istreet shopping is apparently giving the British high street a very bad time. Our very own queen of shops,MaryPortas, identified on a government-finding mission, that internet shopping is one of the main reasons for the demise of so many traditional British high street retailers.

If this is the case then I think that it is a shame. Give me a successful reality shop any day to a successful virtual one.

Personally, I do not think there is anything better than going and getting clothes for real. To make a successful purchase I need to feel the fabric, see the cut, have the exact colour in front of me. With shoes the size and width is all important and though isites may share the same numbers and descriptions the reality is that they can be quite different from one another.

There are certainly a vast array of online store to choose from and I meet many clients who tell me that they prefer to shop on the internet. The reasons that they give are numerous but to simplify:

• I don’t have to trudge around the shops
• I don’t have to waste valuable time
• I don’t have to use shop changing rooms
• I can send back what I don’t like

Of course all these are largely true (although I know some who spend vast amounts of time and energy buying and sending back online) but they still fall far short of what will make a successful purchase – internet or no internet.

iStreet shopping is fine as long as you know the “i” that you are shopping for.

No amount of browsing and p&p – ing will get you the look that you want unless you know : your style personality ( a Dramatic style personality will never find an outfit that suits on the Boden or Fat Face website); what you want to say (romantic & sensuous is not going to happen in the Classic section of M&S); shape (no amount of wishing is going to make your body shape look good in clothes that are made for another shape entirely). check out the shape of the models who are wearing what you want to buy – if you are looking at straight and tall and you are curvy and petite be sure that it is not going to work for you; scale (buying a huge bag is not going to look good, however little or much you paid or however fashionable it is right now, if it is going to dwarf you); shade - know what colours suit you and don’t be seduced into wearing anything else (that model looks fantastic in orange and gold because she has a warm undertone and a bright clarity – if you are a cool undertone and a muted undertone you are going to look very unfantastic).

So, some guidelines:

• Only buy what suits you
• Shop around to make sure that you are getting the best deal
• Try to choose sites that offer a free returns, and even, postage service
• Don’t keep anything that meets less than 3 of the 5 JennyB style mantra

An effective way to ishop, if you can, is to have clothes and shoes that you select on the internet delivered to a shop close by. That way you can choose the day you want to collect, at time to suit youself and be able to return then and there or, if all is well, be out of the shop in whatever time it takes you to try on and decide yay or nay. No need for you to make time for returns – and, whilst in the shop, you may find something that suits you better.

You can also use an ishop to find out who has what and where. That way no time is wasted in trudging from one shop to another.

For me, the best use of ishopping is to buy what does not come under the “norm” … tiny or large feet, very short or very tall, a gloriously unusual accessory …

Here are some online shops that may be of use:

• Unusual accessories – try a vintage store. Melamela.co.uk
• Tall and want clothes designed to give a great fit. 6footfashio.com
• Sizes 14 – 36. onestopplus.co.uk
• Label Lovers. thecorner.com

But … google anything you need specifically e.g. “shoes 34 and below” and you will likely find yourself deluged with choice. THe more specific you are – the more relevant the site will be.

And … if you want to spend and save try getmyfashion.com. Each time you buy you earn loyalty points on future purchases ranging from French Connection to Vivienne Westwood.

So …

Happy, and enormously satisfying and successful,shopping – however, you do it !

 

Why is it that so many people feel overwhelmed or  burned out when they think of their own style and the clothes that they choose to wear or not wear?

Why is it that they spend every morning opening wardrobes and drawers to clothes that sap their energy and confidence .. that do not look right and do not celebrate the person they are?

 We do not always want to “dress up”, as my cousin Jane did so magnificently for a dance event at The Theatre Royal, Glasgow, recently. But just look at how magnificent she does look – and all the other dancers looked almost as equally gorgeous and at one with what they were wearing.

 Wide eyed many people that I meet tell me that there is just not enough time for that as well. There isn’t enough time to think about the essential let alone getting a wardrobe that only contains clothes that they look and feel great in.

 Yet, in the same breath they are wishing that they could find a look that is simple and effortless to put together and speaks of themselves with a purr or a roar – their choice. They do not want their style to be time consuming or expensive in time and money but they do want it to be effective.

There is only one answer – great personal style needs time to sit and stare. We need to stop juggling and making do in favour of doing, for a while, quite simply … nothing!

If you are always doing something you are never taking time to take stock and to feed that reservoir of energy essential to clear and purposeful thinking. Creative thinking needs space and style needs creative thinking.

It is easy when we are befuddled by something to lose our stopping points, finish lines and boundaries. If we choose to where ever we go we can be pursued by technology and things to do. They will follow us insistently and intrusively because we let them. They become a reason for not doing the essential. What we really need to address becomes just an itch that we sometimes have time to scratch. And when we find that scratching makes it worse we decide we are not capable of change – best to put it all on the back burner or under the bed or stuff it back into the wardrobe.

Taking care of the surface – “scratching the surface” if you will – will not bring about change nor will it give us the tools to improve on what we want to improve on. A set of finger nails is not going to give usyour own sense of style … however hard we scratch. As always we need the right tools and the time to do the job properly.

Here are some , hopefully, handy hints:

Stop demanding or expecting instant responsiveness of yourself. It forces us into a reactive way of thinking that makes it difficult to think clearly about what we want and need. Style that works for you needs time – your time.

If you can’t be gentle with yourself – find someone who can. You need positivity and insight for the job ahead if you need help with this accept it and get it. Open thinking is essential.

Top up your  energy reservoir by giving yourself at least one time in every day to stop, really stop, and take a complete break. Time for you is neither a waste nor unjustifiable. Absorbed focus will heighten your ability to think, to do and to be positive.

Once you begin to stop being reactive space is freed up to become proactive. Being proactive will heighten your energy levels. Keep sustaining those heightened energy levels and you are in with a fighting chance to think long term, creatively and strategically. In the case I put forward here, about your style but in actuality, about anything that you choose.

Find a style workshop or talk that you can go to – and take time to enjoy it. Keep up to date with these via the monthly Jenny B newsletter or check out this blog site.

In a very short time you’ll find that not only is your style speaking for you in the way that you would wish but that you have more time at your disposal to do nothing – in complete and total and wonderful style. Or, go dancing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting with Susan Crozier, owner & director of the Reflections chain of Hair & Beauty shops spanning from Haydon Bridge to Prudhoe, we talked about what women often talk about when they are together …. families, jobs and how to hold ageing at bay!

Of course, with the beauty therapies that Susan has at her disposal she is a great believer in doing rather than talking. Susan’s motto:

 “Why bewail the process of ageing when you can do something about it?”

 

I became all attention and we began to talk in earnest…….

 I am not saying that I will never go down the route of injections or of surgery of various sorts but at the moment the face that greets me every morning is still sufficiently recognizable for me to be fond of it and wary of doing anything that might make an irrevocable and unhappy change. (The horror pictures stay in my head far longer than the successes, strangely!)

How happy then to hear from Susan that there are other alternatives and that you don’t have to go any further than Corbridge!

 ”Try it”, she said.

 I have!

Under the guidance of Diane, Reflections manageress and ace beautician, I had three treatments in three days – and even my husband Mike noticed a difference. Result! Though endlessly supportive and loving I can walk in with pink & purple hair and he’ll not notice for a day or two….

 So, this is what happened. I went “Tri-active”, a Clarins combination of skin pummeling and manipulation and facial.

 I met with Diane and she established my primary concerns. I had one – “Ageing of the face”. She nodded and, although when I said that I wanted to halt the ageing process she reminded me, gently, that that is not what she could do; she  did assure me that the treatments on offer could help to slow it down. And I wouldn’t have to face a single needle or knife!

 What happened over the next hour and a half was deliciously blissful and I saw the results for myself there and then.

Better still, all the treatments are results driven and clinically proven to improve hydration and skin firmness with the results lasting up to three – four weeks with a maximum, for the lucky, of six weeks.

 We began with Diane ascertaining my skin’s circulation, elasticity, hydration and texture. None of it too bad but all in need of a boost. TLC after all never goes amiss.

Based on Diane’s comments and notes, Beverly then chose which of the 6 facials would be best:

• Lifting line smoother
• Youth booster
• Skin calmer
• De-tox & shine stopper
• Radiance reviver
• Moisture replenisher

 What is enormously impressive here is that the therapists can mix and match to create a bespoke facial matching the needs of each client. And, there are the most wonderful apothecary bottles from which they add additional supplements. My skin felt better already.

 The Tri-active facial prepared my skin to be mabelled (more of this later). My skin was cleansed, scrubbed and moisturized. At one point I was quite convinced that I had quite simply gone to heaven – the product being used felt, and smelt, like the elixir of life! I felt de-toxed, hydrated and plumped. Bliss!

 And next, came “Mabel”. This was described to me as the ultimate face & body treatment for de-toxifying, re-plumping and re-moulding but as my pre-treatment consultation had already defined my face, and not my body, as my area of prime concern, the face was what was concentrated on. As a style consultant there is many a trick up my sleeve to create a perfect body out of the imperfect. This is a little more difficult with the neck and face where wearing a veil at all times can give the game away!

Being Mabelled is like being gently roller balled. This is an intensive treatment but not in the least painful. Having been prepared by the Tri-active facial Mabel breaks down what is going on below the skin and moves it back to where it should be. Not a scientific explanation, I know, but this is exactly what it felt like and when Diane showed me the difference between the side of the face that she had been working on and the side of the face that she had not – I was genuinely surprised and impressed. The left side of my face had lifted – not dramatically but definitely – the marionette line was less defined and my cheekbones more defined. Even better – I had a plumper cheek. Side two looked just as good when treatment was complete.

 Off home and looking forward to the next day’s treatment …… and, as I have mentioned before, much heartened by husband Mike noticing that “You have a young look on tonight. What have you been up to?”

 The next morning found me with Lauren. Again, as with Diane and Beverly, she took time to talk … to find out about me and my wants and to explain what she would be doing.

 Today was the “Body Ultimate” which also takes in the face.

 Scientifically, we are looking at:

GALVANIC – drainage

and

FORADIC – muscle toning.

 But for most of us it is enough to know that this treatment is all about ridding the face and body of toxins, and more tightening and lifting. Here you have the opportunity to banish bingo wings, wobbly tummies and thickening thighs or simply to give your face a lift.

 Some clients have a treatment before getting into that dress that is just a little too tight or for a special occasion when they want to feel and look as good as our red carpet divas. For a long term effect you’ll need 10 sessions taken one or two times a week.

 Be warned, this treatment is not without a slight discomfort. We are not talking “no gain without pain” but you will be aware that you are being toxined, toned and tightened. I suggest that this is no more, nay – less,  uncomfortable than a fevered workout in the gym. Probes with metal balls were rolled, again, gently all over my face, with smaller probes being used around the eyes, concentrating on the areas that I had pinpointed as areas of concern – marionette lines, lines around the mouth and sagging jaw line.

 Half an hour later, make-up on and with a Skin Care Planner tucked into my bag I was ready to face the world feeling re-vitalised  and more youthful. There was a definite spring in my step as I headed off to work and now, in my own time and with all the information that the girls gave me, I can decide on what I will be doing next to keep that ageing process at bay.

 One thing I do know – I am in love with Mabel, very thankful to Diane, Beverly and Lauren for their expertise and in debt to Susan for showing me the way!

 

Altogether – an uplifting experience! And, if you don’t believe me – take a look at the photo……