Today I opened up my book/package of The Beauty Buyble: The Best Beauty Products of 2007. This is a rather fun box consisting of a book, some advertisements and coupons, including a coupon for a free magazine subscription, a package of beauty product samples, and some shredded pink paper paper (I might actually reuse the pink paper). Full price for the package is 19.95 at stores such as Barnes and Noble. Amazon.com has it for $13.57. I imagine that as the year goes on, it could show up on the Barnes and Noble sales rack as well, which a great way to get books at discount prices.

The book, written by Paula Conway and Maureen Regan, is fine. I didn't' love it, but didn't dislike it either. It rates, in the author's opinions, the best products in a number of categories covering hair, makeup, skincare and body care. Within each category several items are listed so that varying price ranges are covered. Generally there is a high, medium and low price item in each category, but some categories have more or less. Some categories also include an "outrageous" price item. Each product description is fairly short, so the information is not particularly in depth, but that also allows for many categories and products to be covered. In between the product listings are beauty tips from a variety of professionals. If the book stood alone, I don't know that I would pay for it, not because there is anything wrong with it, but simply because I don't have a real need for it. But when combined with the samples, I think it was worth the purchase.

The sample pack included the following: MD Skincare Maximum Moisture Treatment, Freeze 24/7 Lip Plumper, Cetaphil Cleanser, E.L.F. Brightening Eye Liner in black, Soft Lips Lip Balm, Biosilk Shampoo, Nivea Moisturizing Cream, Schwartzkopf Bonacure Smooth Express Hair Conditioner, Profoot Heal Rescue Moisturizing Foot Cream, Bananaboat Sport Sunscreen and Kid's Sunscreen, Borba Skin Balance powder drink mix, 3 types of Vitabath, Lipmints lipgloss, Yu-Be Moisturizing skin cream, Jelly Bath hand soak, Cat Cosmetics lip pencils in naked lip (note, I was supposed to also get a Cat Cosmetics eye pencil, but got two lip pencils instead), NYC Pencil and Pout in ruby duet, Canyon Ranch cards with various beauty tips, Chupa Chups Watermelon Lip Balm, Maybelline Moisture Extreme lipstick, a ten issue subscription to Looking Good Now Magazine, some coupons, and a DHC catalog with eleven samples.

Among the samples, I am particularly excited to try the Yu-Be cream, the Schwartzkopf Bonacure conditioner, and the DHC products because it has been some time since I gave DHC some thought and I am interested in their olive oil cleansers.

Overall, this is about the entire package: The book has some fun tips and is giving me ideas for products to try. And I just plain love product samples! So generally, I think the whole package was a fun purchase and worth the price.

Disclosures: Beauty and Fashion Tech at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page