This is the soon to be 40 year old, country mega-star Faith Hill. She is stunning.

More than fit for a magazine cover, but Redbook didn’t think so. Jezebel.com got this “before” cover shot of Faith prior to being Photo Shopped to the editor’s liking.

I am appalled. What are we supposed to aspire to? She is beautiful. Why did the editor feel that she needed so much re-touching?

See the “after” picture by clicking “read more” below.

photo’s from Jezebel.com

There is simply nothing wrong with the “before” shot of Faith at all.  I like to know that she is a real women, be it a real beautiful woman at that – without re-touching at all.

Post from: Aging Fabulous

Dr. Perricone is a very well-known Doctor that has been pioneering the field in anti-aging skin care technologies for some time now. He is best known for his best-selling books such as The Perricone Prescription and The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet: A Simple 3-Part Plan to Lose the Fat, the Wrinkles, and the Years, and now for his amazing line of skin care items. His serums are truly worth every penny.

Dr. Perricone’s products are a bit expensive, and this set would retail for $276 if the items were to be purchased separately. But the 4-pc set is on sale at QVC, today only, for $127.14. You can see the great value it is.

Here is what is included in the set:
Nutritive Cleanser
Vitamin C Eye Area Therapy
Advanced Face Firming Activator
Ceramic Skin Smoother

This set is a wonderful way to get to know Dr. Perricone’s products, and they are essentially all you need in your daily skin care routine.

And here are the good Doctors books. I highly recommend adding them to your reading list!

Post from: Aging Fabulous

Renée Rouleau’s Instant Line Filler with Vitamin C ($62.50) instantly blurs and fades the look of lines and wrinkles. This Instant Line Filler visibly remodels skin for a more youthful appearance.

Like I said, this Instant Line Filler is the injection-free, answer to visibly smoother, less lined skin. It uses dehydrated Hyaluronic Filling Spheres that resemble tiny micro-sponges. When applied to the surface of the skin, they enter into the lines and wrinkles and penetrate the upper layers of the epidermis. The Hyaluronic Filling Spheres rehydrate with the water in skin, plumping up lines and wrinkles, making them less noticeable.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best products I have used to smooth my lines. You have heard seeing is believing, and this surely is!

Post from: Aging Fabulous

I was so thrilled to see some of my favorite fabulous ladies of Broadway there.

Just look at these beauties, all of whom are over 40, I do believe:

Top Row, left to right – Angela Lansbury, Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters
Middle Row, left to right – Christine Ebersole, Dana Ivey, Felicity Huffman
Bottom Row, left to right – Marcia Gay Harden. Patti LuPone, Vanessa Redgrave

Simply ravishing – each and every one of them. Oh – to have it so together!

Post from: Aging Fabulous

Here is the link to the video: Today Show.

A few things I picked up from the segment:
$664,000,000 dollars were spend on anti-aging creams last year – WOW!
$66 is the average price of an anti-aging skin cream – WOW, again!

Please note that Matt Lauer says that Boots No. 7 Protect & Perfect is not available in the United States. No the Protect & Perfect Serum is not, you see they have renamed it for distribution here in the United States. It is named Boots No. 7 Restore & Renew Beauty Serum.

Restore & Renew Beauty Serum is currently sold out at online at CVS and Target, but that is where it is distributed in the United States. You’ll have to just keep checking the stores with the rest of us.

By the way, I have confirmed all of this information with the Boots PR people just yesterday. I am sure that they wished the Today Show had too!

Post from: Aging Fabulous

The best way to prevent age spots is to protect your skin from the sun by using an effective sunscreen or sun block. Each and every day. I swear I have been lathering sunscreen on my hands throughout the day.

By putting on anti-aging sunscreen each and every day, like I have just started doing, you give your skin a barrier against any further damage as well as protection from the UV rays. These rays are essentially what cause age spots over time.

I am looking into some fade creams, and will report on those soon. I remember trying an anti-aging age spot fade cream from Joan Rivers before, and I will definitely be looking that one up again.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know before I hit the stores next week.

Post from: Aging Fabulous

I am not ready for this – yet. But I will be soon. My cycles are not what they used to be, and I have an occasional hot flash, and night sweats. But I suppose I will need to make a decision with my doctor was to when and if HRT is right for me.

So, which are better? Bioidentical Hormones or Synthetic Hormones? And what the heck is the difference in the first place?

This is an important decision, and like I said, one that only you and your doctor can make. I think that it is wise to know the differences. And that as women, we should have a choice in selecting which are more appropriate for ourselves. If we even choose to use HRT at all.

Put in simple terms, Bioidentical hormones are a form of manufactured estrogen and progesterone that are identical to what is produced naturally by the ovaries. These are often derived from natural sources, such as plants.

Synthetic hormones are often sourced from natural plants as well, but they are usually slightly different from the kind made by the body. They are supposed to work better than what our body naturally produces.

Doctors have been prescribing both of these forms for years, but the main difference is in how these therapies make us feel. Synthetic hormones are created with a different molecular structure, and sometimes create side effects because our bodies don’t know what to do with them. So the Bioidentical ones should not have the side effects.

My mother had to have a hysterectomy in her thirties and went on hormones shortly thereafter. I sometimes wonder if that is why she had so many heart problems in her early fifties. A few years ago her doctor put her on a patch, and within days she felt better, but soon began having heart palpitations, something she (thankfully) didn’t take too lightly. So, the doctor reduced her dose, but she still had these intermittent palpitations, so they took her off of it. Guess what? The heart palpitations stopped.

So not matter which you choose, make sure you are aware of what is happening to your body and keep track of the changes.

I am wondering, if either are better for you? And do you have a preference? Some even say that HRT should not even be used, as menopause is just your bodies natural way of aging, and that we can very easily deal with the side effects without any therapies whatsoever.

Post from: Aging Fabulous

The first walk I take is in the morning, and that walk is just over 2 miles. It is a nice easy walk, with only one hill up in the beginning, and another one at the end – which is sometimes a killer, depending how I am balancing my time. This little over 2 mile walk is taking me just about 35 minutes, which is great time, if I say so myself. I have my iPod all geared up every morning, ready to go with the same 35 minutes of song, that lets me walk to the beat. And when I see people looking or sometimes staring at me, I just smile and say a warm, welcoming, “Good Morning!”. You see, it is early, the kids are off to school, and I need to get my day going – so as I am walking, I am belting out the tunes – oh yeah!

My second walk of the day is usually taken right after dinner. This walk is about 3 miles. I walk to the high school track, which is 1/2 mile away. I love the track. It was just built last year, and it is this really weird spongy/asphalt kind of material. It is almost rubbery – and so easy on the joints! I walk around the track 8 times, which someone told me is 2 miles then back home, which is another 1/2 mile. On this walk, I am bit more subdued, as there are a bunch of us walking on the track, and inevitably there is someone that joins in with me, and starts conversing with me. It is not so bad, but I don’t keep the pace like I do in the morning. But it is exercise nonetheless.

Do I have any more walking buddies out there? More importantly are there any more crazies out there that sing at the top of their lungs when they are walking to the beat of their own drummer? I can’t be the only one!

Post from: Aging Fabulous

I have been seeing this on my local news all day. Supposedly women are calling and e-mailing local television stations to find out where to get the Number Seven Cream. Well, the cream is actually a serum, from Best Selling UK Beauty Brand Boots. Boots recently launched in the United States, and the PR people have certainly done a great job of getting this “anti-aging miracle serum” out there. From what I hear locally, it is selling out at Target.

So is this just great marketing? Public Relations? Or does this serum really work? You know I will definitely put it to the test as soon as I can get my hands on it.

First off, this serum carries a different name here in the United States. It is the Restore & Renew Beauty Serum. Here is the description from the Boots website.
“Reveal younger looking, beautifully refined skin with this powerful blend of caring and skin restoring ingredients. Light and non-greasy, it glides on instantly softening and smoothing your skin. Then, with regular use, it works to renew your complexion, restoring radiance and helping to reduce the appearance of pores, fine lines and wrinkles in just 4 weeks. With concentrated levels of our unique antioxidant complex and skin-firming pro-retinol complex to boost and maintain skin’s elasticity.
Created with Care. We’ve created this hypo-allergenic product using only ingredients we know and trust. It has been tried and tested by guests with even the most sensitive skin, so you’ll know it will be good to yours. Dermatologically tested.”

From the frenzy of it all, if you want to try this beauty out, you better run – not walk to your nearest CVS or Target, as that is the only place you will find it here in the US. You will find it for $21.99.

Post from: Aging Fabulous

She mentioned a foundation from RoC, called RoC Retin-Ox Illuminateur. As I love many of Roc’s anti-aging products (using their Resurfacing Cleansing Discs daily – more on that to come later), I am surprised to hear of this foundation. I have never seen this available. I wonder if it is only available in the UK. Have any of you ever heard of this, or better yet, tried it out?

Here are a few of my anti-aging foundation recommendations:

CoverGirl Advanced Radiance Restorative Cream Foundation – This is a new foundation from CoverGirl infused with Olay’s Glucosamine complex.
Clinique Repairwear Anti-Aging Makeup – A smooth liquid foundation that smoothes wrinkles out with medium coverage, and SPF 15 to boot.
Make Up Forever Liquid Lift Foundation – Another liquid foundation, but this one is full coverage. It actually tightens your skin as you wear it to help smoothes out lines while toning it.

Post from: Aging Fabulous