mehastings
Active Member
I'm not one of those girls who has a makeup bag the size of a soccer ball, and I don't own (nor have I ever owned) foundation or concealer. Yet, I still managed to get a lot out of
Don't Go To the Cosmetics Counter Without Me. It was suggested to me by a friend who was horrified by my admission that I wash my face with only water (I thought cleansers made it more dry) and that I don't use a moisturizer (um...lazy). So, off to the library I went for this book and its companion The Beauty Bible. I have not yet gotten Don't Go Shopping for Hair Care Products Without Me, but I have requested that from the library as well.
Don't Go To the Cosmetics Counter Without Me is essentially a listing of tousands of beauty products that are rated on an easy to understand scale ranging from frowny faces (bad for your skin) to smiley faces (great overall product). She also includes little money symbols to show when a product is more pricey than it is worth and little check marks to show which products she especially thinks are worth trying. The book itself is also very easy to use. There is an introductory section with basic beauty rules and information on how the book is compiled, followed by the reviews which are separated by company and product type. The reviews even contain sections just for babies and men (although I did find the baby section to be lacking). In the end there is a section of "Best Products" separated by product type, an ingredient glossary and finally a section on animal testing.
With just under eleven hundred pages of reviews and an average of a dozen reviews per page this book is comprehensive. There weren't many things I couldn't find in there. There was no way I could read the entire thing, and no reason I would want to. So, instead I looked up the products I own and then scanned through the "Best Products" section to find out what I should replace scary items like my Blistex lip balm with. One of my two complaints was that I felt Begoun left out some obvious and common products, like Chap Stick and Vasoline. I'm sure there are other similar examples. I know she sortof addresses them elsewhere in The Beauty Bible (the companion book, which does not contain product reviews), but it was difficult to find the information.
The book is excellent on its own and unless you have a specific skin concern (like rosecea, acne, etc), an interest in active ingredients, or general beauty questions (like how to apply makeup, how to remove hair, etc) you really don't need The Beauty Bible to go with it.
My second of two complaints is that it isn't exactly cheap. The trade paperback costs $27.95, which probably isn't a lot when you consider the size, but is a lot if you plan to use it once to choose one of each product type and then never touch it again. Definately one to get from the library. Also, Begoun's web site www.cosmeticscop.com can give you a taste of what her books are like.
Don't Go To the Cosmetics Counter Without Me. It was suggested to me by a friend who was horrified by my admission that I wash my face with only water (I thought cleansers made it more dry) and that I don't use a moisturizer (um...lazy). So, off to the library I went for this book and its companion The Beauty Bible. I have not yet gotten Don't Go Shopping for Hair Care Products Without Me, but I have requested that from the library as well.
Don't Go To the Cosmetics Counter Without Me is essentially a listing of tousands of beauty products that are rated on an easy to understand scale ranging from frowny faces (bad for your skin) to smiley faces (great overall product). She also includes little money symbols to show when a product is more pricey than it is worth and little check marks to show which products she especially thinks are worth trying. The book itself is also very easy to use. There is an introductory section with basic beauty rules and information on how the book is compiled, followed by the reviews which are separated by company and product type. The reviews even contain sections just for babies and men (although I did find the baby section to be lacking). In the end there is a section of "Best Products" separated by product type, an ingredient glossary and finally a section on animal testing.
With just under eleven hundred pages of reviews and an average of a dozen reviews per page this book is comprehensive. There weren't many things I couldn't find in there. There was no way I could read the entire thing, and no reason I would want to. So, instead I looked up the products I own and then scanned through the "Best Products" section to find out what I should replace scary items like my Blistex lip balm with. One of my two complaints was that I felt Begoun left out some obvious and common products, like Chap Stick and Vasoline. I'm sure there are other similar examples. I know she sortof addresses them elsewhere in The Beauty Bible (the companion book, which does not contain product reviews), but it was difficult to find the information.
The book is excellent on its own and unless you have a specific skin concern (like rosecea, acne, etc), an interest in active ingredients, or general beauty questions (like how to apply makeup, how to remove hair, etc) you really don't need The Beauty Bible to go with it.
My second of two complaints is that it isn't exactly cheap. The trade paperback costs $27.95, which probably isn't a lot when you consider the size, but is a lot if you plan to use it once to choose one of each product type and then never touch it again. Definately one to get from the library. Also, Begoun's web site www.cosmeticscop.com can give you a taste of what her books are like.