The Cheap Diva

How to Go Glam Without Going Broke

Dressy occasions offer the perfect opportunity to let the more glamorous side of your personality shine through with luxurious fabrics and sparkling jewelry. Even if your social calendar includes more backyard barbeques than fancy balls, it’s a good idea to own a few dressy pieces that can rise to the occasion. I’m not talking about a wardrobe packed with fancy frocks a prom queen would envy. I’m talking about chic trend proof pieces that will see you through holiday parties, weddings or most other elegant affairs.

AB Studio Pleated Dress $32.45

For occasions that are dressy but not formal enough to break out the tiaras and ball gowns, wearing coordinating separates instead of a dress is a pretty budget friendly way to go. With separates only parts of the outfit have to be dressy thus allowing you to combine pieces you wear on a regular basis with a few dressier elements. A knee length skirt in dressy fabric like heavy satin elevates a basic sweater and skirt outfit into something a bit more special.

Metallic Knee Length Lace Skirt $29.00

 A nice pencil skirt worn with a fancy sweater embellished with fancy embroidery or beading at the neckline looks pretty and polished. The sweater embellishment eliminates the need for a fancy necklace, meaning you could easily get away with wearing simple costume jewelry, like pearl studs or diamond solitaire earrings, and still look fully accessorized. A clutch purse in a patent or metallic real or fake leather is terrific day into evening accessory that’s far more versatile than a fancy evening bag.

No let’s talk about dresses. I believe this is the part where I am supposed to declare the virtues of the little black dress for it’s versatility. I’m all for versatility, but I’ve worked in retail selling women’s clothing and I still remember the disgusted look women would give me when I suggested a tasteful little black dress. These women weren’t looking for a dress so basic and forgettable that it’s personality could be completely transformed through the use of accessories. They were looking for a dress with real personality.

Yes you can wear a dress with a distinctive look over and over again depending on where you intend to wear it. If different events have you coming in contact with completely different groups of people, then wearing a stunning floral print or dramatic red dress more than once is no big deal. Your audience has no idea that you have worn the dress before. That said, do try rotating looks so the same dress that you wore to a wedding is not the same dress you wear to a bridal shower, a business networking event and anything else that calls for a dressier look. If you show up in pictures from various events in the same outfit it looks like you only own one nice dress. To make a dress look like a completely new outfit, layer a nice sweater or fancy button up jacket over the top of the dress so it looks like you are wearing a top and skirt combination.

It’s fairly easy to find budget friendly materials that look like more luxurious fabrics. It’s possible to find washable polyester that could pass for real silk as well as quality cotton knits that could easily pass for cashmere. The only material you want to avoid in eveningwear is any fabric made out of acetate. Acetate is a weak poor quality fiber used for garments like prom dresses that are designed to only be worn once. A social butterfly like you demands more out of her party clothes than just one wearing!

Feel Beautiful for Less with The Victoria's Secret Sale

Lingerie isn't the only indulgence from Victoria's Secret that feels good to wear.  Victoria's Secret has come out with a line of skin pampering products derived from natural ingredients.  The line is called Naturally Victoria's Secret. 

For Cheap Divas, there is nothing natural about spending top dollar, which is why you should take advantage of the buy two get one free deal for the Naturally Victoria's Secret line going on through July 14 if you want to stock up.

Acai Berry & Magnolia Indulgent Bath & Body Oil $20.00.

How to Create a Style Mix that Works

An outfit that mixes different pieces of your wardrobe together in an unexpected way has the potential to look fabulous or frightful. Trying to hard to come up with a clever combinations can result in some truly regrettable fashion statements. Like the time all the fashion magazines were promoting the girlie/macho look consisting of a light flowing summer dress accessorized with heavy biker boots. Instead of looking like a fashion plate, this combination made the wearer look like she was having a serious identity crisis.

Steve Madden Kappy Flats $29.50

Take a closer look at an attractive outfit that combines pieces that appear to be very different in nature. At first glance the pieces may not look like they relate to each other, but when you look at things like texture, color, or silhouette you will find that there is some common thread (no pun intended) that pulls the whole look together.

While flipping through a clothing catalog an unexpected combo caught my attention. The stylist had paired a plain pair of pants with a white cable knit hooded sweater topped off with a black tailored jacket. At first the office appropriate jacket and a sweater inspired by a hooded sweatshirt seemed like an odd combination, but when I took a closer look at the ensemble I understood why it worked. The jacket and the sweater were the same level of formality The sweater material, a medium weight cable knit with narrow cables that didn’t look chunky, was clearly a step above your typical sweatshirt. The tailored jacket was made out of a wool flannel material, similar to a wool blanket, that gave off a slightly more casual vibe than a smooth tightly woven fabric would have. Everything about the outfit had the same slightly relaxed fit. The sweater ended at the waist and was not baggy or sloppy. The jacket tapered slightly at the waist but the fit was still relaxed enough to accommodate the sweater underneath without bunching it up.

Mixing different patterns in the same outfit is tricky. The pattern mix that looks so chic on a runway model could easily pass for a clown costume when worn by real women in the real world. One misconception that prevents chic women from mixing patterns more freely is automatically thinking of a pattern as a graphic design that’s printed on the surface of a fabric. A pattern can be anything from a one monochromatic design that‘s woven or knitted into the fabric instead of printed on top of it to the open lacy designs of a crochet sweater.

One of the most casual yet chic takes on pattern mixing I ever saw was on an coworker at an office I used to work at. She wore ballet flats in a brown leopard print with slim khaki pants (no unflattering pleats), a long sleeved T-shirt in a rich teal color with a chocolate brown crochet sweater in an open design that let the teal show through. The unexpected combination of a pattern in a crochet sweater and leopard print flats worked because the patterns weren’t close enough to each other to clash. The dark brown in the print of the leopard print flats tied in nicely with the dark brown color of the crochet cardigan creating a more coordinated look while the teal T-shirt added some colorful relief to all of those neutral browns. The clever combination of pieces showed me that it’s really very easy to mix things up without looking like a mess.

The Penny Pinchers Club Book Review

The Penny Pinchers Club by Sarah Strohmeyer was a pleasant surprise.  The story of a shopaholic who suspects her husband is planning on divorcing her could have turned into a ridiculously plotted story about a champagne swilling socialite forced to work as a maid scrubbing toilets to save up for the anticipated divorce, or any other number of silly chic lit cliches. 

We follow the main character, a suburban mom, on her journey of leading a more financially responsible lifestyle.  The  newly adopted lifestyle of deprivation has some unexpected side effects, such as the emotional support she receives through The Penny Pinchers Club.  The characters are likable, easy to relate to and above all, entertaining! 

While this well crafted book respects the fact that debt and divorce are no laughing matters, there is more than enough humor and irreverence in the book to prevent it from turning into one long pity party.  The plot has enough unexpected developments to keep your attention to the end of the book where there are, you guessed it, a list of penny pinching tips to make your money go farther.

Wall Shelves that Reflect Your Style

By displaying your odds and ends like they were valuable works of art, you can transform your clutter into a style statement.  Wall shelves by Speigel are a clutter lovers best friend.

I can easily see this Mirror with Shelf for $79.00 doing double duty in an entry hall.  It's perfect for checking out your appearace before heading out the door and a place to drop your keys (preferably into a stylish bowl) when you come back.

Hang these Reversible Mirored Shelves for $29.00 a piece with the shelf part toward the bottom or towards the top, depending on how you want to display your stuff.  The way the shelves are hung in this picture creates visual interest by having them located diagonally from each other and having one shelf at the top of the mirror and one at the bottom. 
The arrangement of the shelves is actually more interesting than the rather boring objects they are holding.

The Short Mirrored Ledge for $29.00 not only shows off your decorative accents, it could easily stand alone as a decorative accent by itself.  I can easily envision a set of lovely family photographs in stylish silver frames resting on one or more of these shelves.  I can just as easily envision my bank account dwindling as my wall decor improves, so I'm afraid Spiegel is going to have to wait a while (like until my income doubles) before I do any major decorating makeovers. 

The Allure of Drug Store Beauty Products

My glossy style magazines, which used to be so fond of high end products with high prices to match, seem to be focusing less on products readers wish they could afford to products they can actually afford.  Take the July issue of Allure magazine for example.  An article titled "Beauty's Big Secret" features generic store brand products chosen by beauty experts whose quality matches more expensive products.  According to the article, less than glamourous beauty outlets like Walmart, Wallgreens and CVS Pharmacy have high quality products like cleansers, eye shadows and moisturizers, that beauty lovers on a budget will love.

While I'm glad to see affordable products in a major magazine, I suspect this trend towards spotlighting more affordable products has more to do with advertising dollars than responding to the needs of the reader.  Many of the advertisements in the July issue were from drug store brands.  When faced with declining advertising revenue, Vogue magazine finally started mixing in some affordable fashions in with their outrageously overpriced pieces.   The one trend that magazines can't afford to ignore is that style savvy women aren't snobs when it comes to getting the best value for their dollar and they will shop wherever they have to in order to get the best deals. 

Look More Polished with Less Effort

Stylish women manage to look well polished and pulled together even in the most casual outfits.  Other women appear to have given up on making any style related effort and walk around in constant state of frumpiness.  I am always tempted to walk up to the frumps and point out that thowing on a cute top is just as easy as throwing on a baggy T-shirt, but not everyone reacts well to constructive criticism so I keep my fashion insights to myself.   The real tragedy of dressing in unflattering clothes is that women who settle for frumpiness as a state of dress are denying themselves the pleasure of feeling good about their appearance.  Looking consistently well put together is easier than you might think.

AB Studio Striped Dress for $39.99

Clothes that fit properly with a silhouette that follows the lines of your body always looks more polished than the alternatives.  Tight clothes make you look like you are squeezing into your clothes and you need to lose weight.  Loose shapeless clothing also makes you look overweight because it looks like you are trying to hide your figure under baggy clothes.  A little lycra in the fabric goes a long way towards helping the garment keep it's shape for hours on end.  Lycra is especially useful for keeping your bottom firm and your knees from bagging (I'm talking about the clothes here) in pants and jeans.

Nothing makes you look rumpled faster than wrinkles.  To find out of the cute blouse is going to look like a crumpled paper bag before you buy it, try a wrinkle test.  Grab a section of the fabric  and crumple it up in your hand and hold it in your fist for about 10 seconds.  Release it to see how wrinkled it's going to look when you wear it.  Even fabrics that don't wrinkle easily may develop a few wrinkles here and there after being worn for a while.  One thing that will make wrinkles less noticeable in any fabric is a printed pattern.  With a solid colored fabric the eye notices a change in the surface texture of the fabric and goes directly to the wrinkles.  With a patterned fabric the pattern distracts attention from the wrinkles by giving the eye something more interesting to focus on.  In warm weather lightweight crinkle fabrics provide the perfect camaflague for wrinkles.   Any new wrinkles that show up tend to blend in with the permanent wrinkles.

Looking polished should be a low maintenance affair not matter what type of affair you are attending.  Strapless tops that have to be routinely yanked up, shawls that are forever falling or shoes that are outright painful after a whole 10 minutes of wearing distract you from enjoying yourself and the company of others.  What you are wearing should make you feel fabulous, not self conscious

Stand up straight dear.  Maintaining good posture is essential to projecting a more polished image.  How you carry yourself is as much a part of your image as your clothes. So keep your head up, shoulders slightly back, back comfotably erect and not hunched over and walk like a lady not a football quarterback charging down the field.  Exercise programs based on dance moves, yoga and any other type of exercise that emphasizes coordination and graceful movement can help you stand taller and move better.  Now smile, after all you look fabulous!

Style Clinic offers Cures for Common Style Issues

For a book that is filled with celebrity photographs, Style Clinic by Paula Reed strikes the perfect balance between style and substance.  The book offers plenty of practical advice on what to wear for different environments like work or an evening out, how to build a versatile wardrobe that emphasizes style over the latest fashion trends, and what styles will tend to be more flattering for your figure.

The advice in Style Clinic is suprising useful considering the author worked in fashion magazines, which are known more for pushing trends than practical advice.  The clothes in the book are contemporary enough to look modern but not so trendy they are outdated by the time the book hits the stores.  Out of all the fashion books I have read this one is by far one of the most visually appealing and downright useful.

More Versatile Jewelry Pieces for Less Money

Sure it would be fun to experiment with different jewelry combinations to create different looks, but when you’re in a hurry and you barely have time to put your clothes on much less jewelry, taking the time to play dress up just isn’t going to happen. Instead you grab your classic, virtually foolproof pieces that go with everything as you run out the door.

Monet Leaf Diamond Hoop Earrings $10.50

Investing in classic jewelry versatile enough to work with a variety of outfits can come across as brilliant or just plain bland depending on the piece. Opt for brilliant by choosing jewelry that takes an interesting twist on a classic piece. Medium sized hoop earrings consisting of a flat band with a delicate design carved onto the surface of the band are more interesting than a plain thin hoop and have the kind of detailing you need to get up close to appreciate. A simple bangle bracelet that is slightly more square in shape than circular is less predictable than the classic circle, but not weird enough to be considered a passing fashion fad. A classic with a twist piece of jewelry looks familiar, but there is some design element, such as texture or shape, that sets it apart from pieces that are more forgettable that fabulous.

Napier gives the classic bangle bracelet a stylish twist with this Napier Silver Tone Double Twisted Flex Bracelet for $25.00.

If there was one piece of jewelry that deserves to be confiscated and destroyed by the fashion police it’s brightly colored plastic beaded jewelry. In addition to the fact that it looks like cheap plastic and doesn’t resemble and kind of stone found in nature, the one dimensional colors of the beads are extremely limiting. If the beads are a certain shade of red and the clothes you are coordinating it with are a slightly different shade of red it looks off, or to be painfully blunt, awful. Real or fake beads that show off the subtle color variations of natural stone are more versatile.

Even it the beads or materials don’t match the colors in an outfit exactly, they can still coordinate with the colors of the outfit beautifully. If your closet has a serious case of the blues, jewelry that features inlaid abalone sea shells with all their different shades of blue, teal and black make a lovely accent to all your blue clothes without looking matchy matchy. The colors in opals dance in the light like no other stone. These iridescent stones contain a virtual rainbow of colors and tend to mirror the colors around them.

By rethinking your definition of what make a piece of jewelry a versatile must have, your go with everything pieces may turn out to be your most interesting ones. 

Getting to Know You Games

For a party game where everyone wins try a "getting to know you" game where the emphasis is on getting everyone more comfortable with other guests by getting to know them better.  One great getting to know you game is called two truths and a lie.  Each guest takes turns making three statements about themselves.  Two of those statements are true and one is a lie.  The other guests take a guess at which one of the statements was the lie.  The guests are free to share whatever personal information they want, like their major in college, their favorite food, a hobby or one odd job they used to have that might be completely different from the career they have now. 

There are other games getting to know you games where guests have to answer questions off a deck of question cards for example, but some of those games include questions that are very personal and potentially embarrassing.  Call me a party pooper, but people talking about their sexual experiences or illegal behavior they would indulge in if they could get away with it falls under the category of too much information!  In a social situation, like a bridal shower for example, where guests don't know each other very well, if at all, games like two truths and a lie allow guests to pick and choose only the information they are comfortable sharing.  

These games also gives guests who don't know each other well an easy way to start a one on one conversation later on.  Even if I don't know anything about a fact someone mentioned about themselves, I can still express an interest in the that topic and ask the person about how they got interested in their hobby or some other personal truth they mentioned.  Getting to know you games are great ice breakers.  When I can't think of anything particularly brilliant to say, I can still come across as a great conversationalist by talking to someone about their interests, and that's no lie!    

Made in the Shade

Buying sunglasses can be a shady business.  The high cost of stylish sunglasses is often due to the designer name slapped on the glasses, not the quality. 

Replica Coach Sunglasses $15.95

Thesunglassmanonline.com comes to the rescue to protect you from sunburn and being burned by designer prices.  Their designer knockoff sunglasses offer UV400 protection and shatter resistant lenses all for less than the price of a decent beach towel.

Shield yourself from the sun's harmful rays and retailer's harmful price tags with these Prada inspired sunglasses for $15.95.  The wrap around style lends an air of mystery that suggests you have some fabulous fashion related job that gives you the inside track on all things chic and stylish.

What I adore about these wrap around Versace Replica Fashion sunglasses for $15.95, is that they look like you are trying to hide something.  Like you stayed a bit too late at some super chic party and your slightly bloodshot eyes offer evidence that you had a bit too much champagne and a bit too much fun on your night out.

Learn the Entrepreneural Truth with The E Myth Revisited

Being an entrepreneur used to be considered a daring and risky alternative to a traditional 9 to 5 job.  The unstable job market has alerted people to the harsh reality that job security is just an illusion.  Many people are choosing becoming an entrepreneur over looking for yet another job that may or may not last.  Having been fired from a number of jobs due to downsizing over the years, I can certainly appreciate the attitude of wanting to work for the one person I can trust not to screw me over, me!   

The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Business Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber

The problem when transitioning from the role of an employee to the role of entrepreneur is that a lot of entrepreneurs make the mistake of continuing to act like an employee.  An employee for a bakery shop for example, is focused on consistently producing delicious baked goods and that's it.  An entrepreneur who starts a bakery must be prepared to take more of a big picture approach and develop strategies to address a range of issues including managing other people, marketing, accounting tasks and more. 

Some business books act like cheerleaders offering motivational advice on thinking big and following your dreams.  What I like about The E Myth Revisited book is that it recognizes the reality that being an entrepreneur is a job, not a fun hobby you happen to make money off of.  Like any job there are parts of it you will like and parts of it you won't like.  One of the important points brought up in The E Myth book is that you must become adept at different roles whether they are roles you are comfortable with or not.  The book also emphasizes the idea that your business should be set up in a way that it could be franchised.  In other words, you have organized your business in a way that in theory the business could be duplicated.  The E Myth Revisited book is over 13 years old so it doesn't address issues like technology, but the concepts it covers of learning how to work on your business like a CEO to make it grow instead of working in your business like an task oriented employee is still worth a read.

Enjoy a Cheaper Cocktail Hour Thanks to Crate and Barrel

If it wasn't for limited funds and limited kitchen cabinet space, I would have collected enough cocktail glasses to supply a small restaurant.  For me a well designed cocktail glass is a thing of beauty that elevates everything from fine wine to Kool Aid into an elegant drinking experience. 

The more social drinkers you have to accomodate the cheaper the glasses.  At $11.95 a piece, these Marcel Wine Glasses might be more appropriate for a romantic dinner for two than a party.    

Different types of glasses are designed to enhance  flavors in different ways.  Since anyone who is not a bartender or Martha Stewart never actually keeps track of which glass goes with which drink, you can easily get away with serving almost anything in these lovely Groove Cocktail Glasses for 95 cents a piece.  At about a buck a glass, these glasses are perfect for larger gatherings.

With the Jive Cocktail Glass, shape and texture are used to dramatic effect that packs quite a style punch for glasses that sells at $2.50 a piece.  So the next time you have a get together, drink a toast to Crate and Barrel for providing you with nice looking glassware at a very nice price. 

How to Dress (Cheaply) for the Occassion

With the arrival of June comes the arrival of wedding invitations and other events that require a little more polish than your flip flops and casual sundress combo.  A simple dress from Target is an elegant yet inexpensive solution for what to wear for dressier occasions.        

Accessorize this Mossimo Black 2 in 1 Ruffle Dress for $29.99 with simple solitaire earrings, a nice watch and a fun colored handbag and you are ready to mix and mingle in style.

The party is heating up but you never lose your cool in this Merona Collection Belted Party Dress for $39.99.  The simplicity of this lovely aqua dress practically demands metallic eye catching accessories.  Start with bold dangle earrings, add a wide link bracelet, take your shoe cues from those pictured then add a chocolate brown or navy handbag to prevent the metallic accents from (literally) outshining the dress.

For occasions, like daytime weddings, where you need to look nice but not so overdressed you look like you popped into the wedding on your way to a cocktail party, a dress like this Merona Collection Belted Dress for $39.99 looks appropriately festive.  The attention grabbing print allows you to keep the accessories simple.  Add simple hoop or pearl earrings, a black bag, black strappy shoes and for the sake of all that's chic, lose the cheap tacky belt even if it requires a seam ripper.   

Build Your Own Library by Shopping at Library Sales

I have probably mentioned that shopping at an annual or semiannual library sale is a cheap way to buy books.  What I didn't realize until I went to the library's "friends only preview night" is that if you want to snap up the best books you need to shop the library sale the first night.  The preview night was open to people who were "friends" of the library, in other words people who had made a donation to the library and had a card to prove it. 

When I got to the library sale about 15 minutes after it started, it was a feeding frenzy of book buyers.  Library patrons aren't a typically rowdy bunch so it was a very well behave feeding frenzy.  Many people had containers about the size of a milk crate with wheels on the bottom and a pull handle, like you see on overhead luggage.  I thought gee these people really must love books.  At one table I noticed a man scanning the barcodes of books with a hand scanner.  I assumed he was working for the library at the sale.  Naive me.  It wasn't until I came across another person with a hand scanner and overheard a conversation he was having that I realized that the people with hand scanners and probably a lot of people stocking up on books like they were building their library from scratch were professional book buyers.  These people were professional shoppers buying books to sell at a profit online or through some other outlet.    

For me the fact that so many book shoppers came to the library sale to stock up for personal or profitable reasons drove home the importance of attending the book sale the first night it was held.  This is the first time I have attended a preview night.  While I usually walk away with anywhere from 2 to 5 books from a library book sale, this time I walked away with 12 books!  I bought books ranging in subject matter from humor to mystery to fashion to home decor, all for $1.00 a piece.  I walked away with a great deal and a great lesson.  If you want to get the best books it pays to shop the sale the first hours of the first day of the sale. 

Sun Protection that Pampers Your Skin

Sure I want the protection of a sunscreen, but typical sunscreens makes me seriously debate which is worse, premature wrinkles or slathering on stuff that smells like chemicals and feels like grease?  Fortunately the folks at Alba have come out with a sunscreen that smells and feels more like a fabulous body lotion than a sunscreen.

Water resistant Alba Green Tea SPF 30+ sunscreen is available at mass retailers for about $12.00.  The subtlely scented sunscreen includes skin friendly ingredients like green tea and aloe vera along with a bunch of other organic ingredients.  The smell and the feel of this natural sunscreen is so yummy I'm almost tempted to wear it indoors!

For Affordable Style Inspiration it Pays to Get Lucky

The July issue of Lucky magazine takes affordable style to the extreme by featuring clothes and beauty products that are all less than $100.00 a piece!  The entire magazine is devoted to the types of wearable pieces that are affordable to women on a budget. 

 Many fashion magazines are reluctantly acknowledging the demand for affordable clothes by mixing in some token pieces below $100.00 in among the wildly overpriced clothes that make up most of the magazine.  High style fashion magazines have always been aspirational so it will be interesting to see if they follow Lucky's lead and shift more of their attention to stuff women really wear, or if they just treat affordable fashion like a neccessary evil that they have to include in their pages to maintain readers and keep advertisers happy. 

Win a Free Foot Spahh from Ms. Pedicure

 For my first ever freebie Friday giveaway I wasn't satisfied to give away one measly product.  Oh no.  Thanks to the generous gals at Ms. Pedicure who supplied this Friday freebie, one lucky winner will walk away with everything they need to pamper their feet.  The Ms. Pedicure Foot Spahh includes their Smooth Steppin exfoliating foot scrub, the Soft Soles moisturizing foot lotion, an invigorating leg rub, and the Rock'n Sole pumice stone.  After trying the products myself I can assure you that after regular use of these products you will be ready to show off your soft and smooth tootsies in the summer's cutest sandals. 

This complete set sells for $12.99 at mass retailers, but the person who submits the best budget friendly beauty tip by midnight June 5th gets this entire set for free.  Entering is simple.  Think of a fabulous budget friendly beauty tip.  Enter your beauty tip in the Comments section of today's blog post by midnight  tonight.  Comments received after midnight will not be be posted and will not count as a contest entry. 

The winner of the contest is determined by me, Stephanie Ann, Cheap Diva extraordinaire, and announced on Monday June 8th.  By entering the contest you are agreeing to have your name made public.  The winner will be notified by email of their win and must respond to the contest within 72 hours or the prize will be given to another participant. 

Like any contest there are a few rules.  You must be a US citizen.  The Cheap Diva is not responsible for any issues related to the products, such as being damaged in transit or any taxes associated with the prize.  Good luck!    

High Heels Make You Look Slim and Other Fattening Fashion Myths

The irony of women tottering around in painfully high heels to look taller and slimmer is that skinny high heels actually make any woman above a size 0 look larger.  If you put an extremely narrow object next to a wider object the smaller object emphasizes the width of the wider object.  Imagine a nice juicy orange sitting on top of a gallon jug of milk.  Now imagine the same orange balanced on the end of a pencil.  Suddenly the same orange looks larger and rounder in comparison to the pencil, it's all a matter of proportion.  

Wearing skinny sky high heels can not only make your legs  look wider but  it also makes it painfully (literally) obvious that you are trying hard to look taller and slimmer.  The effect ends up being not "Wow you look great!" but "Wow you are really trying hard to look taller and slimmer!"  For a more flattering shoe style, try a heels that start out wide where they meet the bottom of your feet and gracefully tapered inward slightly like the top of a V.   Wedge shoes that have a nice shape to the heel offer the height of a heel while balancing out your figure in a more proportionately flattering way than wearing a skinny heel. 

Another popular slimming trick to wear lots of black.  Sure you end up looking like you are in mourning all the time, but black is so sleek and chic who cares right?  Wrong!  There are flattering and unflattering ways to wear black.  Wearing black shorts that contrast sharply with your skin tone essentially creates a wide horizontal line in the middle of your body that breaks the body into distinct sections making you look shorter and wider.  Black shorts can also look too dark and heavy in warmer weather.  Wearing a bright or light colored top with black bottoms also breaks the body into sections.  Less contrast between the top and bottom would have a more lengthening effect.  Wearing charcoal gray or chocolate brown bottoms for example, allows you to enjoy the benefits of wearing a versatile neutral colored piece without the severe contrast of wearing black.

So lets say you have seen the light and decided to take your wardrobe out of the dark ages by wearing your most flattering colors, like blues and purples for example.  You have heard that monochromatic dressing, dressing in one color from top to bottom, creates an unbroken line of color which ultimately results in a visually elongating and slimming effect.  So in theory wearing  dark purple pants with a matching dark purple top should make you look fabulous.  In reality wearing all that purple might make you look more like a giant grape than a fashion plate.  

It's sometimes more flattering to break up colors especially when wearing looser fitting clothes.  If  monochromatic pieces are loose fitting then they come across as one big block of color.  Wearing a black belt over a dark colored blob of a dress creates much needed shape.  The lack of contrast between the belt and it's background allows it to blend instead of distracting from the rest of the outfit.  

For a slimming effect without the matchy matchy look of wearing the exact same colors top to bottom, try matching brightness to make one piece flow seamlessly into the other.  A pair of dark blue jeans topped off with a black jacket that skims the waist layered over a vivid colored top provides the slimming effects of wearing a monochromatic look from top to bottom with a pop of color for personality.  After all, no matter what shapes, colors or materials make up your outfits, the one thing they should all have in common is that they express your personality.

      

Create a Custom Necklace

Sometimes what appears to be the wrong piece of  jewelry is really a diamond in the rough that needs a minor alteration to make it the perfect piece for you.  I once found a delightful charm bracelet that featured silver charms of various styles of shoes.  I was not delighted however when I got home and realized the charms that hung down so nicely from the store display flopped around on my wrist like a fish on dry land every time I moved my wrist.  I loved the bracelet but I didn't want to wear it as a bracelet.  I went back to the store and bought another charm bracelet identical to the bracelet I had just bought. 

With a needle nose pliers I removed the clasp from one end of each bracelet.  On one of the bracelet end link with no clasp, I pried open the link and inserted the end link from the other bracelet where the clasp had been removed and then squeezed the pliers around the open link to close it.  Because I left the clasp part on one end of each bracelet, the two bracelets linked together now form one necklace with a functional clasp.  If taking apart your jewelry sounds scary you can always have a jewelry repair place do it for you.

Mixing and matching elements is an easy way to customize your jewelry.  I bought a necklace that included a bold circular pendant featuring abalone shell infused with rich colors of teal, blue and threads of black.  This pendant hung from a chain that was so skinny it looked completely out of place with the more substantial pendant.  After buying the necklace I kept my eyes open for a thicker chain to complement the pendant. 

I found a necklace with strands of tiny black beads and the most hideous black plastic pendant I had ever seen.  I removed the ugly plastic pendant and replaced it with my abalone shell pendant.  The beaded necklace had enough presence to complement the abalone pendant without upstaging it and the touches of black in the abalone pendant coordinated with the black beads.  A simple change of necklace chain changed the whole look of the necklace.  Because one necklace was bought on clearance and the other necklace was bought cheap at Target, I ended up spending as much as I normally would for one necklace.

Necklace length can be tricky.  The necklace that was the perfect length when worn against your skin suddenly comes up short when layered over a turtleneck shirt or any top with a collar.  To add some length to a necklace, find a link bracelet similar in style to the necklace.  A black beaded necklace with silver accents calls for a black beaded bracelet with silver accents.  If matching beads is too much trouble, you can still match the gold or silver color of the links or beads in the necklace.  The idea is that the coordinating bracelet should look like it was part of the necklace all along.  

Many bracelets and necklaces have some sort of hook or clasp that hooks around a small ring or link.  Take the hook part of the necklace and  hook it over small ring of the bracelet.  Then take the hook part of the bracelet and hook it over the small ring part of the necklace.  This should give you an extra 6 inches or more in necklace length.  If that's too long you can always have some links removed from the bracelet, assuming you don't wear the bracelet and only use it as a necklace extender.

Learning how to alter your jewelry to fit your needs isn't just practical, it's a terrific way to express your own individual sense of style.

       

          

   

Save Cash with Case Pricing

I never dreamed my love of chocolate would lead to me discovering a great grocery shopping strategy, but it did.  I was at Whole Foods supermarkets having some organic chocolate bars rung up when the friendly cashier helpfully pointed out that if I had purchased a certain number of chocolate bars I could have gotten the case price.  That was news to me.

I found out that a case price means that you get a discount because the quantitiy of the items you are buying is equal to that of a full case.  To find the case price for the candy bars for example, I look at the price tag on the shelf underneath the chocolate bars and I see a number that's not part of the bar code or the regular price.  I am looking for a stand alone number that has something like bulk quantity or case or some other word that indicates what quantity is considered a case quantity for that particular product.  If I can't find the number I can always ask a store associate where to look for it. 

If the case quantity for my candy bars is 6 then I make sure to snatch up 6 candy bars to get the discount.   Talk about a sweet deal!  The discounted case price might not automatically ring up at the cash register.  It's up to me to tell the cashier that I would like the case price for a particular item when I am being rung up. 

I'm sure Whole Foods isn't the only store offering case price discounts.  To find out if your favorite stores offer case prices just look for the case quantity on the price stickers on the shelf, not the product itself, or ask a store associate how many of a certain item you would have to buy in order to get a case price or bulk discount.      

Treat Your Feet to a Free Foot Spahh from Ms. Pedicure

Thanks to Ms. Pedicure putting your best foot forward doesn't have to cost a fortune.  The Ms. Pedicure Foot Spahh includes everything you need to pamper your feet includingtheir Smooth Steppin exfoliating foot scrub, the Soft Soles moisturizing foot lotion, an invigorating leg rub, and the Rock'n Sole pumice stone.  You could run out and buy this set for $12.99 at mass retailers, or you enter The Cheap Divas first ever Friday Freebie contest and win the entire set for free! 

On Friday, June 5th I will be giving away one Foot Spahh set to whoever submits the best budget friendly beauty tip.  The tip must be submitted on Friday June 5th before midnight.  Start thinking about your most fabulous beauty tips now and check back on Friday for complete details on how to win!