Fabulously Cheeky

Whether we like it, or not, we don’t live forever. Life is a cycle, and during this cycle, our coloring changes. In India, white is the color of death. Odd, you might say, since white is a color frequently worn in this culture. But, in India, they are more aware in many ways. They have observed how everything gets pale at the end of a life cycle. The leaves get pale before they fall, the hair gets pale, and so on. We must learn to embrace all the cycles of life. When our hair gets pale, it changes our natural coloring, and when that happens, we must change the colors we wear, too.

If you would like to keep wearing the same colors you have always worn, you must dye your hair and keep your eyebrows dark. If you go for this option, add up your numbers (CLICK HERE if you want to learn more about my new system for determining what colors to wear.) to see where you are at. For example, a person at the top end of the bright category, like a Japanese lady with black hair (8), black eyebrows (8) and pale skin (2), for a total of 18, will still stay in this category even when her hair turns gray. If her hair changes from an 8 to a 4, her numbers will still add up to 14 (so still in the bright range, which goes from 12-18). However, if someone is at the lower end of the bright category, she’ll end up in the muted category if her hair lightens a few shades, even if she keeps her eyebrows dark.

Using my number system to determine what colors to wear, makes it easy to decide what to do. Do you stay gray? Do you color? What colors do you want to wear, and what color hair and eyebrows do you need to be able to pull it off?

One of the things I see a lot, are women with grey or white hair and very light eyebrows trying to boost their coloring by wearing bright red lipstick, bright blush and bright clothes. Unfortunately, this creates a very dis-harmonious picture, and it doesn’t make anyone look younger to dress in bright colors if it no longer suits them.

The key is to dress within your color category. So, the first decision to make is whether to dye your hair or not. Before dying, add up your colors and see what category you are in right now. Then add up the colors for lightening or darkening your hair a few shades. Will a different hair color push you into a different category, or keep you in a category that you want to be in? Or, are you happy with your grey or white hair, no matter what category it takes you to?

Once you make your decision, add up your colors to find your new category, and keep your makeup and colors within this category for a harmonious and beautiful look. The most important thing is to darken your eyebrows a bit, even when your hair turns light. Eyebrows frame the face and really perks up your coloring. I like to do one of mine, just to see the difference, and it looks like half of my face has had a facelift! (And then I do the other one!) And whatever you do, don’t forget mascara and a little bit of smudged liner on your top lashes. It opens the eyes and defines them!

If your gray hair has pushed you into the pastel category, even with darkened eyebrows, use a light pastel blush, and a light color lipstick, as well as light colored clothing, and you’ll look fantastic!

As your coloring changes, your clothes and makeup has to change, too, but with my simple, but unique, system for determining what your best colors are, you can give yourself a makeover anytime you wish. No need for a color consultant! The fact is, you can look fantastic at any age, as long as you wear the right colors for you.
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Tags: grey hair, makeover, Makeup, What are my best colors to wear

Have you ever gone to the cosmetics isles looking for a lipstick, and not had a clue which color to buy? If you know what category your natural coloring belongs in, it doesn’t have to be too hard to pick a color that will work for you. (If you don’t know what category you belong to, CLICK HERE if you want to learn more about my new system for determining what colors to wear.)

The pastel category
If you belong to this category, you look best in light pinks, peaches and nudes. Stay away from anything too bright or too dark, since it will simply overpower your coloring.

The mid-range muted category
If you belong to this category, your coloring is very soft and delicate, and you may find it difficult to find a nice looking lip stick color. What you need is a color that is not too light (they wash you our), too dark (too much contrast) or too bright (totally overpowering). So, look for a color with medium darkness, as neutral as possible. People in this category look fabulous in neutrals and nudes. Stay away from any kind of fancy colors; they don’t suit you, it is as simple as that. Brown based, soft mauves and basic “close to lip color” lip sticks look best, especially if they are sheer. If you are a dramatic type with soft coloring, you might want to try using gloss to give your lips an extra zing, since you can’t get away with using strong color.

The bright category
You ladies are lucky, you can get away with whatever fun, bright colors you like. Stay away from muted neutrals and pastels, which don’t really fit your coloring. You can use corals, reds and berries. Lucky girls!

The dark muted category
You can use those lovely dark velvety colors that make us palefaces look like ghosts. Don’t even think of using pastels! Those light colors are all wrong for your coloring. You might be able to get away with some medium colored nudes and neutrals if you like lighter colors, but your best choices are dark muted colors. You may get away with bright red for night makeup, but make sure the red is a little bit muted, like a brick color. It will look a lot better than fire engine red!

The dark bright category
With your black hair, skin and eyebrows, you can basically wear any of the bright colors, as long as they are fairly dark. Stay away from pastels. The only way you can wear pastels is if you want to try a sheer pink gloss for daytime makeup.

This should help you zoom in on the colors that suit you the best, and you won’t end up with so many lipsticks that look awful after you put them on. (At least, now you know WHY they look aweful). But, before you go shopping for lipsticks, go through your makeup drawer and get rid of all the colors that don’t suit your natural coloring first. What is the point of keeping those? Just replace them with lipsticks from your own color category, and you’ll look fantastic! Forget about fashion! It is all about finding your own individual style with colors that suit you!
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Tags: What are my best colors to wear

This post is for the ladies in the bright color category, mainly ladies with dark hair and pale skin, or with medium blonde/brown hair and tan skin. (If you don’t know what category you belong to, CLICK HERE if you want to learn more about my new system for determining what colors to wear.)

The bright category goes from 12-18. If you belong to this category, and you are a working girl, you are in a strange dilemma. Even though bright colors look the best on you, you may be forced to wear muted neutrals and earth tones at work! Why do you think that is? I’ll tell you what I think – I think that conservative companies are afraid to have “wild women” running around, so they have to make sure you dress a little more subdued, a little more conservative! (More suppression of women, even today! They should be ashamed!)

What does conservative actually mean? It means that the old ways should be conserved. It means that they are not open to change. Women may finally be working side by side with men, but they are still working on their terms, so they still have to dress a certain way to fit in!

And, what exactly does your choice of clothing colors have to do with how competent you are and how you do your job? Absolutely nothing, actually. It is just another way to keep women in line so they don’t become a distraction to the other workers.

About 40-50 years ago, working women were stern looking spinster types who had dedicated themselves to being career women. They basically had to make a choice between being efficient working women and having a family life, so they weren’t focused on being attractive to anyone. But, it is different now.

Rebel, I say, it is time for things to change! There is no longer any need to make a choice between being gorgeous and being competent. Now you can be both, and if you are good enough at what you do, there is no way you’ll lose your job for wearing a red turtle neck instead of a camel suit. Dare to be vibrant! Dig out those bright colors that are hiding in the back of your closet, and let your true self shine through!
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Tags: Change, rebel, What are my best colors to wear

OK, so you have figured out what color category you are in (or, if you don’t know, CLICK HERE if you want to learn more about my new system for determining what colors to wear.)

The Pastel Category
So, what if your coloring belongs in the pastel category, but you love muted clothing? If you are just a couple of numbers away, you can bring yourself to the muted category by darkening your eyebrows two shades, and picking a medium colored muted lipstick. Or, you can darken your skintone one shade by creating a fake tan, or darken your hair slightly. Add up your numbers for hair, eyebrows and skin, and determine how you can bring the numbers up to a 9 or higher, and you’re good to go. The main thing to think about is to keep your makeup colors and your clothing colors in the same category.

For example, you should NEVER wear clothing in pastel colors with a bright colored lipstick! EVER!!! The colors will clash, and your style will be seriously damaged! In fact, if you are in the pastel category, stay away from bright colors, period! They wash you out. Unless, of course, you are into “Goth” and you want to balance out your pale coloring with black everywhere, especially around the eyes, and a big red mouth. But this look is not for everyone. If you want to enhance your beauty, stay with pastel clothing and makeup.

The first muted category
Here, your coloring is a little darker than the pastel category, but the coloring is still very soft. So, what if you belong to this category, and you happen to love baby blue clothes and bright red lipstick? Yikes!!! Don’t wear both at the same time! The pastel colors do not look good when mixed with brights!
On days when you want to wear pastels, put on a light pink or peach blush, and a light pinkish lipstick, and don’t darken the eyebrows more than absolutely necessary. Wearing clothing and makeup colors from the same category will tie it all together.

On other days, when you feel pale, and you want an extra pop of color on your face, stay away from pastels. Darken your eyebrows a few shades, use a stronger color blush, put your bright lipstick on and wear clothes in bright colors.

However, the most flattering thing to do is to stay within your own color category and pick both your clothing and makeup colors from the same category. If you are in the muted category, you’d be surprised to see how beautifully harmonious you look in muted colors. They may look dull and boring on anyone else, but if your natural coloring is muted, you simply look gorgeous in muted colors! Try it and see for yourself – burnt orange, brick, olive, dark khaki, camel, dusty blue, mauve and mustard. Lovely!

When it comes to the other categories, the bright category, the dark muted, and the dark bright, your coloring is strong enough to handle a few indiscretions. Just stay within some basic rules – don’t mix pastels and brigths, and don’t mix muted and brights.
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Tags: What are my best colors to wear

Have you ever heard statements that says that any woman can wear a bright red lipstick? Don’t believe it, it is pure nonsense! If a person in the wrong category wears a bright red lipstick, you will see the mouth and nothing else! If you want anyone to see the rest of your face, too, the color of your lipstick has to also match your natural coloring, it is as simple as that.

If you are in the pastel category, the only way you can carry off bright red lipstick, is if you really darken your eyebrows, wear black and put a lot of black around the eyes. (Think Madonna) This is a very dramatic look! If you want a lipstick color that works with your natural coloring, a soft pinkish pastel color will look much nicer.

What if you are in the muted category? Your best lip color is a mid-color in a muted or neutral red/browny/pink shade. If you want to wear bright red or coral, you’ll also have to darken your eyebrows quite a bit to be able to pull it off. If your numbers add up to 10 or 11, you can darken your hair color, and/or your eyebrow color, and you’ll find yourself in the bright category. So before you think about dying your hair, decide what kinds of colors you like to wear. If you love pastels, lighten your hair, and if you love bright colors, darken your hair!

Basically, any numbers 12 and higher can wear bright red lipstick if they wish, even though the numbers 19-21 look better in a dark, more muted shade of red. However, whatever color lipstick you choose, make sure you pick clothes from the same color category! For example, bright lipstick – bright clothing, muted lipstick – muted clothing. The lipstick doesn’t have to match the clothing, it just has to be from the same color category.

So, do the number test, (CLICK HERE if you want to learn more about my new system for determining what colors to wear.) Then, find your category and explore the colors within that category. Think both clothing and makeup.
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Tags: What are my best colors to wear

Every wardrobe needs neutral colors. Why? Because neutral colors match almost everything. The reason why women look into their bursting closets and say “I don’t have anything to wear!” is because each piece of clothing doesn’t fit with anything else. Unless you have things you can combine, you’ll never have anything to wear, no matter how much is in your closet.

The main neutral colors are black, white, gray and beige. Everyone can wear white, no matter what category they are in. If you are in one of the muted categories, you might look better in cream, off white or very light khaki instead, but that’s ok. You get the message – you need a light color that will tie your accent pieces together.

To determine whether the light or white color should be on your top or bottom, you need to remember what your figure is like. If you have a pear shape, you need your light colors on top. If your body is apple shaped, your light colors should be on the bottom. If your body is like a rectangle, you are better off wearing the same color on top and bottom. And the hourglass type can wear light colors any way they like.

Black is another great neutral, in fact it is my very favorite color. I read somewhere that black is the color of rebelliousness, and if that is true, it is no wonder that I love it so much. I must be insane, because I even wear it in the heat of summer! Black can be worn by almost anyone, no matter what their coloring is. My son is the lightest blonde you can imagine, with the palest skin, almost albino, and he looks fantastic in black, even though he belongs to the pastel category. The other day, I saw an older lady in the super market that I couldn’t take my eyes off. She had silver white hair, her eyebrows were nicely darkened, she wore a beautiful muted tone of lipstick and a black dress. She was so stunning that I couldn’t get over it! What style!!!

So, unless you feel comfortable only in pastel candy colors, make sure you have something black in your closet. If you don’t like black too close to the face, buy a pair of black pants, or a simple black skirt. You won’t be sorry, because every top you have in your closet will match it, and you’ll never have to say that you don’t have anything to wear again.

Beige is another great neutral. The only people who can get away with wearing nude beige close to their face is the pastel group, and the two darkest groups from 19-24. (CLICK HERE to learn more about my color system for determining what colors to wear). The rest of us have to be careful with this color close to the face. I belong to the first muted group, from 9-11, so I look best in a tan midcolor that is a little bit darker than my skin. If it is too similar to my skin color, it washes me out. Camel is also a good color for me. The people in the bright group, from 12-18, should look for brighter color choices – beige won’t do much to enhance their coloring. They would be better off with black as their main neutral, since black enhances any bright colors.

Gray is another neutral that we have to be careful with. Again, the pastel group looks great in gray. In the muted group, gray looks great on people with gray hair, or cool coloring, but washes out anyone with warm coloring. But, if you like gray anyway, you can always wear it as a skirt or pants, as long as you use it away from the face.

If your closet needs a makeover, the first thing you need to add is a good selection of neutrals, think black, white, beige, khaki, tan, and gray. Buy a few tops, pants and skirts in your choice of neutral colors, and then you can start putting outfits together. You’ll be surprised to see how many outfits you can actually create, once you add some basic neutral colored clothes to your wardrobe.
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Tags: What are my best colors to wear

Your best colors are colors that have the same intensity as your natural coloring. I have developed a simple numeric system that will tell you what your intensity level is like. All you have to do is to choose a number between 1 and 8 for your hair, eyebrows and skin color. 1 is the lightest blonde, and 8 is very dark or black. After adding up the numbers, you’ll get a number from 3 to 24.

Light Pastels:
In the first picture, I gave 2 for hair, 3 for eyebrows and 2 for skin, a total of 7. If your color value is between 3 and 8, you look best in pastel colors. Lipstick color should also be a pastel tone. If you want to wear darker colors, muted colors are your best choice, even though they will tend to make you look a bit dull. Stay away from bright colors, they will overpower your coloring.

Muted colors
In the second picture I gave 3 for the hair, 5 for the eyebrows and 1 for the skin color, a total of 9. If your color value is between 9 and 11, you look best in muted colors, the murkier the better. The girl in the picture looks lovely with her soft, muted makeup and bluish gray dress. She can also wear some pastel colors, preferably neutral colors like cream and khaki. Bright colors are not a good option. If you are in the muted range and want to wear bright colors, you have to darken the eyebrows more and wear a brighter lipstick to create more contrast in your coloring. However, muted colors complement your coloring better. Lipstick should also be soft and muted, but not too light.

Bright Colors
In the third picture I gave 8 for the hair, 8 for the eyebrows and 2 for the skin. If your color value is between 12 and 18, you look best in bright colors. This is why Chinese and Japanese clothes are so colorful. With their black hair and pale skin, they have enough contrast to be able to carry off very bright colors, as well as bright red lipstick. Muted colors should only be worn when the hair and eyebrows turn gray. Bright colors also fit a lot of people of Spanish heritage. Basically, anyone with dark hair and light skin can use bright colors, and also people with medium hair who are very tan. You can also wear pastels, as long as they are bright pastels, and not muted. Muted colors are more dull and conservative.

Muted Colors
In the fourth picture, I gave 7 for the hair, 7 for the eyebrows and 6 for the skin, a total of 20. If your color value is between 19 and 21, you look better in rich muted colors and dark, muted lipsticks. You don’t have the same contrast as the people in the bright category, so softer colors look better.

Bright Colors
In the fifth picture, I gave 8 for the hair, 8 for the eyebrows and 8 for the skin, a total of 24. If your color value is between 22 and 24, you look better in bright, rich colors. Your coloring is so strong that bright colors really complement your features. Muted colors are fine, too, even though they are a bit more dull. You can also use pastels for a very dramatic effect, especially white, cream and light tan.

Don’t worry about whether your coloring is warm or cool, as long as the intensity of the color is right.
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Tags: What are my best colors to wear

I was in my late twenties when one of my clients had just been certified as a color consultant with Color Me Beautiful. These are the people who try to fit everyone into seasons. If I remember right, Summer is cool pastels and muted darks, Winter is bright cool colors and also icy pastels, Spring is warm bright colors, and Autumn is warm muted colors.

She worked on me for hours, holding up big pieces of fabric and trying to decide what category I fit into. The truth is, I didn’t really fit into any of those categories. She thought I was a Spring, even though lime green looks awful on me and teal blue kills my blue eyes. Olive green from the Autumn category looks great on me, as well as burgundy from the Summer category, and my very favorite color, black, from the Winter category!!! Poor lady, I think I was a difficult case!

Since then, I was trying to stick with warm colors, even though I noticed that I look awesome in dusty grey blue, which is a cool color. My husband also kept telling me that I look aweful in bright red, which is a warm color. So none of this made any sense to me. I had to figure out why!

After mulling over this for ages, I realized that it has to do with intensity. You have to match the intensity of your natural coloring with the intensity of the clothing colors. It is as simple as that.

What this means is that if you have soft coloring, you need to dress in soft colors. If your coloring is strong, you need strong colors. If it is light, you look better in pastels, and if you are very dark, you look best in strong, dark or very bright colors.

Forget about warm or cool colors. Even though I have warm coloring, I also have blue eyes, so I can actually wear both, provided the intensity of the color is just right. So, I developed a numerological system for figuring out what category you belong in.
More about my new super simple system tomorrow.
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Tags: What are my best colors to wear

I remember having a teacher who was probably less than 40 at the time, but he used to wear the kind of baggy, shapeless pants with suspenders that my grandfather wore, who was almost twice his age. It made him look dated and old, even though he probably wasn’t very old at all. His choice of pants actually made it hard to even determine what his age was.

It is too easy to get stuck in some kind of time warp. You found a dress that you loved 30 years ago, and you just can’t bear to throw it out. Well, guess what; even if it still fits you, it won’t look as smart now as it did then. In 30 years, things have changed, both personally and in the world of fashion. What worked 30 years ago, or even 10 years ago, looks dated and frumpy now.

So, if you have anything in your closet that is more than 10 years old, get rid of it! I don’t care what it is (unless it is really a timeless classic) – every decade a girl needs a complete makeover!

Over time, we change in so many ways. That midriff that used to look so cute, may be better off behind some flattering clothing now. That super short skirt should perhaps be replaced with one that is a little longer now. Or, you may realize that the deep plunge neckline you used to love, actually doesn’t look quite as flattering any more. Or, perhaps you are a bit curvier now, and need clothing that flatters your new curves. Every decade (or even more often), all of these issues have to be re-evaluated with great honesty. Get a second opinion from an honest girl friend if you can, and if you are courageous enough to really hear the truth, ask your own daughter! Then throw away everything that doesn’t work, and write a list of what you need now.

Knowing your horizontal and verical body type is really helpful. Now you know what lengths your skirts, pants and tops have to be, and which part of your outfit that has to be a dark color or a lighter color. You also know which parts that has to be fitted and which parts should be loose.

Knowing all of this makes it much easier to pick something that flatters your body type, and is still in fashion. This way, you don’t have to be a “fashion slave,” wearing clothing that doesn’t flatter you just because it is “in.” No, we have to know what will enhance our best features, and then look for that, and disregard everything else. That way, you can use fashion to your advantage by creating a clothing style that is uniquely yours, but still fashionably up to date.

Tomorrow, I will talk about a completely new system I have developed that makes it easy to determine what are your best colors to wear. Forget about “Seasons” and “Sunset Colors” – my system is better because it is easy to use, and it works!
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Tags: Body Type, Clothing Style, Create Your Own Clothing Style, Fashion, makeover, What are my best colors to wear