Bobbi Brown Beauty: The Ultimate Beauty Resource [Hardcover]

Bobbi Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 16, 1997

In this manual, Bobbi Brown strikes conventional thinking about beauty. To her way of thinking , there is no one "perfect" beauty standard but countless expressions of personalized beauty. Bobbi helps readers recognize their own remarkable beauty traits and develop their own natural beauty styles. She also analyzes the styles of some of the most celebrated beauties of the past--Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Onassis, Grace Kelly--and of our time--Christy Turlington, Demi Moore, and Kate Moss.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bobbi Brown is an internationally renowned makeup artist and CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. Her products are sold in more than 400 stores and twenty countries worldwide. In addition to creating cover looks for magazines and making up models for fashion shows, Bobbi is the exclusive beauty editor of NBC’s Today Show and a frequent guest on the E! and Style channels. She is the coauthor of Bobbi Brown Beauty and Bobbi Brown Teenage Beauty. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and three sons.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Imperfect" Beauty: Taking a "Flaw" and Making It Your Most Striking Feature

I love a cleft in a woman's chin. I love really pale skin. I love deep-set eyes, extremely full lips, and strong, hooked noses. For me, it's not "Oh, how do I fix it?" Rather, it's claiming the features that make you who you are and making the most of them. Some call these qualities "flaws," but I find that they are the key to finding one's own beauty identity.

My definition of perfect beauty is that it be unique and completely individual. Unfortunately, my way of thinking is not yet universally accepted. No one ever told me as a child that my deep-set eyes were beautiful--but I now know that they are a striking element of my look. No one ever says that freckles are nice--but I think they are beautiful and should never be hidden.

It happens all the time: The very feature women complain to me about is precisely what I find most beautiful. And it's no wonder women don't like these features, since most of us have never heard them complimented. In a perfect world, mothers would remind their daughters each morning how beautiful their strong noses are, how lovely their deep-set brown eyes or pale skin, and how special their curly red hair or full lips. In a perfect world, we would grow up to accept ourselves for our special traits and to be genuinely content with our natural looks. We would possess an endless amount of self-confidence.

But too often this is not the case. Mothers, themselves feeling insecure about a particular feature, pass that feature on to their daughters along with a sense of shame or insufficiency about it. Boyfriends or husbands pick up on a woman's feelings of inadequacy, sometimes making her feel even worse. It is an unhappy cycle.

I refuse to accept that the only perfect beauty is that of a Barbie doll or a supermodel. Instead, I find beauty in the flaws, those characteristics that don't fit society's narrow definition of beauty. Sadly, women who have these characteristics have been taught not to like them. The challenge is to reverse this way of thinking.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (January 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062701673
• ISBN-13: 978-0062701671
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #601,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most useful make-up book I'd ever read., August 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bobbi Brown Beauty (Paperback)

I also have other beauty books, like "Making Faces", "Beauty Bible","The Art of Makeup". But I find, this one is the most useful!! Maybe the other book have very beautiful or even dramatic pics, but are those looks suitable for everyday-beauty? I don't think so. Whatever your are new or expert of makeup, this book is worthy to buy and read again, and again! All the basic techniques and ideas will help you to create your OWN beauty style for an elegant, won't-updated look.

101 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, January 7, 2002

By 

Kathleen A. Peck "New Review" (MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bobbi Brown Beauty (Paperback)

If you're looking for some average everyday faces to feel like you fit in......don't look here.....
I had high hopes I'd learn alot from Bobbi.....unfortunately she really did not succeed at passing on her proficient make up application skills. I hadn't seen the book at all before ordering so I had no idea what to expect. I had hoped she was going to take the typical modern woman like myself (average 35 yr old)and step us through some make up application. Instead ...the book is filled with pictures of Magazine cover models ..mostly under 25 who've never known fine lines and the struggles of applying foundation on wrinkled skin. Not to mention that Bobbi has lots of photos of women bearing the kinds of make up application techniques.....she says she doesn't advocate..such as eyeliner on the inner rims..
Overall....I didn't come away feeling like I got my money's worth....I did however learn some perspective on Bobbi personally..and although I found that interesting...it won't help me look any better tomorrow... sorry Bobbi!

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rather disappointing, August 3, 2006

By 

Leanne (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bobbi Brown Beauty (Paperback)

I bought this book based on the recommendation of my sister-in-law, who has worked at several department-store makeup counters. She said that Brown's book had a lot of really great information, especially for a novice makeup wearer like me. However, I found the book to be lacking in specific techniques for applying makeup.

Some sections were fairly thorough, but most (especially the section on doing eye makeup) remained at a really general level. The only main piece of advice I got from the book is to wear yellow-based foundation, concealer, and powder. A lot of the other information Brown gives is just too general; using some diagrams and showing color variations would have made it much more practical.

Last year, I purchased Sonia Kashuk's _Real Beauty_, and I definitely recommend that book over this one. Kashuk's book shows detailed photos of her makeup techniques so you can really see how a professional makeup artist applies makeup.

I wanted to like Brown's book, but found it not as helpful as I hoped it would have been!