Paula Begoun is the creator and innovative force behind Paula's Choice skin care and cosmetics. With more than 25 years of extensive experience in the beauty industry, combined with in-depth research and study of skin and cosmetic ingredients, Paula has the knowledge and expertise to develop truly extraordinary, state-of-the-art formulations for her own line. Paula guarantees that her products meet her exact criteria for excellent skin care, and she won't make any exaggerated claims about them. Her goal is to help women obtain and maintain the skin they've always dreamed of having.

Paula Begoun is the author and publisher of several best-selling books on the beauty industry, including several editions of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, Blue Eyeshadow Should Be Illegal, The Beauty Bible, and Don't Go Shopping for Hair-Care Products Without Me. She has sold more than 2.5 million copies of her books and is also a syndicated columnist, with her “Dear Paula” column appearing in papers throughout North America. Her work as a nationally-recognized consumer expert for the cosmetics industry has led to repeat appearances on CNN, as well as programs such as Oprah, The Today Show, 20/20, Dateline NBC, The View, and Primetime.

Well-known for her extensive knowledge of the cosmetics industry, she is a respected resource amongst professionals in a variety of fields impacting the world of skin care. Over the years Paula has been and remains a consultant for dermatologists, plastic surgeons, major cosmetics companies, and industry insiders.  How Paula does her reviews...

Paula's Story
At first, my quest was personal. I had suffered with acne for many years. I visited countless dermatologists, tried hundreds of skin-care products in all price ranges, and still I had acne. How could that be? Sometimes one product worked a little, but not as well as I hoped and never for very long. And there were always side effects. Most products made my skin so red and irritated I thought it was going to fall off.

Slowly but surely, I worked my way through the confusion and began to recognize some fundamental problems with the cosmetics industry and prescription skin-care products. I realized that the cosmetics industry's information was little more than marketing mumbo jumbo. In the area of prescription skin-care products, there was little if any research or information about how irritation or even sun damage affected skin.

For years I earned my living as a makeup artist. Occasionally, I would work at department-store makeup counters. But each new job for a cosmetics line resulted in problems. Inevitably, the line representative would want me to tell a customer that a toner could close pores or a moisturizer could get rid of wrinkles. I knew that wasn't true. (If a toner could close pores, everyone who used toners would have poreless skin, and if moisturizers could get rid of wrinkles, no one would have wrinkles.)

My view on the cosmetics industry and my refusal to perpetuate falsities resulted in regular appearances on KIRO-TV, a local TV station in Seattle. I also received some national and international TV and print exposure. I left KIRO in 1986 after finishing my first book, Blue Eyeshadow Should Be Illegal. This was an exposé of the cosmetics industry revealing everything they didn't (and still don't) want you to know.

After I wrote Blue Eyeshadow, I received thousands of letters from women asking, now that they knew how crazy the cosmetics industry was, what should they buy or what did I think of this product or that? An overview of the cosmetics industry was helpful but they wanted me to name names and be specific. That's when I wrote the first edition of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me. Since then, the demand to know what works and what doesn't has grown, mostly because there are always new products on the market.

The Here and Now
I didn't know it at the time, but between department store lines, infomercials, multilevel direct marketing lines, home shopping network lines, drugstore cosmetics companies, and the endless parade of new product launches, my job was only beginning. Today, to keep up with the industry, I continually review new products in my newsletter, Cosmetics Counter Update, and there have now been six editions of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me; the most recent is over 1,400 pages. Combating the endless parade of useless and bizarre information can be maddening. But it's my job and, thankfully, it has been far more rewarding than I ever expected.

A Note to the Industry
Although I complain about the way cosmetics companies twist the truth, and the fact that some won't send me information, I want to give my heartfelt thanks to the companies that actually do provide me with research and interviews. I may not agree with everything they send my way, but these resources are always welcomed and appreciated more than I can say. It is my intent to provide the best information possible, and whenever I can see the cosmetics industry's point of view it makes my reporting that much more accurate. There are wonderful, exquisite products out there. I tend to harp on the negative and crazy claims, prices, and poor quality, but the major reason I do what I do is because the cosmetics world does have so many amazing products to choose from.

I am hardly anti-makeup or anti-skin care. I am in awe of how well most cosmetics work. Where would we be without the brilliant work of the cosmetic chemists who make the exquisite products we use? It is because of their astonishing skill that we have moisturizers that take care of dry skin, mascaras that build thick, lush lashes without flaking or smearing, foundations that smooth out skin tone, sunscreens that protect skin from sunburn as well as wrinkles and skin cancer, lipsticks that add elegant color and definition to the mouth, blushes that softly accent cheekbones, and on and on and on.


So thank you to all cosmetic chemists everywhere who strive to produce better products and who continue to make the beauty industry more beautiful. Please, do the best you can to combat the insane marketing departments you have to work with. Your work is rooted in science, not hyperbole.