How to Camouflage Your Problem Areas

Jacob & me at a Buckeye game

Do you have at least one area of your body that you wish you could "fix" . . . or maybe tone up or hide?  Of course you do- it's something each memeber in the human species has in common.  So unless you are willing to take drastic measures to shed some extra pounds the right way (remember, thin doesn't =tone) or weight lift to tone up, consider a few ways you can use your clothing to enhance your best features and camouflage the areas that bother you.

For example, if you hold your weight in the hip and butt area, you need to be looking for wide-legged trousers from the widest part of the hip straight down.  This gives your legs a longer, leaner appearance.  Tapered leg jeans will only make you look disproportionate and emphasize a wider thigh.  Heels are also great to create a longer leg line by changing your body posture by throwing your shoulders back, making you look slightly longer and leaner overall.  Even the tiniest heel can help! 

If you are more of an apple shape holding most of your weight in the stomach area, look for a great structured jacket.  Jackets can be used to hide that unwanted belly fat and gives you shape and curves.  However, if you don't want to wear a jacket, look for a dress or top with ruching and a higher waist line.  If you have large bust ladies, this is wear a good-fitting bra comes in handy!  You want to hold the girls in place giving your waist definition and keeping the attention towards your face.  Find a shirt with a deep v-neck to draw the eyes upward away from your torso.  If you notice the v-neck may be too revealing and uncomfortable, wear a tank top underneath. 

Find pieces that you like and that make you feel comfortable in your own skin.  No BODY is perfect so find clothing that makes you feel beautiful and radiant!  The power lies in attention to details. 













Are you a LUSH?

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift this season but tired of the same old thing?  Some of my favorite gifts to give each year are. . . LUSH.  Check out the various LUSH products for your body, hair, and skin at the LUSH website.

Fashion is more than the clothes we wear or the accessories we choose. Fashion includes how we present ourselves, our overall style and attitude. Taking care of your hair, skin, and health is a very important part of having good style.
 
LUSH products are made from fresh organic fruits and vegetables and are filled with antioxidants that are good for your mind, body and spirit.  My personal favorite is the Rub Rub Rub shower gel.  It's an exfoliant and cleanser all in one.  When my sister was pregnant I made up a gift basket for her filled with all the things pregnant women want: specially selected bath bombs for relaxing baths, buffy body butter to keep her skin supple and moist, Wiccy Magic Massage Bars to relieve tired muscles and Therapy Message Bars to help strengthen the elasticity of the skin.

It's a great gift for any occasion since you can personalize the products you choose for you or someone special!  And it's really cool to see what ingredients are used to make your products of choice.  

Where to Draw the Line



What NOT to do


Women too commonly make the MAJOR mistake of putting on a nice pair of dress pants or a semi-sheer skirt and forget to pay attention to the details- like visible panty lines.  OMG!  Nothing is more unflattering to a great figure at any size or detracts from a great outfit than visible panty lines!  It creates a 'bubble-butt' effect instead of a streamline appearance to your derrière . 

The solution: go find yourself a couple pairs of v-strings or thongs.  Victoria's Secret makes quite a few that are very comfortable and seamless.  Pay attention to how you display your backside.  It is the last impression you leave when you exit the room, you know.

Jeans 101: Accentuate your ASSetts

Jeans are a staple in every man and woman's wardrobe.  But how much do you really know about jeans?  Well let's find some points we can all agree on: they are usually made of denim, most jeans have back pockets, cut and styles vary, and every American owns, on average, 7 pairs of wearable jeans.  Remember these thoughts May 20th every year, considered the official "birthday" of jeans thanks to Levi Strauss.

There is more to jeans than stitching, color, wash of the denim and what brand it is.  It's all in the "fit" for your body type.  It's my personal belief that when you find a great pair of jeans that fit you just right and make your butt look exceptional than price is not a factor.  Just throw those sexy denim up on the counter for purchase!  Why?  Because it is so hard to find a great pair of jeans that accentuate your curves and make you feel and look fabulous.  For example, look at the back pockets of your jeans (or maybe lack of pockets).  Back pockets are really key to making your derrière look it's best.  If you have a full-figured bottom, than you need to be purchasing denim with pockets, no questions asked!  HOWEVER, pockets that are too big make your bottom look larger than it actually is, drawing attention to an area you may want to downplay.  Likewise if the pockets are too small . . . your behind may actually appear larger.  If you are self-conscious about your behind, avoid flashy designs and beading altogether.

Consider too, if you have wider hips you may want to avoid pockets that are off center and stitched farther apart.  These will tend to make you look . . . well . . . wider.  Flashy designs can be okay, but consider if you are wide and full-figured or wide and smaller-featured?  If you are fortunate to have a nicely shaped derrière, you can get away with larger pockets and designs.  If you have a small or flat bottom, avoid big pockets to avoid giving yourself no shape at all.  You want to enhance all your features to look your best.  Use your judgement and ask yourself before you purchase your next pair of jean, "What are these jeans saying about me?  Do I feel confident wearing them"?

The topic of jeans and its multiple styles is endless.  But take this "tip" of the iceberg and consider it.  A great pair of jeans with the right sized pockets are key to making you look the best so when you walk out of a room you're noticed for your ASSets.

Give Thanks . .

Me and my husband, Jacob

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to you!

Busting out?

My girl Stella Artois!

Breasts. Boobs. Bazooms. Call 'em what you like, every lady has 'em. Large or small, they're a fact of life. For the fashion conscious - or fashion unconscious - finding the right clothes start with finding the right fit for your figure.

 

When it comes to buying shirts for a well-endowed bust, keep a few things in mind while you're shopping on Black Friday.  If you are larger chested, you need to buy shirts that fit the largest part of you.  This is key to making you look your best and slimmest to show off that figure beyond your breasts.  This may mean that you have to go up a size if a shirt is pulling at your bust's seams. That's okay!  Really!!!  Once you find a size that fits you and looks age appropriate, then you simply take your shirt into the tailor and have her alter the shirt to fit your body type.  If you buy shirts that are too small, you are actually drawing attention to the areas you may not want to, thus making you appear larger overall and perhaps disproportionate.  Ladies, this is not sexy!  However, if you buy a larger shirt that covers your bust area and then have the shirt tailored, you are creating the 'hour glass figure' we all strive for.  Sexy kittens . . . meow! 

 

A WORD OF CAUTION:  The first step is finding the appropriate size bra that holds the girls in place and in the upright position.  Your bra strap should not be riding up your back trying to hold up those melons in the front.  That's actually the first sign of the wrong size bra not providing enough support.  And, let's be honest.  Don't we all want a little support from our friends in life?  Then what's wrong with support from our friend "the brazier?"  Usually if your bra is struggling to keep the girls in place from the back, then you can be certain the girls are not where they should be positioned in the front. 

 

So as you start planning your holiday shopping excursions, keep these tips in mind.  Your look will be more figure friendly with the right bra and the right size shirt!  Happy shopping!!

"This...stuff?"

Somebody asked me today, "Why fashion?  What is so important about fashion."  Fashion is more than just fashion- it's creativity, design, individuality and art that you wear.  I was watching the movie, The Devil Wears Prada last night and this sceen and monologue summed it up for me.

Andy Sachs: 'You know, it's just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. You know, I'm still learning about all this stuff and, uh...

Miranda Priestly: 'This... stuff'? Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.'

Shoes 101

Don't you wish you could look instantly slimmer?  Well you can and it's as easy as the pair of shoes you wear!  If you want to look taller and slimmer, you need to wear a pointed toe shoe with a heel.  It's that easy!  By putting on a pointed shoe vs. a round or square toe one creates the illusion of a longer and leaner leg.  If you think you are already tall enough and you're just trying to appear slimmer, you can still wear a pointed toe- just skip the heel.  Aren't flats great??  And comfy!! 

No question a heel can help dramatically, but I understand if you are on your feet all the time and it may not be that practical to wear heels all day.  However, consider that if you wear backless or slingback shoes instead of pumps, it still creates a longer, thinner leg.

Men, this is for you.  Get rid of the chunky round toe shoes (Actually, this goes for us, too girls).  That phase is done and gone.  1995 called and wanted your Doc Martins back!!  If you have chunky ankles, avoid thick shoes or sandals.  And shy away from sandals with ankle straps. The ladies will thank you.

Last but not least, women you are not fooling anyone when you wear stilettos to an event and are unable to appear as if you're walking comfortably.  If you cannot pull off the stilettos, wear a smaller heel.  In order to be fashionable, you have to be able to pull off the look.  If you look great in your clothes but cannot walk and strike a pose, keep on shopping!

Passion for fashion



Faye with Cocoa Chanel

 Passion for life, passion for success, and a passion for fashion is never a far thought from my mind.  I think the world should be pretty.  Not like flowers and rays of sunshine in a utopian world where nothing bad happens in life and there is no sense of reality.  I mean every person deserves to take the time for themselves to pay attention to the way they dress, what/who they are representing and what is it they are trying to say by the clothes they wear, the style of their hair, the shoes that they pick and the bags that they carry.  First impressions still matter!

It's important for each woman and man to have a sense of their own unique fashion style.  Once you've achieved this, your clothes start to resemble your personality, your house and it's accessories start to take on there own character, your hair color and style start to become it's own "you" look.  But how does one find this?  Well you have trust your instincts and choose clothes, items and accessories based on what YOU like and what makes YOU look best.  If you try to duplicate another, you can never conquer who YOU are.

I'm not a big believer in over-doing your look.  Most of the time I think less is more.  It's like make-up.  If you enhance your eyes then you go more subtle on the color of your lips.  Fashion is the same.  If you are wearing an embellished top, then stick to a neutral pant or skirt.  You pick a focal point in your outfit or make-up and you let the rest of your attire be subtly noticed.  Too many times I walk by women wearing the same print on top as the bottom, making them look less fashionable and more like a walking mistake.  And don't get me started about hair.  I've seen hair cuts, as have you, that are more offensive and jaw dropping than someone sleeved in tattoos walking around bleach blonde hair and bad roots!  Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't changed your hair style in the past 5 years then HERE IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!  Regardless of the time since you've changed your hair style or cut, it's never a bad idea to occassionally change your look.  Fashion changes and so do hair styles.

In my blog I hope to reach men and women to discuss fashion and the "do's and don'ts" that encompass fashion.  Fashion is just not a pair of jeans or a nice sexy top.  It's the objects you buy for your home, the make-up you place on your face and the clothing articles and accessories you purchase.  I love my own personal style, and I have the personality to match!  And I want to help anyone out there who will listen!  I have a keen eye for detail and that's what makes me different from other "fashion consultants."  Cheers to us and our new journey!