Face Paint: The Story of Makeup - Lisa Eldridge

Synopsis: Makeup, as we know it, has only been commercially available in the last 100 years, but applying decoration to the face and body may be one of the oldest global social practices. In Face Paint, Lisa Eldridge reveals the entire history of the art form, from Egyptian and Classical times up through the Victorian age and golden era of Hollywood, and also surveys the cutting-edge makeup science of today and tomorrow. Face Paint explores the practical and idiosyncratic reasons behind makeup's use, the actual materials employed over generations, and the glamorous icons that people emulate and how they achieved their effects. An engaging history of style, it is also a social history of women and the ways in which we can understand their lives through the prism and impact of makeup.

Review: Visually stunning with sharp, colorful images alongside famous artwork and masterful paintings, Face Paint by Lisa Eldridge is as much a fascinating picture book as it is an encyclopedia of makeup. Eldridge applies her extensive knowledge throughout with easy to read, interesting, and accessible facts and her expertise on both the how and the why. It was the history of makeup that intrigued me the most, its evolution from lead-based Elizabethan white paste, to the popular organic and mineral make-ups of today. I would recommend this book not only to beauty enthusiasts, but anyone interested in history, entertainment, fashion, and science.

I'd like to thank Net Galley and the publisher Abrams Image for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion, which this is.

FIVE STARS

Amazon Link: Face Paint: The Story of Makeup



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