Lessons From My Bed - Purple Shampoo, Foundation to Make You Glow & Facial Oils For The Over 50s

Ever had the time to investigate haircare, make-up and beauty? No, me neither until surgery for a hysterectomy forced me off my feet and in to bed, where I began to dig into the incredible world of purple shampoo, face oils and foundation to make you glow!

Come on a journey with me as I share the discoveries I made as I tried out different products, practically from my bed!

If you like the podcast it would be lovely if you could rate and review it. And if you'd like to come and say hi, you can find me on Instagram here or come and take a look at my shiny new website here

Transcript

1:24

Hi girls is Beth here. I hope that you're well and enjoying your day before I start, let me just tell you about a film that I'm watching. I know how you all love a good film. It's on Netflix and it's called NIAD by the time this is published. This will probably be old news, but I think it's only just fairly recently been released, but it's about Diana NIAD, who was a marathon distance swimmer, and her friend, Bonnie stole. And the roles are played by Annette Bening. She plays NIAD and Jodie foster plays, Bonnie stole. Bonnie stole becomes Diane and I abs coach and it looks really good. I've probably only watched about 10 or 15 minutes. But basically it's funny. And it's light hearted so far. And at Benning and Jodie foster are obviously slightly more mature ladies. And we see Anna Benning looking at what she did when she was younger and thinking, you know, just because I'm 60, that is not a reason for me not to attempt to break this amazing world record. In fact, it is the very reason that I should try and break this amazing world record. So if you're up for a little bit of a feel-good film, That could be a good one for you. Now in this episode, and this is in the lessons from my bed series of podcast episodes that I'm doing, I'm going to talk to you about haircare. Some skincare, some makeup and some beauty. Because whilst I would convalescing from a very large op, which took a very long time. I did have time to dive into a few little things that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. I'm not saying there's anything groundbreaking here. I'm not saying it's not anything you might not have heard about already, but you know, There might be something in here and you go, oh, I'm going to try that. Or I'd not thought of that, or that sounds like a good idea. So that's the purpose of these podcasts, just to share with you some things that I came across and investigated a little bit further whilst I was convalescing from my op. And what I'm going to do is start off with hair. Then I'm going to go to skincare and then I'm going to finish on makeup. Now before I had my op. I decided that I was going to use a bit of a purple shampoo just to see what happened to my hair. Cause frankly, I knew I was going to need some things to keep me entertained. And I thought walking around with slightly purple hair. Might be a good way to do that. So before I went into hospital, I bought some Moroccan oil blonde perfecting purple shampoo. And I was told that I should leave it on to start off with, for about 20 minutes. And so the very first bath I had, which was, I don't think I did anything the first week. So let's say 10 days in. I put the purple shampoo on and left it for a good 20 minutes. I couldn't see anything else happen. And then I started to use it pretty much every day. Now, several weeks later, I went to the hairdressers and said, Oh, I can't really tell that my hair is changing color and they sort of looked at me and went, no, it's, it's not at all yellow now, which is what the Moroccan oil. Blonde perfecting purple shampoo is for, is to take out the yellow. And they said, no, there's, there's no yellow left. I looked in the mirror and thought, yeah, actually you do just look really, really, really gray. And I said, how often are you using it? And I said, oh, every day. And they looked at me, went, no, you turned on to be doing that. Maybe two or three times a week is enough. So I was like, okay, fine. So I haven't used it since then, which was probably about a week ago now. And I've definitely noticed I'm not quite as perfectly great as I was. And a little bit more of the yellow is coming back, which I quite like actually. And I think it's one of those situations. Well, you know, if you keep doing something regularly, you don't really notice a change happening, but if I compare photos, Which I don't actually go in and do, but I just happened to, because I'm building a new website. So I had to go back and look at some photos that were on there. And I was like, oh, okay. Yes, no, it is quite a different color. Maybe time to tone down using the purple shampoo, which is literally I kid you not. And I don't know why I didn't think this, but it is purple. It's a deep purple. When it comes out, you can also get pink shampoo. I've got a friend who's going to use pink shampoo on her hair, but just to warn you, it does look a bit scary to start off with because you think crikey, if I put something in that deeper shade of purple on my hair, I am going to come out looking like something from the Muppets. But actually you don't, so don't worry too much about it. And it does take a while to show through, but it can catch up with you. So just maybe use it two or three times a week, which is what I am now doing. So the Moroccan oil one, I quite liked, but I was told that there's some stronger ones, which you can get on Amazon. And of course, I can't actually remember the name now. So, all I would say is do your market research. Speak to her Jessa, pop something on Instagram, speak to your friends, do some searching, look up the reviews on Amazon of different purple shampoos and just see if you can find one that people really, really rate. Okay. So that was the hair. That's really, as far as I got with her, I just continued to use my normal shampoo. My normal conditioner. That's called function of beauty. And my daughter orders that for me, that comes over from America. She must've seen it somewhere. Tik, TOK, Instagram, I don't know, but you can tailor make it to your hair, which I really liked. So if you've got dry hair or colored hair or curly hair or more mature, You know, she has great fun, ticking, all the boxes. She's like, oh mum, you're going to want the one for dull and listless hair. Aren't you? Oh, mum, you're going to want the one for aging hair. Aren't you? Oh, mum, your hair needs hydrating. So there's all these boxes ticked for mum. But what I really like about it is it. Cruelty-free it's vegan. There's no parabens in it. It smells lovely and it lasts for really, really long time. So if you're looking for a new hair, shampoo, hair conditioner, any hair products, take a look at function of beauty. Okay. So that's where we are on the hair. Coming a little bit further down to the face. One thing that I really wanted to make sure that I'd got in place before I had my op was my lovely, lovely skin oil buy feel. Fabulous. Now feel fabulous is a brand that I have worked with. Over the years. Just in a very small capacity. The lady there is lovely. She gifted me. A couple of bottles of their facial oil. And I absolutely love it. And one of the things that I really like about it is the smell. So, like I say, it's called feel fabulous London. You can find them on Facebook, their products aren't really expensive. They are for a more mature skin they're made in this country. Really well sourced product. And the one that I love is the glow replenish nourishing face oil. That's what it's called. And it says glow replenish facial oil provides intense hydration and radiant globe by looking in moisture with a unique blend of oils. I mean, what can we say? And I just pop that on after I've had my shower in the morning and before I go to bed at night, I'm sure there's lots of people who say, you're just using an oil. You should be using the serum as well, or you should be using this, that and the other. But, you know, I don't, and it's fine. My skin is going to be aging. Now I am 53. There's probably not a lot. I can do to reverse that other than wear sunscreen, which obviously won't reverse it, but that's what works for me. It's quick. It's simple. I like the smell. I love the feel of it. And I like the lady that runs the brand. Now at the same time, I also ordered the sparkle enriching eye cream. Because I wasn't really using an eye cream and I thought it probably is about time. In fact, it probably was about time. 30 years ago, I started using an eye cream, but again, Better late than never. And it says sparkle, eye cream, intense vitamin rich formula is designed to nourish. And revitalize the delicate skin around your eyes. So what I'm hoping for a little bit of a miracle with that and definitely some revitalizing, but it does make me feel nice that every morning and every evening, Peppermint. Nice facial blow oil, peppermint, eye sparkle, eye cream. Supporting a small business. And Bob's your uncle? I think I probably say that in every single podcast episode. So having done the skin care, which again is quite brief. I know. Let's look at some other makeup products. That I've tested out. Now, one of the first things I thought about doing was something to do with my eyelashes. Years ago, pre COVID. I used to have false eyelashes and I do really like the look. Have a nice long eyelash. I have to say. But I just couldn't really face a, the thought of going anywhere and lying down and having my eyes faffed with and B the upkeep, because once they start to fall out and go a bit sparse, they don't look that great. And they're not really one of those things that you can leave too long before you go and get them looked at. And, you know, you get patches and you find them on your pillow. It's just all a bit freaky. So I checked out one of our local beauticians and I came across this. New treatment called. Alabama lash lift. So I dropped in to see them when I was doing one of my first walks postop, and just had a chat to them. About this. And I said to the girl. You know, is it going to work on me? Do you think what's it going to look like? And she said to be honest, We just, can't say we have had some women where it hasn't taken and effectively a lash lift. If I'm writing this and someone will probably tell me that I'm not, but chemicals are used to sort of straighten the lashes and then they're wrapped around a roller and then some more chemicals are put on to set them. So it's a bit like having a perm on your eyelashes, but it's called a lash lift and it's meant to open up the lashes. It makes them look longer, makes them curlier so on and so forth. And she said to me, Have you had surgery recently? And I said, yes, actually I have. And she said, Mm. Not sure they're going to be fit. This is going to be for you. Are you on any hormone treatment? And I said, yes, actually I am. And she said, ah, that's the one thing that we think is maybe having an impact as to why the chemicals don't take and we don't get the results we want. That's the only thing we can think of. Because they'd had a few instances where the chemicals weren't taking and there were no visible results afterwards. So they'd got in touch with the manufacturers. And I think they pretty much concluded that if you're on some kind of hormone treatment, For whatever reason the chemicals might not work. So I quickly ruled that one out because it sounded as if it was pretty much a no-no. Now I have been in this situation before, when I was 12 years old and my mum. Whipped me off to have a Demi wave. I have the straightest hair in the world, which I don't mind. I'm quite chill with that. My mum on the other hand has other ideas about straight hair. And it does not like straight hair. So I was taken off to a little salon in Stapleford, near where I lived to have a Demi wave. Well, I woke up the next morning and the dummy wave was no more because my hair was so straight. So that's the only other situation I've had where chemicals have not worked on my hair in the way they were meant to, but rest assured don't worry. My mum would frequently pin a style. Us being myself and my sister. At the weekend with a home parm and kit. And boy did that take, I don't know how many bottles of solution lotion, potion, or whatever she used in any one go, but we both were hooked. With the curliest hair ever. You know that classic. Eight is quite cool and trendy. Now, if you were a boy. Uh, very permed at the front short, over the years long and permed at the back. Oh yes. And any time there was a suggestion that that person was dropping. We were back in the kitchen of a weekend. In fact, some friends of ours, my sisters used to say to us on a Monday. Oh, we saw you sitting in your kitchen, having your hair permed by your mum over the weekend. The fact I have any left is a miracle rarely because I think it was really put through its paces when it was younger. And when I was younger. So anyway. Having discounted this particular Alabama lash lift. Uh, and having discounted fake eyelashes, I was like, Hmm. So what am I going to try next? Well, as luck would have it. When I went down to the doctor surgery to put in my prescription for additional HRT. Thank you very much. I'll have an extra 25 milligrams on top of my 75 milligrams. The time already on. The lady who was irate, had the most beautiful, long eyelashes. And I found. It's always good. If you can, to have a good relationship with doctors, receptionists, call me old fashioned. But they can be a little bit challenging at time. So anyway, I said to her, oh my goodness. Your eyelashes are amazing. Are they all yours? And she said, yes, they are. I. I said, they're just unbelievably beautiful. She said, well, I've just got my score on now, but sometimes I use an eyelash primer. And she said it's white. And I put it on when I'm going out for the evening and I put it on underneath my Maskcara and it just makes them even longer. Now. I was out on my walk. So I thought off, we popped down to the high street. Let's go see what we can find. She wasn't sure. I have the name of the make. So in, I polled to Superdrug to ask them whether they'd got anything. I think I also took a quick look in boots as well, but blimey boots, his shelves are empty at the moment. So anyway into Superdrug I went and I managed to find one, the girl said I've never used it. I don't know what it's like, but this is what we've got. So I thought, well, do you know what let's give it to? Well, I'm the one that I have is the Maybelline New York is called sky high lash, sensational tinted primer. Now I've used it. I use it every day. In all honesty. I'm not quite sure if the difference between using a lash primer and putting an extra coat. Have you used the usual Maskcara on. Haven't got to the bottom of that one yet. Maybe it's slightly more conditioning or maybe it's slightly thicker or indeed why you just wouldn't use the primer on its own. Because to me it just looks like one coat of mascara. Anyway. So that's what I've got and that's what I've been using. Like I say, it's called the Maybeline New York sky high sensational base tent. The other one that I have, and I found this in my cupboard because my daughter was raiding my makeup cupboard the other day. Ready to go out on her Halloween trick or treating little escapade. I have to say she did the most amazing smokey eye nicking, some old makeup of mine. I was like, wow, if you can do that on yourself now, then could you do mine, please? But she found something that I'd already got in there, which is a Revitalash advanced eyelash conditioner. And that you paint on the base of your eyelashes to help them grow. Now, I have used something similar in the past, but I only used it on one. Eyelash. Not what I liked. What I. That would have been tricky just to see if it made a difference and it did, but equally I've read things to say that it's not necessarily particularly good for your eyelashes. So I think I'm going to try it again and just see how I get on. But that's all part of the story of how to make one day lashes. I live a fuller, a little. More luxurious than they might otherwise be. Then. I went back to the doctor surgery. Because it didn't quite have enough 25 milligram patches of HRT. So all the same lady and said, I've really tried to find the primer that you mentioned, but I can't find it. And she reiterated and said, can't remember which brand I think it might be Lorielle and it's definitely white. I still haven't managed to bottom that one out, but if anyone has come across it, or if anyone comes across it and wants to try it. Please, let me know what you think, because I think that might be on my list. And as to the Maskcara and Kevin are using at the moment, well, there are so many aren't there. I mean, the world is just full of mascaras, but for some reason, Well, presumably because I bought it, but I can't now remember. I've got a Charlotte Tilbury, legendary lashes volume, two Maskcara, which I really liked. So I'm using that alongside. The primer and quite potentially very soon the Revitalash conditioner to get my eyelashes looking long and sumptuous. So basically that is a lot of talk about eyelashes. If you've got anything you'd like to add there at any point, come find me on Instagram and just drop me a message. Now having done eyelashes, let's talk a little bit about. I shadow. So I have a palette of really, really old Bobby, Brown eyeshadows, like a shimmer brick, which I love. And each day I just put on a little bit of shimmer, brick, eye shadow and not much house, but then I was chatting to a friend and she said, I've been watching lots of YouTube videos on makeup for the over fifties. And I've been doing a bit of a smokey eye. And I was like, do you know? Well, that's a really good idea because I have a bit of time on my hands at the moment and I'm not able to do very much, but I can spend a couple of minutes putting some eye shadow on. So all I do is use, I've got a brush, it's got two ends on it. And one end is sort of flatter and quite short and cut to an angle. And I do happen to have in another eyelash palette, some gray eyeshadow. And so I've just been putting that on occasion a little bit underneath. At the base of my bottom lashes and a little bit at the base of my top lashes. And I've quite enjoyed doing that. And then on other day, he's I know bear with me short Caras. I've put some glittery, Charlotte Tilbury eye shadow on over the top of my Bobby Brown one, because, you know, I love a bit of glitter. I was having this conversation with a makeup artist in Scotland over the weekend because it did a trip to Edinburgh. She was on the Charlotte Tilbury counter. And I do love a little bit of Charlotte Tilbury makeup. She gave me the magic cream, a test of the magic cream to try it and said, I would never look back. So I'm just trying to still determine whether that's the case or whether I can't actually tell much different, but here's the thing. Are you ready like that? Charlotte Tilbury. Hollywood filter foundation. I'd had it for a while. And hadn't used it that much before it had my thought right now is the time to slap on some glowing type makeup. So I've been using that on its own and you can use it in four different ways. You can use it as a primer. You can use it as a foundation on its own. You can use it just as a little bit of a highlighter, or you can mix it with your foundation and I've just been using it on its own. Cause I quite like the glow that it gives. So I was talking to this makeup artist on the Charlotte Tilbury counter. And I said, when we get older, we're told not to use. Products that kind of have a bit of a shine and a glow about them. But why is that the case? Because surely as you get older, when your skin gets a little lacking in a natural glow, that's what you want to recreate. And she said, I'm totally with you. Some women feels it makes them look a bit sweaty and a bit shiny, which is why they don't want to use it again. I can totally understand that. But I didn't feel like that. I like a little bit of a glow and a bit of a shine. So on top of that, I also use the Hollywood beauty light wand by Charlotte Tilbury. And that has a little sponge applicator on the end and you can just.it. Along the top of your cheekbones, you can.it along your brown bones. You can.it just above your, uh, top lip. If you just fancy a little bit of shine. Now at the same time that I was using all those products, I came across an article in OK. Magazine about a really good. Hollywood filter. Duke by brand called elf. And this is called. I have it here in my hand, the halo glow liquid filter. I haven't yet been able to use it because it's so well security protected. And actually get the lid off myself and there's no one else in the house to give me a hand. And I still don't want to push things too far by wrenching myself. I mean, how ridiculous does that sound? I know, but you know, I've come this far, so I'm not going to mess about now. And they now do it, apparently when it first came out, because I've got all the inside info on this. When it first came out, it only came in eight shades. Whereas the Charlotte Toby one came in 12 shades. But the alpha now also comes in 12 shades and this is about 14 pounds and the Charlotte Tilbury one, I don't know the exact price, but it's probably going to be in the forties. So it's elf, which I think stands for eyes, lips, and face. You could get it at Superdrug and also at boots, but tend to be the bigger branches. I think halo, glow, liquid filter, glow boost, step for radiant skin. I mean what more could we want? So that's where we are. On the beauty products on the hair. And on the makeup. And I think that was probably everything that I tried. During my time. Now that doesn't sound a lot, but if you're just starting out from scratch or you're thinking, I want to have a little bit more of a glow, I would try the Charlotte Tilbury or the elf product. And maybe just mix a little bit into your existing. No, actually I wouldn't do that. What I would do is I'd go full on, use it as a foundation and look in the mirror and see what you think. If looking in the mirror, you think, oh, this is too glowy for me. I need to tone it down a bit then. Great. The next day. Just mix it with some of your existing foundation or just use it as a highlighter on the tops of your cheekbones down the center of you knows brow bones, so on and so forth, or use it as a primer so that the glow comes through from underneath. But the good thing about the fact it can be used in four ways is it's not going to be wasted. So, if you are looking for a little bit of a glow, try that if that's not something that you feel you want to go down, then you could always get the beauty light wand. I mean, there are so many products like this. I think every single brand is going to have an equivalent. So you can always Google and find. You know, beauty, light wander equivalent, or beauty, light wand Joop. And just put that in the same places where the sun naturally hits. Top of the cheek bone center of the nose. A little bit on your eyebrow. Boom. So, if you want a bit of a glowy skin, obviously it all starts from within and making sure we're drinking in a Fort and having a good diet and having plenty of rest and so on and so forth looking after our skin. But then if you just want to top up with a little bit of a glow that perhaps your skin doesn't naturally have anymore. That's a good place to start. And then for me, I'm always on the hunt for the perfect shade of lipstick. I get lots of questions about my lipsticks. Actually, I try not to have anything to blue. The favorite one of mine is sandwiched pink by Bobby Brown, but although they do make it, they are out of stock everywhere because I asked in the Bobby Brown shop in Edinburgh. And they said it is still available. But it's not still available and it might not be available until January. I think it was. And I like that. So really nice. Sort of Nudie pinky color. It's got enough colored. To give you some color on your lips. If that doesn't sound completely strange, but not so much that it's a really obvious lipstick, you know? It's one of those lipsticks that you can put on without needing to look in the mirror. Whereas some lipsticks like a bright pink or bright red, you probably need to look in the mirror just to make sure it does go where you intend it to. And then the other ones that I've got, just tend to be a variation on a theme, just a Nudie pink. Not too blue, like I say, cause that can be a bit too cool for me. So I tend to find the raspberries are a little bit on the blue side. I don't always spend a lot on lipstick. I've got some boots, ones, boots, color match, which I did years ago. Some of the best lipsticks I've ever had NYC really good lipsticks there as well. So, and I've got a couple of Chanel ones, which are okay, but I wouldn't say that the color is as good as some of my cheaper ones, but that could just be the luck of the draw or otherwise. Oh, couple of other things that I did actually, now I'm looking at my list. I started to take MCT oil, although I haven't taken it for a while and I must get back into it. But MCT oil is something that a lot of people who follow the ketogenic diet to take, it's a really, really healthy oil and helps your metabolism to get into ketosis more easily than otherwise. And that's just a tablespoon of that. I take a day. People put it in their coffee or in the yogurt, but it doesn't taste of anything. So I've just taken it neat. And I figure. Some oil each day. It's always really good for our coat. Isn't it for our hair and our skin and our nails. So MCT oil, which is medium chain triglyceride oil got mine from Holland and Barrett. And I think that was about 18 pounds for the bottle. So it's not cheap, but I wasn't really going out doing much. For the past six weeks. So that was fine. And then the other thing that I did. I was get in touch with my friend. Who's a dentist and asked for some more bleach so that I could whiten my teeth again, because I did that. I think the last time I did it was pre lockdown. I hadn't done it for a while, so I bought some more bleach. My tray still fitted me and I sorted all those out and started whitening my teeth. The problem I have is that I have a false tooth at the front, it was knocked out by somebody when I was 10 years old with a wooden bat. And I've had a false one in there ever since, but the most recent, I had put in about 22 years ago now. And that was actually stayed there. None of the. At the state, but this one has stayed there. But if I make my own teeth to white, that one can look a bit yellow. So it's a bit of a fine balancing act. But again, if it's not something you've investigated before and your pharmacy, having your teeth whitened. Going to see your dentist. They just make little trays, like take impressions. And then you squirt a little bit of the, just a tiny blob of the bleach into each of the little gaps where you teeth sit in the trays. Put it in there and then pop them on before you go to bed. Now, sometimes you can get a bit of a sharp shooting pain. So, what you can do is also use Sensodyne toothpaste that works quite well. Just two. Sort of block up all the little holes on your teeth, where the bleach can sometimes get in and cause you a little bit of discomfort. So that was something else I did. I whitened my teeth. So that's a little rundown of haircare, skincare, makeup, beauty, MCT, oil whitening teeth, just a few things that I felt I could manage on my radar. And that just made me feel a little bit better whilst I was recuperating. And there were things I thought I would share with you just in case you feel that you maybe like to investigate one of those things either now in the run up to Christmas in the new year, whenever it suits you, whenever it grumps your fancy, if you just think, oh, I'd like to make the odd tweak without actually having any specific treatments, just to give myself a glow, make the best of what I've already got. And. But it's bringing my step. So anyway, later, I will love you and leave you now. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of lessons from my bed. Habitat and skincare. And I look forward to seeing you again soon. You take care of lots of love and bye for now.