Posts Tagged ‘women’

photo credit: jamelah

Want to know how to get that stylish look that no one else but YOU can pull off? Of course you do! Stay tuned and I’ll tell you how each Wednesday ;)

Happy Styling!

Let me take a moment to get a little personal…

I used to be pathetic at doing my makeup.

Absolutely.

Totally,

And stupidly inept at applying cosmetics to my face in a beautiful and pleasing way. (*Here’s an interesting fact: the word “cosmetics” comes from the Greek word for “order”. Which was totally antithetical to my first newbie designs of course :P)

But I still loved playing with it and would do so every chance I got. I blame this fascination with the magic of makeup on my dad. Yes, my dad. No, he didn’t dress in drag nor was he a circus freak. He just loved Halloween…and theatre :) And I loved watching him transform.

Meanwhile my mother just used the standard neutral toned, basic cover up and color of a busy working woman. Concealer, brown brow pencil, that sort of thing. Not particularly imaginative but functional and easy to put on everyday.

My dad’s makeup was “special” so he would put it high up on a shelf in my parents bedroom closet. Meanwhile my mother’s daily beauty products were easily pilfered just by going into the bathroom and rummaging through cupboards. So being the enterprising pre-glamorgoddess girl I was I snatched up her lipstick and pencils and commenced to make a very bad attempt at “drawing” beauty on myself before the living room mirror.

A minute later my dad spotted this cosmetic horror and yelled at me, saying “Little girls aren’t supposed to wear makeup!”

He was right…mostly cause I made a huge mess of my face.

I kept at it though – and even contemplated a career of makeup artistry. Would that I wasn’t also simultaneously obsessed with other things (travel, socializing, fashion, writing, spazzing out) I just might have made that a reality. As it is I’ve made a nice pastime out of fantasy makeup and even made a few lovely tweaks to my daily makeup routine.

What’s my point here? Have fun with your designs – explore color, shapes, lines, etc. Make it a fun ritual for expressing your personality while also enhancing your natural features. With that sense of play and experimentation you will enhance your learning and even get to know your own unique beauty quickly and easily :)

So, what’s your makeup story? Let me know – I’d love to hear it ;)

After being accused of never wearing the same thing twice this girl has decided to actually prove it to the world, one day at a time.

One Girl
Jenny loves clothes, just like countless other girls. Also like many of us she not only enjoyed wearing and collecting clothes but also had big girl dreams to “work” with them in fashion. Her parents said it was a dumb idea – so she grew up and got a degree in journalism which they were fine with. Now, she can’t help but blog about her passion for the stylish arts.

She has quietly but purposefully joined the ranks of fashion bloggers. But, as you will see her Closet 365 project manages to set her apart from much of the rabble about “trend” this and “who’s wearing what” that. Just like another one of my fave fashion bloggers Alyson, I quickly and easy added Jenny’s Closet 365 blog to my regular “must reads”.

One Year
As of my writing today Jenny is in her 3rd month of blogging. A good girl, she decided to open up the project right at the beginning of the new year (unlike me and my random inkling to start around Halloween.). According to her photos her home town gets snow as well as sunshine so it’ll be interesting to see how her fashionable kung fu works with the seasonal shifts.

Just like me she has been inspired by 365 day projects in flickr as well as other daily fashion blogs. So far her posting has been consistent and strong and deserves props for both the content and the spirit of the project. It’ll be exciting to watch her progress as the weeks and months go by!

365 Different Outfits
One of the things that impresses me most is this girl’s layer skills – totally teaching me more than a thing or two about constructing an outfit. This is one of the true marks of signature style. Stylish girls do not merely get dressed day after day. They don’t simply match a top with a bottom and sprinkle w/ a handful of accessories. Jenny shows us how it’s also about artfully placing one layer over another layer to conduct a symphony of texture and fabric. This allows her to create an ensemble that doesn’t just cover her body but also says a few powerful somethings about her character.

Her photo documenting skills are also fantastic too – each photo of her daily style is crisp and clearly displays the whole outfit so you can easily take some note. Each outfit is distinct and she really owns her distinct style but readers can easily take inspiration from the way she puts pieces together.

So go visit her blog, say hello, and get inspired to transform your own everyday closet into a wardrobe of creative magic. Also leave a comment here – tell me what you are wearing today :) Would love to hear about it!

Ok my lovelies, I’ll see you next time for some 365daygirlness :)

Happy Styling!

“I heard someone once say that we’re only as sick as our secrets.” -Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking

I have begun reading about Carrie Fisher’s crazy up and down life with delighted interest. After watching all the youtube videos of her I could find starting with the one below, and then reading a slew of articles and interviews I boogied on over to the library for a copy of her totally candid live-and-in-wacky-first-person autobiography Wishful Drinking.

My mother, whom I currently chaperon asks innocently “do you think you are bipolar?” then,
“all the people I’ve heard about being bipolar are really hard to live with.”

She’s so wonderful and seems blithely forgetful of the often emotionally torturous years her and my father have survived in raising me. That or she took a good measure of peace in her office miles away while I raged home alone with my brother. No matter, she has always taken my intensity in stride…as best she can anyway.

Alright…gotta get back to the book. Here’s that vid I was talkin about an excerpt from the amazing documentary hosted by Stephen Fry “The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive”:

By the way, did you notice how I totally posted this out of sequence? Yeah, it’s been a weird…project.