Best Fashion Books

Mature Makeup Application Made Simple

Jennifer Stepanik draws upon more than fifteen years of beauty industry and make-up experience to deliver a comprehensive and highly-effective approach that combines natural healing methodologies, herbal medicine, naturopathy, and various bodywork modalities. Stepanik’s gift lies in providing spot-on techniques, tips and tutorials, with supporting visuals that will enable anyone to transform their appearance, while emphasizing and enhancing the inner and outer beauty they already possess.

How the Hell to Wear Makeup: A Makeup Artist's Guide to Putting Stuff on Your Face

I stumbled across this book after several weeks of wading through YouTube tutorials and Instagram feeds in an effort to learn how to change up my makeup routine. I’d had a sudden, startling realization that I’d been doing the same basic not-too-flattering smokey eye for, oh, almost 20 years. Time to update, right? Off to the Internet for help. Wait… What’s all of this? Baking? Cut crease? Contouring? What if I don’t need to look camera-flawless? What if my eyebrows don’t need to be on fleek? What if I don’t want my face to look “snatched?”
Although I'm generally a visual learner the way everything was described was really helpful to me. It was all very in-depth without being overwhelming and the text format made it easier for me to go at my own pace. The photos and diagrams really bumped it up to the next level and made it very easy for me to understand what she was describing. I always figured videos would be an easier way for me to learn but these photos are very high quality, clear shots that allowed me to go back and forth to see all the subtle differences as much as I needed to.

  The Cool Factor: A Guide to Achieving Effortless Style, with Secrets from the Women Who Have It

Some good tips - the chapter alone on layering is worth the price - and I liked the variety and different styles of people featured. A bit too much emphasis on the shirt tucked into jeans look however - which only works if you're skinny - and too much celebration of denim. But she's a good writer and its a nice read.