This was a very dry read for me. I’m sure it will find its audience but I am not that. The title caught me but the writing seemed bland. I loved the cover art work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Koehler Books for this ARC. What follows is my honest review:

I chose this book based on the title. As a mental health professional who loves the world of beauty and fashion, I thought I was about to get an insiders glimpse into the consulting side of this industry. We know that major companies hire psychologists and psychiatrists to advise them on consumer psychology and I anticipated that this would be a juicy exploration of that work.

It is decidedly NOT.

Rather, this book is a deadly dull bait-and-switch that I had to force myself to finish because I committed to offering this review. Let me start with a “spoiler”-

The author is in makeup MLM. She goes out of her way to avoid mentioning the name of the company, but it’s easy to identify for anyone searching the terms “Beauty Consultant” or “Star Consultant Award” in google. Moreover, this is a doctor who complains about making a median income of $188,000 (4.7x the U.S. median income!) before augmenting her income by joining this MLM.

Even if you are pro-MLM (I am not- the vast majority of people who join them lose money), this book is not what it claims to be. The synopsis talks about the impact Sandy Hook has on the author and her practice. I found this to be an egregious misappropriation of this tragedy, considering that the event merits all of a *single paragraphs* mention before the author abruptly changes to the topic of installing her new router (with help).

This book will not teach you about the beauty industry. It will not teach you about practicing psychiatry in the aftermath of Sandy Hook. It won’t even really teach you much about the author, other than how unhappy she is with the current medical business model…. A topic she explains ad nauseam.

I chose this title because it seemed like the Venn of several things I’m very interested in: mental healthcare, the beauty industry, and current events. What it actually was is a mish-mash of overly intellectual (bordering on parodic) prose, focusing on the most mundane details of the authors life (prepare yourself for multiple paragraphs describing her commute!) and culminating in… nothing worth reading.

I wish I’d skipped this one.

Was interesting and informative. I would have liked more of a backstory on the connections between her psychiatry work and her work in the beauty industry, but felt it read a bit more like a how to guide how to break into the MLM beauty world, which isn’t really for me. Otherwise well written and intriguing.

Dr. Jane B. Sofair is a psychiatrist who decided to change her career by becoming a beauty consultant, after dealing with burnout; it is impressive how Dr. Jane B Sofair left her secure jobs to undertake a job she knew little about.
I appreciated how the author spent some words describing how she became a physician and how solo practice works.
The author spends most of the book talking about her new career and how she approached the beauty world. She explained her training as a beauty consultant, her first clients and especially how she was able to use her knowledge as a doctor to improve as a consultant.
It took me a while to get into the narrative, but the chapters about how beauty consulting works were really interesting.

Although the title may lead one to expect an in-depth exploration of the psychology of the beauty industry, Jane B. Sofair's 'The Beauty World Through the Eyes of a Psychiatrist' presents a more personal and maybe surprising tale. Sofair shares her substantial career transition from an independent psychiatric practice to that of beauty and cosmetics.
Set against the context of a trying times since the Sandy Hook shooting, the book chronicles her leap into this new career and the personal and professional development that followed. Instead of a clinical review, the memoir is a special take on the world of beauty based on the eyes of one trained to perceive human behavior and emotions.

Readers seeking a serious psychological analysis of beauty standards or the industry's effects may find this book goes down a different road. But for readers who are interested in a tale of professional rebirth, personal strength, and an outside-the-box observation of the world of beauty from a sympathetic and perceptive perspective, Sofair's memoir may be an entertaining and stimulating read.

This book was a bit harder to get into, but once I was in, I was hooked! I loved the characters and the struggles seemed realistic and not out of the world. Thank you for the arc!!

I have been trying to read more memoirs and this one was quite interesting.
Thank you to Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Dr. Jane Sofair has chosen a unique career path. Trained as a psychiatrist, she went from being part of a large practice to a solo practice, then back to a group practice. She is challenged and frustrated by the dark side of medical practice, dealing with insurance, fee schedules, allowable yearly visits and the resulting burnout. Her solution is unusual - she becomes a beauty consultant. She combines her daytime psychiatry practice with an evening beauty sales position. Dr. Sofair quickly learns that her career in psychiatry helps her with product sales. She is passionate about product quality and ingredients and understands how women use cosmetics to improve self esteem. Through her own experiences, she advises readers to “to allow yourself to think outside the box, and to carry passion with you…” Those are words we can all appreciate. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Köehler Books and Dr. Jane Sofair for this ARC.