30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 7: Rethink your jewelry

Jewelry isn't just adornment. When you look at a woman's jewelry, you're seeing who she is. And it's not just her socio-economic status. A woman's jewelry is where her age and hipness intersect. While jewelry can't literally make you look younger, it can certainly make you look very less than hip.

This is not the look to emulate.

Admittedly, this is a state portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. But think about it. Do you wear jewelry as if you were posing for an official portrait?

What follows is my advice on what not to do with your jewelry.

1. Don't wear jewelry like medals. Our jewelry tells the world what stage of life we're at. Religious medallions, the starter studs you get when you first pierce your ears, your high school and college rings, your engagement ring, wedding ring, baby presents and anniversary gifts all tell people where you are in life. Think about it--people can probably guess your age within about half a decade simply from the jewelry you wear.

The answer? Remember jewelry's primary purpose as adornment. If a piece doesn't work with your outfit, don't wear it.

2. Don't wear too much. I'm no minimalist. Far from it. But I slip in and out of various social groups, some with younger and some with older women. One thing I notice about the older women is the sheer quantity of jewelry they wear.

I see one group of women every week, and many of them are in their 60s. I often see them wearing three obviously real, expensive yellow gold bracelets on one wrist, an expensive watch and another bracelet on the other wrist, plus rings, earrings, and maybe a pin or a necklace.

This looks uncoordinated and a bit insecure. Remember, elegance is refusal.

3. Don't flaunt your wealth. OK, maybe wealth isn't the right word. But when you reach mid-life, you tend to have accumulated some Important Pieces. And hey, good for you if you have. Enjoy. But don't wear them all at once. Say you've got an 11-carat diamond engagement ring. How about wearing a couple of long strands of gold chain studded with crystals instead of a Serious Necklace?

4. Don't confuse style with price. In case you haven't noticed, right now jewelry is all about cascades of semi-precious stones, brown diamonds, and crystal. It's pearls mixed with tulle and chain. It's glass beads and charms on long, long chains, fringe necklaces, and statement necklaces as big as a baby's bib.

It's not classic, expensive pieces. It's not diamond ear studs, 18-inch pearl necklaces, and Cartier tank watches. These are great basics, but they're unexciting, and they're not current. If that's the only kind of jewelry you're wearing, chances are you look ossified.

5. Have fun. Branch out and find something frivolous to wear. If you don't know what's current, check out ShopBop for inspiration. You might have some candidates in your jewelry box. And of course, if you bead or wield a glue gun, you're in luck.


Elsewhere:

For a look at Forever XXI's amazing, dirt cheap jewelry, (the ring below is $6.80!) click here.

Check out Nordstrom's costume jewelry, sorted by price with the lowest first, here.

Anthropologie and Banana Republic have great stuff--pricey, but watch for sales.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 6: Exfoliate

Many components of our skin contribute to its healthy glow, and some of these are easily improved with very little effort. Our skin is multi-layered, with thin cells on top that are continuously sloughed off and replaced by new cells that push up from the dermis. As we age, our cellular turnover, i.e., the rate at which new skin cells replace old ones, slows down. It's over twice as long in a 50 year old as it is in a baby.

Thank goodness it's easy to nudge along the process by regularly exfoliating the skin.

Exfoliation is using cosmetic or mechanical means to remove the outermost layer of the skin. Exfoliation removes dead skin cells, smooths the surface of the skin, unclogs pore, and allows serums and creams to penetrate more easily.

No matter what your skin type, exfoliation will improve it. If you have clogged pores, exfoliation will unclog them. If you have dry skin, exfoliation will get rid of its dull, papery look.

Ways to exfoliate

If you use soap, a bar cleanser, or a foaming cleanser, mechanical exfoliation would probably be easiest. Instead of making a big deal of exfoliating, just use a good, scrubby washcloth a couple of times a week in the shower. A washcloth is the simplest, and if you have any left-over baby washcloths, they're wonderful, because they're thin and easy to manipulate.


If you use a creamy, wash-off cleanser, you can exfoliate by mixing a bit of baking soda into your cleanser before you apply it to your face. A quarter teaspoon is plenty--mix it into your cleanser in the palm of your hand, then wash as usual.


If you use a cleansing oil or other wipe-off cleanser, your best bet is to use a cosmetic exfoliator, rather than a mechanical one. I really love Alpha Hydrox 12 percent solution. It's designed for feet, elbows, and other problem areas, but it works fine on my face. I use it a couple of times a week, applying it right before bed. It keeps the flakes at bay.

Just remember that it's easy to irritate the skin by over-zealous exfoliating. Be gentle and ease up if you see any signs of irritation.

Try to make exfoliating a regular part of your skin care routine. You'll find your skin will look fresher, and your makeup will blend better and look more natural.

Elsewhere:

Susan Wagner's BlogHer BeautyHacks post, Exfoliate for Brighter Skin: Out with the Old, in with the New

Sarah Chapman's helpful video outlining chemical and granular exfoliators is here.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 5: Perk up the girls

I live very near a very large high school, so for the past 12 years, I've become increasingly conscious of teenaged breasts. Specifically, how high up they are.

Supposedly, when you're wearing a bra, your nipple is supposed to be halfway between your shoulder and your elbow. Would somebody tell these teenaged girls? Because seriously, their nipples appear to be an inch south of their collarbones. If that.

For proof, check out 15-year old Michelle Trachtenberg (and 23-year-old Sarah Michelle Gellar.)

Now check out Bea Arthur as Maude.


Or check out Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried in Mamma Mia.


Bea and Meryl don't look terrible. In fact, they both look pretty great. But they would both have benefited from a bit more lift and separate.

I want you to try on every bra you own and get rid of any that aren't working. If you're using the tightest hook and the highest strap setting but you still fail the pencil test, you've achieved bra fail. Ditto if you've washed it so many times that it's getting hard to read the label. And if you can't remember where and when you bought it, chances are it isn't doing what you paid it to do.

This also includes bathing suits.

Uma, Uma, Uma. Please. You know better.

So please. Toss out the bras that have passed their expiration date. Today.

Remember, diamonds are forever, but the same can't be said of spandex.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 4: Curl your lashes

I know this sounds incredibly picky, but think about it.

Ages conspires to bring you down--both literally and figuratively. Think about what it's done to your figure. You still have everything you've ever had! Unfortunately, it's two inches lower down. And the same is true of your face. Just as your body seems to want to move south, your cheeks start to migrate towards your jawline.

OK, I'll stop before I get us all depressed. The thing is, you can counteract this effect by drawing the eye back up. This will de-emphasize your face's journey southwards.

This is why women used to cut their hair short as they got older--to draw the eye upwards. It's why bat wing eyeliner was invented. I suspect it's one reason we all love wearing sunglasses. And for all I know, it's why women used to wear hats all the time.

So do me a favor and at least give it a try. Curl your lashes, and see if it brightens your face--and your outlook.

What kind of eyelash curler should you use? Genuine hard-core fashionistas swear by Shu Uemera's model


which is available at Ulta for $19.00

But I get perfectly respectable results with a Revlon curler, also available at Ulta for $4.29.


How to curl your lashes

1. Start with clean, dry lashes, and curl them before you apply your mascara. If you curl your lashes when you're wearing mascara, you're likely to leave a few lashes behind on the curler. Ouch.
2. Position the curler so that it's just ahead of the roots of your lash line. Close the curler and squeeze firmly for a slow count of five.
3. If you have large eyes, you might want to curl your lashes more than once, aiming the curler towards one corner, then holding it in the middle, then doing the other corner of each eye.
4. Some people achieve a more natural-looking curl by curling their lashes in stages. They curl once at the roots, then "walk" the curler further out along the lash and curl again.
5. If you have stubbornly straight lashes, try heating your eyelash curler first with a hair dryer. (Just don't let it get crazy hot, OK?)
6. If your lashes are simply impossible--the equivalent of a sullen teenager--there are also heated lash curlers. (Which, to continue the metaphor, must be boot camp for eyelashes.) This Japonesque one is available at Ulta for $17.39.

I hope I've convinced you to at least give this a try. Honestly, on days where I'm really rushed, there are times I curl my lashes and skip mascara. The bright-eyed effect of curling my lashes has become more important than the lengthening/thickening/darkening effect of wearing mascara. I know--gasp!--but it's true.


Enough information to make your eyelashes curl:

Seventeen magazine has a short video that illustrates the process--to watch it, click here.

Makeupalley is one-stop shopping for product reviews. If you haven't joined, please do--it's an invaluable resource. Then check here to see reviews of eyelash curlers.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 3: Triage

OK, the whole thing started because I was working on a video about eyebrows. Yes, like Badger, I was thinking about dipping a toe into the growing field of vlogging.

So I was in the bathroom applying eyebrow powder and talking to myself in the mirror. You know, practicing. Suddenly I realized that I needed to drop off my daughter's lunch at school. And that the lunch bell was going to ring at 12:05. And that it was 11:55. And while my eyebrows were looking particularly fetching, the rest of me was still in my pajamas.

My daughter's school is a five minute walk away. Which gave me one minute to get dressed, two minutes to fix lunch, and two minutes to clean up my act.

The two minutes to fix lunch was easy. I put together a PB&J sandwich, a snack-sized bag of Doritos, a container of chocolate pudding, and an orange.

Then I spent the same amount of time cleaning up my act in case a teacher or another mom snagged me after I dropped off lunch. And I realized that I was just as fast and efficient at getting ready as I was at making lunches. It's because I had the cosmetics equivalent of snack-sized bags of Doritos ready to go.


My first step was to wipe my face with my son's Stridex Daily Care Maximum pads. Despite their tough anti-acne talk, they're actually just little wipes soaked in a gentle salicylic acid solution. There's no Benzoyl Peroxide or alcohol or anything harsh like that. They're a step more thorough than a cotton ball with toner--perfect for a quick clean up.

Then I applied a pea-sized blob of Garnier Nutritioniste Daily Moisture Lotion SPF 28 all over my face

and finished with a fast slick of my beloved Revlon ColorStay Lipglaze in Infinite Rose.
Then I disguised the rest of me with some clothes, my favorite black puffy jacket, black and gray fingerless gloves, a gray wool beanie over my disheveled locks, and a pair of sunglasses.

And shot out the door at the speed of light.

The lesson? We all need to figure out the one or two products that will make us look at least halfway presentable time we're incredibly time-crunched. (I'm aware that the phrase "time-crunched" usually does not denote a housewife talking to herself in the bathroom--but bear with me.) At our age, looking good takes planning. There are products out there that can make us look 100 percent better--and in almost no time at all. For me, the crucial thing is lip color. I'm deeply unhappy when I'm caught without it, so I try to always have something handy, even if it's just Cherry Chap-Stick.

I don't sweat my eye makeup nearly as much, probably because I always have glasses on. Everybody's different. Your first priority might be concealer, mascara, or eyebrow color.

Do you know your first priorities? Have you figured out a three minute system? If not, you should figure it out. Because I'm here to tell you, a combination of fuzzy PJs and impeccably filled brows doesn't cut it.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 2: Update your eyebrows

Nothing updates and refreshes your face quicker and more thoroughly than a good eyebrow reshaping. Unfortunately, eyebrows are an area where Boomers are sometimes a bit clueless. After all, many of us came to age during a dark age for eyebrows. (Literally. Scroll down and check out the pictures.)

Women who came of age in the 1990s and 2000s have a sort of automatic eyebrow savvy that leaves me feeling envious. I mean, they get to be a lot younger and they're all hip to the waxing, tweezing, brow color, brow gel thing? It hardly seems fair.

But here's the crucial point. Women in their 20s and 30s wouldn't dream of letting their eyebrows go au naturel. And that means we shouldn't either.

Show me an eyebrow, and I'll tell you which decade it was from. Do you want the wrong decade waggling over your eyes? Of course not. Scroll down for a brief history of the female eyebrow, from the 1920s to the present:




And just as we come full circle with the penciled-on Dietrich brow, the pendulum swings and thicker, more dramatic brows come back into style.


What decade are your brows? (Please don't say the 1970s. Or 1980s.) Remember, if Joan Crawford could update her eyebrows,


and she did


You can, too!

Joan? Groucho Marx called. He wants his eyebrows back.

For complete instructions on how to pluck your eyebrows, see About.com's article here.

For more on current brow shapes and what not to do, check out Brow Magic by my latest blog discovery, The Underfunded Heiress.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 1: Find a MLBB lippie

Welcome to my month-long series on easy ways to freshen up your look! My first tip is to start wearing a "my-lips-but-better" shade of lipstick (or lipgloss.) And to wear it every day.

See, age has some subtle and not-so-subtle ways of affecting the way we look. We all notice when our hair starts to turn gray, but we don't always notice the sneakier changes.

As we get older, our complexions get a little darker. And our lips lose both volume and pigment. The good news is that this combination of changes can be disguised with the right shade of lipstick.

For years I thought of myself as a lighter shade of pale. I had fair, freckly, burns-don't-tan skin. I always bought the lightest shade of foundation available.

And then it occurred to me that my skin was no longer the Snow White-iest of Snow White. It had gotten a bit darker. And unfortunately, a bit sallower. And unfortunately, so had my teeth.

And my lips? Had sort of disappeared. Not in size--they're still evident. But they're paler than they used to be.

We hear about the loss of lip volume all the time--and we see the regrettable attempts some celebrities make to regain it.


But very few people talk about a loss of lip pigments. Well, it happens. Trust me, the pale lip look, while fashionable, is not flattering at our age. It accentuates what's already happening. The smoky-eye/pale combination that is all over the fashion magazines? Unless you have flawless, pearly teeth, plump lips, and incredibly beautiful eyes, don't go there.


Instead, find a wearable, between pink-and-brown shade that the makeup mavens on MakeupAlley call "My Lips but Better." It'll be a shade you can swipe on and go--with no fussy blending, layering, pencilling, and glossing. Your MLBB shade makes you look better even when it's the only makeup you're wearing. It will compliment your complexion and make your teeth look whiter.

You find this shade checking the color of the inside of your bottom lip. Go up to a mirror, roll down your lower lip, and check the shade. See how it's darker than your lips--but just a bit? That's the shade you're aiming for.

Here are some suggestions to start you on your search:

Revlon's Super Lustrous Lipstick in Smoky Rose
Revlon's Super Lustrous Lipstick in Gold Pearl Plum (this is actually a bit pink on me)
Revlon ColorStay Soft&Smooth Lipcolor in Fabulous Fig (this is a bit dark, so I apply lightly)
Revlon ColorStay Mineral Lipglaze in Infinite Rose (lovely, but not infinite! I have to reapply)
Bobbi Brown Shimmering Lip Gloss in Berry and Orchid

Other makeup junkies recommend MAC Hug Me; Palladio Nude; Urban Decay Naked; Clinique Guava Stain; Nars Dolce Vita.

The Beauty Boomer Manifesto

Hello, invisible internet friends!

I have a confession to make. I'm older than you are.

I'm 53, and at 53, I have to work twice as hard and spend twice the money and time to look half as good as I did when I was 27. Well, I have two options; I can continue to fight the good fight, or I can give up.

I plan to keep fighting.

I plan to keep fighting because I feel better about myself when I do. I plan to keep fighting because it makes my husband and children feel better about me. Most important, I plan to keep fighting because it shows the world that I'm still in the game. My glory days are not over; they're just beginning.

Like it or not, people judge you by your looks--and they do it all the time.

One of the things they judge is your age. Another is your perceived level of hipness.

Here's the deal: age and hipness do not have to co-relate. Perceived age is the combination of the impression made by your size, silhouette, complexion, coloring, grooming, clothes, accessories, and makeup. Some of these things can be easily fixed. Others you have to live with. But hipness? Looking in the know? Can easily be tweaked. And that makes you come across as younger.

It takes work. You have to leave your comfort zone. Because let's face it; your comfort zone is frumpy. It's the same hair style for 20 years. It's the overcoat you bought in 1995 that still has plenty of wear in it. It's glasses from 2004.

And frumpiness sneaks up on you. Like age, a lack of hipness doesn't happen overnight. You get busy with other things, and you gradually lose touch. You look up and the 90s--the decade you were hoping to catch up on because babies and graduate school made you miss most of them--are already being revived.

Now, I may be a recovering frump, but at least I've developed some taste and discrimination over the years. Forty years of reading fashion magazines tends to have that effect. In this blog, I'm planning on sharing what I've learned.

I also want to find out what you've learned. What has worked; what hasn't. Some of you posted comments back when I first starting moving in this direction. I've got several posts in draft that are dealing with these issues, so please keep the comments coming!

Elsewhere:

Poppy at BlogHer BeautyHacks:

Shimmery Makeup: Not Just for Teens

Nail Polish Trends for Spring, 2010

Upcoming:

I. The Five Cs of keeping your look fresh:

1. Cull
2. Coordinate
3. Cost -- How to prioritize
4. Change
5. Compromise -- When a fashion from your past is resurrected

II. 30/10--a month-long series of posts--10 minutes to looking younger.

1. Find a MLBB lippie
2. Update your eyebrows
3. Establish a beauty triage
4. Curl your lashes
5. Perk up the girls
6. Exfoliate
7. Rethink your jewelry
8. Make friends with concealer
9. Loop on a scarf
10. Lighten up, Francis
11. Make new friends
12. But keep the old
13. Wear a camisole
14. Wear blusher
15. Bump up your nails
16. Rethink your hair products
17. Be a brownie
18. Grow
19. Be true to yourself
20. Think like a decorator
21. Back away from black
22. Blot, don't powder
23. Find a younger mentor
24. Be all wet
25. Break some rules
26. Bags are the new shoes
27. The legs are the last to go
28. Move on
29. Use your rear-view mirror
30. Play