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Not long ago, it felt like everyone was doing bright pink and red eyeshadow looks, even going so far as to call it the “pink eye trend.” Because, you know, done incorrectly, it can resemble conjunctivitis. Eek. Most of us retired the bright pink for neutral hues as of late. But we’re calling it: that officially ends now. Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2023 makeup collection is all about the rosy tones in a collection called Red Forever. “The timeless color is no longer reserved just for lips,” reads Instagram.

Chanel rolled out a few different looks all around these red shades: The Blurred Red Look and The Graphic Red Look, in particular. That’s what makes these red tones look so fresh. Palettes feature four powder shades that can be used on cheeks and eyes for a pretty diffused look featuring both matte and satin finishes. You can go ultra-light or more dramatic with the mix of shades.

Source: Instagram

Of course, there are also various red lipstick options and even a red mascara in the iconic Noir Allure formula. Make your look pop with a graphic black line with the brand’s liquid liner and/or add a pop of red or orange on the nails. The choice is yours. Ready to try the red makeup trend for spring? Shop the collection, below.

Chanel.

Les 4 Rouges Yeux Et Joues Eyeshadow and Blush Palette

This shadow quad is available in two variations (one deeper than the other) for an all-over rosy face and eye look.

Chanel.

Noir Allure Mascara in Rouge Grenat

Take your red eye make to the next level with this dark red mascara in this volumizing formula.

Chanel.

Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long-Lasting Eyeliner

This smudge-proof khôl pencil now comes in a pretty rose gold shade!

Chanel.

Baume Essentiel Multi-Use Glow Stick in Rouge Frais

You can use this moisturizing highlighting balm for face, eyes and lips for an all-over rosy glow.

Chanel.

Rouge Allure Velvet Luminous Matte Lip Colour in Legendaire

Update your go-to lip for spring with one of these new red hues, like this ultra-wearable dark pink.

Chanel.

Le Vernis Longwear Nail Colour in Rouge Cuir

Try a new nail polish shade for spring, like this pretty “red leather” shade.

I don’t know about you, but lately I find myself frustrated with technology to the point of finally laughing out loud and throwing up my hands saying, “What’s next!?!” It’s been a slew of things lately: my phone has been saying for weeks that it will be doing an update overnight only to tell me in the morning that the update failed.

I have received three erroneous emails from banks or financial institutions only to find out when I called that they had a computer glitch and the messages were sent in error. My laptop or iPad starts acting up by freezing, spiraling in a non-responding way for minutes on end, or my watch freezes in zoom mode so I can’t read anything on it.

Then you know the drill, you shut it off to turn it all back on again and voila! All is right in the world again. Truly, technology IS great… when it works!

Bring It On!

What if instead of allowing our brain to jump to a maddening “What’s next !?!” question, we intentionally, with positivity, focus on saying to ourselves “Next!”

Granted, it won’t be an immediate thought as we will still have to plow through whatever the situation is at the moment to get to the resolution. But throwing down the gauntlet and shifting our mindset to recognize the success and look forward to our “Next!” adventure might be a better approach… almost like saying “bring it on!”

The Right Attitude

Now that we are older and wiser, a “Next!” attitude might be just the approach we need to make the most of whatever we still want life to look like. Ask yourself, “I conquered that (no matter how big or small), now what do I want next?” Wasn’t it Oprah that once reminded her audience that you become what you believe? So, start visioning what you DO want to happen “Next!”

Write It Down

Our visions become 40% more effective if we write them down. Annually, I find a group (because I enjoy the synergy of being with other women) to create a Vision Board. Have you created a Vision Board?

Initially, I went to a workshop. Then I incorporated that activity into my Widow and Women’s workshops that I was hosting. Then Covid came into our lives, and I even enjoyed creating one in a Zoom workshop I attended! I’m headed to a live gathering with a small group of other women business owners this week to create my next one.

What’s Your Vision?

Vision Board creation is, to me, the ultimate coming together of the right and left side of the brain. As you find pictures, designs, photos, etc. in the creation of your board, your right brain starts stitching a vision together. And as you write or cut out words/quotes, your left brain is also engaged.

The more you can engage your entire brain using more senses, the better. Maybe you have music on, light a candle or use essential oils, and sip a favorite beverage. You are literally stimulating electrical signals in every cell in your body on their way to the brain. How can your brain NOT begin to figure out and help your vision come to fruition?

Happiness Is…

I recently read a summary of the book The Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. Everyone takes away different messages from the same book or movie. That’s because we are all at different points in our lives when we read/watch it. My main “aha” was his definition of happiness. Happiness is whatever excites you along with the freedom and free time to do it. I agree with that.

So, what do you vision your 60+-year-old self getting excited about? Whether or not you put that on a Vision Board, write it down. Then begin your “Next!” approach.

Maybe you want to travel more because new nature experiences and meeting new cultures/people along the way excite you. Put a date on the calendar that you want to go. “Next!” begin researching the details about where, sites to see, living arrangements there, etc. “Next!” explore whom you will go with. “Next!’ open your mind to your “Next!” trip!

Don’t Forget to Plan!

I’m laughing to myself as I’m writing this example about travel because putting a trip on the calendar is also my advice to women who need to get updates or documents drafted for estate planning purposes. I tell them, not jokingly, to book a trip on the calendar.

That will trigger the brain to start thinking about “What if something happens to me on the trip? I better get my Powers of Attorney and estate planning documents in place before I go!” No wonder May and June are the most popular months for drafting estate planning documents (before summer travel/vacation season)!

My “Next!” thinking has really started to blossom as I have realized how important my role as a grandmother is to me. Visiting individual families, partial or full family group vacations, holiday weekend visits, and even Mimi & Papa Camp have all become ongoing activities that excite me. Especially since they also include travel (another excite me activity)!

Enjoying Your Role

I tend to write down impressive information that I hear or read (though I am admittedly bad about also writing down the source). Earlier this year, I am pretty sure it was some fairly recent research, I wrote down some findings about grandparenting.

This is what it said, and I’m paraphrasing: evidence shows that children have better academic, physical, social, and behavioral health when the grandmother is actively involved in their lives. That really affirmed my excitement for enjoying my grandmother role.

What’s your “Next!” vision that excites you? Whatever it is, I encourage you to get your financial house in order as well so you can keep visioning your “Next!” excitements in life with the peace of mind that you have also taken care of the “Next!” steps for your family.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What excites you in this 60+ time of life? Any tips, experiences, or lessons learned to share with our community? What, in your opinion, is happiness?

One day, while visiting one of our grandchildren, an 8-year-old, I stepped out the back door to locate her. She was perched snuggly up in an oak tree, reading; as if that’s where everyone might choose to spend their afternoon.

I watched the expressions on her face while the sun touched her hair. A breeze came through and seemed to wisp up some fairy dust as she escaped to her world filled with enchantment, dragons, and princesses. That same mystical world where Alice really does have a conversation with a rabbit, Pete spends an entire day with the dragon, and Clara actually is swept off her feet by the nutcracker.

I can’t think of a place I’d rather be than having a front row seat to this great unfolding miracle; a child loving to read.

Having Everything Within Reach

He that loves reading has everything within his reach.

—William Goodwin

Isn’t that what we wish for our children and our grandchildren, for them to have everything within their reach?

The love of reading will give them the advantages, the opportunities, the preparation and the training that will enable them to go out and succeed. Books offer this to our kids and expand their world.

The love of reading opens doors not only for our children but for all of us.

Research shows that regular reading:

• improves brain connectivity,
• increases our vocabulary and comprehension,
• empowers us to empathize with other people,
• aids in sleep readiness,
• reduces stress,
• lowers blood pressure and heart rate,
• fights depression symptoms,
• prevents cognitive decline as we age,
• contributes to a longer life.

Who can argue with the many benefits of reading? No matter what age we are, the love of reading can be a gift offering that stays with us forever.

The Statistics About Reading Habits in Children Are Dismal

And yet, sadly, I continue to hear about the decline in the enjoyment of reading.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 67% of fourth grade students are below proficiency in reading.

Dianna Gioia, chairman of the National Education Association, explains it this way, “As our kids read less, they read less well. And when they read less well, this has very serious consequences, not just to their academic performance, but to their economic performance and ultimately to their ability to connect with a civic life and political life.”

What are we to do with this dismal research?

Neil Postman, an American author, educator, and cultural critic, further warns us of the consequences of the fallout in reading. “A mode of thinking is being lost,” he laments, “We are losing a sort of psychic habit, a logic, a sense of complexity, an ability to spot contradictions and even falsity.”

Postman believes this loss is now being felt in our cultural activities and in our politics, as well as in our children’s SAT scores, and that it could get worse. But of course, such prophecies are delivered in print, so no one pays much heed.

Can We Turn the Table and Leave a Lasting Legacy?

Shall we sit ideally by, silently watching as the reading, the thinking and the heartbeat of our future generations flatline?

Are we really okay with that? Are we satisfied to leave behind a generation of children that don’t love reading?

Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way…. It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away…

—Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

So then, what will keep us – yes, you and me – from being a moving force that transfuses a love of reading back into the next generation?

I know, I know… there are many things we take notice of that are not as they used to be and, quite frankly, not to our liking. We talk about the ‘good old days’ like our grandparents did. And far be it for us to intrude, right? So we go to our corners, make ourselves smaller and quieter and mind our own business… Far be it for us to put our noses in others’ business!

Well, I say bologna to that! I believe it’s time for those of us who know better to do better. I think we should take a stand!

The Solution? Read to Children

One of the greatest gifts adults can give to their offspring and to their society is to read to children.

—Carl Sagan

There are things we can do to fix this reading ailment, for the betterment of ourselves, the younger generation and the future generations to come. And who better to lead the charge and the challenge than us – those who have benefitted from our love of reading in the past and continue to reap the benefits today.

I want to resurrect this dying trend and breathe life back into what we know equips our children to be active participants in creating a better future world.

I spoke with a children’s librarian, Susan Clark. She, like many others, would love to see us inject our grandkids with our own sense of delight and wonder we receive from reading.

And although you may not have a grandchild yet, or one living nearby; there is a child out there that needs you. Volunteer to make a difference in a child’s life. Check out opportunities to read at libraries, schools, hospitals, book stores or community events.

You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.

—Dr. Suess

As well as sharing some of her thoughts and reading tips, Mrs. Clark also suggested some great book choices. I will share both in future posts.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Do you love to read? Have you taught your children and/or grandchildren to love books? What do you think is the problem behind kids’ lack of reading habits?

Gina Kirschenheiter’s Striped Blazer on Instagram

Real Housewives of Orange County 2023 Instagram Fashion

Gina Kirschenheiter went back to her roots of New York recently. She made her return wearing the cutest striped blazer as you can see from her IG story below. I’m not sure what she was doing back in the Big Apple, but if it was taking care of some housewife biz she nailed the look. And you’d be bananas not to want to shop something just like it from below.

Sincerely Stylish,

Jess

Click Here to Shop Her L’Agence Blazer

Photo: @ginakirschenheiter

Originally posted at: Gina Kirschenheiter’s Striped Blazer

Rachel Fuda’s Green Strapless Houndstooth Dress on Instagram

Real Housewives of New Jersey 2023 Instagram Fashion

Rachel Fuda looks soooo cute in her green strapless houndstooth dress on IG. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I think the houndstooth print is a print that is very business-y and sophisticated. But how Rachel styled it almost gives it a sexy rocker vibe. Either way it’s a good dress and clearly has a solid range for whatever you may be feeling. Which for starters can be happy knowing this dress is in stock and located below.

Sincerely Stylish,

Jess

Click Here to Shop Her Lovers and Friends Dress

Photo: @rachelfuda

Originally posted at: Rachel Fuda’s Green Strapless Houndstooth Dress