First up is Make Up by Michelle Phan. I, like many, have been a fan of her makeup tutorials on YouTube for quite some time, so I was curious to see how her five-minute beauty videos, which are constantly evolving to keep abreast with what's trending, would translate into the less flexible format of a book. The result is a glossy, photo-rich, breezy collection of mostly makeup advice, with biographical details and life advice thrown in.
Some of the biography included is pretty fascinating. Her account of her ascent from living with her family in a one room apartment to becoming one of the most influential online beauty gurus is pretty impressive to read, even if the writing is a bit simplistic, but I'm assuming it's to suit her target audience of tweens and young adults. Her writing about her personal life is a bit stilted, like she wasn't really sold on the idea of including so much about her formative years, but once she gets down to recounting the business of building a digital empire her tone shifts into one of comfortable confidence. This is a woman well-versed about the ins and outs of her chosen profession. What I found most impressive was her strong sense of identity, especially as she was forging a career there wasn't a blueprint for. She rejected some major career avenues for makeup artists and ended up creating new ones just by following her instincts. This is not advice that will work for everyone in the real world, but she frames these decisions around being true to herself, which clearly worked for her. She includes lots of pictures, as well, so as she's writing about going to Paris with Lancome, doing makeup backstage at Fashion Week, founding Ipsy and, eventually, her own makeup line, it feels like the reader is being whisked along for the ride.
The makeup portion of the book is pretty straightforward. She has sections on skin care, makeup basics, hair, nails and fashion. Her instructions are well-written and easy to understand, and there are plenty of pictures to further demonstrate her techniques. I would totally give this book to a girl just beginning to experiment with makeup, and if I'd had it I could have avoided some common makeup pitfalls when I was growing up (I've definitely over-zealously caked on a mask of makeup a time or two in my life). Her conviction about good skin care was so well written I may have actually put the book down and taken a quick jaunt to my local drugstore to round out my half-assed arsenal of skin products. As a result I no longer rely on baby wipes on a daily basis, and her retinol recommendation may be responsible for me currently having the best skin I've had in years.
While 2/3 of the book is excellent, I found the last few chapters of the book unnecessary and a bit confusing. She offers chapters on digital etiquette, finding a job and writing a resume, and modern manners, which includes the importance of writing thank you cards and such. It's all fine, basic, common-sense advice, it just seems weirdly tacked-on and out of step with what the rest of the book is offering. She's not an online dating expert, she's not Miss Manners, and by her own account she's never had to hold down a traditional job, so I'm not sure why she's offering advice on any of these things. The only latter chapter that makes sense is a section on turning your passion into a profession, which is something she IS an expert on. She covers practical things like what it means to be an entrepreneur, how to write a business plan, and, of course, how to use social media to boost your online identity. For someone picking up this book because they're interested in how she built her empire, this section is as close as she gets to offering up a non-career-specific blueprint.
Overall, it's a good-to-great manual on beauty and makeup for beginners. I'm honestly so fascinated by how she's gotten where she is I would be interested if she ever wanted to write book for aspiring entrepreneurs, or just business-minded women interested a more in-depth account of how she forged her own empire. She heads up multiple companies and had spread the wealth by starting an annual beauty conference for other digital content creators that aims to be the best in the industry. While a how-to beauty book seems like a good start, this is a woman who has a lot more to offer the world.
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