The #1 Way to Add Instant Style to Any Look

“You have witchcraft in your lips....”

— Henry V

Sweater: Zara

White shirt: H&M

Lipstick: MAC Rubywoo

Doing this one thing will add instant style and glamour to your look, no matter what you’re wearing or how you’re feeling. You could be dressed to the nines, out on the town in your best outfit, or running errands in leggings, a t-shirt and a baseball cap, having had only a couple hours of sleep. It doesn‘t matter. Doing this one thing will pull your entire look together, no matter the situation.

So, what is it, you ask?

Well, the next time you want to snazz up your look, simply add a red lip. Yes, it‘s truly that simple! Find a color that suits you, (Mac’s Ruby Woo is fabulous on ANY skin tone…..like, I’m serious…) line your lips in a lip pencil that is a similar shade (this will ensure the staying power of your red lippie..), and then rock your lipstick.

The great thing is, whether you’re wearing a full face of makeup, or nothing but moisturizer, this red lip will not only look fabulous, but make you feel fabulous, too. (Hidden Bonus: Red lipstick makes your pearly whites appear even whiter!) Now, what’s not to love about that!

Thanks for stopping by! XOXO

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Damn! You are so skinny!

Recently, I went to a Thai restaurant to have lunch. I’d been to this particular restaurant several times in the past, however, this was the first time I had seen this particular waitress. As she was taking me to an available table, she exclaimed quite shockingly, “Wow, you are sooo skinny!” I’m going to assume that because English wasn’t her first language (it was quite obvious), that she didn’t realize using the term skinny has a negative connotation. And using it with strangers can come across as off-putting and rude. However, while taking all of that into consideration, and assuming she had no intentions of being rude to a paying customer, I simply smiled and said, “Yes, that’s true.”

Dress: Athena procopiou (I don’t think dress is available anymore.)

Shoes: Gucci Ace Sneakers

Purse: Gucci

Photo credit: BT

You see, this has been happening my entire life. I am really very, very naturally thin. I basically have been the same size my entire teenage, young adult, and now middle-aged adult life. I cannot tell you the countless times I´d been teased growing up because of my weight. As a child I was called Olive Oyl…remember her? :-) I was also a cheerleader from age 7-18 and of course those skimpy cheerleader uniforms just accentuated my skinniness even more. All of the other cheerleaders had curves by then, and I was still “straight up and down” as they used to say back when I was young. My mother even thought that after I had a baby, I would do as she did, and gain a lot of weight. She, too, had been thin as a child and as an adult before she had children. However, after I had my child, I snapped right back to the exact same size I had always been.

I guess people who know me and have known me my whole life aren’t really fazed by how thin I am. They don’t even notice. And quite frankly, most times, neither do I. But, in today’s society of enhanced body parts, my lack thereof, may seem strange to some people. And the fact that I embrace how I am, and don’t strive to look like what society deems is “perfect” at whatever given moment may also be a factor. I am naturally the way I am. And that suits me perfectly.

The quote above is Shakespeare´s Sonnet 130, and it is mainly discussing people’s perception of what beauty is. What is our standard of beauty? Why are we always striving to fit a standard that is ever-changing, and is quite frankly a hollow template that cannot possibly contain all of the greatness we are? This lady (the Dark Lady, she’s called) that the person in the poem is describing has none of the attributes that make a woman “beautiful”, and yet he is deeply in love with her. He basically is putting his middle-finger up to society and it’s bogus beauty standards.

I’m not putting my middle finger up to society in this blog post…lol…but I do want to stress that we should all be comfortable the way we are. If you want to change something for you, that’s great, but don’t try and fit into society’s fickle perception of who you should be at any given time. When those thoughts start creeping in…that’s when you get those middle fingers ready!!! ;-)

Thank you for stopping by….XOXO!

Fakin’ the Funk: My winter blues…

“How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December’s bareness every where! ”

— Sonnet 97 (Shakespeare)

I didn’t want to succomb to it. Succomb to the blah feeling, the feeling of zero energy, the feeling of wanting to stay in my pyjamas and pretend that I’m the star of that Twilight Zone episode where I’m, mysteriously, the only person left on this plane(t)…as well as Netflix…:-) I honestly DID NOT. I wanted to embrace this winter season in all of its fluffy white snow, beautiful snow-filled landscapes, imbibe the chilly, crisp air into my lungs….and look stylish all the while doing it. That was my honest-to-goodness plan. Well, it’s already February…and my zealousness has definitely waned….and I’m being very generous with that statement.

My stylish factor, though, has remained high through this loooooong winter, because I believe in that tried but true statement: FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT. For me, I find that if my mood isn’t as fabulous as what I look like, looking fab gives my mood a chance to catch up.

Outside of checking my favorite online stores for the new Spring/Summer/Cruise collections that are flooding my inbox, and yes, getting doorbell rings with packages that contain lovely boxes tied with ribbon that contain clothes and maybe shoes from the aforementioned collections, I realize the most important thing: Life is literally a sine wave. It dips….it fluctuactes…it regenerates….it resurrects…it revives…it recharges. Everything is always in motion. Everything. And in that…we can all take comfort in knowing that said funk will be gone!

Bern, Switzerland (PC: my bestie…S.S.)

I’m a tad bit late…but HAPPY “NEW YEAR!” (Snapchat filter)

Thank you for stopping by…..:-)