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Beauty

John Lewis has opened its first cosmetics counter for men, so: Could you fancy your husband if he wore ‘manscara’?

15th January 2020

YES By Jenni Murray   My old man isn’t likely to be among the first in line at the new John Lewis make-up counter for men, but would I find him less attractive if he were? Certainly not. Why shouldn’t he pop a smidgen of Touche Eclat over his …

Home-grown Crème de la Mer

23rd June 2019

I have often wondered why, if Crème de la Mer is so effective, no one has come up with a similar, affordable, alternative. Someone finally has. It’s called Crème du Loch and has been developed by UK-based skincare experts using active, anti-ageing ingr …

Summer Sizzler #1

24th July 2018

I used to be mad about Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream. It seemed to me like a little miracle in a tube that helped with everything from dry lips to children’s grazed knees. My first summer sizzler is a slight variation on the cream; The Lip Protect …

One for the boys

15th June 2018

There are certain things I will never try, and I can confidently say that this is one of them. Penoplasty, or to give it its more colloquial name, penis enlargement, is not quite the complicated procedure you might assume. It has at least one thing in …

Peel away the years

29th May 2018

Facial peels have really moved on. Gone are the days when you were covered in chemicals and then had to spend days hiding in a darkened room as your skin peeled off like a lizard’s. In keeping with the whole organic, natural era we are living in, I rec …

How the French master the menopause

30th April 2018

‘They can replace hands and lungs, they can fit pacemakers, but they can’t do a damn thing about hot flushes,’ laments the lead character in the new French hit film Aurore, or I Got Life! to give it its English title. My first reaction on hearing this …

Battling Bambi

19th April 2018

I can’t resist a bargain, so when my favourite nail salon offered me 50% off false eyelashes I thought ‘it would be rude not to’. So off I trotted yesterday to have them done, having completed a patch test a few days ago to make sure I wasn’t allergic …

Emergency hydration (with added bonus)

24th March 2018

I try to do a mask three times a week. This morning I tried the Clarins SOS Hydra Refreshing Hydration Mask, which I loved. It’s a cream/gel so doesn’t feel too oppressive, even though the texture is thick and luxurious. It glides on perfectly and afte …

Sleeping Beauty

12th March 2018

I was first introduced to the brand Murad by a lovely celebrity make up artist called Oonagh (www.oonaghconnor.com). From the US, Murad was the first of the so-called ‘Dr. brands’, truly effective skin care based on scientific research. They have just …

Winter warmer…

26th February 2018

Here’s a fabulous offer to keep you warm as the Beast from the East sets in. My favourite Harley Street clinic is giving readers of this blog a voucher worth £250 redeemable against any body treatment for just £100. Treatments include body sculpting (b …

Miracle boob job

18th January 2018

The actress Calista Flockhart once summed it up rather well. “I do wish my breasts were bigger,” she said. “Not big, but less small.” If you feel like Calista there is now something you can do about it, without resorting to surgery and with no scars. I …

Christmas appeal

19th December 2017

A couple of weeks ago I went to a lovely event in Mayfair hosted by a bespoke perfume maker called Elegantes (www.elegantes.co.uk). One of the speakers was a truly inspirational lady from a charity called Look Good, Feel Better (LGFB). LGFB helps women …

All I want for Christmas is….

30th November 2017

 Two of my favourite London-based beautifiers have joined forces to bring you an early Christmas present. The Harley Street clinic Medi-Lift and renowned hairdresser Michaeljohn in Knightsbridge are offering an exclusive seasonal bonus guaranteed to ge …

Supplement your beauty regime

19th November 2017

I have often thought that one day we will simply stop cooking and just live off little pills that ensure glowing health and longevity. Of course it will be a shame not to sit down and enjoy a romantic dinner, but think of the time you will save on the …

If it’s good enough for Kim…

12th November 2017

I don’t have much in common with Kim Kardashian. For example when I ask the question ‘does my bum look big in this?’ I prefer the answer to be no. But Kim and I do have one thing in common, a favourite eye cream. Made by a company called Stem Cell Beau …

Finally! A no-knife eye lift that actually works

27th August 2017

Helena hated her crinkly eyelids for years, but didn’t want surgery. Now she’s found a solution (but it’s not for the faint hearted)   The morning of my eye lift treatment, I look in the mirror before I leave home and say a not-so-fond farewell to …

‘It is like having a magic wand’

9th July 2017

  Helena Frith Powell has spent decades trying to eradicate stubborn stomach fat and tries the new Tripolar machine as it is able to ‘sculpt’ any tummy. The fat-busting treatment costs £300 a session but for Helena it is worth it… By Helena Frit …

Finally a cure for the curse of WRINKLY KNEES!

15th January 2017

New Harley Street treatment sees medical threads inserted into the skin to tackle sagging problem areas (with some VERY surprising results) By Helena Frith Powell For The Daily Mail When I was in France on holiday about a year ago, I first noticed a se …

Can a mask made of algae really perk up your breasts?

18th December 2016

Revolutionary beauty therapy promises to bring out the best in your bosom By Helena Frith Powell For The Daily Mail Apparently, we Brits are blessed with the most impressive breasts in Europe. The average size in the UK is between 36C and 34E, and it i …

My month of living vicariously

10th December 2016

What’s it like to follow Trinny’s bizarre £10,000 beauty regime?

7th December 2016

HELENA FRITH POWELL dared try it for a month – vampire facials and all Have you wondered what it would be like to have all the money and time in the world to spend making yourself look younger? That’s the life former TV presenter Trinny Woodall, who’s …

The new trick to look younger? Go half grey!

25th September 2016

One dye-hard brunette tries out the latest age-defying salon treatment Dyeing my hair was one of the first things I ever did to fight the ageing process. I was in my mid-30s when the first bits of grey poked through. I remember being livid. As well as …

A smart woman’s guide to ageing well in ten top tips

29th August 2016

Author Helena Frith Powell shares her top 10 tips to ageing well – and her list of things to avoid… Mix a face oil with a nourishing face mask for extra effect Top top tips for avoiding wrinkles 1: Embrace face oils As our skin ages it gets drier. Face …

‘You’ll just feel a scratch,’ says Dr Viel, wielding a giant knitting needle

19th July 2016

It’s the most drastic anti-ageing treatment in Britain, but would a procedure that injects your own stomach fat into your face give your correspondent new skin?   There are times in your life when you wonder what you are doing and why. As I lie on …

What happened to Hugh?

3rd June 2016

My husband’s and my reaction to the images of Hugh Grant doing a great impression of a beached whale in Mallorca were very different. “How disgusting,” I said, pushing away my breakfast. “There’s no excuse for that.” “How marvellous,” said my husband. …

Smart women don’t get wrinkles

10th May 2016

My new book is out. It all started with a flourish this weekend when the Daily Telegraph serialised it (link below). Publishing a book is a bit like having a baby. There is a long gestation period, followed by the new-born phase where you have to help …

Can a holistic healer reverse the ageing process? 

9th May 2016

 By Helena Frith Powell  9 MAY 2016 • 7:00AM “You were a Cathar,” he tells me. “I remember you. You were burnt at the stake.” If Simon is right, I have aged well. The Cathars were around in the 12th century. I have come to visit Simon as his reputation …

How to look 10 years younger: secrets of an anti-ageing aficionado

7th May 2016

It was one of those pit-of-the-stomach horror moments. I caught sight of myself in my rear-view mirror and suddenly realised I was ageing. There was a criss-cross of wrinkles across my forehead and around my eyes, and a big dip between my eyebrows, whi …

Me and my Santé magazine column

21st March 2016

It must  be more than 10 years ago that I received a call from an editor at the French magazine Santé. I was on a train at the time, heading from our home in the south of France to London, and I remember the line being rather bad. The editor asked me i …

The awful day we knew we’d lost our looks

5th March 2014

It’s the moment all women dread. Four writers reveal when it hit them By JILLY JOHNSON and KATE GARRAWAY and CLAUDIA CONNELL FOR MAILONLINE and HELENA FRITH POWELL Actress Sharon Stone struck a chord with women everywhere recently when she revealed the …

Tried and tested: Skin tightening

25th January 2012

A unique and revitalising treatment at a top cosmetic clinic   WHAT I TRIED Skin Tightening at the Kaya Skin Clinic. WHAT I EXPECTED Another day, another skin treatment. Surely if these things really worked no one would age at all? And skin tighte …

Tried and tested: Wipe away wrinkles

21st September 2011

Say goodbye to fine lines with Dysport Treatment WHAT I TRIED Dysport Treatment, an injection a bit like Botox, that wipes away wrinkles and frown lines. WHAT I EXPECTED Having already experienced the miracle that is Botox, I wasn’t expecting much from …

Ageing not strictly neccessary

2nd September 2010

Today I wore leopard-print skinny jeans (Top Shop, to die for), leopard-print shoes and scarf. And a white shirt. “You still have the courage to wear leopard print?” asked a male colleague of a similar age to me. “He thinks I’m too old to wear leopard- …

Email from Bea to her father

24th February 2010

We were at the hairdresser’s yesterday reading short story entries for the magazine’s annual short story competition while Hassan transformed our lanky hair into luscious locks. Here is the outcome: And here is an email Bea wrote to Rupert, it is vinta …

Discovering yoga

10th February 2010

It is said that women of a certain age discover either God or gardening. I have instead discovered yoga. I can’t imagine life without it. And in fact looking back, one of my earliest memories of my mother is of her with her arms under her legs in some …

A perfect birthday

17th December 2009

Apart from the fact that I didn’t get the Ferrari and Marat Safin didn’t call me and offer to become my personal tennis coach I had as brilliant a birthday as  a girl can hope for. Being born close to Christmas is a bummer, but I think that at this rip …

Eleven years ago today…

20th June 2009

Today is out 11th wedding anniversary. Eleven years ago today we were married in a beautiful white church in Hedemora, deep in the Swedish countryside. It is the same church I was christened in, by my grandfather who was the vicar then. Sadly he was no …

A great week

3rd April 2009

It has been a great week. I went to see the cellist Mathew Barley perform Bach’s cello suites at the British School here. It was truly amazing, as he said, there isn’t a note out of place. We could practically touch him we were so close. I have slept t …

How is this possible?

31st March 2009

On Thursday someone I have not seen since 1990 showed up in town. Like most of my friends he is an investment banker and much richer than me. So it was no surprise that he showed up in a chauffeur-driven car carrying well-worn Louis Vuitton luggage. Wh …

A trying week

14th March 2009

Not that I am normally one to grumble but… Due to my back still being sore, I have not been doing much exercise and so am getting fat Work changed the whole mail system and all of our emails were down for two days, some lost forever School Fees are g …

Travels with my in-laws

11th March 2009

My in-laws arrived for a week’s visit yesterday. Yesterday I spent the evening with my father-in-law trying to get his hearing aid fixed. He is an example of how to go through life; happy and charming. We went to the Oxford Medical Centre first. “Do yo …

Expat Children Syndrome

8th January 2009

One of the things I noticed about coming back to Abu Dhabi was how much more settled (and nicer) the children are being. It seems to me that going home to Sainte Cecile and realising it is all still there and not about to go away has made them more set …

A different world

26th November 2008

It seems like a different world to the one we arrived in. When I first had to have documents translated from French to Arabic by an official translator it felt like an insurmountable task. Find the translator (there is only one in Abu Dhabi which trans …

Baby Beauty…..

28th October 2008

My step-daughter Julia was here last week for half term. She is fourteen and I thought that she was old enough to come along with me for a manicure and a pedicure. We eased into our comfy chairs feeling jolly pleased with ourselves. Then I spotted her. …

The Quest for Eternal Youth

14th October 2008

I am about to interview a handsome young man called Ben Barnes who is in Abu Dhabi for the Middle East International Film Festival. He stars in a great new film called Easy Virtue with, among others, Colin Firth. Tragically Colin is not here or I would …

When do you start losing your looks? We asked eight writers aged 31 to 73

18th August 2008

Women start to worry about losing their looks at the age of 28, according to a survey which polled the views of 4,000 women. So is this true, or does 28 sound too young – or too old? We asked several women writers, aged from 31 to 73, to reveal the mom …

Back in the real world

9th August 2008

It is tough being back. No calming lake, no one bringing me food every meal, no massages, no doctor monitoring my progress. But I am trying my best to keep up the good work I began. The enemy lurks around every corner in the form of alcohol, chocolate …

Something to chew on….

1st August 2008

Although I have at times been tempted to eat my lip-gloss due to extreme hunger pangs, I am really loving the Viva Mayr Clinic (www.viva-mayr.com). It is very different to Renew Retreats, much more medical and not a mention of matching underwear, but a …

Bed, breakfast and balls…..

18th July 2008

So I show up, wondering if I should undress in my car before being greeted by the owners who are charming and fully dressed. Then they take me to my room. En route we pass one of the clients. I have only been to one other naturist in my life; Cap d’Agd …

Manhattan Makeover

10th June 2008

The makeover begins before I even get on the plane. I’m in a small cubicle wearing nothing but a black paper thong, being sprayed with fake tan by a girl called Sian. I’m at Heathrow, about to board a flight to New York for a makeover weekend so I may …

Fat, fatter, fattest…..

19th May 2008

I admit it, I am a fattist. Every time I see a fat person I want to throw up. I can’t stand the sight of that blubber blubbering around. If I see a fat person walking into Burger King I am tempted to make a citizen’s arrest. Now I see that Britain is o …

Fame at last…..

13th May 2008

I am in the Richard Kay column in the Daily Mail today (see below for text of article). This is thrilling news on many counts. First they have made me younger than I am (always useful for an anti-ageing guru), second they call me “pouting” and finally …

Get in touch with your inner teenager

8th May 2008

I am lying on a bed, eating almonds, covered in fake tan, reading Tatler. The last time I did this I was child-free and about 19. I am having an evening in after an exhausting day, which started with breakfast with the Features Director of Red Magazine …

Forever Zen

4th May 2008

In To Hell in High Heels I say that if the book becomes a best-seller I will retire to the Clinique La Prairie in Switzerland. I have changed my mind. I will come to Renew Retreats instead. We are on day four and all is going swimmingly. The ladies are …

Water, water everywhere….

16th April 2008

The irony of returning from a trip to the French Lakes and find we have no water in the house was not lost on me. But what is surprising is how life drastically changes without running water. No lavender baths, no easy way to brush your teeth, no clean …

My botox diary

30th March 2008

Which was worse – facing the needle, or her husband afterwards? Helena Frith Powell grits her teeth and goes for the face freeze   Wednesday, midday “You’re not going to get any Botox done, are you?” my husband, Rupert, asks as I leave the house t …

Finally a centrefold

13th March 2008

So I finally make it to the centre spread of a newspaper and guess what? Instead of a picture of me in my old wedding dress displaying my grey hair and droning on about my new book they have turned me into a cartoon character. In fact when I first saw …

What really stops ageing and why looking young is every woman’s holy grail

13th March 2008

Looking eternally young is every woman’s Holy Grail — and we spend millions in pursuit of it. So can anything truly banish those wrinkles? The author of a new book sought out experts around the world to find the answer…   Ageing is something of …

Who will I marry?

11th March 2008

Never mind the arrival of the Daily Mail in the region, the big news yesterday was that Louis has a girlfriend. “She’s called Elisa. They even kissed on the lips,” Leo told us when he came home from school. He was more scandalised than my mother was wh …

AArrrrgggghhhhhh!!!

10th March 2008

As I write the Daily Mail photographer is speeding his way through the Languedoc countryside to photograph me for the serialisation of my book on anti-ageing. And what do I have? Grey hair, that’s what I have. Right at the front. You can’t miss it. And …

The fuzzy end of the lollipop

3rd March 2008

Yes more evidence, if any more evidence was needed, that women get what Sugar in the film Some Like it Hot calls “the fuzzy end of the lollipop”. Rupert was reading a blog today on The Guardian website by a thirty-seven-year-old man who was complaining …

Tweaks for a better life

22nd February 2008

So the international conspiracy to keep me awake goes on. The perpetrators will stop at nothing. Now they have a gang of highly-trained mice that at 5.30am every morning scuttle back and forth across the roof. It sounds like there are 50 of them racing …

Parental Truths number eight

9th January 2008

Despite paying thousands of euros a year into the French pension and social security system, we are under no illusion that they will give us any money when we’re older and even greyer. So we have been vetting the children. “Which of you will look after …

New Hites (or maybe lows)

18th December 2007

I am pleased to annouce that I am incredibly posh. The reason I know this is that none of my friends have central heating. It is a well known fact that the posher you are, the colder your home is. In fact one of the friends I stayed with in London duri …

A modern inferno

8th December 2007

I brushed my teeth this morning as the Ligurian countryside flashed by. I am on a night train bound for France after two days in Florence. The night train does not compare with the luxury of the Grand Hotel, and the view of Liguria may not be as dreamy …

How to ignore old age

2nd December 2007

My mother has recently started thinking about ageing. She tells me she would rather be dead than old. It’s a fair point. Having just written a book about ageing I know there aren’t many upsides. One is that the hair on your legs grows at a much slower …

Mid-life crisis ring tone

9th August 2007

Teenagers may not be much use around the house, but they’re brilliant at everything to do with mobile phones. I now have a choice of funky new ring tones, thanks to Julia. My husband says this is yet another manifestation of my mid-life crisis. Accordi …

How to snare a man

25th July 2007

I am happily installed in the Hotel Alla Noce in Limone, a town on Lake Garda. I am here to finish my next book and have chosen this place due to a gene they have that means they live longer. Apparently ten per cent of the population is between 100 and …

Pippi Longstocking

7th July 2007

After three days of trawling around various sights, museums and shops in Stockholm there is one clear winner. She has strange red hair, odd stockings and a monkey called Herr Nilsson. Yes, it’s Pippi Longstocking, who as far as I can see is the most en …

Naked (again) in the rain

31st May 2007

Nudity seems to be a bit of a theme at the moment. Last night I was about to get in the bath when it started pouring with rain. Wearing nothing but flip-flops and some hair extensions I rush out to get the washing in. Wolfie the dog is more excited by …

A touch of the oh la las

15th April 2007

Why do French women always look so chic? Helena Frith Powell uncovers their best-kept beauty secrets   I live close to a small town in southern France (population: 7,464), where there are 19 hairdressers, five beauticians and four lingerie shops. …

Weird science

7th January 2007

Injecting poison into the forehead was once thought wacky. But it’s nothing compared to some new anti-ageing treatments Helena Frith Powell January 7 2007, 12:00am, The Sunday Times DERMAGENETICS Developed by the American bioscience company Genelink in …

The secret of no cellulite

23rd August 2006

Helena Frith Powell persuades French women to reveal the key to dimple-free skin I am on a beach in Corsica looking at a French woman’s bottom. It is pert, round and deliciously tanned. At the risk of being arrested, I move a little closer. This is an …

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