Over 40's help me! I am an old hag.

[hellymelly]

I have suddenly aged!no honestly I have and its making me feel very gloomy indeed.I have always had nice skin and looked younger than my age.I'm 46 now and in the past month or so I look a lot more lined,my skin is dried out and blotchy and if I press my face it puckers in a horrible old-lady way (not that old ladies are horrible,but you get my drift)I am thinking this might be peri-menopausal dropping oestrogen,as I have other signs that my hormones are shifting .So is there a face cream that helps ? I have very sensitive skin and although I am happy to flash the cash I will have to buy online (no decent shops near me)and that makes it tricky to get any advice.What do you use and love? Does anything zap fine lines?

I'm 58 - you need worry. Keep going to the gym to keep those boobs in the right place. Weights for the bingo wings. Oh it's only just beginning!!!

And there was me hoping for a miracle cream.Friend has just started HRT at 47 and she says her skin has improved dramatically.She is menopausal though,whereas I am not,yet.I do use touch eclat,and laura mercier secret concealer on shadows etc,it is more that the texture and look of my skin has changed so suddenly.I was ageing on a slight downward tragectory and was quite happy with that and now there has been a sudden plumet!My skin is a lot drier and redder in places.My HM pal sees a dermatologist but I don't think we can splash quite that much cash.I use Dr hauschka products at the mo and they are great but I think maybe I need to go more high tec?

My thoughts are, as a 46 year old, is that having a pretty face or being thought of as attractive as a younger woman is inconsequential as we age. IMHO the most important element is good hair and a trim figure or as trim as we can get.

I still have good skin but know when I lose a bit of weight, which I need to do now, I look a lot better, younger etc.

So for those of you who are slim, I think a bit of maintenance is all you need, Non?

I see ggirl beat me to it with the Clarins recommendation this time.

T'is a truly fab foundation....

I also use the Boots Protect and wotsit serum (religiously) cleanse and tone and moisturise and do have (if I say so myself) very good skin. (am knocking on the door of 45)

I just need to be taught to put eye make up and blusher on as I look like a 3 yr old who has been at the paintbox when I can be arsed.

My hair could do with going on 10 yrs younger.

It's so difficult suddenly having to come to terms with being.. grown up. Worse than grown up - mature . I still feel as if I should be going into Chelsea Girl with my mum on a Saturday, not looking at the middle-aged mummy clothes in White Stuff.

In fact I ran out of White Stuff silently screaming recently. There were all these old women in there. And these old women were just like me!

I have worn vintage since I was twelve.Now I look less 30s starlet and more Vera Drake.

Haw haw.

I have always gone for the "rock star's girlfriend" look. Now I look like rock star's dumped wife.

DH wonders why I'm giggling!

I would like eyebrow advice, I got mine done a couple of months ago and thought the result was scary, skinny arched eyebrows - I am sure it aged me. I have always ignored my eyebrows, how do I get the right shape? Can I do it myself(wimp) ? My eyebrows are very dark, I don't want to look overly pruned, so how do I get a naturally groomed look/shape?

I could do with a hair cut, but not sure what style. I would like to look better, without looking frumpy.

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PMSL Helly! I feel your pain

Another lifelong vintage fan here, but having balloned from size 12/14 to size 16/18 I can't squeeze my fat arse into vintage clobber, apart from the sort of stuff my big gran used to wear in the 60's (think Ena Sharples from Corrie minus the hair-net).

49, peri-menopausal and 3 stone overweight. Can I join in?

Totally agree with the regular semi-permanent tint, and get an eyebrow-tidy at the same time if poss. In fact outsourcing most grooming if you can afford it seems to be the way to go - it all takes so much LONGER these days .

I really recommend Dermalogica products for difficult middle-aged skin - not cheap but I get stuff off eBay for around 2/3rds retail price.

Prescriptives Custom Blend is fab for getting exactly the right shade foundation and other make-up (I've been using it since my early 30's). Not cheap either, but lasts for ages. They will vary the prescription according to whether you need to tone down redness, or need more or less moisturising, according to the winter/summer/hormonal changes in your complexion.

Touche eclat rocks!

Advice anyone? I have a seriously important business meeting with a major publishing house on Friday and have nowt to wear (been working from home for 3 years). My Smart Corporate style of yore now looks more like Hungover Drag-Queen . Last time I wore what was IMHO a snappy "ironic" carefully accessorized tweed suit, DH said I looked like Margaret Rutherford in St Trinians's. What to do?

Watching this with interest.
I too bendybob look like my mother.
It's the strange things happening to my skin- suddenly there is a small cluster of veins here, lines over there and generally a feeling that I need ironing all over.
Still at nearly 50 I am in good nick- I wish I could be like frazzledoldhag!

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Ah, I do wear sunblock. My skin doesn't like the sun so I'm always pale and interesting.

Hee hee at Margaret Rutherford!

I recently found a Clarins voucher for a facial (over 10 years old - but I rang and they said it was still valid. Should I go for an anti-ageing facial? Would that be beneficial? I still have greasy skin, but it's getting quite lined.

frazzledhag - blimey, you've made me feel like sitting down and watching Cash in the Attic with a nice cup of tea. I couldn't manage all that effort!

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May I join the roll call of wizened old crones (not that you all sound like WOCs)? Until quite recently, people looked surprised when I told them my age. They no longer do and I have just been taken for my daughter's grandmother.

And, Mrs Flittersnoop, you have forced me to look again at my best (tweed) suit.

I'll just throw my hands into the wrinkly body mix if I may. Suddenly the skin doesn't ping back into place.

Why is it all so darned quick? One minute I'm thinking I'm not so bad, and the next... It really does seem to be true that there comes that point in your 40s when you really do visibly cross into middle age. It is possible to look smarter, well-groomed, reasonably attractive even... but just not, well, young .

Cranreuch-I´ve always thought that thin eyebrows are ageing.

I have arched brows & have always kept them quite thick.

More or less plucked stragglers & kept the majority.

I've started kayaking - white water when I I can but been doing it most weeks in a pool session too. I've lost a stone and it's great for the bingo wings! Can be scary but really good fun. Look up your local canoe club and your children can join in too from about age 8.

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Cheers diddl, could do with someone to shape them I think...?

I like the sound of kayaking... though I don't know about the scary part of it.