Finally, the first beauty book for Asians

Comedienne Rita Rudner once said, "All men are afraid of eyelash curlers. I sleep with one under my pillow, instead of a gun."

Most women should sleep with one under their pillows, too. Not to scare burglars or husbands away, but to keep themselves looking their prettiest. An eyelash curler (Pinoys call it a "curlash"–don’t ask me why) is one of the most valuable tools an Asian woman can have in her beauty arsenal, according to veteran makeup artist Margaret Kimura.

A Japanese-American who’s worked in the Hollywood and fashion industries for the past 20 years, Kimura is in a special position to understand the beauty problems of Asian women. Like many of us, Kimura couldn’t find the right shade of foundation growing up. She wrestled with an atypical body type: Her build was more athletic than waif-like. She had to make do with beauty tips that were geared towards Caucasian women. And she had no role models to identify with in California, where the cult of the body reigns supreme. Today, Asian-Americans like Lucy Liu and Lisa Ling are finally gracing magazine covers, but in the Eighties when Kimura was in high school, you were treated as invisible if you didn’t have blonde hair and blue eyes.

To solve our specific beauty problems, Kimura has written Asian Beauty, the first makeup manual for Asian women now available at National Book Store and Powerbooks. As soon as I spotted this book, I knew I had to have it. Finally, I thought, someone’s heeded the plight of all golden-skinned, almond-eyed women everywhere. Even better, it’s written by someone on the inside–an Asian female who’s worked her magic on the likes of Audrey Hepburn (her idol), Winona Ryder, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks and Andie MacDowell. In fact, Kimura is good friends with MacDowell. When Kimura’s professional makeup kit was stolen at the age of 16, the Sex, Lies and Videotape actress presented her with a brand-new one to replace it, a gesture that Kimura is grateful for to this day.

In my excitement over discovering Asian Beauty, I immediately cracked it open and found I wasn’t alone in my feelings. In the foreword, The View talk-show host Lisa Ling enthuses, "This is a book that I wish I had had when I was a little girl, and one I will be proud to present to my own daughter one day. The climate in the media has changed since I was a child, but it still hasn’t exactly been easy to find information about Asian beauty, until now."

Amen. In the book, Kimura addresses almost every beauty problem a typical Filipina will have faced. Many Pinays feel that their eyes are too small or close-set – some of pure ancestry don’t have the prominent eye fold that Caucasians have – and would like them to look bigger and farther apart. Some of us also feel our noses are too flat, and would love for them to appear higher. Kimura shares her secrets on how to achieve these illusions through simple makeup tricks. In the book, she calls her technique Shadows and Light (in professional makeup lingo this is known as highlighting and contouring), and explains what to do through select photographs and breezy, readable prose.

You’ll learn how to customize a look for yourself, from what tools to use to how to pick the perfect foundation. A self-proclaimed "queen of blending," Kimura describes her approach to makeup as "very clean and blended." Through step-by-step photos and chapters that discuss each product, from base to shadow to blush to lipcolor, she shows you how to achieve the most professional results. Also included are much-needed chapters on beauty role models and makeovers on Asian women of pure and mixed heritage (I counted at least four Filipinas among the global beauties picked). At the end of the book is what I call the "Oprah section": Winfrey is Kimura’s muse and the makeup maven recommends the self-esteem-boosting Oprah’s famous for, like changing diet, lifestyle and making the necessary attitude adjustments.

Throughout my career I’ve worked with some of the most beautiful people in Hollywood – Winona Ryder, Geena Davis, Joan Chen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Costner, Michael Jordan and Mel Gibson," Kimura says. "You’ve got to have a pretty healthy self-image to be surrounded by all that physical perfection and not feel intimidated. What helps is that for me, physical beauty is only half of it. Real beauty comes from within, and it has a lot to do with confidence. Even if you’ve got $300 highlights in your hair, the latest Prada handbag on your arm, and Jimmy Choo stilettos on your feet, you’re not going to impress anyone if you don’t like who you are."

Pronouncements like these are encouraging, if not exactly groundbreaking, but there’s more. Kimura, who moved to Milan at age 15 to do runway makeup, isn’t afraid to experiment with color. She has no qualms about coating lips with orange or using red, blue or gold shadow on the eyes – sometimes all three colors at the same time. While this shows a more adventurous spirit than most other makeup, it can be hard to carry off in real life (plus, who has the time to blend together three eye shadows in the morning?).

But my only real complaint about the book is that it’s a bit skimpy on the details, when you go down to the mattresses. In teaching only one Shadows and Light technique for the eyes, Kimura commits the same error others have made –that one size fits all and one trick is good for everybody. The only other major technique in the book is Shimmer and Sparkle, in which Kimura advises readers to mix pure pigment or glitter with a lip gloss, for example, to come up with a whole new product. Without more detail or visuals, I feel that this is a trick best left to skilled artists. The majority of us who haven’t had Kimura’s experience should probably stick to buying shimmery eye shadows and lipsticks.

The bottom line? While Asian Beauty is not the last word on the subject – not quite the alpha and omega of beauty books for Asian women – it’s a wonderful start. And oh, yes, those eyelash curlers. Kimura recommends the new battery-operated ones that heat up, to tame the coarse, stick-straight, wayward hairs we Asians call lashes. I’ve already put in my order for one over the Net: Now, not only will I have a weapon to scare off intruders, I’ll have something to heat up my pillow during chilly nights, too.