I was out to lunch with my best friend, whom I've known since high school. Over coffee, she looked at me intently and said, "Christine, tell me what you're doing, right now. You look radiant." I smiled without answering. She asked me the question 3 times during lunch. It was only when I got back into my car that I understood: for the first time since my menopause 7 years ago, I was being asked for my secret instead of being told I looked tired.

"For 6 years, I never left the house without foundation. Not even to get bread. I needed to hide these spots that were spreading across my cheekbones. After a month and a half of Serolys, one morning, I forgot. I went down to buy my baguette at the bakery downstairs, without anything. It was my neighbor, on the landing, who complimented me on my complexion. I didn't immediately understand why. And then I realized that my skin was bare. And that people found me beautiful. At 56 years old."

"At 72, I no longer expected anything from any cream. I had accepted it. I only took Serolys because my daughter insisted. On the 19th day, I brushed my teeth in the morning, and when I looked up at the mirror, I jumped. Not out of fear. Out of surprise. The woman looking back at me had a complexion I hadn't seen in a very long time. I put down my toothbrush. I stood there, looking at myself, for maybe 2 minutes. I didn't cry. I just said out loud: 'Well, there you are again.'"