There are many reasons why you would want to educate yourself about the Art of Makeup perhaps to determine if your knowledge of art and culture is satisfactory by scrutinising the many ways a face can become a living work of art, for example by exploring a painting by Pablo Picasso and the cubist movement, also pioneered by the likes of Braque, Metzinger and Delauney amongst many others, with one of the influences being the representation of a three-dimensional form which in this case, generates the face on which the make up is applied on, to take you on a multi faceted optical adventure, creating illusion and obscure shadows, or perhaps a Lichtenstein, an explosion of vivid colours with references to the comic strips as the main inspiration producing hard-edged precise compositions of pop art, further on there is a Warhol trip, moulded onto a blank canvas and taking you through an artistic expression of celebrity culture and popular advertisement that flourished in the 1960’s.

Again, more inspiration is to be found in the sculptures by Henry Moore with it’s usual abstraction of the human figure and sensual shapes or Giacometti, whose work resist easy categorization, all applied on to the face with flawless execution and great personal artistic interpretation. As the vision and exemplary work is again reproduced on each page, many other adventures are for our pleasure and we are presented with the heavily kohl-lined eyes and eyebrows along with the golden glow of the iconic look of Cleopatra, one of the most popular figures in ancient history and the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, the story telling proceeds on another page with a murder mystery of Gosford park along with 1930’s bold and geometric shapes of art deco with defined and perfectly arched eyebrows and thoroughly exuding pure glamour of that era perfectly.

Moving forward and to other ideas this book also explores the cinema and it’s references, the Great Gatsby dwells into themes of decadence, idealism, social upheaval and the excesses of the roaring twenties all adapted for our perusal with it’s heavenly dark eyes and cupid bow lips, the scene is set and we are further transported into another world of different characters and movies exploring the performing arts and the decades in fashion.

This book is visionary and original giving you all the tools to imagine and execute make up in a different way. Every page is a narrative to reflect a variety of stories and takes us through the history of art, culture and fashion, it not only teaches about make up, it’s techniques and variations in applications but guides you in an interesting way with over 200 breathtaking creative images it is truly inspiring. This is where Make up and Art meet, this is it. Lan Nguyen-Grealis Art & Makeup book is available in all good bookstores.