Customer Reviews

Color Stories: Behind the Scenes of America's Billion-Dollar Beauty Industry

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A fun, quick, and easy read, an interesting look into what goes on behind the make-up counter. From the people who create it, to the people who package it, to the magazine people who promote it, to the models who wear it, to the sales people who sell it, to the hopeful buyers, this book gives a look from the eyes of nearly every person involved in the business. Altogether enjoyable.

I know many people who are addicted to makeup, and I'd recommend this book to any of them. While it's not earthshattering information by any stretch of the imagination, it's still a fun, easy read. It follows the development of those seasonal color stories we so anxiously await from the initial to conception and how colors are chosen through fashion shows and advertising to the final product at the counters. You learn how the colors for the story are chosen, how magazines list that products used on models aren't really the products used (did any of us doubt this?), and many other behind the scenes tidbits.

The book is an easy, entertaining read. I finished within a couple of evenings. Behind the scenes business material is potentially dry but Gavenas manages to keep it interesting and easy to follow. It would be a great summer poolside read.

For the Neutrogena/Olay questions below...Neutrogena is still making its cosmetics line. Olay discontinued its cosmetics line but is still making skincare.

This is a fascinating look inside the makeup industry and is a must-read for a make-up junkie like myself. It documents the process of creating the color story. How it's conceived, marketed, sold, ect. and reveals many interesting insider details about the color stories and the mis-truth's reported by popular beauty magazines. It also goes back in time to the conception of the beauty industry telling the beginnings of the Estee Lauder empire and walks you through a Mary Kay conference (found this pretty amusing). At times the detail becomes repetitive and I did a bit of skimming but overall it was an interesting little read.

This is a fabulous book that's well worth the read. Gives fly-on-the-wall accounts of various elements of the beauty industry. While some of the accounts seem a little exaggerated and reductive, it is a useful tool for those interested in the beauty biz.

Of course, what more do you need in a book? Okay, first off--the disclaimers--I never read fashion magazines (although I have been known to rifle through them at the doctor's office), I don't follow fashions, I am not a cosmetics connoisseur (I only use mascara and eye pencil and I have used the same 2 brands for over 20 years). so why did I even bother to pick up this book? I figured it would give me some idea of how the "other side" lives (i.e. the proudly fashionable, well groomed, perfectly coiffed, put-together women). Well, not really. But I certainly have an idea about how the author feels about such women. No, on second thought I don't. The ambivalent tone of her writing was a bit confusing. Could she speak more contemptuosly of the bored and boring "suburban mom" (no I am not one therefore I am not speaking defensively) in search of a superficial "escape" from her dull and dreary existence? And then later she would sound vaguely sympathetic for these pitiful creatures. Oh never mind--let's just all forget our problems and crises by spritzing ourselves with some fun perfumes and putting on a new face.

Some of the history regarding the pioneers of the cosmetic industry --is interesting. But the narrative regarding the development of one of Estee Lauder's seasonal "color stories was somewhat disjointed and difficult to follow. But maybe it's just me. Maybe I need to start reading Vogue and Glamour. Maybe I need to lighten up and put on some pink lipstick.

I have yet to actually read this book, but I feel moved to correct to previous reviewers who have. Actually, you are both wrong. Both Neutrogena and Oil of Olay products are still being produced though the latter is now packaged and advertised as simply "Olay".

I loved this book! I thought it was extremely well written and an enjoyable and very informative read for anyone that buys cosmetics and clothes. I really enjoyed the contemporary process of how produts are developed and the history of how these companies got started and who started them. It is the first time I have read anything on how cosmetics are really made in a factory (Avon), and FDA information on what companies have tried to get away with in the past.

Personally, I LOVED this book. I did a stint selling cosmetics at Bloomie's and this is the first time I've read anything remotely close to what actually goes on in the cosmetics industry. Including a lot I didn't know (like the FDA dirt, and the inside-the-factory stuff).

And, to that reviewer from New Jersey, you have your facts wrong: Neutrogena Cosmetics are alive and well. Not only are they advertised on TV, they're being sold on the Web and my local drugstore as of today. I think you mean Oil of Olay, which went out of business a year or two back. How much of a cosmetics junkie could you possibly be?

I found Color Stories to be a quick fun read, but if you are a fan of fashion magazines and a cosmetic "junkie" you already know most of what is in this book. The story of the developement of Neutrogena cosmetics would have been more interesting if the product line wasn't defunct. I'm sorry I bought the hardcover version. This is better as a magazine feature.

This is an absorbing, informative, quick read from a beauty industry insider. (You'll never look at makeup and fashion magazines quite the same way again!) Gavenas unmasks everything from how the cosmetics big-guns plan their ad campaigns to whether that fashion-mag cover girl is *really* wearing the products we're told she is. The chatty, accessible tone lends itself (dare I say) beautifully to this fascinating look at makeup, marketing, and pop culture.