The Confident You: A Guide to Eternal Beauty

by Barbara Barrington Jones, Kris MacKay

The Author is considered somewhat of an authority on this subject.

Genres: Nonfiction

158 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Barbara Barrington Jones has traveled as a CES speaker for more than twenty years, speaking to women from Weiser, Idaho to Beijing, China. As the author of five books for women, International Image Consultant, fashion designer, and former professional classical ballerina, she has also lived through a twelve-year abusive marriage ending in the suicide of her husband.

Barbara spends her life seeking to empower women to realize their divine destiny - to be happy, look great, and find peace. She helps bring out the best in people, gives hope to those who have little or no hope, and love to those who have never felt loved, a listening ear to those who have never had the courage to talk, and a hug to those who have never been hugged.

(From The Incredible Gifts of Women cover)

Reviews

[Samantha]

The problem with other people picking self-help books out for you is sometimes... it's not the book you need. Which, maybe if I had read this several years ago, when it initially was given to me, it would have helped me more, but... I was bored through most of the chapters.

Reading about the author's life was hard, as she went through some terrible things, and her chapters that focused on the non-physical self-help were good. However, so much of this book focuses on the physical, and I either didn't care, or thought her methods were too extreme.

Her eating habits sound absolutely miserable. If you want to lose a ton of weight, it's probably a good plan for several months, but I couldn't eat that way for the rest of my life, as she implies she does.

Also, the fashion stuff was super boring... I hadn't ever thought to go test out what colors I look good in, but I've also never cared much about my clothing looking good, so I skimmed most of those bits. My clothing style isn't really even in this book (Nerdy does technically fall under Arty, but I don't think she would approve of my graphic t-shirts), and I have no interest in changing it. Really, those sections on clothing and make-up would only be useful to me if I obtained a job that required business dress (even then, I probably still wouldn't wear make-up).

Overall, it's not a bad book, and it sounds like this author has helped a ton of people, but I just found myself laughing at how ridiculous some of her advice sounded, and when I wasn't laughing I was bored. This self-help book just isn't the right fit for me.

[Alicia]

I used to think this book was amazing. When I first read it as a teenager I drank in every word and tried to follow it's advice. But as I've gotten older I have realized that while the book does have some great ideas and thoughts to build confidence and enhance your beauty. I now feel like the book only describes one type of beauty. The stoic queen - quiet, poised, proper, etc. I spent quite a few years trying to live up to that ideal. But by doing so I wasn't being true to my own beauty - essentially I was tring to be something I wasn't.

[Cindy]

I think this book was more helpful at the time of publication. It still reviews some basic styles and could be helpful to some.