Bobbi Brown Beauty is an exquisite book that would make a lovely addition to the coffee table book collection. The text in the beauty guide is stylishly aligned either to the left or right of each page; this effect produces a artistic photo shoot tone. The book as a whole sets off a glamorous mood, which is conveyed through all the photographs. There are photo spreads on almost every page; the subjects of these glam shots comprise of models and actresses. None of the photographs provide any instruction; they serve possibly to inspire readers to practice good make-up techniques in hopes of looking beautiful. The resource book is written in first person and addresses the reader in a very personable somewhat friendly way. The target audience is focused on women in their twenties, thirties, and even forties. Bobbi Brown offers a lot of advice from personal experiences as a makeup artist. She also tends to favor styles for “women-on-the-go” so career oriented women are also targeted. The concept of beauty is explained as being based mainly on self confidence. Readers are encouraged to find their own individual beauty style and accept the way they look, which means not trying to look like models. According to Bobbi, the purpose of makeup is to enhance what physical attributes already present. The author emphasizes that flaws can be beautiful if one is not self conscious about them. She herself claims to find natural faces the most beautiful; emphasizing the importance of individual beauty. Topics covered in the book include the author’s personal life, makeup tools, physical health, ethnic beauty, as well as several other beauty techniques. The book counsels women in finding themselves and to not worry about looking perfect or model like, but, ironically all the pictures are of perfect looking models. Although Bobbi Brown perhaps tries to convey a positive message, part of the message is lost through the book’s inconsistencies.

Duff, Susan and Elaine Raffel. The Mary Kay Guide to Beauty. Wisconsin, New Berlin: W.A. Krueger Company, 1983. 239 pages.

 This book is an instructional guide to putting on make-up, formatted into five chapters, each with its own color tab on the side. It is 239 pages long and typed in times new roman which makes it easy to read. There is also one quiz per section to help the reader identify which beauty tips she should follow. Photographs are dispersed throughout the book – they are both instructional and show women in everyday life situations. There are also some scientific pictures which help explain why one must do certain beauty routines. Some pencil sketches are used to show different styles. The writers picture the reader as someone who wants to be both a business woman and a mother. The majority of women pictured are in their late twenties, but it really addresses many different age groups. However, different ethnicities aren’t fully addressed in some areas; for example, there isn’t any advice for black women regarding their hair. The tone is very friendly and encouraging, much like a Hallmark commercial, and it tries to touch each person emotionally. The writers want the readers to succeed and continually tell them that they can do it. However, even the natural faces in this book are not very natural – even though freckles aren’t hidden, no blemishes are shown at all. The only obvious difference between the natural faces and the made-up faces is that the made-up face has a lot more emphasis on the eyes and lips. Everything else is left very natural and basic looking. The book wants the reader to know that their outer beauty supplements their inner beauty. It assumes the women have families, and also want to succeed. The writers also assume that the reader is trying to be an individual and the make-up will help her do that. This conservative book will teach women that make-up will enhance who they truly are.
 

Flocker, Michael.  The Metrosexual Guide to Style: A Handbook for the Modern Man.  Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2000.   168 pages

This is a how-to guide for the common male, very entertaining but exceedingly tongue in cheek  The cover of the book is blue with a drawing of the ideal metrosexual man adorning it.  Like the rest of the illustrations, it is drawn in a stylized comic book style.  We found it rather comical that the author devotes a whole page to the history of the typeface used (Scotch Roman, 9 point).  The author mocks those who would actually need such an extensive guide.  He includes lists of movies, books, and CDs that are essential (but goes on to state that a common metrosexual does not have to watch/read/listen to all of these, as long as they are prominently on display).  There is also a guide to dining out that includes a glossary of foreign foods, a guide to masters of art and their history, and a specific dress-code detailing the basics all men should have and what designers to wear.  The book groups all this information into convenient chapters, with one devoted to a certain aspect of life: Dining Out, Sex & Romance, Fashion, and others.  There’s usually some short introduction as to why a metrosexual male needs to worry about the topic of the chapter, but most of the knowledge (and humor) is in the lists provided.  The author supposes that the reader is a young man who possesses no culture, taste, or even common sense.  In this book, beauty and coolness is a façade – it deeply encourages the reader not to be themselves, with the assumption that whoever the reader actually is could never measure up in the real world.  While bitingly funny, there is an undertone of worry; the reader is drawn to worry about whether or not he as any inadequacies.  If he does, then he will have been the butt of every joke.

Morley, Carol and Liz Wilde.  Face: 100 makeup moves.  New York: MQ Publications, 2000. 111 pages.

This makeup book is clearly geared towards the modern woman, with its read cover and abstraction of the ideal woman on the front.  The book is aimed towards women of all ages and includes guides on skin care, color choices, professional tricks, “makeup on the move,” and makeup mistakes.  It covers everything from the benefits of exercise and good nutrition to fashion sense.  Like most other beauty books, it emphasizes the attractiveness of healthy skin and a natural face, but at the same time giving ways to “enhance” this look and cover it up.

Brown, Bobbi. Teenage Beauty: Everything You Need to Look Pretty, Natural, Sexy, and Awesome. Cliff Street Books, New York, 2000. 

Bobbi Brown’s Teenage Beauty presents a positive outlook on beauty for teenage girls. This book succeeds in showing teens how to apply make-up without leading them to believe they need it.  Brown recognizes the confusion and lack of confidence that many teenage girls suffer and attempts to mend such insecurities. Teenage Beauty has a conversational tone from which gives it a personal feel. Calvin Klein model Brooke Shields gives an introduction encouraging girls that beauty does not equal popularity, she was beautiful and famous yet “didn’t feel accepted at the lunch table.” Following Shields, Bobbi Brown gives her own accounts of teenage life and insecurities which makes the reader more at ease. Throughout the book, along with make-up and beauty tips, Brown attempts to encouragle girls to wear make-up not as a way to hide their imperfections but rather as a way of enhancing their natural beauty. 
      Visually, the book has an inviting, bright, bubbly theme. The spaced text makes it easy and enticing to read and the use of color interspersed within the test appeals to teenagers. In addition to color, the use of photography in Brown’s Teenage Beauty is extraordinary. The pictures of crushed shadows, nail polish, and brushes are crisp and clear. The use of these vivid colors in pictures and on models illustrates that teenagers can use make-up without looking like their mothers. The majority of Brown’s models are ‘normal’ with scars and braces and not exquisitely gorgeous which is encouraging to young girls. Overall, Bobbi Brown did an amazing job of integrating inspiring phrases with make-up tips to help teenage girls use make-up to enhance their natural beauty. 
 

GQ

The world of men’s “stylish” magazines consists of mainly Maxim and GQ, the former being little more than a soft-core Playboy.  GQ on the other hand attempts to remain risqué while maintaining tastefulness.  The format of this periodical is roughly similar to the female equivalents, such as YM and Seventeen; there is a reader’s mail section, interviews with celebrities, sex tips, fashion photos, and a myriad of other subjects geared towards men “in the know.”  The main focus of the magazine is to push what is “in,” as well as to discover what the next wave of fashion is to be.  With the recent hype of the “metrosexual,” GQ has attempted to keep up to date as well, but not at the risk of alienating its more conservative readers.  It accomplishes this by simply showing off the male figure more, gradually becoming more flamboyant and “edgy.”  While occasionally amusing in its anecdotes, or inadvertently so with some of its editorials, GQ is quite empty of actual content, and really just a demonstration of what men should look and act like, with no real explanation as to why.  If you are interested in some light reading while waiting at the dentist’s office and are turned off by more feminine journals, by all means pick up an issue of GQ.  However, if you’re interested in a magazine that has something to say, you’re better off looking elsewhere.
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Aucoin, Kevyn. Face Forward. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2000. 175 Pages. 

Even at first glace, the cover demonstrates Aucoin’s approach to beauty as he morphs a dark and a light skinned woman into one incredible portrayal of beauty. The format of this anything-but-ordinary beauty book is that of an oversized coffee table book with lavish, full color photographs. At 175 pages it is quite extensive, with portraits of celebrities, men, women, people off the street, and many of the author’s friends and family members. This book imagines the reader as anyone interested in utilizing makeup as a means of expression or art form, and is geared in no way to a particular group of people. The author goes to pains to present diverse images of peoples from many different backgrounds, each with a distinct identity. The author makes few assumptions as to the goal of the reader; he merely provides guidelines and step by step instructions for achieving the looks presented in the book itself while also revealing that an individual is more than their makeup. His language is one of empowerment and encouragement as he starts with the bold statement, “My entire mission in life is to help women take over the world.” He tends to be chatty and personable in his writing style, praising the celebrities’ down-to-earthness and offering amusing personal anecdotes throughout the book. The author frames the “natural” face as equally as beautiful as the “made-up” face, as both extremes are presented as being beautiful and interesting. Individuality is stressed in this book, as most of the celebrity portraits are of women noted for their talent, uniqueness, ambition, or any combination thereof, stressing their natural ability to be amazing.

Aucoin, Kevyn.  Making Faces.  Little Brown: NY, 1997. 160 pages.

Making Faces by the late, great Kevyn Aucoin, arguably the world’s more popular makeup artist, is a fabulous guide to buying and applying makeup.  The book is broken into 3 parts: Making the Face – tips and techniques, A Gathering – before and after pictures, and Great Looks – classic looks on famous faces.  The techniques are illustrated in clear, easy to follow steps.  The tips shared in the book, however, aren’t noticeably original.  Most interesting about this book is that while most makeup books focus on changing or masking a woman’s appearance, Aucoin’s focus is on enhancing a woman’s natural beauty.  This seems to be the central idea of the book; the individual beauty in each woman, as opposed to giving everyone the “Aucoin look.”  The pictures reinforce this idea by showing models of all ages and races, each with their own mini bio, and own distinctive look.  This is a great book if you’re looking for a new twist on traditional makeup application.

Ayers, Harriet Hubbard. Women in America: From Colonial Times to the Present. New York: Arno Press, 1974. 

Ayers, a pioneer in the field of beauty advice, wrote this book in response to the overwhelming demands of the readers of her beauty column. This book begins by giving a short psychoanalysis of woman’s quest for beauty. The book continues to address topics such as: cleanliness, hair care, complexion, eye and eyebrow care, corrections for the nose, ear, mouth, and teeth, body care, eating disorders, cosmetics, perfumes, and even advises how to sleep better. This book is at times so outdated that it becomes comical, for example when Ayers gives the ideal proportions of the perfect woman’s body. She also gives recipes for homemade balms and creams. This book, although somewhat old-fashioned, soundly advises women concerning nutrition and self-maintenance. This book not only emphasizes what should be common sense, like washing and brushing hair, but it gives good advice in areas such as sleep and nutrition.  This book would be a great resource for someone researching the evolution of the cosmetology industry in America.

Crawford, Cindy.  Basic Face.  New York: Dell Publishing Group, 1996.  108 pages.

 Basic Face is a cookbook-style beauty book that emphasizes natural beauty.  The spiral binding makes it easy and durable enough for everyday use.  Though author Cindy Crawford is a well-known supermodel, she successfully portrays herself as the common woman with common flaws.  However, flawless model shots of Crawford are found throughout the book.  There is ambiguity in her advice.  She urges readers that it is important to like yourself, change the way you feel about your body, and find beauty in your flaws.  Then, the book continues with providing advice about improving the outward appearance of the person.  Basic Face has a friendly, approachable tone and the diction suggests that beauty can be found in simplicity, individualism, and the natural, “basic face.”  Crawford writes that the role of make-up is to “hide flaws and slightly accentuate natural beauty.”  Crawford also includes natural tips to improve looks and take care of the body.  The book is organized by make-up type, and appears to organized so that the reader can  flip through quickly to find her desired page. Crawford’s make-up guide is geared toward a woman who may have previously been intimidated by the thought of make-up application.  Although the book claims to be for every woman regardless of age or race, it probably most appeals to 20 or 30-something Caucasian women.  This is due to the fact that all of the pictures and tips are about Cindy Crawford’s, a 20 or 30-something Caucasian woman, experiences with make-up.
 
 

Berg, Rona.  Beauty, the New Basics.  New York:  Workman Publishing Company, 2001.  404 pages.

This instructional beauty book catches the eye immediately with its bright cover, featuring a picture of a teenage girl from behind, her hair done up in a bun using paintbrushes.  Listed on the cover are the different sections of the book including Face, Body, and Hair, as well as several sub-sections.  The whole book is colorful, and even though it is very long for a how-to guide, it is filled with vivid photos, illustrations, and charts.  Many of the pictures provide a visual for the tutorial on the corresponding page, which helps the reader sort through the long text.  The book tries to include all ages and races, but mostly contains pictures of young white women, so this goal is not necessarily attained.  The author also tries to give the book a very friendly tone, and this is achieved through her use of simple (but not condescending) language and a few personal anecdotes.  The author also does a good job of promoting the natural face, as even her makeup instructions emphasize that “less is more.”   Although possibly not the best instructional book available, it will keep you entertained.

Duff, Susan and Elaine Raffel. The Mary Kay Guide to Beauty. Wisconsin, New Berlin: W.A. Krueger Company, 1983. 239 pages.

This 1980s book is an instructional guide to putting on make-up, formatted into five chapters, each with its own color tab on the side. There is also one quiz per section to help the reader identify which beauty tips she should follow. Photographs and diagrams are dispersed throughout the book – they are instructional and show women in everyday life situations. The writers picture the reader as someone who wants to be both a business woman and a mother. The majority of women pictured are in their late twenties, but it really addresses many different age groups. However, different ethnicities aren’t fully addressed in some areas; for example, there isn’t any advice for black women regarding their hair. The tone is very friendly and encouraging, and it tries to touch each person emotionally. However, even the natural faces in this book are not very natural – even though freckles aren’t hidden, no blemishes are shown at all. The only obvious difference between the natural faces and the made-up faces is that the made-up face has a lot more emphasis on the eyes and lips. The writers also assume that the reader is trying to be an individual and the make-up will help her do that. Ultimately, this conservative book does succeed at its goal of teaching readers to apply make-up in a way which will enhance who they truly are.

Haubegger, Christina. Latina Beauty. New York: Hyperion, 2000. 224 pages.
This book addresses the cosmetic problems of Latina women while providing tips and facts on make-up application and personal care.  This book uniquely targets young Latina women by using Spanish phrases and words intertwined in the text and titles and also the attractive photos of Latina beauties.   The book begins in a friendly but motherly tone, explaining that Latina beauty is not merely a look, but a lifestyle and an attitude that embodies pride, self-empowerment, and self-expression.  The first chapter describes how a Latina can be beautiful inside as well as out, by getting an education, establishing a sacred space in her home and life for religion, loving her life, etc. The following chapters range from explaining foot moisturizers to specific makeup for one’s wedding day.  This book does not necessarily emphasize the natural look and every day look, but instead a made up look for a night out or a special event.  The book is very well-written and formatted to fulfill its purpose as a manual for inner and outer Latina beauty.