Everyone likes to recieve a compliment, its a fact that even if you don't know someone, when they say you look good, or 'nice shoes' it will bring a smile and maybe the occassional blush to your face. Today for example a couple of people said i had nice hair - now this may be because i had it all lopped off at the beginning of the week and coloured completely different,- but it nevertheless gave me a spring in my step and an extra whip of my hair. To get to the point what i mean is, everyone likes to feel beautiful.
This is the book so you know what to look for £12.99 ($20.60) when i brought it so price may vary.Beauty however if a fickle thing as everyone has their own perception of what beauty is and their own opinion about what people wear, what size they should be and what they consider attractive. With the amount of media attention being put on celebrities and being thin, the latest fashion etc etc its easy for the average person to feel slightly...lack lustre? Well after reading Beauty Equation i would like to put everyone back on track to bringing inner self assured goddesses to be in par with their naturally beautiful selves. The question is..are you ready?
'You + Allure + Confidence + Compassion
Spontaneity + Radiance + health +
Honesty + Charm + Energy divided by Humour
= Beauty'
and yes before we carry on i am computer illiterate and cannot find the divide button on my laptop!
The Equation above sums up how to find your beauty equation and then the book takes each point and devotes a chapter to each explaining what they mean and the best way to achieve them.
It would be easy for me to go through the whole book, but then that wouldn't be so much a review as it would regurgitating the entire thing. There would also then be no encouragement for you to buy the book if you could read the whole thing on here :)
In the equation YOU is firs,t but that obviously refers to the person reading this, so hello YOU. You need to be comfortable in your own skin and what Nigel Barker does very well within this book is explain that you first need to be comfortable with yourself before you start worrying what other people deem beautiful. Are you brave enough to hold a mirror up to yourself and analyse your own face? Nigel writes the book as if he is your friend and coach guiding you through each step and this worked really well for me as it almost gives you a little confidence boost of 'well if nigel says i can do it' and it's nice to read a book when you feel like they are talking to you and not just print on a page explaining something.
'We will break down each area of your self-presentation so that you can be your most beautiul self, inside and out.' (Will use red to show extracts from the book.)
Allure
When he talks about allure he explains how it is a natural impulse to size people up by their looks, attire and how they come accross, but that if you think about how you come accross to others and if you were meeting yourself for the first time what would your impression be? Allure is that quality that drws people to you when you enter a room or a conversation. That type of enticing quality where its not so much on your looks but how you command a room and how you present oyurself within that room. Nigel uses the example of a casting call and says 'no matter how pretty they are, they don't always get the job.' If you are sure of yourself you naturally hold yourself taller, if you know the shoes you are in make your legs look great then you walk with that extra little piece on confidence, but its what you do with it that counts. You can be the prettiest girl on the planet but if you can't string a sentence together, or give the impression that your too good to be there then why would people want to socialise with you?
In a natural social situation it's inevitable that not everyone will like you, but the book doesn't try to sell itslef as a self help book on how to make everyone think your beautiful as you will always have some people that you just don't get on with. It does however talk about first impressions and how they may determine opportunities for you later on.
So how does Mr Barker tell you to tackle allure? Simple use common sense, wear clothes that are fit for the occassion i.e. jogging bottoms to the gym and clothes that fit your body type.
Allure is a mental attitude. It's not a case of she's stunning it's a case of i was talking to her and i want to know more. If your late accept the fact that your late, apologise and move on. There's nopoint waving around a bunch of excuses to try and get out of it, because you will then just be late and the girl full of excuses. How many times on ANTM have we seen a girl with a bad picture suddenly say 'That wasn't my best shot, the sun was in my eye'..yada yada yada instead of yeah its not a great picture, i'll work on it.
My favourite part of the allure chapter is when Nigel refers to the hoochie look. Best reference is along the lines of if you want to sell yourself for the job you want and not just sell yourself like you work on a street corner. It's true though, you may have killer abs but job interviews generally don't like the erin brockovich look. Use your head people and let your inner character and inner beauty shine through. Once you have the confidence to be who you really are and people can then be drawn to the real you, the natural beauty within is coming through already.
Now remember this is just the tip of the iceberg of this book and enough information within it's pages to make the iceberg sink the titanic, to continue with a very tenuous metaphor... and what i mean is i really enjoyed this book. I found it reads as if somone is offering you advice and whereas sme of it you know or think you do already and then other parts make you think 'Oh i see, or do i have that quality?' The book also encourages you to take pictures of yourself to help you understand your own beauty and for those of you brave enough you can go online to http://www.beautyequation.com/index and add your picture to the gallery. While your at the gallery take a look at the photos on there and every single on of them has had the confidence to upload it to a public forum and everyone of them has that look in their eye as if to say 'yes i am beautiful,' and i'll tell you what its so refreshing to see young people on there being happy with who they are and not trying to fit into a size 0 or have the same hairstyle or airbrushed picture as everyone in magazines, because its real people and that's what beauty equation is all about.
To wrap up this blog i wuld just like to say that i really enjoyed the book and it's nice that someone with that much experience has the view that he has. It's down to earth, honest and encouraging. So go ahead pic up that mirror and then that camera and let's see what you can see.
For those who don't know already you can follow Nigel on twitter @NigelBarker :)
FrostinatorFashion xx
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