A New Blog to Add to My Favorites

I saw this blog in Bloggers featured space.

No wonder it is featured. It looks really excellent.

It is indeed Flawless Beauty. I think I will be returning there often.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

Yay!!! It is finally Christmas day.

We had a great time last night. Santa came right on schedule. Well, actually he surprised us all and showed up while we were downstairs playing Killer Bunnies. (An amazing card game that we have been playing for several years that really can't be explained. It just has to be experienced.)

That really made my 10 year old's day. He actually got his Rock Band game. Santa comes through again.

The rest of us also received amazing gifts and remembered how lucky we are to have each other.

I hope everyone else was able to have just as pleasant a Christmas as we did. Now on to the New Year!!!

All Made Up

As promised I got my make-up done today.

I think I am pleased. (My Honey will not be because the cost of the product that I couldn't live without was more than the cost of the spa package in the first place. But . . . hey (shrug shoulders in what I hope is a brave way) . . . that's quality make-up. Right?

My make-up artist was very knowledgeable and very perceptive. (I like that in a woman who is going to help me recreate myself.)

She "prepared my skin for the make-up" by putting on moisturizer and an eye cream (that, looking back, I should have bought). Then she created a foundation that is custom blended to match my skin tone. I like that. It is mineral based which means that it is light and breezy. I'm a big fan of the mineral make-up.

She did my eyes in a semi-smoky style but with neutral colors. I like them. They really pop.

She did something really interesting with my lips. She lined them. Then she put a gloss over them. No lipstick. It looks really cool.

I wanted to take pictures to show you haw great this looks, but, as usual, I am not getting shots that do it justice.

Only my Honey takes good photos of me these days. But he is always at work, so it is hard to get him to take pictures when I want them. (He will see the bill for this make-up and announce that he is going to have to be at work even longer to fuel my make-up habit.)

However, I am presenting myself to the public more and more often and I need to be presentable.

Getting My Make-up Done

Tomorrow I will be finishing off my Spa Essentials Package at Mario Tricoci's by getting a Make-up Application. I called the salon so that I would not be surprised by the services I received.

"Hi, I have an appointment tomorrow morning to complete my Spa Essentials Package by having my make-up done. I was wondering what that service entails," I said.

The receptionist described it to me. "Well, you're scheduled for the half-hour make-up application," she said.

"OK," I said. "I'll tell you what I am looking for. I want to totally re-vamp my make-up look. Do I want to stick with this service, or do I want to upgrade to the next level?"

"The next level is an hour long make-up lesson,"she said.

"How is that different form the half-hour application?"

"With the application, they put the make-up on you. With the lesson, they do one side and have you do the other. It's like a lesson."

"OK. I guess I'll just stick with what I have," I said, feeling less enlightened than when I started out. I'm willing to spend the money, if I will come out looking brand new. I guess if I don't like what I get, I'll just go to the mall.

Maybe I'll do that anyway.

Virtual Model

I spent most of Yesterday playing with My Virtual Model as you can see over there on the right. While she doesn't look exactly like me, she comes close at least body-wise, and I did enjoy putting together outfits from the rather limited selection.

So far H&M, Sears, Lands End, and Couture Candy have put items online for viewing.

I did have some issues with selecting an outfit, then having the computer substitute this frumpy pair of pants for whatever I had chosen. I also couldn't get it to let me leave a blouse un-tucked if that was my desire.

Otherwise it was a pretty fun toy. It will be neater as more suppliers give them clothes to work with.

It kind of inspired me to think about cruising my real closet and putting together some outfits there myself. (A task/adventure that I have been putting off for way too long.)

The Fairy Stylist Mother Smiled

In my last post about age appropriate dressing, I wished whole heartedly that the Fairy stylist mother would wave her wand over my closet and make it perfect. Well . . . she didn't do that, but the next day I found an e-mail addressed to me from Brenda Kinsel whose work has often given me an answer to my fashion confusion prayers over the past year.

If you read her comment, you will discover that she has a new book out: Brenda Kinsel's Fashion Makeover: 30 Days to Diva Style! (That link will lead you to Amazon)

On its own just being contacted by her would be exciting enough, but she has actually agreed to place a post on this site every now and then too.

It can't get much more fun than this!

What is Age Appropriate?

I ask myself that question all the time. The horrible thing is, I never thought I would. I have always had my mother there to, very happily, tell me that I was not dressing my age.

It used to be that I was dressing too maturely: "You can't go out wearing that tight black mini-skirt and a lacey tank top. You are only fourteen! Do you want the boys to think you're easy?" Well . . . Yeah! Duh! But she would never buy that and she would follow me around 'til I changed.

A few years ago, shortly after my divorce it went like this: "Are you sure you want to go to your son's school play dressed in that black mini-skirt and lacey tank top?What do you think you are 20?" Well . . . Yeah! Duh! But she would never buy that and her voice would haunt me 'til I changed. Who ever said that dressing immaturely would be a problem? I live by my father's adage: "Dress young and act immature and no one will ever know how old you are."

My mother, maddeningly, was often right in her assessments. I can see that in hindsight.

Now I don't even need her. (Though she still will willingly offer her insight, if I ask her.) Every time I go out to buy a new outfit, I hear this voice say: "So are you really going to buy that? How pathetic are you? Do you think that will make you look even 25 again?" The voice (far harsher than my mother's) gets louder the more excited I am about my new look.

I believe my fashion barometer is slightly off because I work with a group of totally fashion conscious 17 year-old girls. My living example of "looking good" is what I see on these girls. I don't want to dress like a 17 year old, but a lot of the things they wear, I find very appealing.

Combine that with a total natural love of hip huggers and rayon and soft flowy fabrics and hippy things and I become a schizophrenic fashion disaster waiting to happen. The other day I got up (very early in the morning, thinking strictly of comfort to get me through the day) picked out a pair of black jeans; a purple, sort of tie-dyed long sleeved knit shirt; and a black, flowing sweater coat. I thought, in my half-groggy state, that I would pull it together with this green crocheted head band by scrunci.

I pulled it together alright. I pulled it all the way back to 1968. Then to top it off I had to go to an important meeting in the afternoon that I was not thinking about at 5 a.m. when I was dressing myself. Thankfully, most of the people in the meeting knew me, so my credibility was not absolutely lost.

But, my natural need for that hippy, artsy, creative look makes me wonder if I am turning into one of those middle aged hippy chicks that populate the arts community. They are very fine, down to earth, lovable women, and I would choose them over some other kinds of women every moment of the day, but I don't want to get pegged in that hole. Think Dharma's mom, Abby, on Dharma and Greg.

But, you know, that is not a bad stereotype to be put in, either. Maybe I have to just give in.

I have to start reading Brenda Kinsel again and get back in touch with where I want my image to head.

OH . . . Why won't the Fairy Stylist-Mother come wave her wand over my closet and give me clothes I look hot and impressive in, that are suitable for any occasion, and don't make me wonder what message I am sending to the world? That would be the best thing for me.

Anyway, I went looking around to see if others are having this trouble with being age appropriate. Kim Johnson Gross of More.com had this to say:

Our generation is redefining the concept of aging, just as we've redefined everything else. Style after 40 is not about competing with your daughters or dressing like the girl you were 20 years ago; it's about dressing like the girl you are now. If you prefer a scoop neck or a short skirt, how much of you you show is your decision. What really matters is that you feel as comfortable in your clothes as you do in your skin.

I like that conclusion. I forget that point a lot of the time. So many times I am fighting against this imaginary 25 year old that will steal everything I have if I am not vigilant. I am so afraid that my Honey, who fully knows how old I am and chose me over all the 25 year olds out there, will figure out that I am not 25, come to his senses and this wonderful life we have built will be gone. Where does that come from?

(Oh yeah! TV, Movies, the Internet . . . magazines, novels, the Bible. I need to make a note to myself to stay away from those things.)

I need to start having confidence in myself. Most of the time I do. I have a mantra that I recite when I start to feel down, or try to talk myself out of my Remodeling program. (It is still on-going, just not at the same speed as during the summer. I'm a bit busy these days.) I'm beginning to be more comfortable in my own skin and with my own likes and dislikes. I just have to learn to trust them and my instincts more.

I still have so many years of overcoming my Mother's voice to combat, and a lot of clothes she gave me with the assurances that they were far more appropriate than my tastes. (Remember she is very often quite right.)

Still I take heart in this quote from Kim Johnson Gross' piece:

The style-confident women I know say that the idea of age-appropriate dressing has no meaning for them; it's more about body-appropriate dressing. My friend Susan, an independent, creative mother of four, recently did a major purge of the dowdy clothes in her closet, most of which her mother had given her. "I kept them for years, thinking I would wear them when I turned 50," she says. "But 50 came and went, and I realized they still look dowdy -- and I don't."