My name is Karen Herbert, and I am an image consultant with my own practice in Ayrshire, Scotland.  I work with men and women, private and corporate clients, I teach image at evening classes at my local colleges, and I run seminars and workshops for businesses, give presentations for social groups, host parties for womens groups, and attend all sorts of other events!

An image consultant is not someone who is scary or makes you cry.  My purpose is to help everybody to look their best, and the point of looking good is to help you feel good. It is about gaining confidence.  Image consultants are not here to destroy people, quite the opposite.

I am a (normal?) working woman, definitely on the downward spiral of middle aged, experiencing ‘power surges’ on a regular basis, with my weight-gain and changes to body-shape all being written down to ‘hormonal changes’.  So I really do identify with all ladies who are having a crisis of confidence.

At the same time, in my head I am still about 25, and I am really not ready to become a boring old lady, nor to look like one. My step-daughter is currently sporting bright red (and I mean pillar-box red) hair, and I really wish I could do that too.  In fact, all my life I have wanted to dye my hair blue, an intense, dark deep blue, just a purple-shade short of navy.  I know it wouldn’t suit me, not now, and not back when I was 18 and first wanted to do it. But I am not letting the grey come through, so dark blond it stays.

I have always been and will always be, pear shaped, but now I am starting to put on weight around my waistline too, which is a new problem for me, especially as I am short waisted.

But I am not downhearted about it.  I could do without the sleepless nights and the need to wear layers that can be stripped off quickly, but it is true to say I have never been happier in my own skin. I know what suits me and how to make the most of the things I like and buy impulsively that do not suit me so well. And I have a pretty good balance on what I can still wear, and what to avoid so as not to go down the ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ look, whilst still maintaining a youthful iamge and zest for life.

For example, I am not doing the crotcheted see-through lacy cat suits and big floppy hats of my earlier years, but my boho look is maxi dresses (which I have always loved and worn irrespective of fashion’s dictates) and ankle boots (another great love) and furry gilets (great layering pieces) with statement jewelery (a more recent passion). And the middle-aged me rejoices in the Minuet wrap dress I picked up in the sale at the Clarks Outlet Village for just £7 last week which goes great with my yellow stilletoes with metal heels I bought in New York some 11 years ago and used to wear with a yellow knitted dress with big brass buttons that long since consigned itself to the charity shop.

If that all makes me sound a bit flakey, do not be deceived.  My background is in corporate sales, I am an accountant, and I still work in these lofty environs. Beneath this purple fluffy jacket is a woman of steel.

I am an active member of the Ayrshire Association of Business Women www.aabw.org.uk and the Chartered Management Institute www.managers.org.uk and an affiliate member of The Federation of Image Consultant www.tfic.org.uk and a consultant with colour me beautiful www.colourmebeautiful.co.uk  For more information about me and what I do, visit my website www.cmbayrshire.co.uk