If you’ve read my feature ‘The GH 2013 Anti-ageing Report’ in the October issue (on newsstands now), you’ll be up to speed with all the latest breakthroughs in anti-ageing moisturisers and serums. The flipside of all that high-tech fabulousness is simple, instant solutions to knock a few years off. Here, in no particular order, are five of my favourite tips and pieces of advice:

1. Update your hair
Modern cuts and a fresh look at hair colour make the biggest transformations in our GH reader makeovers. Don’t get stuck in a rut – or allow your hairdresser to let you get stuck in one! Older hair doesn’t have to mean short hair, either. In fact, a bad short haircut can make you look 105, while hair worn longer can look great as long as it’s well groomed.

2. Tuck your hair behind your ears
A hairdresser told me this and it does make you look more youthful. Strange, but true.

3. Learn to contour
Take a matte bronzer or face powder in a darker tone than your skin and, using a big soft brush, blend it just under your jaw line, from chin out towards the ears, to create the illusion of a firmer jaw. Apply it under the tip of your nose, too, to make it appear slightly lifted – our noses turn down with age.

4. Groom your brows
Overplucked and overgrown eyebrows are ageing. If they’re long, trim them, and if they are grey or fair, tint or define them with shadow powder. Get a professional to create a basic shape and look that you can then follow at home.

5. Try some simple skin-fixes
Dewy, luminous skin is a sign of youth, so don’t overdo matte with lots of powder – it will creep into crevices anyway. Get a pore and line minimiser too, such as Benefit’s The Porefessional, £24.50, or L’Oreal’s Magic Touch Instant Blur, £12.99. Both work to soften lines and pores for more even-textured, younger-looking skin.