Friday Five: How to be one of the beautiful people
For reasons totally unclear to me, a lot of women I know turn to me for fashion and make-up advice. Some of them even ask me how I know so much about it. The answer is simple: I'm addicted to fashion magazines and I shop too much. This may be hard to believe, but through enough trial and error, you too can find the perfect mascara . . . or whatever it is you believe your look is missing.If you're looking for more "authoritative" advice, check-out some of the books below:
The Lucky Shopping Manual by Andrea Linett and Kim France includes a lot of good advice on how to build your wardrobe within your budget as well as how to pull-off styles that seem intimidating at first.
In Style: Secrets of Style might sound like a lie. After all, if it’s a published book, the contents are no longer secret, but the tips are still good. I really like the pointers about fashion etiquette for formal events and cocktail parties. Maybe you’re too sophisticated for that, but keep in mind that I’m a California girl. We’re low-maintenance: none of this dressing up for work so people can insult you while you wear uncomfortable clothes garbage. Oh, did that sound bitter? Perhaps because it was.
Bobbi Brown Beauty is one of those books that I don’t own and keep being too cheap to buy. The good news: you too can be too cheap to buy this book and still enjoy it because it’s in most public libraries.
How to Be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less is a terrific book. It made me cry for the future of our country though since I hosted an event where I invited the author to speak to college students about dressing for success and we gave away free copies of the book to attendees. Do I have empathy for undergrads moaning about student loan debt and buying clothes for work now? Let’s see, um, NO.
Lucky Magazine is my go to guide for budget shopping and fashion trends. They always include good tips on how to wear current looks in fashion and make-up and highlight a range of price points. I swear that I’m not trying to just put in plugs for Lucky. They’ve never done anything for me, in fact, they totally blew me off when I was putting together the aforementioned event in my college admin days, but I still love the magazine.