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Category: Beauty & Fashion

Review: Express Makeup by Rae Morris

[ 3 ] January 31, 2012
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Reviewed by Wendy Fitos

Rae Morris’ third book, Express Makeup, continues to showcase her talent and creativity in the beauty world. Morris hails from Australia where she became an “accidental” makeup artist when she had to assist on a photo shoot with supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Express Makeup is filled with simple and easy tips that can help any woman look beautiful. The first section of the book covers specific makeup products and how to use them properly, while the second section includes numerous finished looks that can be easily recreated.

Here are just a few tips that I found very helpful:

  • Highlighting

Never use white or silver greys to highlight your skin. Only use these colors for highlighting the inner corners of your eyes.

  • Achieving a Glow to the Skin

For youthful, wrinkle-free skin, you can use luminizer all over the face by adding a few drops of luminizer to your moisturizer.

  • Eyeliner (LOVE this one)

To get a dramatic liner look that looks clean and neat, apply lots of kohl pencil to the inner rim of each eye. Tape your eyelids and color in with a black eye gel. Take it along your entire top eyelash line, then pull off the tape.

Express Makeup is especially well done because it is well illustrated and not wordy. Many how-to books often involve pages of instruction and very few pictures. As a result, it can be difficult to grasp the concept of application. The colorful pictures in this particular book make applications easy, even for beginners. Morris also uses different ethnicities in her demonstrations so any woman can benefit from this book.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Wendy Fitos is a makeup artist and esthetician with 22 years of experience. Her goal is to educate women on how to create looks that will meet both professional and personal styles. Wendy lives in Cleveland, Ohio and enjoys reading and exercising.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Crown. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: What to Wear for the Rest of Your Life by Kim Jonhson Gross

[ 11 ] August 5, 2011
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Carly Lane

For a lot of people, the idea of being “fashionable” is rather intangible. It’s this nice thing that you might try every now and then, but truly fashionable people seem to live in far off places, drinking martinis and lounging around on the decks of their yachts. I, for one, read the occasional Vogue magazine and get from cover to cover without seeing a single thing that I could incorporate into my everyday suburban life. It’s all just a lot of pretty pictures.

So, you can imagine how delighted I was to find out that What to Wear for the Rest of Your Life: Ageless Secrets of Style by Kim Johnson Gross is actually a fashion guide for the rest of us. The book gives loads of practical tips, such as how to dress for your height and when to wear those scarves you bought on vacation last year. The instructions are simple, the examples are understandable, and I really felt like the author had gone into my closet and given it new life.

My favorite part of the book was the chapter on shopping sensibly. It broke down the process of shopping on a budget and explained that you didn’t have to compromise your style, regardless of your weight or what you have to spend. The simple tips were interspersed with quotes from real women about the post-shopping messes they had found themselves in and the clever tricks that worked for them. Best of all, the author passed on some great sources for finding stylish clothes online at a fraction of the price they would be in high-end department stores.

I own a few other books about fashion, including the books from the editors of Lucky and InStyle magazine. I have to say,What to Wear for the Rest of Your Life blew them out of the water. It was a fun, quick read and I’ve definitely thought twice about what outfits I’m putting together before heading out since I finished the book, even if I’m just going to the grocery store. In short, this book made fashion fun again! I’d highly recommend it.

Rating: 5/5

Carly lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and their two cats. Her favorite thing to do is to curl up by a window with a library book. When she isn’t reading, she’s usually writing on her blog at www.beingcarly.com.

The review copy of this book was provided free of any obligation by Springboard Press. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: 101 Glam Girl Ways to an Ultra Chic Lifestyle by Dawn Del Russo

[ 4 ] May 28, 2011
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Reviewed by Poppy Johnson

101 Glam Girl Ways to an Ultra Chic Lifestyle is as indispensible as every woman’s little black dress. This book packs a punch in a palm-ful (at just over one hundred pages), and can be easily read in a few minutes. Each tip is carefully highlighted with colorful illustrations and fun sayings, which offer reminders on how to become glamorous.

I imagine that the author and illustrator had the idea to remind all women that easy glamour is well within their reach. This is true on every level, although our stressful lives certainly don’t help our cause! It is difficult to remain beautiful while also keeping up with our harried schedules. Although the tips offered in the book are deceptively simple, I did feel that they were all useful reminders on ways to enrich and refresh my spirit. To that end, the smallest positive effort can significantly increase and improve the value and quality of my otherwise impossibly busy life. And everyone can use a reminder that she is worth it, right?

101 Glam Girl Ways is a cute little book, and would make a great gift for a glam girl of any age!

Rating: 5/5

After a decade of working in several NYC law departments and teaching, Poppy decided she enjoyed writing full-time. She currently works as a freelance writing consultant, and lives with her husband and sons on the East Coast.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Dawn Del Russo. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Curly Girl: The Handbook by Lorraine Massey

[ 5 ] March 25, 2011
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Reviewed by Alyssa Katanic

As a child, my big curls were brushed and bushy. When I got to junior high, my big curls became tight curls and I had to learn how to take care of them on my own. There was a lot of experimenting going on! My father was especially helpful: “You keep messing with it and it will all fall out!” Eventually, I became a cosmetologist myself, and vowed that my curly kids would have a momma who knew how to take care of their hair! A curly husband and five curly kids later, we are doing pretty well. Yet, Curly Girl by Lorraine Massey was still able to give me even more great tips and suggestions for the care and keeping of our curls.

Overall, Massey does a great job explaining why curls are the way they are, and how to take care of and love them. She even gives pointers on trimming – not reshaping – your own hair, making up a few home recipes in order to pamper your curls without blowing your budget, and dealing with “chemo curls” (curls that can show themselves when hair starts growing back after chemo). The “Curl Confessions” of Curly Girls (and guys) who struggled quite a bit before accepting their curls and going for it are great encouragers throughout the book as well.

Curly Girl is organized in such a way that you can skip to the sections that best describe your own (or your loved one’s) curl type and how to care for it. This 2nd edition also includes a DVD, which gives you an even better visual of “how to” than the book’s still pictures ~ it may even be my favorite part of the book.

I could have done without the “Curly Q’s” quiz to determine if I am a “curly girl waiting to happen” (if I wasn’t a curly I probably wouldn’t be reading the book), and without the “astrologi-curls” horoscope and many other plays on words that made the book feel a bit like a teen’s magazine. However, for those who have not yet learned to live with their curls, and for straight-haired parents of curly kids, Curly Girl is a must read! I wish it had been around for my parents!

Rating: 4/5

Alyssa is a wife and stay at home, homeschooling mother of five, with two boxers, two cats, a soft shelled turtle named after Bob the Builder, and 7 frogs (admittedly a homeschooling project gone froggy). In all her spare time, she loves to read and believes that there is no such thing as having too many books!

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Workman Publishing. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Beauty Rules by Bobbi Brown

[ 6 ] January 12, 2011
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Reviewed by Wendy Fitos

Makeup Artist Bobbi Brown’s 6th book, Beauty Rules: Fabulous Looks, Beauty Essentials, and Life Lessons, begins with Brown sharing her experiences from her teens and twenties; these experiences motivated her to write the book. She remembers her awkwardness through the years and how that awkwardness helped her grow and inspired her to become a makeup artist.

Beauty Rules touches on all areas of beauty including skincare, makeup, diet and nutrition, hygiene and exercise. Although Brown’s areas of expertise are makeup and skincare, she enriches the book by bringing experts to discuss the other aspects of the book to enhance the knowledge she is sharing.

The book reaches a diverse audience as she covers looks for women of all ethnicities, which is a specialty she achieved through her makeup line several years ago. She also includes different shapes and sizes and takes on skin care conditions such as acne and how it can be covered to maintain a polished and professional image. Brown goes a step further by addressing issues young males encounter and shows them how care for themselves.

Although many of the makeup tips have been covered in her other books, Beauty Rules is a valuable tool for the age group it is targeting. As always, getting to see Brown in photos with all her famous and not so famous clients is always a treat. Through her humble yet confident writing style, she continues to show why she appears in several media sources as the go to artist for education on the best and latest trends.

Wendy Fitos is a makeup artist and esthetician with 22 years of experience. Her goal is to educate women on how to create looks that will meet both professional and personal styles. Wendy lives in Cleveland, Ohio and enjoys reading and exercising.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Chronicle Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Beautiful Skin Revealed by Dr. Paul Friedman, Dr. Joy Kunishige and Dr. Kristel Polder

[ 4 ] December 20, 2010
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Vera (Luxury Reading)

When I received Beautiful Skin Revealed, I was expecting a typical guide to good skin care: stick to a regular regimen, stay out of the sun, use SPF, etc. However, this book, penned by three doctors, offers a refreshingly different format that pairs difficult skin care conditions with specific cosmetic procedures.

Beautiful Skin Revealed is divided into 12 chapters that cover a single skin problem or a group of related problems. Topics covered include acne scars, birthmarks, rosacea, spider veins, stretch marks, wrinkles, and so on. Each chapter features a real-life case of one of Dr. Friedman’s patients who was treated with laser or light-based technology. The skin conditions and the treatments used are well explained and give the readers an idea of pricing, down time, and the level of discomfort possible. The before and after pictures of each patient also provide an idea of the type of results one can expect.

I enjoyed most sections of the book, but I found that Beautiful Skin Revealed really excelled in covering the more sensitive topics like skin cancer and traumatic scars. The chapter on skin cancer can help readers identify a cancerous mole, and offers hope for those that wind up with scars post mole removal. The chapter on scars and stretch marks features a young patient who was attacked by her dog at a young age and bitten along the chin. Her scars were significantly diminished through the use of lasers and are barely visible today.

If you have generally good skin and are simply looking for advice on a good skin care regimen, Beautiful Skin Revealedis not for you. Instead, this book offers guidance to those who suffer from more serious skin conditions and have been unable to find help. Beautiful Skin Revealed allows the reader to become more informed about their condition, and to be educated in looking for the most effective treatment.

This book was provided free of any obligation by KMR Communications. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review & Giveaway: Babushka’s Beauty Secrets by Raisa Ruder and Susan Campos

[ 200 ] August 31, 2010
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Abby A.

Babushka’s Beauty Secrets: Old World Tips for a Glamorous New You by Raisa Ruder and Susan Campos was a great read, in every single way, and I haven’t even gone into the details yet.

Raisa Ruder provides us with all the secrets her Ukranian grandmother shared with her at a young age. These secrets brought me down a road of nostalgia very quickly and back to a time when I would watch my grandmother improvise curls by tying up my cousins’ hair with paper towels. That was the only way she had learned and figured it worked ten times better than the curling irons and manufactured rollers of today. If you’re looking for a natural way to stay beautiful, this book is perfect for you.

Saving money is a given as it provides recipes for everything from cures for under eye circles to self tanners. Save a bunch by just throwing together things you would toss away (who knew coffee grounds could provide a sun-kissed glow?) or even have stored in your cupboard for ages (honey makes a frequent appearance in the book).

After reading through the book I was eager to try out a recipe and got my hands on the “10-Minute Manicure” and to be honest, my hands are as smooth as ever. I’m excited to start using the more detailed recipes, such as the “Close Up Souffle”, used to minimize pores in one week. Babushka’s Beauty Secrets should be a definite staple in every girl’s, young and old, household. We are all pinching pennies in today’s economy; this book is a lifesaver and keeps your wallet from shrinking while enhancing your beauty on a pocket change budget!

Abby lives in coastal New Jersey and spends her free time writing anything from short articles to multi-chapter novels. She loves to read and her favorite book genres are Young Adult, Chick-Lit, and How-To/Guides.

Giveaway:
I have 3 copies of Babushka’s Beauty Secrets to give away!

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This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada residents only. Deadline to enter is midnight on September 20th.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Wellness Central. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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