It can be quite traumatic when you realize you’ve “let yourself go”. Its really an unfair assessment of the life of a modern working or stay at home mother. Our modern lifestyle barely leaves you five minutes out of your day to have a quiet moment to think of anything you do not have to do. But when you do realize you’ve neglected yourself it can be scary, almost like looking at a train wreck. This is when the comparisons begin, real and imagined of who looks younger than you, and believe me everyone seems to look younger than you…even Nancy Regan’s skins seemed to look better than mine. The mistake every woman in that situation makes is holding themselves to a gold standard that cannot be obtained outside of the magical Camelot that is Hollywood. On every available media outlet is the reminder of the perfection we should all strive to achieve. How is it that every Hollywood starlet is a reflection of flawless glowing youthful skin? Well if we do the math, and by math I mean count the money trail and it’s likely that you’ll find yourself like me, more than happy with the stellar results on one simple product Lift SP.

So how does Nicole Kidman manage to look as fresh and young as Jessica Alba and manage to have a full 14 years and age on her? Well let’s start with the needles. You’ll need to take a trip to your local plastic surgeon and request a hyaluronic-acid filler treatment? What in the blue hell is that you ask? It’s an injectable filler that is effective at filling in the deep wrinkles in the forehead, and crow’s feet around the eyes. Sounds like a winner? It is at a cost, $600-$1000 per needle and there is no guarantee as to how long the treatment will last but six months seems to be the magic number.

Botox is still the preferred treatment for crow’s feet and wrinkles. Botox works my paralyzing the muscles under the skin and smoothing the lines above them. Its benefits in cosmetics were discovered after noticing the benefits to patients with chronic diseases such as cerebral palsy. Produced by a bacterium, Botox is the most poisonous naturally occurring protein known to man. While cheaper than the injectable filler, it’s not cheap at $300-$500 per treated area. The results are not always stellar either, as evidenced by Vice-President Elect Joe Biden’s sudden case of immovable cat eyes.

The next treatment growing in popularity among Hollywood’s elite is what I like to term the Star Wars Wrinkle Defense System. Laser treatment is effective in stimulating the production of collagen which we all begin to lose over time. The deep penetrating laser causes damage to the tissue and to heal the body creates more collagen which fills in the damage tissue and diminishes the lines above it. Each treatment is about $1000 and you’ll need multiple treatments months apart to achieve the desired results. Total cost of the treatment…about $5,000!!!

The next quick option for our celebrity idols is the chemical peel. In under an hour a glycolic acid is worked into the skin and actually removes top layers of damage skin. It is if nothing else a very intense exfoliation.

On top of all of these procedures, our celebrity idols have access to the best make-up artists in the world. No celebrity would dare grace the red carpet without an appointment with their favorite makeup designer. Have you ever seen Oprah without makeup???!!! I thought the picture I was viewing was a bad celebrity impersonator. It hits home to see any diva without her makeup and realize that she is in effect struggling with the same skin issues as you or I, but gets to fight her battles with a much bigger war chest.

Celebrities are notoriously sun shy. Why you ask, because the sun is the number one cause of premature aging of the skin amongst women. You can almost guarantee that if there is a beach photo opportunity, that start is slathered in an SPF 20 lotion sunscreen. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this site. I neglected sun protection for years; I just recently found that Tripeptinon is most effective in defending against harmful rays and promoting collagen production.

So we’re easily at 10-15k every six months to look like a celebrity on what is in my case a beer pocket book. Keep in mind too that this just the medical procedures and does not account for the salary one would have to pay to have a high profile Hollywood make-up artist on staff. Luckily for the rest of us, the same surgeons and specialist that treat the stars enjoy conducting research to help the little gal like myself. I am able to return my skin to its former glory with one simple product Lift SP and I’m ready for the red carpet, or at least a trip to the mall.