Beauty is big international business, with more money changing hands than the entire economies of many South American countries. Almost every woman in the westernized world (and an increasing number of men), is affected by the business of beauty, yet the whole edifice is controlled by a handful of supremely powerful people in Japan, France, Britain and the USA. The Skin Game is the first book to explore the whole process from researching a new 'miracle' project (often involving questionable tests on animals) to its packaging, pricing and marketing. The actual cost of the cream in the jar is a tiny fraction of the purchase price, as everyone knows, but little has yet been known about the massive research costs that account for so much of the differential. Sheer old-fashioned profit comes into it too ... The giants - L'Oreal, Charles Revson, and Estée Lauder - compete fiercely for domination in youth-restoring lotions, cosmetics and fragrance. Each of them has a number of competing different brand-names within its empire. The ante goes up and up and the price, ultimately, is paid by the consumer - prepared to pay through the nose for illusions. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this search for perfection is the increase of cosmetic surgery. The gruesome techniques, frequent mistakes and horrific prices are in themselves emblematic of the lengths people will go to in search of beauty and an impossible, manipulated ideal of perfection. A startling and provocative book, The Skin Game is by the bestselling author of Gucci: A House Divided.