How to be fabulous at any age
It may be that the secret to growing old gracefully is to be smart about it. One part of your brain accepting, and even embracing, the inevitable, and the other part fighting it with as much ammunition as science has to offer. This is where the smart part comes in — learning to draw the line between looking young and going over the top.
These five women are smart and beautiful. They’re also accomplished career and family women. Angel Jacob, Donna Cruz-Larrazabal, Claudine Trillo-Webb, Hindy Weber-Tantoco, and Agot Isidro-Sandejas are the new endorsers of Facial Care Centre, which specializes in non-invasive, non-surgical treatments for men and women with skin issues.
Their ages range from 30 to 42 and all of them look fabulous and young. They are involved in media — either as TV hosts or in movies — with Hindy being a designer for Rustan’s Culte Femme and a columnist for the STAR’s YStyle section. They are, in other words, always in the public eye. And we all know how the public can be unforgiving of women in the spotlight.
Agot at 42 says she has never felt healthier or stronger in her life, thanks to a balanced diet and regular exercise. Hindy at 35 says it was only when she had her kids that her sleeping became regular and she realized how important sleep is for healthy skin. Angel at 37 rues her younger years when women had very little information about the harmful effects of the sun and laughingly looks back when the detergent bar Perla was the de rigueur beauty “secret” of teenage girls. Claudine, 30, confesses to being a “facial virgin,” not having tried any facial treatment before she became one of Facial Care’s endorsers. And Donna, 31, admits that being mistaken for someone in her 20s is actually really a nice thing.
It’s a woman thing — aging and its accompanying neuroses, when you’re vacillating between giving in and fighting it. As such women see treatments to delay aging as they would a closet full of shoes: Some will see it as a godsend, others will see it as unavoidable but not particularly enjoyable like going to the dentist, while some see it as a tremendous waste of time and money.
Whatever attitude you take about aging and the wrinkles and lines — wear them proudly or not — it’s comforting to know that science has some solutions to help you delay it.
And all this without a single injection.
Over lunch, these five women talk about beauty, growing old, lines on their faces, why they won’t do Botox, and what they know now that they wish they knew in their twenties.
Excerpts:
THE PHILIPPINE STAR: Of all the clinics around, why did you want to endorse Facial Care Centre…apart from the buckets of money they offered you?
ANGEL JACOB: (laughs) It was for the buckets of services! I guess this industry calls for you to always be ready. Like they will call you today and inform you there’s a shoot tomorrow. When you get older, you really have to take pains to take care of your skin. Di na puwede yung tubig, tapos na. Or if my friends use a certain product, I use it too and then I get allergies because my skin is so sensitive. At a certain age, you know what your skin needs already and you address those needs as they come.
DONNA CRUZ-LARRAZABAL: Being in show business, you need to take care of the way you look, especially when you’re already a mommy. It’s nice when people tell you, “Di ka mukhang mommy.”
AGOT ISIDRO-SANDEJAS: I didn’t say yes right away to Facial Care, then they made me try the ReFirme and I was sold that instant (laughs). Some companies have approached me before but when I tried their products they gave me pimples. This one, I was sold right away.
(ReFirme, according to Dr. Shyla Valdez, Facial Care Centre’s in-house dermatologist, “is the fastest way of dealing with fine lines. It’s a laser machine that also uses radio frequency to lift the skin and stimulate collagen production so the skin becomes tighter. It takes about four to five treatments to see the best results, but even after the first treatment you see the change right away.”)
What are the skincare concerns of a woman your age?
CLAUDINE TRILLO-WEBB: My main problem is the freckles because I love being on the beach. They tend to come out on my shoulders when I’m exposed to the sun. Like even for just 20 minutes they get dark. I’m okay with that already, I just don’t want them to be super big.
HINDY WEBER-TANTOCO: Like Claudine, I have some freckles, but I don’t mind them too much. I guess sometimes, acne and whiteheads, things like that.
AGOT: Age spots, pimples, laugh lines. Some women have deep lines on their face; I have tiny, irritating lines. Overall, I guess the skin tone is not even, you get dark under-eyes and all.
DONNA: In my third pregnancy, my age spots came out! Plus when you smile you get laugh lines, sobrang nakakainis.
Don’t you think that lines add character to a woman’s face?
DONNA: Hindi rin (laughs). Okay, lang yung konti-konti.
ANGEL: I think that at a certain age, you deserve those lines and they’re going to stay. It’s impossible na wala. With services such as the ones Facial Care offers, you get to delay aging a bit.
What treatments do you do to address these skin issues?
ANGEL: Fine lines and crow’s feet are a problem and my skin isn’t as supple and as firm, so I get the ReFirme, a non-invasive treatment to lift your facial skin and neck gently. People tend to forget the neck. I make it a point to cleanse my face and my neck since I use the same product for both areas anyway. My friends say, “Ang mahal ng creams for the face.” But it’s more expensive if you get surgery later to fix your neck.
HINDY: I do the Vita Spa Facial. It uses vitamins A, C and E to treat skin damage caused by UV rays, pollution and other environmental stresses. The mixtures of these vitamins results in a brightening effect to lighten dark spots, and firm skin tissues. As much as possible I do organic skincare. Even at home I use organic products: the food I eat, the products I use. It has to be practical since I can’t stay for hours at the clinic because I still have to take care of my children.
CLAUDINE: I’ve been trying a lot since they’re introducing everything to me because I’m a facial virgin (laughs). I didn’t do facials ever; it’s only now that I’m endorsing Facial Care. No one ever taught me it was important to do that!
AGOT: The ReFirme, which gives instant results, and I also love the Skin Tone Re-energizer and the Neck Toning treatment for my neck.
DONNA: I’ve tried IPL, which helps tighten the skin and lighten age spots. That’s been one of my problems since I got pregnant with my third child, Gio. Now I get facials done regularly, like the Basic Facial. I don’t get pimples often but when I do, matindi talaga. So I use the Anti Bacterial Mask. I also do the Diamond Peel.
What’s your beauty routine?
ANGEL: Back in the day, all my friends used Perla. You go through that stage when you just follow your friends’ routines. When I used it my skin got so dry. Then there were the trends that used eggs, condensed milk, sugar and olive oil, avocado. Now it’s simpler because I know what works for me: cleanser, toner or makeup remover, and sunblock in the morning or night cream and eye cream at night. After I put on toner, I pat my face with tissue so the next product will be better absorbed.
DONNA: Yes, you should massage your face. I use Cetaphil cleanser, then toner from Facial Face Center and an anti-wrinkle cream.
CLAUDINE: I don’t have the patience to do the three-step bit. I just make sure that I wash off all my makeup before I sleep and then I moisturize.
AGOT: Sometimes I skip the toning part, which I do only when I have a pimple. Otherwise, I just cleanse and moisturize. My beauty secret would be to eat healthy, work out, don’t get stressed, get a dog, get a younger husband, go shopping.
What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
HINDY: That sleep is so important for the health of the skin because this is when the skin regenerates. When I was younger, I’d work late at night or go out and come home really late. Even when I was home, I’d just watch movies. But since I had kids, my sleep pattern has become regular because I have to put them to bed, wake up early to take them to school. They’ll say, “Sleep na, mom,” so I don’t have a choice. When I was younger, I would have been more careful about sun exposure. I love the beach, I love going out. I just want to embrace the Italian way of living — to just enjoy the moment, not to be hidden all the time.
AGOT: Di pa uso sunscreen noon, we had no idea about SPF. But I was using a moisturizer even back then; maarte na ako in my twenties.
Would you ever undergo plastic surgery? What about Botox?
CLAUDINE: You know, I haven’t seen a plastic surgery that wasn’t obvious. There’s alwayssomething very fake about it. Right now, I would say no. But if there’s this doctor who can fix your little problems so well, then I wouldn’t have qualms about that. As for Botox, it looks so fake. You think you’re so pretty and nobody knows you’ve had Botox, but everyone can tell because when you laugh there are no lines, it’s like half a laugh.
AGOT: No, I’m scared of the effects, say, 20 years down the line. I’ve seen women who had their procedures done 20 years ago and now super halata and pangit. I want to look like me 20 years from now, the way God made me. I’ll fight the aging with creams and treatments, but nothing of the cut-and-injection procedures.
Don’t you think media and society are putting too much emphasis on how women look?
ANGEL: It’s the influence of everything we see on TV and in magazines. Women admire other women. I think women fix themselves up for other women — men are only secondary — because we get our inspiration and tips from other women. As role models, we would like for people to look at us and admire the entire package — not just the skin. As I always say, if you’re stressed it’s going to show, and also if you’re happy.
DONNA: When you’re in the limelight people really look at you from head to toe and hahanap sila ng mapipintas sa ‘yo. It feels good when people say, “Ang ganda ng skin mo! You don’t look your age.”
HINDY: I just want to keep things in perspective: Work with what you have, don’t overdo it, don’t labor too much just to have what you think is a perfect appearance. Having the right perspective is accepting your body type and facial features. I just try to be healthy inside and out.
AGOT: They will always put a premium on youth, but now they’re actually acknowledging that older women can be beautiful. There are more real women coming out in media today. In the ‘90s, when you had the supermodel image, you never really got to see mature women in the spotlight, ngayon meron na.
Who to you is the most beautiful woman in the world?
ANGEL: Monica Belucci. That woman has so much sex appeal, but she also looks innocent in a way. She just commands attention. Simple beauty does not call so much attention to itself.
HINDY: Audrey Hepburn. From the time she was a child all the way to her seventies, she didn’t touch her face. Even in her old age, when she was an ambassador for the UNICEF, she was just beautiful inside and out.
AGOT: Audrey Hepburn. She was just so very pretty and she had substance. For me, it’s not the physical beauty. When somebody doesn’t say or do anything substantial, even if they are beautiful, you lose interest right away.
DONNA: Paulina Porizkova.
CLAUDINE: That’s my idea of the prettiest as well — she looks so cute and natural. She doesn’t put on my makeup and she smiles a lot.
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Call Facial Care Centre for a free consultation at 892-SKIN (7546), 233-7631/33/35 (Cebu), 961-3404/08 (Pampanga).
