Thursday, April 11, 2013

Seventeen Ultimate Guide to Beauty by Ann Shocket



A beauty book sounds good. I have heard of Seventeen magazines but I have not really read one from cover to cover. This is actually the first time I read one. I did not really know what to expect from a beauty book (yes, this is actually a book not a magazine). The cover of this book is not very appealing, it did not really call my attention, but the title did. I am a girl in her early twenties and I do like to books that give me beauty tips, so this was a good book to read. The author, Ann Shocket was named editor-in-chief of Seventeen magazine in 2007. These beauty publications have helped more than 13 million readers grow up to be more confident, self-assured young women.

There were various topics discussed in this book, they were titled the ultimate makeup guide, ultimate hair guide, and ultimate beauty resource guide. In the ultimate makeup guide, they give you different makeup themes such as girly, glam, classic, edgy, and boho. They give tips on how to use them if you’re going to school, a party, a date or if you want a weekend look. In this book they show celebrities that use the girly, glam, classic, edgy and boho, for example; Taylor Swift, Leighton Meeser, Ema Roberts, Bella Thorne, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Emma Stone, Nikki Reed, Victoria Justice, Amanda Seyfried, Selena Gomez, Emma Watson and many more. There are also segment that shows how a girl can achieve a look provided by girls that are not celebrities by simply following three steps.  In the ultimate hair guide section they give you tips on how to get good waves and curls, braids and twists, sleek, ponies, updos and buns. Just like in the makeup guide, they also give ideas on what type of curls a girl can try if they want a look for a date, weekend, party, or school. You also can see celebrities with different hairstyles, you will be able to see if they look good. There is also advice on what to do when it comes to keeping hair healthy, and how to protect hair when using hot styling tools, and also what kind of products to use when hairstyling. The last topic is the beauty resource guide section, they give you advice on how to customize your look, in skin, nails and special occasions. There is advice on what type shades to use based on your skin tone. Taking care of your skin is also very important and this book gives you tips on how to find a good skin care routine if you have oily, dry, combination, or sensitive skin. Girls who have acne problems will also find some helpful tips to help them reduce their blemishes. Shaving can sometimes be a problem and this book tells you how to be smooth all over by using the correct products. Lastly, this book gives a section on manicures and pedicures, what tools use to get beautiful looking nails. To know more about this book, check it out.
 
My impressions of the Seventeen Ultimate Guide to Beauty, was good it does give girls advice, tips, and current makeup trends. This is a good beauty book for teen girls who are beginning to wear makeup and worry about their skin complexion. On the other hand one of the bad sides to this is that this book is mostly directed towards teen girls and it does not relate too much to boys. They do try to connect to young adults by including well known young celebrities. I also liked that they included girls that like makeup ranging from 16-24 years of age, one of these girls is a YouTube makeup guru Michelle Phan. Girls can relate by seeing that there are girls who like makeup just like them. This book is not really school oriented, because it is a fashion magazine, they are usually  not talked about in class. This book does have proper language, which would make it a good book to have in libraries. It will help reluctant readers, because it is a book that calls attention of young adults, who are going through their teenage phase in which they are starting to like makeup and fashion. Overall, I like this book it is interesting and very engaging, if any of you wish to see more about Seventeen magazine check out their YouTube channel.

6 comments:

Samantha Reid said...

I loved Seventeen as an early teen, so I probably would've loved this book. However, I get what you're saying about it not being particularly school oriented. I think it'd be something good to keep around the library to get interest from young, reluctant readers, but obviously nothing you could teach to a class. Good review!

Unknown said...

Even though Seventeen Ultimate Guide to Beauty is primarily geared toward young teenage female readers, I like how you say it gives actual advice for girls and not just what's hot and what's not facts. I also like how that it's written in book form and addresses a serious issue that every female faces as a teenager. Thumbs up and P.S. - I wish they had a book like this for boys.

baboonfan said...

Nick Petersen: If this was taught from a literal viewpoint, I think this book has the potential to be incredibly dangerous. Magazines like 17, Glamour, Vogue, all set unrealistic standards of beauty for women, and teen girls have a hard enough time dealing with this without a text book on the subject. If this book was used to examine standards and media portrayals of beauty, then it may work as part of a wider gender and sexuality unit, but just from the summary you gave it seems kind of vapid. No offense to you, as it was a great post, but I don't think this is a good book to teach in the classroom. While having some beauty tips might make them feel better about their personal appearance, I think it brings even more unwanted obsession onto the external rather than the internal, which we would be silently encouraging by teaching it in class. Remember, when you're teaching a book you have to put your own spin on it. How you present the material can affect how students see what messages you approve from the text, and sending them more messages about the dire importance of superficiality, which the media does a wonderful job of already, we are condeming more of our students to a life of vanity, ignorance, and the self perpetuating cycle of low self-esteem.

Unknown said...

I would totally read something like this. I love magazines and online articles that give beauty tips and even life tips. I think it would be cool to read because it it a compilation of a bunch of tips, instead of just a few that would typically be in a magazine.

I could see teenage girls loving this book, because it is like a girls ultimate handbook to look good. That is what is on a lot of teenage girls' minds. It sucks that girls have to be so focused on their looks so much. There is so much pressure to look good and this book may give girls low self esteem if they cannot live up to the ideal looks.

This book can be both good and bad.

Tess said...

I would have liked this book also. Its not directly related to school, but a goal is to start getting students to stop only reading fiction novels. This could be a good alternative to having them read non-fiction while still engaging with the text and sparking interest. I know a lot of students who would just die if they thought they could read this in school instead of the teacher's library of old books.

Anonymous said...

Since I enjoy reading magazines, I think this will be a good book for me. I think that any teenager would love to get tips and advice so they can have "that look". The only downfall I see to this is that younger girls read it and they grow up too quick because they want to have the same image as the celebrities in the magazines. I think it sort of takes away from girls being themselves. I don't think this book should be taught in classrooms because you are not at school to be cute. Maybe on spare time girls can read this but definitely not for class