I look horrific. please share easy cheats and sneaky corner-cutting to looking nice

[thatswhatimtalkingbout]

I need to lose about 3 stone. I also need to exercise, get more sleep, eat better, drink less, and get a decent hair cut, sort out some niggling long term health things, etc.

While I work on all this (or the bits I can do - I kind of can't see how to be much less knackered in the short / medium term) what can I do to fake it till I make it?

I have fair skin which looks grey at the moment; ginger hair; stocky / curvy size 14 (need to be a lot slimmer at my height and build); basically look baggy and grey and worn out. I don't know anything about make up but wear foundation, blusher and mascara at least every day. My glasses are old and probably don't suit me; I don't have time for a contact lens fitting. I am 42.

Please share your great cheats.

I agree with upthread about exfoliating. I have Clinique facial scrub (which I've never had to pay for, they keep giving it to me) and when I've been overdoing it, and my skin looks dull, it works wonders

Excuse the state of me i was up half the night with a baby with a tummy bug

You look very nice! They really open up your eyes.
I think I will try a pro job first! Shaping first, obv

Absolutely. I used to go to a salon until i was confidant i could tackle them myself

andtwobits snap! I use colourdye dark brown and did it yesterday. OP I look appalling if my eyebrows aren't tinted, like my face has flown away, defo get it done! (I'm same colouring as you). Blusher makes a huge difference too.

Twobits after baby & tummy bug = :)

Posture makes all the difference. But don't start yanking your shoulders back. Instead, where you are sitting now just think of your ribs, the ribs all round your body, not just the front bit, and then lift them, then your arms shoulders are lifted a few inches. You can do this when you are walking too. Don't get fanatical and end up with backache as that will put you off, just try to remember to lift your ribs.

Right. Have booked threading and patch test, and then tinting in a few days.

eek. Threading always makes me cry and - erm - sneeze . I wonder if taking paracetemol in advance would help.
I do like the effect though. I think it is the nicest way to do it.

Next week optician.

I love it when a plan comes together [cigar]

Good for you!

OP hope you're not going for the Hannibal from the A-Team look ;)

Actually I am totally bottling the tint. I think I will have the threading tomorrow, and the patch test, and cancel the tint and use that time to buy some new make-up.... so I can experiment with visible brows before I make them permanent.

I won't hear a word said against Hannibal!

Does anyone know anything about teeth whitening?

I am so on a mission.

Thanks everyone for the great pep talking.

Thatwhatimtalkingabout - I am 44 and a very pale redhead (who now dyes hair due to greyness) and have invisible eyebrows. I always had then shaped, usually waxed. The last day I was in the hairdressers I noticed that they have a service of doing eyebrows so to save some time I decided to get mine done while the colour was taking on my hair. The girl was from hungary and was amazing - she gave out to me for waxing eyebrows, very bad for the skin there apparently. She threaded them and gave them a fabulous shape, not too thin, which I don't like, they are very shaply and healthy looking. and she CONVINCED me to try tinting them. She put a light brown tint on and while I was little unsure the first day, they seemed dark to me but within a day I was used to them and they make SUCH a difference to my face!

I also treated myself to a new lipstick and liner which is basically about 2 shades darker than my own lip colour and I LOVE it. It is a linited edition bare minerals one. And I got a new blusher there too, much brighter and fresher than my old one and a charcoal eye pencil which I really love.

I too had been feeling grey and washed out but feel a whole lot better now.

1. Go to a make up counter (Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier etc) and book a 'consultation'. No obligation to buy, you do learn something (even if it is what you don't want to look like);

1. Get an early night once or twice a week. This may involve leaving the whole house in disarray as you just walk upstairs to bed at 10 pm, but do it. For that night or nights, nothing is more important than you getting your sleep;

1. Make sure you drink enough. It helps to start and end the day by drinking a glass of water. If you drink loads of tea and coffee, maybe cut down in favour of water or herbal tea;

1. Don't eat too much sugar. Fashionable advice at the mo, but still true;

1. Eat good oils and fats to help your skin and hair-salmon, avocado, nuts, olive oil;

1. My sister swears by Pilates. Worth a try. It is good for your posture, and improving that will make you look better immediately;

1. Buy one good new basic to wear, as an incentiviser. A well-fitting pair of jeans, or something, as long as it is flattering and you will wear it a lot.

The best piece of advice I can offer is don't try to change everything at once. Pick one thing to change each week - you will be more likely to stick to gradual changes than a massive overhaul.

I hear you on the weight loss. My lovely meds have slowed down my metabolism and I gained a stone, making me feel very uncomfortable in my usual clothes and some of them I cannot entertain getting into anymore. I have slowed the weight gain by using Jillian Michael's Killer Buns & Thighs dvd (all my weight sitting on my thighs - delish ). It only takes 35 minutes and it is already showing a difference. Unlike The Shred, it doesn't hurt my knees. More than that, I feel so much better generally for taking regular exercise. My skin is glowing and I feel happier.

Snack on raw almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. Sounds boring but it will start to show an improvement in your skin, hair and nails and is much healthier than crisps and sugar laden snacks.

Thank you everyone!

Does anyone have some advice for cuts for wavy hair? (not straighteners)
Do you think this looks low maintenance, or impossible?

www.short-haircut.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Layered-curly-hair-pictures.jpg

Get a really great coat, in a really great colour, a fitted style that comes to just below your butt, with a belt. I'm a similar size to you and have a bright red French Connection one that was 29 in TK Maxx. If you have red hair and don't think you can get away with bright red, try a really gorgeous blue, or even green if it suits you? Make sure it fits, and fastens properly - don't be tempted to get one that's too small in the hope you'll diet into it. You can upgrade when the weight has gone! Will post some pics later (am off to gym now). A good coat can hide any bits you're not so happy with, and you can get away with wearing all sorts of trampy crap underneath (assuming you're not going anywhere you'll be taking it off)

Also, go get your hair done. Toni and Guy have vibrating/ massage chairs. Yum. You should always ALWAYS have clean tidy hair. Bad hair = instantly feeling like crap.

Will be back later with more!

yep MArdy, you're right, the hair has to be a priority.

Sali Hughes on teeth whitening

Hi thatswhat. Just a few suggestions (I used/did most of these 5 years ago when I felt as you do).

Well-cut hair - consult a hairdresser (try several until you find one you think will do his or her best for you) & take pics of styles you like with you.

Get new glasses - you don't necessarily need contact lenses.

Go into a chemist's and try on ready spex, not with a view to buying them but to see which shapes you like (Boots and Superdrug have them)

Buy make-up wipes and clean off the slap every night. Then use moisturiser.

What exercise will fit in with your life - walk to work/school? Plus even 15 minutes a day with some dumbbells (1 kilo to start). Google Three Months and Counting Deadline Fitness. If you are a SAHM and your children are at school, instead of a big shop by car buy a rucksack and make several walking trips a week. (Realise this may just not be possible)

Up your fruit and veg intake (this will help your skin too), eat wholemeal bread instead of white, try to give up cake, biscuits, sugar in tea/coffee (you could use 'Half Spoon instead if you cannot give it up entirely). Make chips a treat.

Try the "thirds" method i.e. make two thirds (or more) of your plate plant foods such as vegetables and fruits (to make up part of your 5 A DAY), as well as wholegrains, pulses such as beans, and tubers such as potatoes. One third (or less) of your plate should be fish, poultry, lean meat or reduced-fat dairy

Good luck. I lost 3 stone in 7 months, slowly but surely. Not a diet, I simply changed my eating habits.

Good luck!!

Do not bottle the tint. Really. If you have pale eyebrows you won't see a dramatic difference in threaded ones...till you tint them. Honestly. And then you will suddenly look about a million times better and see why people rave about threading and eyebrow shaping.

Please can I have some thoughts on the hair do I linked to above? [needy]

Hi OP, I think Rachel McAdams has gone for highlights and lowlights in that pic in at least 3 different colours, which helps with the 'tousled' look. She's probably had her hair in heated rollers, too, or had it styled by some Hollywood professional. The cut is v flattering on her, but would look shite on me as you need a 'perfect' chiselled face shape for it. I'm sure someone will be along to set me straight on that.

I really like that haircut if you have wavy hair. Mine is very straight though so I can only dream of a style like that!

Get a good makeup artist at one of the beauty counters to fill in your eyebrows for you so you can see and get used to them being more visible and then just go for the tint - it will be worth it, honestly! I only got mine done last week and already can tell that I won't go back to no eyebrows again.

In fact I saw a woman in a queue over the weekend and she had very blonde hair and totally invisible eyebrows and her face looked very 'unfinished'. I would never have noticed before I guess. You look so much more groomed with nicely shaped and coloured eyebrows.

if you get a professional tint you can request it to be really subtle and light, I know shavata and blink will all do very light tinting for you which invariably looks quite the first day but then looks just right