Too simple, not enough makeup tips

The book begins with Bobbi Brown explaining that a teenager's makeup should be very natural, which she will continue to do many, many times throughout the book. This is followed by twelve "makeunders". (In Bobbi's words, "I don't believe in makeovers since they tend to involve lots of makeup and a masking of who you really are." I disagree with this, since strong makeup can actually express a person if it's applied correctly.) Bobbi puts sheer foundation, blush, and light lip gloss on every girl, instead of giving them a unique look, and her summaries of the procedures are a bit like this:

Before: (Name Of Girl) is so pretty/cute/gorgeous. She has a wonderful smile.
After: I played up (Name Of Girl)'s pretty/cute/gorgeous features with gloss and rosy blush. Now she looks even more naturally beautiful.

The next chapter has a list of teen beauty rules that suggest teenagers skip foundation so their skin can show through, wear sheer, shiny makeup such as lip gloss, and avoid black nail polish. Right in the middle of this, she says her parents didn't want her wearing makeup as a teen, and she used to have a hard time sneaking out in the green glitter shadow she used to wear. Next she states, "Find a beauty role model in your life... Someone whose look you'd like to emulate," right above the sentence, "Be exactly who you are!!!" It seems she can't stop contradicting herself.

The skincare segment explains things everyone already knows: drinking and smoking are bad for your skin, drinking water is good for your skin, hormones can cause acne, wash your skin a lot, etc.

Eventually she tries to get into more detail about the makeup, but she just keeps repeating that every girl should look completely natural, and that sheer makeup colors look the prettiest and are the most mistake-proof.

Perhaps the worst part of this book is the chapter written by her niece, covering her sixteenth birthday party. She includes summaries of the party guests' personalities and the makeup suggestions Bobbi made, all of which are incredibly dull and already mentioned in some of the earlier chapters. Much of this book is also filled with personal things, such as the best and worst moments of Bobbi's life and her first job in cosmetics.

I have no doubt Bobbi is a great makeup artist, but I don't think she understands teenagers. Bobbi Brown Beauty, her original (non-teenage) makeup guide is an excellent book that I recommend to anyone, regardless of their age.