10 top tips for a fresh-faced look

Youthful look: Help fight ageing
10 April 2012

So you've fought through the scrums and scored some of Boots' new wonder-cream [Protect & Perfect Intense]. You know it should help you look younger - after all, it has been proved by rigorous scientific inquiry. But if you're seeking a serious youth-over, the right face cream is only the start. Consider the following.

Resurface your skin
Regular exfoliation, using a wrung-out face cloth to remove your cleanser every night, is a start but microdermabrasion takes exfoliation to a whole new depth. Not only will it brighten your skin by removing the top dead layers but it will make it that much easier for whatever skin cream you use to do its job.

Dr Nick Lowe, Cranley Clinic, 19a Cavendish Square, W1 (£125, 020 7499 3223)

Improve your contours
The volume in your face, particularly in cheeks, lips and eye sockets, begins to shrink some seven years before the face begins to sag. If you're at that stage, injections of facial volumisers such as Restylane's Sub-Q and Juvederm's Voluma can help hold back the years. Beware of ending up with a bad case of "pillow-face" - choose your practitioner with care.

For boosting cheeks: Rajiv Grover, 144 Harley Street, W1 (from £1,000, 020 7486 4301, www.rajivgrover. co.uk)

For eyes: Dr Aamer Khan, 95 Harley Street, W1 (from £350, 020 7935 0986, www.harleystreetskin.co.uk)

For lip volume, avoid trout pouts: Fiona & Marie Aesthetics, 121 Harley Street, W1 (from £350 for Restylane Lipp, 020 7487 3032)

Soften expression lines
Well-embedded frown lines will need more than a serum to soften them. Try "baby Botox" with a doctor renowned for their light touch. These two are known for leaving patients wanting more - in a good way.

Dr Thierry Vidal, Skin Health Spa, 81 Wigmore Street, W1 (from £300, 020 7935 3366, www.skinhealth spa.com)

Rita Rakus, 34a Hans Road, SW3 (from £300, 020 7460 7324, www.drritarakus.com)

Make sunscreen a habit
It's exposure to daylight that brings on the wrinkles and age-spots in the first place, so wear sunscreen every day. Whether it's Korres' new Watermelon Face Sunscreen Stick SPF30 Face Stick (£16, 020 7581 6455) which doubles as a highlighter, or Vichy's LiftActiv Retinol HA (SPF18, £26, 0800 169 6193) it doesn't matter, as long as you use it.

Become radiant
Older skin just doesn't reflect the light like young skin does, so you need to cheat your way younger. Regular exfoliation helps, but what makes the biggest difference is a radiance-boosting serum. My latest favourite is Dior's astonishing Capture Totale (£97 - yes, the price is astonishing, but then so are its results).

Conceal the imperfections
Studies have shown that an uneven skin tone, more than wrinkles, is what ages a face. Apply a light concealer (I'm hooked on By Terry's Touche Veloutée, £25.45 at SpaceNK) on dark circles beneath the eyes, the hollows at the inner corner of the eyes, and the shadows where your nose joins your face, and see the difference. You may be able to get away without foundation altogether.

The make-up
The key tricks are to wake up your eyes, contour your cheeks and find a lip colour that lights up your face. Get yourself made up at a counter in a department store to learn how. I had a demo from the lovely Hayley and her team at BareMinerals in Selfridges last week - if you buy any of their products, make it Warmth (£16) - an extraordinary powder that's neither blusher nor bronzer but which warms up the face beautifully.

Hair colour and cut
With hair colour, lighter usually means younger but you need an expert to find your perfect shade. Everyone knows the transforming power of a good haircut. If you can't catch the red-hot dream-team of Josh (colour) and John (cut) at realhair in Chelsea Green (020 7589 0877), try the other maestros:

For colour: Daniel Galvin (020 7486 9661), Nicola Clarke and Susan Baldwin at John Frieda (020 7491 0840)

For cuts: Hari (020 7581 5211), Mathew Alexander (020 7495 1122), Valentino (020 7937 6911)

Eyelashes and eyebrows
By adding a more alluring frame with well-defined eyelashes and eyebrows your face can be transformed. Try an eyelash tint for starters, add an eyebrow tint and shaping, or plunge into the deep end with eyelash "lift" (like a perm, but without the curling), stick-on false lashes or full-blown eyelash extensions.

Sue Marsh bespoke lashes: The Lift from £98; eyelash extensions. At Cosmetics à la Carte, 19b Motcomb Street, SW1 (020 7235 2236)

Shavata Singh takes less than 10 minutes to work her magic. (From £24 at Harrods' Urban Retreat, 020 7893 8333, www.shavata.co.uk)

Teeth
Whiter equals younger but not to the point of looking like a Hollywood has-been. London's best dentists aim for a more harmonious shade of pale.

If you can't stretch to their £500-plus fees, there are a few decent home kits like the one from Whiteathome, which is supplied by a dental lab and makes customised bleaching trays from moulds of your own teeth, as well as providing the carbamide peroxide bleaching gel (£99, 0800 432 0729, www.whiteathome.com).

Druian & Spektor, NW3 (020 7722 1235, www.whiterteeth.co.uk)

Ultrasmile Dentistry, E14 (08452 300 800, www.ultrasmile.co.uk)

The London Smile Clinic, W1(020 7255 2559, www.londonsmile.co.uk)

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