Skip to content

TEN EASY WAYS FOR WOMEN TO LOOK SHARP - PART 2

Here are the next five recommendations in the list of ten easy tips for ladies to look stylish, fresh and sharp. Part 1 of the article discussed the merits of sunglasses, the many uses of Vaseline, headbands, gigantic bags and scarves. Ready? Let’s go!

6. PRETTY FINGERS, SENSATIONAL TOES

If you don’t have the time or the inclination for acrylics/manicures, it’s best to still keep your nails trimmed and tidy. For consistently good-looking nails I recommend a simple buff and shine with a clear coat - no colour.

Don’t believe the hype, chipped nail polish looks terrible! If you are really keen on some sort of shiny shellac, my favourite trick is to use a clear glitter polish. The random glitter pattern makes it less obvious you’ve done a less than stellar job, and chips are well hidden. It works well for toes too!

Other suitable alternatives are nude/pearlescent colours, which both cover imperfections and wear well.

7. GIRL IN THE PEARL EARRINGS

Whether worn with a vintage band t-shirt, a crisp suit or a cocktail frock, in every situation they serve to give you a look of distinction and poise. Simple, yet dashingly effective.

8. TUCKING IN WHEN YOU’RE TURNING OUT

It’s amazing what tucking in does for your image. It simply radiates an aura of consideration and professionalism – for who tucks in their shirts now days? Organised professionals, who would be unfavourably looked upon if they didn’t look their best.

Here’s a few examples of casually framed waists – tucking in also creates defined edges for the eye, giving a streamlined impression:

Lyell

Lyell

Photos from the Sartorialist

Photos from the Sartorialist

9. STAND TALL

Improving your posture can hide a multitude of sins. It makes you look instantly more confident, healthy and secure. It unfortunately may also take a while to retrain your body if you are chronically slouchy. Think Simple Now has a detailed guide to posture, which will aid you in making a change.

Here are two helpful hints in the mean time:

- Try taking up yoga. Not only does it help strengthen your back muscles, it inspires more awareness of your body all the time, making you less willing to slouch.

- Imagine a string running from your toes, up your spine, to above your head. Now pull the string up, lifting your entire form upwards.

In addition to making a conscious effort to stand up straight, getting a professional bra fitting will make an immediate difference. Buy a couple in your real size – it will make such a tremendous difference in your shape. I’m sure you will be astonished!

10. WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT

A common tip given to goal setters is to keep your dreams where you can see them. This also applies to those whose ambition is to look sharp with little fuss! Make up – and make up remover – should be placed somewhere you can reach them easily and can swiftly work through your routine.

I keep my makeup laid out in a drawer, which I can simply pull out and grab what I need easily – there are no lipstick-smeared bags to rummage through! I also keep cotton pads and a bottle of makeup remover right by my bedside so no matter what state or time I come home in I can take off “my face”. Removing your make up daily is one of the most highly recommended beauty tips so make it easy for yourself – avoiding clogged pores and irritated skin is definitely a sharp move!

Hair adornments and fashion accessories should also be kept in site and well organised to inspire you to use them. How about trying one of the following?

- Put nails on the back of a wardrobe or bedroom door to neatly hang necklaces from.

- Jewellery can be stored in compartments; sorted by colour, material or occasion! Or for a prettier look, use a dainty glass cake stand for easy perusal of your collection.

- Keep scarves on a hanger designed for ties – organised in one place.

- A few small decorative bowls can be filled with hair ties, bobby pins and clips. Keep these, your hair straightener, hairdryer and products all in one “zone” to make the process faster.

For bonus points, why don’t you write out your dream or goal on an index card taped to your mirror, or for the more adventurous, written in cherry red lipstick!

I hope you find the tips collection useful, and do check out part one (tips 1-5) if you haven’t already. Again, if you have any super style ninja moves, please do share them. Here’s to sharp sassy looks for all! ❤

Share/Save/Bookmark

TEN EASY WAYS FOR WOMEN TO LOOK SHARP - PART 1

Recently I read an article on Lifehacker describing the Top 10 Easy Ways to Look Sharp - and promptly noticed a few protests that it was mostly male orientated!

I agreed and decided to create a fresh new list of ferociously sharp tips for ladies to look stylish. These are hacks as well as a few great tips that will let you sail through every day. Every time I’m faced with 5 minutes extra time to snooze I’ll take it, so you can trust these ideas have been carefully tested. Let’s get started with the first 5!

1. THE EYES HAVE IT COVERED

Get a pair of sunglasses that suit your face and wear them religiously. The reason for this is twofold. First, glasses give you the aura of being a suave, cool person who can accessorize. The second function of sunnies is to protect your eyes. More glasses wearing means less Shar-Pei-esque wrinkles in the future = and less squinting now. Squinting is never sexy.

Chloe Myrte acrylic sunglasses

Your sunglasses can be either classic (think faux tortoise shell, over sized frames) or cheeky (think lolly coloured wayfarers). Bigger will protect the skin around your eyes more but cheeky, is well, fun! Some eye protection is better than none so you’re okay, whatever your choice. If you need advice or inspiration, wander over to Eye Heart Glasses and look at Jo’s expert picks.

Ray Ban pink wayfarers

2. A TOUCH OF GLOSS

Vaseline is the wonder balm, seriously - first up, use it on lips for shine if you have no time for lipstick. I always seem to wake up with scraggly askew eyebrows after a night’s sleep; use it to tame your wayward eyebrows before you dash out the door!

In a pinch, a tiny slick of Vaseline applied to your eyelashes will give them a shiny waterproofed, lengthened look.  You can also use it to micromanage out-of-control hair when styling; a tiny dab works well to tame fly-aways!

3. HEADBANDS FOR THE WIN

I will say straight up that headbands don’t have to make you look like a little girl. They come in a wide variety – skinny brushed silver, wide black patent leather or sweet fabric ones - as seen here on Brigitte Bardot.

Alice bands in particular are your saving grace for days when your hair just isn’t behaving and you need to look swish in seconds.

Alice Bands

Alice Bands

I simply brush my hair back and up towards my crown, give it a once over with hairspray and sweep the headband on. After that, another spritz of hairspray will keep it all in place. Perfecto, for the rest of the day! You can also use this as an up-do, putting your hair in a high pony before putting on the band.

4. JANE AND THE GIANT BAG

An over-sized bag is an essential wardrobe foundation for those who favour laissez-faire personal style but still want to look sharp. This may come in a) leather - or a damn good fake for those of you not on board the leather train, but be aware pleather does not age well. Or b) canvas.  Your bag should be one of the following colours - navy, ivory, brown (preferably chestnut) or black.  If you are rocking the canvas you can venture towards brighter colour palettes like eggplant or cherry.

Serena tote and Kiah bag - both from Country Road

Serena tote and Kiah bag - both from Country Road

The bigger the better! Why? Because you can obviously fit more guff in: your DSLR, the book you’re currently reading, tissues and your 570 plastic cards.  This doesn’t have to be an every day tote but it’s brilliant to have something that will do in a pinch that you can just dump stuff into. It also does the double duty of making you look tiny in comparison - the big bag theory. This is an illusion that really works - hurrah!

5. FAST WITH A SCARF

Scarves are your saving grace on a day with not enough time to get ready. You probably have a large fashion imagination but just not that much time - so chuck on that boring black tee you’ve already worn this week, wear your usual denim if you have to, and put on a scarf… voila! French blogger Betty, from Le Blog De Betty, is an inspiration when it comes to rocking a wide variety of pretty scarves.

Indeed, I have an extensive collection of scarves (am currently wearing black linen shorts, a black t-shirt and an eye-popping coral scarf) that save me time and time again. They give you an instant splash of colour, added textural interest and a practical disguise for that occasional coffee stain. Easy.

Right, there you have it lovelies, the first five tips to streamline your style! Tune in very soon for part 2 - another 5 tips. Let me know how these go and if you have any life-saving tips please share them in the comments. It’s the ultimate goal for all girls really, maximum sharpness in style, minimum effort - more time for fun.

Share/Save/Bookmark

CFS LOVES LINKS 04

  • Graphic designers were asked - please recommend a book that you have found particularly inspiring or meaningful to your development as a creative person? This is their book list for inspiration.

  • Telescopic text is very clever and a great piece of writing to boot. Just click away!
  • Every day Jason posts a photograph of something that made him happy. He calls this the Daily Nice.

  • Do it yourself with Ksubi and Teen Vogue - painted jeans. There’s also a few other handy D.I.Y. fashion instructions from designers.

  • Japanese street style is my favourite! It all started with FRUiTS in 1997 and I am glad to see how the effort of recording fashion in Tokyo has been maintained in a digital form. Check out DropSnap, Style Arena. I have been a fiend for these sites lately as I look for inspiration in clothing textures and kooky hair cuts.  Sanna’s (on-hiatus) Vagabond Looks is excellent too!

Share/Save/Bookmark

TO WRITE, TO READ

Still life by Roland Bello

Oh dear. Technical issues are abounding here at the Code For Something fort - resulting in many lost months worth of your lovely comments. Just how many there were surprised me… So while we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in New Zealand, I think this is an appropriate time to get on board with gratitude.

Thank you for reading, and all the delightful feedback. Honestly, it’s really made my year!

And as I’d like to give back in turn to you, if there’s anything you’d like to read/see more of, please send me an email- amber@codeforsomething.com - I would absolutely love to hear from you ❤

Share/Save/Bookmark

WORDS OF WISDOM: MALCOLM GLADWELL

The AIGA GAIN conference was recently held in New York, focusing on design in business. Malcolm Gladwell was one of the speakers there, discussing the development of creativity and the manifestation of genius:

“Genius and creativity don’t necessarily spring forth unbidden… they require time and support to experiment, to try and even fail.”

Luckily for us who didn’t make it there - despite my best efforts - a video of his talk and a transcript has been made available online (no embedding sorry). Watch it. It only takes half an hour but it is so inspiring. He’s also a very funny and engaging speaker, so the minutes will fly by. Ahh it totally encourages me to get up off my ass and create, create, create all day. I hope you feel like that too after listening!

10,000 hours of hard graft

Share/Save/Bookmark

THE MIGHTY KEYTAR

Is there any finer instrument? Ever since seeing Shy Child (and an ambitious keytar thrashing above the head) I have been thinking about these synthy 80’s beasts.

photo by NicholasGuarino

“The keytar was developed by Anthony Masakowski and commercially introduced in 1980 as the Moog Liberation. Early users included Spyro Gyra keyboardist Tom Schuman and the band Devo. The word “keytar” is a portmanteau of “keyboard” and “guitar”...The keytar was made popular in the 1980s by glam metal bands, as well as synthpop and New Wave groups. Changing trends in music diminished the keytar’s popularity shortly thereafter.”

Devo:

CSS:

Shy Child:

Herbie Hancock:

Share/Save/Bookmark

GET COZY ROUND THE FIRE

There is nothing better than sitting around watching roaring flames or glowing embers… it’s an event for all seasons too! On the beach, or in a cabin or even at home. If you have a little outdoor area, it’s not too much effort to procure a little brazier for some good quality fire time. My fire lighting technique involves crumpling up newspaper, creating a teepee of kindling with larger bits of wood lying on the base to push in - similar to this gorgeous photo:

photo by weezie

Whether you are camping or snuggling beside a hearth, you might need a couple of accessories to perfect the experience. These hip-flasks from I Don’t Like Mondays would look adorable by your side. If you’re going to do it (my sneaky wee it being vodka or pink lemonade), you may as well do it in style.

5 other essentials you need to make your fireside moment magical…

Blankets, preferably plaid. Marshmallows for roasting and toasting - I set mine on fire till they are almost destroyed. A cute little beanie or cap for your head. A guitar for making music and singing along to. A camera for savouring the moment - I love taking long exposures of flames and sparks. Snap, crackle, pop!

Share/Save/Bookmark

DRESS CODE: LATE SPRING 21-11-08

Late spring. Standing in the dappled light of my front porch. Or, of my verandah as we say around here. The differences in language use between various English-speaking nations really become apparent when you start putting things out on the Internet for consumption, as opposed to just observing.

It’s a wonderful thing though, especially as a writer, you get to tap into a vocabulary well deeper than you ever imagined. A few examples of the variations I love are:

Candy - sweets - lollies. Bodega - convenience store - dairy. Popsicle - ice lolly - iceblock. Comforter - doona - duvet.

But most of all… I love fringe - bangs - iron curtain of hair! This is what started all my musing - isn’t it funny how the two words are completely unrelated? From what I understand fringe was the original term, then bangs developed colloquially, from a use of the adverb bang - meaning abruptly. It obviously stuck. Anyway, here is my new fringe in action:

i have a fringe!

+ Tempt blue dress
+ Levi black jeans
+ Silver canvas plimsolls (shock, from the Warehouse)

hair

;)

pinky

There seems to be about 20 different shade of pink & purple in my hair. If I was to step into full sunlight you’d see a halo of magenta around my crown. Anyway, bangs are fun - it’s amazing how different they can make you look.

Rather a lot of thinking and commentary for an outfit that ended up being very pared back. I guess I’m just fascinated by language and culture. How about yourself -  are you a fringe or bangs kind of cat?

Share/Save/Bookmark

SORBET SNEAKERS

I never used to be enamoured  with sneakers… Shoes, yes, always! However I always thought sneakers were going to look ridiculous on my giant feet. Until I started working at a design agency, with a fair number of shoe addicts. Often, before they even say good morning, your daily footwear has been inspected - I kid you not. It’s all about who has the coolest kicks. There always seems to be an obsessive craze going on too - this month it is cheap canvas plimsolls. Heh, I have them, everyone else is hunting for them!

Anyway, with all this sneaker madness, my interest was piqued and given a little time I am now really excited about kicks. I have been on the look out for a new pair and my first, second and third thought was - COLOUR!

I like these watermelon, enamel blue and shadow purple runners by Onitsuka Tiger. Saiko Runners, inspired by the retina burning 70’s. According to the Tiger site, “Saiko” means ultimate in Japanese and sounds like ‘psycho’ in English ❤ I love clever names.

These beautiful lavender beasties are a collaboration between Converse and Danish brand Wood Wood (who have also worked on Nikes). Luxe suede meets high attention to detail such as the red eyelet and star perforations. In AKL Area 51 sell them for around NZD$200 - tempting!

Puma Booties in black, white gardenia and strawberry ice - the most amazing colour names ever, non? These shoes are beautiful in person - look carefully and you can see the metallic mesh detailing. I also adore the strap to bind fast against your ankles. Formally named The Key WN’s, they are inspired by a traditional b-ball shape.

The pumas may be close to perfect but I am still on the hunt for some good ‘bee’ like sneakers, thick splashes of yellow and black. I have been perusing a few sites, but the perfect pair haven’t popped up yet. In the world of sneakers though, new designs seem to crop up every day. To garner obsessive level intelligence and observe macro sole analysis, head to:

Share/Save/Bookmark

BREATHLESS, EFFORTLESS

I am having my hair cut tonight at my beloved Blaze, and sought inspiration. I found it in the gorgeous Jean Seberg, who has rocking the blond pixie crop long before any “name” models. Casually cool, tousle and go… Sigh, unfortunately this will not work for me, now or in the future, much to my dismay. I think I will leave it up to the hairdressing gods!

What’s your dream haircut, attainable or otherwise?

Share/Save/Bookmark