Beautiful You by Suzanne Edmonds

Each week, beauty enthusiast Suzanne Edmonds explores the best ways to take care of ourselves so that we love the skin we're in.

Sometimes we forget we're in charge of ourselves. This week, hundreds of women were reminded when comedian, motivational stylist and all-round inspirational woman Lisa O'Neill came to town.

To a packed out audience at ASB Baypark, she used her hilarious show to remind us all that we can all look gorgeous and be happy in the skin we're in.

If you haven't seen Lisa in action before, it's like a comedy of errors where she uses all of the common worries and paranoia we have about the way we look (big bums, being overweight, over-plucked eyebrows) to laugh at ourselves in order to see the absurdity of our often warped self-image. She makes you realise you don't need to keep striving to some unattainable ideal.

Instead we all need to love who we are today.

But Lisa makes it clear that that certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't make an effort with your appearance- to the contrary. Daily Lisa comes across women who apologise for how they look, what they're wearing, their lack of make-up and their overall demeanour. Her first question is, "Why? Did someone else dress you?" Of course, the answer is no, we're in charge of how we look, so if you don't like it, change it.

The first step to liberating yourself is to decide how you might want to look. To start you off, think about a word that you'd want onlookers to use to describe you. It might be sexy, elegant, glamorous or smart. On any given day, the word might be different too, and that's the power you have in your hands with clothes and make-up- you can use them to transform your feelings and look as you decide.

And it doesn't have to cost a lot, a few pieces and beauty products chosen well and with some advice and thought go a long way.

On the beauty front, women often feel daunted by make-up and how to apply it and what suits them. Lisa highly recommends going into any department store counter, or a place like De Lux to get the friendly advice about make-up that you might need. Particularly if you wear a lot of black clothes (a common New Zealand trait), you need to think about highlighting you eyes, skin and face. Make-up is easy and quick with the right advice and products. If you like a natural look, this also takes some effort! I'll be writing more about this in blogs to come.

She comes back to the Bay in October, but her tickets sell out quick, so join our Facebook and we'll keep you updated.

Suzanne Edmonds is owner of De Lux salon in Cherrywood, Tauranga.

Giveaway!

We're excited to be giving away a make-up consultation at De Lux Beauty to readers of this blog. To enter to, just email us at deluxbeauty@gmail.com with why you'd like to win this prize. We'd love to hear from you!

Congratulations to the winner of last week's competition giveaway, Katherine Taylor.

Lisa O'Neill at De Lux Beauty salon with Suzanne Edmonds this week.