Makeover, Part 1

Sorry to have been incommunicado! I have been doing Important Things, like plucking my eyebrows.

Look:



I came across a book called Staging Your Comeback, A Complete Beauty Revival for Women Over 45, by Christopher Hopkins. As usual, I'd never heard of the guy before this, though I gather he has some fame from Oprah.

Whatever.

I read through the first chapters last night and he's fairly inspirational. He has a questionnaire for you to determine your "personal style." Mine came out "classic" and "casual." I thought that would be a contradiction--but it turns out you are to pick "buzzwords" from each style category to come up with your own style "definition." I haven't quite settled on mine yet but here's what I came up with this morning:

Stylish
Pulled together
Tasteful
Natural
Sensible
Comfortable

I'm having a hard time with the words!

He does give examples of women over 45 who exemplify these "styles." I've been doing some internet browsing to find examples. It's difficult, of course, because if the woman is an actress or model, most of their pictures are taken when they're "dressed." Nonetheless, I think I may have found a really nice example of "Classy and Casual" in Christie Brinkley and the outfits she wore to her court appearances for her divorce. For example:



Change the pencil skirt to a pair of trousers, and I'd certainly have something "pulled together" yet casual enough for my runs to the library and grocery shopping!

I loved the difference between the "befores" and "afters" in Hopkins books, but I do have to say that I found his "afters" --while many of them individually eliciting the "wow" response-- begin to look the same taken together. Each has pale hair and lips and very pretty eyes. (Except the lone Black woman, of course. She's "wow" though, too, just not pale!) They each have unique and beautiful hair cuts: it's no surprise this is his area of expertise. But, overall, this is an inspirational and, so far, really useful book.