Image - Wardrobe Clean-up
Phyllis Jones, Beauty Advisor

These cold, stuck in the house months are a great time to spruce up your image by cleaning up, clearing out and organizing your wardrobe. If you’ve found yourself
hunting for 1 earring longer than a minute, or if you’ve taped up a skirt hem with
masking tape before wearing it and even worse if you have worn shoes that click clack when worn from the nail in the heal having worn through, then it’s time we go over some cleaning up, clearing out and organizing for you and your wardrobe.

Allow yourself some time and instruct yourself to be honest and fair while having an open mind. Let’s start in your closets. It’s sad to say that of the all the items hanging in your closest you only wear 20%. That’s right, out of the 100% of “stuff” hanging there, you only wear 20% of it. So I ask you – WHY is it hanging there.

You must rid yourself of some of this wardrobe clutter. Ask yourself – have I worn this in a year? If the answer is NO then ask yourself do I like it enough to keep it anyway in case it comes back in style? (Ladies things that you are hanging on to for when they come back in style – DON’T – and even if they do, the style will be some different and your garment will be 15 to 20 years old. Will it even fit? Will all the dust wash out of it? Probably not! Ok – so if you have a hard time getting rid of those things you haven’t worn in a year – put them in a box or sack, label the box or sack, date this box and store them in a closet or in the garage. I feel very confident that in another year’s time you will NOT go out to the garage and get that item out. So after a year – DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT open that box or sack – just put it in the car and drive it to your favorite charity. There – job done – even though it may have taken a year. ?

So now, 2nd step – set your closet up like a store. All blouses together, all pants together, all skirts together – you get the picture. While doing this, “tear” down sets. For example: a suit – hang the skirt with the skirts and the jacket with the jackets. A skirt and blouse set, do the same thing – skirt with skirts, and blouse with the blouses. Now you can see what you have to work with. Spend a little time try to mix and match in order to come up with new outfits. You may even want to write down some new combinations. Seems if we’ve always worn a certain top with a certain pair of pants, it becomes hard for us to think of wearing that same top with another bottom. Do try!

A good rule of thumb – if you have the space in your closet, hang what can be hung. For example hang nice t-shirts, under garments like camisoles, slips, etc., scarfs and belts, and so forth. If these items are hanging and visible you are will be more likely to wear them and they will be hanging and not a wrinkled up knot.

A second great rule of thumb – don’t put anything back in the closest that isn’t ready to go again. I mean for example, if the shoes need polish, polish them first or at least scrap the mud off. If the button came off your favorite blouse, stitch it on before putting it away. If your cotton skirt needs ironing, iron it before hanging it up. This makes your life so much easier at 6:30am and I promise you, makes for a nicer put together image too.

Speaking of making your life easier, come up with a system for earrings, necklaces,belts and the like in order to have accessories together so you can get “pulled” togetherwith little effort. The same idea with hosiery. If a pair has a runner but can still be worn under pants, tie that leg in a knot so that you know it’s only for pants instead of having to try on 2 or 3 pairs at 7:00 am until you get it right. Or worse you put on the ruined pair and decide to wear them anyway for the sake of time. (I know you’ve done it and claimed the runner happened on the way to work.)

A third great rule of thumb is – one item in, one item out! Meaning, if you
buy a new blouse, get rid of a old stained one. If you buy new black shoes, get
rid of the worst looking black pair you have, etc. This keeps your closet ready and your wardrobe in tip top shape.

I can personally guarantee you that if you spend a little time cleaning out, organizing and looking for new mix and match “looks” - your wardrobe will grow and your image will improve. Beyond that just think of how much easier your mornings will go.

Happy cleaning up, clearing out and organizing.
After all YOU deserve it!!!

Photos provided by South Plains Mall

Eyebrow Archery
By: Christine Lennon

I recently discovered that there’s something to be learned from examining Barbies’ eyes. They are equally twinkly, lips rosy with a glint of plastic gloss, and the strip of white where their teeth should be is always blindingly white. The brows, on the other hand, aren’t so standardized.

The thickness and taper of the brow, the angle of the arch and the color of the hair nearly always determine the attitude of doll.

A sophisticated, sassy, sexy, even slightly sinister doll gets a brow with a higher, more pronounced arch that looks closer to a wide, inverted V.

A younger, wholesome, almost babyish face gets a softer, gently sloping eyebrow that’s paler in color. It should also be noted that not one of them has a brow so thin that it looks like it’s been shaved and drawn on, or so overzealously plucked so that a dozen sparse strands are hanging on for dear life.

Take it from Barbie: tweezers are a tool to be used, not abused. Pluck away the bulk of your brow and erase one of your most expressive features. All it takes to change her world is a sharper, or softer, stroke of the paintbrush.

A meticulously groomed and cosmetically darkened brow with a higher arch is usually attached to a higher-maintenance sort, someone who knows what she wants and how to get it.

A natural, free-wheeling brow belongs to someone who’s got a less effortful approach, who has less stringent, lower maintenance standards (or someone who wants to appear to be low maintenance).

There are a slew of brow shapes in between those extremes, and they’re often dictated by genetics as much as personal preference.

Whatever shape you choose, make sure the choice is deliberate—not something you watched your mom do back in the ‘70s, or read about in a magazine and feel obligated to mimic. Study your face as objectively as possible.

Do you know the guidelines for the eyebrows you want?
Below is a link to a blog that does a good job of outlining how to have the perfect eyebrows. Click here for more information.

Phyllis Jones
Beauty Advisor
Phyllis is a Mary Kay Consultant, fashion coordinator, public speaker, writer and consultant.

Diana Dee
Fashion Advisor
Diana is a morning show celebrity on Stars 104.3 and former owner of Diana's Dollhouse - a legendary Lubbock store for years.

Sandy Parker
Publisher
Creator of the Lubbock Fun Club, Sandy is "The Fun Lady". Her magazine career includes national magazines such as Vogue and Southern Living.

Click on past issues below
October 26, 2006
October 12, 2006
September 21, 2006
September 13, 2006