cover image COLOR STORIES: Behind the Scenes of America's Billion-Dollar Beauty Industry

COLOR STORIES: Behind the Scenes of America's Billion-Dollar Beauty Industry

Mary Lisa Gavenas, . . Simon & Schuster, $25 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-684-86515-7

Following a year in the life of a product from concept to counter, former Glamour, Mirabella and InStyle beauty editor Gavenas offers a curious peek behind the closed doors of beauty editors' offices. She exposes the symbiotic relationship between manufacturers and magazines: advertising pays editors' salaries, while casual mentions by editors sell product. Gifts to editors abound for these much coveted credits and range anywhere from flowers to Cartier watches, depending on the quality of the product placement. Though Gavenas touches on some of the darker days of the business, such as blinding chemicals in Lash-Lure, a 1930s mascara substitute that went unregulated for years, most of her book praises the willful self-empowerment of some the country's earliest women entrepreneurs and self-made millionaires. Biographical sketches of make-up moguls include those of Helena Rubenstein, Mary Kay, Elizabeth Arden and Estée Lauder. Disappointingly, Gavenas pays highly successful African-American businesswomen Annie Turnbo and Madame C.J. Walker much less attention, squeezing their stories together into barely two and a half pages. Other than moving from door-to-door distribution to department store counters, the industry has changed very little over the years, according to Gavenas. "A century ago, beauty companies were pushing products with the same kind of romantic stories, pretentious promotions, and inspired goofiness that are still working so well." Gavenas effectively captures the attitude of the industry with her descriptions of photo shoots, runways and fabric shows, making this a well-crafted story of a booming industry. (Dec. 3)