Asian Faces: The Essential Beauty and Makeup Guide for Asian Women

I actually learned of this book from New York Times controversial "gift guide for people of color." I was excited to see a book dedicated to Asian women, and it even had a South Asian woman on the cover! Since I ordered it from Amazon, I never saw the inside, but I wish I did.Being that it is published by the same company, Asian Faces is very similar to Iman's book "The Beauty of Color." That's not a bad thing--there are beautiful photographs, with helpful diagrams and text. The author really gets down to all the things Asian women need to know, like contouring a face to fake the appearance of high cheekbones, resizing lips and eyes, and even a section on lightening or darkening skin with makeup (and every Asian will know how important being "fair and lovely" is). The tips are great and the models have quite a variant in face shape. After the different looks, she has sections on decades and costume make-up (she even includes a nice version of the Japanese Ganguro look).The problem I have is with this book's diversity of Asians. I am Indian, and although that is a part of Asia, the common usage of the term usually refers to Chinese, Korean, and Japanese people (which I believe this book leans towards). It is true, that there is an Indian woman on the cover, and another slightly darker one on the back cover which is why I purchased it. But other than a pair of Indian sisters, those are the only 2 medium brown models. There really aren't any "Pacific Islanders" or medium-dark skinned Southeast Asians (although since they are almost a mix of South Asians and East Asians, I suppose they could combine advice). In fact, the first sentence in the "eyes" section states: "The shape most Asian eyelids are flatter than other women's eyes." While this is true to much of east Asia, it does not really apply to South Asians.Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great book for Asians (particularly those with an epicanthic fold). There is great advice for Asian skin tone, face shape, eyes, and lips with some beautiful looks. The steps are pretty easy to follow, and as long as you read the techniques of layering at the beginning you should be able to come close to the look you desire. I suggest looking through the book to see if your skin tone and face shape are in there before you decide to buy it. I am medium-light colored, so I could follow some of the advice, but if you are darker I don't think this would be terribly helpful (although you may want to get this and "The Beauty of Color" and combine advice). However, if your main concern is face shape, eyes, lip shape, or changing your skin tone, this is the book for you. I would recommend it for most Asian women.

I was pleased to find a makeup book for asian faces, and just flipping through it gives you a lot of inspiration. I thought the tips on eyebrow/ lip shaping were particularly useful- you can really see a difference. Still, I can't help feeling that this book is indeed designed to guide and not tutor. For the beginner there are pages of useful tips, hints, and basic information on types of makeup, brushes, and their applications. A couple things did bother me. The book is big. Normally this is a good thing because you can see details better, but in this book's case it was no help- it could be 4/5 the size and not sacrifice anything. There are entire pages of just a pair of lips, or an eye- these could have just taken up half a page and not missed the point any. I would rather the extra space be devoted to giving us more examples- actual photo examples of the effects of different ways to line eyes/lips, and different looks created by differences in blush application. OR photos of closed eyes so we can see how the makeup was done. One thing I kept wishing for while poring through is a list of the actual products or their dupes. I saw a couple lip colors that I LOVED, but I have no idea what they were. My definition of cherry red may be different. A reviewer complained that the author only lists the steps in the most basic way, and admittedly I wondered what else she wanted the author to do, BUT then I read "Apply a highlight foundation to the center of the face". Like all over?? or just my nose?? Author needs to be more specific. She gives you an order to apply which makeup, but no details- you only have the photo to go by. It must be noted that you only have the photo to go by, there are no step by step photos. Often the model's eyes are open as well, so you don't see much of the eye makeup. And the last peeve is that she had photos lined up to show lip/ eye colors for example, and some would be blurry, and some would be sharp. THAT IS REALLY ANNOYING. I understand that they're taken from the main photoshoot photos, but in some cases even those were clearer. The book ends with photos of complete looks from a photoshoot (+ befores) and tells you what each of the elements is composed of. I love the looks and am definitely inspired to try a couple of looks, but can't help but wish for some more looks, lol.And to end on a positive note, I appreciate the author's usage of different faces. It helps people to find what works for them.

I love this guide - lots of great photographs, tips, help on selecting colors, applications, skincare. it covers everything. Plus it features my favorite comedienne, Margaret Cho, who looks amazing in the photographs!My only gripe is there are no color descriptions for the foundations used on the various women in the book - just pics of the color, although there are color descriptions for other makeup (lip, eye, cheek) used, none for foundation shades. My issue is finding the right foundation shade for my tone & skin type. (Light/medium combination of olive, gold, yellow, a little beige, freckles, ruddy cheeks, and combo skin with an oil-rich t-zone) I share the same skin tone as one of the women profiled. Nice colors of the foundations used on her, but no names of the colors? Frustrating to decipher what shades were used. I guess I will be lugging this book to the makeup counter to show the salesperson the colors I want.Other than that this is an excellent makeup guide for Asian women - I have not seen any makeup guide that addresses the issues that Asian women have such as too much or too little yellow or pink or whatever color in cosmetic products, texture, usage, skincare, etc. This guide is a must have!

Saw this in my Makeup Acedemy Classroom and knew it had to be in my library.Nice photographs, good tips and well written

The book touches on some good tips for Asian faces, e.g. how to cover under eyes and small dark spots. Make up for eyes is interesting because many Asian have small eyes. However, some models do not look Asian at all, for example, the model in the middle at the back cover of the book. Some Asian models in this book are half-blood who have Asian-Western mixed look. Not for beginner but those already have a basic and can do makeup with text instructions - no step by step illustration. Despite these, this book is useful for me.

There are some nice looks and advice, but the pictures in this book doesn't make very clear how to actually apply makeup.

It's a high quality book with a reasonable variety of looks but there aren't many when it comes down to it.

Ich hatte mir von dem Kauf mehr erwartet. Verschiedene Schminktechniken für Asiaten. An sich hat es das Buch auch. Aber ich finde es erinnert sehr an die 90er. Schade.