Next month, the January 1996 issue of Ladies' Home Journal hits the supermarket checkout displays, and Miami's own Isabel Cabell has never looked better.
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The wide-eyed, raven-haired 37-year-old is one of five winners of the seventh annual Oil of Olay/Ladies' Home Journal "Why I've Never Looked Better" contest. This year more than a thousand ladies sent their photographs to New York to be scrutinized by a panel of advertising, media, and beauty experts, according to Leisa Guest, an Oil of Olay account executive with DeVries Public Relations in New York. Guest says that entrants, who had to have survived at least a quarter-century of wear and tear, were evaluated for the general youthfulness of their appearance in relation to their age, as well as the telling combo of "skin quality, firmness, color, and tone." This year's five victors range in age from 32 to 46. The oldest contestant was 60. "She looked marvelous," says Guest.
"Basically they were looking for women who are aging gracefully," observes Cabell, a native of Medellin, Colombia, who moved here eleven years ago from Columbus, Ohio. "They want a no-fuss type of beauty."
It wasn't merely an age-defying appearance that impressed the judges, however. To probe more profoundly than skin-deep, contestants were required to to compose endings to two sentences: "I've never looked better because . . ." and "My most important skin-care tip is . . ." (Nothing elaborate, says Guest, just a few phrases conveying "effort and dedication to looking better, and clarity of expression.")
The petite Cabell, who says she still gets carded at nightclubs, stuck with the basics in her tip: "Never go to sleep at night with your makeup on; wash and moisturize your face twice a day." As to why she has never looked better, she responded: "Not only have I maintained a very youthful appearance, but at 37, I have the wisdom of time on my side. The combination of these two, at this point in my life, put me in what I consider to be my prime."
Cabell is divorced and lives in South Miami with her eight-year-old daughter Alexandra. She works for her father's flower-selling company, carting fresh flowers to workers in office buildings around Miami. She has, she confesses, always been beautiful (except perhaps for a short childhood interlude with braces; her teeth are now perfect) and photogenic. Five feet three, tanned and fit, with skin that displays nary a line or blemish (never an acne problem, either), she has been diligent in maintaining that perfection. So in June, when she read about "Why I've Never Looked Better" in the Journal, which she reads every month, Cabell resolved to enter. "I've never won anything -- I've never done anything like this," she says. "But I thought I'd give it a try."
A friend's eight-year-old son took the requisite full-length shot of her, posing by a fireplace, and one of her clients took the other photo, a closeup, while she was making her rounds with the flower cart. For four days in July, LHJ put up Cabell and the other winners in the Peninsula Hotel on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, during which time they were photographed for the contest feature and treated to New York attractions including a morning at the Peninsula Spa, a Broadway show (Sunset Boulevard) and meals at the Russian Tea Room and the Rainbow Room. "They treated us like royalty," Cabell says. "It was a really incredible experience."
Though several winners praised the sponsor in their written responses, Cabell did not. She has, however, been washing her face for years with Oil of Olay soap. Now she'll be using Oil of Olay everything; besides the trip to New York and $1000 in cash, each winner got a year's supply of face and eye creams, lotions, gels, and soaps.
While contest judges weren't able to physically pinch cheeks or gauge the sag of epidermises, they did try to get an idea of "how deep are your fine lines and wrinkles," according to Guest. "In relation to your age," she adds. "You cannot avoid fine lines. Some products tell you you can escape the aging process. Oil of Olay doesn't make that claim. Oil of Olay's theme is to provide you with the best skin you can have at your age -- not that you can be 50 and have 25-year-old skin.
