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Beauty on a Budget

Ten Years Younger Now

Now this really is beauty on a budget. Dr Fredric Brandt — the Botox man — says that just by eliminating sugar from your diet, you can look ten years younger in ten days.

And it isn’t just by losing weight : “In a nutshell, sugar hastens the degradation of elastin and collagen, both key skin proteins. In other words, it actively ages you,” he claims.

In a new book, 10 Minutes/Ten Years: Your Definitive Guide to a Better and Youthful Appearance, Brandt says he saw a remarkable change in his own skin when he dropped sugar from his diet. He lost 20lb in weight, but also gained a new “glow, radiance and elasticity” in his face. Within a year, his body had changed as well.

“I’m really lean and have the body of a teenager, although I’m in my 40s … Believe me, it’s cheaper than a facelift.”

He continues, “The sugar triggers a process in the body called glycation. This is where the sugar molecules bind to your protein fibres — those wonderfully springy and resilient collagen and elastin fibres — which are the building blocks of skin.”

However, just by overheating starchy foods or grilling them, the sugar content mutates producing Advanced Glycation End products, AGEs, which do immense harm to the skin.

This is quite a complex book, so if you’re really interested in its message, we suggest you read it in detail.

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Classic Beauty

This bust of Nefertiti is one of the most famous examples of classic beauty. Wife to the pharoah, Akhenaten, her name means “the beautiful (or perfect) woman has come”.

We can see why she was so named. Note the symmetry of the face, the distance between the eyes and their shape are both perfect. High cheekbones and a well-shaped mouth add to the classic ideal of beauty. But notice also what she has done to emphasize her natural attributes.

The eyebrows are soft arches in a natural line. They are neither too thick and bushy nor are they pencil thin and sharply angled. The high cheekbones are emphasized with a deeper shade of makeup under the ridge. Slight shadows in the crease of the eyelid make the eyes appear deeper. Eyeliner was popular in Egypt and Nefertiti made good use of it, lining both the upper and lower lids; defining the eyes and emphasing their shape. The lips are stained with a berry red.

The Egyptians were some of the most ardent and artful masters of makeup the world has known. Although the images we often see appear to be overstated in the use of makeup, this bust of Nefertiti was used by the scupltor as a guide for creating official portraits and was not itself for display. Therefore, this is most likely to be a true representation of one of the most famous faces of all history.

Nef 2

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