Get plenty of sleep. Drink a lot of water. Vitamin E is good for age spots. Consider body wash, not soap.

These were among the points covered by Laura Bautista during a special “Beauty Secrets” program at Newtown Senior Center on January 11.

Bautista spoke for a small but appreciative audience that morning, encouraging interacting between herself and her guests.

The morning’s guest speaker has three decades of experience in the beauty industry, and has owned her own related business — True Colors Salon in Danbury — for the past four years, she said.

Her focus during her recent visit to the senior center was to help attendees “learn how to preserve body and mind, to continuously stay beautiful at any age,” she said. “Beauty is inside and out. That’s what I think, and that’s what I want everyone to remember.

“We need to keep our minds and bodies healthy and positive,” she said.

The program included an interactive element, with Bautista sharing clementines and protein bars. She walked her guests through opening each, inhaling aromas, sharing memories, and then discussed the benefits of each.

“Smell the orange,” she said. “Tell me what you think, what you smell.”

One of the attendees that morning said the clementine reminded her of childhood. Another smiled, inhaling the aroma of the small citrus in her hand.

Bautista also discussed skin, saying it is “the largest organ of our body, we have to always take care of it.” She encourages her clients, she said, to use body wash instead of soap, because the latter is more harsh on skin.

“Body wash combined with water is much better than soap,” she said.

“Never wash your face with full soap,” she continued. “I use foam or gel. If you have dry skin, try moisturizing washes — look for the products that will take care of specific problems. They’re out there.”

Warm water is best for facial skin, Bautista also noted. She discussed different approaches to cleaning the face, and answered questions about age spots and breakouts at all ages.

In the sunny meeting room on the southern side of the senior center, the program was a comfortable conversational presentation.

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Associate Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.