I never went back after maternity leave. Instead I enter the world of party plan selling make up. I LOVE it! 

 

I’d been feeling undervalued at work before I went on maternity leave. I’d got a new boss, she made it very clear that she didn’t like me and the fact I’d been off long-term sick after a car accident, made her job difficult. The fact that I went back to work pregnant and would then need maternity leave left her less than impressed. She did nothing to make me feel supported. 

 

I'd looked for work closer to home. The fact that she wouldn’t come to the phone to discuss what we’d verbally agreed before I went off on maternity leave helped me make the decision to not go back. 

 

I didn’t want to be making do...however, it was quite an impulsive thing to do. We had a mortgage, lots of credit card debt and no savings and a new baby. I was the chief breadwinner and needed to replace my salary. At least we wouldn’t need childcare bills. 

 

Once I no longer had a salary coming in, I had the motivation to build and develop my business really quickly. I worked my socks off to get parties booked in and grow a team of my own so I could earn more commission. My (now ex) husband was working night shift at the time and we only had the one car. I’d get back from doing a party, he’d be waiting on the doorstep and we’d swap places. Off he went to work, and I'd take over as mum. I very rarely put my son to bed those first few months. 

 

Having a Signature Style is kind of like finding your own uniform or YOUniform as I prefer to call it. This week I’ve been chatting with lots of lovely ladies who volunteered to have a half hour conversation to help me with some market research. During these calls I’ve been explaining the four elements of my Style Nirvana System that I work on with clients to create their Signature Style. 

 

So for this week I’m giving you a few pointers on the types of things for you to consider if you want to create your own Signature Style. It really is worth taking the time to sort if out as it helps relieve the stress from getting dressed. No more standing in front of your wardrobe stuffed full of clothes but feeling like you’ve got nothing to wear. 

 

Wear colours that look good on you 

As you know I’m VERY passionate about colour and the impact it can have on how you look. The ‘right’ colours will make your complexion appear clear, radiant and glowing; your eyes will sparkle, and you will look healthy. The ‘wrong’ colours will exaggerate shadows, can make your skin appear blotchy or sallow and generally make you look tired. And who wants that?!? 

 

Figuring out whether you suit warm or cool colours is the first step and then matching your natural contrast levels to the colours you are wearing helps too. 

 

Check your veins on your inner wrist. If your skin has warm undertones your veins appear green, skin appears peachy, cool veins appear blue, skin pink. 

 

 

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 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 

 

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. 

 

 

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. 

I met a lady one time called Kate who was presenting at a conference I was at. She’s a very successful businesswoman in her field and is an inspirational author and speaker. She refers to herself as a fat lass with a laptop and a pack of tarot cards – it’s tongue in cheek, I don’t sense any confidence issues. (But who knows?) 

 

Anyway, she told me that one time when she was presenting somewhere an image consultant had approached her at the end of her talk and said something like ‘You know what would suit you better? A wrap dress.’ I would call this uninvited ‘style advice’ downright rude! She knows how to ingratiate herself with people – not. This is the type of person that gives colour and image consultants a bad reputation as being judgemental fashion police types. 

 

Being kind, I would like to think that this woman thought she was being helpful by sharing some of her styling knowledge and passing on free advice. She was giving away something that she would normally charge for and I expect she was keen to demonstrate and share her expertise with a view to gaining a new client. In truth I think this was quite presumptuous. 

To some people in business that I’ve met it’s about being known for wearing a particular colour, always wearing yellow socks or dressing to match their logo. This is all well and good, it might help you be remembered and gets you known within your network. It will say something about you and affect how you are perceived. 

 

To marketers personal branding means something completely different; to a graphic designer it may be more about choosing one font and colour over another because of the psychology and what that particular sans serif says compared to that one.  

 

What we would all agree on is that personal branding is about keeping your message cohesive. 

 

To me, in my profession as a colour and image consultant it’s about looking the part – whatever the part means to you. 

 

I deliver a talk about it. My talk is called “If it looks like a duck…” 

 

There’s a saying “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” 

(A) Colour analysis (in person) 

(B) 5 steps workshop (twice)  

3 x 21 day online style challenges 

 

2. What actually happens?  

(A) Lisa chatted to me about what I do, my social/leisure as well as work, why I felt I wanted my colours done, what I felt I might get out of the process, what wardrobe challenges I had or issues with clothes, how I felt about my clothes & whether I liked shopping for clothes, where I shopped etc. 

 

3. How did you feel before?  

(A) A bit nervous. I had met Lisa before through networking but I was really keen to know more about what she did & how she could help me. 

 

(A) Relaxed & we had a few laughs too 

 

5. How did you feel afterwards?  

(A) Amazed & enlightened. Much more confident that the clothes we had edited for my wardrobe were suited to my colour palette. NB Further work in  

(B) helped me understand my Own Style & why some of these 'me colour' clothes still didn't feel right on me! This has been a gradual education process & I am still learning all the time. 

 

 

It is said we wear 20% of your wardrobe 80% of the time. I have no idea who said it or even who made the statistic up but I reckon it’s pretty accurate amongst the women I come across as an Image and Colour Consultant. 

 

Quite often my clients have got a wardrobe stuffed full of clothes but only ever wear the same few items. Sound familiar? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut and to wear the same old clothes week in, week out. 

 

The other thing that happens is that you’ll maybe buy something while you’re out shopping just because it catches your eye. You get it home but then don’t know what to wear it with. It’s quite easy to end up with a wardrobe full of clothes this way but still feel like you have nothing to wear. 

 

You’ve got a night out with your mates planned and it sends you into a state of panic because you have no idea what you are going to wear. It’s stressful. So what do you do? You go shopping and buy something in a panic, an impulse buy. And this then adds to already stuffed wardrobe of clothes… 

 

It doesn’t have to be like this and if you’re ready for change there are a few steps that you can follow to help you take the stress out of getting dressed. Following my tips will help you avoid the despair of standing in front of your wardrobe that’s rammed with clothes and thinking ‘I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!’