Style Identity

Have you ever wondered who decides what's "in" and fashionable this season? Can people really tell if my last year's wardrobe is so outdated? And what I need to do to be trendy without breaking my bank? I am sure you all have, at least once in your life. As a fellow woman, I'll share my thoughts on your concerns. Again, these are my thoughts and we are all entitled to have them.

In my opinion, it all starts with an INDIVIDUAL. Each year we see creative individuals, designers of course, bringing their fresh fashion to Runway for the upcoming year. Retailers transform these trends to everyday wear that an average woman like you and me can carry comfortably without feeling awkward. We, the consumers, bring it home thinking it is going to give us an entry into the fashion gentry. Rarely do we think of its' purpose to cover our body. After all, that should be the purpose of clothes. And if it's not, then what else does it offer us?

Fashion gives us a feeling that we are wearing something beautiful and likeable, that feeling of possession of beauty makes us confident and contented. It's simply an "add-on" to our physical beauty. No wonder we want more of it and no wonder we want to wear what is "considered" likeable for the time. Just like how chubby figures were considered beautiful and a sign of affluence during renaissance period whereas today no woman can imagine wishing for a fuller figure, since petite is the new beauty.

In short, our desire to buy current fashion isn't wrong. Everyone wants to feel confident and satisfied. What's wrong is the feeling of being obliged to buy it and our habit of ignoring our previous wardrobe just for the heck of buying new. We are all creative in our own way and can put the old pieces together in a new and innovative way. And the outcome should be considered equally trendy, if not more. Not to mention with the current recession, it should be the "in-thing" to do. Just because a few creative individuals come up with some beautiful ideas and have set the bars high does not mean our fashion choices and creativity is worth less in anyway.

I felt the need to share this as social media, with its emphasis on giving coverage to "fashion hits & disses" and other similar things,does not realize how close this concept is to shaping our personality and more so our youth. We do not want to have future generations whose identity is based on "brand-names".

Their identity should be THEM, the individual.

Maintaining Up With Newest Fashion

People everywhere are becoming quite conscious of their looks and demeanor. A lot of time, as well as money, is spent these days in grooming and dressing. How well groomed you are tells a lot about your social status as well as your penchant to remain updated on the social circuit. Media and glamour world play an equally vital role in people getting more and more aware of remaining fit and looking good. This has given rise to a huge number of individuals as well as businesses in the area of beauty, hair and fitness. A large number of fitness centers are mushrooming, so are beauty salons and hair and beauty spas.

People wish for a new look every season and they like to keep reinventing themselves with each passing day. There is a new hair style that gains popularity or a particular hair color is liked more than the others. Every now and then something fashionable is happening and it feels great to keep up to all that development. If you would like to stay up to date on these fashionable developments, the ideal way would be to be subscribed to some reputed fashion magazines.

These magazines are full of information on fashion trends as well as new product launch each month. If there is a beauty product that catches your fancy you can get all the related information on it in a fashion magazine. Clothes and jewelry of latest fashion are on display in the fashion magazines. There are columns on which a lot of discussion and tips are given on what to avoid and what are the things that are hot and can be followed. Keeping abreast with fashion is a hobby for many, while a number of teenagers look up to such magazines and TV shows to get the hang of what is latest in the fashion industry.

Fashion is incomplete without beauty, makeup and hair style. This is the reason a lot of beauty and hair salons have found recognition. Most of the time while the fashion conscious people are looking for re-inventing themselves through a new hair style or re doing their entire wardrobe and make up style they look for stylists who are offering everything under one roof, the beauty salons. It is critical for the salon to have a cheerful and inviting ambiance, great salon furniture and equipments so that the clients are more than satisfied with the whole experience.

The Idea of Beauty

The concept of beauty has always given me food for thought. I've always wondered what exactly is beautiful and what is not. Some people are not exactly attractive but still have a charm or attraction in them. Is beauty on the inside or on the outside? Inside; it is the heart and soul that beautifies a person while others may consider the appearance or facial attraction as beauty. Is beauty natural or can be artificially created? Let us talk about these aspects of beauty.

For an apple cheeked women, hair has always been an important aspect of beauty. Although hair styles and hair colors go on changing from time to time when hair extensions come in fashion, they can be found in all styles and colors as portrayed by pop stars such as Beyonce Knowles who was seen trying hair extensions. In Eastern Europe and Asia, long hair is a major constituent of beauty as women with long hair are considered more beautiful which shows how beauty varies from culture to culture. Different hair styles and haircuts can be used to make the face look slimmer or to make women appear younger. Obviously, there are different hairstyles appropriate for different ages.Nowadays it is in normal for women of more than thirty years of age to keep grey hair and not to use hair dyes.

Hand and nails can play a major role in making someone look pretty. Pedicure manicures and nail fashion which are the other names of painting nails using different colors, designs is becoming very popular these days.. Red nail varnish is in fashion and many women especially teenagers are following this trend, the trend originated from the era of marlin Monroe. Movies play a major role in establishing what is meant by beautiful during certain time. For example, many women idealize different film characters or movie stars and try to be like them. It has been said that most women are never satisfied with themselves and will try different trends and fashion to look beautiful without thinking if it suits them or not. They will copy celebrities and try to look like them. The youth also look up to their role models and follow what they are wearing and what they wear becomes fashion.

Most people say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and everyone has a different image of beauty is being yourself and being what you want to be, dressing the way you want to dress, and being confident about yourself. Beauty comes from the inside rather than from physical appearance.

Fashion always varies in nature besides being short lived. When a fashion is in full swing, it is visible in what we wear, designs of our clothes, hair styles, nails, etc. No doubt, fashion is a way of making oneself appear beautiful but everyone has his own concept and definition of beauty. Some people say that real beauty is the beauty of face while other think those sterling qualities of head and heart constitute the real beauty. Some hold the view that real beauty lies in the face of a man because soul secretes the face as a shell-fish secretes its shell. Face is the index of the mind. However, a thing of beauty is a joy forever because truth is beauty and beauty is truth.

How to Buy Elegance Items and Fragrances - Some Beneficial Tips

While recession has impacted the buying habits of all consumers, we do not need a recession to remind us that buying smart is the only way to get the best value for your dollar. Buying smart means two things---a reasonable margin over cost is allowed to be included in the retail price and the product lives up to its claims. With respect to beauty products, unfortunately, the industry is teeming with products that are pushed with hype and nothing else. So here is how to go about buying smart.

Let us first understand the beauty products segments. There are two major ones. Clinical beauty products and Fashion beauty products. The clinical segments consists of things like skin toners, eye conditioners, cleansing products and moisturizers. Fashion products mostly consist of perfumes and fragrances, but may also include aromatherapy products. Note that I have not included the third kind, "Muscle manipulators" as beauty products. These include botox and other invasive and non-invasive, sometimes surgical products. Simple advice--stay away from these. They are fatal to your long term looks.

1.First off, be very careful of overapplying make-up. Make-up products contains acids and chemical restoratives which may have negative impact on your body and hormone's natural rejuvenating process. A quick tip--if you look pasty and 100% wrinkle free (as do many TV anchors and actors and actresses) you are harming your skin permanently. Make-up should be a light sheen on your skin. There is another way to deal with wrinkles, but caking make-up over wrinkles, as any dermatologist will tell you, causes long term skin damage and may even lead to other diseases like immno-deficient trends and allergy build-up. Similar, use moisturizers very sparingly--no matter how they are hyped, they contain reagents that take away skin's natural moisture making ability.

2. Do not be fooled by hype. Study the manufacturer. Study its history, its recalls, its problems and if a public company, study its financials to see how much it spends on research and development, not on marketing. The money it spends on marketing is a negative investment to you as a consumer. Investment in research on the other hand shows you that they are forward thinkers. If you do not get the information from the financials, ask the management.

3. Buy your clinical product from one who specializes in skin toners, cleaners and other conditioners. Never buy fashion products from the same manufacturer. You will find that making perfume is an age old process and companies that dabble into it are not necessarily leaders. While both are chemical processes, perfume making is an art, not science. That is why the perfume brands that have been around for 50+ years generally do not peddle skin toners. If they do, stay away. There are at least 10 excellent companies in each category so you have plenty of choice.

4. The best clinical products are ones without added fragrance. The best fashion products, specially perfumes, are subtle, not overpowering. Also, remember evening scents are different from morning scents. Finally, both type of products, definitely clinical products should be bought after consulting with a good professional, because they can determine your natural skin tones and underlay textures and advise you accordingly.

5. Remember what I said about hype? Forget overhyped, branded products. You are mostly paying for marketing dollars. Instead, compare the ingredients--ignore the ones that have fancy names like "so and so's formula" or "musk hair extract". It means nothing because FDA will not allow an untested product to be prominently mixed, so you may be getting a negligible amount of that fancy ingredient. You will find that cheaper or store brands have the same chemical or natural ingredients as the fancily priced ones. The only exception I make is in perfumes. Certain perfumes have been around for a long time and never go out of fashion. On the other hands, the upstarts, peddled by actresses and actors, are usually cheap smelling, overpowering and have very little elegance and subtlety. Remember, you are wearing a perfume strictly for others. The trick is this--if you can "smell" your own perfume, you have either put too much or the perfume is cheap--and I don't mean price wise. The best perfume is the one that subtly "hangs" in the air. You should either not smell a good perfume, or smell it very faintly--almost as if you are not sure you smelled it.

Good luck.