An Expert Reveals....

It is my goal when I shop to be frugal yet to buy things that don't look cheap.  I also don't want to settle for something if its not EXACTLY what I was envisioning in my mind's eye.  But my mind's eye seems to have expensive taste.  You know those pages in fashion/beauty magazines that show multiple options of a current trend? Like "Oxfords are in this season! Here are 8 different styles all of different prices."  Inevitably, even before I know what the brand or price is, just by looking at the style, my favorite on the page will be the most expensive.  Never fails!  So annoying!

Well, I discovered this book yesterday that I have started reading and I'm hoping it will transform my shopping (and by consequence my wardrobe and style!).
How to Look Expensive,  by Andrea Pomerantz Lustig.  Andrea is a contributing beauty editor at Glamour magazine, and is very well known in the fashion & beauty industry.  According to the the forward in the book written by the Editor in Chief of Glamour:

"Andrea has a journalist's eye in the beauty editor's body: She knows what's new, understands what works, and can sniff out hype a mile away."
 

And that's what I need. I need to know how to get the most from my money. Andrea says that the purpose of the book is to help us non-celebrities upgrade our look, which can help us upgrade our lives. She says the book "gives you access to hundreds of thousands of dollars of beauty advice that [she] hopes will change your life, or at least make you look and feel like a million bucks."  She starts with hair and works her way through skin, makeup and fashion.

Well, Andrea, I'm happy to see what you have to offer and if I can learn anything from you.

So I started reading last night. Got through the first chapters on hair cut and colors. I'm not sure that I feel more informed yet on the best course of action for my hair yet, but she did lay some groundwork that I'm going to look in to.  I'm going to have to look in to her instructions on how to get a $500 Haircut at a $50 Salon.  I will be investigating a site she recommends called styleseat.com, which is a website where stylists post their philosophies, galleries of looks they're creating and online specials. She also gives basic cut recommendations for the look you're going for and the length hair you have, and advice from top stylists.

Andrea identifies that expensive hair is hair that looks sleek, shiny and healthy, not frizzy, overly styled or overly product-ed (I'm making up words here, but you get the point.) The one thing I tried this morning that I learned from the book was how to do an expensive blow-out.  But I failed. She did say it would take some practice, but I think it also takes a low degree of humidity, or at least air-conditioning, neither of which I have today.  So I'll keep at it.  And I'll keep at the tips in the book and keep you posted.