Customer Reviews

Lipstick: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Cosmetic

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I enjoyed this book very much. I'm 83 years old, so have had very much experience with lipstick. My favorite part was the historical reminiscences from women my age and somewhat younger who talked about things I remeber, such as Tangee and being suspect if you did not wear your lipstick to the office. It was a very informative book, and funny, and I am surprised that I enjoyed a book on the subject, which I thought at first to be an unusual choice for a book. I will tell my friends about it.

Although I originally bought this book for myself because I'm so in to lipstick, it's taken some interesting turns of ownership in my family. My husband became really intrigued with it. Then his male friends started reading it, as if they were being let in on female secrets. They say its the humor, though, which isn't just written for women. So now the book belongs more to the guys than to me and my daughter, who, as a teenager, also got a kick out of it. Every now and then all of us pick it up and look through it and laugh. You just never know when you buy a book, but this time we all got to have lots of laughs and fun. And by the way, don't fool yourself if you think its just one big giggle. This book must have been researched intensely. There's some amazing historical information in the book. I recommend it to Amazon readers.

Very well researched book. Great source of quotes & information about history, famous makeup artists and cosmetic company founders. Interesting "recipes" for making your own lip products. Good bibliography. Unfortunately I feel toward the end of the book that Ms. Pallingston tries too hard to be cute or funny with her "time traveler" and 300 uses for lipstick. To me this spoils an otherwise superb story of this magical cosmetic.

LIPSTICK is a charming little book that will make you smile on a rainy day. Reading this attractively packaged book is like talking to an eccentric friend with an encyclopedic mind. In fact, the deeper Jessica Pallingston delves into her "simple" subject matter, the more significant, strange and entertaining her journey becomes. It was fun to go along with her - a promising new talent!

This book is funny, fun, quirky, and informative. I was able to use it as a research resource for a college paper on fashion and history. I've also been using it for the makeup tips. I love how people like Sophia Loren, Joan Collins and Joan Crawford throw in advice. Two other fun sections are How To Deal With Evil Makeup Salespeople and the Lipstick Freud Section (I am a Gumby and proud of it). I also like the fact that all types of companies are included, from Tony and Tina to Estee Lauder to MAC, and , and even the punk rocking Manic Panic lipstick brand is listed as an option and its makers are given time to voice their views on lipstick too. Its like a lipstick encyclopedia.

Nice combination of how-to make up advice and historical factoids about make up. Lots of information and lots of fun.

I'm a big fan of lipstick, and couldn't resist this book -- especially with it's great looking and stylish cover. I loved it. Unlike other books on the subject this one had it all. A history of the cosmetic, tips on how to wear it, what your choices in color, etc. say about you, quotes from famous people about their feelings on the subject. It's entertaining, yet really substantive. (Especially fun were the sections on what your lipstick says about you, and the lipstick trivia.) I highly recommend it.

Good fun book! Lots and lots of information on makeup history, written as a sort of love letter to what the author calls the world's favorite cosmetic. Since my mother loves lipstick so much, she reallly really loved this book.

You'll love this book! It's loaded with information--everything you could ever want to know about lipstick you'll find here; even how to make your own. It's well written and assumes the reader is intelligent with a sense of humour, mostly text, which is refreshing for a book about a cosmetic. This is not a magazine-type-picture-book for morons--it's a book for adults with a whimsical nature. Jessica Pallingston is the Professor of Lipstick!

This book just goes to show you that nothing is too small a subject for investigation. Absolutely fascinating. This is history presented through a tube of lipstick, with alot of information about ancient history as well as modern times that I would never have otherwise thought of or learned about. I'd like to see more books like this.