Does Anyone Feel Beautiful?
We hear it all the time –“beauty comes from within.”
We’ve heard that phrase so many times we don’t even consider what it really means. But think about it: how many individuals have you met who radiate so much well-being they are truly stunning?
Ever had the experience of seeing someone you know when they feel miserable, and again when they’re joyful, and it’s like looking at a totally different person?
The key to how people see us is how we feel inside. And external radiance is just that---your well-being radiating out from within. The key to looking great is feeling great. And there are a ton of things you can do to cultivate radiance in yourself---the kind the whole world will notice.
Here are Cindy's tips for feeling beautiful over 40:
1. Scratch the “Over 40” part from that sentence! The idea that we should have to work harder to look and feel beautiful when we’re over 40 is a myth. Know what’s gorgeous? A woman who feels good in her own skin. And we believe that life is a growth process—which means as we age, we only get deeper, freer, happier, sexier and more at ease.
That freedom and ease shows on the outside---if we allow it to. So first on the list is to free yourself of the limiting belief that it somehow takes more work to be gorgeous if you’re over 40.
2. Practice transparency. Too often, we feel like we have to present a mask to the world—one that matches the pictures we see in magazines or commercials on TV. That in order to be beautiful, we have to look “perfect”—as defined by a bunch of people we don’t even know! But covering over who we really are only hides the natural radiance we all have inside.
It blocks the world’s view—just like using thick, heavy makeup covers up the natural radiance of your skin. Every day, practice letting just a little more of your authentic self show through than you did the day before—in conversation, with your loved ones, or just being present and making eye contact as you walk down the street.
3. Exercise—in a way that feels great to you. Study after study has proven the positive effects of exercise on mood and well-being. A happy body is one that moves—regularly.
So many of us avoid exercise because we think there’s a way we’re “supposed” to do it, or that if we’re not doing 45 minutes of cardio on a machine at the gym four times a week, we’ve somehow failed. But the key is to find a way to move that feels great to you.
Love dancing but can’t go out all night like you did when you were 21? Put on your favorite playlist in your living room and have a solo dance party. Love exploring? Spend your lunch break taking a walk in a new part of your neighborhood—take an unexpected turn, check out sights you’ve never seen before, and keep up a good clip.
Need an outlet for stress? Try a martial arts or kickboxing class. If you exercise in a way that feels good to you, you’ll be amazed how easy it becomes to keep it up. And the well-being it creates in your body will increase circulation, decrease inflammation and “tiredness,” rejuvenate your cells, and show in your skin and on your face..
4. Get enough sleep. I know, duh. But when busy schedules and the demands of life take over, a good night’s sleep is often the first thing to go. We think, “oh, I can make it through the day on six hours---I just need a little extra coffee.”
We do the minimum for ourselves instead of listening to what our body really needs.
But your body, your skin and your being need time to rest, dream, and recuperate. Getting the sleep your body needs is an act of self-nurturing. And when you nurture yourself, it shows on your face. Sleep does miraculous things for your skin and your eyes.Try setting an alarm for bedtime (instead of the morning!) and turning in an hour earlier each night---and check out the results in the mirror the next morning.
5. Do less. Women over 40 are some of the most productive members of our society. We’re at the height of our careers, juggling grown-up financial responsibilities, often still in the thick of raising families—we are busy!
And society teaches women to be really good at taking care of everyone else’s needs and meeting all our responsibilities, whether at home or at work. In the rush of life, taking time out to take care of our own well-being often falls by the wayside.
But less is more. If we find a few tasks each day that we can delegate, minimize or maybe just relax about, it creates more space for us to cultivate our own well-being and just be. And that space allows our natural radiance to emerge. As women over 40, we love our busy, full lives—and we’re proud of what we do.
Less is more when it comes to cosmetics---because what’s most beautiful is what’s there already--- the same is true for our daily lives. What’s already inside us is the most beautiful thing we’ve got. Clear a little space in the daily rush (even 15 minutes!) to just allow yourself to be. The ease, relaxation and confidence it will create will shine through on your face so the whole world can see it.
Beauty Makeup artist and model Cindy Joseph says less is more as women age. Her new line is a super multitasker. Is there a woman who hasn’t dabbed a little lipstick on her cheeks for a quick touch-up? “The whole idea of less is more, that women shouldn’t be slaves to dozens of makeup products, is what I really believe in,” said Cindy Joseph, a makeup artist and model who’s pared down her own cosmetic kit to just a few items. Three of them are from her new line of multiple-use cream sticks called Boom.
The line is not just for Boomers like Joseph. “Boom is the sound of a revolution in cosmetics,” she says. “Cosmetic companies are constantly adding products; I’m taking away. Mine is the only company that is pro-aging, not antiaging."
Jennifer Aniston believes in aging gracefully and not over-doing it on the makeup. When asked by Self Magazine what is in her purse when she leaves for the day, she said, "Boomstick Color: It’s an all-in-one stain for eyes, cheeks and lips that’s so much fun." "There is this pressure in Hollywood to be ageless," said Aniston. "I also understand that age is kind of awesome… Don’t over-product—that’s the other thing."
The products come in identical chubby silver tubes that fit in the palm of your hand. There’s a sheer berry for cheeks, brow bone, eyes, lips, forehead and neck; a sheer iridescent champagne for the inner corner of the eye, cheekbones, shoulders, decollete; and an olive oil and beeswax moisturizer for lips, cuticles and around the eyes.
They are $27 each and sold only on her website. Judging by the photos and videos, Joseph, who recently turned 60, needs no makeup at all. She’s one of those Emmylou Harris beauties with lovely features, luminous skin and long silver hair, who spends just a few minutes a day on her face before she’s out the door.
As women age, she says, looking fresh, rather than made up, is the key.
“The biggest makeup mistake that middle-aged women make is putting on too much under eye concealer,” she said. “At home, it might look OK, but in the daylight, it just looks like a bunch of gunk under your eyes. The older you get, the less makeup you should wear. It’s not a blank canvas anymore.” After growing up in the Bay Area – Mission San Jose High School, Fremont, class of ’69 – she moved to Paris in the early ’80s and later to New York.
“I was a classic California flower child,” she says. “I went to Haight Ashbury on the weekends, the Fillmore West, theAvalon Ballroom. I was at the center of it all. People still ask me to this day: ‘Are you from San Francisco?’ ” Joseph married young, had two kids and began her makeup artist career in San Francisco in the late ’70s, working for Macy’s, Esprit de Corp and others. “I always had the smallest kit and the fewest products of any of my colleagues,” she remembers.
She let her hair go gray in her late 40s, and just like that, she was spotted on a New York sidewalk by a scout for the fashion photographer Steven Miesel and has been a model ever since, featured in ads for Target, L.L. Bean, Dolce & Gabbana, DKNY, Olay, Nivea and others.
About a year ago, she went into the cosmetics business herself. “I’d done makeup for two decades and when I created this line, I created what I would want in my own kit,” she says. “I wanted to do a line that was not about hiding, but was about revealing.”
The overall effect, she says, is a dewy, glowing face. “When somebody says to you, ‘Wow, did you fall in love?’ That’s successful makeup.”
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RADIANCE WHEREVER YOU CHOOSE!
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