Video from Ayami Nishimura’s Latest Beauty Book for Rankin

by Alison Larsen 0

Makeup doesn't always have to look natural or stay between the lines — just ask Japanese avant-garde makeup artist, Ayami Nishimura. She's teamed up with British photographer Rankin (publisher of Hunger) to create a powerful beauty book — Ayami Nishimura by Rankin — and put simply, it's face art.

"Beauty is a moment," she says in an interview for Hunger TV. "Lots of little accidents and coincidences happened when I was making my book, and they helped me make something very special. For example, I was painting a black model pitch black, and then poured this black paint on to her face. I wanted it to look like oil, but at first it didn’t work. Then the paint went a little into her eyes. Her tears mixed together with the paint and that was the shot. It was magic. Beauty is when something happens beyond your plans or expectations, and creates those magic moments."