As I write this post, I am thinking of two songs. One rather new, “Gravity” by John Mayer and the other, rather old, “As Time Goes By”, written in 1931, but known from the classic 1942 Ingrid Bergman/Humphrey Bogart film, “Casablanca”, which happens to be my favorite.

Some months ago, as we began our home renovations, I used the euphemism “face lift”. We did what we could ourselves, but when it was beyond our capabilities, we had some of the “work done” by our contractor. As I stripped the wall paper from the walls of my art room, I realized that there were parallels in the home improvement world and that of beauty (skin care, make up, cosmetic dermatology and even plastic surgery). At the time, I thought that it would make a great blog post, and so here goes.

The incentive to begin the improvements came from a change in our lives, namely my retiring to care for our infant grandson, Jackson, while our daughter is at work. Since babies come with multiple pieces of furniture, and equipment, it seemed the perfect time to make some long needed changes, to our home. The motivator for change in the make up world is usually a special event, and the realization that your mirrors no longer reflect the face that you are longing to see.

When clients contact me and say, “I have a special event coming up (wedding, reunion, Bar Mitzvah, job interview, big birthday, photo session, etc.), and I am just not happy with how I look”, the first thing that I address is “resurfacing their walls”. All of the make up in the world, won't make skin that needs help look fresh, beautiful and glowing. Obviously, when one is 50ish, or as in my case retirement age, we won't look 20 again, but we can have healthy skin and look beautiful as we proudly hand over our AARP card! One of my clients is in her late 80s and still looks fabulous!

There are so many possibilities for us today! We are certainly not without choices. We can begin at home, with good basic skin care: cleanse, tone, and moisturize AM and PM. Of course, I can't move beyond basic skincare without emphasizing the importance of sunscreen. If closing the drapes and pulling the shades down can protect furniture from fading, then avoiding sun exposure (sunglasses, sunhat, sunscreen) will certainly protect your skin. If that is all that you do, you are ahead of the game! Above all, schedule a yearly visit with your dermatologist to do a full body scan. Those years of basking in the sun have not only contributed to premature aging, it has also caused damage that requires you to see a “contractor”, i.e. dermatologist, who will examine you and address, biopsy, and/or remove those areas of concern.

Next, it is time to talk about exfoliating. After I stripped the wallpaper from my art room walls there was wallpaper paste left on the drywall. I washed it 3 times with a vinegar solution to make sure that it didn't create a problem when it was time to paint. To get the skin ready for make up there are many choices. The most simple is a physical exfoliant, which is cream with granules to massage on the skin. The older we get, the slower the cells turnover. The object of exfoliating is to loosen the keratin fibers that hold the dead cells on the skin. There are both physical and chemical exfoliants. I love my Clarisonic brush and I believe in using products that contain glycolic acid, lactic acid or enzymes for “do it yourself” exfoliating. For skin at its best, find a good medical aesthetician and schedule microdermabrasion/chemical peel sessions. It sounds much more extreme than it is. I have done it countless times and it will take your skin to a higher level, where you can then maintain it with basic skincare and return to the aesthetician periodically. Also, Retin A, and Vitamin C are proven ways improve your skin. Again, sometimes you just need to bring in a “contractor”!

Along with the ordinary home improvements, I have also begun to repurpose furniture. There were several old family pieces in the basement that looked dark and old, (not vintage) and I couldn't part with them! They just needed to be refreshed. I learned that if there was missing veneer, gouges in the wood, bubbled up varnish, I could do wood filler and sanding before I painted. After which I would wax and then buff and polish to make it glow! On the skin, one may consider fillers, and injectables to address the recessed areas and laser to improve density of the skin, as well as removing facial hair and broken capillaries. In addition, just as a room can look brighter by adding new drapes or accent pieces of furniture, so can your appearance. It is amazing the difference that whitening your teeth, and updating your hair and clothing style can make in your over all appearance. The result is that the image in the mirror is one that you are happier to see.

As always, if I can be of help, please let me know!

All the best,

Jodie