FORGET saying "21 again" next time a birthday comes around. Because these days 38 is deemed to be a woman's perfect age.

So it's move over Cheryl Cole and co - women think they look most attractive in their 30s, a survey has revealed.

The online survey carried out by beauty company Transformulas International revealed that women feel their most attractive at 38, the same age as Hollywood beauty Jennifer Aniston.

The results reveal women are now embracing age more than ever before and cite their wrinkles as expression lines that show their character.

At age 38, women answered that they felt they had found their own sense of style and were truly comfortable in their own skin.

East Lancashire mum and businesswoman Carol Chadwick, who is the perfect age 38, is living proof saying she is the happiest she has ever been.

"I have to say I feel the best I have ever felt.

"I don't have the insecurities I felt in my teens or 20s," said the mother-of-three.

"I just think people have to take me as I am. I think it is a feeling of being comfortable in your own skin. I don't take myself too seriously either.

Carol, who is a sales director of Haslingden-based Wall Panelling Ltd, added: "I like to think myself as like a good bottle of wine. As time goes by I am more rounded and bodied. I think it is important to really like yourself first, instead of focusing on what you think you should look like which I used to do when I was younger. I wanted to look like Farrah Fawcett from Charlie's Angels and there was no chance this was ever going to happen.

"Once you start liking and appreciating yourself first, then people will start liking you too. Your inner beauty naturally starts to shine through because you stop worrying what you think you should look like and the pressure is off.

"I think young girls need to be really helped here, especially with all the airbrushed photos in magazines. The pressure they have is more than what I ever had.

"Teenagers and young girls in their 20s really need support on how to really like themselves for what they look like and not what they think they should look like."

The survey found women like Sharon Stone were more of an icon to real women than young stars such as Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole, who came bottom of the list.

And when asked at what age women felt they looked their least attractive, 18 came top of the poll.

Spiritual life coach Susan Holmes, 47, of Helmshore said: "When a woman reaches her 30s she tends to be more empowered. In their 20s they often don't know who they are or what they want. Life is all about experience and by a woman's 30s she has had more life experience and can feel happier with herself.

"But having said that, young women should not think they have to wait until their 30s to feel they look good and women older than 30 should not feel past it.

"Life is about living for the here and now and it is important to be happy in the present and do whatever makes you so."