The Beauty Experiment How I Skipped Lipstick, Ditched Fashion, Faced the World without Concealer, and Learned to Love the Real Me

I looked at my reflection and despaired. As an exhausted young mother I felt ugly and saw that a new dress or face cream would never help. I was at risk of passing on a habit of feeling miserable about my looks to my baby girl--if nothing changed.Soon afterward Phoebe Baker Hyde made a vow: to give up new clothes, makeup, haircuts, and jewelry in hopes of revealing something she had always paid lip service to but never quite believed in--her inner beauty. The Beauty Experiment chronicles Hyde's quest for self-acceptance in nothing but her own skin. In thoughtful, exquisite prose, Hyde holds up a mirror to all women and shows how perfectionism can keep us from achieving what we really want: happiness, confidence, and serenity.

Phoebe Baker Hyde started her beauty experiment in 2007 while living in Hong Kong. She holds degrees in Cultural Anthropology and English from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Fine Arts in writing from the University of California, Irvine. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Confrontation, the Chrysalis Reader, High Plains Literary Review and on the website Pology. Her writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children. Visit: PhoebeBakerHyde.com