Review: Cosmo's Sexiest Beauty Secrets

My Cosmo's Sexiest Beauty Secrets book came from Amazon two Fridays along with You: Being Beautiful ($16.19), but I've been busy so I'm sorry I didn't post this review sooner. It was only $12.35 from Amazon with free shipping.

It's a quick and easy read. I read the first 63 out of 185 pages in just less than an hour and finished it the first weekend I got it! (Although I will go through it again more leisurely or linger on certain pages.)

I have to say that this is definitely not an in-depth beauty book. I should have known since it was written by the editors of Cosmo, but basically it reads like the beauty pages of a magazine. Actually, it feels even shorter because the writing is fluffier but not as good as the magazine writing and some parts are more basic than what I'd expected from Cosmo.

I feel that since it's a book and not magazine, it's marketed to a much more general audience, so a lot of the information is very basic (like how to apply concealer under your eyes). Of course, this really depends on where you are with your makeup knowledge and experience. I am not that experienced but I have read many magazines over the years as well as a couple of beauty books, so that's what I'm using to measure this book against (including Cosmo magazine itself).

Also I felt like I not didn't learn as much as I would have liked because of the generalizations. For instance, the book frequently refers to skin tones...but only three (light, medium, and dark or by ethnicities white, Asian, Latina, and African-American). For those of us who don't fall neatly into those conventional categories, like medium/bronze Asian, caramel African-American, or mixed, you don't feel like you really learned something great or useful. (I myself am light/medium to medium with yellow undertones. In the picture below, it says something like Asians' biggest aging issue is getting sunspots and freckles due to their milky porcelain complexion...well, I think I relate more to the Latinas' issue of unevenness because medium skin can turn blotchy from sun damage.)


Because it's a book it's apparent they want the info to be "timeless" in a sense and therefore products are recommended in a general way (i.e. primer, pink blush) and not by specific brands or product names (you won't see UDPP or NARS Orgasm, for example). To me, that's good and bad, partly because I'm a sucka for products that are listed as being gorgeous examples. Also you won't see any celebrity names or photos and I'm usually a sucka for wanting to try or copy something that works for a beautiful celebrity.


The book doesn't do justice to certain sections, such as skin(face), but it comes much more alive for makeup, hair and skin (body)/spa tips. My favorite sections are probably Eyes and Spa.

There's also a hair section that's not too bad.

So overall, I think it's a cute bedside or coffee table book to flip through, but it's not the be-all-end-all beauty book I'd expected from Cosmo. I would rate it about 3.5 stars out of 5.

Some other beauty books that I have read and own are Tyra's Beauty Inside & Out by Tyra Banks and The Beauty of Color by Iman. In comparison, I think they are much more information though the Tyra one is more of a beginner's book, and Iman's book may not cover as many topics but what it does cover is much more in-depth. In Iman's book, especially the skin (face) section and info are actually think are more timeless than Cosmo's book, inho. (Sorry Cosmo...I'll still read your magazine though!)

If anyone is interested in learning more about Iman's book, I'd be happy to do a review with pictures! Just let me know.

I hope everyone enjoyed her Thanksgiving weekend! Do any damage shopping? I'm actually proud of myself that I've resisted all the sales...but I did meet a new love...the Canon PowerShot SD 880IS! I heart Canon.