The Makeover

I have several sewing projects waiting for pictures so I can give them a blog post.  Until then, I can show pictures of my new hair.  I needed a new 'do to compliment me as a Dressing Your Truth type 4.  I went to the DYT salon to have my hair cut and dyed.  Loved it!

The "Before" picture was taken at the salon.  I purposely chose a shirt I knew was wrong (I still love it, even though it's a Type 2) so I could have a more dramatic "After".  I ran out of time to finish my makeup and didn't put on mascara.  That just makes the after better, right?  Right?

Before.  The shirt is a Type 2 shirt, so not my best look.

 The "After" picture was also taken in the salon.  My hair was styled, my makeup was touched up, and one of the employees at the store handed me a shirt and earrings to put on.  They are true to my Type and do more for me than my other shirt did.

I was most excited to get the purple added.  I'd been wanting to do that for quite a while.  It adds an element of fun and I can totally pull it off.  My husband likes it so well he wants me to keep it up.  We'll see if he still wants me to keep it up when he finds out how much it costs...

After.  Rockin' the purple.

In the interest of honesty, I also included and after picture in which I did my own hair and make up.  I don't know about you, but trying to duplicate what they do to my hair at the salon is an exercise in futility.  Even without the curl in my hair I am pleased.  Seriously, I'm really digging the purple.

After After.  No stylist to help me out and wearing all my own stuff.

The purple a fun change.  I love that it's kind of a peek-a-boo color.  I can style it so the color can't be seen from the front or so that it stands out, whichever suits my fancy.  Maybe next time I'll do red.

Confirmation About Clothing Types

So I've been having fun with Dressing Your Truth.  As I went through the basic Type 4 course I was pretty disappointed.  There was very little that I hadn't figured out all by myself.  There are, however, additional resources that are pure gold (or, in my case, reflective silver because that's my best metal).  I'm still going through all that and will be for quite a while.  What I was so exited about today was getting confirmation of personal fashion dos and don'ts.  I already had a pretty good idea about what does or doesn't look good on me, but salespeople and the fashion industry try to convince me otherwise.  Their voices are pretty loud and so I start to think maybe I can pull off something I really shouldn't try.  Example: leggings.  I felt vindicated to see that one of DYT's resources on body type says to avoid leggings on fuller calves.  True dat.

In the picture below you can see what I look like in my black exercise leggings.  Leggings aren't my best look and I knew that.  Even with a shirt long enough to cover up mah bidness it's still not a good idea for me.  There was a salesperson a couple years ago who told me my concerns about leggings were just my imagination.  Same with skinny jeans.

Genetics + chocolate chip cookies = full calves.  It is what it is.

Even after getting a good look at me in leggings there are still some who suggest I just wear boots over them and it'll look great.  The picture below is me in the only pair of boots I've ever owned.  They are wide shaft boots made "to accommodate fuller calves".  When I zip them up I lose feeling in my toes.  I'm slimmer now than I was when I got them as a gift, so at least now I can actually get the zipper all the way up.

Yes, the tags are still on my boots.  And yes, that is leg fat coming out the top.

Can you see now why I like being told what I already knew?  Straight leg and boot cut pants are my friends. My type of beauty is the "bold, striking" beauty and I'm so glad they don't just tell me to go for whatever is bold.  Now I just need to keep training my eye to the difference between bold and bright.  I bought a new lipstick last night and I'm still not sure about it.  I was going for the orange shade and I wore it with a coral and white striped shirt.  What do you think?  Does it work?  Jury's still out for me.

Dressing My Truth

I'm trying something new.  Well, I guess "new" isn't necessarily the right word.  Stuff like this has been around for quite a while and I remember looking through my mom's book about seasons many years ago.  I digress.  Anyway, last week I purchased the Dressing Your Truth course.  I'd seen suggestions for it on Facebook and finally decided to check it out when I saw something about the free beauty profiling course they send to your email.  I found it very interesting.

Type 1 makeover

After going through the free course it was pretty clear that I'm a Type 4, the "bold, striking" type of beauty.  I'm good with that.  Actually I'm very pleased about it, which is also kind of the point of the course.  What sets this course apart from other similar systems is that it has less to do with skin, eye, and hair color than it does with personality and how you express yourself.  I appreciate that this course shows that every woman has her own type of beauty and how to dress herself to honor (they use that word a lot) that inner and outer beauty.

Type 2 makeover

As a 12 or 13 year old girl I and other girls in our church youth group were draped in fabrics to find our season.  Before any draping happened we were told about common personality traits among the "seasons".  Winter seemed to have more negative than positive qualities to it.  When my turn to be draped came I didn't care which season I was so long as it wasn't the winter.  After trying a few different drapes on me, the woman talking to us got a look of pity/apology on her face and said, "You know what?  I think you're a winter."  I was so disappointed.  I didn't want to be a winter.  That memory has stuck with me for a long time.

Type 3 makeover.  This one is my favorite.  She looks amazing!

Now that I'm a Type 4 with Dressing Your Truth I wouldn't have it any other way.  I learned to love myself for who I am years ago and it's refreshing that Dressing Your Truth attaches value to that.  It's not as life-changing to me as it has been to others, though I do like the extra permission to just be myself and appreciate the gift that is to myself and others.  Moving forward, the challenge is embracing the change in clothing and adopting things that I might not have tried before.  For example, in the transformation video for the Type 4 women they put a woman in an orange shirt.  That's the one color I've never felt I could pull off.  Now I really want one.  I also need to figure out accessories.  Hopefully I can get comfortable with those again.

Type 4 makeover

I've decided to document the process of dressing my truth.  I took a before picture knowing that the shirt was off.  I like it a lot, but it's not quite right.  Hopefully at the end of 30 days of trying to dress my truth every day I'll have a really fun after picture too.  I'm toying with the idea of posting a picture every day, but common sense tells me that won't happen.  So here's my before picture:

Before.  The stripes are good for my Type but the color could be better. 

It's not terrible but I'm hoping that by the time 30 days is finished I'll be looking really fabulous.  Let me know if it's something you have tried or want to try so I can see how it goes.

P.S.  If you do decide to buy the course for your Type, wait until you get the email with the $99 cost or the $33/month for 3 months price.  Just a hint.  Also, all the makeover pictures were taken from the Dressing Your Truth site.