Alison Young - Is she ill?

[cheesecake]

I used to watch QVC all the time about 10 years ago, but rarely dip in now. The other day I caught the supersize beauty show with Alison Young.

First off, her "for you" were so funny and totally out of place I was genuinely laughing out loud
But the main thing, oh my goodness, she looks awful! I'm not going to be too derogatory as I'm assuming she is very ill the way she looked. But if she isn't........

Has it been said that she is unwell?

Thanks.

 

[yesilkedi]

She has a thyroid problem and from personal experience know it can affect you from day to day, especially if it is not under control.

 

[donna255]

But she does herself no favours with the choice of clothes and the thick black eyeliner and mascara plus the over dosing of shimmerbrick highlighter.

You mention 10 years ago, but she is older and now nearly 50 and does have eye bags and dark circles.

 

[cheesecake]

The illness explains it then

 

[Akimbo]

I don't want to minimise the impact of Thyroid or any other illness but Miss Ali never qualifies her hard sell by saying "but if you're poorly this face mask / moisturiser / serum / mascara or whatever might not work", if anything she's more likely to say you'll need to step up your skincare if you've been ill. I can't buy an eye cream that claims to fix puffy eyes from her, because clearly nothing works.

 

[donna255]

It just proves no skin care will stop natural aging.

 

[QuiteVacuousChat]

But perhaps she's also always puffy because she slathers on too much gunk. Layer upon layer of chemical cocktail slime, 24 hours a day, is simply not natural. Her pores must be permanently bunged up and the skin can't breathe. (I don't buy the Thryroid excuse, either, as most of my family are on thyroxin and they don't look puffed up and pudgy-faced like AY)

 

[Vienna]

Even in her younger days Alison was never what you`d call a ravishing beauty, she was always the girl next door type with her jumpers, specs and clumpy shoes. She was the kind of person some people could identify with, appearance wise that is. Her presentation style was easier to listen to and she wasn`t afraid to get her hands dirty as it were.
Nowadays she sometimes comes over as a bit of a diva, especially around Will and a few other people but her " I`ve been a beauty expert for 30 years " routine doesn`t wash anymore. Her advice is often wrong, she`s out of touch with anything other than what Q sells and all those years of her telling people how to keep wrinkles/bags/ageing etc at bay are now being disproved. The chickens have come home to roost as it were.
She`s showing she`s no different than the rest of us, she`s aged, put on weight, her hair, makeup and clothes often leave a lot to be desired and she`s failed to take her own advice or has proved that advice to be nothing but sales talk or gobble de gook. Yet she still spouts it ...
I`m not criticising her looks because most women her age have similar issues ( I do ) but I am criticising the fact that Q wheels her out to spout utter tripe when in fact her time is over and they need to rethink their "beauty expert" representative. She`s had a good run.

 

[Akimbo]

Sarah Chapman used to act as Alison's understudy on QVC years ago; she'd stand in as beauty expert when AY was on holiday. There isn't a huge difference in their ages but I'd far rather listen to Sarah's advice on holding back the years that Miss Ali. I wonder if Sarah hadn't brought out her own range, whether she'd be the residentbeautyexpert? Mandy who used to be the Ideal World beauty expert (and now guests on Q) is another presenter who is clearly doing something right with her beauty regime.

If Alison gave a pleasant delivery of up to date advice I think we'd all allow for her aging like the rest of us. She could present make up with tips on hiding the signs of aging and those of us of a similar age would sit up and take note. But, much as I love make up, I'm never inspired to try out Alison's "look". She sometimes looks amazing, often when a make up artist from particular brand has done her make up for their shows. The fact that she reverts to her oddly metallic shimmery look with black eye-liner, makes me think she's stuck in a rut, lacks self-awareness and stubbornly resists the new! 15 years ago I was a huge fan of Alison Young and couldn't imagine beauty shows without her. These days I watch and try to glean info from the guests in spite of Ali's intrusive sound-bites. Wouldn't we all respect her if she took off a couple of months to retrain with various brands and come back full of new, ground-breaking information for us?

I used to like her non-nonsense approach but she's become a parody of herself, acting like a rude, petulant child; not forgetting the slapping incidents.

 

[donna255]

Be afraid, Bobbi Brown has a new collection out with super shimmer highlighters!!! Time for the sunglasses when AY is on as she will no doubt go nuts for them

 

[Julius]

It just proves no skin care will stop natural aging.

Use an SPF with 5 star UVA every day. That really helps!

 

[donna255]

Use an SPF with 5 star UVA every day. That really helps!

Sun damage yes, natural aging no. Everyone no matter who you are will go through natural aging

 

[Cariad]

I love Alison she's by far my fav female presenter, bad makeup and fashion disasters included ;-)
As for her thyroid problems, not all thyroid problems are equal. I know plenty of people taking thyroxine too, and they live basically normal lives but I am on 375 mcg per day, rather than the usual 175, and would be in a coma within a few days if I don't take my meds - this has happened in the past. I am affected in a very big way day to day, unlike other members of my family who take it. So to say her thyroid problem can't be an issue just because it's not for you or people you know isn't very fair. Not all problems are equal. For instance, someone with a small skin cancer on the nose is rather different to lung cancer, but they are both called cancer. Just my opinion obviously. Feel free to ignore it

 

[yesilkedi]

Well said Cariad! My thyroid is pretty much under control but sometimes I have a bad flare up and can hardly drag myself out of bed. I have always suffered from bad eye bags and puffiness which I have been told are symptoms of thyroid problems and nothing on this earth will cover them up! If Alison feels like I do some days then she's a trooper to get out there and carry on.

 

[Akimbo]

As I said I'm not diminishing the impact of thyroid problems, I have close relatives who've had a real battle to get close to an even keel; and lost my Uncle because of his disease. However, they wouldn't appear on TV flogging an eye cream or an under-eye concealer, knowing full well that they look like a "before" picture only, never an "after" and that it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference.

 

[QuiteVacuousChat]

People will be saying that her thyroid problem makes her wear those dayglo sacks next. Simple truth: she is a poor testament to the supposed efficacy of the products she hypes.

 

[Cariad]

Flippancy over illness is something I don't like or understand. Can Julia not sell small sized clothes because she's clearly lying about her size? Ali K can't sell bras till her reconstructive surgery is finished? Simon can't sell sweets popcorn or chocolate because he's diabetic? It's just a job and none of us are perfect. Personally, I wouldn't spend hundreds on creams and potions intended to halt the aging process whoever is flogging it. If there was such a thing, don't you think the plastic surgeons would be out of business by now?

One thing I agree with though...Alison has terrible taste in clothes sometimes. Doesn't mean I don't like her though. It doesn't affect her personality for me, just slightly her judgement.

 

[SuziQ]

I was just thinking how well Alison looked on the TSV presentation- better than I have seen for a while, anyway.

 

[MinxyKitten]

I was just thinking how well Alison looked on the TSV presentation- better than I have seen for a while, anyway.

I caught sight of her in the SNS and thought she looked good. She always looks best with minimal make up on, and I think she looks gorgeous when off screen, in home videos or clips from when she is not on air.

 

[DunmowDizzy]

I'm watching her this morning and to me she looks better than I've seen her look. She looks to have lost a bit of weight which helps her look younger, her make up is slightly more natural and certainly less shiny. I've always liked stripes too so approve of the striped dress.