Makeupandbeautyblog.com Launches to Deliver Unbiased Beauty Product Reviews

Beauty blogs like Makeup and Beauty Blog are taking advantage of their independence to bring honest, helpful product reviews to makeup lovers everywhere. Immune to many of the factors that influence the reviews done by glamour magazines and corporate-sponsored Web sites, professional beauty blogs are changing the way women learn about the products they use.

Unbiased, unbridled honesty is becoming increasingly rare for resources that review products in the $160 billion-dollar beauty industry, but beauty blogs like Makeup and Beauty Blog are working to change that.

The independence of being a professional beauty blogger means being able to be honest with readers and not having to answer to publishers or to advertisers before writing a critical review. Traditionally, women relied upon the advice of friends, their own trial and error, and magazine reviews and advertisements for information on cosmetics and other beauty products, but beauty blogging combines practical testing, solid journalism and a personal touch to create something entirely different and helpful.

"There's useful information in every single post," said Karen Monterichard, editor of Makeup and Beauty Blog, "whether the reader is a beauty junky in training or a seasoned makeup addict. I try to take the position that I'm the reader's friend, the one she'd take shopping who would tell her the truth."

Makeup and Beauty Blog aims to produce in-depth, practical reviews of both luxury and drugstore makeup, skin care products, fragrances and hair products, as well as accessories, salons and spas.

But even among beauty blogs, styles and quality vary.

"Most beauty bloggers won't post pictures of themselves to show their results with different products," said Monterichard. "What most bloggers do is take pictures off the Internet, write a paragraph or two about the product, but you don't get a sense that they've actually used it. And the majority of beauty bloggers have this plain sort of pedestrian style where it's like, 'I think this,' 'I think that,' and it's not really funny or engaging."

Something most professional beauty blogs do have in common is a personal connection with the reader. A real person is on the other end of the computer, someone who appreciates beauty products that deliver on the marketing hype.

Large cosmetics companies have begun to take note of the influence professional beauty blogs now have.

"Sixty-three percent of women who read a positive review of a product on a beauty blog go out and purchase that product," said Heather Park, MAC Cosmetics Global Communications Rep.

About Makeup and Beauty Blog:

Karen Monterichard started Makeup and Beauty Blog to share her obsession with makeup. The site features beauty product reviews, makeup tips and news from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict. For more information, please visit www.makeupandbeautyblog.com.