Vanessa Williams (left), Naomi Campbell and Iman are naturally beautiful, but if you see them gracing the cover of a magazine or walking the runway, they might have gotten some makeup help from Sam Fine.

Sam, an artist with more than a decade of experience making up famous faces, brings his star techniques to you with Basics of Beauty, an instructional DVD available now ($24.99, SamFine.com).

"I really wanted to do a DVD so people could have a chance to watch it and realize that it's not as hard as it seems," Sam said during his video, which features three real-woman makeovers, behind-the-scenes footage of Iman and an interview with Sam.

We had the chance to watch Basics of Beauty and we loved it. Sam's "basic" title might be a bit inaccurate, as some of the makeup application techniques shown are anything but, no matter how easy he makes them look!

But the video is certainly something women of color should add to their collection, even if only to see this genius in action, or to hear him wax on about all of the really important beauty questions: drugstore vs. department store brands (Sam said either one, but drug stores are great for experimentation since the prices are so dirt-cheap), and tweezing vs. waxing (Sam shaped his models' brows with scissors and tweezers).

For more about Sam, visit his Web site.

--Whitney Teal

                          
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