Treat yourself to a make over

I love a good make over. I wear make up most days, but I'll also happily go out without any make up on. It all depends and how long I have to get ready and what else I'm doing.

If I know I'm going out for dinner in the evening. I'll put the make up on in the morning and just top it up before I go out. If the day is just food shopping, coffee with or without friends, then I usually don't bother.

I've done my make up the same since I was 14, foundation, powder, eye shadow (no longer blue) eye liner, lipstick and mascara.

I've added sunscreen, serum and concealer over the years, as I've aged and my skin has become damaged. 

The way in which I apply my make up has also changed, I use brushes now rather than my fingers to blend the foundation and concealers in.

Last week the lovely Vicki, who you can find on Instagram as PerfectCanvasDXB, invited me to a make over session. All she asked for was a couple of photos she could use on her Instagram account to show 'less is best' but i picked up a few good tips that I wanted to share.

I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, but I have noticed my make up techniques have improved, it's taking me a bit longer to apply than usual, but it's worth the end result.

• Apply serum and moisturiser. I use products from Boots and love their factor 50 face cream, it's not greasy and living in Dubai it's an absolute necessity.
• Using a brush apply foundation and lightly dust with powder, avoiding under the eyes as this just makes them look darker.
• Using concealer, blend onto problem areas for complete, even coverage.
• Apply eye shadow to the outside corners of the eyes and blend. I have quite heavy eye lids, so applying colour all over, just makes the eye look smaller.
• Apply mascara to the top of the lashes.
• I'm not very good at drawing a straight line with eyeliner on both eyes so I'll carry on applying it to the inner lid.
• For my eye brows, I've purchased a brow pencil to fill in the missing gaps. I have my eye brows threaded every 3-4 weeks, but with age, they are thinning and the brow pencil colours the grey hairs as well as filling the gaps.
• Use a lip liner and a brush to apply lipstick. I find a gloss lasts a lot longer.

I've had a couple of make overs the last 12 months. One with Bobby Brown in Dubai, but that was more about selling products than teaching you how to apply them. I certainly didn't feel or look like I'd had a natural make over. The make up was too heavy and I could feel it cracking when I talked or smiled. It also aged me.

Last year I had a make over with the Daily Mail, which included a full transformation into a Theresa May Look alike.

I loved the before shots, where a small amount of make up was applied. I thought I looked my age, which is 45 and I loved the look, but the after shots, oh my I aged about 10-15 years.

The make over Vicki did managed to leave me looking at least 10-15 years younger and I will certainly be going back to see her when I'm next having a night out.

I wasn't asked to write a review for Vicki's time and skills and all products mentioned have been purchased by myself. I did receive payment for the Daily Mail shoot, plus travel expenses.

Growing old gracefully.

Back in the summer, 2016, I took up an offer with The Daily Mail to have my hair dyed grey, cut and styled like Theresa May. 

Why? Because I've been grey since the age of 28 and I spend a fortune dying it blonde to hide the grey from the outside world. But who was I kidding? There aren't many 45 year olds that don't have grey hair these days. so rather than deny the fact I was getting older, I decided to embrace it.

When I looked into having my hair dyed grey, professionally it was around £200 +, so when I saw the request from Jill Foster for the Daily Mail, I decided to go for it.

Before:

During:

After:

I will admit, I hated the finished style, when a gust of wind caught me, it was my feet that moved and not my hair where I had so many products in it, but I loved the colour and the cut when it wasn't so heavily styled. I've been able to maintain it with ash blonde toner as the blonde continues to grow out.

Edward James Aveda in London, did a fantastic job with the cut and blending in the grey, it was a great experience and a once in a lifetime visit to a BAFTA hairdresser, not somewhere I could justify a monthly visit to.

The only trouble is I no longer like being grey, I feel washed out, my hair is dull and lifeless and there's no style to it anymore.

Now:

I failed to recognise myself in the picture above and my 21 year old son says I need to sort my hair out, most days I'm walking around like this.

I've not had much luck with cuts and colours in Dubai and it's bloody expensive and I certainly can't afford to travel to the UK just to get my hair done, regardless of the stylist and Salon I choose, so I guess I'll keep wearing my hair up, I don't need to use the toner anymore, but I'm not happy with it.

My son suggested dying it purple, pink or blue. In his words 'why not grow old disgracefully?'

Any suggestions or recommendations greatly received.

Week 85 - My Sunday Photo

At the end of a photo shoot with the Daily Mail. Have wiped off most of the make up and combed my hair flat. 

Love the style but the colour needs reviewing so I'll be back in the salon on Tuesday to get it sorted.

Pictures from shoot will be in (Fe)Mail on Thursday. 

My top 4 beauty tips to aging

When I was in my mid 20's, half my lifetime ago, I wondered what the hell anyone my current age now, knew about being 20. Yes I knew they'd obviously been 20 at some point, but what on earth could they offer me?

Well it turns out they could've offered me quite a lot and I wish not only had I listened but I'd also followed their advice.

20 years ago I could have slowed the aging process down, now I'm fighting a losing battle.

These are the top 4 things I wish I'd listened to and started earlier.

1. Pelvic floor exercises....do them.

     2. Don't spray perfume on your neck before going out into the sun, it was damage your skin.

 
      3. Wear sun cream protection on your face, neck and chess daily, it can seriously prevent a
           scraggy neck and skin discolouration.


      4. Moisturise every night, it can't do any harm after all. Pay particular attention to the back of
          of your hands.