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Today I’m Wearing: Chanel No. 5 by Chanel

Who : Tricia Cusden, Founder of beauty brand Look Fabulous Forever, a makeup and skincare line specifically formulated for older women. When Tricia Cusden retired at 65, she didn’t head for the allotment or take up cross stitch or go find herself in a temple in Nepal, like many of us would. Instead she set up Look Fabulous Forever, a hugely successful cosmetics company to fill a gap she’d spotted in the market.

Tricia noticed there was a dearth of make up advice and good quality product targeted at mature women so, being one herself and knowing what she wanted, she launched a range of cosmetics and skincare in 2013 that supported older women. Her Youtube makeup video tutorials offering make up tips for older skin went viral almost instantly, as women flocked to the site to listen to advice from someone who understood their issues.

Her positive approach to ageing, which celebrates looking good rather than trying to deny, hide or disguise age, resonated with women who shared her attitude, and the company has become a global success story. We caught up with Tricia to see how she feels about fragrance.

Today I’m wearing Chanel No. 5. it makes me feel both happy and confident that I smell nice. It’s a warm and friendly fragrance for me.

I discovered it because it was a gift, with other Chanel goodies, when I won an award in 2016 as Digital Achiever of the Year at a Cosmetic Executive Women Beauty Event.

I now wear Chanel No.5 every day and have done so since I was given it 5 years ago. Hopefully others think I smell nice!

I spritz myself from my 200ml bottle after showering every morning whilst in my bathroom. I also have a scent diffuser in the bathroom and I’m currently using Island Solitude by Scandnavisk.

Every day in lockdown I have kept to the same rituals as normal – wash, apply fragrance, dress, fix my hair and apply makeup – regardless of whether anyone will see me or not  – although I have been making lots of videos and doing live zoom sessions with customers. For me, having the same self-care rituals is an important part of maintaining both a healthy mind and body.

In the first lockdown we were very worried about the business – would women carry on buying makeup even when they couldn’t leave the house? Our target customers are women over 55 so they were particularly badly affected by the virus and restrictions. I started to produce daily content and also initiated a Facebook group – Tricia’s Super Troopers. I think our customers felt that we were looking out for them and trying to help them through as best we could and as a result, they kept on buying makeup!

I have a slightly weird relationship with smell. I suffer with migraine and many smells (coffee and some perfumes) make me feel very nauseous when I am starting a migraine, which means that I am quite fussy when it comes to those scents that I both like and can tolerate.

Look Fabulous Forever