Complexion Perfection!: Your Ultimate Guide to Beautiful Skin by Hollywood’s Leading Skin Health Expert by Kate Somerville. © 2010 Hay House. ISBN 9781401924621. Hardback. Health/Skin Care. 384 pages. $24.95 US. [ Pre-order ] Source: eARC from publisher

As a sufferer of chronic stress and acne rosacea, I jumped at the chance to read this book. At the moment, I am using a topical antibiotic for my rosacea (metronidazole), but I want a way to treat my skin without having to resort to a harsh chemical.

This book does a great job of explaining what outside of ourselves affects our skin, how our skin is made up and how it functions, the connection between our skin and our emotions, and takes us through a list of the common ingredients used in skin care products and what exactly they are for.

This is not just someone giving you a Cosmo version of healthy skin, Somerville gets into the science of skin care in such a way that the reader is not overwhelmed. It’s extremely easy to understand.

I quite enjoyed being introduced to Kate’s “skin pyramid” (protect, hydrate, feed, stimulate and detox) and it’s definitely something I will be mindful of the in future. Another extremely useful feature of the book is the list of skin treatments. The author takes us through each one, explaining what problems they are generally used for, who should and shouldn’t use them, what to expect the treatment to consist of and finally an general estimation at the cost. She even tells you which current hypes everyone should avoid, like microdermabrasion and oral antibiotics.

While I wouldn’t necessarily classify this book as green or natural, it does talk in numerous places about organic and natural ingredients and treatments for your skin (I was particularly intrigued by the aspirin facial recipe). She also warns us to avoid synthetic fragrances, petrochemicals, nanoparticles, and animal testing.

I’ll admit, while I did enjoy this book, I was also a little let down. I was hoping it would contain more of what would be possible to do without clinical treatment. So that was a let-down because I felt it was sort of saying “if you can’t afford these treatments, well, you’re just going to be stuck like that.”

If you need to great guide to taking care of your skin (by means of diet, stress-reduction, exercise and vitamin supplements), this is definitely it. However, if you are looking for something more along the lines of at-home remedies and such, I’d look elsewhere.

Kate Somerville is a paramedical esthetician and celebrity facialist, with over 18 years of experience. Complexion Perfection! will be released on March 15, 2010.

Rating: 4 out of 5