I was 70 this year (gulp) and my skin is flipping amazing.  I have used Tretinoin 0.05% for 10 years which is a Vit A retinol available by prescription in Australia but I get mine from an Asian on line chemist.  0.1% will cause my skin to peel like sunburn so 0.05% is perfect.  I don’t have what I’d call sensitive skin though.  I use it at bedtime 3 times a week.  A few months ago I started on a Vit C, hylauronic acid serum I buy from Amazon.com.au for about $25 on Prime.  It also smells like ham and it is GREAT!  It’s called All Natural Advice Anti-Ageing Serum and it’s made in Canada and I can only find it on Amazon Australia. Box is yellow and white.  It has evened out my skin tone and brightened my complexion.  I use it on my forearms which were looking crepey and the improvement is noticeable but now it’s winter I’ve eased off on my arms.  My facial moisturiser is La Cura Q10 from Aldi in red and white jar.  It smells divine and does the job.  I don’t use a sunscreen as a rule because I have always kept my face out of the sun and have almost no sun damage.  My skin looks like I’m in in my mid to late 50s.  Never bought anything expensive for my face because Retin A and retinoids are the only things that promotes collagen.  Heard that in the mid 90s on Oprah from a bunch of leading US dermatologists.

Like a lot of these thrillers the plot relies on a lot of coincidences that are more than unlikely, they are just preposterous.  The actors they find for the flashbacks are so unlike the characters now, yet we are expected to overlook this glaring inconsistency.  Try finding the address of some random friend you were at uni with 20 years ago in a city as big as London and see how far you get.  Sienna Millers character does it easily apparently even though the friend is now a complete nobody.  Little things like this really bug me.  The acting is quite good however if you overlook a lot of dodgy dialogue.  Do posh people really speak like that?

I’m so glad to see an older woman showcased on Mamamia.  You don’t cease to be relevant once you turn 60.

@nessie here are lots of alternatives to wearing a full wig.  A lot of women don’t know that you can buy clip on hair toppers for the top of your head with natural looking scalps that are undetectable.  I have worn long toppers for years and fool everyone.  They are cool and very comfortable. Check Youtube for video reviews.  Alternatively colour root sprays can be sprayed onto thin spots of your hair and the colour will temporarily stain your scalp and hide the thin spots.  You can buy them everywhere now and they wash out easily, this needing new application after every wash.  There are coloured powders with fibres that do this too.

Nicole started messing around with Botox and lip injections at an early age which suggests she wasn’t happy with the way she looked.  I can certainly identify with that, I had rhinoplasty when I was 18, fillers when I was 55 and a facelift when I was 60.  Then I realised enough was enough.  Everyone knows how old Nicole is; these photos aren’t fooling anyone.  She’s naturally thin and she’s no doubt in great shape for her age but it’s time Nicole accepted she isn’t going to get roles written for women in their 30s anymore and pretending to look 20 with some artful air brushing is just not dignified.  It’s kind of desperate.  Meryl Streep has built her stellar career on playing her age in films and is respected for it.  I really question Nicole’s mental health if she can’t see how ridiculous this is.  FFS growing old is inescapable.  It’s not a sin to want to look your best as you age but this is a step way too far.  It’s saying to other women that menopause and its body changes are a myth; we have to look 30 years younger to be beautiful and desirable; and it’s okay to be deceptive to achieve that.  

I agree about missing the meeting on appropriate language.  My grandkids are horrified at what I say and are forever correcting my world view as not woke enough.  Part of me wants to say “Fuck off” but the other part has to face that fact that I do have an insular view and need to be less prejudicial about a lot of things.  I’m trying.

I’ve taken an SSNRI for 27 years.  I came off it twice but it is clearly something I need to correct my brain chemistry.  I had been depressed since I was 20 or so and I feel they saved my life as I was suicidal for a lot of that time.  I have no significant side effects - not even weight gain - which terrifies a lot of women.  I must take it every day and it’s a fairly low dose but I know by the evening if I’ve forgotten.  I get nauseous and feel weird if I miss a tablet.  But it gave me my life back, made me more confident, resilient and less anxious.  I am soooo grateful to be able to take one tablet a day and feel normal and able to get out of bed in the morning.  I still can get a bit down sometimes but there’s always a reason.  Before I was always down for no reason.

I’ve always marvelled how we underestimate the difficulty in living together with anyone for a long period of time.  Imagine having the same housemate for 20 years!  We wouldn’t expect that to be easy but we think marriage will be.  Children do provide a common interest but they can also bring enormous stress to a marriage and conflict between partners.  It’s doable of course but I’m convinced it’s not love but respect and trust that underpins a successful marriage.

@mamamia-user-482898552 ah there you see, I rarely watched SATC.  But in the article the author actually questions how Charlotte and Miranda can live like they do so I assumed their wealth had never been explained.  I worry about dumb stuff like people maxing out their credit cards aspiring to live like this.  And people do do that.   

I wonder how many of us can understand the pressure Victoria Beckham must experience to stay thin.  And not just her but every actress and celebrity whose commitment to staying thin determines how much work and publicity they get.  I don’t think we should label them as having a disorder because they have chosen to eat sparingly.  

I get it’s escapism and I enjoy the clothes as much as anyone but I still crave a bit of realism occasionally.  Does everyone in New York live this impossibly luxe lifestyle?  Money seems to be not an issue for anyone and I know there are impressionable people out there thinking they deserve to be living like that.  It’s one thing for Carrie with Big’s money but as you point out the other two have no resources like that or not that we’re aware of.  I guess to most people this doesn’t matter but to ever practical me it does.  

I’m thinking of starting a Go Fund Me so Nick Cannon can get a vasectomy.

Agreed.  I thought Notting Hill was rubbish.  Would have substituted 4 Weddings and a Funeral personally.  Some of the others I haven’t seen.

Hard to name a favourite.  All gorgeous.  In these Covid times I have nowhere to wear one but I feel the need to buy a dress anyway. 

I don’t think she had the perfect life.  I intuit that Madeleine is being somewhat circumspect about her life before she left and I suspect her reticence is due  to not wishing to upset anyone with a true account of her feelings.  Perhaps I am wrong but with a partner in the restaurant business I imagine she was left alone to manage evening meals, bath time, homework and getting her 6 kids into bed.  In her position I would not have coped AT ALL.  In leaving and sharing the care 50/50 she got some time to herself and her partner was forced to assume a bigger role in the children’s lives.  If I’m wrong I sincerely apologise but if I’m right I wish Madeleine had admitted her mental health was spiralling out of control due to being overwhelmed by carrying the domestic role largely on her own.  Many of us can identify with the constant stress of home and child care and how it can drive us into deep depression.  Most of us, however, don’t have the financial capacity to establish two homes or a partner supportive of splitting the care with us 50/50.  Or perhaps we soldier on for the sake of keeping the family together  and just tolerate our unsatisfying lives.  I wish her all the luck in the world and envy her courage to grasp a better life for herself but I think to attempt this and expect the personal fulfilment Madeleine now enjoys is unrealistic for those of us without her financial resources.  It certainly inhibited my choices - we could never have afforded to maintain two comfortable residences and have the luxury of following our individual passions.  I would hate anyone to imagine this is readily achievable for everyone and rush into “resetting” their life.  I think this must have seriously impacted on her children’s lives and I