I'd like to go to a personal stylist.
I need help with clothes. I'm 40 and I want to look like me but I don't know quite how to do it. I don't want office wear or clothes for a night out and I don't want to look like a Boden-wearing clone. I have a huge list of things I refuse to wear (like polyester chiffon) - I think I'm a tough case. Ideally I want someone who has been through the mothering years and understands how the body changes and that fashion isn't the main thing but that frumpiness is depressing. I'm put off by stories I've heard of people going to a dept store and getting sold a heap of clothes and having to take them back.
I also want some makeup advice about my colouring, but I want it from someone who isn't my age and trowelled in hideous makeup, or about 19 and fresh as a daisy and doesn't know how to acknowledge crow's feet without going quiet. I don't want to be sold stuff, I want to know how to buy stuff.
I really want an expert who can take me through why certain clothes/colours/makeup look better than others and give me a list of what to look for, but someone who'll talk confidently and give honest appraisals. Is this a realistic thing to look for?