New Year, New You: My Own Personal Fashion, Style and Beauty Resolutions

Over the holidays, I sent out the fabulous resolutions that my fellow fashion and beauty bloggers have made but I thought I would take it a little further and give you a sneak peek into what I'm challenging myself with this year. I wouldn't share this with just ANYBODY but, you know, what's a little shared love between true fashion, style and beauty addicts?

Get into a bikini by my birthday - Anyone who knows me knows about my now epic battle with the bulge. I'm now proudly down 62 lbs from my heaviest weight and I'm determined to take the remaining amount off by my birthday on June 9th. This means working out, eating right and picking out the hottest bathing suit I can find because I've promised to be photographed in said swimsuit. Oh yes, folks, nothing like the promise of flash photography against your semi-clothed body to keep you honest.

Only possess things I love and cherish - This doesn't mean that I don't love my clothes and shoes but I have been prone to impulse shopping in the past and after unloading a huge amount of apparel and shoes after I moved recently, I can say that I don't miss anything that I gave to charity. If you closet fills you with dread when you open it, it can permeate your soul. I got rid of anything that didn't fit or that I didn't love. It makes getting dressed a lot easier and I look forward to restocking it with things that fit who I am today rather than some image of who I used to be.

Curate my own personal Glam Squad - Every person in the world needs a Glam Squad and I don't care who you are. Every woman needs the following individuals on speed dial in your PDA/phone/Rolodex/home:
- Hair gurus that can handle all of your needs, from color to cut to processing to a glass of wine and a good bitching session when you've had THAT kind of day
- A nail technician that gives bullet-proof manicures and pedicures
- A brow genius that can create the perfect arch
- An aesthetician that gives facials where people at your reunion will ask if you've had work done and a waxer that doesn't make you cry
- A masseuse that can reverse all of the drama of 2009 (and that is a tall order, people)
- A trainer, yogi and/or fitness instructor that can help you get a body that you can respect and love even more than the one you have now
I'll be curating my glam squad throughout the year and posting the results on FSB.

Find the perfect pair of jeans - This changes for me on an almost annual basis but I'm on the hunt for the perfect pair this year.

Treat myself like a princess - That means I can take as many bubble baths, get as many spa treatments, take as many naps, go on as many vacations and have as much fun as I want this year without feeling guilty. I've learned it the hard way but it's true: if I'm not happy and cared for, everything else suffers. The sacrifices are worth it but let's all learn from Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree: eventually you will wind up just a stump. I'm trying a different approach this year by making a commitment to loving myself to death this year.

Pay attention to the way I look - This might sound hilarious from a fashion and beauty writer but I realized that sometimes I get dressed to get it over with, whatever it is. This means that I leave the house looking waaaay less than spectacular and that is inevitably the day when I meet someone really amazing (Isaac Mizrahi, for example) or some smoking hot guy is probably looking at me saying, "Huh. She could be cute with some makeup." No more. I'm not saying appearance is everything but making skincare, a little mascara and my hair (which is just an epic battle of its own) a priority means that if I do it more often, it won't be such an uphill battle when I have to do it at all. Make sense?


Get back in the dating scene - Yes, I'm back out there again and the hair, makeup and fashion decisions with stepping back out there go with it. I'll chronicle the results in photos and word right here.

So, these are my resolutions and goals for this year. What did you decide upon? Let me know in the comments section.

Fashion and Beauty New Year's Resolutions We Can All Get Behind

I was thinking about it over the holidays and I've got some collective resolutions that I think we can all get behind. Looking for a good New Year's Resolution? Feel free to borrow one (or all) of these:


Stop Wearing Clothes That Don't Fit - Look, clothes that are too big don't make you look any thinner than clothes that are too small. You're not fooling anybody. Take the time to wear clothes that fit and you won't have to keep untagging yourself from photos on Facebook.

Don't Impulse Purchase - Sample sales are amazing and I love a good fistacuffs over a pair of Prada shoes like everyone else but let's all resolve to stop overspending in 2010. If you really, really love it and you can think of at least ten occasions where you'll wear it and you have - wait for it - at least three other things in your wardrobe that will work with it, then by all means you have my blessing. But having just given away insane amounts of clothes and shoes that I don't even remember purchasing when I just moved, it's not worth it. Only buy it if you love it and it works.

Experiment with Fashion, Style and Beauty - If you still have the same haircut you had a few years ago, you only wear one certain type of nail polish or if your closet has ten of the same item, it's time to mix it up a little. Seek experts who can help you test new makeup ideas, play around with your hair a little bit or get some clothes that will update your style. It can start with a nail polish, like my new obsession, Chanel Particulière Nail Polish (the one on the far left above, $23), coming to a Chanel counter near you in January 2010 (which, as you know, is tomorrow).

Follow Trends but Follow Your Heart - I'm always going to tell you what the trends of the season are but you should know beyond a shadow of a doubt if something will or will not work for you. I'm a bit of a fashion contrarian that way myself, you know: I love to zig when everyone else is zagging. Individual style is incredibly important and looking like a clone is something that just won't do. Take cues from your style inspirations and then do what you want. Only you should dictate what is best for yourself.

Stop Abusing Yourself - OK, so I'm only going to say this once and I want you to hear me. Overscrubbing your skin makes it worse. Overdoing heat and chemical treatments destroys your hair. Dieting to excess will only result in poor health and/or gaining more weight later. It's just time to realize that taking your frustrations out on your looks DOES NOT WORK. Take care of yourself. Find beauty regimens that will work without so much pain and please find a diet and exercise program that will give you a healthy, beautiful body.

Get Rid of People Who Suck - Bad lovers, relatives, toxic "frenemies" - people who just suck the life out of you are NOT WORTH IT. I'm convinced the grey hair in my eyebrows are caused by toxic relationships and I've spent the last month getting rid of every one of them. Toxic people cause toxic behavior and it's just time to let them go. This is a call to action. I mean it. Get rid of people who suck. They give you wrinkles and grey hair and the stress can kill you. Drink champagne with lovely people who love and support you instead. Your body will thank you.


Pamper the Hell Out of Yourself - This is my personal New Year's Resolution. You are worth every manicure, pedicure, haircut/color/treatment, spa visit, yoga class or cooking class you feel like taking this year. When you do things for yourself, you actually look and feel a thousand times better. Make appointments to look and feel your absolute best this year.

Be Yourself and Be Happy - I have finally come to realize that I spent a lot of time unnecessarily worrying about people accepting me without worrying about the most important person accepting me, which was ME! We're all out here doing the best we can and sometimes we gel and sometimes we don't. You're the only "you" that's walking around out here so fall madly in love with yourself, warts and all. Embrace your weird habits and spend the rest of your life looking for other people who will smile when you exhibit your strange behavior or do those things you do.

Make 2010 the year you fall madly in love with yourself. Whether you experiment with fashion, style and beauty or you just decide to love yourself exactly as you are, resolve to be the best "you" possible this year.

Many blessings and Happy New Year!
Kristin
Editor-In-Chief
Fashion.Style.Beauty

New Year, New You: Top Bloggers Reveal Their 2010 New Year's Resolutions

It's New Year's Eve and after you go out and wreck your liver tonight, chances are you'll repent over a bloody mary and start to think about what your resolutions are for the year to come. Outside of the usual, ever wonder what those of us in fashion and beauty media resolve to do or not do when it comes to our routines? I went out to some of the top fashion and beauty bloggers out there to get the scoop.

The gorgeous Julia DiNardo from Fashion Pulse Daily says:

As we close 2009, what are you most thankful for this year? From a style perspective, I am thankful for the return of "Eighties Shoulders" - the strong, exaggerated silhouettes of puffery, puckering, and glorious shoulder pads. My mom and aunt gave me glorious jackets of such stuff that have laid dormant in my closet for years, until recently, like my mom's 80s velvet bolero jacket!
What's your New Year's Resolution? Less impulse buys, more meaningful investments (in apparel and accessories), and to perfect putting on fake eyelashes!

Lovely Anne Fritz of Jet Set Girls had a really fun thing to be thankful for this time:

As we close 2009, what are you most thankful for this year? I have to go with my husband of six weeks and counting, Leopold. He's so wonderfully supportive of The Jet Set Girls and my blogging career.
What's your New Year's Resolution? I have two beauty related ones:
1. To take better care of my decolletage! I'm so good about using SPF on my face, not so good on my neck and chest and it's starting to show.
2. Mix up my makeup routine more. I have so many lip glosses and eyeshadows, but I always use the same ones. No more in 2010!!

Adorable Jamie Sanders from The Beauty of Life is abroad on vacation but stopped by to give me her New Year's Resolutions:

As we close 2009, what are you most thankful for this year?This year, I'm most thankful for taking more chances with my hair and makeup and having them pay off! I tried Minx, I tried haircolor for the first time in seven years, I chopped off 4 inches of my hair ... and biggest of all, I tried red lipstick for the first time and it actually looked good! It showed me that trying new things doesn't always have to be scary and doesn't always have to end in disaster.
What's your New Year's Resolution? In 2010, I'm going to try to live life to the fullest. I'm celebrating a milestone birthday and want to take advantage of every opportunity I can!

The elegant Aly Walansky from Alytude had some fun hair-related items, which which I totally concur:


As we close 2009, what are you most thankful for this year? I'm super thankful for Moroccan Oil, Brazilian Keratin Treatments, and Living Proof No Frizz - these three products have gone a long way toward - after 30 years on this earth - my ability to love my hair, not loathe it. It's so easy, with difficult hair, to want to chemically alter it, or hide it under a giant headband...but living in denial doesn't work! (So says the two inches of roots I achieve several months after my Japanese thermal reconditioning appointments...) - work with what God has given you, and help it to be its best - and it just may surprise you!
What's your New Year's Resolution? My new years' resolution is to clean up my life - I want to remove the emotional/mental/physical clutter from my relationships, my home, my closet - and everywhere else. And while I'm cleaning, and decluttering, I'm going to be more religious about cleansing my skin twice a day...if our body is a temple, I should probably give as much consideration to myself as I do to my vanity drawer! :-)

Felicia Sullivan, the beautiful fashion and beauty blogger with the magic touch in the kitchen, had one very simple item for which to be thankful and I completely agree.

As we close 2009, what are you most thankful for this year? I’m grateful for the strange, wonderful, brilliant people in my life — my friends who I lean on, trust implicitly, and come to call my family  -- for they have given me shelter through some of the darkest moments I’ve known.
(Felicia doesn't really do resolutions.)

And then there's me.

As we close 2009, what are you most thankful for this year? I'm extremely thankful for the amazing people in my life and finally coming into my own when it comes to accepting myself the way I am. My hair is kinky, I have an hourglass shape and finally accepting what I look like has been the greatest gift I've ever given myself. It's allowed me to look and feel my best instead of fighting with myself on a daily basis.

What's your New Year's Resolution? I have to say that I share Aly's resolution to clean up my relationships as well as get back out there and date. But from a beauty and fashion perspective, it's all about maintenance and taking really, really good care of myself this year. I'm the first person to skip haircuts, not get massages, wait until my hands and feet make me look like an extra from Lord of the Rings before I get mani-pedis...no more! This is the year that I am top of my priority list and I will invest a considerable amount of time and funds to making sure I look my absolute smoking hottest this year.

What are YOUR New Year's Resolutions, dear FSB readers? Spill!

Thanks to all my fellow bloggesses for their fabulous resolutions. Happy New Year, everyone!