Pretty awesome for those of you who'll lose your mind if your favorite lipstick is discontinued! "Stop searching for "something close" to your cherished shades - we can produce discontinued shades for the Lips, Cheeks, Eyes & Face or
help you create your own from scratch!"

Three Custom Color Specialists :: CUSTOM BLENDING

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Three Custom Color Specialists: High end makeup for all of your beauty product needs

"Adding color to your wardrobe is a great way to lift your spirits... Even if you're colorphobic..." -Tim Gunn

Tim Gunn Talks: Color

www.youtube.com

Tim Gunn, Chief Creative Officer of Liz Claiborne, Inc, discusses how to wear color in your wardrobe.

Seeing Red: a guide to bold lips.

by Image in Harmony Consulting Boutique on Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 10:45am

Have you ever experienced red lip envy? Spotted another woman wearing gorgeous red lips and wondered why you never made it out the door in red? Or maybe you decided long ago that red is not your thing and you're going to stick to chapstick, thank you very much. Well let's destroy a couple of big red myths, shall we?
Myth 1. Just because the saleslady/makeup lady told you you look amazing in Russian Red, doesn't mean you do.
Myth 2. There is not one red lipstick that would look good on everyone. Unless it happens to be a true Crayola red. Red happens to be a neutral on it's own. Yup, it's true. It's neither neither a warm or a cool color; it's what's usually added to it (blue or yellow pigments) that make it so.
Myth 3. Just because your BFF swore that you look amazing in Baton Rouge doesn't mean that you wouldn't look even more amazing in your bestest red.

Q: So what's a girl to do when there are hundreds of red lipsticks to choose out there?
A: There are four broad categories of reds. Bright Blue Red. Muted Blue Red. Bright Yellow Red. and Muted Yellow Red. If your skin is on the cooler side you will look better in the Blue Reds. And ditto for the Yellow Reds - they will look good on you if your skin is warm. But what about if you're somewhere in between cool and warm? And which will look better the Brighter Reds or the Muted Reds? AHA! So that's what a color analysis with me will do for you!

But here's a little photo display of yours truly (no airbrush, no photo tricks and not the best of lighting, the horror, the fun!) with these 4 categories and why they might or might not work for me.

The best part? Send in a photo of yourself with your red lips to imageinharmony@gmail.com if you need a little help figuring out your best lipstick look. Red Kisses to all.

All Lipsticks in Photos are from MAC. (www.maccosmetics.com)

(For some reason, Facebook won't allow me to use captioning right now.) So...
Photo Number One. Brave Red (Bright Yellow Red). The winner. Bright and Yellow harmonizes with my skin tone.
Photo Number Two. Chili and Red Pepper (Muted Yellow Reds). Hmmm.... not so bad, but not the best either. Needs more brightness... needs a brave red.
Photo Number Three. Russian Red (Bright Blue Red). Brightness works, blue does not. Don't see it? You'll have lots of fun learning at your color analysis with me.
Photo Number Four. Dark Side and Russian Red (Muted Blue Red). Muted and Blue. Not good, not good at all. 'Nuff said?

A Girl's Best Friend (it's not what you think)

by Image in Harmony Consulting Boutique on Monday, June 7, 2010 at 7:35pm

A blissfully long and cool (everything is relative) Winter here in the Sunshine State almost made me forget how disgustingly humid and sticky our Summer gets. Over 6 miles of walking and countless showers (indoors and out) in the past few days have made me re-pledge my allegiance to what should be know as 'a girl's best friend'. Any girl who has ever experienced the discomfort (to put it mildly) of a heat rash/chafe would gladly forgo their diamond ring (ok, maybe not) to stop the torture. We're talking 'BodyGlide' here sister! "The leading skin protectant and #1 choice for runners and triathletes since 1996." I don't know about you, but the last time I ran anywhere was 1996, but that besides the point. I have been using it for almost 10 years and lemme tell you, that thing can last you through an overnight hike in the Amazon rain forest (not that I would know, but I have actually worn it in Kawaiin and Mauin rain forests and in our very own Fairchild Tropical Gardens, so I do have some credibility here). It's time to chuck those protective shorts, 'cuz you won't be needing them anymore. And yes, you'll have me to thank for introducing you to http://www.bodyglide.com/, and an easy, cheap buy on http://www.amazon.com/. After all, you can't look good if you don't feel good. And you definitely won't feel good if you can't walk. So, Voila. And it's my pleasure; it really is. Say hello to your new best friend.

Harry Winston ring. A.k.a. No longer your best friend.

Hungry No More: the Return of a Healthier Portfolio

Riddle me this:  How is it that in a world where trends have a lifespan of a fruit fly, the women who are payed to model these trends haven't changed their look (give or take 10 lbs, heroin and some darker shades in the skin spectrum) since the 1960s?  So forgive me for getting a little excited about the cover of June 2010 Glamour, because something that hasn't gotten old for me just yet is seeing a life size model on the cover of a major commercial fashion magazine.  And it's not just any cover - it's their 'we've got the best swimsuits for every body' cover.  I.e. Recent favorite (she must have a good publicist), Size 12 Crystal Renn, recovering anorexic/bulimic and author of 'Hungry' is wearing a bikini on the cover (along with 2 less weighted models to help balance things out).  Major, pretty major.  Elena Miro and Prada both used curvier, i.e. closer to average models during Milan Fashion Week back in February.  V and Vogue have both deigned to publish phater photos on their pages (see previous blog posts).  But the biggest question is whether this trend has any lasting power at all - and we're talking power of Twiggy proportions.  Has the recent financial bulimia of the world affected our fashion choices?  Binge, purge, binge, purge.  It's no secret how the media and fashion worlds have affected the way we perceive ourselves, our body image.  So let's hope for the return of a healthier, more diversified portfolio.  Get ready for a rise in Zaftig.

Bask in the glory of these images from the Elena Miro fashion show: http://www.elenamiro.com/it/collezioni_milano_moda_donna.php
A little bit about Crystal Renn: http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2009/10/body-confidence-secrets-from-plus-size-model-crystal-renn?currentPage=2
Glamour June 2010: http://www.glamour.com/fashion/2010/05/every-body-is-a-hot-body-crystal-renn-brooklyn-decker-and-alessandra-ambrosio-model-the-seasons-hottest-swimsuits

Yayoi Kusama and the Colors of Optimism.

I'm guessing the botanists, elderly volunteers and groundskeepers at Fairchild Tropical Gardens don't know it, but they're cultivating Spring 2010.  No, not that kind of Spring Spring.  I mean the Fashion Spring.  When you do visit (you can be my guest member if you buy me lunch or a box of chocolates), it'll be hard to miss the psychedelic oevres of the sometimes orange-haired, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and her compulsive, avant-garde polka dots and her colorful monster-like flowers and pumpkins (yes, flowers can be monstrous).  Kusama got it.  Right on the dot.  (Bwa ha ha.)   http://www.fairchildgarden.org/art-at-fairchild/Yayoi-Kusama-/   For those of you who aren't ready to part with the dark, edgy, metal studded, biker jacketed, strong-shouldered, acid hued, vampire obsessed of the 2009 80s revival, you're in luck.  Just keep the 80s in the back of your closet because they'll be back in 2029, maybe 2019 for a brief season if you're lucky... or maybe even tomorrow.  With retailers like H&M, Zara and even Target, trends are sucked in and purged faster than you can turn a page of Vogue.  The Wall Street Journal reported: "David Wolfe has been analyzing style trends for 41 years [...] Mr. Wolfe, creative director of the Doneger Group consultants, stood up in a room full of retail executives and told them: "There are no more trends. Everything is in style. (http://www.doneger.com/web/112119.htm)."

                                           http://www.fairchildgarden.org/art-at-fairchild/Yayoi-Kusama-/

And so, a question I love to ask for the non-fashion obsessed among us.  "So, who the heck cares? You want to wear a metal studded, polka dot, floral dress, go ahead!  And why am I reading this anyway? After all, everything is in style!"  Here's why.  No matter your fashion, you'll likely still buy into the trends that have been dictated by the elusive fashion and color forecasters.  Yes, they do really exist and have predicted what we will want to wear because they've decided that that's what we should want to wear even though we've become rebellious fashion wearers of late.  Turns out Kusama's flowers and pumpkins were perfectly hued, as orange was and still is big and Mimosa Yellow was the 'it' color.  Positive change, optimism, brightness, warmth, passion; yellow and orange.  It seems that the color people might actually know what we might need too, not just what we should want.  And so, you might consider wearing Turquoise (and Aurora and Tomato Puree) this Spring/Summer 2010.  "Turquoise transports us to an exciting, tropical paradise while offering a sense of protection and healing in stressful times (http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/pantone.aspx?pg=20706&ca=10)."  Does the whole print and polka dot thing make sense to you now?  Maybe the orderliness, yet innocence of the polka dots and the cheeriness and femininity of the prints are what we need to bring us out of Vampiric 2009.  You may have had some blood drained out of you, but Mimosa Yellow and Kusama's The Flowers that Bloom at Midnight were there all along reminding you that tropical paradise was within reach.  And if you still feel the need for some good ol' 80s armor, it looks like you may be able to protect yourself with the military inspired trend for Spring/Summer 2010.  Orange, yellow, turquoise, polka dots, military, patterns, pastoral, less is more, more is more... By the time you finished reading this, another trend just passed on to the fashion catacombs of New York, Paris and Milan.  Hopefully Yayoi Kusama and the Colors of Optimism will influence the decidedly boring achromatic trend in Fall 2010. 

Sasha Fierceness: Being Yourself

Have you heard of Sasha Fierce? Even if you aren’t so au courant with the pop music world, I bet you could guess. Three guesses. “All the single ladies”, “I’m a survivor”, “Destiny’s Child”. Yup, it’s Beyonce’s fabulous, confident, entertaining, powerful other self. In Allure magazine’s interview with Beyonce for February 2010, she confides: “Sasha Fierce is my alter ego, this other side of me that’s most animalistic and strong and fearless, and I have used this person to take over when I’m too scared or too shy… The thing that’s interesting is I don’t need Sasha Fierce anymore, because I’ve grown, and I’m now able to merge the two. I want people to see me. I want people to see who I am”. http://www.allure.com/ So, why does this matter to you? Do you really care that Beyonce has “found harmony in the contradictions”? I bet it matters more than you think. Think. Who is your Sasha Fierce? How many social masks do you put on every day? Even if you’re truly uber-confident , you probably put several on from the moment you wake up to greet your day. There’s the eager, go-get’em one that you put on at work to impress your boss or your clients even you want nothing more than to go back home and have a ‘me’ day. Or the one you put on when you really need a lazy, uninterested, unhelpful service person to help you out and you really are in a rush. Or the one you put on when you don’t know anyone in the room. What about the one when you do know people in the room, when you’re among other women?

And so, my sing-song is for all the ladies, single or not. Is your mask made of stone because you’re afraid to reveal yourself to a woman who isn’t as intelligent, well-connected, powerful or pretty as you? Is your mask painted with red stripes because you want her to understand that you are way more important than most people in the room? Is your mask a multi-colored coat because you want everyone to like you so you could add another notch on your Facebook page of popularity? Is yours wallpapered on the outside because you’re shy and you want to blend in, but spiky on the inside because you’re really angry no one notices you? So here’s my Beyonce-inspired anthem: I’m going to challenge all you women! Challenge all you women! All you women! No, I’m not going to ask you to rip off your masks to expose your raw face. Because I think a little Sasha Fierceness is a good thing and it can actually be really human, not so animalistic. It can make you feel more confident, feel more beautiful, feel stronger, and even act more kind. Just sheer that mask out a wee bit (the orangey line around your jaw is way too obvious!), allow your sisters to truly connect to you. You may be surprised at how fierce it makes you.