Skin care and makeup tips from top French beauty panel

*** Beauty Match in Paris ***

While I was in Europe, I had my fill of magazines at a more reasonable price than I would buy them at home. Not only did I buy every possible magazine, but I also raided the archive files of all my girlfriends.

While flipping through an old edition of Elle France, I found a really enlightening article titled (when translated): VIP Guide to Aging-Well. This definitely caught my attention.

So how do French women seem to age so effortlessly?

The French fashion magazine Elle France summoned a number of skin care experts, hair dressers, designers and stylists to give French women some advice on how they can look their best as they age.

Here are three series of tips from this expert beauty panel. These might be French beauty tips, but they apply equally well to anyone who intends of looking as good as they can as they age.

Skin care & makeup tips:

* Don’t spend all your money on expensive anti-aging skin care creams and gels. Do invest in whitening and brightening your smile. Nothing ages you more that a yellowish smile.

* Never leave your home without SPF protection. It’s the best year-round anti-aging secret to protect skin from burning.

* If you don’t like SPF creams, consider buying a foundation that has SPF in its formulation.

* Make sure you choose the right shade of foundation. A foundation that is too dark will seriously age you.

* Make sure you don’t apply foundations that are too heavy. There is nothing that ages you more than a caked on look. A more natural look will help you look more youthful.

* The same rule applies to makeup as you age: keep it light. Your lipstick, gloss, mascara and eye shadow should all look as natural as possible.