Heat gun vs hair dryer for drying painted book edges, guess which one won

Last month I tried painting the page edges of this old fantasy novel from 1998, wanted that crisp red look like the fancy editions. My roommate handed me her $30 hair dryer and said it would work fine, so I went with it. Big mistake, the airflow was too gentle and the paint stayed tacky for 2 days, plus it left weird orange peel bumps along the edges. Yesterday I borrowed a cheap heat gun from my buddy Gus, the kind with two speed settings that costs about $25 at Harbor Freight. That thing dried each layer in under 5 minutes and the surface came out smooth as glass, even the corners. Now I'm wondering, is there any reason to not use a heat gun on book covers with plastic lamination, or is that just overkill? Has anyone else burned a cover that way?