Gone are the days of trending ash blonde hair with strands so white, they look silver. (Been there!) These days, trendsetters and celebs are going golden with their blonde. Just this month, Khloe and Kim Kardashian, and Bella Hadid all dyed their hair a warm blonde shade that feels fresh for the season. So, when I heard Redken’s 2023 Blonde Haircolor Of The Year is Champagne Blonde With A Kiss Of Rose, I jumped at the chance to give my brassy strands a boost.

I headed over to Cutler Salon in West Hollywood, CA to see colorist Roxy Coberly. She recommended the Shades EQ Gloss in Blush Spritz for that perfect subtle “kiss” of rose. After updating my roots with some highlights, she went in with the gloss to give my hair that healthy-looking condition and shine. Available exclusively in salons, the Shades EQ gloss service is customized by the stylist. You can tone down brass, enhance your natural color or go for a totally new look.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Redken is a STYLECASTER sponsor, however, all products in this article were independently selected by our editors. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

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Getting a color of refresh for 2023 with @Redken’s 2023 Shades EQ Color of the Year: Champagne Blonde With a Kiss of Rose! #sponsored #Redken#hairtransformation #shadesEQ #rosegoldhair

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I love that this part of the service only takes 20 minutes. It’s ideal for all hair types and textures. It’s also demi-permanent so it lasts up to six weeks. Then, I can switch it up all over again. In this case, I really had no idea how it would turn out but I trusted Roxy. And I’m so glad I did. The result really does look like the sparking shades of champagne.

Elizabeth Denton.

In certain lights, I can even see the touch of rose.

Source: Instagram

To keep up my color and shine, I’ll be using my favorite Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate Shampoo ($30 at Ulta Beauty) and Conditioner ($30 at Ulta Beauty), which strengthens hair and reinforces weakened bonds post-color service. Want to copy the look? Ask your stylist about Redken’s Shades EQ Gloss and find the right shade for you.

2023 is right at the door! It is a brand new turning of the pages. As I reflect on the past year, both in my personal life and work, the most important thought that strikes me is the pervasive sense of fear in people around me. The what isn’t all that important, so I will focus on the outcome of fear in our lives.

Fear can separate and divide, polarize and isolate. It can also propel you to create new experiences and connections and to take positive actions. The biggest challenge I observed in women over 60 was that fear can be a consequence of the lack of meaning in their lives.

When I asked many women past the age of 60 what had meaning for them, I often got very little response. Most hadn’t even thought about it. What I discovered were feelings of shame, a sense of lack of significance or the favorite phrase ‘staying busy.’

This year, I have decided to focus both my work and life to help women find meaning in their lives. Though this sounds somewhat like the Monty Python movie, The Meaning of Life, meaning has many rich facets, just like a Swarovski crystal.

While there are many different facets of meaning in your life, here are a few that I think are particularly important:

Look Within Yourself

Reflect on a daily, weekly and monthly basis about things you were able to give and receive. Was there something you experienced that moved, tickled or touched you? Did you smile at someone and notice their response? These moments add up, melting away the fear of loneliness.

On a broader scale, looking within means you are willing to engage in making a difference in your family, work and community. The tragedy of aging is that we stop trying to make any kind of contribution to our communities. The world needs our feminine wisdom, so we should find ways to engage.

Define and Speak Out Loud Your Personal Intentions Every Day

Intention focuses your awareness and opens the door for positive action, so you don’t live in elusive fear. It means you are taking a position in things that have significance for you and others. It is a great way to move past inaction, depression and anxiety.

Take Risks to Connect

Fear produces fight or flight responses of the nervous system when a threat is perceived. Fear is meant to protect us from danger. However, our nervous system doesn’t recognize the difference between a high level threat and a low level one.

Social interaction dissolves fear and generates positive meaning. We are wired in our DNA to connect with others. We need our tribe to feel loved, supported and cared about. That’s where we find real meaning.

Be Grateful

Gratitude goes a long way in dissolving fear. Keeping a daily gratitude journal often will empower you and soften fear, making your day(s) more meaningful and happy.

Making a commitment to yourself and how you choose to engage in life will make all the difference in letting go of fear. You are the person who has the ability to empower yourself.

Remind yourself that life is a journey of exploration. Be strong in your love, know your intelligence, carry the strength to speak and embody your wisdom in the next year!

Please help Sixty and Me by taking our short end-of-year survey!

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What do you do to move beyond fear? Do you set intentions for success? Have you kept a gratitude journal and has it helped change your awareness? Please share your thoughts and insights below!

Many older
women think weightlifting is for men, or (at the very least) for younger women.
However, the benefits of weightlifting for older women are striking.

So, here
are 5 reasons to lift weights when you are older. Let me see if I can persuade
you to give it a go.

Weight Training Will Reduce Your Chances of Falling

Around a
third of people aged 65 and over fall at least once a year. For some it can be
a trivial fall, but for many it results in broken bones and loss of confidence.
It also tends to increase the fear of falling again. Ironically, being afraid
of falling can almost double your chances of actually falling.

Strength
training using weights builds the support structure your skeleton needs. Stronger
muscles, ligaments and tendons help to stabilise the joints. Lifting heavy
weights also teaches your body to react quickly to a destabilising load.

Thus, when
you stumble or start to fall, you can instinctively recover more easily. Your
body will have developed a much better sense of where your limbs are in space.
It will know what your back is doing. It can more easily correct the imbalance
and bring you back to stability.

In other
words, it will mean that you are less likely to fall, and respectively, you
will worry less about the possibility of falling.

Lifting Weights Will Limit Bone Fragility

According
to Harvard Health Publishing, bone mass
declines at a rate of 1 percent per year after age
40. As you get older, you will be more and more likely to break bones, unless
you do something to prevent this bone density loss.

In the USA,
an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall every 11 seconds; an
older adult dies from a fall every 19 minutes. These are terrifying figures.

You can delay
this decrease in bone density by putting your bones under resistance, and one of
the best and most focussed ways to do this is by lifting weights.

When older
people fall, they often break bones, lose confidence and become even more
anxious. If you weight train regularly, you are less likely to break bones even
if you do fall. And you are likely to recover much more quickly too.

Working Out Will Help You to Be More Independent

Many older
women live on their own. Of necessity, they have to do things for themselves.
Weight training makes all sorts of everyday jobs easier. Opening jars becomes
easier. Moving furniture becomes easier.

Carrying
shopping becomes easier. Even walking becomes easier. Even if you live with
someone else, they may not always want to help and support you. They may be
tired or ill and looking for support themselves.

Lifting Weights Will Reduce Your Bingo Wings

Bingo
wings are those flabby bits of skin that hang down from your upper arms. Many
women wear longer sleeved clothes to hide them.

Most older
women have bingo wings to some extent. The ones who don’t are often the ones
who go to a gym or workout at home. I sometimes joke that bingo wings are
nature’s way of telling you that you need to go to the gym. Having strong,
toned arms is definitely a goal worth working towards.

Weight Training Will Improve Your Posture

One of the
giveaways of bone loss as people get older is that their posture changes. They slump
forward and they sag.

Having
good posture can immediately make you look a lot slimmer. It can also make you
look a lot younger and more energetic. This benefit won’t happen immediately
but will come along at the same time as a stronger back. Another great benefit
of lifting heavy weights.

I hope
I’ve convinced you, but you may be worried that I keep talking about “heavy
weights.” Sadly, many women go to the gym and train with very light dumbbells.
They don’t break into a sweat. They don’t need to concentrate.

They often
spend time talking to a companion while they swing light weights backwards and
forwards, using momentum to do most of the work. This will definitely not get
you the benefits discussed here. You need to lift heavy weights.

How Heavy Is a Heavy Weight?

“Heavy
weights” are heavy for you, so it varies from person to person. How do you
determine what weight you should be lifting? In general, for most exercises you
will do 8 to 15 repetitions (reps). You will do 2 to 3 sets, resting for 30 to
90 seconds between each set.

That’s
fairly straight forward, but what weights should you use? It’s really simple.

Start Light

It’s
better to be too light than too heavy when you start.

Prioritise Form Over Weight

Good form
means that you are doing the exercise correctly. You are using the correct
muscles for that exercise. It means being aware of how your ankles, knees and
pelvis are aligned.

It
involves being aware of what your back and shoulders are doing. It means not
using momentum to swing the weights or leaning back inappropriately.

Choose the Right Weights

Choose a
weight where the last 2 or 3 repetitions in any set are really hard. You
couldn’t do any more with proper form.

Go for Progress

Aim to
make progress, so that you gradually increase the weights you lift. You can
also make progress by shortening the breaks between sets or increasing the
number of reps in each set.

I get great benefits and joy from lifting weights. So much so that I post short gym videos on my Instagram account to inspire older women to become as passionate about weight lifting as I am.

You can also check out my blog for articles on health and well-being for older people.

What to help Sixty and Me? Please fill out our short survey!

Let’s Have a Conversation:

How
often do you go to the gym? Do you lift weights? How heavy are your weights? Have
I convinced you to go for progress? If you don’t yet frequent the gym, what’s
stopping you? I’d love to know. Please share your thoughts and experiences with
our community.

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There’s one thing most people can’t live without because it makes them feel refreshed and wide awake. I’m talking about caffeine, which I myself love to sip on. But did you know caffeine can do more than just give you a jolt of energy? When packed into a skincare product, it can help reduce puffiness. The under-eye area is especially prone to this concern whenever fluid builds up beneath the skin. It could be due to allergies, genetics, a late night out on the town, binge-watching K-dramas until the early morning and the list goes on. Luckily, you’re not doomed to swollen under eyes thanks to The INKEY List’s Caffeine Eye Cream. 

This lightweight cream targets puffiness, dark circles and fine lines under your eyes. Caffeine assists in reducing fluid retention, while Matrixyl 3000 peptide promotes collagen production (translation: it smooths fine lines). Albizia Julibrissin Bark Extract (which comes from Persian silk tree bark) works to make your under eyes look extra refreshed. 

So if your under eyes could use a pick-me-up, don’t reach for anything but the Caffeine Eye Cream. One shopper wrote, “Really makes my eyes look like I’ve had a good night’s sleep!” 

Essentially, this depuffing product is like a cup of joe for your under eyes. Shop it for only $8 with StyleCasters exclusive sale code, STYLECASTER20. When you add it at checkout, you’ll be able to save 20 percent on the best-seller.

RELATED: Reviewers Are ‘Shocked’ By How Fast This Growth Oil Transformed Their ‘Short, Brittle Lashes’—& It’s Down to $13

Photo: The INKEY List.

You might be impatient to get rid of puffiness, dark circles and wrinkles around your eyes, which is why this cream is perfect for you. According to the brand, you could start to see visible results in as little as two weeks. Full results take six weeks, but it’s well worth the wait.

In fact, one shopper said they noticed results even quicker. They wrote, “Love this eye cream. Very good price. Visibly reduced dark circles in a week. Definitely recommend.”

Another reviewer wrote, “I have tried many eye creams and gels, but this is the best. I have dark circles and eye bags… this gets rid of both! Brilliant stuff which I buy on repeat (and now also for my daughter!).”

Apply the eye cream in both the morning and evening on a daily basis. This step should come after you’ve cleansed and applied serums. Be sure to use your ring finger and keep your movements nice and gentle, since this area is super delicate. 

The brand also has a pro tip that’ll enhance the product’s cooling effects. It’s simple: Toss the Caffeine Eye Cream into the fridge for 30 minutes prior to application. Who doesn’t want to feel like they’re at the spa when they’re applying this product?

Give your eyes the T.L.C. it deserves by adding The INKEY List’s Caffeine Eye Cream to your arsenal. Make sure you scoop it up before the sale code expires.

Like many people, I select a one-word intention at the start of a new year. It’s gentler than a resolution and more akin to a promise. I watch for opportunities to put it into practice, and I use it as a barometer to make decisions.

In 2021, I was intending to Thrive. But instead, I sort of sprouted. Not a bad outcome, just not what I’d envisioned. I was aiming a little too high in a (not quite) post-pandemic world.

This past year the word Forward whispered to me. Within days, my inbox filled up with posts related to that: “5 Ways to Start The New Year!” “7 Things That Will Make Your New Year Great!” “11 Questions to Ask Yourself This Year!”

It was a lot. I didn’t want to make a forced march. I just wanted to take a step forward, get the lay of the land, then take one more.

During periods of great change (like the one we’re living in), we don’t have to commit to 5, 7, or 11 things. We can, however, commit to One Thing. Then, if that feels okay, we can choose one more. And so on.

So I spent the year taking one forward step at a time and ended up congratulating myself for how far I’d come.

We’ve all earned permission to take things at our own pace.

So, if you’re eager to hear what’s calling to you in 2023, here’s a simple formula for finding your magic word.

Reflect

It helps to acknowledge what was in order to get clearer about what’s to come. To get to the heart of what matters most in the coming year, ask yourself some questions:

• What’s one thing I loved about this past year?
• What’s one thing that surprised me?
• What’s something I could have done without?
• What’s one thing I want more of in the new year?
• If I could make one change now, what would it be?
• What kind of support do I need to make that happen?

Set One Intention

Too often, we make long lists of things to do, goals to accomplish, items to check off. Then we feel overwhelmed, maybe even defeated.

• Release one thing that’s been holding you back. 
• Acknowledge one thing that felt like a win this year.
• Claim one thing you’ll start doing. 

Take One Step

Our culture doesn’t reward standing still. It values action, problem-solving! “Just do it-ness.”

Forget all those years of conditioned response. Be true to yourself, stay true to the spirit of small, and be content with one step at a time.

• Do one thing that lights you up. 
• Write a note to one person you love.
• Sing one song at the top of your lungs.
• Walk one mile.

Repeat as you can, when you can. Build a little momentum. Notice how you feel – are you on a hot track or a cold trail? Follow what feels best.

The key to living our intentions is to identify what we don’t want and to be honest about the life-affirming nature of what we do want. And if one word shines brightly after you play with these three simple invitations, then you have a North Star to guide you.

Whatever your intention, may your New Year sparkle with traces of the Peace, Joy and Love your holiday season left behind like specks of glitter on the living room floor.

Want to help Sixty and Me? Please fill out our short end-of-year survey and share your thoughts and suggestions!

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What have you learned about taking things one step at a time? What is your intention for yourself in the New Year? Join the conversation!