Tips for Beautiful Women – Take an Honest Look at Yourself

Most of us are pretty negative about our looks. We insist that there’s nothing we’re happy with, but is that really true? Let’s start with your weight.

Stand in front of a full-length mirror wearing underwear and a well-fitting T-shirt or vest. We’re going to judge your weight first from how you look. You might feel heavy, but where does the weight settle? Everyone knows her own body from how her clothes fit, but it never ceases to amaze me that people still judge their figures by what the scales say. You must forget this! Your weight doesn’t tell you what you look like.

Hold a hand-mirror and take a look at your back view. Does your bottom really need to be smaller, or is it simply lacking tone?

Your back
I suggested wearing a close-fitting T-shirt or vest because it shows up the state of your back. Many women put on weight from the top down, and fat is often stored on the upper back and under the arms. We all have sheets of powerful muscles which allow us to do a whole range of arm movements, but when these muscles get slack they can also manifest themselves as a flabby back which causes unsightly bulges.

Bras highlight the problem because their very nature means that they have to fit closely. If you have a lot of over-and underhang, don’t wear tight tops.

Your front
If your top is going to be revealing, you need a smooth line underneath, so no lace or bows on your bra. Choose one which encases your whole breast, and definitely don’t wear balcony or uplift bras under bodies or T-shirts. They emphasize any spare breast flesh which might not be in the first flush of youth!

The only people who have genuinely pert, uplifted breasts are about fifteen. Due to the predominance of TV programs portraying beachloads of silky siliconed beauties, and the fact that breasts are always covered up, lifted up or squeezed into shapes Mother Nature never intended, we should be forgiven for thinking we’re falling short if ours are droopy (or ‘soft’, as a high-class corsetiere put it rather delicately), small or mismatching. Your bosom is there, so you might as well make the most of it, and a good bustline is a sign of youthfulness.

If you’re small, don’t make the mistake of thinking that you don’t need support. Always wear a good bra.

Keep reappraising the situation
It’s extraordinary that some women buy the same bra size for as long as forty years. Even if your weight has not fluctuated, there’s a huge difference between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five in breast terms, and even if your measurement is the same, the way your flesh has settled could be very different. Remember that the measurement round your bust takes in a lot more than just breast tissue. It includes your back and underarms, so check every two or three years that your cup size hasn’t altered. Having a well-fitted bra makes a world of difference to your outline and figure.

Your stomach
Holding ourselves in goes without saying. I think we start to learn how to do this about the age of fourteen, and keep doing it. What a pain. And you can always be sure that the minute you forget yourself and let everything go for a second, all your friends suddenly appear! But what if, despite your valiant efforts, you either get your period or eat something which bloats you out just when you want to look good?

Buy a Girdle
It isn’t an admission of defeat, and indeed it’s a sensible way to give back your confidence and a smooth line under that skirt you’ve been aching to wear. Buy either a light-control pantie girdle or something a little more heavy-duty, but buy a good one! Don’t wait until you need it and the shops are shut.

Your face
Your face gets some pretty rough treatment, and it gets all the criticism as well. You can’t change what you’ve got in the next fortnight, but you can make a huge difference to the way you look.

- Do your eyebrows need plucking?
- Does your upper lip need waxing or depilation?
- Have you many spots?
- Is your complexion dull and lifeless?
- Is your skin grimy? (Test with cotton-wool soaked in a skin freshener.)
- Does your make-up need an overhaul?

During the next two weeks we will tackle your face together. You will have a combination of exfoliation, masks, hair-removal sessions and deep-cleanse and moisturizing treatments. An evening is set aside for you to try out new makeup techniques, although I never hold with trying a totally new look for an important event.

By combining these methods with a good diet and plenty of exercise, I can guarantee that you will look and feel like a whole new person in a fortnight’s time.