Signature Style Makeover Week: Smile

A toddling run-in with the vacuum cleaner left my right canine cuspid a darker shade than the rest of my smile.  Too-young-for-tact children have occasionally asked why my tooth is very old or if I just neglected to brush it.  I affectionately call it hobo tooth. But following a two hours with my dentist's hands wedged in my mouth, my dental discoloration is no more.

Knowing that the new little toothlet's shade would be permanent, I made sure to brighten it's surrounding mouth members to their optimum sheen in advance.  With Crest Professional White Strips I was able to sparkle my smile in just one use. If you're looking to buy Crest Professional White Strips, find them cheaper with this promotional code. 

Now I am ready to wear Wen Shi's dazzle dyed new capsule collection.  I want her to make me a slightly more demure version of this white wonder:

You can watch the rest of Wen Shi's Little White Wardrobe Runway plus highlights from the award winning night hosted by Crest 3D White & Gen Art below.

Don't die for more, answer your curiosity here


Sponsored by

Enact your smile transformation with Crest 3D White Intensive Professional Effects Whitestrips ($59.99).  Turnaround visible results in just one use, as stains are removed from below the enamel surface.   Wear strips for two hours, daily, for one week to enjoy the full transformation that would cost $500 in professional office treatments.

And I plan to keep my smile tidy with Crest 3D White Glamorous White Toothpaste.  It's going to strengthen my weakened enamel and remove stains from my smile's nooks and crannies by foaming its proprietary micro-cleansing whiteners into spots I wished I flossed more conscientiously.

Some Reachel's Wander

You can find the intimate corners of my mind and home at Kristen Duke Photography today.

Please join me, and leave a comment, so Kristen and her friends will think I'm really cool.

Signature Style Makeover Week: Hair

My hair from meeting Andrew to present

I've courted copper, and flirted with blonde, but I consider myself a committed brunette.  Yet my link to hue is far more fickled than my fierce loyalty to length.  I  can style everything from a pixie to a bob, but the expanse beyond the chin is uncharted territory. I'm a short hair girl, eternally, always.   

Except for now.  In response to the persuasions of a persistent husband, my hair now tickles my shoulders.  I have to brush it out of the way when I put on a coat.  And when I pull it into a pony, I actually have some sort of a tail.

Which is where it resides most of the time, in a high pony, commonly twisted into a tiny bun.  My hair is fine, and although naturally curly, at this length I'm lucky to sustain a soft, flat wave.  

In a mane induced milieu, I ran in for a professional consultation, with my stylist Leisel Decker, and received the following golden instructions following a trim and allover tint of brunette bordeaux.

And so I commence,  how to add volume and curl to fine hair using a flat iron:

Step 1:  Wash and condition the hair with a volume inducing product.  Your shampoo and conditioner are critical in prepping your hair for styling.

Step 2: Apply a volumizing foam and power dry the hair with a blow dryer.  Make sure you start drying without a brush, tousling sections in the opposite direction that they normally fall.  You want your hair to be 80% dry before you actually start styling it.  Round brushing sopping wet hair will increase your dry time, wear out your arms, and amplify breakage.

Step 3:  Spritz the crown with a root boost.  Then wield your round brush to finish drying the hair, focusing the direction of heat towards the ends of the hair.

Step 4:  Apply a heat protectant spray and comb through the hair to minimize damage and breakage.

Step 5:  Heat your flat iron to a low/medium temperate and begin building volume at the roots.  Clasp the flat iron around the base of the hair shaft than pull up and away from the head.

Step 6:  After boosting the crown, begin curling individual sections.  The smaller the section of hair you take and the slower you move it through the hair, the tighter the curl will be.  I wanted loose soft waves, so we worked through medium size sections, clamping the iron half way down the tendrils.  Once clamped you twist the wrist, wind the hair around the iron, then slowly pull out and away from the head while rotating the iron.

My stylist exemplified this process using the Missiko Hana Titanium Ionic Flat Iron

I like that it offers a range of heat options, friction free plates, and a tangle free cord, particularly crucial for avoiding third degree encounters when your twisting hair into curls.

Find all the hair products mentioned above with these Amazon Promotional Codes and purchase them for a bargain!

I'm going to try all my makeover trips for a big reveal.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, what's your best hair styling tip?

Signature Style Makeover Week: Clothing

I am a romantic, with every frill, ruffle, and bow attached.  But with both feet firmly planted in my third decade, I'm ready to renounce "cute" in favor of a slightly more sophisticated "pretty."

a catalog of where I've been

And while I'm open to letting my pumps go nude, I cling to my narrative roots.  I want storytelling to be a part of my dress and enchantment to underlie every garment I select.

So I began with a rigorous analysis of the signature style spectrum.  Prisms split light into seven categories ranging from red to violet, I have dissected fashion into the following five flavors.

And whether a store or celebrity, most looks fall somewhere along this continuum.

True, purity can be luxurious: Missoni's bohemianism, Gucci's drama, Chanel's traditionalism, Valentino's romance.  But I intend to blend.  What I want is a style hybrid, a sophisticated breed made of my own natural selection.

As examples:

Bohemian + Modern = Tory Burch

tailored lines intersect natural motifs, sharp outlines blend with bohemian overtones

Dramatic + Romantic = Betsey Johnson

perpetually girly at an unrelenting party, a blushing bold

Modern + Romantic = Kate Spade

vivid feminity, neatly organized whimsy

Where does your style like-o-meter point?  Or who's style do you most envy?

Desire something deeper? Reserve a 60 minute virtual shopping session to compile a portfolio of uniquely personal ensembles. Rather than teetering between blasé and flagrant, relax knowing you will have an expert to offer informed opinions, creative outfitting advice, and savvy shopping experience. Sessions initiate with a signature style discovery interview.

P.S. If you're looking for similar styles to J.Crew and Ann Taylor, try these coupons for Overstock.

Signature Style Makeover Week

Just as one size may not flatter your figure for a lifetime, you may outgrow your initial signature style as well.

I am ready for a change.  Stay tuned for this signature style transformation schedule:

Day 1: Clothes

Day 2: Smile/Cosmetics

Day 3: Hair

In the meantime, might I recommend this article by Real Simple on how to Re-energize your Signature Style?  I'll be back with personal results tomorrow.

Designing Wedding Invitations

At present I'm deliberating between these three designs for my sister-in-law's wedding announcements?  Issue your vote in the comments.  She wants something polished yet informal that feels fresh but timeless.

We plan on sending out a digital version to save money and the environment, but close friends and family will receive a paper copy because I'm still sentimental about mail and tangible presence.  

In the meantime, click here if you're looking to design your own wedding invitations.

Body ♥ Love Event in Chandler, Arizona

Child bearing hasn't been in vogue for decades, particularly not the trail fertility treads along the figure.  But now it seems that even pubescence and maturation is under attack.  It starts early, but as mothers, wives, and homemakers we are the most powerful consumer in the marketplace.  We are the most influential figure in the home.  We are the most properly equipped individuals to stop body loathing within ourselves and in the next generation.

If the Love your Body Challenge resonated with you, crystalize your transformation with this presentation?  All women and daughters over the age of twelve are invited.  This same symposium actually inspired my Reality Revised series.

Should you be in the area, please join me.

Body ♥ Love Challenge Day 10: Appreciate the Evolution

One body will not fit you for your entire life.  We age, we scar, we widen, we wrinkle, we become.  It's a visual diary of where we've been, what we've survived, what we've enjoyed, what we've created.

Don't wish to erase your own evolution.  

source

In the last ten years my waist has widened, while my bust has wasted.  My bottom is still dominant, but it's lost much of it's former bounce.  And I can tell you from personal experience, different body shapes offer different opportunities.  Broader bodies can carry bolder accessories.  Blouses drape better on flat chests.  Fluffy, full thighs look prettier in trouser jeans.

And I'll happily trade younger and smaller for wiser and stronger.

Age is inevitable, you are left with the choice to fight or embrace.

 Day 10 Challenge: Appreciate your Figure's Evolution, enjoy a change that time has presented.

Post your evolving embrace in the comments,  feel free to link to blogs, instagram, pinterest, flicker, or other sources

And that concludes the challenge, thanks for the body camaraderie! 

Body ♥ Love Challenge Day 9: Write Your Body A Valentine

Day 9 Challenge: Write Your Body A Valentine  

Post your anatomical ovations in the comments,  feel free to link to blogs, instagram, pinterest, flicker, or other sources


Feel free to inspire your ardor with Nike's series of body based poetry:

Happy Valentines Day!!

Body ♥ Love Challenge Day 8: Flatter Your Coloring

In our journey to love the skin we're in, it's important to understand it.  Hence, a color analysis, or as the british say, a colour analysis:

You can direct yourself to the primary categories here:

Cool & Delicate

Cool & Brilliant

Warm & Fresh

Warm & Rich

Take an even deeper dive, by determining a seasonal subcategory.  Complexion based hybrids abound and perhaps you bloom in a border.  Might I suggest a quiz with plenty of supportive source materials?

Day 8 Challenge: Determine your color category and wear a sparkle inducing color.  

Post your complexion confession in the comments,  feel free to link to blogs, instagram, pinterest, flicker, or other sources

Body ♥ Love Challenge Day 7: Embrace Your Body Type

Body adoration begins with body education.  Below is a 4 step primer.

Step 1: Measure
directions here.

Step 2: The Math
I even made you this nerdy spreadsheet to assist. (Click the edit button in the upper right then enter your measurements in the "YOU" column.

Step 3: Declare

Step 4: Embrace

source

Day 7 Challenge: Determine your body type and dress to flaunt it this weekend.  

Post your body type declaration and/or fashion embracing results in the comments,  feel free to link to blogs, instagram, pinterest, flicker, or other sources