Our hands are one of the first parts of our body to show our real age.
You could follow the example set by Madonna and Karl Lagerfeld, and slip on a pair of gloves to hide the signs of ageing(!)
Or, ensure that you always apply sun protection cream to the back of your hands, even in the winter. Which you will of course already do!
However, if your hands need an instant, temporary, lift - i.e. reduced lines, smoother skin, a more youthful look - then apply some of your primer to them. Primers are designed to be used under your foundation to reduce pores, reduce fine lines, give plumper skin (all the things our younger hands had). My favourite is Laura Mercier's Hydrating Primer, but all brands have them.
So, the next time you're in a beauty store, test a skin primer on the back of one hand, then compare your two hands. I bet, when you see the results, you'll be multi-tasking with your primer!
If you think it's just a co-incidence that Victoria Beckham always tends to always carry her handbag in the crook of her arm, think again. This is actually a very simple trick to draw the eye away from her (slightly!) curvier parts to where her body is narrower.
In general, wherever your handbag ends is where the eye will focus...
If you are very curvy on top, with great legs, then holding your bag lower down will make people notice your best feature.
A shoulder bag that stops at the hip / bottom area will always create width.
Your handbag also needs to be in proportion to your scale, for example, small bags are perfect for petites...
but if a bag is too small for your scale it can make you look a lot larger than you actually are, weight-wise.
A bag that's slightly larger than your proportions can be successfully used to make you seem smaller ...
but a bag that is ridiculously larger than you, will led to back ache, and some strange looks!
You don't always have to spend a lot of money to find a product that gives you amazing results. If you would like to reduce your fine lines & wrinkles, or your skin feels really dehydrated at the moment, then you need some Bio-Oil in your life!
Most people think of Bio-Oil for helping to reduce stretchmarks during pregnancy, but it is also excellent for targeting the signs of ageing. A bottle of this will last for ages as it will only take a couple of drops to cover your entire face. During the day, add 1 drop to your usual moisturiser so you still have SPF coverage during the day.
Although it's an oil it massages into the skin quickly and doesn't leave a residue, just baby soft skin. It is suitable for sensitive skin and it's hypo allergenic. Even my clients with oily skin like it, as long as their face is well washed before applying. Try it in place of your regular night cream for a fresher looking you every morning. Particularly useful if you've had a late night and need to look not so exhausted in the morning, works for me every time!
For those that would like scientific proof it works, check out the research results.
If your tummy is your main problem area then you need to make it recede by visually shifting your proportions, and understanding your best fit, most flattering fabrics and colours.
One of your wardrobe staples should be a dress. A dress works better than separates because the eye flows along the body, rather than stopping midway at your key problem area. Some dress fabrics will still require shapewear to be worn underneath - see some suggestions in an earlier post - or choose a dress in a heavier fabric which will basically hold you in. Check out the Pretty Dress Company for their amazing tummy shrinking dresses! I particularly love this one that creates the illusion of a very narrow waist, and draws the eye outwards & upwards.
Your perfect dress should show off your best features; so if you have great legs then wear a knee length dress to show them off, if you have a great bust then wear a v-neck or sweetheart neck to show off your assets, slender wrists will look great in three quarter length sleeves, you get the picture, show off everything but your voluptuous tummy. Accessorise with an amazing necklace and shoes so the attention will be on everything but your tummy!
The dress below is a great example of how draping can cover a problem
area without highlighting it, that if you still have a waist you need to
show it off, and how you don't always have to wear black to look
slimmer.
If you feel your waist isn't well enough defined for these styles then choose less structured shapes, such as this patterned dress, in a fabric that skims the body rather than clings to it.
Dark circles under your eyes can be very ageing, no matter what age you are!
A common mistake a lot of my clients make when it comes to dark circles is that they don't understand which products to use. For example, many of them believed that products such as YSL Touche Eclat would get rid of their pronounced dark circles, but when it didn't seem to work, they piled on too much, which then highlighted their fine lines.
Luminising pens like Touche Eclat are brilliant if you want to correct a faint dark circle, or use it on top of your concealer, but is not recommended on its' own for getting rid of pronounced dark circles.
The first step to looking younger & fresher under your eyes with very dark circles is to use a skin correcting product. You need to make the blue / purple tinge under your eye look 'skin coloured' and to do this you will need a skin corrector. The colour of corrector you will need will depend on your skin tone.
Some of my favourite are:
Georgio Armani Master Corrector
Bobbi Brown Corrector
Colour Me Beautiful Skin Primer
To apply: Using your ring finger, apply your eye cream - essential to avoid creasing. Once that has dried, apply your corrector (a little goes a long way!), then gently stipple your foundation on top, apply a little concealer if necessary, and finish with a light dusting of Laura Mercier Secret Brightening powder, and voilà, 10 years younger!!
Good riddance dark circles :-)
One of the quickest ways to look slimmer is to wear a jacket in a different colour to your top / dress. By breaking up the width of your body, this makes you look slimmer instantly! Of course you need to make sure that you are wearing the most flattering colours for your skin tone for this to work best. So, if you haven't 'had your colours done' then you need to contact your nearest Colour Me Beautiful consultant.
Adele shows how it's done with style; a gorgeous lime green jacket complements her overall colouring, and by breaking up the width of her body, she creates the illusion that her body is slimmer than it is.
It's a trick Victoria Beckham also used in the early stages of her pregnancies.
A quick way to looking refreshed and glowing is to exfoliate your skin, at least once a week. A lot of people skip exfoliating their skin and rely on expensive moisturisers & serums to lift dull complexions, but this is a little bit like painting over a wall that obviously needs plastered. Would you paint over a wall in a house that didn't have smooth walls?
Likewise, you need to remove the dead skin on your face, before applying your moisturiser, to make sure you're not wasting your money on hydrating dead skin.
The product I use & recommend to all my clients, as it's suitable for very sensitive skin, is Dermalogica's Gentle Cream Exfoliant. It contains no artificial fragrance or colours, but smells lovely and gets great results!
Rather than commiting to buying a full size tube, try out a travel size to see the results. The best prices I can find are on ebay, £7.99 for 2 travel tubes.
Or, if you prefer to use 100% natural ingredients, make your own sugar & honey exfoliator to nourish & clarify. Combine 1 teaspoon
sugar with 1/2 teaspoon honey, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and mix
well. If the mixture is a little loose, add a bit more sugar. I'd advise applying 10 / 15 minutes before your shower though, as it can get a bit messy to remove otherwise.
