Do you believe Paula Begoun ???
EDS Skin Care Forums Forum Index » Skin Care and Makeup Forum

free skin care · Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:14 am

I used to read her stuff but when I disagree with her (like about EOs) I find her hyper-assertive pushy know-it-all manner really grating.

I only ever read her skincare stuff. I don't trust her with makeup since, in all the pictures I've seen of her, she's wearing make-up that looks really heavy and dated.

Funny note, I remember reading a review of Tigi Bed-Head hair products where she said something like "This is a ridiculous claim. No haircare product can prevent bed head." I guess she didn't realize that they wanted to promote a just-rolled-out-of-bed look. My Granny is more hip that PB. Laughing

free skin care · Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:18 pm

Quote:

Funny note, I remember reading a review of Tigi Bed-Head hair products where she said something like "This is a ridiculous claim. No haircare product can prevent bed head." I guess she didn't realize that they wanted to promote a just-rolled-out-of-bed look.

That's hilarious! Laughing

free skin care · Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:32 am

I think that at one time she was more attentive to details and formulations. Now, she's into her own publicity. When you THINK your infallible, you make mistakes. IMHO

free skin care · Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:06 pm

One thing that puzzles me is that for Paula, a lot of anti-aging ingredients are just water-binding. I don't quite buy that. Many people have seen positive effects of these ingredients.

free skin care · Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:16 pm

I do not ascribe to any review based on the list of ingredients only! I only read reviews where the author has actually used the product.
I think she should be punished!

free skin care · Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:21 pm

I enjoy reading her reviews and I do find a lot of her information informative. I also like that she does back up her assertions with published research. I think she's trying to help the public weed through false claims and also to understand that you don't always have to buy the most expensive products to get some of the most effective.

free skin care · Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:51 pm

All of your comments have been so much fun and so entertaining that I can only hope that "Miss Paula" herself has tuned in to have a read. I agree you have to take her with a grain of salt because she is after all a tad opinionated. I am also a little surprised that for someone who is supposed to be such an expert on beauty products, she really hasn't been that well put together when I have seen her on TV. Bad Grin

free skin care · Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:27 am

I want to bring my post back up just to share my last two disappointement in PB. I receive a mail from The Cosmetics Cop company , they are now looking for sale representative or something like that ( My English is not totally perfect ). It looks like Paula's Choice is turning into Avon style !!!

And The last book I purchase from her the last edition of Don't go to the Cosmetic Counter Without Me was much smaller then the previous one. She did not reviews a lot of brand that was reviewed in her previous book. I was really disappointed in my purchase.

I'm done with her. I lost all interest.

free skin care · Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:20 am

I am a fan of hers but you do have to take what she says with a grain of salt. Generally speaking I think most of what she says is accurate but it doesn't work for everyone. I have liked products that she doesn't.

I like that she reviews the ingredients, she couldn't possibly try every product out there and even if she did we all have different skin types.

So I like reading what she has to say and then decide for myself.

free skin care · Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:25 am

I take her with a grain. I did find some useful info in her latest book. I do have a hard time with the selling and promoting of her own products in the book. Isn't that a conflict? The product ingredients list is handy. I wouldn't buy another book by her.

free skin care · Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:59 am

tam wrote:

She loses a lot of credibility points with me when she is also promoting her own skincare and cosmetic lines. Rolling Eyes

This sentence sums it up for me....selling her own products means that she is automatically biased. This is TOTALLY a conflict of interest.

Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:08 am

Interesting topic. Well... I do think she has been given a lot of credibility for someone who apparently does not have any scientific background. Being a makeup artist is not enough. However, she clearly was made aware of marketing and campaign strategy. And there are way to many people out there that believe everything they read. Including what she writes. A self touting expert. I think any business major in this country could explain that if you can get around the fluff, you might not find what you thought you were looking at. There is a reason that every corporation has a huge marketing department. And that meetings can go on for days just over a bottle design.

Personally, I look to actual science for those things that have been tested. For items that haven't been tested in a lab, but have a huge following showing results... those are note worthy as well. And I think I'm with it enough to decide for myself...I would also turn to the cosmeticdatabase or wikipedia to investigate ingredients I'm not familiar with to see if there is anything I should be concerned about. I generally don't experience skin allergies (except with silicone based products... I learned the hard way with Frizz-ease... great product if you don't develop a zit line across your forehead.) However, I've had enough unexplained medical issues personally and cancer throughout my family to not give some merit to products that we are absorbing topically, ingesting, inhaling... etc! And I gotta say. I'm not looking to a makeup artist to educate me on that.But that doesn't mean I won't think " hmm

m... I should do some research on that."

Now... all that said. I've looked at her products... and they don't seem to include too many questionable ingredients... and they are priced fairly reasonable. For example, I'm looking for a Salicylic lotion or gel for DH's PK. She has one that oz. for oz is reasonably priced.

I also don't think it's unusual for someone to be reporting on a topic and decide to create alternatives to all the crap they see. It's another thing if she contradicts herself (like the lip gloss quote above).However, someone said a long time ago... That would be like consumer reports starting their own line. It does create conflicted interests. Their products are bad, mine are good. Even if she doesn't say that exactly. It's inferred. Because why would she be selling something she thinks is bad?

Well...another long post...

free skin care · Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:42 am

I too take her with a grain. I have never purchased her book, or her products. Not to say I may not purchase her products, but someone who has published a book to push their own products is not necessarily a book I want to read. I look for unbiased reviews, that is why I use this site and MUA. It is a real person like me, that could have similar skin (hair, whatever) issues, and maybe I could narrow down my choices by asking questions, and trying their possible solutions. If PB products worked on me, then by all means I would use them! Just my two cents

free skin care · Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:12 pm

No I don't...it's all about making money!

free skin care · Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:37 pm

I enjoy reading her reviews .

Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:46 pm

I really like her work. She really made a difference for women and their rights vis a vis cosmetics. I learned so much from her books in the late '90's. I think that before we had access to boards like this, she was pretty much a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Go to a bookstore in 1997 and see if you could find anything like that out there.

Today, of course, I double check her Beautypedia recs to MUA and such. Unlike many I feel her analysis of products based on peer reviewed research is very useful. I find science vs. anecdotal evidence very useful. I think without it we'd still be using candles and all that.

Also, the complaints about her own line are forgetting that when she started her line in the '90's cosmetic manufacturers were not listening to women and their needs. The critiques on formulations that she had were not even being addressed or at such a slow rate that it would have taken hundreds of years to get those products on the market. My feeling is that many cosmetic execs simply had no respect for women. The president of Lauder was quoted at the time as saying that they made makeup for "kept women"!

Nowadays, the internet has utterly changed the landscape. I think cosmetic companies regularly troll the internet looking for good ideas and putting them out immediately. Consumers have much more say and can share information in real time about the effectiveness of products. Judging her body of work without this context is really unfair.

What has any other woman done to advocate for all of us when we didn't have a voice? Before the internet? Name one.

free skin care · Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:49 pm

No I dont and never will, the proves in the pudding as far as results.

free skin care · Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:04 pm

I have asked this question on every "paula" thread except this one: Does ANYONE know this person's credentials? What makes her the skincare expert she purports to be? From what I understand and the critiques I have read of her, she apparently knows not much more than many of us and I would expect she knows significantly less than many others.
She has a website and a following far as I can tell - unless someone can give me a different slant. Is she even an aesthetician???? Really - a chemist???? even a nurse would be something. What makes her opinion count to anyone?

free skin care · Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:12 pm

sister sweets wrote:

I have asked this question on every "paula" thread except this one: Does ANYONE know this person's credentials? What makes her the skincare expert she purports to be? From what I understand and the critiques I have read of her, she apparently knows not much more than many of us and I would expect she knows significantly less than many others.
She has a website and a following far as I can tell - unless someone can give me a different slant. Is she even an aesthetician???? Really - a chemist???? even a nurse would be something. What makes her opinion count to anyone?

Sis, I stated this on a different thread, but from what I can tell she does not have any "credentials". From what I recall she was a make-up artist and learned about products, etc., like the rest of us are doing!

free skin care · Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:26 pm

You don't need to believe everything but I also use her product and I think I believe her.

free skin care · Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:01 pm

She does tell people that they dont have to agree with her. and she does talk to people that know about formulations and ingredients but i think its her pushy opinion that ticks people off.

i think because of her the industry changed for the better and most companies have ingredients listings now and you would be suspicious of ones that dont. i dont like her products but i dont think there is anything wrong with her having her own line. other companies always say they are the best but i dont like her rec her own stuff on lists. i only like a few of her products but i had problems with most of them irritating my face.

i used to subscribe to her newsletters and get her books but when i went to natural cos my face could not tolerate stuff anymore i didnt bother with her stuff anymore unless i was lemming something in the dept store in hopes of something that would not bother my face. i learned to read lists and my skin is so decent right now. i just wish that she would understand natural a bit more as not all natural is bad either. wonder what she will say about the oil cleansing method?

she pushes the lower priced things too much, sometimes a gal just wants to pamper herself.

free skin care · Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:55 pm

rileygirl wrote:

sister sweets wrote:

I have asked this question on every "paula" thread except this one: Does ANYONE know this person's credentials? What makes her the skincare expert she purports to be? From what I understand and the critiques I have read of her, she apparently knows not much more than many of us and I would expect she knows significantly less than many others.
She has a website and a following far as I can tell - unless someone can give me a different slant. Is she even an aesthetician???? Really - a chemist???? even a nurse would be something. What makes her opinion count to anyone?

Sis, I stated this on a different thread, but from what I can tell she does not have any "credentials". From what I recall she was a make-up artist and learned about products, etc., like the rest of us are doing!

Thanks Riley girl...That explains a lot. We're better off listening to each other on EDS.

free skin care · Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:35 am

NO... I would never recommend following her advice. If you do, you'll never wear any type of make-up or personal care product again since according to this "guru" about 3/4 of the ingredients have the potential to kill you! HOGWASH!!

Talk to any member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, or any cosmetic chemist who has been a professional formulator for years. Paula is literally a running joke among genuine cosmetic chemists and raw material scientists. And, as has been stated in these posts, once she came out with her own line, the "conflict of interest" completely shot down any credibility she may have had in the first place.

If you need information, ask a true cosmetic chemist or raw material scientist for the answer.

Hope this helps,

John

free skin care · Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:56 am

Her ideas on facial exercising are a bit strange. There are holes in her theories on that, so it wouldn't surprise me if there are holes in her other theories on things. Laughing

Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:45 am

Disclaimer: I use her BHA fluid.

Basing an opinion on skincare solely on ingredients is like basing an opinion on a recipe solely on ingredients. Unless PB knows the percentages of each ingredient, and I haven't read anything that says she does, then she really can't say much objectively about how well formulated the product is.

I do give her credit for a couple of things, however. One is the role of pH in exfoliators, and noting which ones have the correct pH to be active. The second is the efficacy of certain s/s filters. Not all US filters provide adequate UVA blocking/absorption.

Other than that, yep, take her with a grain of salt.

Automatic Message

If this is your first visit to the EDS Forums please take the time to register. Registration is required for you to post on the forums. Registration will also give you the ability to track messages of interest, send private messages to other users, participate in Gift Certificates draws and enjoy automatic discounts for shopping at our online store. Registration is free and takes just a few seconds to complete.

Click Here to join our community.

If you are already a registered member on the forums, please login to gain full access to the site.