Get Positively Beautiful by Carmindy

It's always best to have a positive attitude towards one's self, and whether your empowerment lies in mind or body, it's a good practice to try and nurture both. Whether it's fixing up everyday or getting ready for that special evening, let these books guide the way to a fabulous you.

In GET POSITIVELY BEAUTIFUL, makeup artist Carmindy, from TLC’s hit show What Not to Wear shows you how to change your mindset from negative fault-finding to a positive beauty philosophy. You learn how to find and focus on your best features and how to combat negative thoughts about your appearance. Carmindy demonstrates easy makeup techniques for the eyes, brows, lips, cheeks, and skin, and how to adapt looks to different weather conditions and “beauty moods.”

Completely unique, GET POSITIVELY BEAUTIFUL mixes self-help and makeup how-to in this total beauty book.

Carmindy has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, CBN, as well as in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Elle, O, Glamour, InStyle, and many more prominent men’s and women’s fashion magazines.

Check out Carmindy’s website: www.carmindy.com

My Thoughts

I have been following makeup trends since I was old enough to wear my first aqua eyeshadow at the advanced age of 11. My mother was having a portrait painted of me and she bought me this great wool vest (the 70s) with a gradated shading of colour from pale aqua to deep teal. Mom bought me the eye shadow to match. I felt like a princess...I felt so beautiful that day that every time I see that portrait...I am transported back to that specific moment in time when I felt so special-frozen in a moment of true beauty.
What made me feel so special was the glow that I had from being utterly convinced that I was the prettiest girl in the mall that day. This was many years before the destructive power of self bashing became de rigueur in my life.
This is my long winded attempt at trying to pair a personal analogy of myself with the positive message of Carmindy's new book. We need to teach ourselves how to promote our own positive messages and mantras that will cancel out all those critical feelings about our own beauty. We need to understand that we are ALL unique in our beauty and that we don't need to look perfectly airbrushed like someone from a magazine or tv show to be truly beauteous.
Carmindy has combined this positive mantra with glossy pictures and tips that keep the book useful as well. She also shows some makeovers of women who haven't always made the best choices with their looks and how to accent what makes them uniquely appealing.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this book.
4 out of 5 stars

Makeup Manual by Bobbi Brown

BOBBI BROWN'S MAKEUP MANUAL

Full Description

This is the book that Bobbi Brown's fans have been waiting for: her 25-plus years of makeup styling experience distilled into one complete, gorgeous book. Bobbi looks at everything from skincare basics to every aspect of facial makeup--from how to find the right color and type of foundation for any skin tone to how to apply every detail of eye makeup (Brows, Eye Liner, Eye Shadow, and Eye Lashes) no matter your eye color and shape. Of course there are never-before-seen tips on blush, bronzer, lip liners, lipstick, etc. And Bobbi looks beyond the face with informative chapters on "Hands and Feet" and "Body Skin Care." Each chapter has thorough step-by-step basic directions for makeup application and easy-to-follow photographs and line drawings, along with Bobbi's expert, yet assuring, advice. Plus, there's a groundbreaking section of the book that will be of special interest to women who've wanted to know how makeup stylists do what they do: the top beauty secrets only these artists know, essential equipment to keep on hand, how to break into the business, and how to work with photographers and celebrities.

Breathtaking photos of the finished faces-from everyday looks to exotic runway style-along with advice on putting it all together for every woman, make this a book like no other.

BOBBI BROWN'S MAKEUP MANUAL will be the only book any woman will need to look absolutely fabulous.

My Thoughts


I am the kind of woman who is in love with makeup and have been since my early teens. Back then I was crazy about aqua eyeshadow and would put it all over my eyelids and feel beautiful! It wasn't long before I tamed my look considerably and the only eyeshadow I love now is a discrete taupe and/or beige.
I haven't completely lost my artistic sensibilities ....I just now paint murals for artistic expression and not my face.
This is a beautiful book. I enjoyed leafing through it and the pictures are incredibly glossy and magazine-like but it didn't seem to have much more information in it that hasn't already been printed before....even by Bobbi Brown herself.
Beautiful book but only a 2.5 stars out of 5 for lack of originality.

The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenbur

Eight years in the making, THE FLAVOR BIBLE is a landmark book that will inspire the greatest creations of innovative cooks and chefs by serving as an indispensable guide to creativity and flavor affinities in today's kitchen.

Cuisine is undergoing a startling historic transformation: With the advent of the global availability of ingredients, dishes are no longer based on geography but on flavor. This radical shift calls for a new approach to cooking — as well as a new genre of "cookbook" that serves not to document classic dishes via recipes, but to inspire the creation of new ones focused on imaginative and harmonious flavor combinations.

THE FLAVOR BIBLE is your guide to hundreds of ingredients along with the herbs, spices, and other seasonings that will allow you to coax the greatest possible flavor and pleasure from them. This astonishing reference distills the combined experience of dozens of America's most innovative culinarians, representing such celebrated restaurants as A Voce, Babbo, Blue Hill, Cafe Atlantico, Chanterelle, Citronelle, Gramercy Tavern, The Herbfarm, Jardiniere, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, The Modern, Moto, and The Trellis.

You'll learn to:

* explore the individual roles played by the four basic tastes — salty, sour, bitter and sweet — and how to bring them into harmony;

* work more intuitively and effectively with ingredients by discovering which flavors have the strongest affinities for one another;

* brighten flavors through the use of acids — from vinegars to citrus juices to herbs and spices such as kaffir lime and sumac;

* deepen or intensify flavors through the layering of specific ingredients or techniques; and

* balance the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of cooking and serving an extraordinary meal.

Seasoned with tips, anecdotes, and signature dishes from the country's most respected chefs and pastry chefs, THE FLAVOR BIBLE is an essential book for every kitchen library.

My Thoughts

Thanks to Anna Balasi from Hachette for sending me this book to review and peruse.
It isn't a cookbook. What it is is a encyclopaedia of food ingredients like chicken or beef with traditional pairings of flavors that suit them and very untraditional ingredients that will enhance and challenge your taste buds.

This is not a book for the cooking challenged...nor does it give any type of step by step instructions or directions.... but for an experienced cook who is looking for ideas and exciting food flavors...then this is your answer.
Flavors such as basil for your traditional pesto but also basil for syrups and fruits and poured over icecream. This is an empowering resource for someone experienced in the kitchen who is looking for new ideas.
The book is set up with ingredients listed alphabetically and appropriate choices and pairings listed with each...the best bolded to allow easier experimentation.

Thank you for this invaluable resource...a beautiful book to add to my cooking library