Makeup Artist Rae Morris released her 6th beauty book entitled MAKEUP MASTERCLASS featuring Victoria’s Secret Angel Shanina Shaik on the cover with a foreword by Paul Abdul. To give you a bit of background information on Morris, she is the longest serving Makeup Director for L’Oreal Paris at 10 years, four time winner of the Australian Makeup Artist of the Year award, and the no. 1 INTERNATIONAL best-selling beauty author. And all these accolades meant nothing to me as industries love to hand out titles and awards like Father Christmas handing out presents, but when I received my copy, I whistled a different tune.
I don’t know where to begin because there’s so much to discuss. Ok, firstly (and most importantly) the information. This holy grail is overflowing with detailed how-tos, facts, charts, notes… everything you would ever want to know about beauty. The application process, what if I have an almond slanted eye shape and want to apply liner, applying bronzer and the exact points to hit, the perfect shades based of my eye color, creating definition in lips, your ideal brow shape… literally, everything you can think of about beauty is in this. Even makeup brush organization for travel! Like, I chuck everything in a makeup bag and hope nothing breaks or leaks in-flight, but now I want to do right by my utensils. You spend an exorbitant amount of money on them, they should be properly cared for.
Diversity. The one word no one in beauty or fashion (and apparently anywhere in the world) wants to hear. Because they miraculously had the perfect shade for a black or brown model during a runway show, they feel that they understand diversity. If you blend that universal shade of coco hard enough, it will work on many of us. We may be ashier than others, but cover it with some blush and make our eyes pop…. some won’t even notice. But, many of us do. Like I noticed how Morris used fair and dark-skinned black models, varying Asian models, warm-toned and pale-skinned white models, and made them up differently; enhancing certain parts accentuate, or create, specific features. Even speaking of them by name, telling a bit of their story or how they know each other, and including their social media handles. [This isn’t a joke. She really did include them all!] By doing this, it made the experience of what would be a superficial novelty item, for me as a reader, deeper and more personal. I wanted to read every single word to ensure nothing was overlooked the first time around, before jotting down notes and bookmarking on the second go.
MAKEUP MASTERCLASS is THE book you should buy any coffee book collector, art lover, beauty aficionado. They, or their guests, will never put it down. I briefly thought about doing a special giveaway with my copy, but upon receipt, that idea was quickly thrown out. Luckily, you can get your own edition in varying forms – a hard copy ($55), an iPad copy ($5.99), and iPhone copy ($1.99) – before the holiday shopping rush.