Pervasive and endless advertising, along with the bias of fashion magazine cosmetics stories, fuels most cosmetics purchases to one degree or another. Advertising must work or the cosmetics industry wouldn’t spend billions of dollars on television, print (particularly fashion magazines), and radio advertising to get you to buy their products. If you don’t understand how […]

I know 30 myths to bust seems like an awful lot, but believe me, there could have been lots more. I struggled on which ones to include that would be the most helpful. What women are led to believe about skin care and makeup could fill volumes. We are incessantly bombarded with these myths disguised […]

Boots No7 Restore & Renew Beauty Serum ($21.99 for 1 ounce) is one of my favorite examples of how this game of claim substantiation works and can easily fool the media. Here are the facts: A television documentary that aired in the United Kingdom in March 2007 featured the results of a blind test that […]

Just about every cosmetics company has a study or studies they tout as being proof that their product(s) work. From this perspective there isn’t a product—from any line—that doesn’t work miracles. But of course you never see their studies of the products that failed (something must have failed, right?). Yet since we aren’t getting rid […]

Reporters all over the world constantly ask me why cosmetics companies mislead and often out and out lie to women, and how they manage to get away with it. The simple answer is that women like to be lied to. We want to believe that the products we buy can get us what we want. […]

If you don’t understand how the cosmetics industry works—the good, the bad, and the ugly—you will be a victim of its advertising manipulations, exaggerations, and deceptions, and that isn’t good for your skin or your budget. I had an interesting discussion with a producer of an infomercial as I was finishing up the last chapter […]

Every step of the way I am in awe of how beautifully most cosmetics work. Where would we be without the brilliant work of the cosmetics chemists who make the exquisite products we use? Because of their astonishing skill we have moisturizers that take care of dry skin and aid in making skin healthier and […]

My final department-store cosmetics-counter job ended when I just couldn’t take listen­ing to the distortions and exaggerated claims anymore and decided to go out on my own. I opened my own makeup stores in 1981. I didn’t sell blue eyeshadow, wrinkle creams, or toners that claimed to close pores. Along the way, I hooked up […]

The question women and reporters worldwide always ask me is: Which ingredient or ingredients are the best for skin? The good news is the same as the bad news, because there isn’t just one or even a few—there are hundreds of brilliant ingredients for skin. While that means there are great options to choose from, […]