Return to Beauty: Old-World Recipes for Great Radiant Skin »

NARINE NIKOGOSIAN trained in nursing with a concentration in dermatology in her native Armenia and Russia before coming to the United States. In the U.S., she ran the successful Starface salon in Glendale, California, and later built a well-respected reputation as a talented aesthetician at Ole Henriksen Face and Body on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Her clients include many of Hollywood's top stars.

Return to Beauty offers regimens made from fresh ingredients that can be found right in your kitchen. With recipes for winter, spring, summer, and fall, you can look beautiful throughout the year. Narine Nikogosian's natural and inexpensive products can be whipped up in less than ten minutes. Have a jar of honey in your pantry? Mix it with a few crushed walnuts to create a sensual, aromatic scrub for oily skin. Use dabs of cottage cheese to lighten undereye circles, or almond oil to rehydrate cracked lips. Narine also provides recipes based on astrological signs, such as for Scorpio, a Gracious Grapefruit Mask made of grapefruit, egg yolk, and soothing honey to rejuvenate your skin even after a late night.

Narine is from a long line of Armenian women who have been harnessing the powers of nature to create everlasting beauty. For the first time, she reveals her secrets so that you can have star-worthy skin.

Library Journal

These two titles take drastically different approaches to skin care. Naturopathic physician Logan, Mark G. Rubin, M.D. (dermatology, Univ. of California-San Diego), and Phillip M. Levy, M.D., who specializes in internal medicine and dermatology, discuss the scientific advances in preventing, slowing, and, to a certain degree, reversing skin damage. Nikogosian, a well-known celebrity skin care expert in Los Angeles, approaches skin care with special recipes for toners, moisturizers, and toning creams made at home from botanicals. VERDICTYour Skin is much more technical and may be a bit heavy at times for lay readers, but it is authoritative and presents an excellent overview of current thought. It will be of more use for most library collections than Nikogosian's personal take. Her recipes, even the most complicated, reflect a "handed down from mother to daughter" attitude and will appeal to readers who gravitate toward natural procedures and products.—Susan B. Hagloch, formerly with Tuscarawas Cty. P.L., New Philadelphia, OH