey, makeup is art, and art is about ideas, so it's definitely worth checking out. For anyone who is just plain interested in fashion and style, "Face Forward" will be intriguing, even if only for the skill exhibited in transforming one famous face into another. It's a masterpiece.
Book Review: Beautiful and fun book, but not as useful as "Making Faces"
Summary: 3 Stars
Aucoin produces yet another beautiful and fun book about the art of make up. However, Face Forward is much like Making Faces without the practical techniques. The book follows the same format as Making Faces without many improvements. The book begins with general articles about brows, lips, eyes, color, etc. However, these articles are truly general and only give written directions to achieve the looks in the photos. If you have the facial structures of the models, then these sections will be very useful to you! For the rest of us, I found the preliminary sections to be fun but not helpful.
The next section entitled "Face to Face" is useful with many before and after photos. The techniques are written and illustrated by photos of the make-over subject throughout the process. The looks are very natural and complimentary to the different ethnicities featured. I wish there were more makeovers in this section!
The final section entitled "Dimensions" features 48 different looks that are fun but not realistic for everyday use. In fact, most of the techniques demonstrated would only be useful for Halloween or a costume party. This section features many stars from Madonna to Tina Turner but offers little substantive content for everyday use.
Being a make-up-a-holic, I found Making Faces the better buy of the two. If you have to choose, choose Aucoin's first book for practical use. For fun, this book definitely takes the cake.
Book Review: Very beautiful, if not a litte unpractical...
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved, loved, loved Kevyn's last book "Making Faces" because I could add a lot of the looks he did in his book to my everyday face. His techniques and tips were helpful and well illustrated. In this book, I found more looks that I would want to experiment with, but a lot of the makeovers he did had to do with classical movie stars, and therefore not very practical for everyday use. Both the makeup and the photography in this book are stellar, and the celebrities and unknown people alike look fabulous! However, I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for basic makeup tips and ideas. Most of these looks are not for the office, much less daylight. But if you are interested in the art of makeup and designing character based makeup, this book is a must have. I saw this book at my beauty salon before I bought it, and I wanted it as soon as I saw how it featured pictures of people actually applying the makeup, and also when I noticed the faces of Julianne Moore, Tori Amos and some very pretty imperfect unfamiliar women that wore looks I could see myself in. FINAL VERDICT: Delightful for women who want to experiment and explore the artistry of makeup. Not suggested as a starting point for people seeking basic makeup know-how. If you do decide to get this book, I suggest taking some signature looks of the timeless celebrity faces and make them part of your style. I can't wait to add a little bit of Elizabeth Taylor's eye makeup into my everyday routine!Book Review: Kevyn Aucoin doesn't think very highly of you.
Summary: 4 Stars
(Please bear with me: I have ADHD and organizing a commentary is tough!)
Kevyn Aucoin heaps praise and brandishes amazement over the ability of some actresses (but never any actors) to endure hours of being photographed or interviewed. He cannot go two sentences without criticizing conservatives or making some outrageous generalization about what Americans think. He actually spends more time talking about how everyone is so hateful and ignorant than he does about make-up.
He comments that he ran out of the movie theater trying to watch "Boys Don't Cry." I know he's dead now, but this is a guy who is missing a few screws. He can't even make up his mind about whether he's going to be bothered by other people's opinion of him. Frankly, I'm sure no one thinks much about him at all.
In case you were wondering, he also weighs in on fur, meat, transsexuals, gun control, Clinton, the environment, the 1960s, the (nonexistent) oppression of women, slave labor, child workers, animal testing, recycling, Bette Davis being the greatest actress the world has ever known (!), and on and on and on.
He seems to have written this book as a response to criticism of his earlier book (which apparently lacked details about how to apply make-up to achieve certain effects). He is a BAD WRITER. For example: He says one should apply "foundation (to match)," but he never once says to what.