My Pursuit of Beauty: A Cosmetic Chemist Reveals The Glitz, The Glam and The Batsh*t Crazy

 Beauty Comes from Within: Jars, Bottles and Tubes

At age 10, Vince Spinnato watched TV soaps with his grandmother and became enamored with the characters on The Young and the Restless who owned a cosmetics firm. He vowed he would follow in their footsteps one day and even chose a name—VS Vincenzo—a brand one of his companies still bears.

In his memoir, My Pursuit of Beauty: A Cosmetic Chemist Reveals The Glitz, The Glamand The Batsh*t Crazy, Spinnato shares the inner workings of the multi-billion-dollar beauty industry with entertaining tales about creating beauty products for megastars like Michael Jordan, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Gwen Stefani, Damone Roberts, and scores more.

He also shares some of his life’s most bizarre situations. There was the time he survived a tornado in Iowa while being tethered to a bridge, and another when he became stuck inside a resort water slide that involved melted butter and rescue by the fire department. Then there was his terrifying flight post 9/11 that was nearly shot down by fighter pilots.

Spinnato dealt with incessant bullying, body dysmorphia, trichotillomania* and multiple betrayals on the bumpy road from his grandmother’s couch in Vineland, New Jersey, to becoming a serial entrepreneur and expert in the beauty industry.

“A devastating breakup was the last straw,” he says. “At age 20, I got in my car, waved goodbye to New Jersey and headed to Hollywood, determined to launch my career.”

His modus operandi was to breeze into famous salons and announce that he would return in the morning to begin his internship. Once he felt he had both the expertise and the financial means, he founded TurnKey Beauty, Inc. specializing in the development of beauty and personal care products for celebrities under their own names, as well as brands for entrepreneurs and retail companies.

Spinnato has created more than 300 products for retail establishments like Banana Republic, Costco, Johnson & Johnson, Sephora, Victoria’s Secrets, Body Works and others. He recently launched a luxury skincare line, Caviar & Diamond, under his VS Vincenzo brand. 

“To acknowledge those who helped me, I’m passing it forward by establishing two arts scholarships in my father’s and grandfather’s names, supporting Wells of Life, which provides clean water wells to villages in Uganda and volunteering at the Wounded Warriors Project with my comfort dog, Savannah,” Spinnato says. “To me, success means the financial ability to make a difference in the lives of others.”

He’s also developing a product line to help the approximately one to four-percent of the U.S. population who suffer from trichotillomania,* a hair-pulling disorder that Spinnato experiences.

*NOTE: Trichotillomania, also known as the “hair-pulling disorder,” is a type of impulse control disorder. Sufferers have an irresistible urge to pull out their hair from their scalp, eyelashes and eyebrows. 

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:

"'Dynasty, ' produced by my dad, Aaron Spelling, sparked the imagination of my friend, Vince Spinnato, and inspired him to turn his dreams of developing luxury beauty products into a reality. His no-holds-barred memoir describing his struggles to the top is brutally honest, hilarious and heartbreaking. I couldn't put the book down."  

-Tori Spelling, actress/author of "sToriTelling"

"Vince's honesty and his scientific talent about the skincare industry has made me love this book and his products. Growing up with the legendary iconic faces of MGM royalty like my mother, Judy Garland, I understand the trust you need to have in today's confusing billion-dollar beauty industry. When you find the right 'wizard' you are grateful and stay connected."

-Lorna Luft, singer/actor, "The New York Times" bestselling author of "AStar is Born: The Film That Got Away" and five-time Emmy award-winning producer of the mini-series "Judy Garland: Me and My Shadow"

"As a beauty professional and founder of the largest 'meeting and discussing' book club in the world, I knew from the first chapter that this was from a perspective of creating 'beauty' that I had not read before. I flew through the pages. Five Diamonds in the Pulpwood Queen Recommended Reading list. This dazzling gem is the Official 2021 February Pulpwood Queen/Timber Guys Book of the Month Club Selection!"

-Kathy L. Murphy, founder of International Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Reading Nation and author of "The Pulpwood Queen's Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life"