A few weeks ago I was out for a girls afternoon.  I was chatting with a nice young lady, I was telling her how I was a bit sad, because my youngest had just left for University and I was now an empty nester. She was floored, she thought I was only 30!  Well, thank you very much, I’ll take it!

I seem to lavish the compliments more as I’ve aged.  I used to get so annoyed when I’d get carded.  Now, admittedly, I wish I still got carded at the liquor store.  I get a little giddy when the kids and I are “mistaken” for sisters or friends, them … not so much!

I remember, I couldn’t wait to grow up.  I was always told “slow down, there’s no hurry”  Boy ain’t that the truth!  Now that I’m all grown up, I wish time would slow its roll a bit.

Did you know that there’s an actual clinical phobia for aging?  Gerascophobia – its an abnormal or persistent fear of growing old or ageing. I definitely don’t suffer from gerascophobia.  But, I do hope to age as gracefully as I can physically and spiritually.

What I really want to know is how do I get Kim Kardashian’s “just woke up selfie look”? Like, makeup is all perfect, not a wrinkle on her, eyelashes as long as my legs, hair is all did and she’s like “yawn, good morning world, I fell asleep without taking off my makeup!”

I have had a few people ask me a bit about my routines and favourite products.  As part of this blog, I thought I’d share a few of my faves with you.

Skin Care

Face:  I’m pretty regimented when it comes to my skin care routine. I really try to use pure, safe products (i.e. not containing talc | tallow | carbon black | animal products or by-products | parabens | formaldehyde-donating preservatives | phthalates | formaldehyde | alkylphenols | benzene | monoethanolamine | triclosan | synthetic dyes | hydroquinone | mineral oil).  For this I use Arbonne’s RE9 Advanced (Soothing Facial Cleanser, Regenerating Toner, Corrective Eye Cream, Intensive Renewal Serum, Restorative Day Cream/Advanced Repair Night Cream and Age Defying Neck Cream).  I love it, it smells great (looooove citrus) and I’ve had good results.  I also make sure to exfoliate 2 times per week (Arbonne Exfoliating New Cell Scrub).

Body:  Exfoliation is an important part of skin care. When old skin cells start to pile up on the surface of the skin, it can leave skin looking dull, rough, and dry, and can result in excess oil and clogged pores – leading to blemishes and acne. For this I also use an Arbonne product – SeaSource Detox Spa Foaming Sea Salt Scrub.

As far as body cream, honestly, I use organic virgin coconut oil.  Truth is,  I have also ridded myself of most of EOS’s,  Blistex’s and chap sticks and started using coconut oil instead as well as a selection of NATURALLY made lip balms.

Makeup

I love putting on makeup, mainly because I don’t do it very often anymore.  I work remotely and my lifestyle is a bit simpler than it used to be.  It’s good to give your face a bit of a break, but, I am still a girl 😉  And, thanks to the millions of makeup artists on YouTube, everyone’s becoming a bit more of a beauty expert these days.

I’ve never had an overly complex routine as far as makeup is concerned. I’m not one to spend an hour in front of the mirror for the perfect cat eyeliner, I just can’t do it – when I do it I just look like a troll!

Step 1: I start off with Arbonne SPF 20 day cream – hydration is important.  Once my face is fully moisturized, I give the moisturizer enough time to fully absorb and sink in, which is usually around five minutes.

Step 2:  Next, I apply a face primer.  This is an essential step if you want to prep your skin for a flawless foundation application. A good face primer will help to minimize the appearance of pores, blur imperfections, and smooth fine lines. Not only does face primer help to create a flawless base for your foundation application, but it also works to extend the life of your makeup.  For this I use Arbonne face primer.

Step 3: After I’ve applied the primer, I use the Arbonne CC cream (light or medium depending on the season) all over to give full coverage.  I prefer full coverage.

Step 4: Once I’ve done that, I apply Marc Jacobs concealer under my eyes.

Step 5: I like to contour (contouring is when you use a matte powder, cream, or pencil product that’s two shades darker than your skin tone to shade areas you’d like to define or reshape, like your nose, forehead, chin, and cheekbones). I found a dual ended contour stick that I’m quite fond of (I use light/medium) – this one is just Wet-n-Wild.  I usually highlight my forehead – down the middle of my nose, the rest of under my eyes, and tiny bit on my upper lip just under my nose and my chin.  I contour (the darker shade), the upper edge of my forehead – near my hairline and follow it down to my cheekbones and come down nearly to my upper lip.  I then do the outsides of my nose.  Then, blend.

Step 6: For my eyeshadow, I’m less particular insofar as brands,  right now I have a really nice colour pallette from Sephora that I like …. Urban Decay Naked.

Step 7: I use Marc Jacobs velvet noir major volume mascara, but my staple is Christian Dior.

Step 8:  I do shape and fill my brows.  Next to teeth, brows are the most important thing. They really do frame the face.  Well-groomed brows act to frame the eyes and highlight your best features. Strong brows can make you look put-together on a makeup free day. I was fortunate back in the high school days when the in-thing was thin brows, cause I had none lol.  For this I use Anastasia Ebony Dip Brow pomade.

Step 9:  I wear bronzer – I opt for the Arbonne bronzer, it has more of a matte finish. In the summer I opt for one with a shimmer.

Step 10:  I’m not picky when it comes to blush – right now I’m using a few, but I like the Hard Candy Blush Crush Baked Blush.

Step 11:  Highlighter – right now I use a liquid highlighter (Arbonne sheer glow), but I think I’m leaning more toward a powder one.  Any good one’s? Let me know.

Step 12: I use eyeliner, but I’m not picky – the one I have right now is Marc Jacobs and the others are Rimmel and Annabelle.

Step 13:  I’m more of a lip gloss kinda girl rather than lipstick or lipstain (not picky in brands – but if they have a flavour – bonus!)

**Brushes matter btw, a lot, so be sure to select good brushes**

Now talking about all these beauty tips doesn’t mean that the wrinkles, crows feet, laugh lines, forehead and furrow lines don’t exist.  They do.  Just ask my kids, they love to remind me of my forehead line and how it was caused by years of raised eyebrows at them lol.  We all age.  Can we just get used to it already?  Wrinkles are to be embraced and celebrated. Wrinkles are not weaknesses but rather the result of a lifetime of all kinds of emotions and experiences.

Age brings intelligence, experience, wisdom and beauty.  Many cultures celebrate the aging process and revere their elders. Yet, “there’s so much shame in our culture around aging and death,” Koshin Paley Ellison, Buddhist monk and co-founder of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, told the Huffington Post. “People themselves when they’re aging feel that there’s something wrong with them and they’re losing value.”  Kind of sad, isn’t it?

“Everyone wants to live forever but nobody wants to grow old.” (Jonathan Swift).

I’ve lost friends and family members much too young and too much too soon.  They didn’t get a chance to get old.   Certainly we can use the time we’re given better than pretending that we are not old.

---