In a recent Wall Street Journal article, the publication reported that tie makers, whose sales have slumped in recent years with more casual business ware, have turned to high-end ties. The reason? This is the one area of the tie
Category: Beauty and Fashion
Best Prom Styles
Finding the perfect prom dress is like hunting. From discount stores to paying full retail, move forward having an idea of what you want and you’ll find the perfect dress for you.
Every year, new styles of prom dresses hit retail floors across the nation. While the latest prom dress styles and trends may vary from year-to-year, there are some basics that will help you find the perfect dress that you will remember for years to come.
Perhaps you’ve found the perfect prom dress in a magazine, but it is far too costly for your budget. There are ways to get a similar dress for a fraction of the price.
Whether you want a traditional, full-length gown or a short and flirty sparkly number, understanding the basic prom styles available will help you make a decision.
Prom Dress Styles
Start by choosing the basic style of prom dress you want to wear. Here are a few options:
- Form-fitting
- Full skirt
- Short
- Slit-side
- Long in back and short in front
- Dress slacks with cocktail dress over top
- Conventional
Keep in mind what colors look best with your complexion. If yellow washes you out, then you’ll want to avoid orange and yellow dresses. If purple is a color you hate, then look for dresses that are not purple. Some seasons feature truly hideous colors, but you can almost always find basic white, black and pastels. Although the designs will vary each year, these basic styles are almost always available year-round from bridal boutiques and specialty stores.
Easy Prom Hairstyles You Can Do Yourself
Shop Early for the Best Deals
Once you have an idea of the basic style you want for your prom dress, you can begin shopping. For example, shop in the summer for the best deal on clearance prom dresses. If you can’t find anything in your size or that you love, try the bridal stores after peak wedding season ends in July. You may just find the perfect dress on sale.
Stores to try for discounts include:
- Bridal boutiques
- JC Penney
- Dillard’s
- Sears
- Deb’s
- Macy’s
- Bridal warehouse type stores
Don’t be afraid to shop online. Just pay close attention to measurement guidelines and make sure the company allows for a return if the item doesn’t fit properly.
Think Outside the Box
Don’t limit yourself to traditional stores when shopping for a dress. Last year, one of my daughter’s friends found a dress she adored at a local thrift store for $10. Talk about a huge savings? Another friend took her sister’s dress, had it altered to fit her and loved the finished look. The alterations cost her around $40.00 and her sister was happy to let her younger sibling wear the dress.
Consider these sources for dress:
- Ebay
- Garage Sales
- Thrift Stores
- Secondhand Stores
- Church clothes closets (ask their policy – some sell to anyone and others reserve for financially needy families)
- Friends and family
Ask around. Find out who has a prom dress they might be willing to let you borrow or sell to you for a reduced cost. You might be surprised.
Prom Dress Alterations
When it comes to alterations, it is better to go with a larger size and take material away than to try to add material to a smaller dress. Not only will it cost less money to have the seamstress cut material, but it might not be possible to match material to a dress to make it larger.
When choosing a seamstress:
- Ask around and find out who has altered prom dresses for others and make sure past customers are happy with the seamstress’ work.
- The seamstress should measure you in the shoes you plan to wear with the dress.
- Get a quote upfront, so you know exactly how much alterations will cost. Spending hundreds on alterations doesn’t make a dress cost effective.
- Ask for a date the dress will be ready and ask others if the seamstress delivers on time.
- Check the Better Business Bureau to see if there are any complaints against the seamstress.
- Allow two weeks before prom in case something goes horribly wrong and you have to find a new dress.
Make Your Own Prom Dress
Although it might not save you a ton of money, sewing your own prom dress can ensure that you get the exact color, pattern and material you want. However, sewing formal dresses is not work for a beginning sewer. Instead, find a trusted friend or family member who understands how to work with the material you’ve chosen and ensure everything fits properly.
Just as with the alterations, allow plenty of time in case something goes horribly wrong and you have to find another dress at the last minute.
Consider Renting a Prom Dress
In most cases, a prom dress is worn for a few hours for a single night. Instead of emptying your wallet on a dress you’ll only wear once, consider renting the dress. Some bridal boutiques and secondhand stores offer prom dress rental. You can also find stores in upscale malls that rent designer dresses for a fraction of buying new.
Be sure you understand the rental terms completely. Ask questions like:
- When can the dress be picked up?
- When does it need to be returned and at what time?
- Who is responsible for dry cleaning?
- What if the dress is damaged or stained? What will the cost be?
- What if you cannot return the dress on time due to an emergency? What are the charges?
- What happens if you arrive to pick up the dress and it isn’t there?
- Are alterations allowed?
- Are any discounts available?
Always ask for a discount, as they may offer you a percentage off.
Accessories Make the Dress
If you find a dress that is reasonably priced, but doesn’t capture your heart completely, consider accessories that might make the dress more lovable. If you spend less on the dress, can you afford a pair of Cinderella shoes and a beautiful cubic zirconia necklace? Adding a colorful sash can turn a plain black dress into something out of a Hollywood movie. Perhaps there is a way to alter the skirt to make it more whimsical, such as overlaying a plain skirt with a colorful, sheer, rainbow material?
Sometimes, you just have to have it…
Even though saving money is wonderful and you will only wear the dress for one night, there are times when you meet that one perfect dress that makes your heart go pitty-pat. You just know if you don’t have it, you’ll never be the same. If you have the funds, and the dress is calling your name that loudly, it might be wise to spend more on the dress and borrow jewelry, shoes and other accessories instead. You can always scale back on other areas, like renting a limo.
Wearing a dress that makes you feel truly beautiful will make prom night one you’ll always remember.
Coloring Your Own Gray Hair at Home
Coloring Your Own Gray Hair at Home
For years, I paid a stylist to color my hair at $90 a pop plus $30 for trims. I always hated the way my hair looked. Even though I told my stylist over and over that my hair seemed orange, she never fixed it. I would see photos and my hair was clearly orange-tinged. One day, I went in and asked for a specific cut (even had a photo) and asked for some white-blonde highlights. I walked out with a layered cut (I never do layers other than long ones) and caramel-orange highlights.
That was the day I decided I’d had it. I knew I could do at least that well with a box kit. Thus began some experiments that I’m going to share and hopefully you can learn from.
Store Bought Kits to Color Your Hair
I started with a kit I bought from Walmart. I went with an ash color because I knew that ash would tone down how orange my hair looked. I did take the time to study the color wheels and how stylists balance color. This made me understand that my stylist really didn’t understand this balancing act, not even a little. This is why my hair was always orange, even when I told her it had a tendency to go orange.
In a nutshell:
- If your hair is orange, you need to add purple to tone it down or an ash color or toner.
- If your hair is green, you don’t have enough red in it.
As you lighten your hair, you strip out pigments. So, if I wanted highlights that were blonde, I’d have to lose all the red from my hair through several stages. It is not easy to highlight hair at home if your hair is dark and I really don’t recommend it for a beginner as you might fry your hair. However, you can start with a 20 volume toner and some powdered bleach or one of the kits at the store, which is the same thing. You just might have a hard time getting away from it being orangey at first.
The light ash brown I put on my hair did tone down the orange, but it was a flat color and I still wasn’t thrilled with it. I realized that the color I loved on celebrities and friends was not made up of one color. I started to really study their hair and what it looked like and I realized there were layers of different colors, highlights and lowlights that gave them that look.
What Hair Color to Buy from Sally’s Beauty Supply
I then headed to Sally’s, because I knew it would be cheaper to buy several different colors. I was lost. There are so many colors and there are some that are specifically for gray hair (these are amazing and make your hair soft and shiny). I knew I wanted a light ash brown base, blonde highlights and medium golden brown lowlights. So, I chose a light ash brown, a medium golden brown, some highlighting powder and 20 volume toner.
I put on the brown base first. Then, I mixed the bleach and put it on with a toothbrush where I wanted it. My hair takes forever to lighten, so I knew I’d have to leave it on the maximum, 90 minutes. I left it on an hour and then went in and added the golden brown lowlights where I wanted those. 30 minutes later I rinsed it all out and conditioned.
The result? While not perfect, it was 100 times better than what I’d paid my stylist $90 for and it was not orange. There was a slight red tone to my lowlights as I’d chosen golden brown, but they were a pretty slightly auburn type color. I got many compliments.
Other Things to Do to Camouflage Gray Hair
One of the biggest problems I’ve had is that my gray hair is actually snow white. However, I suspect it doesn’t matter what shade your gray is. You likely still want to cover it. If you’re like me, your hair grows fast. So you might color it and a week later gray is peaking through. No one wants to overprocess their hair. There are some things you can do to camouflage it.
- Touch up just the roots. This only works well if your hair is all one color.
- Create baby lights. This is something I’ve recently started to do and I love this look so much. I put a chocolate brown at the top, which is about a shade or so darker than my natural color. I then go down about two to three inches and twist sections and bleach them. The look is subtle but adds a lot of pretty lights to my hair, especially when I let the waves go natural. When the gray starts to come in, I just touch up that part at the top or even from the top down about two inches. I don’t have to do the ends, which are often the most fragile. It is a quick touchup.
- Some people use touch up pens. I’ve not tried these. They are a temporary fix.
- There are some rinses you can use to add color to your hair, but they aren’t great at covering gray.
These are just a few ideas. You have to find the color that matches your own skin tone and that you love. The ladies who work at Sally’s always help me out and are usually right about the colors to choose and how to fix problems. For example, my blonde kept going orangey or straw yellow. I could never get it where I wanted until a gal at Sally told me to bleach it and then do a lightest ash blonde toner over it at the end. Wow! No more orange. Such an easy fix and makes my hair look BETTER than when I had the salon do it.
Whatever method you choose, it is an ongoing effort to keep gray hair covered. You can do it and you’ll look breathtakingly beautiful.
What Covers Gray Hair Best?
If there is one thing having kids will get you, it is gray hair. If you are looking for the best hair color to cover gray hair, let me tell you I have tried a lot of different types and brands. What covers gray hair best? It depends on how much of your hair is gray and what color you’d like to get to.
Best Hair Color to Cover Some Gray Hair
If you are just starting to see some gray strands mixed through the rest of your hair, you can easily hide this gray with highlights. If your hair is dark, try some warm caramel hair color highlights. If your hair is light brown or lighter, you should add some honey blonde highlights. the lighter your gray, the lighter your highlights should be to camouflage them. The key is to not go so light that you have to constantly have your highlights redone to hide regrowth. Ideally, your highlights will blend and so will your gray hair, so that the gray hair is covered up.
Color Resistant Gray Hair
If your hair is more than 50% gray and is resistant to color, things get a little trickier. First, you will want to invest a bit more in the color you use. Sally’s Beauty has some amazing dyes specifically made for gray hair and they cover very well and the cover lasts. I also add a gray additive that comes in a little single use packet. If you can’t find them, ask the workers. They are by the red-out, etc.
Also, you will want to choose a color that is a bit lighter than you natural color. This helps make the gray less apparent. The darker you go, the more the gray will show through.
If You Must Have Dark Hair, but You Also Have Gray
I had gone quite a bit lighter to cover the gray. My hair had lightened up to a dark blonde with highlights. However, my natural color is between a medium and light brown. I was really tired of the lighter color as I feel it makes me look washed out and I missed my dark hair. I came up with a solution that worked well for me at this point where my 20-year-old daughter has given me a gazillion gray hairs coming in.
I did baby lights. It is like a very subtle balayage effect. This allowed me to go darker on top and shade down to a bit lighter at the bottom. This also allows me to touch up new growth just at the roots without having to redo all of my highlights every couple of weeks (damaging to the hair).
Salons charge a fortune to do baby lights. I actually stumbled across a very simple technique, which I will share in a video with you the next time I dye my hair. Until then, may your grays stay covered and your hair stay beautiful.
Expensive Wedding Dresses Worth Millions
Even if one isn’t in your budget, you might dream about expensive wedding dresses when you picture the perfect wedding. International bridal stylist Renee Strauss is best known for her wedding work in films and television. She stars in the