Face Paint: The Story of Makeup

Absolutely in love with this book, great photography and texts; full of interesting information

Enjoyed this book! Anything Lisa Eldridge has to say about makeup and its history is worth listening/reading.

I pre-ordered this fabulous book and it was waiting for me when I got home. Luckily today was a take-out kind of day, so I snuggled up, chowed down and feasted my eyes upon the fabulous facts of makeup. I love that this book is by no means a how-to, which is refreshing since so many makeup artists turn authors seem to directly fall directly into that category. As a subscriber of Lisa's on Youtube, I have been blown away by her real passion for makeup, not just in its application, but also in it's creation. She is one of those rare people that has mastered what she does and loves what she does. This passion shines through in her book. Lisa takes you through some of the most fascinating periods of history and shows you just how integral makeup was, whether it as approved of at the time, or not, and it's amazing impact on the sociopolitical climate of the times. Now, if that's too historical for you, don't fret. This never feels like a history lesson. Every page has large beautiful prints of vintage makeup cases and advertisements,queens and courtesans, scans of paintings and sketches, all geared toward the world of cosmetics and its fascinating ride through the ages. I read it cover to cover, then went back and read it again. Every paragraph and every page there is a plethora of enthralling facts and histories for your mind to learn. Even better is she doesn't beat around the bush with women's struggles in society and how makeup played a large part in their freedom or lack thereof. As a side note, I was blown away to learn that the argument men make against makeup wearing because it "lies" to them and makes women "deceptive" is an argument that dates back to Ancient Greek and Roman times. (Prepare to see Socrates in a whole new light.) There aren't enough words to describe the level this book is on. This is a fascinating read for beauty guru, anthropologist and historian alike. Lisa Eldridge reaches across the great divide and pulls everyone in with this accomplished and masterful work. Turning the tides against people who view makeup and fashion as shallow and vapid and showing them just how rich and wonderful the cosmetic side of the world really is. Thank you, Lisa. I can't wait to see what you do next!

I've been a huge fan of Lisa Eldridge for several years, and eagerly pre-ordered this book when it was first available for pre-order several months ago. When Eldridge first revealed more details about the book, I had initially been disappointed that this was going to be more of an overview of makeup throughout history rather than a how-to book, but the more I read about it on her blog -- and now that I have it in my hands -- the happier I am with it. If you love makeup and are interested in how we have used it throughout history to define and create our personae, you'll really love this book. This is a big, colorful book -- one full of glossy images and lots of eye candy. Eldridge not only looks at how we have used makeup throughout history to add glamour into our lives, but she also takes a look at the appeal of icons like Twiggy and of certain colors, like red, white, and black. The book is really well-researched, and Eldridge teases out all the interesting bits about makeup, like how it was made in ancient times and why we have always seemed to be intrigued by using it to empower ourselves. As a history devotee, I loved reading all of this information, and both the inclusion of historical photos and the retro photos added a special dimension to this book. If you're looking for how-to books, I'd recommend Making Faces and Sonia Kashuk Real Beauty (which is out of print, but which is worth tracking down since it has so much great information in it, much better than the information in the two Bobbi Brown books I have). Although makeup can be used to hide features we'd rather keep hidden, Eldridge emphasizes that it's makeup's ability to allow us to tap into our creativity and sense of play that has continued to make us obsess about it for so many hundreds of years. Eldridge captures that spirit of fun throughout this book, and I highly recommend it.

I'm using this book for an elective for an independent study class that I'm calling the History of Makeup, and I'm loving it. It's a good book and very interesting, even for someone like me who doesn't wear a stitch of makeup unless I am compelled to by some force of societal pressure (like a wedding, or night out with friends, etc). It's divided into sections: black, white, red, and then the business side of the industry. The history of makeup is really fascinating, even if much of it is probably conjecture. The pictures provided are very vivid and varied (from Queen Elizabeth to some more modern "glamour shots," but they all serve the purpose of having a connection with the section the pictures are found in. The kids who are reading the book with me, and answering the questions I have created, are finding the information interesting too, and that says something right there. Finding a BOOK kids don't want to throw in the trash, and actually want to read, shows how relevant the context is to them and that it's not boring. I'm thrilled with it, intrigued by it, and it makes me want to learn more about the history of makeup. I am, however, a huge history nerd, so take my recommendation of this book with that grain of salt.

If your like beauty and history, Face Paint is a must!

Interesting book However, I found that the book could have been organized more efficiently. The little inserts of different concepts were interspersed within the regular text. It made for disjointed reading. After starting to read about one concept, the insert popped in making me understand a completely different main idea. After reading that, it was challenging to go back to the original subject that I was reading. Therefore, I had to start all over again. I skipped reading the inserts until the end of the book, then read them. I wish the inserts would have be delegated to one whole chapter.

Lisa has chosen a quite different - non-chronological - way to talk about the history. By choosing this kind of layout you can either go absolutely wrong, or you can do it splendid, if you know exactly what, how much and when to say, and if you have passion to what you are talking about. And Lisa did it really splendid! I’m about to finish reading this book soon, and I know what will I read after it – I will turn it around and start from the very beginning. It feels like Lisa’s notebook, which holds the information collected over decades (such as quotes of beauty celebrities, inspiring pictures, interesting facts, beauty icons) about make-up history. Her passion to makeup and its history is clearly going through the pages. Due to lack of chronology, it might be difficult to read this book if there have never been a chance to take glance in the history of make-up (in this case, The History of Compacts and Cosmetics written by Madeleine Marsh would be a good start). However this is definitely a book worth buying! If the make-up history was a cake, this book would be a sophisticated icing.