Christmas Countdown: The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible

Ok, so admittedly you'd have to know the recipient well to be able to offer today's Christmas gift suggestion without causing offense but I wanted to include The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible as part of Skin Deep's Christmas Countdown because it is such a fantastic book and one which I feel mature women would enjoy.

Written by highly respected journalists, Jo Fairley and Sarah Stacey, the Beauty Bible series of books should be compulsory reading list material for any self-confessed beauty junkies. I've previously read The Green Beauty Bible, which remains one of my favourite beauty books. Although I had previously disregarded The Anti-Aging version, the combination of reaching a milestone birthday this year and the book being re-released in an updated 2013 version* meant that it captured my attention.

The inclusion of "Anti-Ageing" in the title is slightly misleading because although the book is clearly aimed towards more mature women, the overall tone is positive and very much once of embracing the inevitable process and ageing gracefully. The book covers targeted topics such as rosacea, choosing makeup for mature women and a brief look at cosmetic procedures. Along with a wealth of detailed product reviews, The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible is splattered with inspirational quotations from celebrities such as Jane Birkin, Christy Turlington and Susan Sarandon, whose offering is my personal favourite: "When you're younger, you want to be perfect but later you learn that perfect isn't really that interesting."

If you're still nervous about giving this as a gift then I'd recommend picking up a copy for yourself- I've only had my copy for a couple of days but it's quickly become a handy reference guide and I've found myself struggling to put it down.

*The paperback edition of The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible in a fully revised 2013 version with new award winners launches tomorrow, 5th December priced £15.99