As well as loving Dame Judi Dench for being an excellent actress, I love that she has aged gracefully, embraced her lines and uses make-up to highlight all her best features.
Compared to poor Donatella Versace, below, who has tried to stay young under the surgeon's knife.
Donatella Versace; trying to stay forever young through cosmetic surgery
I'll
stick with Judi's plan & let nature take its' course, a few wrinkles
in the mirror will look better than a face that I don't recognise...
The Christmas season is apon us, which means, for many of us, an increase in the amount of alcohol consumed. Bad news for your skin. So, to survive the Christmas parties & celebrations, try to match every alcoholic drink you have with a glass of water (still or sparkling); your skin will look less dehydrated, and you'll have a much lesser hangover come the 1st of January!
Try one night out without doing this, then drink a glass of water with every alcoholic drink another night ... you'll see the difference it makes.
How are you sitting, or standing, reading this? Are you sitting up straight / standing tall, or are you slouching? Good posture can instantly make us look slimmer, taller, more confident and healthier! And it's free!!
To help your posture, stand in front of your mirror, front on and side on, to
see where your problem is. Then stand tall with your feet comfortably
apart. Draw in your stomach, draw your pelvis up and move your shoulders
down and back. Imagine you've got a thread attached to the top of your
head and it's drawing you up to the ceiling - feel your body lengthening
and straightening. Now look at your posture again. You should look
taller and thinner.
If you need help to straighten your shoulders or your core, here are some simple tips ...
Exercise your rhomboids, the muscles in
between your shoulders. To work them, draw your shoulder blades
together, hold for 10 seconds and release. Do this five to 10 times
every day, and you'll soon see a difference.
A strong core helps support your
back and abs, and makes good posture easier. Stand straight and imagine your midsection has been
replaced with an apple. Now, imagine that an apple corer has removed
the core of the apple, leaving a void right down the middle. You need to
pull in your midsection, front, sides and back (and up through your
pelvic floor) to fill in the apple. Pull in tightly, imagine the void
getting smaller, keep pulling in, then hold and release. Do this once a
day and keep holding for a little longer each time until you can hold
for 30 seconds or more.
When you sit, push your bottom to the back of the
chair and sit up straight, with your feet flat on the floor. Do this at
work, at home and in the car and pull in your core. It'll soon show on your figure!
Yellow teeth are very ageing, but if you like curry and tea as much as I do then you need to have a good toothpaste. If you feel that your teeth could do with a little whitening, try Arm & Hammer's Extra White mint toothpaste, it contains baking soda to give teeth a deep cleaning (they feel amazing afterwards).
It's not the nicest tasting toothpaste, a bit of a salty aftertaste, but if you use it for a week you'll see a big difference in your teeth. Go back to your usual toothpaste once you get the results you want.
The skin under our eyes is very delicate and needs to be handled with care, to avoid increasing those little lines that like to gather there! I've seen many people removing their eye make-up by rubbing the area under their eyes "to ensure it's all off", but the right product does all the work for you, without the need to scrub.
I have tried lots of eye make-up removers over the years, but always come back to Lancome's Bi-Facil Non Oily Instant Cleanser; it removes even waterproof eye make-up instantly! For best results, pour the cleanser onto 2 cotton pads, place on your eyelids, leave for a few seconds (enjoy the cooling sensation which will reduce any puffiness) and gently wipe downwards. Hey presto, make-up off, and a few less lines will be added over the years!
Unless you're very brave or immune to cold, frosty winter nights, you're probably stocking up on a few pairs of tights to see you through 'til Spring. If your legs aren't your best feature, make sure you purchase matt tights rather than tights with shine, as these will make your legs look bigger than they actually are:
I have purchased lots of cheap tights in the past that only last a few wears, but for a pair that will last for years, Wolford & Falke are the best brands. They're not cheap, so their January sales are always a good time to stock up.
The Wolford ones below have the added bonus of a control top, great for the calorific Christmas season!
'As we age, the scalp produces less hydrating lipids, so hair becomes drier and more prone to frizz'. This was not good news to me as I was born with frizzy hair! But, 2 years ago I discovered pure Argan oil and have managed to keep the frizz reduced.
Prior to Argan oil, I had tried a LOT of frizz reducing products, some did work but they tended to be the most expensive brands, I'll save that for a later post. Anyway, if you're looking for an affordable, guaranteed improvement for dry, frizzy hair, then you need a bottle of argan oil in your life! It's great for applying to dry ends after blow drying, but for best results apply half an hour before showering, or if you don't have the time mix 4 drops in with your conditioner. I always purchase the aluminium bottles with a press top as the pour bottle can be a real mess! You can pay for branded options but I usually purchase mine from ebay for less than £10, and it lasts for months.
I love dresses with sleeves; they hide untoned arms, can be worn for work, or dressed up for a night out, and at this time of year are essential to keep you warm!
With the Christmas party season about to start, there are lots of figure flattering sleeved dresses in the shops ...
If you have wide hips, and wish they were slimmer, avoid separates in different colours that meet at your widest point.
If you look at the photo below, on the left, Christina Hendricks' beautiful curves aren't flattered by her outfit choice, as our eye is immediately drawn to her hips / stomach. However, when the black cover-up is ditched and she wears a cardigan in the same tone as her skirt, our eye flows past her hip area and instead focuses on her beautiful hourglass shape.
At this time of year we all like to feel warm & cosy, but perhaps not sacrifice style completely! A brand I love that is all about stylish cosiness, is Hush. I often recommend them to my clients as their prices won't break the bank completely, and the quality means that they last more than one winter!
When I look at their website, I'm excited about nights in by the fire, walking in the frost, getting into my super cosy dressing gown after a relaxing bath, I could could go on ... You'll feel the same way when you look at their website - http://www.hush-uk.com/daywear
Here are some of my favourite looks, all great for covering any extra inches:
Having just returned from a holiday in the South of Spain; staying in a very warm room with tempermental air conditioning made my poor skin suffer, even out of the sun! So, last night I applied my Origins Drink Up-Intensive Overnight Mask, gave my skin a chance to recover, and woke up this morning to see I was back to normal!
If your skin feels a little tight, or dry, (especially in this windy weather) this overnight mask will do wonders for you. It contains hyaluronic acid, which will get your skin looking fresh & replenished.
No-one is paying me to tell you about this product, so I would recommend getting yourself a bargain on ebay, or ask for a sample at your nearest Origins counter. You'll see from the comments on the House of Fraser website others love it too!
Your secret weapon to waking up looking refreshed!
ORIGINS, Drink-Up Intensive Overnight Mask to quench skin's thirst
Well done Coast for recognising that not all your customers have the figure they wish they did, having a colour other than black in the range, and for even adding sleeves to some of your secret support dresses!
Just launched, the secret support dresses are 'designed with a miracle 2-way stretch fabric this dress
cinches, sculpts and shapes you to perfection'.
The red is my favourite, which one is your favourite?
By the time you've reached 40, you've probably had many 'mistakes' in your wardrobe, but now you know what you like & what suits you. If you don't, get yourself along to a Colour Me Beautiful consultant immediately; look great and save yourself a fortune! You'll see lots of leather / faux leather skirts in the shops at the moment, but if you're wanting to minimise your bottom half then you need to avoid any of those with a sheen, like the one below from Baukjen.com.
Choose a soft matt leather / faux leather skirt, that skims over your hips (rather than clings to your body), and pair it with a cashmere / cashmere mix jumper for a sophisticated day look. Choose short sleeves to bring the eye up and away from your 'problem area'.
Another trick is to wear your leather skirt with a bright coloured top, or a patterned top to draw attention upwards; creating that optical illusion ;-)
If you have some deep wrinkles you wish you could just polyfill, and are in need of a quick fix, there are lots of products out there that do just that!
My favourite continues to be, Tri-aktiline, 'the instant deep wrinkle filler'. It won't leave you looking 20 years younger but it will 'blur' lines and give a flattering base for your foundation. It works on laughter lines, lip lines, anywhere there's a line that you want to blur!
For best results, pat the product on, using your ring finger; then just wait for everyone you meet to tell you how well you look!
The right undies can make huge difference to your shape, especially from the rear view!
You might not even carry a lot of weight on your bottom half, but if you have VPL issues you will look heavier than you are. Shiny material is particularly bad at showing up VPL, so I was delighted to see Coast teaming up with Triumph to communicate the importance of a smooth silhouette. This is part of their email newsletter, which I received yesterday, with not a pair of skippy undies in sight:
If it's time you purchased some new invisible VPL undies, this is the information Coast provide to get 15% off Triumph:
One of the most effective ways to look slimmer is to acquire some statement jewellery. It's a very effective method to draw attention away from any 'problem' areas.
I bet you didn't look down at her tummy first!
For pear-shapes, a statement necklace is a must to balance out your curves!
I love the style of Mawi necklaces but at almost £600 a piece, I recently looked around for alternative brands, with similar styles, at prices I could afford! Not as easy as you would think. One such necklace lost one of the stones while I was out, wearing it for the first time. It wasn't one of the little insignificant stones, nope it was the main feature. Lesson learnt, you get what you pay for!
Yours for just under £600! I'll have 2 ;-)
But then I discovered Stella & Dot, and no no-one is paying me to say this, but having purchased from them recently I've been delighted with the quality, great selection of colours and the overall customer experience. Have a look at the range of colours & styles here to find your perfect statement jewellery, Sinead Martin, Stella & Dot Stylist.
Our skin tone changes as we get older, in some people that may result in looking much paler than you used to, or for others can result in increased redness around the cheek & nose area. We all know that a natural blush is something the beauty industry has told us for years we should have to look more youthful...
However, it's no good looking youthful first thing in the morning, when you've just applied your make-up, but looking ghostly pale and tired after lunch, when it's all worn off.
The secret to getting your 'youthful glow' to have staying power is to apply a cream blush first. Follow your cream blush with translucent powder, and then apply a little powder blush on top.
Remember a little goes a long way with cream blush, the aim here is not to look like Aunt Sally!
Aunt Sally, just incase you needed a reminder!
If you tend to have a red complexion, then you do not need any extra colour, what you need to use instead is bronzer along your cheekbone, to exaggerate your bone structure & give a subtle glow.
If you needed any convincing of how flattering a little colour on the cheeks looks, whatever your age, Helen Mirren is always a great example:
I loved the programme on Channel 4 recently entitled 'Fabulous Fashionistas', if you missed it it's still available on 4oD Those 6 women were a great advertisement for how great life can be in your 80's & 90's, but one thing that really stuck with me, is that to keep the ageing process at bay we need to exercise. So, no more skipping my daily walk if it's too wet / too cold / I'm too tired; I'll ignore the rain and concentrate on how great I'm going to feel when I'm in my 80's!
In moments of weakness, I'll remember how the 87 year old dancer is more flexible than I am now!!
