These days, most people want to look younger than they are, or at least, look good for their age.
Forty is the new thirty and people are refusing to grow up.
It’s a whole new world now and the fountain of youth is affordable and easy to obtain, if you want it.
Everyone knows to look young, or younger, you have to eat healthy foods, exercise, drink plenty of water and never, ever smoke, but no one wants to do all that.
Most people want it now and without all the hard work.
The good news is you can!
Celebrities have been doing it for years!
Personally, I would recommend exercise, healthy eating and definitely never smoking if you want to keep everything younger, but a more youthful appearance is possible, fast and reasonably painless.
As a celebrity makeup artist, I am frequently asked the question “what can I do to make me look younger?”
There are so many face creams and moisturizing lotions, its very confusing to know what to buy.
They all promise to ‘wind back time’, and ‘prevent wrinkles’ but the best they can do is to smooth very fine lines that are mostly caused by dehydration in the extreme top layer of the skin.
If any of the creams or lotions did the things they claim, they would have to undergo rigorous testing as a medical drug.
Companies get away with saying certain phrases to intimate they remove lines and wrinkles but they cannot actually say their cream can prevent wrinkles unless it contains a sunscreen factor, because as you well know, sunscreen will help prevent lines and wrinkles! (As will staying out of the sun). I suppose that should be tip number 4.
So, stick any old moisturizer you like, (for what ever reason) in a pot with a bit of sun cream squirted in and now you have a cream to, “prevent ageing”.
You may not like the answer and the truth is not always pleasant but it’s that simple!
Most of the time, celebrities I work with use nice products because they are given them for free or are paid to be seen using them.
Celebrity endorsement is still the best way of selling stuff!
Anyway!
Here are three, easy, quick ways to shed the years.
1. A really good haircut and colour
This is one of the simplest things you can do to literally take ten years off in a couple of hours!
I meet so many women with a poor choice of colour, or roots badly needing attention.
It’s so very ageing.
A lot of women tell me they go from having a nice healthy warm colour to an ageing yellow blond colour, to save on the noticeability of grey roots coming through because money is a problem.
I’m all for people having blonde hair, but only if it suits their skin tone. There are really nice blonde tones that can be applied to the hair, but the one I’m talking about does not do anything for anyone.
White or ‘grey’ hair is hard to colour with hair dye so usually the easiest colour to use is light blonde.
Not because it has good ‘grey’ coverage but because it lightens any darker hairs around it to make that ‘yellow’ colour and that ‘blends’ the hair colour to look like it has something in it.
The most flattering colour you can choose are the colours your hair changes to naturally in the sun, before you went ‘grey’.
Playing around with those colours gives some depth to the hair and a very youthful look.
How many female celebrities have you seen with lovely rich shiny looking hair?
Do you think it makes them look great and more youthful?
It’s not cheap to have a great cut and colour but there are ways to save money on it without choosing an ageing colour for your skin tone.
Go see a good colourist and pay once to have your hair done, and then ask for a note of the colours and when the student training nights are on.
Go back and have a student do it with the correct colours for a fraction of the price.
An experienced colourist usually supervises the students and it might even be the one who did the original colour in the first place!
A great haircut is also well worth the money because even as it grows out it still looks good!
If you find it hard to afford a cut every six weeks go every ten or twelve weeks.
If you have a fringe or bangs as they are known, you can go in between cuts for a tidy up. Usually it costs very little, if anything, for a regular client to have their fringe / bangs seen to.
Also, ask if it’s cheaper to just have a cut without the drying and styling part?
It is defiantly worth it!
2. Good makeup well applied.
Wearing makeup should be light and natural, not thick and heavy.
It should accentuate your features not cover them up and disguise them.
To look good in makeup, you need to think about where you are going and what you will be doing.
Will you be inside or outside?
Daytime, bright light, or nighttime soft light? Or all types?
Lighting can make or break your makeup look!
A good foundation or a B.B. Cream is well worth the investment.
Ask for samples before you spend a lot of money and remember you can have the sales person in the makeup store apply the brand on your skin to see if it you like it.
If you have makeup applied ask for the products to be written down and leave without purchasing anything.
Wear it for the rest of the day and look at it outside in bright light. Be sure to let it sit on your skin for at least an hour.
If the natural oils and sweat in your skin will affect it, you will see in that time period.
It's also worth thinking about paying a good professional makeup artist to show you how to make up your face.
It can help prevent being ‘advised' by makeup sales people into purchasing too much of the wrong products.
A well-applied makeup will take years off you and give you that much desired youthful glow!
3. Eyebrows
Believe it or not, your eyebrows can make you look youthful or age you depending on the colour and shape.
If your eyebrows are very fair or grey has started to creep in, it will age you and make you look a little un-well.
My eyebrows have always been very fair and when they are au-natural everyone keeps asking if I’m feeling okay!
I tint mine and I would highly recommend this course of action for anyone without a dark eyebrow.
It takes about 10 minutes for eyebrows and about 20 if you have your eyelashes done at the same time.
It lasts about 3 to 6 weeks and depending where you are, costs about £15 to £30.
You can also purchase a kit from some pharmacy’s called, ‘30-day mascara’.
It takes a little bit of practice to do it yourself, but you get the hang of it soon enough.
The tint is vegetable based and very mild and it’s mixed with a mild solution of hydrogen peroxide.
Never, ever be tempted to use hair dye as it is very strong and could cause sever dermatological reactions on the skin.
You need to have a patch test about 24 hours prior to eyebrow or eyelash tinting. This is just a precausion to make sure you wont take any kind of reaction.
I have carried out lash tinting on people for over 20 years and never experienced it, so it’s very rare.
Now, once you have the colour sorted out, its time for the shape!
Eyebrows are so important for framing the face.
They give balance to the most important area on the face.
So how do you find the correct shape?
Having worked with lots of women over the years, I am asked this on a regular basis.
The eyebrow shape can be different for everyone because it depends on the natural eyebrow shape, shape of eyes and size of space between eyelid and brow.
One eyebrow shape definitely does not “fit all”.
- If you know of a beauty therapist who is talented at eyebrows then go to them. If not, then get yourself a good pair of tweezers, black eyeliner, white eyeliner, a good mirror and an eyebrow brush.
- Get some magazines and look at different celebrities eyebrows. If you think you like a shape draw it on yourself with the black pencil, as best you can, over your eyebrows and see what it looks like.
- Follow the natural shape as much as you can over the top of the eyebrow.
- Underneath the eyebrow, use your white pencil to colour over the hairs you wish to remove.
- As comical as it may look, it lets you see if you are going to like the new shape before any permanent damage is done.
- Play about until with the shape until you are happy.
- Then take a really good look at your eyebrows.
- Are they even? Do they suit you?
- If you like the shape, you are ready to start plucking.
Have fun taking ten years off your age!
Lots of love,
Catherine xx Celebrity Makeup Artist, Author And Life Coach