Tips to Look Your Best

Thank you for the lovely comments this week. Your feedback motivates me to create more interesting and helpful posts, which are often the result of questions you ask me in emails. Today’s post is the answer to the frequently asked question, “How can I look more polished and effortless?” Please keep reading for my top six tips.

1. Invest most of your clothing budget in classic basics. The inventory of these items will vary with your lifestyle, but they should be pieces you can wear in many ways. For example, a navy wool blazer can be worn to work with a skirt or on the weekend with faded jeans.

2. Incorporate crisply tailored pieces. A wardrobe of shapeless knits requires a fitted pair of jeans, a good-looking blazer, or even a structured handbag to help us look polished.

3. Add accessories. A silk scarf, a stand-out piece of jewelry, or a well-made bag turn a boring tee, jeans, and loafers into a head-turning look.

4. Focus on fit, proportion, color, and texture. If pants pull around your hip area, get a larger size. Buy jackets to fit your shoulders and get the rest of it tailored if needed. A long loose top with loose-fitting pants will always make us look wider than we are. If a color makes you appear to be well-rested and happy, it is probably the right color for you. Avoid wearing bulky textures on your most substantial parts. (For example, Chanel-style boucle jackets look great on tall, thin gals, but they make me look like a barrel.)

5. Good grooming includes regular visits to the hairstylist for at least a trim. Well-cared-for teeth, nails, and skin will always add up to a more polished look.

6. Healthy skin and natural-looking makeup will make whatever you wear today seem even better.

Natural fabrics such as cotton, wool, and silk will always look better, last longer, and feel more comfortable. The cotton tunic from my relaxing at-home look was a gift, and it is by Focus via My Fair Lady.

Straight-leg jeans can be worn almost year-round and in countless ways. I wear jeans several times weekly, so I have navy, black, white, olive, and a coral color (Malibu Punch, old from Chico’s). Jeans will likely always be part of my capsule wardrobe. I am wearing black Levi’s 505. The Chelsea boots are about four years old. The style of boots is a fall and winter essential for me.

Skincare is much more important to me than color. I cleanse and moisturize daily using Beautycounter products here – my routine changes with the seasons to keep my skin looking its best. I use a light touch when I apply makeup and blend it well. My goal is to enhance, not to cover.

These are the colors I wear almost every day. At the top is Chamois (Matte) by Merel Norman. This one goes in the inner corner to bring up the dark shadows we tend to get there. I avoid eyeshadows that shimmer. The second combo of neutral colors is from Beautycounter last year. They no longer offer these small palettes, but larger ones are here. My lip color is always one that will not clash with my top. Poppy is the color I am showing. It is here.

Referral and affiliate links in my posts may provide a small commission paid to me at no additional cost to you.