Customer Reviews

Allure: Confessions of a Beauty Editor

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If I could give this book NO stars, I would. I feel so gypped -- this has NO new information unless you are an absolute beginner. Even my 14 year old daughter couldn't believe how remedial this book is. There are NO secrets or inside information here about the beauty industry, or a collection of beauty editors' favorite products and little known miracle workers, which was what I thought I was getting. Instead I get stupid stuff like: exfoliation is good for the skin!, dilute heavy foundation with a little bit of moisturizer! Deep conditioning your hair once a week really helps! Don't pop your pimples! Tip your stylist 15%!
I'm serious, this is about as detailed as this book gets -- they don't mention ANY product names or lines, so please don't waste your money and get this book. I agree with an earlier poster who said this is a complete waste of time, and I have to wonder at reviewers who gave this a good review. I don't get it.

I don't know what I was expecting from Linda Wells' book. I think I must have been execting (hoping, more like) that it would be full of arcane makeup application techniques. After all, Linda Wells is the beauty editor of "Allure" the magazine that promoties itself as "the beauty expert." If anyone who should know magical makeup application techniques, she should. She has had the opportunity to see many fine makeup artists at work (Bobbi Brown and the late Kevyn Aucoin to name a couple.) Having raised my expections high, they weren't met.

What the book does deliver is solid, basic advice on makeup and hair and a lot of pretty pictures.

The recommendations for color choices are accurate and useful. Many women will be able to relate to Ms. Wells' affinity for a natural look. All things considered, this book is more helpful than most of it's kind. It would definately be of most use to newcomers to the world of makeup. There isn't much here that someone experienced with makeup wouldn't know.

The photographs in the book are beautiful. Previous reviewers point out that the models in the book are all young and mostly white. This is true. Most books on makeup and hair have some tips for women of color and older (meaning over the age of thirty) women. To me, this lack of diversity in this book's models is a real shortcoming.

I would recommend this book to a teen-ager, early twenty-something who doesn't know much about makeup, or to someone who just likes pretty picture.

In "Allure: Confessions of a Beauty Editor," Linda Wells, the editor of Allure, provided beauty tips for skincare, makeup, and hair. Not having read the reviews, I had intiailly thought it was a book about the life of an editor in a beauty magazine, sort of like the other "confessions of a..." books. I was quite disappointed with this book as Linda Wells offered nothing new here, especially for readers who read fashion and beauty magazines. There were a few useful tips here and there but as a whole, it wasn't anything you have not heard of. It definitely did not justify the retail price of $24.99. If you would like to purchase this book, I suggests that you get it from the library or at the very least browse through it from a bookstore to see if it would really be worth your money.

The one star is for the pretty cover because after you open the book it's downhill. This book contains nothing but beauty practices that even a teenager already knows. It really is a total waste of money. If you want a really informative book, read Total Beauty, which is filled with research on skin care, makeup application and product ratings.

If you don't like reading beauty magazines every month, this book might be for you. Minus the product promotions, it tells you how to cleanse and moisturize your face and apply make-up properly. If you do read beauty magazines regularly, there is nothing new here, and if you like learning about new products, you may want to keep your magazine subscriptions instead of buying the book. The title "Confessions" is misleading because it makes it sound as though we are going to learn some new and startling information that we would never have learned from a magazine, and that's simply not the case. That said, the information in the book is solid if you're tired of reading the product hype and flipping through page after page of advertisements to get to the next article in a magazine.

I am both an Allure subscriber, and a voracious acquirer/collector/consumer of all things health and beauty. Yes, some of the information in this book is basic, but it's actually quite nice to have it all compiled in one place. Having the full complement of information in a single book is a real boon for those of us who endlessly tear out magazine pages in an effort to organize the plethora of information out there.

The information in the book is presented objectively and in a reader-friendly format. I love the "top ten" lists and the casual language/illustrations. It's nice to know that beauty editors have both Oil of Olay and La Mer in their make-up bags.

This is not a book for beauty snobs, but is definitely a bible for the humble and curious beauty consumer.

I had high hopes for this book. I expected a gossipy, truly inside glimpse into Linda Wells' world. What I got instead were dozens of reprinted makeup lessons from Allures past. Lots of that advice included product placement. While I understand product placement pays the bills, I wonder if Linda Wells remembers the very first issue of Allure. I do. I printed it and read it cover to cover. To enforce the idea that beauty was the centerpiece of the magazine, the first issue was printed entirely without ads or much type. It was like a door opening, but sadly, "Confessions" didn't do anything but slide through that door like so much melted foundation. Shame on you Allure!

Enough with the scathing reviews about how obvious this book is. Yes, we all know to use base coat when painting our nails and to drink 8 glasses of water a day and find foundations that match our jawline. Still, as the editor of Allure magazine, Linda Wells does have some tidbits of information you possibly didn't know such as Vitamin C and AHA's can't be used together (their PH's cancel each other out.) I now know what ingredients should be sought out in a moisturizer and I know that collagen is a meaningless ingredient since it's too large of a molecule to pass through the skin.


If you subscribe to Allure, this will all look familiar but it is nice to have this information collected in one place. Linda even points out erroneous things Allure has published in the past. I also liked that this wasn't just an advertisement for certain product. No brands are mentioned by name (save in cases such as prescription remedies) and drugstore brands are mentioned as frequently being as good as department store ones (having said that, almost every drugstore cleanser makes me break out.) While younger readers will find much more to savor as groundbreaking information, almost everyone will pick up a new trick and Linda is an engaging guide. One small complaint: the pictures don't necessarily match the text and I'd like to know what makeup the models are wearing and how it was applied just as it's done on the pages of Allure itself.

Linda Wells, the founder and editor-in-chief of Allure magazine, has put together a book filled with the best beauty secrets, tips, and tricks that she's come across since the magazine's launch fifteen years ago. Although Allure isn't an actual teen magazine, the beauty, style, fashion, and makeup tips that it contains are perfect for anyone who wants to look their best.

ALLURE: CONFESSIONS OF A BEAUTY EDITOR is broken down into ten separate chapters, which makes it so easy to find the section you're looking for. Categories include Skin Care, Skin Problems, Face, Eyes, Lips, Nails, Haircut & Color, Hair Care & Style, Salons & Spas, and Body.

What I found truly helpful about this book was the fact that every tip, whether it be how to keep your nails looking their best or how to help problem skin, is spelled out step-by-step to help you get the results you're looking for. Sure, we'd all like to look as glamorous and beautiful as the women pictured in the book; the fact of the matter is, that with the information Ms. Wells provides, we actually can!

This is a great book for every female, regardless of age. The truth is that not everyone has the time, money, or expertise to magically look great on their own. But by using the guidelines given to us by Allure's editor-in-chief, anyone with a few minutes to spare and a copy of ALLURE: CONFESSIONS OF A BEAUTY EDITOR can look as if they just left from a
day at the spa.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

I'm not someone who reads Allure on a regular basis, in fact, I rarely read it. So this was a great book for me. I'm a 30 year old who doesn't spend a whole lot of time on myself so this was a great book to give me basic information about most every part of the body. My only complaint is that I wish it had more instructional information on applying makeup.

I really recommend this book!