12 Basic Beauty Books Full Of The Basics That everyone Should Own

These books offer in depth tutorials on everything from skin care, nail art to elaborate braids. They're amazing go-to references for caring for your curly hair, figuring out what your skin type is and how to best apply eye shadow for your eye shape.

Lauren Conrad seems to be taking over the beauty world with her website, The Beauty Department. This book contains many of the basics laid out more in depth than her website. It seems that Lauren and her team thought of every possible topic, making this a great go-to beauty reference.

Lauren Conrad Beauty $13.80

Rae Morris has written quite a few makeup tutorial books, but this book encompasses all of the others. It covers everything you could possibly want to know about makeup, whether you're just getting started or want tips on recreating a look in the latest issue of Vogue.

Makeup: The Ultimate Guide $24.05

This amazing hairstyle book is written by Abby Smith, one of our own Babble Beauty Bloggers! Her blog, Twist Me Pretty, has long been one of my favorite places to look for beauty inspiration.

Abby's book is filled with hair styles, and while they're shown with very long hair, many of them also work on shorter hair like my long bob. She has easy to follow directions that everyone can follow!

The Ultimate Hairstyle Handbook: Everyday Hairstyles for the Everyday Girl $13.50

This book is full of basic skin care information that every woman should know, but your dermatologist or esthetician might not tell you. For example, you don't need to rush in to your dermatologist's office if you develop a large blemish. Instead, treat it at home with an over the counter 2% Salicylic Acid or 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide product.

Skin Rules: Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist $8.79

Even though I'm a girl with fairly straight hair, I'm recommending this book at least once a week to curly haired girls. The truth is that curly hair is not the same as straight hair. The two need completely different approaches to washing, conditioning, styling and cutting. This book is filled with information on how to do the "No-Poo" method of washing your hair, styling your hair to prevent frizz and even directions on how curly hair should be cut.

Curly Girl: The Handbook $10.71

Bobbi Brown has a lot of great books, but this is the one that pulls everything together. Full of basic tidbits such as skin care and applying eye shadow correctly. If you are just getting started with beauty, this is a great place to start!

Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual: For Everyone from Beginner to Pro $22.20

If you're continually pinning images of complicated nail designs and aren't sure how to get started, this is the book for you. Full of step by step pictures, you'll see how to create 25 different nail art designs. The tutorials range from basic to more complex, so there's something for everyone.

Nails, Nails, Nails!: 25 Creative DIY Nail Art Projects $11.10

If you have a daughter, this is the perfect book to help introduce beauty concepts. Should you allow your 8 year old to wear nail polish? When is it ok to start wearing makeup? The book goes over all of those issues, discusses how hygiene changes as puberty hits and offers tips to help the transition go smoothly.

Bonding over Beauty: A Mother-Daughter Beauty Guide to Foster Self-esteem, Confidence, and Trust $12.33

Leslie Baumann MD is one of the best cosmetic dermatologists in the country (she edited my favorite textbook on the subject), and her Skin Type classification system is increasingly used around the country. In this book Dr. Baumann offers information about determining your skin type, and what to do with that information to get the skin you really want. Her instructions are pretty straight forward and she offers tips on what to do if you don't quite fit into a category.

The Skin Type Solution $11.67

As much as we all hate to admit it, we're aging. Every single one of us is aging. And the beauty routine we used at 22 is probably not going to cut it at 56. This book offers tips to deal with issues from crow's feet to hair in unexpected places. You'll want to keep this book around as a reference!

Makeup for Ageless Beauty: More than 40 Colorful, Creative Looks for Women 40 and Over $8.72

Written by my friend Christina of Hair Romance, this is the ultimate guide to complicated looking hair styles! Each hairstyle has easy to follow directions and diagrams showing how to complete the style yourself.

Braids, Buns, and Twists!: Step-by-Step Tutorials for 82 Fabulous Hairstyles $15.39

What list of beauty books would be complete without the classic by Kevyn Aucoin? Kevyn was a master at transforming faces with just a few dabs of makeup. He spills his tips for the most basic to more elaborate looks in this book.

Making Faces $16.81