Strictly crazy, highly exciting

I spent Saturday having a fantastic time supporting Lulu at the Strictly Come Dancing show. We were at the BBC studios – the Bruce Broadcasting Corporation as Bruce Forsyth was calling it! Bruce was amazing as always, brilliant and highly entertaining – he manages to hold an audience so well. Bruce and Lulu were definitely the stars of the show.

I took along my best friend Frankie who is also my hairdresser. We had our first job together 25 years ago, and have been friends since then. She works hard so hard in her job and raising her three kids that I wanted to give her a treat.

Before we went I prepared with Lulu's Operation Glam of course – the volumizing Larger than Life shampoo and conditioner which I love and use on a regular basis. I then blow-dried with Hairfix Keratin Spray, which really makes the ends thicker when you’re overdue for a haircut!

I knew that I needed some extra thickness as we would be in there for hours so I used some dry shampoo into the base and roots. I followed this with Lulu Hairspray after I’d put my heated rollers in for some added texture.

On very dry lips...

Q. I suffer from very dry lips. I am 51 years old and all lipsticks I am using now are bleeding and look really horrid - what would you suggest?

A. The reason why lips dry out is because the tissue has no oil or sweat glands so they'll dry out with tea, coffee, food and much more - it's one of the first places on the body to dehydrate because it is so sensitive.

So, I would definitely recommend the Gale Hayman Lip Lift. It's the best thing to moisturise the lips without leaving them feeling greasy.

You could also try a moisturising lipstick from Fran Wilson - they are infused with shea butter and vitamins A and E, but also give you great colour.

On finding a lipgloss that stays on...

Q: I love moisturising glosses and lipsticks. I use all the best quality and have tried several different brands. My problem, particularly with lipgloss, is where my lips meet I end up with a ghastly white residue build-up which I have to keep removing with tissue throughout the day.

I'm so conscious about it. I love my lip products and exfoliate once a week and balm most days.

Alison: The most suitable one that comes to mind, which is a different texture to most of the others, is Smashbox Longwear Lipgloss. It's a glossy, long-wearing formula with stay-put colour so it's not as runny as other formulas or other brands. It's a studio-quality formula so it shouldn't budge very easily. It stays where you apply it.

For an alternative option, then there's also this four-piece lipgloss set from Mario De Luigi which also has fab staying power.

For fine lines and loss of shape around the lip area...

Q: I'm 41 years old and I use Liz Earle products. My skin is pretty good but the area above my top lip is looking really bad. The skin there has lost its shape and even though I'm a non-smoker, there are fine lines which the sun has made more apparent. Is there anything you could recommend?

Alison: To play catch-up in this weak area, you need to exfoliate more and add hydration. So, you could try exfoliating more on the upper lip area to help improve the look of the skin. You've said that you use Liz Earle products and the Smoothing Line Serum is fantastic on the upper lip area and around the eye area as well - apply two to three times a day. This contains hydrocolic acid and has a plumping effect to help disguise the look of fine lines.

Another product to try is the Cosmetics A La Carte Maxi Lift which is a lip serum that can be applied over the top of the Liz Earle Line Smoothing Serum. Leave the serum to sink in first, then apply the Maxi Lift to plump up the lips almost instantly.

Remember that it's also important to wear a sun block on the lip area so I recommend Ultrasun SPF30 Face Cream for all-day protection. Make sure it's applied thoroughly as with the lip area, any product here can wash off when you have a cup of tea, for example. So leave it to sink in for about 30 minutes.

For sore and dry lips...

Q: I use lip stains so that I don't have to keep applying my lipstick. However, recently I've developed really sore and very dry lips. I keep them as moist as I can with a moisturiser that I purchased from QVC, which does help. But it's getting no better and I wondered if you could recommend any product to help further with this please?

Alison: All lip stains, to a certain extent, have a drying agent in them as they aren't carried in a waxy residue. So, you're right to have stopped using them for the moment and it's great that you've been using a moisturiser as well.

One thing that could have more of a calming and soothing effect at the moment on the lip area is the L'Occitane 100% Shea Butter Moisturiser. This product contains 100% shea butter and is fantastic used on a daily basis, several times a day if you feel you need it.

Stay off the lip stains for now because we need to get your lips back into good condition before you start using them again. Lip stains will replace lost colour or add pigment but they don't condition. So, when you start using them again, keep applying a daily lip balm, such as Gale Hayman Lip Lift on top of this. Or you can even apply a lipgloss on top of this as well, such as one from the Fran Wilson range which all contain shea butter, as well as vitamins A, C and E, and aloe vera,

On a suitable lipstick and eye products for younger-looking skin...

Q: I have an olive skin tone and cannot seem to match a lipstick. Ideally I would like my lipstick to be young-looking without it looking too pink or too red, which I have a hard time finding. Which out of the Fran Wilson range would you recommend?

Also I suffer from insomnia and have tired-looking eyes with dark circles and fine lines. Which product would be the best?

Alison: Fran Wilson change their lipstick colours so often that it's hard to recommend a staple colour for you to try. I'm looking into them providing us with a range of basic colours that are easier for me to recommend.

On make-up to complement blonde hair and pale skin...

Q: I have a problem with my make-up. I have just dyed my hair blonde from being dark brown and now I'm not sure what colours I should be using. I have green eyes and pale skin, which is combination. I am 35 years old. Can you also suggest what I can use under my eyes as I have very bad eye bags which never go whatever I try.

Alison: When you dye your hair a different colour, people don't realise that it can be a complete shock when you get home and suddenly none of your make-up seems to work on you anymore. It's like wearing a new coloured dress - if you've never worn a red dress in your life and then you choose to wear one, you look in the mirror and can think, "oh my goodness, my hair and make-up look terrible!"

It's just a completely different tone next to your skin that you aren't used to. It doesn't mean that you don't look great with your new dress or hair colour - it just means that you may need to rethink your complexion products.

On finding a lipstick that stays on...

Q: I'm struggling to find a lipstick that will stay on. I've tried loads but need your help as I'm getting married in July for the second time around so I want to look my best.

Alison: I have a few little tricks for you that you should use for your wedding. Try lip stains underneath your lipstick so that you're creating a base. This should make any lipstick last longer. Sometimes they don't stay on because of the lips' particular ph level or shape, which may not hold colour very well. To achieve long-wearing colour does take a little bit of work.

Also take a look at the Laura Geller range as she does a lot of stain pens for eyebrows and lips. If you stain the lips with one of her lip stains, and you can also use them as a liner, then apply Lip & Eye Spackle, which will remove any grease or oil from the lip stain or the skin surrounding the lips that can also cause problems with colour retention. Then use a lipliner pencil to fill the lip line in and follow with your lipstick and or lipgloss.

In between each of these stages, take a single ply tissue, put it to your lips and stipple loose powder through it. This will help to absorb any excess oil or moisture contained in the products or around the lip area to help hold the colour even longer. This technique may not be required but it should make what you use already at home last even longer.

In terms of lip stains, you could also try Benefit Posietint Tinted Lip Stain which you can use on cheeks and lips before the liner and gloss. You may need to gloss up again so long-wearing ones I’d recommend would be Bare Escentuals Buxom Lip Gloss and Philosophy Lip Shine which don't dry your lips out and last a long time.

I hope this helps and that you have a lovely wedding day.

For dry skin around the nose and mouth...

 
Q: My 14 year daughter has extremely dry skin around her eyes and mouth. They also get swollen first thing in the morning. Just wondering if you could help with any advice for creams.

Alison: I would advise checking with a doctor first as she could have an eye infection, in which case they may prescribe a form of antibiotics for her.

If she's looking for something gentle to wipe over the eye area in the morning, I'd definitely suggest Liz Earle Eye Bright which contains echinacea extract. She could apply this with clean cotton wool, just by wiping over the eyes. Most importantly though, a separate cotton pad must be used for each eye to avoid spreading infection, if there is one, from one eye to the other.

If she's rubbing her eyes throughout the day, she should be aware that she could cross-contaminate them just with her fingers or even a tissue or hanky. The same applies to items like a mascara wand or eye pencil. So, if she does find she has an infection, she needs to throw away any eye make-up as this will be contaminated too.