Thursday

Hair Makeup & Fashion Styling Career Guide ***Updated WARNING***

**Original Post Date: 4/29/09** Please scroll to the bottom of the post to read today's update.

Now in its 5th edition Crystal Wright’s Hair Makeup & Fashion Styling Career is undoubtedly the definitive industry reference source for every makeup artist and hair and fashion stylist. The Guide provides the inside scoop and what’s required to be a viable force in the industry. Industry newcomers as well as industry vets have made this guide the go-to book for all.

The Guide covers all the bases and in depth industry information on everything from building a kit to choosing a model and photographer for testing and compiling a portfolio of your work to landing your first gig.


Instructors across the globe recommend it as a MUST read. Many colleges including The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, F.I.D.M in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the International Academy of Design in Orlando, Florida, AIU and Bauder Colleges in Atlanta have adopted the Guide as the official textbook for their Fashion Styling curriculum,

In addition to the Guide there are also workshops, podcasts and DVD’s.

Preview the book:

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Getting Started
Chapter 2
Tools of the Trade
Chapter 3 Marketing Yourself
Chapter 4 Photographers
Chapter 5 Agencies
Chapter 7 Freelancing

*UPDATED WARNING* 7/23/09

After having heard so many great things over the past few years regarding this book, I went ahead and ordered it and over one month and two phone calls later I have yet to receive my book, and apparently mine is not an isolated incidence as I was informed yesterday by someone that they also ordered the book roughly a month ago and have yet to receive their copy.

Each time I phoned I was told that the book was going out "that day" the time I was told that I'd get a gift certificate to Crystal's class for my trouble and that someone would return my phone call to update me on the status of my order. Instead, I received notice via email from USPS that my package would ship soon. Well that was on the 16th. When I phoned the post office today to get clarification on the status of my package, I was told that a package was initiated on the shipper's end however no request had been been made for USPS to pick up that package nor had it been dropped off. Long story short, 39 days later I still don't have my book.

I'm definitely not interested in attending any classes and at this point no longer sure if I'm even interested in reading the book. I think a refund and the book is in order.

Expectation is everything, if I was told initially upon placing my order that it would take me over a month to receive my book, I wouldn't be updating this post, but to be told after having waited a month each time that I phoned that my book was on the way and for it not to have arrived and not phone call or email... is unacceptable.

If you're still interested in this book, I recommend to try finding a makeup artist supply store I was told that some on the east and west coast carry it.

Maybe Crystal should considering... offering the book as an E-book if distribution is a problem, just a thought.

There's also another alternative for makeup artists and hairstylists, Shortcuts by Diana Schmidtke. I absolutely loved this book, and I'm certain I'll defer to it for information through the remainder of my career. I ordered Diana's book on-line and it arrived in less than a week. It reads very well and Diana provides a lot of technical information as well as her experiences as an artist in the industry. You can read the full post on this book here.

Ciao for now... Class is dismissed

Website
Crystal’s Twitter

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for this post!! I'm an aspiring makeup artist and hair stylist, so this info will be very beneficial to me. God Bless!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting the information about Diana Schmidtke. Although I have Crystal Wright's book, and didn't have any trouble getting it, have more knowledge on the subject couldn't hurt.

Crystal Wright said...

Well you guys are right, in 2009 we were a hot mess. The economy was terrible for Crystal Wright Live. We had major issues getting our books printed, and our record keeping sucked.

However, it's 2010 and we have [at this very moment] 4876 books in stock. We have a fulfillment house to handle all of the shippng and handling. We have a new web store, and I got myself a business partner that is smarter than me so I can go off and be creative and deliver the kind of education that I think is important for ALL makeup, hair and fashion stylists to be successful.

I apologize for all of the delays, and screwups.

If there's anyone out there who didn't get their product from me, please email me at crystal@crystalwrightlive.com and I promise you that anything you order from us will go out within 48 hours.

Sincerely,

Crystal A. Wright
Author | Hair Makeup & Fashion Styling Career Guide