Tuesday, June 5, 2007

6 Secrets To Choosing The Perfect Evening Bag For A Night Out

After a hard day's work, there's nothing more exciting to do than hit the town at night. Don a sexy and sophisticated outfit, put on your stilettos, grab an evening bag and get out the door!

But wait, don't just grab any evening bag. You may be wearing the perfect outfit but if you're carrying the wrong purse, your total look is ruined. It may sound like an exaggeration but it isn't.

You can always go for the classic evening bag—black, shiny, and small—and be done with it. It is a safe choice, although it's not always the right one. If your outfit is already black to begin with, you run the risk of looking boring. But why would you want that? You're on a night out to relax and have fun. Let your evening bag reflect the high spirits you're in.

On the other hand, if you pair up a very funky evening bag with an already busy outfit, you're bound to catch everyone's attention for all the wrong reasons. You'll end up looking like a fashion victim who's trying too hard.

The secret is finding the balance, and here are some easy tips to help you find it:

1.) Spice up a plain outfit with a brightly colored evening bag.
Don't be afraid of prints, trimmings, and all that jazz! You have the license to carry an eye-catching bag if your outfit is austere. A little black dress comes alive with an evening bag decorated with red and gold sequins.

2.) On the other hand, go for a plain and sleek evening bag if your outfit has loud prints and trims. The bag will tone down the busy design of what you're wearing. You'll manage to look trendy and classy at the same time. If you're wearing a Pucci-print dress, a suede evening bag in solid brown will complement the brazen quality of your outfit.

3.) Ditch the one-texture look because it makes you look like you're wearing a costume.

If you're wearing a metallic top, carry an evening bag with a matte finish. Going metallic from head to toe is just overdoing it. The same goes with other textures.

4.) Size does matter.

Evening bags are tiny to begin with, but they're still meant to carry your essential stuff. Besides, a lot of evening bags are more spacious inside than they seem from the outside. Your bag should be large enough to carry the basics: lip gloss, compact, cell phone, driver's license, keys, credit card, and a few bills.

5.) Various evening bags differ not only in design and color but in the way they are carried.

Some bags have straps or handles while others don't. Deciding on what kind to choose depends on the items you'll bring and the activities you'll do. If you're worried about losing your stuff, an evening bag with a strap is good choice. You can keep your bag close to you and still have your hands for eating dinner. If you're planning to hit the dance floor, you can go for a clutch bag. You can easily leave it on the table. When you're done, you can just as easily pick it up.

6.) To really make an impact, your evening bag should not only complement your outfit, but it should also be a beautiful and unique accessory on its own right. Evening bags made of exotic and rich materials like pineapple fiber and Thai silk provide any outfit the added pizzazz an ordinary bag just can't give. The best thing about them is they're not expensive in spite of their high quality. They're just usually hard to find, but thanks to online stores like Siam Sensibilities, they're made more accessible than ever.

There tips mentioned above are not really clear-cut rules. They're just guidelines to help you make an informed decision. But in the end, it's all up to you. Let yourself go! Feel free to experiment. Mix leather and lace. Go for sequins and feathers. Just don't do it all at once. Surely, there will be other nights to try other combinations.

About The Author

Rex Freiberger sells his beautfiul & funky line of unique handmade handbags at budget friendly prices. Sign up for The Siam Newsletter at http://www.siamsensibilities.com and get his exclusive Aromatherapy E-book and 10% off all future purchases.

The Smart Woman Manifesto: What is a Smart Woman?

A Smart Woman uses her entire toolbox of experiences, talents, feelings, logic, intuition, education, and yes, even her mistakes, to live her life authentically engaged. She takes the time to care for herself, evaluate what she really thinks and feels, and acts and reacts from a place of patient love, energized compassion, and balanced accountability. Choices are opportunities and she welcomes them. Opportunity leads to her future and she faces that future with a ready and willing heart and a nimble and open mind.

A Smart Woman respects others’ points of view while still making her own choices. She gives generously to others while nurturing herself. She knows the value of boundaries and is skillful in using them to build stronger relationships. She speaks up when she needs to and she knows how and when to supportively listen as she keeps her vision of peace and tolerance in sight. She knows when to walk away, wishing luck and best wishes to those who are on another path. She knows and values her true worth.

Adaptable, caring, capable, and clever, a Smart Woman embraces life and triumphantly whoops and hollers her way to joy. She claims her power and her divine birthright, as each of us do, in a myriad of infinitely beautiful and unique ways, creating a fulfilling life as a Smart Woman. She's not out to prove anything to anybody. She is here to learn, live, love, laugh, and contribute.

I believe we all have a lot to share, to communicate, to witness, and to celebrate. I would feel honored and thrilled to know you are by my side. So, what do you think? Are you ready to explore? I hope so, because today, I am making firm plans and those plans include you. I am a Smart Woman with firm plans. Are you?

Here's to you and your Smart Woman path!

About The Author

Vicki Flaugher, creator of http://www.SmartWomanGuides.com, is on a mission to nurture and empower the 35-55 year old Coming of Age female audience. Her website is a worldwide community site where Smart Women everywhere can submit articles about their own experiences surrounding topics like aging, health, entrepreneurship, relationships, spirituality, and sex and sensuality (to name a few).

How To Create Charisma With Colors And Style

Ever seen all those celebrities on television and how they just exude so much radiance and magnetism, that you cannot help but stay glued watching them? What is it about them that keep them attractive and desirable?

The answer is one word: charisma. The process on how to achieve and possess such similar charismatic flair involves another word: colors.

The following are basic tips and advice to help you have your own charisma with the use of colors and style techniques.

First things first, know yourself.

It helps to get the varied opinions of people who know you best. Ask around and interview family members, friends, relatives, or colleagues, and try to make them give an opinion – an honest one of course – of what it is they think are the colors that best suit you. Alternatively, you could always ask and engage the services of a consultant that specializes on image enhancement.

Such a professional could readily determine the kind of colors that work best for your particular eye color and tone of your skin, as well as your hair.

Choose the colors that work best for you.

A very effective way to test which colors are best for your skin is to face a mirror, preferably with natural available daylight, while holding a fabric or a piece of clothing under your chin or beside your eyes. Now, observe which stands out. Does the color stand out or do your features stand out?

Appropriate colors should focus more on you, and not on the dress or garment. If you have eyes as blue as the ocean, then wearing a dress that is similarly blue in color will help make your very own eyes attractive and stand out.

Wrong colors are those that make your appearance dull. It may even look repulsive, or it could cast a shadow on you. Wrong colors also give people the impression that you are sick or tired, even if you feel perfectly fine.

Apply prints and shapes.

Prints in any garments you plan to wear should just as well be proportionate to your physical features, as based on the naturalness of your body’s geometry. If your features are between medium to small, it is just as perfect that any patterns or jewelry you are to wear are sized in a similar manner.

Also, your face’s shape and features should also determine the shapes and kinds of accessories you are to wear. Oval faces may just as well wear oval earrings as well. However, a combination of features is present sometimes. Eyes that are oval sometimes belong to a face with a chin that is square. Look in the mirror and analyze what goes best with what.

Layer your clothes.

Sometimes, this is the best recourse for anyone, so as not to appear overly dressed or under dressed for the occasion. Wearing layers makes it convenient for anyone to take off that scarf, jacket, or tie, so as not to appear too formal.

Overall, practice makes perfect. Eventually, getting used to the colors you have on you will make you more confident and attractive, as you get to determine which makes you feel more magnetic and charismatic. The important thing is being comfortable with your own skin, your own color, and your own style. Work on those features, enhancing them without the need to change them. You are unique; embrace your uniqueness. That charisma cannot be bought or sold.

About The Author

Sue Brubaker shares information gathered from years of study and research on Anti-Ageing and Self Improvement.