makeover Archives - Style Clinic

Jul 30

9 STEPS TO MASTERMIND YOUR MAKEOVER

By Ann Reinten | How To..., Personal Style | No Comments

There comes a time in the life of most women where we yearn for a new look. A look that will restore our self-confidence and place us on a new or better path.

I’ve been there – have you?

This need can arise from a stagnant love life or career, a divorce, a new lifestyle or vocation, or the need to recapture life after surviving a significant illness. Whatever the reason, achieving your new look does not necessarily require the help of an image consultant; after-all no everyone has that type of money on hand. If taken one logical step at a time it is possible to create a significant and successful makeover on yourself with the help of a friend or two.

One thing is for sure, a makeover has the power to affect real change in your life. A new look will affect the way you view yourself and can empower you with the confidence and energy to move forward and accomplish things that you may not have believed possible before.

Over the years I have facilitated many successful make-overs and I’ve learned a few things that I’d like to share with you.

#1. Do it for the Right Reasons

Hurtling into a makeover right after a breakup, major disappointment, or a rough patch can seem like a good idea but often reaps only disappointment. If you are reeling from an emotional upheaval, you are prone to impulsive decisions that serve to impress others rather then yourself. It’s important that your makeover is done for the right reason – to please, enrich and help YOU and only you. You should fully understand your reasons for initiating your makeover as only then can you really determine who you are really doing this for and why.

A period of self-reflection and conversations with a trusted and sensible friend or two can be invaluable.

#2. Know Exactly What You Want to Achieve

Not only in your head but on paper. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve via your makeover is a important step towards knowing what you need to do in order to accomplish it.

What areas of your life do you want your makeover to improve?
- When you have your answer ask WHY?
What do you want to achieve via your makeover?
- Then ask WHY?
What parts of your present appearance do you think needs improvement?
- Again ask WHY?

The asking of why will get you to the root of your reasons helping you know how valid they are.

#3. Take Your Time

Makeover segments on TV make it seem like a makeover can be achieved in an afternoon. A little shopping, some salon time, and voila, a brand spanking, shiny new you! In reality and my experience, the most successful makeovers and the ones that stick, take time to achieve. Think of the process as an evolution, not revolution – a gradual change as opposed to a quick and drastic revamp.

By taking your time and thinking each step through, you’ll have a far better chance of getting the results you want. Moreover, family and friends tend to respond better to a gradual metamorphosis than a sudden change. This will reassure them that you are thinking carefully about what you are doing. Change is always hard, and it might be hardest for the people around you. I have found sudden changes to have husbands suspicious that maybe there’s another man, friends deciding you’re trying to show your too good for them and family thinking your just being outrageous.

#4. Research What Works Best For You

Before hitting the stores for new clothes or deciding on a new hair color it’s wise to discover what works best for you. An inexpensive and accurate way to know what suits your shape is to get a body and style analysis . We recommend My Private Stylist. This website was developed by Image Innovators and is an excellent in depth style program. Loving your body or look will come easier once you understand exactly what you body needs to look it’s best.

Likewise knowing which colors suit you best is equally important, after-all, a great style in a bad color is not a good buy. Consulting an experienced image consultant or having an online consultation through a reputable website gaining is the only way to find out. Reading books never give you the entire story.

#5. Express Yourself

Dressing authentically is key to feeling at home in your clothes. A new image that is not truly ‘you’ is hard to pull-off for any real length of time.

Here are some things you can try to help you reveal your true style personality:

Examine your closet and pick out your favorite pieces.
- Which items make you feel good?
- What traits do the pieces convey?
Flip through a magazine and tear out the pages of outfits that speak to you.
Put together a list of adjectives that describe your style.
Find style icons you identify with.
Try our style personality quiz.
Experiment different styles and clothing combinations until you are happy with what style expression is most you. This will make shopping easier.
- On that note, when you’re shopping don’t be afraid to try on styles you typically don’t gravitate toward. You never know when you’ll find a new favorite.

#6. Get a Head Start

Your head is the easiest place to start when it comes to giving yourself an effective makeover. A new hairstyle and/or color ans a new make-up look gives you the most bang for your buck while simultaneously giving the quickest results. Get ready for compliments and answer with a smile and a sincere thank you. Don’t be that woman that says, “Oh, this is nothing.” Always graciously acknowledge compliments.

A great new look above the neck is the perfect first step to consider when starting your makeover. It’s like losing those first few pounds when on a diet, it gives you excitement and more motivation to continue. After you take care of your locks, turn your attention to your makeup and eye-wear.

As for makeup, make sure that is age appropriate and fits right into your lifestyle. While eye-wear needs to be both comfortable and on-trend, especially if it’s prescription and you wear it everyday. If you’re still in a style conundrum, don’t hesitate to get help from the experts. Consult a makeup artist or enroll in basic makeup lessons to better learn what works for your skin type and color, face shape, lifestyle, and age. A good hair stylist or colorist, who may or may not be the same person, is also another important piece of the puzzle.

Click to Watch

#7. Hunt, Kill, Capture

Edit and curate your closet. Go through your entire wardrobe. Be ruthless and toss out anything that doesn’t fit, is dated, discolored, stained, or faded. Add to that list anything that you haven’t worn for two identical seasons. Depending on how many clothes you have this is an arduous process that may take more than a day. If you are too busy break the task up into bite size pieces – tops this weekend, pants and skirts next weekend etc.

Try on everything, and keep what works for your figure. Next organize everything into a workable space and finish with making a list of what you need to go out and buy.

These are times when a girlfriend comes in very handy. Not only for her opinion but also to take the unwanted items away to save you being tempted to put some back.

#8. Coordinate and Accessorize

Once you’re closet is cleaned out and organized, cluster our items into mix and match outfits and record what you own. That way you’ll never forget a great combination again.

Use accessories to change the look and mood of your outfits.

By performing #7 and #8 you’ll start to get realize what pieces are missing from your wardrobe. Note them down for your next shopping trip.

#9. Don’t Rest On Your Laurels

Your life is constantly changing; be it through relationships, location, business, finances, health etc. All these changes alter the way you live and feel, and cause your style to change. The style you have today, may not be the way you wish to express yourself in the future. So while you’ve done an exhaustive evaluation and overhaul of your style, always give yourself room to grow or improve. Keep your eyes open for style inspiration, and don’t limit yourself to trends or to the style you have now. Remember that fashions come and go, but knowing what works for you is the one, true way to having standout style.

One thing is for sure – you are in charge of your life and the challenges and changes that you face are part of the wonderful tapestry called YOU.

Oct 31

HOW TO ESCAPE A STYLE RUT: part 2

By Ann Reinten | How To..., Personal Style, Psychology | One Comment

OK, so you seriously suspect you have gotten yourself into a style rut. In order to move forward the first step is to identify exactly what areas of your dress and grooming need updating.

FIRST

Take a long, hard look at your wardrobe, make-up, hairstyle, and accessories to determine what areas need adjusting. This process is made much easier when you have a My Private Stylist program and have invested in a personal color consultation.

Some questions to ask yourself:

Is the problem with your clothes?

Does your wardrobe contain many items in the same style and/or color?
What percentage of your clothes are over 5 years old? And are these the items you wear most?
Do your clothes work with your apparent age, lifestyle, responsibilities, and goals?
Next time you’re out looking around you as well as in weekly women’s magazines; how many other women are wearing similar styles to you?
How do you feel about your style/appearance? Do you feel it is doing your justice by accurately representing who you are, your abilities and your outlook on life?

Is the problem with your grooming (make-up and/or hairstyle)?

When was the last time you changed your hairstyle or hair color?
Is the style and color you presently have complimentary to your face shape or coloring?
Have you been wearing the same shade of lipstick for more than 3 years?
Have you changed the way you apply make-up within the last several years?
Do you see similar styles to what you’re wearing in weekly women’s magazines?

Only by identifying the problems can you begin to know how to start resolving your style rut.

The truth will set your free but first, it will really tick you of!

SECOND

Find a Mentor. Enlisting the help of a stylist, image consultant or friend can really help. Please don’t ask friends who are not up to scratch themselves – this just leads to the blind, leading the blind. Asking for honest feedback can hurt at first but it will open your eyes and help you change. Accept the constructive and possibly negative feedback with grace – remember you did ask for it.

Dream a little, Think about the wonderful consequences of a new image and the doors and possibilities a brand new closet may open up for you. This will help you get ready to expand your thinking, launch into your new look, and it’ll make you open to exploring different fashion options.

Decide how you want to look, and what impression you want others to formulate about you.

Write down words you would like people to use when describing the new you to others e.g., happy, youthful, relaxed, elegant, sexy, energetic, professional, fashionable, etc. These words will help you know what type of looks to experiment with.
I also recommend you make a list of words to describe how you do not want to look. Each word will conjure up a look, type of behavior and mindset to build on.
Lastly, list words that describe how you want to feel after your new look i.e. more youthful, fashionable, energetic, etc – these words will keep you both motivated and on track.

Consider your personality to ensure you’ll feel comfortable with your new look. If you change your style to please someone else and not yourself, you may very likely find the look difficult to live out and in a short period of time you’ll revert back to your rut. To find a style that appeals to you, it will help to browse through current magazines to discover what appeals to you and what doesn’t. Cut out these images and paste them onto a large sheet of paper. Make a mood-board that will solidify your personal style vision. You can also take our free Personal Style Expression quiz.and it will be important to you to take the test twice as explained when you get your results.

Be prepared to stretch and change. After all, if nothing changes, nothing changes.

Find a Muse. Look for someone famous whose style you admire and would feel comfortable in. You can copy their look with clothes and accessories in your price range. Google images are a good way to start. Type in ‘street style + the words of your choice’ i.e street style women, street style mature women or street style women work then go to the image area. The images there will give you inspiration and they often link to great blogs.

Start looking for new current clothes, and remember, looking current does not mean blindly following fashion. Stylish women create fashionable ensembles that are in sync with their needs, personality, and lifestyle. When trying things on, keep in mind that ‘fit’ is a very important thing, and alterations are definitely worth the investment as they’ll make a world of a difference to your appearance.

‘looking current does not mean blindly following fashion’

Search – Street Style Women Mature

To jump-start your wardrobe revival, here are some tips:

Get a new hairstyle, It will do wonders for your morale. It doesn’t even have to be an extreme one – even something as simple as growing out a fringe, losing or growing some length, or adding a few highlights can work wonders. If you’ve been going to the same stylist for years go somewhere new to get a fresh and unbiased set of eyes and opinion.

Get a Make-up Revamp, But not at a department store. Find a make-up artist to properly and honestly assess your makeup and teach you how to apply an everyday look. If you attend a make-up clinic you can often bring your make-up bag and they’ll can help you figure out what products to toss and to keep.

Purchase on-trend accessories that say, ‘I’m in touch with what’s going on in fashion.’ Accessories are by far the quickest way to update your wardrobe and incorporate timely trends into it. Do not underestimate the impact a pair of shoes, a statement purse, and updated jewelry can add to all your looks. No need to spend a lot on these as they pass from fashion to fad quickly. By purchasing affordable items you can update your wardrobe again next season.

Purchase one complete outfit comprising of pieces that can be mixed with other items in your wardrobe. Mixing and matching, and getting creative with your separates is the surest way out of a rut. Use your imagination and play with blending different colors, textures, and silhouettes together.

THIRD

To ensure you do not fall back into a rut:

Add at least two new fashion elements to your wardrobe every season. Accessories and color can be added most easily.
Remember; less is actually more. Buy quality over quantity especially when it comes to major pieces of clothing (suits, jackets, pants and skirts).
Experiment with various wardrobe combinations and fashion looks. Don’t be afraid to add color and new shapes to your wardrobe.
Reassess your hairstyle and make-up reassessed at least every three years.
For every new fashion item, you add, retire an old one.
Base your wardrobe on at least two basic colors.
Try a new style at least once a year.
Enlist the help of a stylish looking friend and give them permission to tell you if something about you is starting to look a little ‘off.’ Hearing constructive criticism about your style, and adjusting accordingly is important in making sure that you don’t fall into a rut again.

FINALLY

Don’t try to radically alter your look overnight.

Think evolution not revolution.

It’s better and easier to make subtle changes over a period of time to help ease yourself and others into your new look. I know change takes courage. If you embrace change, you may really surprise yourself; and I know you’ll certainly surprise those around you.

Change is a natural part of life, and as you change over time, let your personal style follow suit.

Style is a representation of who you are at any given moment,
let it be an accurate and flattering image every single time.

Sep 20

SIMPLE STYLE TIPS TO LOOK GREAT EVERYDAY

By Ann Reinten | Colour, Coordination, Figure Flattery, How To..., Wardrobe Savvy | 2 Comments

Are there tricks to looking slimmer, taller, better?

Yes! In fact, using the following simple style tips you can achieve the look you want. All use design lines, colors, and fabric characteristics to enhance and/or minimize your appearance.

GET IN LINE

VERTICAL design elements slim and lengthen any area of the body they are worn on. The more vertical lines there are, the slimmer and taller you will appear. Vertical elements aren’t limited to vertical stripes. They include zippers, pants, monochromatic outfits and garments, open jackets, pleats, and center front buttons, which elongate your overall appearance.

HORIZONTAL design features add width to the area on which they’re worn. Working the opposite of vertical lines, they make you appear shorter and wider. Examples range from horizontal stripes to yokes, boxy skirts, belts, wide leg pants, and wide or contrasting waistbands. These appear to “cut” the appearance of the body into sections. A good rule-of-thumb to remember is that you will appear as wide as your widest hemline.

DIAGONAL design features run at an angle across the body, but follow vertical/horizontal illusions. If the angle is more vertical, the area appears taller and thinner. If the angle is more horizontal, the area appears shorter and wider.

CURVED/ROUND design elements add (surprise!) curves. While this sounds ideal if you’re going for a feminine look, know they also add width and weight, which is not ideal if you have ample sources of both. Floral, paisley, and swirly patterns, along with round necklines, curved hemlines, and contoured belts achieve the look.

TAKE A COLOR ADVANTAGE

Color is an easy device to use to maximize or minimize your size and manipulate your height (i.e. appear shorter or taller). Below are some simple style tips related to color.

Look at the following photos: in Photo A, the hips appear wider than in Photo C. Why is that? Light, bright colors “advance,” making the area they are worn over appear larger. Light colors worn on the upper half your body draw the eye upward, thus they also make you appear taller (Photo C). Dark colors “recede,” and do the exact opposite (medium depth colors have no movement effect). Darker colors also appear “heavier” than lighter colors and help you appear more balanced when worn on your lower half. Photos D & E show the slimming effect of the use of darker colors and low color contrast coordination (i.e. one continuous column of color). You must be naturally tall and slender to pull off the looks in Photos A and B.

There are some colors which suit almost everyone because they have certain characteristics:

They contain a little of the opposite temperature in the mix
Are medium-light to medium-dark
Are neither very bright (clear) nor very dull (muted)

These universal colors appear along with each new season’s crop of trend colors and are widely available. Here are just a few:

IMPLEMENT YOUR BEST SILHOUETTE

Besides using lines and colours to enhance your appearance, you must also consider a garment’s silhouette. The wrong silhouette for your figure can make even the cutest garment look bad. The right silhouette, however, can make you look great.

There are 4 silhouettes:

Very fitted: best for slender, youthful women with firm bodies because tight, clingy fabrics highlight every lump and bump.
Semi fitted: flattering on all women
Boxy & stiff: falls straight and stiffly and disguises the body’s shape. Best for straight-figured women under 45 years of age. A boxy jacket is best when it sits above the low hipline and hides a midriff roll or tummy. A boxy jacket can appear matronly on women 45+ years old if the jacket is longer or in an out-of-style colour.
Boxy & soft: made of a flowing soft fabric that’s flattering for all ages and weights, particularly on mature, full-figured women.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE

What turns plain old clothes into a winning outfit? A focal point! A focal point is anything which attracts attention: smoky eyes, hair highlights, a piece of jewelry, a print, shoes, a handbag. It’s intended to draw the eye to it.

If you’re not certain your attire has a focal point or if your intended focal point is appropriate, try this experiment: get dressed and stand in front of a full-length mirror. Close your eyes and then open them. What’s the first thing you notice? That is your major focal point. Now ask yourself if you want people looking there. Yes? Then you’re probably doing something right. No? It’s time to find another focal point.
If you’re big in the hips or posterior, you’ll want your focal point to be above the waist. If you’re large busted and wish to minimize your appearance, you’ll want your focal point below the waist. This can be done by counterbalancing a body feature by adding a competing focal point in the right place. See in the photo below that the hemline stripes of the blue dress are balanced by the red cardigan, while the striped top and yellow cardigan attract attention away from the bright pants.

Be on your guard against fussy looks by using less than three focal points. A great subject to study for how to achieve the 3-focal point or less look is the Duchess of Cambridge.

FIND FIGURE FLATTERING FABRICS

Fabrics come in three basic surfaces which alter the appearance of the garment and manipulate the size of the wearer. They are:

Matte surfaces: absorb light rather than reflect it (wool, most cottons, linen). Tend to make the wearer appear slimmer.

Fabrics with sheen: reflect light, thus appears to “advance” slightly, but will not add significant bulk to your size unless the garment is clingy or tight.

Shiny/sparkly surfaces; highly reflect light, thus appear to “advanced” greatly and enlarges the area it covers. Soft, shiny fabrics can also highlight every bump and lump.

(Purple dress by IGIG, Leggings by Asos, Jacket by Free People, & Jacket by Bloomingdales)

Besides its surface qualities, fabric weight and texture can be used to your advantage. For example, did you know you can “lose” a few pounds by wearing the right fabrics? Thin, lightweight, smooth fabrics cling to the body and have little bulk and texture, which visually slims your silhouette.

Firm, smooth fabrics are figure flattering when they echo the silhouette of your body (i.e. a tailored suit or leggings) but won’t necessarily minimize your figure.

Sheer fabrics are great for camouflaging challenge areas, such as a full upper arm, tummy, or full behind.

If you want to “bulk up” certain areas of your body, wear thicker, heavyweight fabrics, especially those with a bulky texture (corduroy, crinkled, quilted, ruffled, or fur).

4 SIMPLE TECHNIQUES

Every “body” is unique; therefore, what looks good on a celebrity or an acquaintance won’t necessarily flatter you. So before you try to copy a look you like, keep these 4 rules in mind for style success:

Slimline tops and bottoms work well together for a long, lean look.
A full skirt/pant is best worn with a slim top.
A full top is best worn with a slim bottom.
A full top and bottom usually doesn’t work well because they create a wide, shapeless look.