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

I grew up a complete tomboy, raised by a tomboy with no makeup in the house at all. My friends in school wore little to no makeup and I'm in a profession where makeup would be laughably out of place. Consequently, I know nothing at all about dressing up. This book does a great job of explaining WHY the makeup does what it does, which ones match which types of skin, and how layers of makeup interact. For an outsider, most makeup tutorials seem like a whole lot of jargon and dogmatic nonsense; and indeed, this author calls out a lot of that bunk and highlights what actually matters. She's very direct about explaining which points are pure preference, and her sense of humor keeps the whole book quite readable. I really appreciate her "no one true way" perspective, especially regarding color. People can get way too attached to woo-woo color theories! I love that this book just cuts through all of that silliness. There aren't really any tips in this book for how to apply makeup to male faces, which I think is a shame (maybe the author could release a supplement just addressing that topic?) but her examples and commentary DO address Asian, Latino, African and Middle Eastern complexions. I found her photo samples wonderfully diverse for a book of this type (it seems like most makeup tutorials ignore non-white and non-African styling entirely). It's definitely worth getting this book if you're of mixed ethnicity and trying to navigate the confusing array of skin products. She explains exfoliators and moisturizers, primers, foundation types and what to do if you have a combination of skin types (like dry skin on your brow and oily skin around your nose). Really great overview of products without any brand endorsements or "must have this expensive tool" dogmas. Overall a fun read and extremely helpful book for an outsider trying to make sense of makeup. Highly recommend.

I watched two or three of the author's videos on YouTube before deciding to just buy her book. Over the past several months I've watched far too many hours of makeup videos from gurus, makeup artists, and regular people but nothing helped me get a grasp on things as much as this book did! 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. As an added bonus, I felt that every single technique and look that's shown in the book would be very wearable for any average person. Its all very classic; there's nothing Instagram or trendy about the looks that might make them difficult to pull off or hard wear beyond a few pictures. I liked that the looks ranged from very minimal/natural to full on smokey, glittery glam. If you're a beginning looking to try and wrap your head around the complicated world of makeup, I think this is a great place to start! I found it to be very newbie-friendly. But even if you're an experienced makeup lover who's mastered the cut crease and wild contour, or whatever it is you love about makeup, I think you could still learn a lot from the detailed technical information about color and placement. I would recommend reading the book first and then watching some of the author's YouTube tutorials so you can go from the detailed diagrams to watching it all come together in practice. I found that to be an enormously helpful way to get a grasp on the basic concepts she explains in both places.

This book is approachable, funny, and very much a fresh approach to applying makeup. I appreciate that it includes women with a variety of skin types and shades in it, which helps me to get a better reference of makeup styles for my own skin/body/face structure. It's very straightforward and approachable, I don't really feel like there's anything missing from the book. To be fair though, it really sticks to the basics. If you want a more advanced book I'd check elsewhere. I'm taking off one star because the Kindle version doesn't have a table of contents which is a big disappointment to me. The book is short enough that it isn't the end of the world, but if the book is ever updated that would be my first request.

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?” Last week I found Katelyn’s YouTube channel and was released from the death-grip of social media beauty gurus. Her laid-back, down-to-earth personality was a relief. No buzz terms, no coy product placement, just honest opinions. When she mentioned her book, I came straight to Amazon and downloaded it. Suddenly things started making sense. I get it! I finally I get it! I get why blending was going so wrong for me! I understand the defining shape! This book and its incredibly helpful photos did more for me than the unmentionable hours I spent clicking through videos. And it’s noteworthy that her models are everyday women with various skin tones and textures and age, beautiful and real, not Instagram-flawless. Not everything in this book will be new for every reader. I already knew plenty before I started. What was new was understanding how to make it work, why it wasn’t working before, and how to start seeing in the mirror the result I had in my head. Plenty of light bulb moments were peppered throughout. Direct, to the point, and sometimes funny, this is a very well written resource that deserves a look.

Loved it all! I wish I knew the product names of her preferred makeup! The only thing I wish she would do is make a hard copy book so I could see her techniques better. My kindle doesn’t quite align up with her beautiful photos. Thank-you, Katelyn, for your wonderful book.

Kiki is hysterical and brilliant. I've been a fan of her on YouTube for a while and was thrilled to be able to support her by picking this up. (She also just started her own company and put out a great product called The Palette, look up Salt New York to find out about that if you're interested.) I love her attitude and her personal brand in general, and this book is no exception. It's packed full with useful info and is written in the same natural humorous voice she uses for everything. I earnestly recommend it, not just to anyone learning about makeup, but also to anyone experienced in makeup who wants new insights and some good laughs, and it's also a great gift idea in my opinion.

What can I say Katelyn is a majestic fluffer nutter and this book helped me kick the habit of being lame and sad. I've never enjoyed learning this much. Sorry all my teachers ever. My face is 60% more glorious than before and that's just because I'm naturally 40% glorious. I'll never forgive Katelyn for making me realize that I sucked at makeup though. She was dead to me for a sec then I realized I couldn't live without her. But for reals, thank you thank you, thank you Katelyn for this book and for being you and for being the you that wrote this book! I seriously love it as much as a creamy latte or a peice of buttered toast! That's true love.

1. If I had learnt nothing in the reading of this book, I still would have enjoyed it immensely for the author's voice and wit. 2. I DID learn something in the reading of this book. I have had the confidence to try a few new a) colors and b) techniques that I wasn't sure about before. (spoiler: I'm super pleased with the results of both!) 3. Not only do I feel like I can put makeup on my face in an appealing manner, I feel like I have been EDUCATED about makeup. Not only the art of it, but the science of it. This book is fully empowering! If you are a consumer of makeup products, I highly recommend it!

It's so great and really informative while throwing in some much appreciated humour. It was so positive and diverse in models, it was honestly just fab

I love Katelyn's youtube channel, she's a professional makeup artist and she shines in a youtube world saturated with "instagram-travesty-exaggerated stage" type of makeup for women. She's hilarious and very relatable.The book covers all the steps of makeup. Some things I already knew but many others were new to me. It's very affordable, easy to read, honest and very funny (as Katelyn herself). And for the price... really, just go get it!

Got the kindle edition, excellent tips on all the basics. Every beginner makeup artist and enthusiast should buy this book! Reminds me a little bit of Kevyn Aucoin's Making Faces.

I loved this book. Kiki G has long been a favourite of mine on Youtube. I am so happy she chose to share her gift in book form. Perfect for refining your skill in makeup application, especially great for beginners and good laugh.

Well written easy and funny read. It totally changed my outlook on makeup in general. Absolutely worth it !!!