some people are born fashionistas, the rest of us just need a little help
Hi out there. I hope everyone is managing to stay warm in this burst of cold weather. I notice that it’s cold almost everywhere. I realize that cold is relative but 50 degrees in Miami is considered cold.
Well I am going to be introducing a new segment to further help us Clueless Fashionistas. I realize that all the advice and tips in the world aren’t helpful if you can’t put them into action. One of the best ways that a fashionista can be in action is by shopping. So I decided to create a section where I offer different shopping tips and advice for you to implement along with the other fashion and beauty tips I hope you’ve come to expect and enjoy.
The shopping tips won’t be strictly about clothes and shoes because I think that fashion is a holistic thing. It applies to your external as well as your internal. To be truly fashionable, you must be beautiful outside and inside. This means that you need to not only wear great fitting clothes that compliment you but you should also be as healthy as you can be mentally and physically.
So stay tuned for some great shopping tips and advice. I spend my time looking out for best practices in shopping and I can’t wait to share them with you. Also, since I want this to be a two way dialogue, please send me any questions, tips or advice that you have about shopping as well. I would love to feature my readers in the blog. Although I keep my ear to the ground about things, I cannot cover all bases all the time so please shoot me a message.
Happy Holidays!
I heard my official Christmas song on the radio the other day so now in my mind it is officially the holidays. For anyone who’s curious, the song is “This Christmas” by Donny Hathaway. Once I hear that song, it truly feels like Christmas for me. Ok, back to the blog subject at hand.
I’ve started to talk about makeup brushes and featured a video or two about how to choose one or using one in applying your makeup. As a makeup brush newbie, I am quickly learning how much easier it is to get the most desired results when you use a makeup brush rather than what is typically provided for you in the makeup packaging. Now if you typically buy your makeup from a counter or store like Mac or Lancome, you may not get the applicators that can come with the drug store makeup like CoverGirl or Wet N Wild (don’t knock it. They make some good products. You just have to try them out but at those low prices, it’s worth the gamble. I have sensitive skin and have never broken out using their products either). However, as someone who uses Mac for some things but drug store brands for others, I typically used the applicator provided to apply my makeup. I have recently started using brushes and the blending and coverage control is much better with a brush. With that being said, brushes are typically something you would keep long term (at least 3 months, if not longer) and they need to be cleaned regularly. I found a great video about how to properly clean your makeup brushes from the lovely, xteener on youtube. I’ve posted a few of her videos and I like how thorough she is with spelling things out. Even if you don’t think you need to, check out this video. It’s only 7:37 long so it won’t take much time out of your day and it’s very helpful. I figured I was doing everything OK with my brush cleaning and I learned a helpful tip.
If you’d like to check out more of her videos, visit her page on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/xteeener. Happy brush washing!
The other day I found a pair of pants that were from another time in my life. It was a time when I was a few sizes smaller. I was curious about them and how they managed to stay in my closet because I am very good at getting rid of clothes that don’t fit or compliment me. Well I tried the pants on and they fit. Surprise, Surprise. Actually let me make a correction here. The pants didn’t fit in the sense of how I like my clothes to fit but I was able to get them up and on me and even button them.
Now I could have very easily thrown on a shirt and headed out the door for the day because technically I was dressed. I was covered and the pants buttoned fairly easily. I didn’t have to struggle at all. However, there was one MAJOR issue with me wearing these pants. They did not flatter my figure at all. They fit very snugly which wasn’t positive for those particular type of pants. Also, they created the dreaded muffin top that I addressed in this post http://cluelessfashionista.com/2008/05/25/no-more-muffins-ladiesand-gents/. I hate muffin tops and I do everything in my power to not be an offender so I decided to take the pants off. Besides they were going directly against the tips I laid out in this post http://cluelessfashionista.com/2008/07/29/10-ways-to-stop-muffin-tops/.
As I removed the pants and folded them up to put in my “giveaway” bag, I realized that many women tend to buy or wear clothes of a certain size just because they can put the clothes on and button or zip them up. This is the wrong way to go about things. While I agree that fashion is about expression, when you wear ill fitting clothes, you express that you don’t care enough about your appearance to wear clothes that fit. And by fit, I mean clothes that not only button or zip but also flatter your figure and enhance your appearance. I realize that many women are possibly wearing a size larger than what they would prefer but that doesn’t mean you should squeeze into the smaller size to make yourself feel better. You will only make yourself look bad and most likely be uncomfortable.
As you go through your closet and pull out those cold weather clothes or browse the stores to shop, keep this in mind. If you find that the size you normally wear doesn’t fit as smoothly as they should, go up a size. It’s ok. No one is going to stop you in the street and demand that you show them your pants size and then point and laugh. You’re the only one who has to know your size. Fashion isn’t about size, it’s about proper fit and making you look your best. Wearing clothes that just fit and don’t flatter won’t make you look your best.
While researching different how-to videos to upload that I hope are very helpful, I discovered that the scope of eyeliner goes beyond what I initially thought. In my experience, I’ve only come across liquid eyeliner and pencil eyeliner. I use gel pencil eyeliners from MAC but I’ve started experimenting with other, less expensive brands. A MAC eyeliner typically costs around $12 (from my past purchases) and that can be a bit expensive if you want to buy multiple colors or if you tend to misplace the pencils. I love the gel liners because they’re much easier to put on than some of the less soft pencils. I tried liquid eyeliner years ago and got it in my eye and was instantly traumatized because I wear contacts and can’t have too much random debris in my eye. Well I’ve found a video from the lovely, Makeup Geek that goes through the different types of eyeliner with a brief description about how to apply each one. Her tutorials are really great and easy to follow and I highly recommend you bookmarking her site because she is a makeup pro. I will still post her videos but I will focus on the more elementary ones. She has ones that are much more advanced and great for those of you daring types who want to experiment with different looks. Enjoy!
Thanks Makeup Geek!
Cynthia Nellis over at About.com wrote a great article about holiday fashion mistakes that I wanted to share with you. As the holiday parties start to pile up, we need to be aware of the mistakes we should try not to make when getting dressed. Enjoy and take note!
http://fashion.about.com/od/holiday/a/holidaymistakes.htm?nl=1
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to work as a dresser at the famously infamous Victoria’s Secret fashion show. The show was held at this fabulous hotel called Fontainebleu in Miami Beach. My weekend was aptly filled with beautiful and highly fashionable people.
I quickly noticed a new fashion trend being worn by different ladies. They had on these super cute black lame leggings. I mentioned them and discovered that they could be purchased at American Apparel. I was excited about going and trying them on to see how they would look on me. I mentioned this to my friend and she shook her head and told me that I wasn’t allowed to do that. See, I am not petite by any means. I’m 5’5 and larger than a size 6. I also have big, athletic looking legs. It’s entirely possible that those pants will look extra crazy on me and I appreciate my friend for bringing me back to reality. Now I may sneak and try them on anyway but I already know it’s probably not a good idea to buy them and wear them in public. However, I am all over the skinny jeans…
But I digress. The moral to my story is that we should never be a slave to fashion. Just because something is fashionable and looks great on one person, doesn’t mean it will look great on you. Case in point, there was a woman that decided to jump on the legging bandwagon and she looked really bad. The leggings didn’t compliment her in any way. Now if she had friends like mine, she wouldn’t have been allowed to purchase and wear them.
Fashion is supposed to be fun and creative but it should also be realistic. There are some great trends out there right now that we all can indulge in. For example, the purple trend is open to everyone. Purple is a great color that works on every skin tone, especially since it comes in so many different shades. Just because something is fashionable, doesn’t mean everyone can wear it. When you want to experiment with fashion, do it in a store dressing room. Make sure you have an honest friend with you. Also make sure there is a three way mirror near by. If you look at yourself in the trendy garment and it doesn’t look good all around, don’t buy it. Leave it in the store and find another trend to try. There are so many fashion trends out there that you are bound to find one that looks great on you.
And for those of you who can wear the leggings, here is a picture of the ones I think are uber cute along with a link. Enjoy!
Shiny Leggings from American Apparel
After posting the blog about how to do a smokey eye, I realized that there are women who don’t wear eye makeup on a daily basis. I used to be that person and it was typically because I was uncomfortable with how it would look. I didn’t want to look crazy so I preferred to keep things basic and just stick with a nice lip gloss (boy do I love my lip gloss!). Eventually I started experimenting with eye makeup. I started out with eye liner and mascara and then branched out into eye shadow. Now I’m a lot more adventurous with my shadow but I also tend to wear it much more often. I may not wear it every day but I will put it on several times a week. I found this great video tutorial on youtube showing you how to put on eye shadow for every day wear. It’s about 10 minutes long but the lady on the video does a great job of breaking everything down. Plus she has a short review at the end of the video where she shows you the best brushes to get and recaps the eye shadow information. She uses mostly MAC products in her video but if you’re looking for brushes at a lower cost, check out the ELF link on the left of this page. They specialize in selling makeup tools at very affordable prices. Check out the video.
In the video, she mentions an article that she wrote that gives more help and insight into wearing eye shadow. Here is a link to that article: http://www.makeupgeek.com
Lots of thanks to the wonderful Haute Mimi for sharing the link to Makeup Geek’s youtube page in her blog at www.hautemimi.com! I will definitely post more videos from Makeup Geek but if you have makeup questions that I haven’t addressed, either send me a comment or visit the website for more info. I’m definitely not a makeup expert and I’m a believer in referring questions to the experts.
Happy eye shadowing!
I figure that since I share lots of fashion and beauty tips on this blog, I should share when I put those tips to use. By the way, I encourage you to share with me as well. I will even post photos (well photos that don’t include nudity or adult situations, gotta keep the blog PG ya know). Ok, my latest post was a video about the famously infamous smokey eye. Well for Halloween I dressed up as a dark fairy, which means that I wore all black and wings. I also used the smokey eye video along with the eyelash video to enhance my costume. Well here’s a picture of my eye makeup and lashes.
Check out my Halloween makeup!
So now you know that I use the videos that I post on this blog as well. They do work too! I encourage you to take the time to practice the tips that I share here. You will feel really proud when you successfully branch outside of your fashion comfort zone. I know I did. Be fabulous!
I am going to a Halloween party this weekend and I’m going as a dark fairy. Basically I’m wearing dark fairy wings and an all black outfit. However, this particular Halloween party is of the sexy variety so my costume has to have sex appeal to it. Well in addition to my dark, sexy outfit, I will also do some dramatic lashes and a smokey eye. I’ve experimented with the smokey eye but I wanted to learn how to do it the proper way so I decided to put up a video for you as well. Since this is the holiday season, more of us will be attending holiday events where dressing up will be a requirement. One great way to dress up your face is by doing that famous smokey eye. I found a cool video that shows you how do it with very little muss or fuss. If you feel like you need additional help, shoot me a question and I will find the answer for you. I like this video and I already feel like I know a bit more about doing a smokey eye. Check it out.
I will post pictures of my costume and smokey eye after this weekend. Please, share your smokey eye pictures with me as well. I would love to see how your makeup turns out.
Another great trend that I noticed for the fall is the trend toward deep, rich jewel toned clothes. If you’re not sure what a jewel tone is, think of deep, rich colors like burgandies, bright blues, purple, dark turquoise, scarlet, deep fuschia, hunter green, etc. The great thing about jewel tones is that they look great on almost anyone. However, I do understand that there are you ladies out there that stick to the basics. You either do all black or you do all neutrals. Well here are some ways you can incorporate jewel tones into your wardrobe.
If you wear a lot of black:
Now don’t get me wrong, black is a very chic color. It makes you look slimmer and very sophisticated. However, if you don’t inject some color into your wardrobe, you will start to look drab and washed out. So jewel tones are a great way to inject that color without overdoing it. Because jewel tones are deep colors, you can add them to your dark wardrobe and not feel overwhelmed. Take things slowly by starting with jewel toned jewelry and accessories. Once you feel more daring, you can start wearing jewel toned shirts and jackets and then go from there.
If you wear a lot of neutrals:
Neutrals are very easy to wear. You don’t stand out too much but you can still look polished and pulled together. However, wearing a lot of neutral can become boring after a while. It is very easy to inject jewel tones into a neutral wardrobe palatte without stepping too far outside of your comfort zone. Burnt orange, deep yellow and dark reds are great ways to spice up a neutral wardrobe. As I like to suggest, you can start out with jewelry and accessories. Once you realize how great these colors are, you can move into pieces of clothing.
If you wear a lot of bright colors:
As I was typing this, I realized that there are some people that enjoy standing out. They enjoy walking into a room and lighting it up, even if it’s with their outfit. Bright colors are great. They’re a great way to spice things up, but wardrobes should offer variety. If you’re accustomed to wearing bright, show stopping colors, it may be hard to move into jewel tones. In this case, you may want to jump in with both feet. You should look into finding dresses with a great cut but in a darker, jewel tone. Also, you can mix and match jewel tones with bright colors in a similar color family. You will be surprised at how a great jewel tone can make you stand out just as much as a great bright color.
As the weather gets cooler, our wardrobes should change to reflect the changing seasons. Deeper, richer colors are one of the great things about fall and winter. Enjoy them. Feel free to experiment. Fashion is all about experimentation.
I’m a writer and blogger that works in television and film production. I am a Clueless Fashionista dedicated to making fashion fun and easy to understand. If you’d like to learn more about me, visit my website www.ashiasims.com.
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