If you’ve ever dilly-dallied with the idea of buying a makeup manual, a sort of “how-to” of face-painting, then Face by Pixiwoo should be the one that you go for. A million miles away from the cringe-worthy tomes that were available when I was in my late teens and desperate for some sort of cosmetics advice, this beautiful book covers everything from eyebrow maintenance to picking the right foundation to making your blemishes disappear.

I should mention that it’s written by two of my very good friends, Sam and Nic Chapman, women I admire tremendously for their obvious talent as makeup artists but also for their relentless hard work and ability to keep on building their successful Pixiwoo brand. If you’re already Pixiwoo fans then this book is a must – filled with anecdotes and Q&As and charming personal touches – if you’re not familiar with the girls then I urge you to check out their Youtube channel here.
But I don’t actually think that it matters a jot whether you’re au fait or not with the Pixiwoo back-catalogue of makeup tutorials; this book is so well put-together and so packed with beautiful imagery that it’s just a joy to read. I started to flick through it on Friday night as soon as it arrived, thinking I’d just have a quick dip into it before reading properly the next day, but I sat at the kitchen table and read it from cover to cover. The only thing I didn’t do was downl...