Improvability newsletter
The power of
looking good
1st August 2008
In this issue:
1. The
power of looking good
2. More
style, hair and fashion tips
If your email program has difficulties with HTML messages you can now access this Improvability newsletter published 1st August 2008 for a short while at http://www.improvability.co.uk/newsletter
To paraphrase the Bard
himself:
To make up, or not to make up?
The majority of women look SO much better with make-up than without it but you absolutely do not need to slap it on with a shovel for make-up to make a difference to your confidence. Image: courtesy TrueCover
I have deliberately chosen a 'before and after' photo example here where the hairstyle has not been titivated up for the 'after' photo and where the 'before' photo does not make our subject look utterly hideous to start with. This lady looks lovely without make-up, but with her make-up on I think she looks so much more alive, healthier and confident.
Confidence - that's what all this stuff is about, isn't it?
Looking good makes you feel good and then you feel radiantly confident. When you look good - when you know you look the best you possibly can - you can forget about the outside and concentrate on being you. Make-up is just one of the tools to help you look and feel more confident.
You might think you were put on this planet to go shopping but you were really put here to learn.
I learnt the hard way
When I was training to be a colour consultant all those hundreds of years ago, my teacher sent three of us to our local upmarket department store.
In those distant days of yore, upmarket meant properly upmarket and not middle-of-the-road, average, the-same-as-everyone-else, headache-inducing-thumping-music-blaring, uninspiring, oversized department stores with never-to-be-found-when-you-need-one assistants who've got about as much interest in you, the customer, as they have in a spider climbing up the wall. But I digress, as usual...
We arrived at said store dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, trainers, a casual outdoor jacket (I can't bring myself to say the word 'anorak' or I may have to shoot myself at the very thought) and no make-up. We had been instructed to go up the escalator to the first floor where the 'very nice but pricey' clothes were, select a few items, and wait for a sales assistant to show us to the changing rooms.
'Wait' for a sales assistant, indeed! There wasn't a one to be seen. The minute we three arrived, all the 'nice' sales assistants disappeared completely. We couldn't get served for love nor money!
We met up with our teacher for a coffee to discuss our miserable shopping experiences, and were despatched forthwith to the ladies' room to get changed.
Wearing skirts and a more formal jacket, court shoes and make-up, we sailed up the escalator, all of us looking and feeling much more confident. And this time, we only had to stretch out our hands towards a rail of clothes before a charming, immaculately-dressed, properly-trained sales assistant was asking, "Perhaps I could help take these clothes to the changing room for you?"
So what had caused this miraculous change of attitude?
Well, it certainly wasn't our ACTUAL financial status. Whether I was dressed in jeans or in more formal attire, I still only had about three and sixpence in my pocket. I couldn't have afforded to buy lunch in that place, never mind a Jean Muir outfit. What had changed was the impression I was creating.
- Wearing jeans and trainers, I looked as though I only had three and sixpence to my name
- Wearing a jacket and make-up, I looked as though I could actually afford to buy the 'very nice but pricey' clothes
You've
probably seen the film 'Pretty Woman' with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
Ms. Roberts plays Vivian, 'a lady of the night'. How do you know this?
The moment she walks on screen she is wearing very little, mostly in plastic
and in glaring colours, with lashings of lipstick and a sassy walk. Oh,
and the classic way for a Hollywood director to indicate to the audience
that this new character that has just arrived on screen is a hooker or
some other form of low life is for her to be chewing gum with her mouth
open - and it's amazing how many women just don't see the connection with
their own image here! But I digress again...
Mr. Gere's character. Edward, needs Vivian to look very glamorous and chic for an evening with business guests and he sends her out to buy an outfit with her pockets full of money. She wanders into a very classy boutique on Rodeo Drive; the snooty assistants take one look at her tarty attire and tell her to leave. To them, Vivian looks as though she has no business being in a shop where the labels alone cost 500 dollars each (perhaps I exaggerate slightly?), and they assume that she couldn't possibly afford their prices.
Big mistake!
Vivian has actually got more money in her pockets than they could earn in a month but she doesn't look as though she's got more than a few dollars to her name.
To cut a long story short, she gets some help and Edward spends a fortune on new clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. and she calls in to see the snooty assistants, dressed like a million dollars. Once again, I paraphrase - this time because I can't remember the exact words she utters but it went something like, "Are you on commission?" And as they take in her new, classy image, you can see the light dawning that they missed out on the commission day of their dreams when they turfed Vivian out of their shop.
But don't get all hoity-toity about this, thinking that you'd never, ever treat anyone the way that those snooty assistants did.
The fact is that we all judge people by how they look.
You may not agree with it. You might be stomping up and down the room right at this moment, shouting about how ludicrous this is, and that we are all beautiful inside and it shouldn't matter what the so-and-so we wear....
But it does.
And you are not going to change the behaviour patterns of billions of people on the planet overnight just by getting steamed up about it.
What you can learn instead is how to use this information to your advantage.
Because what you wear tells other people how to treat you
If you want people to treat you with respect and courtesy, then dress well. Comb your hair, clean the grime from under your nails, shave under your armpits if you intend to wave to the crowds, shower regularly and use deodorant, wear colours that make you look healthy, choose styles that show off your best features, and apply a smattering of make-up to look alive.
If you're not bothered about other people treating you with courtesy, etc. then what are you reading this for?
- Look a scruff - be treated like a scruff
- Look like you took the time, and other people will give you their time
Wearing
just a smattering of make-up, even just a slick of lipstick, is a really
quick way to help you feel better about how you look:
- You will look healthier
- You will feel more confident about your appearance
- Other people will think you look healthy and worth talking to
You don't need to slap it on like a mask, just a hint of colour here and there to make the most of your eyes which, after all, are the windows to your soul. And your soul is absolutely the most interesting and beautiful thing about you but if you look scruffy, no-one is going to want to get close enough to you for long enough to find that out!
Book to see an image consultant and learn a simple make-up routine based around the right colours to suit YOU
I can recommend each and every one of the professional image consultants profiled at http://www.improvability.co.uk/consultants/consultantDirectory.html
More
style, hair and fashion tips to read right now
Half-price for the next 7 days only
Spend GBP 10.00 or more on any of these eBooks, and you'll get a large and lovely discount of 50%:
- 101 Style Tips
- How to look slimmer without dieting
- Look slimmer / Style Tips pack
- The Return of the Perm
- What does it take to become an image consultant?
- Womenswear Autumn Winter 2007 Fashion Trends
- Menswear Autumn Winter 2007 Fashion Trends
- Womenswear Spring Summer 2008 Fashion Trends
- Menswear Spring Summer 2008 Fashion Trends
- Womenswear Autumn Winter 2008 Fashion Trends
- Menswear Autumn Winter 2008 Fashion Trends
Take a closer look at http://www.improvability.co.uk/products/index.html
- Order the books you want
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- Offer ends Thursday 7th August 2008
I wish you everything I wish for myself.
More soon!
Regards,
Kim Bolsover
www.improvability.co.uk
www.colouranalysistrainingdvd.co.uk
www.improvabilityresources.co.uk
www.improvabilityevents.co.uk
www.nutritionandbeauty.co.uk
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