Beauty can often be naff. There’s no denying it, in the world of endless smokey eyes and red lips, the fluffiness and repetition can sometimes become a little prosaic. A little boring. That is until you meet Nicole Thompson – aka Pinky.

If you haven’t yet met Pinky, you may have seen her. She’s hard to miss, you see. Not just pink by name, but also pink by nature, she has pink hair, pink lips and loves pink eyeshadow. “These shoes are from ages ago but I added to the bows because they just weren’t big enough,” she says with that irresistible pink charm. “I was making a neoprene top and had left over material and thought oh my god I’m going to make bows for my shoes!” That’s Pinky. A creative genius, a true artist and one of the most interesting characters in beauty, Pinky is one of a kind. Perhaps the only person cooler than her is Frenchie, her 2-year-old daughter, a regular on the fashion circuit and my all-round style muse (think baby bandanas, faux leather and leopard).

Having had the pleasure of being both on set with Pinky and backstage at countless Fashion Weeks, there is always one overarching rule she abides by: there are no rules. It’s a bit of this, a bit of that and a whole lot of wow – but how? A makeup artist who makes it up as she goes along, there is always makes magic at the other end. And it is this magic which she tapped for her new book: Making It Up: Makeup Minus The Rules.

An acclaimed makeup artist and global brand ambassador for M.A.C Cosmetics (she’s M.A.C Australia’s leading lady), Pinky wanted to inspire beauty junkies – regardless of age, gender or race – to break the makeup rules, embrace diversity and live life colourfully. It’s the Pinky way. Making It Up creatively dissects all the makeup mumbo jumbo, illustrating everything from foundation and contouring to creating the perfect eyebrows and pout, it even includes some familiar faces like Australian fashion royalty Jenny Kee.

Lensed by Steven Popovich, Making It Up encourages readers to experiment and search for inspiration beyond the pages of beauty magazines, to enhance your own personal beauty and be the most beautiful you, you can be. After all, this is makeup minus the rules.

With more than 15 years’ experience in the makeup industry, there is not a face type, shape or skin tone that Pinky has not taken a makeup brush to. She has carved a career that has taken her across the world, working with some of the biggest designers, photographers, models and stylists. The ultimate believer of trying everything once, she has tried all, which means she’s made the mistakes so you don’t have to!

A must-have makeup tome for beauty buffs and creatives alike, Making It Up is the book the beauty industry needs right now – it’s beautiful beauty minus the bullshit.

And for the record, her favourite lipstick is M.A.C Saint Germain Lipstick – a pop shade of pastel pink, of course.

Making It Up, New Holland Publishers retails for $49.99 and is available from all good book retailers or online www.newhollandpublishers.com