I want to thank all of you who responded to my request to help me figure out exactly how to describe my skin care and makeup company, Paula’s Choice, to other people who don’t know my products, books, or bulletins.

All of your comments were thoughtful, insightful, flattering, humbling, and truthful. Most of all they stimulated a meaningful contemplation of what my business is all about.

My marketing team and I have spent quite a bit of time discussing what you have contributed. It has brought a keen understanding of how those of you who shop Paula’s Choice, read my books, or use Beautypedia.com experience what we have created.

After reading all of your absorbing and fascinating comments, I think I can sum up my company and life’s work like this:

Paula’s Choice is a specialized range of skin care and makeup products I formulated after 32 years of research and writing 18 books analyzing the facts about skin care and makeup products.

Because my only mission is to help you find the best products to take care of your skin I am the only cosmetics company in the world that recommends products other than my own.

Come visit us at PaulasChoice.com and find out what you are missing!

I was sitting on an airplane (once again) when the woman next to me asked what I do for a living. Somewhat evasively I told her I owned an Internet company. I rarely start off saying I own a cosmetics company because inevitably the questions that follow leave me feeling awkward and sounding juvenile. It’s not that I’m not proud of what I do; rather, I don’t know how to succinctly, logically, or with any panache explain what Paula’s Choice products are all about. That could be about to change with your help, so please read on!

It’s silly for me to not just say from the get-go that I own a cosmetics company because, as usual, this woman asked, “What kind of Internet company do you own?” I gulped and responded that I own a cosmetics company. She said, “Oh really, what kind of cosmetics?” I said, “A skin-care and makeup company.” She asked, “Whose products do you sell?” I answered, “I sell my own products, the formulas I developed.” Then, in understandably typical fashion she asked, “What kind of products are they?”, and that’s when I get stumped.

When a woman asks me what makes Paula’s Choice special or what kind of products I sell I know what she really wants me to say. I’m supposed to respond by saying my products are all natural, or organic, or herbal, or plant-based, or contain essential oils, or contain vitamins, or some miracle ingredient from some exotic locale that only I know about, and of course the products get rid of wrinkles, stop aging, work like Botox, or cure blackheads, or oily skin and on and on. Of course, I can’t say any of that. Aside from being completely useless, simplified, inane descriptions, none of those tidbits other cosmetic companies spew like a bad case of food poisoning have any basis in creating a superior or even decent skin-care routine.

So because I can’t use the same misleading information every woman is waiting to hear, I just sit there and say something like, “Well, they’re my formulations based on what the research says is good for skin.” That goes over like a lead balloon. Even I think it sounds dull and uninteresting.

Then it dawned on me in a recent meeting with my customer service team that no one in my company, not even me, can explain or has a concise understanding of what makes Paula’s Choice products unique, and they are absolutely unique. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized they’re unparalleled in the world of skin care. I can say that confidently because I’ve reviewed thousands upon thousands of products, more than enough to know what’s brilliant and what’s terrible for skin. During that meeting the most outstanding thing happened: I finally grasped how to view and relate what my products are all about. Here it is:

Paula’s Choice is a range of skin-care products that work together synergistically in comprehensive skin-care systems to address a wide range of concerns including wrinkles, acne, oily skin, dry skin, rosacea, and sensitive skin. All of our formulations are state-of-the-art, based on published scientific research, designed to give skin exactly what it needs to be as beautiful and healthy as it can be.

Does that make sense? What do you think? If you were sitting next to me on a plane and I explained my products in this manner, would that make sense to you?

Let me know, I really want to grasp this. It’s about time, don’t you think?

The following blog entry was submitted by Elizabeth C. from Chillicothe, Ohio. Elizabeth is a Paula’s Choice customer and fan of Paula’s work. As the presidential election draws closer, Paula and her team thought that Elizabeth’s musing were timely and amusing!

I will apologize for this short zinger right up front, it is just a late night rant. While the entire world frets about financial and credit crises, someone must be alert to the more mundane items. I don’t know who will win this election, and for purposes of this discussion don’t very much care who deserves to run the country. I am however irritated when I catch video or photos of the inimitably handsome Barack Obama and less handsome but still dapper John McCain during the more important of their myriad press encounters. McCain appears so pink you’d think he’s got sunburn and the foundation coverage so heavy his eyes, brows, and lips seem to actually LOSE definition. Obama’s natural skin color is a beautiful cool-toned deep African shade of mahogany that is gorgeous on its own, regardless of the owner’s political credentials, yet every time a big press event arises he is coated down in streaky layers of over-yellowed BRONZE that I find distracting and offensive. In both cases these men look worse for having consulted a make-up specialist. What’s up with all this? I have even seen Bill Clinton recently looking like he also was visited by an intoxicated Pancake Fairy, with suboptimal results. Can’t we get men’s make-up right? It appears I was not the only one to notice these cosmetic blunders, because after watching snippets of the last presidential debate, I had these observations concerning the candidate’s appearance:

The TV set was built to create a more intimate feel, I saw more angular shadows in general, but did not feel either candidate was sitting ‘in the dark’ a great deal. Bill Moyers appeared not to have been as lucky for either facial enhancement, camera angles or lighting. Didn’t see streaks or obvious jaw-line cut-offs with foundation, didn’t catch any shiny foreheads or scalps. McCain struggles with facial lymphedema and he could have used more contouring, his brows begged for better definition which would go a long way toward de-emphasizing the lymphedema below. Likewise a pale lip liner even without filling in would have been helpful. Once again Obama’s naturally dark lips appear to have been muted with pancake or lip color, which just doesn’t do a thing for him. A little espresso lipstick would be more like it, as far as I’m concerned. All three esteemed gentlemen suffered with overly pale eyelids which was unattractive, but won’t change my voting preference.

Happy Election!

If you have a blog entry you would like to see published on the Beauty Bunch, please submit it for consideration to: deborah@paulaschoice.com.

G’day mates! How ya goin? No worries, everything has been like a dog’s dinner and I’ve been running around like a blue arse fly! (Australian slang is just a trip).

I’m in Melbourne now. It’s been quite a weekend. My time in Korea ended up great; what an experience, and Paula’s Choice Korea has been a wonderful launch. I’m so flattered that Korean women have taken to my products with such enthusiasm! I am thrilled with the businessman heading up Paula’s Choice Korea and am confident he will continue to be successful given his Web savvy and intuitive nature concerning the cosmetics industry.

I spent the weekend in Melbourne with our Australian distributors for Paula’s Choice talking a lot of business and doing a lot of drinking, especially some outstanding red wine; Australian Syrah is the best. Australia continues to be a great market for Paula’s Choice since so many of the locals are familiar with my books (all my books have been best-sellers in Australia since I published my first one there in 1989) and many subscribe to Beautypedia.

We went to an animal sanctuary today (Sunday) and we saw kangaroos (we got to feed a group of them, just precious), wombats, koala bears, emus, and a bird of prey show that had the birds swooping over our heads.

I also went to a footie game on Saturday (Australian-rules football); This is their version of our football, but it is more a mix of soccer and, well, I’m not sure what, but it was very interesting and the stadium was huge and packed, such energy. There were over 75,000 people in attendance and this is just the beginning of the season. Sports of any kind is a religion in Australia. My Australian distributor belongs to a footie club and we had lunch with this large group of sports enthusiasts and they had me speak for 20 minutes. In the 75-year history of this organization I’m the first woman speaker they’ve ever had. It was a resounding success; everyone laughed at all my jokes, including the need for a burka to cover cellulite.

I’ve attached a picture of a bookstore carrying my books here. I have a book signing there on Tuesday evening and then off to Sydney. I have a total of 30 media interviews throughout the week and then I plan on sleeping all day Saturday. I come home on Sunday (a 16 hour non-stop flight to LA) and boy am I ready to be home! I’m having I’ve-been-out-of-the-country-too-long-traveling-the world-airport weary blues!

All the best!

At least once a month everyone at PCI gathers in our lunchroom to surprise someone of the staff whose birthday happens to be in that month. Sometimes they do not suspect it and are truly surprised and others (like me) really do know what is going on. The fun is not in the actual surprise rather it is how we get someone into the lunch room.  Sometimes it is as simple as “We need you in the kitchen” or as complex as “You received a delivery and it is in the kitchen.” or ” The garbage disposal is broken can you fix it?” My favorite was one that we did not use. It was Paula’s birthday and we had decided to lock all the doors and turn off the lights (she had gone out to lunch and was in the process of returning to the office and we thought it would be cute for her to return to a “closed” office.) Bryan suggested that we put a sign up “Caution Biohazard: Closed for Skin Care Repairs.” I think Paula would have thought that was funny, because she usually does. Once you get her going, she can laugh until tears spill down her cheeks and wreck her makeup. 

We also have a list of all employees’ favorites as far as cakes or pies. While nothing can compare to my Mother’s homemade Chocolate Soufflé some of the Costco cakes that we have had were really good! It always amazes me the different types of people and their discriminating tastes. Some are ”frosting inclined” and others not so much. I remember past birthdays where people specifically requested a corner piece so that they can maximize the amount of frosting they would get. Now, that is obsession and I am not talking about the perfume!

There is also the part about singing Happy Birthday. The hardest part is when we have a lot of birthdays to sing. For example something like:  Happy Birthday Dear Bart, Deborah, Kate, Patrice, Roxanna, Karoline, Ann, Pablo, KoKo and Mark (Pablo and Koko our a few of the 11 dogs we have here in our office). A Verdi opera would be less challenging to sing some months (believe me, I know.) Also, if we leave the door open sometimes the customers on the phone can hear it. I had one customer ask what all the noise was in the background. I was pretty new at the time and so I told her it was the radio. She told me that I would lose my hearing if I kept listening to music so loud!

So next time you call in and hear a lot of noise in the background just ask whose birthday it is at PCI and I promise to to let you know!

Over the years that I have worked for Paula’s Choice many customers have asked “ You must use only her products right?” While I do use several of Paula’s products and follow her advice, one item in my cosmetics wardrobe that is not a Paula’s Choice product is mascara.

I’ve been wearing it since I was 11 and found a tube on my mom’s vanity table. I noticed it made my eyes appear larger, which was a great help given that I wore giant red Sally Jesse Raphael style glasses which made my eyes appear diminutive at best. Combine that with shoulder length mall hair, jelly bracelets, frosty pink lip gloss and I was quite a sight to behold.

Until recently, I had never found a mascara that truly performed for me in all aspects. Most had provided thickness but not much length, or length but not much thickness. Call me greedy, but I just really want a mascara to do both. Last December, while doing some Christmas shopping, I stopped into a local Sephora to check out a mascara I had heard about called Blackout by Dior. It was $25 and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend that much money on a mascara when Paula suggests several which cost much less. I justified this purchase on the principle that a $25 mascara is infinitely cheaper than a Hermes Birkin Bag.  I know Paula would cringe, I didn’t check her review of this product and I spent well over the amount she considers necessary. Thankfully Paula is patient and rarely cares about her employees straying from her path.

I tried the mascara the next day by itself without liner but with a bit of concealer and powder on my eyelids. I had to run to the grocery store for some last minute baking ingredients. As I am pondering the difference between pre-sifted and non pre-sifted flour a customer had asked if I wore false eyelashes or had eyelash extensions. When I told her they were not she asked which brand of mascara I used. This was the first time I had ever had someone stop me in all my years of wearing mascara, so it must be doing something right! The compliments did not end there, I probably did more business for Dior then some of their sales reps!

I’ve since purchased this product two or three more times while, of course, still trying the ‘latest and greatest’. It’s nice to know my Holy Grail of mascara is attainable for less than a designer handbag.

First let me start by saying that at Paula’s Choice everyone in Customer Service is trained and wants to answer questions in as helpful, polite, considerate, intelligent, and personalized manner as possible. Having said that, as the customer service manager and member of this team for more than eight years, the question of my team’s competency is one that has bothered me over the years until a recent experience helped me understand just why a consumer might ask.

When I called my local cell phone company to get information on current plans and upcoming new phones, I was met with the standard “Thank you for calling [xyz company], how may I help you?” but it seemed to go downhill from there. As I asked the questions about what new plans and phones were available, I was advised that “all of this information is on our website” and then there was silence. Was that just a recording I heard? I wasn’t really sure so I replied, “Okay….Is the number I’m calling right now not for questions only to place an order?” Although slightly modified, I just asked the very question I had come to dislike over the years (it was like a light bulb turning on), is this just an ordering line or can you answer questions? What else is customer service for is not to ask questions and have someone with knowledge and patience to take care of you. If the phone number is an ordering phone number, just tell me that up front don’t waste my time redirecting me.

To test if I could get the help I needed, I changed my question to; “Can you just tell me when my contract is up?” I wanted to see if the risk of losing my business would stir a better response. She knew that answer right away and then said “is there anything else I can help you with?” I’m thinking you haven’t even helped me yet, and you’re not getting that I’m so frustrated I’m considering changing providers. Believe me, my team is never going to do that to any Paula’s Choice customer.

So for future reference, please know that when you call Paula’s Choice, our team does take orders, BUT we also answer questions and most importantly we DO care and appreciate that you chose our company to serve your skincare and cosmetics needs. Thank you again for choosing Paula’s Choice! We look forward to speaking with you.

Along with our coffee, review of new emails and start of a game plan for upcoming tasks, there are the standard “Good Mornings” extended to each employee in the office and this doesn’t just apply to our human employees.

From divas such as Satine, Coco, Bella and Daisy to carefree boys like Pablo, Sponge Bob, Timmy, Bo, Boris and Danny, the office dogs at Paula’s Choice have become a staple in our day. As if on the time clock themselves, these dogs wouldn’t miss a day of work and feel as though they are just as productive as everyone else; even attending meetings from time to time. Of course there are the daily breaks as well and this means literally getting on the floor and for a good old fashioned belly rub. Okay, the dogs not us (although that doesn’t sound bad) and don’t think Paula is exempt. In fact, the dogs know when she’s entered the building by the sound of her voice and also know she will give them each a moment of undivided attention on the floor, high heels and all!

With wagging tails and an almost smile on their face at times, I have witnessed a great example of a win-win situation. These office dogs (some rescued) need a certain something and add a certain something to our team at the same time. Without effort, they manage to bring out the best and friendliest in each and every one of us.

While this maybe a little strange or different to other companies, Paula’s Choice wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, who would explain to our canine partners that they can no longer come to work? We just can’t imagine the office without them! 

For those of you who know Paula’s work, and given I’m Paula’s Customer Service manager, you may think that sounds blasphemous. Well, that was my stance a few years back. Being both African American and Caucasian, I have naturally tan skin that rarely burns so, I figured there was no need for sunscreen. Interestingly enough, I actually got this idea from my mother who is Caucasian even though she herself wore sunscreen due to having a fair complexion.

Of course along with others, I enjoyed many days outdoors without a care or thought about how the sun was affecting my skin. Who could blame me? Since the damage is silent and for the most case invisible (unless you get a burn), it seems as if nothing is happening.

When I began working for Paula’s Choice, I found that while people with a darker complexion may have a lower risk of sunburn and skin cancer, they are in no way immune to the damage caused by the sun. I also found out that sun exposure is a huge contributor to wrinkles and those pesky little brown spots and ashy skin tone women of color like me don’t like.

Unfortunately, I didn’t just read about these things, I actually began to see them happening (even though I was now using sunscreen, some damage had already been done from my years of neglect). My skin started to look a little blotchy, uneven and didn’t seem to feel as soft. The dead give away though; you got it, those darn brown spots which I had always thought were just age spots anyway. While the first noticeable one above my lip wasn’t bad (I actually even thought of it as little Marilyn Monroe-ish), they seemed to be creeping up all over now and not just on my face. I began to notice a few on my chest and forearms.

Flash backs of baby oil and water bottles came to mind along with full days out in the sun, just lying there soaking it all up. What the heck had I been thinking? Actually I wasn’t thinking and that is the difference between then and now. There is information available and there are products that can help address damage that has already been done as well as products that will help prevent future damage. Trust me, sunscreen is a part of my routine now 365 days a year, rain or shine without fail. It has just become a habit and a good one that I share with the rest of my family (especially my teenage girls) and my skin definitely looks the better for it. Paula often comments on how beautiful my skin looks.

So if you’re feeling the way I used to, the whole ”I don’t really need sunscreen” thing,  think again because everything you do comes to light one day and unless you are going for that uneven, weathered, freckly look, then I suggest you get your hands on a good broad spectrum product and start applying liberally!

Almost eight years ago I sat in Paula Begoun’s office in my red sport coat and tie having a conversation (OK, an interview) that would drastically change my future. I was working as a retail manager in cosmetics, and was ready for a change. Having been a fan of Paula’s books for years, I decided to visit her Web site, something I had not done in several months. As luck would have it, there was an employment ad on the home page for a makeup artist/journalist. I knew the makeup part quite well, and journalism was what I studied in college, so I applied. I had no idea if I would hear back from Paula. I didn’t know if she’d be comfortable talking with a man about cosmetics, seeing as her readership was predominantly female. But you never know unless you give it a go, so I did. About a week later I was meeting the Cosmetics Cop in person, being quizzed about ingredients, what I like and don’t like about working in the cosmetics industry, even which fashion magazines I routinely read. Although I was nervous, it was the first interview in my working life that felt natural rather than stilted.

The original interview actually turned into several more, with various job-related tests being assigned. Paula was nervous about hiring a co-writer, and had doubts that she’d be able to work on a book project with another writer without egos and viewpoints clashing. One of my assignments was to review the cosmetics line I was working for at the time. Paula wanted to see how well my writing style would blend with hers. I took to the project with gusto, turning in my “review” the next day. Paula was impressed, and that led to the next interview, which I’ll detail in another blog. Shortly after I began working for Paula, she told me that she initially thought my review of Aveda was just a minor re-write of what was in her book. She exclaimed I had some nerve if I thought she wouldn’t notice I just gave her own words a slight tweaking. But that wasn’t the case—I wrote the review from scratch (every writer’s fear: a blank computer screen save for the flashing cursor) and hoped for the best. It wasn’t until Paula passed my piece to others in the office that they pointed out I had not simply retooled her review. Rather, my writing style just happened to match hers in a nearly seamless manner. In essence, we had the same “voice” and I officially became Paula’s “mini-me”. So nearly eight years later, with five books, countless newsletters, and pages upon pages of Web content written with Paula, I’m still gainfully employed! Despite Paula’s concerns about sharing writing responsibilities, our working relationship has rarely been strained. Her experience, perspectives, and unfailing sense of humor blend perfectly with mine, and have seen us through many daunting projects. And she isn’t shy about celebrating, which is always a treat!