Thursday, November 01, 2007

Beauty Confidential

I will admit I'm sort of high maintenance when it comes to makeup. However, I'm the kind of woman who is high maintenance (in that I refuse to leave the house without makeup) but I usually look very low maintenance (in that I have no idea what I'm doing with it and end up putting on the bare minimum so I still look like death warmed over but at least I feel like I have my battle paint on).

I'm thirty-coughfivecough and I still am a makeup novice. I've been to those department store makeup counters but almost always end up walking away with the wrong shade because the saleswoman is more intent on making a sale than finding what works with my skin tone and lifestyle. And places like Sephora, though I love them from afar, usually make me break out in hives. The selection! The prices! It's enough to make me run away in horror.

Beauty Confidential by Nadine Haobsh (or as quite a few people know her, Jolie in NYC) seemed like it would be right up my alley. All the beauty secrets of a beauty "expert" in one, easy to read book. I have to say, for the most part it did not disappoint.

The book is touted as "The no preaching, no lies, advice-you'll-actually-use guide to looking your best" and it does seem to be that. Haobsh was an assistant beauty editor for a major woman's magazine before she was essentially "Dooced" for writing her own blog and exposing the secrets of the beauty industry. She wanted to bring beauty secrets to the masses in her own, unedited way. I can respect a woman like that. In this book she is taking all the tricks and secrets she learned while working in the beauty industry and lays them out simply for the reader. In other words, in a way that even a moron like I can understand.

Instead of cutting beauty tips from magazines I'm too cheap to buy, and what might be driven by the free sample of the month, Beauty Confidential has it all within its paperback cover. Now I know I can flip to chapter four to create the perfect smoky eye - something I've never dared try before, but what the hell, I'll give it a shot. I also learned that I'm not using enough moisturizer. Not nearly enough.

A shot glass portion for just my face? Seriously? Damn.

There are lots of tricks and tips in this book. I'm pretty happy that I have it as my very own. In other words, step off ladies. Get your own copy.

Not that many of my girlfriends wear much makeup, but they should - so, yes, I would recommend Beauty Confidential to my friends... and to my sister. Even though the bitch can leave the house without a bit of makeup and still look great. Damn her. There is a tip in Beauty Confidential that says if I try it I, too, might be able to leave the house without foundation. Hmm...

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This is a review for the Parent Bloggers Network.

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