Our Lucky Stars

As we head into 2014 don't forget to be unstoppable, like my shining example, Shirley MacLaine. She never stops, seems to have fun along the way, and her movies still provide endless entertainment. In her publicity shots she never looked self-conscience or egotistical, she was always open, honest, fresh-faced, and has timeless good looks.

Be quietly spectacular, ever bright, and sparkle, no matter what you are doing:

Home For The Holidays

I am all set for my annual tradition of sitting down with my hot chocolate in a comfortable chair screening my favorite holiday movie, Home For The Holidays. Sadly we lost two of its female stars this year, Julie Harris and Eleanor Parker, with only two remaining of the leading ladies of this wonderful holiday movie. 

It is a TV movie, and won't be found at your local theaters, but still worth it to find it as we take shelter from all the busy bees buzzing around and getting nowhere for yet another holiday season. Don't be one of the hive next year, be the queen.

Don't Be A Turkey

Believe me, I wish I had listened to the wisdom of a few of the older folks in my life, many years ago. I was told to stop the over the counter medicines, stop or drastically minimize eating dairy products, stop eating meat, take vitamins, but did I listen? Nope, but now have tried to get on track and hope everyone reading this blog knows a person younger than them to pass along this advice. No, it's never too late, but the earlier you start the better off you will be in the long run. Yes, exercise, do a sport, eat fresh fruits and vegetables, limit carbs, and say no to meat and dairy, including that supposedly lean Turkey on xmas, oh brother, all the grease, fat and cartilage is awful and your body will look like a turkey in no time. Plus, I have never known any doctor to tell a person to start eating meat. Our horrible diets have led to all the health problems we suffer in mid-life, and your doctor most likely will tell you to stop eating all the animal products and transition to fresh fruit and vegetables, but no doctor will ever admit you need to stop when you are young, when your body will respond quickly and you will have a healthier mid life into your senior years where you can still ride your horse, take a drive in your sports car, enjoy your cabin in the ski country...but take heart readers, the new year is just around the corner and you don't want to waste it looking like this:

Just Say No: To Lip Liner

Sorry if you are doing this, but stop. Make that your New Year's resolution. It was invented by someone to get you to waste money on an extra product not one person needs, nor does it ever look good.

A good example below: Look how the beauty of Iman is marred by that lip liner, not forgetting, Iman markets her own cosmetics, bear that in mind. Skip it, folks, it's never a good thing. Iman should only highlight the natural color of her lips, as she is using a very clear gloss and neutral color because she is emphasizing her eyes, using very dark colors. The lip liner is simply not needed and distracting. And it will wear off and start to bleed onto the skin. Lip liner will not help keep your lipstick in place.  Lipsticks are not meant to last all day, unless you do not eat or drink or speak. There is nothing wrong with reapplying your lipstick during the day, keep your favorite everyday color tucked into a pocket or purse.

Tip: Use cover stick or concealer that matches your skin tone and blend it carefully around your mouth, blended into your normal foundation and setting powder. The lipstick will stay in place and only your lips will shine and be in focus, not that d*mn lip liner.

The Perfect Face?

I think why I love this face is that it is so natural-looking, without artifice, meaning, without tons of false eyelashes, or plastic surgery, no botox, fillers, nothing. You can learn from this face. Yes, it is the natural, expressive and beautiful face of Margaux Hemingway, one of the world's top models for many years. 

I love the focus on the eyes. You can copy this look with dark eyeliner and color on the lashes and close to the lashes getting lighter as you work towards your eyebrows. 

Notice the super clean skin, not a lot of blush, and, if you have perfect lips, go for the gorgeous red lipstick; otherwise tone it down, especially for everyday wear.

Are You A Guy?

...or just want to look like one? Don't wear ugly or cheap clothes or look ugly or cheap or look at something ugly or cheap:

 

You will never go wrong with Dolce & Gabbana:

Anyone Getting Married?

I can't tell you how much I hate the traditional white clown outfit called a wedding dress that women stuff themselves into. Show some style and do something different and unique, or just plain simple and pretty. I hate the lavish over done spectacle of a wedding ceremony, and loved the simplicity and beauty of the final scene in "Hello Dolly", when Barbra Streisand as Dolly Levi weds for the second time. Barbra was the focus, not the dress or a lavish ceremony. The dress didn't outshine the bride, it was wonderful.

More great examples:

Audrey Hepburn from "Funny Face"

Vivienne Westwood

Dolce and Gabbana

If you could turn back time: You'd keep your old nose

Well, maybe. Instead of racing to the nearest plastic surgeon in your health plan, think twice, get a good referral from someone who has had a nose job. Do not try and change your face, just smooth out the bumps and be happy. Some examples are posted here to make you think about reality, since most of us do not have access to the Hollywood doctors. Notice it's about sprucing up your entire "look" not just making major surgical changes. It isn't about having lots of dough but how you use the dough you have, kneading it, baking it, freezing it, and eating it, wait, now I'm hungry. 

La gorge et clivage

Never too early, never too late, start now. The neck and chest areas are the most vulnerable to age and everyone ignores them early in life. Always wear sunscreen even if you love to lay in the sun, do so in moderation. A few brands I like are Natura Bisse, Amore Pacific, Mario Badescu, and there are many more. Important thing is to just do it, don't think about it, do it.

Stop Time

Yes, throw that watch you are wearing around your neck or on your wrist in the garbage. Slavery has been outlawed in the United States. Clocks are everywhere, on our phones, iPads, desktop computers, stop running around wasting time looking at your watch every two seconds. It is enough to look at a clock once a day in the morning if you must dash off somewhere and look wonderful doing it. But if you are expecting any expensive gifts this year from your significant other, know what counts, and it isn't a timepiece. One exception is the Bulgari serpent watch, either real or a knock-off. They did it right; otherwise, watches and clocks are a thing of the past. Think earrings, necklaces, or a sparkling candleholder for your dinner table. Or best yet, invest in a wonderful vacation somewhere leaving your possessions to the ages.

Ageless Beauty/Ageless Wisdom

Exercise: Getting Started

Do what you can do, do what you enjoy. Starting with the basics, if you don't like the outdoors, buy some free weights and a videotape or DVD. They are inexpensive and a fun way to get started. I can't speak enough about the benefits of lifting weights, floor exercises and stretches.  I have been doing so since I was a teenager, and no, I will not tell you how many years ago that was. There are some great online sources, books to read, like Fabio Fitness. Although it was written some time ago, the information is solid and the videotape that accompanied the book contains timeless exercises for lifting weights. All people of all sizes and shapes can start with 3 pound free weights, work up to a 10 pound weight per arm, and above if you want. Since everyone this season is consumed with eating, drinking, and hoarding stores at stale shopping malls, now is the time to think about yourself and your goals for 2014. I am here to help and support your decision to stop making other people rich, enrich yourself.

Fact: Breakfast Makes You Fat

Rethink breakfast. Cereal, bacon, eggs, donuts, hash browns, you name it, is only adding to your waistline. Ask yourself. Am I a lumberjack? Do I need to harvest the crop before 4 AM? If you basically do nothing all morning, and I also include in that "do nothing" phrase as meaning sitting in your car on your way to a desk job, then all you need in the morning is any or all of the following: half a banana, black coffee, herbal tea, water, pure fruit juice [not the stuff that's really sugary junk food], maybe strawberries, the end. You will find you are not that hungry by lunchtime, as you take your walk around your office building and enjoy a light tuna fish sandwich and green salad with veggies. We will talk about dinner some other time, as that is a whole other issue.

Buy What Matters: The Real Thing

Especially this time of year, I think you might need some positive encouragement to not buy, excuse the expression, crap. Buy real things, things that will last, things that matter.  A few photos here serve as an inspiration. Barbra Streisand enjoyed her fame, but it didn't own her, she collects wonderful things, but they don't rule her life. Most people, rich or poor, think they have to show off or something, but how about a simple photo of yourself in your favorite room of the house? Let the planets spin around the earth, not you.



Yes, even the future King of England saw the value of taking some time to listen to a beautiful woman of taste and experience.



Secrets of Coffee & Cocoa

Curl up in your favorite chair and read on while you have your favorite TV show tuned in [e.g., Bonanza is a great choice] with your pet sitting by your side, I have a few secrets you may wish to try, share, check out, analyze, and disregard if you want, nobody really cares, but me. Okay, boil about 4 cups of water on a stovetop; put in a few drops of either lemon or orange extract; boil for at least 10 minutes. Pour the boiling hot water into your favorite mug with a cute animal on it, now, mix in either instant coffee or instant cocoa. Sprinkle in some cinnamon and enjoy with your favorite snack, like mini pumpkin scones. Now, a warning. If you cannot or do not want caffeine, never drink decaffeinated coffee, tea or cocoa. Rumor has it, caffeine is a naturally occurring substance, and the chemicals used to remove it may cause pancreatic cancer. Yes, I am here to share, please do not take this advice if it frightens you. Having no coffee is better than decaffeinated coffee drinks or decaffeinated tea [I am not talking about herbal teas, of course, which have no caffeine]. There, I wrote it. And dark chocolates and cocoa are good for the heart and soul. But, I don't really need to tell you that, do I? 

Hair Extensions and Wigs: The Facts

Yes, I like them, I like hair in all colors, fake or real, wigs, what-not; but a warning. Hair extensions, the kind you glue to your existing hair, cause breakage and thinning of your own natural hair. They are an extreme commitment. You can use the kind that snap on and off causing no damage, there are many brands available. Real hair tends to look unnatural with your own hair, because unless you are 10 years old and have never color treated your hair, the hair shaft is not perfect and never will be. Go with faux hair extensions or wigs for a change of pace. They blend in well with your own hair. But good luck with those glue-on versions. Either you cut the length and let them grow out with your natural hair, or shave your head [ref. Andre Agassi; Britney Spears; Demi Moore] to be free of them. Otherwise the weight of the extension eventually thins out your own hair and the solvent to melt the glue just causes damage to your own hair.

Overly-long and heavy hair extensions are obvious and caused this woman's [below] hair to have broken off. Look at the dark short hair underneath the long hair extensions. She can either spray her roots a blondish hair color, which won't match the wig, or go darker, which is better since she is trying to make people think she has natural long hair and dark roots growing in, but given her age, I doubt she has dark roots anymore.

Both photos below are of the same woman. Notice in the candid shot, [below left] how yellow the hair is and obvious she is wearing a wig and/or hair extensions. The photo on the right is a professionally touched-up photo, but you can't hide a hair extension and a wig is a wig and that's the facts, folks. You read it here.

Unfortunate Wisdom: Facelifts

Yes, I am cursed with wisdom, and unfortunately, I have no answers for you on facelifts. If you can afford it, proceed with caution, it is not the answer to happiness, but it can make you feel better even though not one person around you gives a darn.

Here is a secret to pass along: The number one relationship in your life [aside from yourself] is with your plastic surgeon. Stars from the old studio system had free access to the best professionals in makeup, hair, style, dance, athletics, exercise, you name it. If you were lucky enough to be a contract player, and even establish yourself as a star, you learned that nobody waits until they are 40, 50, 60...to start plastic surgery. They start as children. Whether it be simple braces or plastic retainer on the teeth as a youngster, to the nose job when they are a teenager, to eyelifts and subtle jawline lifts in their 20's, so they don't end up looking like the photo below when they are 50. Yes, this celebrity seems to have started all her plastic sugery in her 40's, as you can see, it didn't work. And I might be so bold as to guess she stopped using botox, and the result is the once-swollen tight skin has shrunk to this wrinkled mess we see here:

Secrets of the Stars

Do you feel a bit inferior when gazing upon the celebrities in glossy magazines or online glamour shots posted on old movie websites? Well don't. Here is one secret I can dare to share about a still living Hollywood icon. Yes, she has the bones as they say, the beautiful skin, bright smile, but credit the cats eyes to tape hidden under wigs. Here is her naturally straight short hair and normal-looking eyes before her Hollywood makeover. Still beautiful? Yes. But you can be too, if you highlight your natural features.

Style: Holiday Season

Yes, it's the frenzy season, where all the little people run around in a mass maze of confusion, going from shop to shop, mall to mall, town to town, grabbing from the crumbs of the table of the wealthy. Believe me, I love wealthy people, I love how I live when I'm around wealthy people [to steal a partial quote from "The Sound of Music"]. But they sit back and laugh at all of us, because it is all very funny looking down from their penthouses. My humble advice? Well, what do you think? Take some time off if you can, sit around with people you want to be with, not what advertisers tell you, you might not want to track down that absentee mom this year and hand her a candleholder and call it xmas. Or slaughter yet another turkey pretending it's some ceremony honoring native Americans, oh please, we are honoring the football season, I think. Show some style this year, show a little spark of ambition, and reflect on the past year and what you want to accomplish next year...your cash flow will increase in the right direction, to yourself and to only the few select people in your life. Happy holidays, indeed.



Illustration of fashion designer and style icon, Edith Head. Drawing is from Google.



Secrets: Charities

Here is a secret: charities were created by the governmental officials whose wealthy friends wanted tax relief by getting us average people to donate money and goods while the wealthy laugh all the way to the bank. Don't you get a little tired of seeing the rich and famous on TV and at various publicized events promoting their personal charities? Most are paid to promote a charity, some own the charity themselves and are getting donations and a tax write-off at the same time, while living quite well off our hard earned cash. What is the result? Nothing is cured, nothing is stopped, and the treadmill continues year after year maintaining the status quo. So what to do? Help out in your local area if you feel the need, donate local, not national, but then, this is only my opinion, if you really need to help the wealthy maintain their lifestyle, then please do so. Many years ago a celebrity might donate their time to do a public service announcement, and an ad in a local magazine or newpaper, and that was it. Now it's big business, sorry, I am my own charity, but do as you must not as I say.

Wine & Liquor: The Facts

The facts: it is junk food. Sure wine and liquor taste good, and it's probably not too bad in great moderation,  and there are more varieties than anyone can count, and more people wasting money on it than I can count. If you want your skin to retain some moisture, natural plumpness and youth [especially down the road, gals], zero alcohol. But like most of us, we want what tastes good. But save a few dollars a week and skip it, indulge in something else, save that cash and take a trip, see a Broadway play; you will look good and so will your wallet.

Undercover: The Basics

Yes, what about those unmentionables women spend hundreds of dollars on that are supposed to make them look thinner than they are, when all they really do is thin out your hard earned cash? Get comfortable, wear foundation garments to firm you up but not compress your body. The point here is, to get into shape, not rely upon clothing to give you what it can't. It makes you work harder on your goals. If you are full-figured, not to worry, again, wear smooth underlayers, body hugging under-things with loose fitting clothing on top, not too big, but clothes that fit. I am only here to help.



Spanx doesn't help: Horrible fitting dress, too tight, and horrible shoes.



Perfect fit, nice dress and comfortable matching shoes that compliment the leg.



Simplicity: In Your Home

How important is it to simplify your home? There is so much going on out in the real world, your job, family, whatever you are stuck with, you need your own space to be simple. Believe me, one or two nice pieces is all you need, or a little corner of a room. Stop wasting time and money on frantically furnishing your humble abode, and take that money and save it for a nice trip, fancy restaurant, or a special gift for yourself. Case in point, the last photo below. It's from an old issue of Hamptons Magazine. It is the bedroom of a very famous, wealthy, talented, brilliant person. Doesn't it look like it could be your home, or any person's simple, comfortable home? You will never guess...look at the caption. That simple photo is my inspiration.



Truman Capote's Hamptons home



Should You Dress Your Age?

This is one area that nobody understands. Other than age, there are other factors. Your weight [sorry, but it's true], height, and body type. Rule of thumb, ask yourself:

• Am I under the age of 25?
• Am I relatively thin and fit?
• Do I exercise or do a sport regularly?

If the answers to all those questions are yes, then go for it. You can dress however pleases you. No limits.

If you are like the rest of us [me included] you might start to have figure issues, age issues, but does that mean you have to dress boring, wearing only polyester pants and a giant big shirt? No.

Here are examples, women who are past a certain age, are covered up yet fashionable, in style, ahead of the curve, or ahead of their own curves, and I think they understand, just because you aren't perfect doesn't mean you can't have fun and be happy with yourself and look good at the same time.

#cher  #boderek    #queenlatifah

#style   #stylesheetdaily

Hair: The Basics

I love hair, real or fake, and long. Not to say short hairstyles are not fantastic, but I prefer long hair. I am all in favor of dying it any color you wish, but take into account your job and if everyone at work will enjoy looking at your pink hair everyday. Some products I like are from Garnier Fructis and Yes To Carrots. A careful warning about shampoos that supposedly highlight or enhance your hair color, brunette/blonde/redhead, as they strip and dry out your hair, whether you color it or not, my advice is to avoid them. Keep a look out for products designed for color treated hair, not those standard shampoos that proclaim to highlight your color, you know what I mean. 

 

How about some examples? Okay:

 

Makeup 101

I know, the battle rages on, should women wear makeup on their faces or not, and what kind. Personally, ditch the mineral powder foundation, it's okay for a spot cover-up, but follow it with a cream foundation. My favorites are Clinique, Kett, and Mehron. I have used various foundations for more years than I care to admit. My makeup has lasted through many sporting competitions in my younger days, looking good in photos and after a long day at the stable. No need to look like a horse while riding a horse. Remember the mineral powder foundations are cakey and cause break-outs. Stick with the basic liquid foundation, a little goes a long way, follow up with a thin layer of powder. Favorite powder brands are Clinique and Ulta Finishing Powder. If you don't need foundation, a light cream sunblock works wonders, maybe with a hint of color.

Fashion Flub: Walking The Dog

When I had a dog, I was happy and proud to walk her through the neighborhood and look good while doing it. Don't you want people to smile when they see you walk by with your beloved pet? Ok, here is what this poor woman did wrong. She failed to hide her figure flaws and embarrassed her dog by wearing sloppy, ugly clothes.

How should she have dressed?

How about: long slim cotton pants, tennis shoes, blousy cotton top to hide those sloppy straps, hair in a sleek ponytail and a long strappy tiny purse to go over her head and shoulders leaving her hands free.

Skin Care 101

Yes, as with any advice you read on the internet, check with your doctor, however, most know nothing about skin care beyond what they learned in medical school about identifying disease. So ask them to prescribe Retin-A topical cream, if you need a prescription where you live. A tiny dab goes a long way, young or old, your skin will benefit. Mix it with Nivea skin cream and you are set for life. Use it a few times a week, but don't stop using it for long periods of time. If you wear foundation, the important thing is getting it all off, so invest in a good liquid cleanser skipping the toners and astringents as they are designed to empty your bank account. If you wear foundation, well, I will leave that to another day. Today is skin day, keep it clean, avoid products with fragrance. If you opt for any laser treatments, botox, etc., proceed with caution. Most so-called experts want what's in your wallet, and could care less about your face.

Remember, looking at beautiful things will do wonders for your skin and health, such as, jewelry, flowers, and scenery: