Beauty / Our 2021 Roundup: Fuel Your ’90s Obsession With These 5 Iconic Beauty Books

Our 2021 Roundup: Fuel Your ’90s Obsession With These 5 Iconic Beauty Books

Beauty Dec 29, 2021

by Meena Khan | Features Editor - Beauty

These are beauty masters who laid the foundation for the beauty bloggers/vloggers of today. Since the ’90s is all the rage now, it’s also important to note that it was a magical time of experimentation, diversity and celebrity. These artists were the original beauty influencers and pop culture icons in their own right, who were the go-to experts for celebs and models including Yasmeen Ghauri, the first South Asian supermodel. So with summer at our doorstep, it’s time to dive into these iconic beauty books and bring out your inner Mickey Contractor!

In the modern world, beauty knowledge is literally a few keystrokes away. People assiduously follow Youtube tutorials, which contain application tips and product suggestions, and you create looks. However, if you are tired of staring at screens and wish to engage with makeup artistry through the power of the written word and glossy pictures, the following five books are excellent reads. They are gorgeous works of literature which will leave you looking gorgeous!

Fuel Your '90s Obsession With These 5 Iconic Beauty Books: Yasmeen Ghauri in an early 90s Versace Campaign. Photo Credit: www.facebook.com — **Fuel Your ’90s Obsession With These 5 Iconic Beauty Books: Yasmeen Ghauri in an Versace Spring 1995 runway show.** Photo Credit: www.vogue.com

Fuel Your '90s Obsession With These 5 Iconic Beauty Books: Yasmeen Ghauri in an Versace Spring 1995 runway show. Photo Credit: www.vogue.com — **Fuel Your ’90s Obsession With These 5 Iconic Beauty Books: Yasmeen Ghauri.** Photo Credit: www.facebook.com

KEVYN AUCOIN – THE MASTER

Before there was any contouring, there was the late Kevyn Aucoin, a legendary makeup artist who reigned supreme in the nineties. He helped to usher in the earth-toned, matte trends of the nineties from the colour-soaked, glitter looks of the eighties. Aucoin introduced to the mainstream, the concepts of: contouring, adding light to the inner corner of the eyes, shaping the eyebrows, and lining lips with a flesh-toned pencil to create a naturally juicy mouth. To study his books is to learn from a master, and you will easily understand the tips and techniques offered by today’s beauty influencers.

Aucoin wrote The Art of Makeup and Making Faces. The former was ground-breaking because it was a large, glossy book filled with pictures of supermodels such as Yasmeen Ghauri, celebrities such as Whitney Houston and regular folk such as his sister, Kim Trahan. Beside each picture, Aucoin offered simple tips in point form, and in some sections, he shared lessons that he learned on the job. The mixture of practical tips and wisdom provided readers a glimpse into what was then the rarefied world of fashion and beauty.

Reignite Your Vintage Look With These Classic Beauty Books — **Fuel Your ’90s Obsession With These Iconic Beauty Books: *The Art of Makeup*.** Photo Credit: www.amazon.ca

I recall being inspired by the book because Aucoin was ahead of his time, as he included so many types of women of all colours, shapes and sizes, before the term diversity was used in beauty circles. As a young pimply teenager who was always ignored by guys, this book offered me hope that with the proper tools and techniques, I too could look beautiful. I loved that there were no specific product recommendations because when Aucoin used a term like apricot blush, I recalled looking for an apricot blush that suited my skin tone, rather than trying to use his exact product.

Making Faces was a trailblazing piece of beauty literature because Aucoin taught you how to transform yourself. This handsome book features an image of Shalom Harlow on a white background, slyly grinning like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland, and the title was written in a messy font using a glossy ink. This book, like The Art of Makeup mixes celebrities, models and regular folk but in this book, you see the before and after of the transformations. Each set of images is accompanied by detailed tips on how to transform yourself into a chanteuse, a flapper… etc. There is also a technical section which explains concepts such as how to contour the eyes, apply mascara, and shape the lips.

**Fuel Your ’90s Obsession With These Iconic Beauty Books: *Making Faces*.** Photo Credit: www.amazon.ca

What I love about the explanations is that they are illustrated, so you focus on the concepts and are not distracted by how the model looks. The illustrations and simple explanations set you on the right path, and the gorgeous photos just serve as inspiration.

IMAN – THE NAME SAYS IT ALL

Before Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, there was Iman. In the nineties, Iman founded her eponymous makeup line because when she was a supermodel, she had trouble finding products that suited her skin tone and beauty. Her products offered a glamourous, high-quality alternative for all women of colour, and her book The Beauty of Color: The Ultimate Beauty Guide for Skin of Color demonstrates why women of colour are stunning. Each glossy page features tips and tricks, which are illustrated on darker skin tones. Iman discusses the power of bronzer and provides timeless explanations on how to deal with under eye circles.

Reignite Your Vintage Look With These Iconic Beauty Books — **Fuel Your ’90s Obsession With These Iconic Beauty Books: The Ultimate Beauty Guide for Skin of Color.** Photo Credit: www.amazon.ca

My favourite section of the book was the celebrities one, because I first learned of the beautiful Padma Lakshmi and in the Remix section I loved that an Indian model was used to demonstrate the Vamp Look. I recall being intensely satisfied with the variety of shades of brown skin presented in the book, and it bridged the missing bits of information from Aucoin’s books, so that women of colour could fully harness the power of makeup.

NARS – ARTIST AND TEACHER

Nars, another revered makeup artist who pushed for diversity and creativity in the beauty world in the nineties, wrote Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself, which is both an instructional manual and a gorgeous coffee table book.

It is a heavy book, spiral bound, and teeming with images of women and men, from all walks of life serving as models to create different looks. Each model is featured barefaced, with their hair scraped back, like those in the Simply Irresistible video. The barefaced picture is paired opposite with the image of the transformed face. Between each image is a clear, plastic sheet filled with arrows, comments and circles, which explain how the barefaced look was transformed. The plastic sheet when it lies on the transformed face lays out the steps that Nars took to create it. Each time I flip the plastic sheet I am transported back to high school when my teachers used projectors and plastic sheets to explain concepts. If you do not understand the high school reference, go ask your parents … at the end of each chapter there are written summaries of each look, and we are given a glimpse of the models’ backgrounds. At the time, I was excited to see that a Pakistani TV journalist named Quratulain demonstrated a fantastic Studio 54 look; it is incredibly glamorous.

At the time of publication, Nars had already created his eponymous makeup line, so in each look you know exactly which products were used on the model.

Nars’ book differs from the others in that he has three main concepts: Play, Perfect and Polish, i.e. experimentation in the 20’s, professional looks for the 30’s and 40’s and classic looks for the 50’s.

BOBBI BROWN – CLASSIC WISDOM

No blog about beauty books would be complete without at least one written by the legendary Bobbi Brown. Brown, like Aucoin, Iman and Nars, laid the groundwork in the nineties for the modern notions of beauty. Brown’s first book, Bobbi Brown Beauty, is my favourite one from her because it is a mix of technical, and lifestyle and wellness tips. The book was published in 1997, so you can appreciate that Brown was and is a visionary.

Brown’s book is not about transformation, its focus is on tweaks and touches, so that you look like you, just enhanced with hints and pops of soft colour. I loved this book because it included women from all age groups and ethnicities, including a gorgeous close-up of Yasmeen Ghauri on page 155. Additionally, it includes chapters in how to look good on camera, wedding makeup, interview makeup, and specifically addresses the beauty needs of visible minorities. There is wisdom to be gleaned from each page, almost 25 years after its publication.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

These books helped to shape me into the beauty blogger that I have become, and I am so proud that I chose to learn from the masters. They practised inclusivity and diversity before it was fashionable, and what is striking is that NOT a single image featured a person who looked overly done-up, filtered or surgically enhanced. In these books, you see people with wrinkles fine lines, double chins, asymmetrical features … and they look terrific. Aucoin, Iman, Nars and Brown are excellent teachers, and you will never regret passing a lazy summer afternoon pouring over the glossy pages and timeless images of beauty in their books.

Main Image Photo Credit: www.amazon.ca

Meena Khan | Features Editor - Beauty

Author

Meena (@meenalaregina) always loved the idea of exploring the non-conventional idea of beauty. Having grown up as a pimply chubby teenager, she wanted to see the change in the world that best reflected your uniqueness as well. Her well-received collection of blogs where she tries on various beauty p...

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Our 2021 Roundup: Fuel Your ’90s Obsession With These 5 Iconic Beauty Books

by Meena Khan | Features Editor - Beauty

Meena Khan | Features Editor - Beauty

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