I was invited to Old Amersham recently to try a couple of beauty treatments at Elle The Beauty Box, a long established salon but with a new owner earlier this year and so a bit of a relaunch with new treatments and services!  Elle The Beauty Box offers beauty, well-being and aesthetics alongside their hair salon.  They are housed in a quaint old building just behind The Broadway in Old Amersham, next to the gardens.  It is easy to find and easy to park.

I was welcomed to the salon by Becci my therapist and Sarah the owner and senior stylist in the hair salon.  The salon is so pretty and the building is full of character.  There is a reception area and hair salon on the ground floor and then above there is a beauty salon and nail bar.  It was all looking very Christmassy when I visited.

There are so many options now to help us look younger, feel younger and give us a confidence boost - and it isn't just about vanity, sometimes the anti-ageing procedures available whilst not considered essential maybe, can make a huge difference to our quality of life. 

Anti-ageing options available to us include - creams and serums, advanced facials and treatments, supplements (tablets and drinks), exercise (face and body) and medical aesthetic procedures.  As a blogger in the 50+ niche I have been very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to try out a few of these and report back on my blog.  But so far I have not considered any 'botox' type procedure, which to me represents 'medical aesthetics' and is about the extent of my knowledge!  

So when I was invited to visit Bodyvie in Richmond - an advanced medical aesthetic clinic and a leader in its field - I saw it as an opportunity to find out more - what exactly is it all about and should I not rule it out?

The Bodyvie clinic was easy to find and is a large, bright and welcoming space.  I was greeted by the receptionist and introduced to Dr Andrew Weber.  We had a really interesting chat and I was keen to find out about the clinic's 'holistic' approach to ageing and menopause and the range of options they offer.

As a blogger I sometimes get some really cool invitations, if I accepted them all. I'd never have time to blog or do anything else, but sometimes the invite is just too good to turn down.  So when Imedeen popped into my inbox and invited me to The Mandrake Hotel in London's Fitzrovia for a skincare and makeup masterclass, I couldn't resist such a cool location!  And the makeup tutorial was being given by Mary Greenwell who is the A List makeup artist to know about!

So this particular event warranted a space on my blog because I had such a fun time and learnt so much, I really wanted to share.  When I arrived I was a little apprehensive to see so many young faces - where were all the 40+ bloggers?!  Help!  I texted my daughter and she reassured me, mum you look great, be confident.  Fortunately in came the lovely Jodi, and we hit it off straight away.  But wait for it, she is not only an amazing writer and blogger she is also mum to 6 boys (yes 6 you did read that right)!  And she is originally from NZ but now lives in London and it turned out our bubbles were being served by another young NZ'er who was just starting out his new life in London.  Jodi and I bonded over parenting tips and champagne and a relief that we now had someone to sit with!  Do pop over to her blog about the evening - it's a fun read - you can find it here, The Harridan.

Below, relaxing on the massive bed in The Penthouse Suite wearing the floral print midi dress from Per Una at Marks & Spencer, first outing for it, and I am delighted with it, only £55 but comfortable, silky, and just dressy up enough!  Accessorised with my red cross body bag from Aurora London.

I've tried and I've tried again but how do you apply eyeliner and not smudge it, not end up with a wonky line or make it look natural?!  First of all I am rubbish at applying it then if I do succeed I end up with panda eyes pretty quickly.  And then add in the dry eyes associated with menopausal hormone fluctuations and it all quickly becomes pretty disastrous!  And I have very small eyes!  I've never been able to wear eyeliner on my upper eyelids and I'm not great at the lower lids either.