Renew your look

 Sooner or later we take the time to reflect on ourselves. Both internally and externally. It's a nice change of pace, to then reflect on the 'renewal' of our look.

So often our image is dependent on our everyday routine and what we've come to do on a daily basis. With hectic schedules, and responsibilities pulling at us from every end, when do we take the time to renew ourselves? We usually don't because the last time we did, we ended up with disastrous results, or it got too frustrating to incorporate this new process into our daily routine.

Are you bored with how you look?
Congratulations! It only means that you've perfected this look, time and time again. So much so, you could do it in your sleep. And believe me, you're really good at it too. You're so good, that by now, face it. You're bored.

It is not so much hard to apply that new color, but to get up the courage to do so. Why is changing how we look so difficult? Models do it all the time. Maybe if I was making $10,000 per day, I'd be happy to change my hair color and makeup in a blink of an eye as well. But I'm not, and I don't. Courage. That's all it takes to conquer something new. A lot harder than it sounds. When makeup artists are pressuring you to overhaul a whole new look for yourself, ask them when they've done the same to themselves? You'll get either a blank stare, or a look of horror. And as a makeup artist, I have to do my own face every day. Day in and day out. I get bored too, and supposedly,I know what I'm doing.

Don't fear. We tend to overwhelm ourselves with trying to put on a whole new face, and frustrated, we end up going back to our tried and true colors and routine anyway.

So what happened? How do we not make this attempt a repeated thing? Simple. Take it slow. Renewal starts with one step. At a time. One new item, or one new color, or one new technique.

So take a deep breath. Relax,and remember. "Baby steps."

A whole renewed you!
First, look at all the colors that you tend to wear over and over again. Not the dusty drawer of stuff that's used once and never again. No, the colors you always tend to grab. Look at them. There's a reason why they work. You wear them everyday,cause you like how they make you look. You feel good. You've gotten compliments. It works. Every time. What's the thing they have in common? Color? Quality? Performance? Make a mental list and then go 1 step beyond. Go for a color deeper or lighter than what you see before you. Whew. Step 1 completed. Wasn't that easy?

Okay, next. What's the texture you wear the most? Is it Matte? Shiny? Dewy? Shimmering? Iridescent? Glittery? Now, go the next step. Go from matte to dewy, or shimmery to glittery. Push the envelope a little bit. Just a little bit.

Last but not least, look at where you put the 'focus' of your look. Do you play up the eyes? The lips? Blush? Okay, soften that area, and focus on the other one. Is it eyes? Then play up lips this time. Or vice versa. Shift the focus a little bit.

Three simple things. And the best part is that you don't have to do them all together. What makes us reject something is that it's far beyond what we feel is the norm. And that goes with makeup too. We immediately don't like that dark burgundy black lipstick, when we're used to the pale nude brown. So we quit. It's only because it's so far beyond our 'comfort' look that we reject it every time. So don't go that route. Back up a bit. Take it easy on yourself. Just one new thing. See how it makes you feel. Hear what others say. And you'll be surprised that you really do have a whole new look. No, really. You just didn't think it'd be this easy.