Читать книгу The Grace Factor - Deborah Williams - Страница 11

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I have a suit that I call my signature grace suit. Forty years old, a lovely soft ivory, it belonged to my mother and, like my mother, is timeless in its elegance. To me the suit epitomizes the classic graciousness that imbues age and aging that is embraced.

Thank you, Mum, for lending me your “graciousness.”

This is a book about beauty for women who are aging—us!—in a world that embraces and values youth. I can’t make you beautiful in the way you were when you were younger. I can’t make you young. But, I can help you appreciate what you have. I can help you be the best you can be.

“Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.”

Oscar Wilde

Such excellent advice, and oh so hard to follow!

Even though it’s not always easy to accept ourselves as we are or to be happy with who we see in the mirror—yes, acceptance gets harder as we see the wrinkles and the grey hair—it’s something I believe we should and can achieve.

The grace Factor is about aging as gracefully as we can. It’s learning to be happy with ourselves by actively doing everything we can to look our very best, and it’s learning to appreciate our beauty, even when it’s a little “wrinkled.”

Let’s face it: wrinkles and lines, the pull of gravity, losing what we don’t want to lose (like hair) and gaining what we don’t want to gain (like weight) are part of getting older.

Beauty is not simply about how we look. It’s also how we feel. We have to realize that every woman is beautiful even if she doesn’t see that beauty.

The grace Factor can show you how to uncover and accentuate your individual beauty, and grace will strive to help you appreciate and take joy in the world around you.

Benjamin Franklin said there were only two things certain in life: death and taxes. But there is a third certainty, if we’re lucky: getting older. We do that one every day.

Every day we’re also faced with a choice: to embrace the process or reject it. If you choose to embrace aging, then grace is for you.

G generous/gracious/grateful

R radiant/respectful/remarkable

A aware/active/ageless

C courageous/confident/compassionate

E empathetic/elegant/extraordinary

“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.”

Sophia Loren

“Youth is happy because

it has the capacity to see beauty.

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty

never grows old.”

Franz Kafka

All right. What does embracing age mean?

It isn’t about anti-aging or denying the aging process. (If only it were that simple!) It is accepting getting older, in a way that enhances life and self. It is accepting getting older and appreciating the gift of it, because it is essentially the gift of living. It’s about exuberance and fitness, about confidence and peace of mind. And the right makeup!

While we can’t stop the aging process, we can make it an amazing and gracious journey. And, with the right shade of lipstick and the right attitude, we can have fun doing it.

The fun part comes after this next colour analysis step.

It’s a bit difficult: uncover.

It’s the single most important thing you can do.

Uncover your face and really look at yourself in the mirror. Something all of us are loathe to do, I know. Really look at your face and be honest, but be kind. (Kindness to self is very important on this journey.)

Uncovering, looking in the mirror, and liking what you see—hmm. Not always an easy thing.

Each of us has something about our appearance we’d like to change. But if you look at your friends, don’t you see something they have that you would like? Those beautiful eyes? That gorgeous hair or skin? That beautiful no-double-chin profile? Yes?

Well, when they look at you they see something that they would love to have.

Still, every one of us has days when it feels as if age is getting the upper hand.

Getting older isn’t always easy, and most of us would simply like to stop looking and feeling older.

Impossible?

Well, not entirely.

The grace Factor cannot make any of us look younger, but I can help you look your best by teaching you how to enhance your features in a classic, simple way. That will give you confidence, which is one of the most important tools you can develop.

Confidence is key!

It can be your new best friend. It is attractive and sexy and empowering—everything you want to be.

There are techniques and tips about makeup you need to know in order to put together the right look, the one that works for you. Applied incorrectly, makeup can age you, but with the right techniques and tips? Knowing those, you are well on your way to achieving your elegant best.

Colour is another area grace can help you with. Not just colour in your makeup but in your wardrobe. The wrong colours will drain your complexion and dull your appearance. The right ones will make you absolutely glow.

So that’s how you go about not looking older.

As for not feeling older?

Again, you cannot go back to being or feeling decades younger than your age. But embracing the aging process is the key to feeling your best.

No one likes to gain weight, to have hair where it shouldn’t be and not where it should, to watch spots and wrinkles appear as if from nowhere with every glance in the mirror.

But, you have choices.

Regular exercise is a must. It not only retards the aging process; it will make you feel good. Feeling good circles back around to confidence and to looking good.

Getting out in the fresh air, communing with nature and appreciating the life around us, feeds the soul. It is essential to both physical and emotional well-being. Take care, of course, that your skin is protected from the damaging rays of the sun. Using a sunscreen is very important, and it should be automatic.

Making wise selections in your diet is another pro-aging choice that will enhance both your appearance and your health. Sometimes, yes, the only answer is chocolate, and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as it’s not always the answer.

In your life you have to take a holistic approach.

It’s not just about the right makeup and wardrobe. It’s not just about knowing your body type and choosing the right clothes in the right style in the right colour.

It is about taking care of you, inside and out.

So exercise and move every day. Eat properly. Get out into nature. Appreciate your family and your friends.

Celebrate your life.

Let’s Begin

grace Makeup is a system, for lack of a better word, and the essence of that system lies in a series of discoveries. Makeup is a mystery, and in this book we unravel the mystery by grounding the grace system in facts.

If you’re going to live in the realm of graceful appearance, there are some realities you will encounter that you must adapt to, which will help you live in the disciplines of your grace.

On the physical side, you will be moisturizing, changing eating habits, exercising, limiting your wardrobe and makeup to your colour palette, and taking more time to renew yourself emotionally. These are all realities of growing in age.

As for makeup, knowing your colouring is a crucial element to looking your best. Your hair colour, eye colour and skin tone all compose the mystery of your beauty.

There is a grace to using foundation in the correct undertone and using lipstick or blush in the right colour, all of which will ensure you look your best. Vibrant. Glowing.

Are you an autumn/spring or a winter/summer? Warm or cool? We’ll help you learn it all!