Lifestyle
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27 April 2026
Tricia Cusden: How to Look Fabulous this Spring
In this guest blog, Tricia Cusden, founder of Look Fabulous Forever, shares the story behind her makeup brand and offers her top makeup tips and seasonal advice for spring.
When I walk down to my local shops in Wimbledon, the first buds on the magnolia trees which line my road fill me with profound joy. Why? Because, for me, these delicate white and pink blossoms are the harbingers of springtime, a season that I love above all others. I know that most people celebrate the new year as their moment of renewal, but I far prefer the spring when I always feel like freshening up my whole life - my home, my face and my wardrobe!
You may be less interested in my approach to spring cleaning, but I am more than happy to share what I do with my face and wardrobe as the clocks 'spring' forward by an hour and the evenings become light and, if we are lucky, the weather starts to perk up.
Look Fabulous Forever: A Different Kind of Makeup Company
I started my makeup company in 2013 as a frustrated sixty-five year old. Why frustrated? Because the beauty industry regarded my ageing face as something that was in dire need of a solution. I was constantly being offered 'anti-ageing' remedies to 'reduce the ten visible signs of ageing.' The message was hardly subtle: 'Your're old, so forget beauty. Surely you must be desperate to look younger!'
In reality I loved my older face. I've lived (and continue to live) an amazing life. And if there are a few lines and wrinkles then I embrace them as part of my story. So, I decided to start my own makeup and skincare brand, Look Fabulous Forever, using a British based cosmetic manufacturer to create all my specially formulated products.
For budgetary reasons I had to start small but I am happy to tell you that a great many women in their fifties, sixties, seventies and beyond loved my message, and in the past thirteen years we have grown into a successful online brand, selling our products all over the world. Oh, and two years ago we became the proud owners of the factory in Suffolk which has always, and still continues to make our fabulous makeup.
My approach to great looking skin
Skin is the canvas onto which we 'paint' our makeup. At the end of winter you may well have a rough, dry, thirsty canvas. This will create lots of problems when you apply all your 'face paints' in the form of face, eye and lip products.
It's therefore vitally important to spring-clean your skin, first by using a mild, gentle exfoliator and then by applying a deeply cleansing and moisturising mask. These two steps will sort the 'roughness' issue. Then you need to constantly boost moisture by having a daily routine that you stick to come hell or high water. Why? Because peri and post-menopausal skin is invariably very thirsty. Start with an emollient serum and apply that as a base layer, applied to cleansed skin. Allow to fully absorb and then top it with your day or night cream as appropriate. We have also developed a gorgeous under eye cream to reduce puffiness and dark circles and a lovely rich neck and décolletage cream. Used diligently you will noticeably improve the texture and feel of your skin.
Now freshen up your makeup
Winter makeup is often seen in dull, grey, sunless light or candlelight. This can be more forgiving than spring light which is beginning to brighten as the days lengthen and we turn towards the sun again.
My suggestion is that you sit in front of a good mirror facing natural light and ask three questions:
- How uneven is my skintone (patches, blotches, age spots, broken veins, under eye bluey purple circles etc)?
- How much definition do I have in my eye, cheek and lip areas?
- How much time and patience do I have to make myself look tons better?
Uneven skin tone
A lightweight, modern, properly formulated foundation will solve this in an instant. LFF Continuous Cover foundation is a daily miracle for me and my blotchy skin. Then I set to work with LFF Cover to Cover concealer which I 'set' with a small dab of translucent powder.
Adding definition to eyes, cheeks and lips
The difference between a younger and an older skin is 'fading' much more than wrinkles. All your features gradually lose definition and start to disappear. What I love most about my daily makeup routine is that suddenly I have much prettier eyes, eyebrows and eyelashes, a nice healthy glow on my cheeks, and a touch of translucency on the tops of my cheeks. Then I add the 'coup de grace' in the form of a vibrant lipstick, applied over a lip primer so that the colour doesn't feather into the lines around my mouth.
Time and Patience
I am always stunned when any woman says to me 'I can't be bothered with makeup.' Is it that they worry that they're being vain or self-indulgent? However, I see makeup as an important aspect of self-care. As soon as I have completed my maquillage, I feel tons better. Happier in my skin, ready to 'face' whatever the day may bring in my busy life. And if you lack confidence and skill with makeup, LFF has hundreds of videos to show you how. All our videos use real, age appropriate models. In addition you can book an online consultation with our resident makeup artist, Julie.
Shop Look Fabulous Forever's makeup and skincare lines.
And my wardrobe refresh?
I will admit to loving clothes. I will also admit that every spring I begin to long for a few nice new goodies to freshen up my look. This year I have fallen in love with the Bella di Notte pieces in 'bluebell'. What a delightful, fresh, pretty colour, which works so well with my cool tones and grey hair. I particularly like the Amelie Cotton Jumper, the Jessi Jacket and the Gloria Straight Leg Jeans. These are all perfect for mix and match with other items I have in navy, white and bright pink. And talking of bright pink - a colour I love - I am very enamoured of the Bella di Notte Athena Blazer which is going to be a great choice for me for book signings because of a new adventure I have embarked upon!
Shop Bella di Notte's Spring Collection.
A Debut Novelist at 78 with 'Like A Bird Without A Song.'
That lovely pink jacket is going to be my 'go-to' for various live events I have in my diary after the launch of my novel Like A Bird Without A Song on April 4th. My first event is in York on the 29th April and the next one is in London on Thursday 21st May.
I have long been a writer in various forms - diaries, journals, over six hundred weekly blogs for LFF and a beauty and lifestyle book published in 2018 called Living the Life More Fabulous. However, this novel is a new departure for me which has brought me so much pure enjoyment.
I have written the story of a couple, Finn and Evie, who meet as students, fall passionately in love and then separate. The separation is not an amicable one, so, when they meet again, both are forced to understand that what had happened twenty years previously was not the end of their love story, but the beginning of its consequences.
Very happy to say that the book is doing brilliantly on Amazon and will soon be available to order from your local bookshop, all which is very exciting!
It is especially exciting to be embarking on a new adventure, and no, I am not going to say 'at my age.' For me, the right time to anything whether it is skincare, makeup or wardrobe refresh or to publish a book, is NOW! Always.
Because, as Evie says in Like A Bird Without A Song: 'Today is the gift we call the present.'
Happy Springtime Everyone!
The Bella Blog
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