I have 2 beauty books I’m totally CRUSHING ON: my old high school sweetheart, Bobbi Brown’s Pretty Powerful and Cameron Diaz’s The Body Book. 

You’ve probably heard of these two and if you haven’t I urge you to rush to your nearest Barnes and Noble (or Amazon) and order them RIGHT NOW! These two beauty books, although very different, have taught me the same overall meaningful message I urge every woman to engrain in their hearts: to love every physical aspect of yourself so much that you take care of yourself properly. LOVE YOURSELF is the main message here. And yes, that message may sound redundant in the modern era, but these books specifically really speak to me and here’s why:

Bobbi Brown’s Pretty Powerful

In high school I was taking advanced classes, maintained the role of  Senior Class President and was on the cheer team with my best friends and still had friends and two besties outside of my team. I also had a very kind boyfriend at the time and as much as I felt loved and accomplished by many, I struggled with a lot of self-confidence issues and therefore lacked initiative and decision-making skills. As goal-oriented and driven as my little 17 year-old self was, I struggled with having the courage to speak up when it was truly needed and I also lacked communication skills.

This all stemmed from my insecurities. I was not as sure of myself because I was always afraid of people judging me by how I looked. I tried to hide these insecurities by caking my face and wearing tons of makeup my Junior year. However, this did the complete opposite and I could never find my true voice because it was buried underneath all my insecurities about how I physically looked and how that translated to others. Sounds silly, but there’s plenty of women who go through the same. So, this little big book not only taught me how to properly use concealer by my senior year, but it also taught me that I don’t need to conceal my true spirit and the character that makes me a unique individual. It taught me self-love at a vital time of growing into a woman. I quickly learned that how I felt on the inside was more important than how I look on the outside. This fostered into me throwing away my gross foundation and everything else makeup related that I didn’t need and that hid my unique features.

In this book, Bobbi takes you through several women’s stories, celebrities and non-celebrities, on their story, embracing their flaws and what makes them pretty powerful. Cheers to loving yourself because every individual woman is pretty powerful! Thanks Bobbi!

Cameron Diaz’s The Body Book

Somewhat related to Bobbi Brown’s, Cameron Diaz goes a little more into depth about the physical properties of the woman’s body and how to love yourself through health and fitness. This book is more about “you are what you eat” and really educates you about what exactly you’re putting into your body. Why 100 calorie snacks aren’t actually a healthy alternative and make you rethink how you’re fueling you’re body and how to really take care of it. I developed a little more self awareness after reading this book and what I love most about it is that it isn’t a plan or countdown or outline on how to get your best body. It stems from self-love and how that translates to self-care. The more you love yourself, the more you take care of your body and the more you take care of your body, the more you love yourself! Plus, Cameron is a total babe and if you pick this book up solely because of the cover and solely because of Cam, I don’t blame you. Doesn’t everyone want to look that good at her age??

xx, Bri.

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