Secrets to a Fresh, Fabulous and Youthful Look  

You’ve worked hard to succeed in a career you love, through late night team meetings and early morning gym appointments or baby feedings. You bring fresh ideas to the table every day, so the last thing you want is to present them while looking dull, tired, or, heaven-forbid, old.

Even if you feel old or tired today, nobody will ever know when you employ these four tricks to take you from frightful to fresh-faced.

Increase Hydration
A fresh face begins with youthful, glowing skin. You know you’re supposed to drink more water and use moisturizer, but honestly, you sometimes forget. You can compensate a little with a couple easy-to-use products.

• Overnight mask: After cleansing in the evening, apply an overnight hydration mask instead of your regular nighttime moisturizer. An overnight mask hydrates skin while also tightening and brightening so you awake to well-rested, perkier skin. Masks are generally lighter in consistency than overnight creams to penetrate deeply without leaving gunk on your pillow. They are available for every skin type in a price range from $25 at the drugstore to $90 at the department store.
• Serum: A few drops of serum pack a mighty punch. Consider a serum as a primer for use under your regular day or night moisturizer. Serums contain concentrated ingredients to help skin repair more quickly, and some provide additional benefits to combat aging, skin discoloration and previous sun damage.

Add Contrast
Have you noticed how a photograph with low contrast leaves the images blending into the background? Facial contrast, the difference between your facial features and your skin, begins to fade as women age. You may notice your lips and/or eyebrows don’t seem as dark as they once were, leaving them to “blend in” with the landscape of your face. Fortunately, you can increase the contrast of your face by emphasizing a couple key areas.

• Define Eyebrows: Darken eyebrows to increase their emphasis. Some women will be able to shape and darken their browns slightly with just a sweep of clear eyebrow gel; others will need to enhance them with eyebrow pencil or powder. If you prefer to use fewer products, there are some great multi-taskers available that combine brow pencil and eyeliner in one.
• Line Lips: As lips lose their color from age or even illness, they begin to fade into the face, effectively blurring the ridge around your lips. Combat nature with a lip liner one shade darker than your natural lip color. Lip your lip, then either fill in the entire lip with the liner pencil or top with lipstick or gloss.

Get an Instant Eye Lift
Nothing says fresh and youthful like a bright eye, but let’s face it, sometimes nature needs a little boost.

• Concealer: Create an instant eye lift by dabbing concealer under the eye and on the upper lid in the hollow nearest your nose. Blend with a concealer brush.
• Brightener: Forget everything they told you about not lining the waterline, or inner rim, of your lower eyelid. Inner eye brighteners are the ideal product to brighten eyes and restore them to their youthful appearance. These pencils vary from nude to white and are designed for use on the waterline and inner rim of the eye to create a wide awake effect.

Restore Shining Tresses
Dull, flat hair looks unhealthy, and appear in sharp contrast to the fresh-faced look you desire. To improve the look and feel of your hair, stock your cabinet with these must-haves.

• Restoring Shampoo & Conditioner: Choose a shampoo that hydrates, renews or strengthens hair. These products temporarily seal split ends and make hair appear healthier and shinier.
• Volume: If your hair falls flat at the roots, try a volumizing lotion before you blow hair dry.
• Gloss: Add a little shine after drying or straightening with a touch of one of the amazing oil products on the market today infused with Argan or Moroccan oil. The added shine gives new dimension when light plays off your hair and adds a glow to frame your face.
• Dry Shampoo: Limp, dull hair that needs washing never makes a good impression, but some mornings are just too crazy to allow time for a shampoo. Keep a try shampoo on hand, either spray or powder formula, to give your hair a quick touch-up. As a bonus, some of these products also add a bit of volume. They are also great if you have oily hair that needs some help before you transition from work to a night on the town.

Keeping your look fresh doesn’t need to take hours. In less than a ½ hour a day with the proper products and techniques, you’ll present your fabulous, fresh-faced self along with your killer ideas.