I have already reviewed Lauren Conrad's other guide
Style and I decided that I would love to read the second one. Now I didn't mind this guide much but the other was much better. Maybe it was the topic (Style vs. Beauty) or because this one lacked more of a direction. Either way it was okay and I recommend a quick flip through the pages to see if this is something you'd like to read.
One good thing that was in this guide that wasn't in the other as much was the sweet and thoughtful message about the true meaning of beauty. It was personal and I was glad that Lauren Conrad began her novel that way. Overall there were a few helpful tips for getting inspiration while staying true to yourself that felt very possible to do yourself. Another thing that I really appreciated in this guide was to see her beauty evolution which made me smile and was incredibility encouraging. But she told a lot of negative backstories and not enough good ones. There were far too many of them based on her mistakes rather than things that she did well which brought a very negative vibe to the guide.
You can't talk about beauty and health without touching on basic skin care and how to stop acne. But I was left disappointed as her tips for good skin were way too general to be of much use. It was a good platform for a more extensive guide but it never provided great tips. Acne is such a big topic and two pages wasn't enough. People of a lot of different ages have to deal with acne and it can get annoying. Being told to wash your face regularly isn't what I would call helpful.
I didn't start reading this book expecting to be extremely shocked or surprised but I'm happy to say that I was. Lauren Conrad included a list of ingredients to avoid in products and why. And I would be lying if I said that I didn't check all of my products afterward.
Lauren Conrad gives a great rule of thumb for when to wash your hair. She also talked about countless ways to keep hair looking great such as using face masks (she even tells you how to make them!) Hair health is important. Itchy scalps, split ends and dry hair are not comfortable. Hate that haircut you got? Lauren Conrad tells you how to grow your hair back. Even though she is great at talking about hair health, her section about haircuts was not as great. I have to give her some credit as she did try to be specific but unfortunately these haircuts were not perfect. I used to cut my hair the way she recommended for my hair type but it just ended up getting really frizzy and her haircut recommendations don't give much room to experiment. Her tips for hair coloring are helpful especially for first time hair dyers. And since going every few months to a hair salon isn't that fun, Lauren Conrad gives great tips for trimming your own bangs.
Now here is my absolute favorite part of the guide. The de-stressing and detoxing part! Things such as sleep and yoga can help with a healthy complexion and keep you feeling beautiful on the inside. Detoxing is not for everyone from the start. Some people need to ease their way into removing something from their diet especially if they have it often. The emphasis on personal fitness was helpful and her quick fitness tips were doable. Sadly, too much of the book consisted of makeup tutorials while I would have liked a bit more about health and fitness.
When showing said makeup tutorials, Lauren Conrad used other models and not just herself which I thought was extremely considerate but even with other models they still styled their makeup like her. And when she demonstrated how products look on, they didn't significant change. Lauren Conrad talked about crimes against fashion which I felt was really discouraging. Everyone makes mistakes and unfortunately being told that your mistakes were a crime can be a downer. She gave some great tips for shaping your brows by yourself and explained the different makeup brushes. I have to applaud Lauren Conrad for trying to cater to everyone's basic makeup routine as she came as close to succeeding as she could in the circumstances. But the party makeup was a bit too general as different parties call for different looks. She also gives a great technique for refreshing makeup which I thought was fairly quick and easy to follow. But I was disappointed that she talked about ways to alter your features without talking about accepting them. Changing your features every know and then is fine but you can't keep altering your features every single day eventually you have to be happy with what you have.
Now the part that I was most looking forward to: the hair. I was happy with the information about different types hair brushes and combs as this was always really confusing for me before. Lauren Conrad also tries to explain things to look for in in an iron and hair dryer but unfortunately I had a hard time following along with the information. I was really disappointed with the hair styles that were shown because they were not anything really unique or easy to make just by looking at that the photo. When she talks about different accessories that look good in hair but doesn't show any pictures of actually putting them in your hair. She does give instructions for making different braids but other than the three pleat braid the other were too hard to follow and pictures that go with every step would have been much better. I was left disappointed with many of the nail polish ideas because they were way to common and simple to replicate just by looking at the picture and I wanted to see some more unique ones.
Overall, I liked this guide and some sections deserve a read. But I would still have to say that personally I like the other guide
Style more so check out my review of it
here.
