4 LIPSTICK THEMED READS

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1) It's Ok to have lead in your lipstick (Perry Romanowski & Randy Schueller)

Written by the people behind The Beauty Brains Beauty Science blog. Romanoeski is cosmetic chemist and scientist, while Schueller is a former senior director of Hair and Skincare R&D for Alberto Culver and Unilever and a science writer. This is a great book that makes cosmetic science easier to understand. The bulk of the book is a collection of questions asked by the public via their website and the answers are straightforwardly explained in a way that isn't patronising. They cut through beauty myths and marketing jargon. One of the main messages is about the scaremongering among the press about beauty ingredients being hazardous to skin often ignore the fact that it's the amount/dose that matters.While cosmetics often contain ingredients that can be unhealthy at high levels often the substance are present at very low and insignificant levels.  One example is that lead contained in lipstick isn't dangerous because it is at such a low level, as well as being deemed safe by the FDA, lead cannot be ingested by the body so it goes through the digestive system and is excreted out. Therefore it doesn't stay long in your system to do much damage. They explain how to read ingredient lists, the difference between active, base, control and featured ingredients and how ingredient names are often manipulated to sound safer, better or more natural. If you have an allergy to a particular ingredient you will be used to looking up and decoding labels but it's still quite informative. The authors are based in America so a lot of the cosmetic regulations they refer to are American but they do include EU regulations as well. The chapter on bizarre beauty ingredients is guaranteed to make you smile or be a little horrified! (snail cream, bird poo, ant oil, bulls semen, take your pick!) The final chapter also restores some faith in the beauty industry by including products that work or that have some scientific basis for what their product claims to do.

Paperback £8.64 Amazon, The Book Depository, £10.22, Amazon Kindle £1.93

2) Lipstick A Girl's Best Friend (Jessica Pallingston) 

This tells you everything you ever wanted to know about lipstick and I mean everything! The history: from the humble beginnings in Babylon, ancient Egypt & Greece to the twentieth century. Plus facts about lipsticks and tips about applying it and clues about your personality from how you wear down the lipstick bullet. It describes the process of how lipstick is made including DIY recipes to do at home! It covers lipstick in popular culture from buildings inspired by lipsticks, Salvador Dali's lipstick sofa to Lachowicz' who remoulded famous sculptures in lipstick such as Michael Angelo's David. You can even create poems from all the lipstick names ever imagined. Unfortunately this book is out of print but can be bought on Amazon Marketplace.

3) The lipstick girls Rose (Bobbye Terry) £1.91

Chick-Lit novella set in the cosmetics industry. Rose Carmichael starts her dream job at Pucker Perfect Lipstick Corporation. Her boss Flame Fairmont has high expectations of Rose to create a campaign that will knock the competition. The competition is Flames ex boyfriend and also her brother Gentry. Rose is up for the fight but can she resist Gentry's charm? The chemistry between Rose and Gentry is well written and propels the reader through the book. It's entertaining and fast paced due to being a novella.  Available on Amazon Kindle £1.91

4)  Lipstick Jihad (Azadeh Moaveni) 


This is a memoir about Moaveni struggling with her identity as an American Iranian/Iranian American. She was born in California to secular Iranian immigrants who left Iran during the political turmoil of the Iranian Revolution. She decides to return to Iran during 2000-2001. Working as a journalist for Time Magazine, she describes the hope for social and political change under Reformist President Khatami and disappointment of the slow pace of reform while people were still being denied the basic freedoms others take for granted. She rallies against the incompetence of the Islamic Republic government run by the attolyahs and its aggressive repression. She goes to demonstrations, is harassed by secret police, interviews politicians and meets hedonistic young people rebelling against the strict Islamist regime as they try to live more freely. Although a serious book her personal anecdotes of describing her relatives are hilarious and we also get a glimpse of the food, friends and lifestyle in Iran. She writes about her experiences as an unmarried but privileged woman living in a country that will suppress independence by force. Since this is a memoir it only represents a certain demographic living in Iran. Moaveni comes from a secular family and she does give the impression that religious people are fanatic and possibly dangerous which of course most religious people aren't. All in all this is a good book to read as an introduction to Iran, it's history and socio-political culture.

Paperback £8.99 Amazon  and £5.99 Amazon Kindle

Disclaimer: I bought these books with my own money. I was not given any books in exchange for a favourable review. These are just a list of books I enjoyed reading.