A few days ago I went out for a meal with some of my friends that I have not seen in a while, it was an enjoyable catch up. It was nice to see everybodies progression within their careers, relationships and social life. What I did really admire was all of their fashion styles, it made me really thing about my appearance. Since being pregnant I find myself not looking how I want to look and it really got me thinking how can I change my image. Women are forever changing their images from hairstyles to make up looks to dress sense, I have found in the last 2 years my image has changed a lot. I have gone from long dark hair to long brown hair to classical dark hair to shaved and now I have a natural small fro. My body has gone from slim to athletic to curvy and this is not down to diets.
Now that I am older there is a certain image I want to achieve which I am now trying to achieve. I want a chic, sophisticated, classy yet sexy look so the last week I have been looking on the internet at styles, fashion and looks that I really like and would like to put in to my new image. Us women spend so much money in keeping up with our appearances when you calculate the amount we spend it is a very very high number. I am trying to save my money for future investments and so I know I have to work on my image on a budget. Being realistic I feel a lot of us women should learn how to do things on a budget and cut down on over spending. I tell every woman you can look beautiful with only £5 in your pocket its not about what you wear its about how you wear it.
Women stress themselves to wear top designer labels and will sacrifice so much to buy a designer oufit. Now I know I am not a millionaire and a brand is just a brand to me. Yes some of these designer clothing looks beautiful but I can find something just as nice for much cheaper. Just because a celebrity is wearing it does not mean I have to get it to look nice. I shop within my budget and with all the cut backs going on I cannot afford a pair of £3000 shoes or a £300 hair treatment. I can look just as good as these celebrities with myself styled hair and my tkmaxx dress with shoes and myself applied make up. So here is how I will be doing it on a budget:
I will be very honest and say I DO NOT DIET, its just not something I am really interested in. I have gained quite a bit of weight due to being pregnant and I actually love the curves I have gained. I feel more womanly with bigger thighs, bum, hips and bust. I have never really been keen on diets as I do not stick to them, I am a big fan of food! So I am not prepared to stop eating the foods I enjoy. Now diets include exercise and with exercise I do not fully commit to it, this is down to me putting it off or the fact that the classes I am interested in costs quite a lot of money. 1 thing I really do want in my life is to live a healthier lifestyle and so I know I will have to change my eating habits and make an effort with exercise. Since I love the curves I have gained I do not really want to get rid of them, I am aware that my bust eventually will decrease and so will my stomach and so I am prepared for it. So to maintain the body type I want I have decided to work on my eating habits, I can eat the foods I like but in moderation, I also need to add either salad or vegetables with each meal so I am getting the nutrients I need. As much as I love fried foods I know I need to reduce the intake and so I will treat myself once a week with fried foods and try grilled food. Since I love food I should have no problem with this!. Recently I purchased a yoga dvd and to my surprise I really enjoyed it, it was very relaxing and included a meditation session. Now this is something I am willing to do at home at least once a week as it does relax my mind and makes my body feel much lighter. For the last year I have watched people go walking with a friend as exercise, now this is something I really want to do. Not only is walking a brilliant form of exercise it is nice to have a workout buddy who you can have a girly chat with at the same time. The problem is none of my friends are really interested in doing this form of exercise so this month I am on a search for a workout buddy. It is time to get toned up and get that much needed healthy body.
Moving on to my hair and makeup situation, Lord have mercy on my soul! There was a time I was quite good at applying makeup on myself and others but for the past year I have been living au natural so in other words make up free. I like the way I look naturally but the truth is I have dark circles around my eyes which I cannot get rid of, my skin is uneven tone and plus once in a while us ladies want a bit of creativity on our faces just to bring out the beauty a bit more. But a lack of applying makeup on my face has left me with very bad makeup skills. A trip to MAC is needed so they can advise me on natural looking make up styles and trendy eye looks for nights out. My hair is in the process of being saved as maintaining a short afro is very hard work, there is not much you can do with it but let it grow. I am trying to get my hair to grow healthily so I can do a nice crop with it as it is part of the lady look I am going for. I have invested money in organics olive oil collection and am devoting once every two weeks to a treatment and will be taking better care of my hair which I have not been doing. I am no hair expert and so I have had to look at hair blogs for help and have asked for advice. So hopefully in a month or 2 my hair will be looking presentable!
Dress sense has been difficult as being pregnant its hard to find attractive clothes and you don’t really want to spend lots of money on clothes you will only wear for a few months then have to get rid of. None of my trousers or dresses or tops fit so I have had to dish out money and buy a few tops and bottoms and believe me when I say they are not cute, I look like an ancient granny. But on the bright side I will be giving birth soon so once I have healed and baby is settled I will be able to work on my body and dress sense. As a mother I don’t feel dressing how I did when I was 18 is appropriate as I want to be a good role model to my child. I like short dresses and some fitted dresses but I know if I want to put this in to my image there is a certain style I would have to go for. So I have spent some time looking on the internet at celebrity hairstyles, make up & fashion. 1 thing I do have to stress to people is that I am not trying to look like these celebrities what I do is look at certain short hairstyles I like or make up styles I would like to try or see how they match certain clothes so that I can see how I can mix and match clothes within my wardrobe. The aim of my image is to be the woman I want to be so that is being myself but improving myself. Stepping out of my young girl look and stepping in to my young woman/mother look. These are the styles I have seen on celebrities that I do like and would like to put in to my image. Now the next step is working on this image, I have given myself for the rest of this year to experiment with my style and once I have found the looks I like I shall keep them and work with them.
To find the goddess on the inside you also have to find her on the outside!
