Dear Mary…
Q. I am 43. I am starting to develop terrible furrows on my forehead. I do not wish to go under the knife nor do I wish to have any more Botox because I do not like the ‘Botox delay’ effect. What do you recommend, Mary?
S.F., Sunningdale, Berkshire
A. Some readers may be unfamiliar with the expression ‘Botox delay’. This effect can be viewed when an injectee’s facial expression fails to run concurrently with views being expressed, but manifests itself, inappropriately, a few seconds later, when the subject has moved on. This is unnerving for interlocutors. Why not try the ‘Polyfilla’ version of make-up which comes highly recommended by Sarah Stacey, co-author with Josephine Fairley of The 21st Century Beauty Bible, published by Kyle Cathie, £14.99. The product is Prescriptives Magic Invisible Line Smoother, £27/15 ml. Having tested thousands of products while compiling the Beauty Bible, Sarah declares that this one has had excellent results where furrow-filling is required.
Q. I have been brought up to write thank-you letters, but I feel increasingly out on a limb as so very few of my contemporaries ever seem to bother. In the circumstances, do you think it is priggish of me to continue sending out these letters where they might serve to highlight the rudeness of my friends who have attended the same parties but have not written? I am 22.
M.B., Wootton, Oxfordshire
A. Everyone is delighted to receive a thank-you letter — even if they would not have written one themselves — because it indicates an appreciation of the effort that has gone into entertaining. Also, in today’s helter-skelter world, the tangible evidence that an event has taken place is of value to the general archive.
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