If you recognize those questions, you’e obviously a reader of E. Jean Carroll’s wildly popular “Ask E. Jean” column in Elle magazine.



While we’ve long been fans of her boisterous, shoot-from-hip writing style (she never fails to call out the trollopes, strumpets, trogmolleys and skanks when the situation warrants), we had no idea, until we started watching her video series that recently debuted on Elle.com, what a style icon this woman truly is.

Not only is her charismatic persona and shoot-from-the-hip delivery perfectly suited to the short-clip genre, but her wardrobe, hair and makeup are a virtual clinic on how to look fabulous after forty.  (Hint:  Start with black tights and Christian Louboutin pumps). 

And her no-nonsense answers to life’s burning questions, whether it’s finding your purpose in life [”...purpose is for dingbats--the minute you zero in on one puny little purpose, that’s the moment your life gets paralyzed..."] or how to avoid morning-after under-eye bags [secret weapons include grapefruit and lots of pillows] , are actually quite good, if not highly addictive.

In fact, if you find yourself watching the whole series in one sitting, like we did, you might want to skip Elle.com and go straight to the independent askejean.com site, which, although it’s not as comprehensive or as slick as the Elle.com page, at least won’t force you to watch the same creepy and annoying canker-sore ad over and over again before every other clip.  (We’re not sure what that particular sponsorship is saying about your fan base, Auntie Eeee, but we hope that festering mouth sores aren’t considered to be a major problem for the general advice-seeking population).

Either way, there’s no question that E. Jean’s  beauty and fashion advice, including this gem on how to find your style, are well worth the watch:

And once you have that figured out, a lifetime of happiness is only 10 steps away, give or take a couple:  (We’d add the dog and those comfy PJs as critical components, but then, that’s implied, right?)