You just want to look nice but end up with three chins. You don’t want to appear vain, but it would be nice to have a flattering photo for once instead of avoiding the camera. 

 

Maybe it’s so bad and you dislike photos of yourself so much that always end up being the one taking the pictures of everyone else. 

 

Perhaps you would’ve loved to have joined in my 5 Day Shop Your Wardrobe Challenge this week and got as far as signing up but when you saw that it said “post selfies” it had you recoiling in horror because you just can’t face looking at pictures of yourself. 

 

For you to take good selfies and get those flattering pictures there are a few things that you can do to feel comfortable and confident in front of the camera. You’re smiling, got the best angle to minimise those double chins, no dark circles or dodgy shadows that age you beyond your years and you look like the best version of yourself. 

 

The problem is you don’t know where to start. How come some of the women you see on Facebook and Instagram are so much more photogenic than you think you could ever be. 

 

If this sounds a bit like you then you then you’ll be pleased to know you’re in good company. I hear this kind of story often. 

You want to look on trend but worry about looking like mutton dressed as lamb. You aren’t ready for a twinset and pearls or wearing those Velcro fastening shoes from the back of the Sunday supplements. Neither do you want to dress like your daughter. 

 

You are somewhere in the middle, you’re young at heart and want to look nice but aren’t always sure that you’ve got your outfit 100% right. It doesn’t seem that easy to get things feeling perfect; so that you look great and walk out of the door feeling self-assured. 

 

For that to happen you need to feel comfortable and confident that you’re expressing your identity authentically. You’re saying something about who you are – happy in your own skin and have your personal style nailed. You always know what to wear. You can get dressed without the stress. 

 

The problem is you have a wardrobe full of clothes but still feel like you have nothing to wear and this makes you feel frustrated. You get cross with yourself because you’re an intelligent woman. This should be easy for someone like you, a successful career woman in the prime of her life…why can’t you manage to be one of those women who always look effortlessly stylish? 

 

If this sounds a bit like you then you then you’ll be pleased to know you’re in good company. I hear this kind of story often. I created my business because I believe that you deserve to look good and feel amazing regardless of your age or body shape. 

I reckon I’ve had more make-up free days in the past few weeks than any other time in my adult life. 

 

I’ve always loved make up and wear it most days. It’s part of my identity and I wear it for me, not for anyone else. I like the way it changes my appearance. 

I actually find the process of applying it quite meditative. My full routine takes me about twelve minutes and that’s the full works: foundation, eye make-up, lipstick, the lot. I play around with colour on my eyes but mainly stick with the same application process. 

 

I have a 3-minute version and a 5-minute version too – it depends on what I’m doing that day. This is what I’m sticking to more and more these days – very light, just a couple of products yet still adding a bit of definition to my features. 

If I were going ‘out out’ in the evening, then I’d make my eye makeup more dramatic.  

For other occasions when I need it be long lasting then I’ll take more time and apply it, in layers, so it lasts all day without needing to be reapplied. 

Whether you love it, hate it or fall somewhere in between, there’s no denying the fact that make-up can help some of us feel more confident. 

 

I often find, though, that many women would like to wear make-up but aren’t sure how to apply it. They feel intimidated by the store assistants and don’t want to ask for advice or sit on a stool in the middle of a busy store while they have several layers applied – a primer for this, a primer for that, etc. 

One of my favourite things to do with clients is help them shop their wardrobe and create a capsule collection. This is basically playing around with what is already in your wardrobe and mixing and matching exploring new combinations, so you create lots of new outfit ideas from stuff you already have. 

 

It’s said that we wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time, sticking with the same things despite our wardrobes being stuffed to the gills with clothes that never see the light of day. So my challenge to you this week is to make some time to give it a try. 

 

Here’s my step by step guide to Shopping Your Wardrobe for a Capsule Collection 

 

 

 

I use the Absolute Colour System which provides the most accurate readings in my opinion and there are 18 definitive categories for me to work with. 

 

The next thing is to identify your Signature Colours – you can actually do this without having a colour analysis reading. E.g. Wearing the same coloured top as your eyes has immediate impact; there are such things as eye, skin and hair enhancers and intensifiers. I provide tips on this in my e-book called 5 Powerful Ways to Apply Colour Magic.  

 

You can get this as a bonus section to my newly launched Scarf Selfie Lockdown 2020 e-book £5 with 20% profit going to NHS charity.  

 

Click here to purchase 

 

Once you know which colours actually suit you it’s then important to explore HOW you like to wear colour. This is defined by your Colour and Style Personality…and this is where it starts to get interesting. Even though colours suit you it doesn’t necessarily mean that you like them or feel excited by wearing them.  

 

You can take my free quiz here 

 

Sound familiar? I hear it a lot. 

 

So, I want you to put the lock down to the back of your mind for now and use your imagination that we are in normal times and read on... 

 

It’s Karen’s birthday in a few weeks she’s having a party for her 50th and you want something new to wear but you’re not sure what. You go out shopping without a plan or any ideas in mind of what you might be looking for, just browsing.  

 

You see a lovely top you like, you can’t be bothered trying it on because you can’t be bothered with the faff of changing rooms and the lighting is always awful anyway…You buy it thinking you’ll return it if it’s not right. 

 

You go to the next shop and same thing happens. This time you’re not sure if the style is right for you or the colour is a bit different for you, it’s a step away from your usual black.  

 

You’ve never worn navy because it reminds you of your school uniform, but you read it somewhere that navy suits everybody. And also, you saw Sandra wearing navy in a photo on Facebook the other week and she looked amazing in it. Her eyes were sparkly, and her skin look fab. In your bag it goes. 

 

 

It is a symbolic item of clothing for me and today I’ll share the reason why. 

 

I really liked it, the tunic was a new style for me, I’d never owned anything like it before. I loved the shape of it, I found it flattering; it fitted around my boobs with a gentle flare that skimmed over my belly and long enough to cover my bum. Great with leggings which were something I’d rediscovered after a 20-year break. (We lived in them at uni in the 80’s but in those days, they didn’t have lycra and went baggy around the knees very quickly.) 

 

What seems really unbelievable now is that I felt very conspicuous in it at first because of the, what I considered to be then, BOLD pattern. Seriously, I thought this was so in your face! It was so extremely far removed from the ‘slimming black’ baggy tops I’d been hiding away in for a long time. 

 

You see, I’d been in quite a negative relationship with myself on and off for a few years. My self esteem had slowly been ebbing away over time as I’d spiralled in and out (to varying degrees) of a clinically depressive state during the previous 10-year period. I was first prescribed anti-depressants after serious road traffic accident in the spring of 1998. (My on/off relationship with those lasted about the same amount of time as my first marriage coincidentally.) 

 

Not long after the first car accident I got married and we had a son the following year. It was during this pregnancy that I gained a lot of weight. Around 5 stone to be precise. 

 

 

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that my hair is my non-negotiable me time in my diary so I'm having my own little wobble about this. It will pass, I know. I'm being dramatic. 

 

I have been going to my hairdresser Brian for the past 23/24 years religiously EVERY 6 weeks for a haircut. My appointments are booked in 12 months in advance and NOTHING takes priority over this hour of time. 

 

Before Brian I used to see a guy in Loughborough who I started using in 1986 during my student days. That’s how loyal I am to my hairdressers – when you have short hair and you find one who is really good you don’t mess about 

 

In all of this time I have only ever once let someone else cut my hair and what a disaster I felt that was. It was actually probably not that bad in all fairness, but I felt that instead of my usual textured spiky cut it was a lot more even and uniform. A bit like a toilet brush or that drummer guy, Eric Faulkner from the Bay City Rollers (Google him). 

 

The reason I missed my regular appointment with Brian was unavoidable, trouble was he couldn’t fit me in again until my next appointment came around. Like me, ALL of his clients are booked up a year in advance too, to get in with him you essentially need a cancellation, or for one of his regular to pop their clogs. 

 

 

One of these things was to update my make up video tutorials and online course as, although the content is still totally relevant, I look different and that makes them look old. The main difference is my hair – I recorded most of the videos before I embraced the seenager highlights. 

 

Also, and this is REALLY interesting, my skin looks so much smoother and radiant now than it did a few years ago. I put this down to a change in my skin care routine and using the lovely Tropic products. A few years ago, I wouldn’t even put the bin out without a full face on whereas now I’m happy to share selfies on my social media of my make up free fizzog. 

 

More so these past few weeks of lockdown and I’ve been showing up on camera with my 3 minutes make up routine on instead of my full face – which takes me 12 minutes by the way. 

 

My first true love was make up. I have always been interested in make-up from a very early age. I once went to brownies with a black eye that I’d created from my mum’s purple eyeshadow. Brown owl humoured me, and I felt so proud that I’d fooled her with my applications skills. 

 

I’m ashamed to say that I got pulled up for shoplifting make up in Woolworths when I was at primary school. My dad used to take me and sister into town on a Saturday morning, we’d go to the library and then the, market for fruit and veg; this particularly time was when we were allowed to look around the shops on our own while dad did the market run. 

As we are trying to adjust to the current norm you might be feeling totally liberated by not having to get up and get ready for work at the office and still be in the pyjama phase. Or it might be that you feel like a fish out of water and worrying about how to actually work from home? 

 

As a seasoned WFH’er I thought I’d give you my personal take on how I make it work for me. I’ve been working from home for almost 7 years now so have got into my groove. 

 

Here’s what works for me: 

 

Create balance: I have a daily routine that defines my work time. I generally work between 10am - 6pm. Although, saying that, I do enjoy a lazy hour scrolling social media with a coffee brought up to the bedroom by my lovely hubby every morning. 

 

Avoid family and friends: I don’t mean forever obvs but it’s important that they respect your work time and aren’t interrupting with phone calls, popping in for coffee etc. Keep that to after hours. (If you’ve got young kids off school then this could be a whole lot trickier) 

 

Enjoy your space: I appreciate that you might be having to work at the kitchen table as your temporary workspace but if you can, take some time to make it somewhere you are comfortable and want to be. My workspace is a place I like to spend time in, I’m surrounded by things that bring me joy to look at. I have essential oils in my diffuser and can see the garden from my desk. 

 

Prioritise: I use a planner and create prioritised to do lists each day. I keep a check on what needs doing when, plan in time within my week but also allow for a bit of flexibility too. I don’t get bogged down by housework and all the little jobs that need doing – otherwise I’d never get anything done. I will put the washing in but that’s about it. 

 

 

I've been involved with colour, make up, textiles and fashion since the early 80's...thankfully I've kept up with the times and won't make you wear shoulder pads or dress like Bananarama though! 

 

My skills, knowledge and experience have been honed over 30+ years...but more than that I'm compassionate and approachable. 

 

I am not the fashion police and I'm not into giving someone a makeover so they look nice for that day but can't replicate it for everyday life - I like to teach my tips and tricks around colour and style so you look good and feel fab every day. 

 

I do...help my clients define and refine their personal style/image so they feel fabulous and are truly expressing their identity; confident in the knowledge that they are still themselves but an upgraded version.