How to Make Mature Legs Sexy

From shorts to knee-length skirts, this season's styles are all about legs. While it may be tempting to skip leg-baring styles, there are easy fixes for most of our leg issues.

One of the simplest ways to make your legs look their best is to make sure the length of your skirt or shorts doesn't stop at the most unflattering area on your legs. For example, if your calves are thick, make sure your cropped pants or skirts are either shorter (above the thickest area) or longer than the problem area.

Here are more bare-leg secrets to looking your best:

• Make Legs Look Longer. One of Hollywood's favorite leg secrets is wearing nude-colored shoes to elongate the leg. Choosing a nude shoe gives you a long, unbroken line. I like that nude shoes look great with so many different colors, especially bright red, white and soft neutrals.
• Make Legs Look Flawless. Show a bit of skin without the heaviness of hosiery or tights by choosing patterned (open-weave) hosiery like fishnet hose, in nude or black. I have a pair of chain stripe patterned hose in black and love the way the liven up a basic black dress while still letting a bit of skin peek through.
• Tan Your Legs the Safe Way. You have so many different options for covering up pasty-looking legs. The high-end route — which produces great results — is air-brush tanning. Nordstrom Spa does a version of this which includes exfoliation (essential for all faux tanning) for about $55.  I know lots of women opt for self-tanners but I was traumatized by turning Quick Tan orange back in junior high, so I don't usually apply it myself. Instead, for a bit of extra boost, I'll use a lightweight bronzer that is easy to see where it's going and washes off.
• Smooth Your Legs. I am addicted to salt scrubs during a pedicure to get rid of dry skin. You can get a spa-like scrub at home with products like Bliss' Hot Salt Scrub  I've also seen all sorts of scrubs in the drugstore and discount stores for as little as $5 and they will work great, too. To complete the smoothing effects, you need excellent moisturizing. You can go high-end with L'Occitane's leg gel (everything this company makes smells and feels amazing) or you can go for my favorite budget option, cocoa butter (which also smells and feels amazing for just a couple of bucks.)