All the BOTOX and expensive skin care regimens in the world won't keep you looking young if your style choices give away your "real age" – or even add to it. Here are some smart tips and best practices to keep your look energized and fresh without falling into the common traps that can age your look dramatically.
1 – Shape Up the Makeup
You might think that strong, assertive colors add energy to your appearance, but the reality is that aggressive colors tend to give the face a severe look and make skin look dead and lifeless. Scaling down your makeup instantly lends softness and subtlety to your facial contours, and the right color choices can accomplish a lot to create the healthy, effortlessly fresh look of genuine youth.
Quick Tips:
• Replace black eyeliner with softer dark browns, and emphasize your eyes by loading up mascara at the lash roots instead. Cut dark, thick lower-lid liner altogether in favor of a peachy-toned powder-type liner to help brighten and open up your eyes.
• Lipstick and blush should be peachy-toned, too, to give warmth to surrounding skin without the "instant aging" effects of orangey or purplish colors. Avoid orange lipstick and dark lipliners in general; orange tends to give skin a jaundiced look, and dark liners often emphasize lines elsewhere in the face.
2 – Get Picky with the "Personality" Factor
Overdoing your makeup can make you look outdated and wan, but undercommunicating your personality is also a big no-no -- the trick is to focus your style on areas that count.
Quick Tips:
• Get rid of shoes and handbags older than 1 year, and replace them with a 20-something style. Why? These items get the most use, the most wear, and the most attention of any other item you wear – and they're also two dead givewaways of an outdated look.
• Make your fun and whimsical wardrobe choices pack a visual "punch" by limiting them to 2 or 3 per outfit and offsetting them with more toned-down choices. An attention-getting handbag or a bright-toned pair of shoes will give energy to even a professional look, but only if they complement calmer, more relaxed color and pattern choices.
• Get bangs. The right haircut can literally "cut" years from your appearance, and bangs have the double benefit of hiding forehead wrinkles and emphasizing the personality and softness of your features.
3 – Smile
Nothing helps take years off of your appearance the way a big smile does, and smiling has beneficial chemical effects that help you feel happier, more confident, and more relaxed. An added benefit: by setting other people at ease, you help create an impression of yourself as a happier, more positive, and more refreshed person, and the "younger" people treat you, the younger you will look and feel.
1 – Shape Up the Makeup
You might think that strong, assertive colors add energy to your appearance, but the reality is that aggressive colors tend to give the face a severe look and make skin look dead and lifeless. Scaling down your makeup instantly lends softness and subtlety to your facial contours, and the right color choices can accomplish a lot to create the healthy, effortlessly fresh look of genuine youth.
Quick Tips:
• Replace black eyeliner with softer dark browns, and emphasize your eyes by loading up mascara at the lash roots instead. Cut dark, thick lower-lid liner altogether in favor of a peachy-toned powder-type liner to help brighten and open up your eyes.
• Lipstick and blush should be peachy-toned, too, to give warmth to surrounding skin without the "instant aging" effects of orangey or purplish colors. Avoid orange lipstick and dark lipliners in general; orange tends to give skin a jaundiced look, and dark liners often emphasize lines elsewhere in the face.
2 – Get Picky with the "Personality" Factor
Overdoing your makeup can make you look outdated and wan, but undercommunicating your personality is also a big no-no -- the trick is to focus your style on areas that count.
Quick Tips:
• Get rid of shoes and handbags older than 1 year, and replace them with a 20-something style. Why? These items get the most use, the most wear, and the most attention of any other item you wear – and they're also two dead givewaways of an outdated look.
• Make your fun and whimsical wardrobe choices pack a visual "punch" by limiting them to 2 or 3 per outfit and offsetting them with more toned-down choices. An attention-getting handbag or a bright-toned pair of shoes will give energy to even a professional look, but only if they complement calmer, more relaxed color and pattern choices.
• Get bangs. The right haircut can literally "cut" years from your appearance, and bangs have the double benefit of hiding forehead wrinkles and emphasizing the personality and softness of your features.
3 – Smile
Nothing helps take years off of your appearance the way a big smile does, and smiling has beneficial chemical effects that help you feel happier, more confident, and more relaxed. An added benefit: by setting other people at ease, you help create an impression of yourself as a happier, more positive, and more refreshed person, and the "younger" people treat you, the younger you will look and feel.
