Color Me Beautiful's Looking Your Best: Color, Makeup and Style

by Mary Spillane, Christine Sherlock

The classic makeup and style book, now updated for the 1990s and expanded to 12 color palettes.

Genres: Nonfiction, How To, Fashion

178 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

~ this is available as an eBook now ~ I have this and it's not like it's a bad book but, the swatches are atrocious. Colored pencil doesn't represent crap--you need a real printed right swatch, color/solid with no white paper show thru. I was glad I didn't throw away my original when I got this as I still think it's better. it is good they put the seasonal leans in but, I don't like how they did it. It hurt things to rename all the seasons if you ask me. Especially as most people don't know the difference between soft and muted colors. Anyway, I kept it for the writing which is still great. My favorite book for the leans though (explained way better than in here) is Always In Style by Doris Pooser (the early versions not the ones that switched to tones). I will still keep this on my shelf and would still recommend it to someone who has already got a firm grasp on their season/lean. I like that there are new colors in here. I know I'm a Spring with a Winter lean but, if I didn't have a firm grasp on that I would be hard pressed to say If I was "Warm" (spring with autumn lean) or the spring-winter lean. I bought both swatch books in-fact & made my own as I felt and always do feel gyped in a tonal vs seasonal based system. This is a hybrid till she sells it to the UK girl and then it becomes full on Tonal. I really just don't think they should go away from the Seasonal Base. Pictures are still pretty :)

[Emilee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow even more dated than the original. I liked the more nuanced take on the seasonal colors, but a lot of this felt silly, such as the advice to not wear red when meeting your future mother-in-law or risk frightening her. There was also a surprising amount of 90s girl power and most of the book was aimed at helping women climb the corporate ladder in mostly male-dominated fields. Overall it felt very bossy compared to the first one, and I enjoyed it less.

[Stef · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not only is the content pretty dated, but it's actually difficult to determine what your season actually is if you're not a straight-up Winter. Having one example image per season doesn't make things any easier. Definitely needs far more diversity and examples.

[Candy Einshel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Color's masters. Must-read of every fashion stylist or imagen consultant.

[Carolyn Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one gets a little more complicated than its predecessor, "Color Me Beautiful". While I appreciated the greater nuance on color, with the specific divisions within the seasons, I think that it gets into the weeds a bit as the book progresses. The section on style for the different occupations is now fairly out of date.

[Deathmetalroze · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great classic book with practical advice on makeup/clothing to look your best. Even though this version is from 1995 and overall, the book tries to be feminist and provide tips and support for women working professionally, it seems that it has never been updated and still includes super-old-skool-sexist, traditional gender role hilarity. (I.e. Wear pink if you are the "Petitioner in divorce court - you'll win the sympathy of everyone including your husband's laywer.") It cracks me UP!!!

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stumbled across the original "Color Be Beautiful" awhile back when trying to find makeup shades that worked for my complexion. Make-up artists and websites kept recommending me warm colors, even though I am a very fair, very cool blonde. I was spending lots of money and becoming very frustrated with shades that are very popular with others (UD Naked palette), just made me look sick! This book did not have any new information and did not go into enough about the colors and makeup as I had hoped.

[fyc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was hard to follow. I think it brought out some good ideas about color and style selection but I still have no idea just what color is clear blue. Do you? The color samples weren't large enough to really get a good idea what the color looked like and several looked so similar I think they were the same color! I gleaned what I could understand and will go with it. What I didn't understand I'll ignore or call a Color Me Beautiful Consultant!

[Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting as a historical document and also for how much of the workplace gender politics discussion is still relevant. There's far more life/career-coaching going on in this book than I expected, and it seems still generally relevant 21 years after publication.

[Madison LibraryBookFamily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Out dated with a lack of color. This book was not what I expected and I ended up feeling very disappointed.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can tell that this is a good book because it's stood the test of time. It's practical ways to look and feel your best, and even though it's a bit outdated outfit wise it's still a fantastic read!