Color Stories: Behind the Scenes of America's Billion-Dollar Beauty Industry

By Mary Lisa Gavenas

Book Overview

For everyone who's ever slicked on lipstick, flirted with eye shadow, or browsed the bewildering array in any store's beauty de-partment, Color Stories offers an insider's view of all the brainstorming, bickering, and bitchery that go into those little sticks of color and pans of powder.

Former beauty editor Mary Lisa Gavenas takes us behind the scenes during the nine months that culminate in the launch of a season's all-important "color stories." We discover how one shade becomes the "must have," why makeup artists never use the same products as the rest of us, and exactly how easy -- and impossible -- it is to start a million-dollar makeup line.

Backstage at the runway shows, we're swept into the catty, chaotic work world of makeup mogul Bobbi Brown and supermodel Gisele B ndchen. At Est e Lauder headquarters, we see the achingly chic Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer spin societal trends into a lipstick lineup. We watch magazines cheat to make makeup work for layouts, find out how Cindy Crawford got to be worth every penny of her $10 million contract, and make the pilgrimage to Dallas as 35,000 of the Mary Kay faithful assemble for the fabled annual Seminar. Along the way, we also learn about marketing, media, and the manipulation of aesthetics, about the codification of physical beauty, and how this industry revolutionized the role of women in business.

Through its often funny, sometimes poignant scenes of seduction, courtship, and consummation, Color Stories reveals why women become besotted by beauty products -- and why that love affair will never end.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416577130
• ISBN13: 9781416577133
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Color Stories

I loved this book! I thought it was extremely well written and an enjoyable and very informative read for anyone that buys cosmetics and clothes. I really enjoyed the contemporary process of how produts are developed and the history of how these companies got started and who started them. It is the first time I have read anything on how cosmetics are really made in a factory (Avon), and FDA information on what companies have tried to get away with in the past.

Beautiful *and* beneficial!

This is an absorbing, informative, quick read from a beauty industry insider. (You'll never look at makeup and fashion magazines quite the same way again!) Gavenas unmasks everything from how the cosmetics big-guns plan their ad campaigns to whether that fashion-mag cover girl is *really* wearing the products we're told she is. The chatty, accessible tone lends itself (dare I say) beautifully to this fascinating look at makeup, marketing, and pop culture.

Fascinating look at the inside world of beauty!

For any women (or man) that have been captivated by a store beauty dept..this is a must read! It's all about the psychology behind the ads that attract sane people into buying expensive cosmetics..This book should be a must read by any beginning psychology student also!

Recommended--great stories

What a relief to read something written on a "woman's" subject (namely makeup) that is well-written without being condescending to its readers. This book is short and fast but has a surprising amount of history about women in business and how and why cosmetics got to be such a big business.And, as a Texan, I loved the chapter about Mary Kay and the women who participate. It's a complicated subject and this is the best treatment I've come across.I don't know if I would categorize it as a business book, a fashion book, or a history book, but I do recommend it!

Fascinating Fast-Paced

Fascinating look at the business of cosmetics and the people behind the pretty boxes of powder and those models' runway faces. The author has a nicely witty writing style that makes the pages turn by themselves.