"I think you look happy and you look better when you know you've got a positive attitude."
Nicola Dale and Di Edwards are the hosts of the Over the Back Fence podcast, and best friends of over 40 years. Nicola has been a flight attendant for over 30 years. When she started with Qantas, the look was the Emilio Pucci uniform, "the bright orange, you know, lipstick" and teased-up hair. Di spent her 20s and 30s living in New York and hosting TV programs. Today the two of them host their podcast together and emcee events, including one for 2,000 people.
They joined Lee and me in the cabin for episode 4 of The Lee & Irene Show. Di says she's "feeling younger than I've ever felt in my whole entire life because of attitude." And after 40 years of friendship, Nicola says, "there's a real depth to it. So we don't stop laughing."
You can listen to the full episode here:
Here are the 3 things I learned from our chat with Nicola and Di
1. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
I always look so much worse after a flight, while flight attendants look beautiful and put together. So I asked Nicola how she keeps her skin hydrated in the sky. "The main thing is hydrate, hydrate, hydrate is the number one key."
Nicola's flight kit is eye drops, lip balm and "a thick moisturiser on as well. Sometimes those spritz, those sprays are really good as well and you feel great." She also loves a silk eye mask that goes around the ears, so "you can cocoon in it and it's sort of soft on your eyes and... you don't get so much like the crinkly eye look."
At home, "I'm a body oil freak. I love oil from head to toe on my body. And then I'll put sort of like moisturiser on."
2. You can look put together in five minutes
On long-haul flights, Nicola would get two hours of rest, then a tap on the shoulder at 3am to serve breakfast. Her quick fix? "It's quick cleaning the teeth. Pulling your hair back, bright lipstick always does the trick. So really it's a simple thing, but if you just brush your hair and put a bit of lipstick on, you know, it's fine."
Grooming was always part of the job. "I would get ready in five minutes. I'd have the uniform there, I'd be prepped... I'd have the pearl earrings on, pull the hair back, the lipstick on... And it wouldn't take that long to do."
For Nicola, looking good also comes from the basics: "hydration, sleep, you know, really getting the balance of life and also having fun." And "I think you look happy and you look better when you know you've got a positive attitude."
3. Let go of what you can't control
Di says the biggest change for her has been "letting go of the things that I can't change. That you can't control. And how empowering that has become for me."
"I now believe what we hold on to that's negative, a consequence of that can be your health." Instead of living in her head, she now notices how something feels. "When I feel it I go oh okay the consequences that will be, let it go, and it's like a little click in my brain."
Her mantra? "I'm a great believer rumination leads to stagnation."
Nicola and Di's daily rituals
Nicola starts her day by walking the dog and having her morning coffee, and tries to fit in a yin yoga class once or twice a week. "For me, that's my grounding, being a high energy, go, go Aries woman."
Di starts with gratitude. "I wake up and instantly look in the sky and I am grateful for breathing." Then she plunges into the ocean. "I'll come out a different human. If you don't live near the ocean, get into a bath or even focus your mind... the water from the shower dropping onto your body."
And they both hug trees. "If you switch your mind off and connect with... you'll feel the energy of the tree that's two or three hundred years old." Nicola says the best conversations happen walking side by side in nature, with a friend or partner. "If you're out in nature for a period of time, it's different than if you're talking... on the phone or in the car."
Listen to the full episode
We also talked about salt toothpaste and hydroxyapatite (see my natural toothpaste guide), Pilates and inflammation with our caller Lexi, and Lee's rant on the longevity bros. You can listen to episode 4 on Spotify.
About the Author
Irene Falcone is the founder of Clean Nectarine and co-host of The Lee & Irene Show. She started her first clean beauty business in 2011 with $100 in her garage and grew it to $20m in four years. She has spent over 15 years reading the backs of beauty and wellness labels, is a Telstra Business Women's Awards winner and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and has been featured on A Current Affair, The Project, Sunrise, Channel Nine Mornings and Sky News.
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