annieb123's Review of Good Clean Beauty

by Caroline Bercaw and Isabel Bercaw

Teen sisterpreneurs™ Isabel and Caroline Bercaw—included on the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for trailblazers in retail and ecommerce for their multimillion-dollar company Da Bomb® Bath Fizzers and authors of Fizz Boom Bath—give readers over 100 super simple beauty and skin care recipes made from common ingredients found in the kitchen pantry.

Tired of endlessly searching for safe and natural makeup lines free of harsh, chemical-laden ingredients, Caroline and Isabel decided to create their own natural makeup line. Good Clean Beauty includes their thoroughly researched recipes, perfect for those looking for natural and clean alternatives. Using only natural ingredients such as cocoa butter, almond oil, essential oils, and oats, you'll know exactly what you're putting onto your face and body. If you have allergies or sensitive skin, you'll appreciate and benefit from the non-toxic makeup ingredients.

Divided into five parts—hair, body, makeup, eye shadows, and skin care—each section utilizes common items readily available in the kitchen and bathroom that make luxurious scrubs, effective exfoliators, revitalizing face masks, long-lasting foundation, bright eye shadows, shiny lip glosses, and soothing lotions. Also included are tips and tricks of applying makeup, such as foundation, blush, lipstick, and eye shadow, as well as modifications to each recipe. Each ingredient is presented with a short overview of its natural properties and a full explanation on its use and application so that you can learn the healing and therapeutic properties of the ingredients, such as charcoal, arrowroot powder, and nutmeg.

Whether you're looking for the perfect DIY gift for friends and family, a resource for spa party or sleepover activities, or creative projects for yourself, Good Clean Beauty has it covered.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Good Clean Beauty is a tutorial and recipe guide to making beauty products at home with (fairly) easily sourced natural ingredients by sisterpreneurs Caroline & Isabel Bercaw. Due out 17th March 2020 from Quarto on their Rock Point imprint, it's 144 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

The writing and formatting are young, upbeat, and positive. The recipes are clean and appealing and made with safe ingredients. The book starts with an alphabetical glossary introduction of supplies and ingredients from activated charcoal to witch hazel. The rest of the book's recipes are grouped roughly by category: hair, body, makeup, eye shadow, and skin care.

Each recipe includes a short description, ingredients (both American standard and metric measurements included - yay!) listed bullet style in a sidebar, and step by step directions. Special tips and usage info are included, highlighted with a sidebar or asterisk.

The chapters are tab highlighted so that recipes can be easily found by using the page margins to find chapters quickly. There's an ingredient index, but the recipe index is not included, and is found in the table of contents. There are no resources or links lists for ingredients, but most everything can be found from online retailers. My only quibble with the book (and it's almost universal with the newer crop of cookery and lifestyle books the last year) is that there are very few photos of finished items and recipe preparation. None of the recipes are extremely complex, so the omission isn't terribly crippling and there are -some- illustrations. The photos which are included are clear and appealing and are in color (see cover photo for an example).

This would make a good choice for young/tween/teenagers who are interested in making their own cosmetics and beauty products for themselves or gift giving.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Good Clean Beauty

by Caroline Bercaw and Isabel Bercaw

Reviewed by annieb123 on Mar 7, 2020

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