Whether you’re a self-confessed “product whore” or “a makeup novice…[at] thirty-coughfivecough“, beauty products are irresistibly enticing to most women. Even if you never aspire to create your own so-called smoky eye (forget Tara Reid; I’m afraid I’ll end up looking like Elvira), it’s undeniably fun to experiment with new looks, even if only in your mind’s eye.

The reality of navigating the aisles of Sephora (or even Target) is another matter entirely. Some of us are “lover[s] of beauty products who ha[ve] found frustration in highly touted, highly priced beauty goods that do squat.” Some of us are curious, but scared out of our wits: “The selection! The prices! It’s enough to make me run away in horror.” And some of us just gave up (and understandably so): “After my second surgery I was left with a very big and very ugly U-shaped scar taking up most of my neck and leaving me feeling immensely ugly. So ugly that I felt makeup was no longer needed because even it couldn’t help stop the stares I get and make people focus on my face again.”

After reading Beauty Confidential by former beauty editor Nadine Haobsh, one blogger wrote: “I am not joking when I say this book has changed my life.” While such a statement may sound melodramatic, it shouldn’t. Like it or not, our satisfaction with our appearance plays a major part in our satisfaction with ourselves. If that weren’t so, the Wonderbra would never have been invented.

In all seriousness, beauty is one of those topics that mystifies many of us, so it’s no wonder that our bloggers appreciated Haobsh’s informative and informed digest. “Written with the unpretentious candor of a best friend,” she takes “all the tricks and secrets she learned while working in the beauty industry and lays them out simply for the reader.” With her honesty, she gains the trust of her readers: “What I liked most was her lists of products that do their job well and their price range. She shares which products are worth splurging on and which are best bought in a drugstore.” Another blogger agreed, noting that “Beauty comes at all price tags, and while we can’t all rush out and spend a wad at the makeup counter every few months, we can arm ourselves with information so that we know what to splurge on and what to skip.”

Her writing style won over bloggers as well. “She jokes throughout the whole book and really tries to let you know that she’s just as human as the rest of us. Heck, she even reveals her own flaws in the book and makes sure you can relate to her as a person first and beauty expert second. This is a gal I could sit down for lunch with and probably end up laughing hysterically at her stories.”

Finally, her Lazy Girls Club instructions on how to look fabulous when you’ve literally only got five minutes really resonated with the bloggers - it’s “a chapter for us moms!”

One blogger in particular, while she’s “never been a beauty girl like Nadine Haobsh“, she actually has “been a magazine editor and worked in the orbit of these unusual creatures.” She loved the “Day in the Life of a Beauty Editor” and commented: “I can personally vouch for all of the above, including the goldfish thing. That really happened at a magazine where I worked (and the beauty editor was quite annoyed at the presumption that she’d be willing to care for little Goldie).”

So it seems logical that if Haobsh isn’t exaggerating about the goldfish, then she’s probably not exaggerating about the loveliness of Bare Escentuals i.d. Bare Minerals or the mediocrity of Creme de la Mer.

The bloggers did have a few suggestions to offer. One noted: “The product guides at the end of each chapter, and the mega-guide at the end of the book, didn’t work for me. Each product is merely listed in the order it was mentioned in the chapter, with a price range and web address. Nothing is categorized or described.” In a similar vein, another advised: “This book really needs a topic index. If I’m wondering what to buy to cover up the dark circles under my eyes, I want to check the index to find out what page that topic is covered on, not comb through the content of the potentially inclusive chapters (eyes, face).”

And one blogger is sticking with her French manicure and daily shampoos: “They can just send me to Beauty Hell because I hate how my hair feels when I don’t wash it everyday…I can’t always get into the nail salon every two weeks and chipped nail polish is so tacky but with a French those chips aren’t so noticeable.”

But across the board, they all learned a thing or two (and made up a wish list or two). “My copy is now dog-eared, underlined and has pages folded down,” wrote one mother. “[Beauty Confidential] is, by far, the best book I’ve read on beauty tips ever.”

Want to read more before you buy your own copy of Beauty Confidential? Check out the upcoming reviews!

Tues 11/13 - Cheese Party
Wed 11/14 - Mummy’s Product Reviews
Thurs 11/15 - SusieJ
Fri 11/16 - Taste Like Crazy
Mon 11/19 - Binkytown and Her Bad Mother
Tues 11/20 - Mother Bumper
Wed 11/21 - Round-Up Review on PBN