How to Color Your Closet

How to Color Your Closet

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Well, I was going to L.A.

Ladies,

I had a trip planned today to Los Angeles for an advanced, three-day course on professional color mixing & matching. Yes, the class is right up my alley, and I was soooooooooo looking forward to it!

Normally I am not an alarmist, but I just couldn't bring myself to get on that plane filled w/ germ infested, recirculated thousands of times over air during this potential swine flu moment.

I have a family to think about and cannot run the risk of getting anyone in my home exposed to nasty viruses.

So all of that wisdom I was hoping to share about color mixing and matching will have to wait a bit...regretfully!

We are currently exploring more blog topics and will be posting some other cool stuff very soon. Thank you for your patience!

Live in color,
Lauren

Shop It To Me Mister!!!!

Girls,

I've discovered a magical resource that I'd like to share....it's called Shop It To Me. Every day I receive a dedicated email from them, complete with my preferred clothing, lingerie, accessories and shoe designers' SALE ALERTS.

It's like having my own style spy, ready at a moment's notice to tell me about Diane Von Furstenberg's 70% off sale, or when Victoria's Secret has fab jammies on special.

Here's some info on the company, taken straight from their website, www.shopittome.com

Shop It To Me began after one too many frustrating trips to on-line retailers. We were tired of finding out about on-line sales too late. We were too busy to spend hours each day searching the web for the latest deals. Why couldn't we just give someone our preferences and have them search for us?

So we decided to create a different way to shop.

Our first service, Shop It To Me Apparel, proactively sends you clothing that matches your size and brand preferences as soon as it goes on sale. Shop It To Me Running allows you to find out when your favorite running shoe models and running gear go on sale. It's so easy that you will never shop the same way again.

Shop It To Me has been featured in publications like Daily Candy Deals, Glamour, and The Washington Post and is described as "a pick-me-up in the morning", "addictive" and "dangerous" with the caveat "boyfriends and husbands beware!"

Why add color?

Color is everywhere. It evokes an immediate response, be it positive or negative, from all who view it. The colors we adorn ourselves with matter, and here are my top 10 reasons why you should incorporate more of it in your wardrobe:


1) Color makes up to 90% of that vital first impression for us
2) Color adds interest and character to the neutrals in our wardrobe
3) Color makes us feel better and more confident
4) The right colors make us appear well rested and healthy
5) Our skintone appears more even and luminous, while flaws and imperfections are minimized
6) We appear 10 pounds slimmer when wearing the right colors
7) The right colors visually brighten our teeth and eyes
8) Fine lines and wrinkles are minimized when we wear the right colors
9) Others are more attracted to us when we wear color
10) We appear more 'put together' in color

Live in color!
Lauren

New twitter friends at WorkChic

Ladies, I am on twitter now....for business purposes. Truly I am trying to establish more camaraderie with other people in the worlds of color, fashion, and beauty. It's a good tool, though all this technology overwhelms me at times, and I've 'met' some interesting tweeps (people who twitter) out there.

One such group is WorkChic. I highly encourage you working ladies to check out their website. It is packed with actual advice...everything from putting together professional yet stylish ensembles to how to tie a scarf to breaking out of a color rut. They also feature sections on business casual, that often ambiguous area that leaves room for lots of mistakes! You will also find merchandise there at great deals. All has been hand picked with the working gal in mind.

I am so impressed with the site that I'm recommending it to you. You will be pleasantly surprised with their fab content. You can find them at www.workchic.com

Live in color!
Lauren

Why can't I match colors and fabrics?

Have you ever tried to match fabrics, especially different black materials? Have you noticed how incredibly difficult it is to do? There are 2 main reasons why color matching is a frustrating experience, even for color analysts like myself.

First of all, matching fabric to fabric is virtually impossible because of the sheen on fabric. As you touch fabric and work with it you'll note that its color seems to shift as the light reflects off of different parts of it. This is why at Color My Closet we use personal color palettes, which are painted on archival canvas. The color doesn't shift; therefore, fabrics can be compared more easily to this constant, the personal color palette.

Secondly, have you ever tried to find the right lipstick color at the makeup counter? It looks pretty in the department store, but as you leave and walk out into the sunlight, you notice that the color is all wrong for you. Store lighting is notoriously poor and renders color matching nearly impossible. The only way to accurately match color is to do so in natural daylight.

Next month I'm going to take a 3-day course called Color Mixing & Matching. I look forward to learning more and shedding some light on this topic for all of you faithful readers out there. In the meantime, know that it's not your imagination that matching colors can be quite confusing...

Live in color!
Lauren

The top 5 ways color affects you and others

Color always evokes a response from us and others. It is inevitable. Color is emotional, powerful, and it communicates messages about us to others. We labor over what paint colors to use in our homes, and we should do the same when considering our clothing color palettes.

Here I have assembled my list of the top 5 ways color affects you and others.

1) The right color palette communicates health and vitality. When you are wearing your best colors, your skin, eyes, teeth and hair all look more healthy. You appear to be up to 10 years younger and 10 pounds more slenderized.

2) Wearing your best colors can give you a competitive edge in the workplace because you look more polished. Wearing your colors from head to toe creates a put together, uniform appearance that is visually appealing to your work superiors. You inevitably communicate that you are up to the task at hand, and that you are one step ahead of many coworkers.

3) Do you want to make a good impression on a first date? Wear your best colors to look your most attractive. Not only will you look more attractive to your date, but you yourself will feel more confident. We all know that confidence is always attractive!

4) Are you feeling blue (pardon the pun)? Do you feel exasperated or worn down? Color is one way to revitalize yourself. Colors can shift your mood significantly. If you want to cheer yourself up, then I recommend yellows and oranges. To feel calm and serene, I like blues and greens.

5) Are you frustrated every day as you try to find something to wear in your closet? One reason is because you keep buying the wrong things over and over again, and there those pieces sit cluttering up your closet. We are all guilty of this. In fact, it is estimated that women wear 20% of their clothing 80% of the time. So where does color factor into this? Well, when you know your best colors, you'll discover that the colors within your palette mix and match seamlessly. This makes wardrobe planning a cinch, as you can get more mileage out of just a few key pieces in the right colors.

Live in color!
Lauren

I feel like a Brazilian swimsuit model...again, in my own mind!

Ladies, I've been talking about getting a Mystic Tan for quite some time now, but this week I finally took the plunge. Here's the deal: I have olive toned skin anyway and don't ever look pale, but EVERYONE looks better with a tan.

So in the name of beauty I went and got my bod spray tanned by arguably the BEST spray tanner in all of Houston. I say this not just because Danielle works down the hall from me, but because women from all over Houston traverse to see her. Many a Houstonian has made the trek to Danielle, selecting her over some uber posh places smack dab in the middle of the Loop.

Well, I found out from Danielle that she customizes her colors and has 6 different formulas based on one's natural complexion. She spray tans the fairest of women, even those with albino complexions. Apart from standing almost naked in front of her and feeling a bit embarrassed (because I'm very modest), the experience wasn't bad at all.

I have no splotchy marks, I don't look like Malibu Barbie, and the tan will last up to 10 days. Truth be told, I feel like a Brazilian swimsuit model :)....I mean it, I do!

If you want to get in touch with Danielle, and she's very reasonably priced by the way, please send me an email at lauren@colormyclose.com. I'll put you in touch!

Live in color!
Lauren

How I became a shoe department expert....at least in my own mind

Many of you know about my recent guest appearances at two Macy's/Jones New York events. During the last two weeks I have become a shoe department expert...or at least in my own mind I have. First of all, the stockroom of Macy's shoe department is a numerically organized labyrinth (is that an oxymoron?), understandable only to a select few :). Now I have figured out why it can take several minutes for the shoe salespeople to find your right size and style in the back.

Did you know that there are dozens upon dozens of rows of shoes back there? And these rows go sky high it seems. I had the privilege of going to fetch some shoes for several models at my last two events. As a complete shoe addict, I felt like I had reached shoe heaven back there. The smell of leather and cardboard boxes was intoxicating, but folks, I only had 15 minutes to find some numerically coded shoes! And I was on my own because it was 7:00 a.m. and the Macy's shoe team had not yet arrived.

So there I was literally running through the stock room trying to make sure I could find each classification code, and not get in trouble with any shoe department people who might have arrived early. Well, first I was looking at the wrong code...the department code. Well, all shoes have the same department code....duh! After taking 5 minutes to figure that one out, I proceeded to use the style code as my guide. Yeah, that's the ticket!

I might very well have set a retail speed record last week when I successfully found 4 pairs of shoes within 5 minutes back in that shoe labyrinth. You had to have been there to fully appreciate the moment---it was a sight to see---me running around in the back with several pairs of shoe boxes stacked in my arms.

Too bad I didn't get to stay long enough...there's always next time! The things I do in the name of fashion.....

Live in color!
Lauren

Houston, we have fun FASHION FRIDAY!

To all my ladies in Houston,

Color My Closet has been invited back to host a spring fashion event tomorrow with Jones New York at Macy's Galleria (@ Hidalgo).

I'd love for you to join us as we:
*talk about adding the right color to your wardrobe
*interpret spring's trends based on 4 different fashion personalities
*hold a drawing for a free 1-hour shopping consultation with me
*give you lots of exclusive incentives, gift bags, AND breakfast bites
*have fun celebrating FASHION together

Macy's Galleria @ Hidalgo--enter at 2nd level Macy's/Nordstrom garage (off McCue)
DATE: Friday, April 3, 2009
TIME: 9:00 AM but please arrive by 8:30
RSVP: email lauren@colormycloset.com by midnight tonight

Live in color!
Lauren

Where have I been?

Ladies,

I must apologize for not blogging in the last 2 weeks. Color My Closet has seen a spike in business with 4 events held over the last 4 weeks!

In an effort to provide interesting, fresh info about color, beauty and wardrobe, I plan to blog every other day. It's so difficult to keep up with daily blogging, as I was trying to do, and blogging daily lowers the quality of content I'm able to provide.

Stay tuned for more information from Color My Closet. We haven't left...we've just been extra busy.

Live in color!
Lauren