It was in late summer 2004, on my 50th birthday, that I discovered the secrets of how to be gorgeous.

In spite of following a strict natural beauty regime for most of my life I could see signs of aging beginning to show. A few more fine lines had appeared around my eyes, a few more grey hairs and I’d been dreading the thought of turning fifty. Now the dreaded birthday was actually here it seemed everything was on a slippery downhill slide from now.

My husband, in his infinite wisdom, paid for me to have a spray tan as a birthday treat. What followed over the next few days and weeks contributed to a natural beauty transformation that I can only describe as magical.

My message to you is not to go have a spray tan, however. This only triggered an incredible chain of events. My message to you is this: to look good – you have to feel good and to feel good – you have to look good. This is the very essence of natural beauty.

It’s also a never ending circle that gathers speed and momentum like a wheel and it either works for you or against you. If it’s working against you, like it was for me, you have to take positive steps to turn everything around. It can be done and you can do it too.

Soon the compliments will start. This is when I began to feel pride in myself. I felt better about my looks – and guess what? I began to look even better. This led to even more compliments. This, in turn made me feel fantastic about myself.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, what shape you are or even what color your skin is.

Everybody can do this – even you.

When you look in the mirror – what do you see? Is the face that looks back at you dull and stressed out or is it alive and vibrant? Are you glowing with natural beauty?

Whatever’s getting you down, be it problem skin, advancing years, flabby muscles and dull skin, or just a general feeling of being unattractive then knowing the secrets of how to be gorgeous will give you the body and looks you’ve always dreamed of.

First you must make a decision – a decision to do something about it.

Once you have made your decision the next step is to take positive action that will improve your looks, your body shape and the way you think of yourself.

Don’t get me wrong here, it didn’t happen over night. I had to work for it.

It takes time to change your physical looks and body shape. Some improvements showed almost immediately such as how I felt inside. Other improvements took a few weeks.

It takes three weeks to change your complexion because the skin has seven layers. As each layer sheds a new improved layer from underneath shows itself. It takes three weeks for the whole process to complete so that the layer that benefits the most from your hard work i.e. the deepest, works its way up to the top.

Muscle tone is the same; it can take four weeks to improve your body shape by toning up sagging muscles. However, this time scale can be shortened if you are dedicated and really want the end results.

With all things in life, you only get out of it what you are prepared to put into it.

Don’t do what I was doing, blaming everything on my age. After all I was almost fifty, what else could I expect except pale, dull lifeless skin, a tired expression and muscles that were just a little too relaxed?

Age is just a number. Your body is fully equipped to repair itself it just needs a little help as you grow older.

Incidentally, growing older is OK. We all do it, its natural. Natural beauty is not striving to look seventeen when you are in fact fifty.

Growing older doesn’t have to mean bowing to the pull of gravity and letting our bodies go either.

Jane Fonda, Sophia Loren and Joanna Lumley are all growing older, but when you look at them you don’t see their age you just see their natural beauty.

It is possible, I know because I’ve done it and you can do it too if you want to.

Knowing the right things to do at the right time can change your whole appearance naturally.

By: Elaine Woosey