As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts do pay off. It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 10: Take Care of Your Teeth.

Another beauty secret that works for any age? A great set of white teeth. I had braces when I was younger and unfortunately, I wasn’t diligent with my retainer. As a result, my teeth shifted as I got older. For the past two years, I have used Invisalign at night. This has worked great to not only straighten out my teeth, but to protect my teeth from grinding at night.

Taking care of your smile is imperative to looking and feeling your best. A couple of years ago, I did the Zoom whitening in-office procedure at my dentist’s office. This process was not hard and left my teeth unbelievably white. I will definitely go back again for another round of Zoom! In the interim, I use an electrical toothbrush and gentle whitening toothpaste everyday. When your teeth look great, your smile looks flawless…and that helps you exude confidence.

The post The Secret Is In the Smile                    appeared first on Heather Monahan.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts do pay off. It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 9: Make An Appointment at Home.

There are so many beauty secrets available to you for at home treatments now. For one, you can now do an at-home spray tan that works wonders in a pinch. Whenever I need to up my look, I turn to Southeast Tahitian tan mist. This is a quick, easy remedy when you need to look flawless in a second. 

There are also a number of amazing products for your skin that I have at home, and they’re easy to pack for work trips, too! Currently, a couple of my favorites are the Talika Eye Therapy patches and the SK-II facial treatment mask. The ZIIP microcurrent hand-held device is a new favorite of mine as well. This device takes only 10 minutes a couple of times a week and helps to keep your skin tight and lifted.  I am doing all that I can to avoid going under the knife some day! Take advantage of all the DIY beauty secrets that are on the market today. Beauty, at any age, begins at home!

The post Home Is Where the Glam Is appeared first on Heather Monahan.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts do pay off. It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 8: Call in the Pros.

Anytime I have a big event or gala, I call in the professionals. This is an expensive solution, but this makes all the difference in the world! I don’t care who the person is; if they have a makeup artist and hair dresser, they will look amazing when stepping out. Not only do these people know the right colors and styles to use on you, but they just have so much more experience that the work they do is not even in the same league that you are able to do to yourself.

I find it funny when I see women at events and they try to downplay that they did anything differently to look the way they do at the event. There’s no shame in calling in the pros —it’s a beauty secret worth sharing! The reality is, it takes a lot of work to look good, and when you bring in a team of people who do this for a living, you take your whole look up another notch. This is an absolute essential when you’re having professional pictures taken; it’s worth the investment. Before having professional pictures taken this is a necessity. Whenever you need to look your absolute best, leave it to the pros. You’ll be so happy you did.

The post Pony Up for Professionals appeared first on Heather Monahan.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts do pay off. It can take a vil-lage to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 7: Find Your Makeup Mojo.

For me, makeup is a love affair. I love products and feel like I’ve tested just about everything out there! Finding key items that you reach for daily is a sure-fire secret to looking good at any age.

There are a few things I use for my standard look. First, I use a primer to set a base for my makeup; primer not only preps your skin and helps perfect the look of it, but it helps makeup last longer throughout the day. Next, I use a light foundation from Gee Beauty to even out skin and cover any imperfections. Then I move to IT Cosmetics concealer to knock out any undereye issues in a flash. I’ll contour with a stick bronzer because it’s easy and quick to define features when I’m in a hurry. After setting my makeup with a translucent powder, I add a pink blush and neutral eyeshadow. The final step—and maybe the most im-portant—is a highlighter. I apply it wherever the light would naturally hit my face to create a luminous glow and to make my cheekbones pop! I tend to use a light or champagne colored highlighter, but there are so many options out there for every skin tone.

Once you’ve discovered your favorite products and the best ways to apply them, you can feel confident that you look great whenever you walk out the door.

The post Master Your Makeup appeared first on Heather Monahan.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts do pay off. It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 6: Surround Yourself with Scent.

Scents are critical in feeling and looking your best. It’s amazing to me how scents can impact my mood: If I am stressed out and I inhale lavender essential oil, I am immediately put at ease. Leonor Greyl has the most amazing bamboo shampoo; the scent takes me back in my mind to being on the beach when I was younger.

Scents for me are so powerful—they can uplift my mood, take me on a journey, or recall a memory in a single moment. I typically rotate between three different perfumes at any given time: one that I feel smells pretty, one that makes me feel strong and unstoppable, and one that reminds me of the beach or ocean and puts me at ease. Whatever it is that you like to be reminded of or how you want to feel, figure out what those scents are and be mindful of surrounding yourself with them throughout your day. A beautiful scent is a beauty secret that no one can see, but it can do so much for how you feel and directly impact how you look.

The post Stunning Scents appeared first on Heather Monahan.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts will pay off. It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 5: Put a Spray Tan On It.

Living in Miami can be daunting, because everyone always looks glowing, tan and flawless. What I’ve discovered is that they aren’t necessarily perfect—they’ve just been spending time at the spray tan location down the street! The minute you get a good spray tan, you’re suddenly as flawless as everyone else walking around. The magic of the spray tan is that it immediately blurs imperfections and takes 5 lbs. off your frame. Any time I have a big event, I’m sure to get a spray tan the night before. This simple beauty secret is a total game changer!

The post The Spray Tan Secret appeared first on Heather Monahan.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts will pay off. It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 4: Condition, Color & Cut.

Getting glam for me means taking care of my hair. I have bleached and processed my hair for as long as I can remember, so I make sure to leave conditioner in for as long as possible at least once a week. You can do this while running errands on a Sunday with your hair in a bun. Just a few hours of leaving a treatment in your hair will save you further breakage if you are a color addict like me!

When it comes to hair, there are two things you must pay attention to: the right hair color for your skin tone and the right cut. These things sound easy, but I promise you—they are not. I have been a yellow blonde, an ashy blonde, a dark blonde and a platinum blonde, and finding that perfect shade often eludes me. I continually go back to the same hairdresser I’ve had for years to try to get the best color for my skin. It’s important to me, because I never feel as good as I do when my hair color is working with my skin tone. The cut needs to be clean, complement the shape of my face and my lifestyle, and work well for blow-dries, too. Looking beautiful at any age is all about what works for your uniqueness, what saves you time so you can look your best!

The post The Hair Has It appeared first on Heather Monahan.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts will pay off. It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 3: Focus on Lashes & Brows.

Once you’ve discovered and committed to a skincare routine, there are two other key beauty secrets that will help you retain your youthful look: well groomed eyebrows and defined eyelashes. Having someone do your eyebrows professionally is a must as you age. When sculpted properly, eyebrows can literally change the look of your face! Whether you opt for waxing or other methods for your brows, it’s worth it. I have sensitive skin, so I have my eyebrows threaded. I also recently began using a hair regrowth product on my eyebrows, which has made a huge difference. There are many different brands available, but I’m currently using GrandeBROW, which works really well.

As far as eyelashes go, nothing beats eyelash extensions, or, for those of us that can’t keep up with the time commitment, just adding disposable false eyelashes to any look is a surefire way to up your glam factor.  I also use Latisse when I go to bed at night to help my own lashes grow. Though it may seem like a small secret to looking beautiful at any age, when your brows and lashes are on point, you make a statement without much else needed.

The post All Eyes on You appeared first on Heather Monahan.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts will pay off. It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 2: Create a Skincare Routine & Stick to It.

In the quest to hold on to the skin from my 30s, I have learned that there are a few critical steps that need to be accomplished. First, you need to find some way to exfoliate your skin regularly;  this will help with reducing wrinkles and avoiding breakouts. There are a variety of options available to you for exfoliation, from using Retin-A and Obagi nightly to manual, over-the- counter scrubs. Whatever works best for your skin type and your budget is fine, as long as you are turning dead skin cells over on the regular.

The next critical step is moisturizing your newly exfoliated skin. This is something I didn’t do when I was younger, and I regret it now. Currently, I use a hyaluronic acid to kick-start my moisture routine coupled with a Vitamin C serum and a healing oil. That all goes on before I turn to a cream moisturizer. Did I mention that this is a lot of work? But creating a skin care routine that you can stick to is one of the best secrets to looking beautiful. Trust me—it’s worth it!

The post Become a Routine Regular appeared first on Heather Monahan.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts will pay off.  It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best.  Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 1: Start With Your Skin.

In the quest to look good at any age, there really is nothing that matters more than caring for your skin. There are endless ways to do this, but first and foremost, regular exercise, sleep and healthy diet are the cornerstones for skin that looks good at any age.  If you remain committed to this from your 20s throughout the rest your life, it will pay off! Sunscreen is another must, and unfortunately I only became familiar with this in my 30s. Don’t make this same mistake—cover up with sunscreen!

Another must-have for healthy skin is a good dermatologist, not only to help protect and prevent future skin problems, but to keep you apprised of the countless opportunities available to you to look your best. Some of these options include, but are not limited to: Botox, laser treatments, Ultherapy, injections, peels, microdermabrasion and radio frequency.  When you see women with fabulous skin in their 40s and beyond, you can be sure that they are in the hands of a good dermatologist. Make healthy skin your first secret weapon in looking beautiful at any age!

The post Healthy Skin Is Always In appeared first on Heather Monahan.