This is a prefect example of how not to update your guys wardrobe!

Billy and I were talking about this and, as a guy, he has some very good pointers for woman out there.

1. Don’t try to update his wardrobe all at once.  He will resist.  Not only because he won’t be comfortable with a change all at once, but he knows he will also have to face his buddies who are likely to raz him.

2. Don’t make him feel as these wardrobe changes are ‘criticism’ or that you don’t like the way he looks now. Either one might hurt his feelings or make him resistant depending on his personality and ego.

3. Do try to update his wardrobe a bit at a time.

4. Do make it an enjoyable process for him with positive attention about how great his new item of apparel looks on him. Shower him with compliments.

No offence guys, but men are like little boys when it comes to updating their look (just think of little kids fussing when Mom gives them new clothes to try on).  When they are comfortable in what they wear why change it.  You can give them new pants, belt, shirt, shoes and he might wear them once, just to please you, but then these items are likely to be hidden away never to be seen again.

So let’s make a list of the ‘Do’s’ in a gradual wardrobe update gift plan. Start small.

Read more here.

Jan

Like many things that surround us in our everyday lives, we tend to take it for granted but color is a huge part of our life. Think about spring and summer and all that blooms. We feel reborn as the green leaves form, flowers in all shades of the rainbow bloom, everything is alive again. It makes us feel good.

Color makes us feel alive!

So why do we tend to tone down our colors as we get older?

Most of us tend to keep our wardrobe to monotone colors because of work. Women may add a flash of color with jewelry or accessories for work, men may add colorful ties or belts, but unless you work in retail, or an artistic environment, we tend to keep our colors low key.

Why was my question. Why not give the gift of color.

Don’t be afraid of color.

Celebrate them by celebrating color!

If you are looking for an apparel or accessory gift for your someone who has everything then look at apparel choices that will give them energy, that can help your gift recipient live a happier life through a positively infused environment. Color will lift their spirits, and elevate instead of dulling their senses and mood. It also projects the lift in spirit to people that seeing them wearing the colorful gift.

Read more of this article here.

Jan

The belt is the most often ignored accessory gift, especially for women.

When men think of buying an accessory gift for the woman who has everything they tend to think earrings, bracelet, maybe even a ring. Scarves have even been updated as a fashion accessory item so they tend to look at those too.

But they don’t often think of buying a belt because they don’t see it as a fashion accessory when in fact it is.

Since my ‘hippy days’, during my career as a fashion retail manager, and right through today, belts have played an important role in my styles, adding versatility and flair to even my most basic outfits.

Today there are so many different styles and shapes of belts. Plain color belts with outstanding buckles or fringe. Colored belts in earth tones or fluorescent waves of color. Yes belts made of leather or suede, but also belts made with recycled materials and even metals. The combinations of belts is endless and more unique ones are hitting the market daily.

A gift of a belt can make any outfit stand out more.

Think of a plain black dress she owns. If you gave her a stunning belt that she can add to that black dress it’s no longer plain – stunning – right! Or an exotic leopard print belt to a pair of black pants – sensational!

Read more here!

Jan

It seems that buying a watch as a gift is not really on most gift givers radar these days. It used to be, but wrist watches have fallen down on the gift list somewhere below tech toys and the latest fashions. They’re not even at the top of the jewelry gift list. Well I think they should be.

Watches are a triple threat, three ‘S’ gift. What are the three ‘S’s’? Security, style and swank (or swagger).

Let’s talk about security first so my title makes some sense (told you I’d get back to explaining the title!)…I read about this in the paper recently…

You’re walking along the street and someone asks you the time, so you whip out your smart phone being the nice helpful sort you are…And the #$%%^ grabs your phone and is gone like a New York second. Sheesh, as if the world isn’t unfriendly enough as it is, before long nobody will be willing to give you the time of day, literally!

Did you know there are more people under 20 who don’t wear a watch than do? Many of us have gotten out of the habit of looking at our watch to tell the time Nowadays people look at their computer, laptop, tablet when they want to know the time or when they are outside, they check their smart phone.  So with all these devices with clocks at our fingertips, who needs a watch anymore? Anyone you love does, so you don’ have to worry about them being a target for the time bandits. So yes, a watch would be a protection., security, the first ‘S’. They have it on their wrist and they can just look at it and tell the person the time and foil the robbery. That makes sense huh?

Let’s move on to the other two ‘S’s’, style and swank. Watches have long been major fashion statements with high end brands adding prestige and elegance to evening wear or smart looking ‘toughie’ sport styles and chronographs for day-to-day wear.  Long gone are the basic band with a  non-descript dial. The selection in every price range has expanded tremendously so you can afford to be stylish on any budget.

Read more of the article here.

Jan

The majority of men have shoes for particular outfits and activities. A pair of dress shoes in black and brown, a pair, or two, of casual shoes, runners, sandals and flip-flops. Of course there is a particular category of men who totally ‘get’ why women love shoes and probably could give a good portion of women a ‘run for their money’ when it comes to a shoe collection.

This article is for the men who are mystified by women’s love of shoes.

First, think about this. You would be hard pressed not to find a man that doesn’t turn his head when a woman walks by in stilettos. Right? Well there is one of the answers. Woman want to feel attractive.

More to the point though is shoes are an accessory item that completes the outfit, their look. Their clothing is not just basic suits, unless for work, as it is with men when it comes to dressing up. Women have lots of different outfits that require a shoe to go with each. Usually they have a selection of shoes that will go with a few outfits, but I’m sure most women would have a pair of shoes per outfit if they could! There is a good hint for shoes as a gift.

Maybe to explain in a different way, if you are a man who loves ties you probably have a huge selection of ties, different widths, different styles, different materials, different colors and patterns, you wouldn’t wear the same tie with every outfit you had – right? Plus you would add the latest styles of ties each season. Well it is comparable with shoes when it comes to women.

Women wear shoes to look good, for sure. When they look good they feel good. They also want to look good for their man. But they also wear shoes to impress other women. Showing off so to speak.

If you want to buy the woman who has everything a pair of shoes and wondering how to go about that read more here.

Jan

Imagine giving her something extra that also gives you an added rush of pleasure at her reaction when she sees the special surprise you have for her?

When you are looking for a gift for the woman who has it all sometimes just one item is not enough.  You want it to be something special, something that will stand out and make her say wow.

I recently came across a stunning collection that would make an incredible gift.  But it’s not actually a ‘collection’, it’s 3 separate pieces.

So this got me to thinking that it would be helpful to my site visitors if I could showcase these hot picks that I find all in one place.  Saves you from running around to put them together, plus you can see how they look, all together, all in one place.

Introducing, hot picks for her!

I will be putting together many more items that I find that I believe make the collections hot. It will vary from jewelry to clothing to shoes, well actually anything I find that I think would be a really hot gift collection for her.

Check it out here.

Jan

Looking for a clothing gift can be a real problem, depending on which gender you are.

Women tend to be very comfortable buying clothing as a gift for a woman in their life. They can look at the item and pretty well decide if it will fit. They don’t stress over whether she will, or will not, like the item. They don’t over think it. If it looks good to them they are likely to think it would look good to the recipient. The majority of the time they are right. If their not, no big deal they can exchange it.

It is a very different story when it comes to men. Men are generally uncomfortable buying clothing as a gift for the woman in their life.

A little story. I managed a retail store for a number of years and something I will always remember is the look of fear in men’s eyes when shopping for clothes for their wife, or girlfriend, in the final hours just before closing for Christmas. They had no idea what size they were. I would ask if she was my size and I would get a soft response of “sort of”. I would gather a few of my staff and ask him if any of them looked like her size. If I could get the height out of him we could work on the size. I would say “a bit smaller?” and he would respond usually with “sort of”. You get the idea.

If you are the kind of guy who when driving in your car in a strange place, won’t ask for directions even though you are hopelessly lost, you fall into the “sort of” category.

Most cars today have a GPS, so think of me as your shopping  GPS. I’m about to give you some good pointers that will help you shop for clothing for her with ease.

Read more here.

Jan

I think I was born a fashionesta. The first part of my career was in retail.  I started drawing fashion ideas when I was a kid, worked part-time in boutiques when I was in school and did live and photography modeling.  Once out of school I pursued my passion for fashion from a sales clerk in a trendy retail chain and worked my way up to managing a store major fashion chain for many years. What can I tell you, I love fashion!

One thing I know is that when it comes to fashion presentation can make or break it.

Some sites I see beautiful models that are positioned in such a way that if they wore a potato sack it would sell, until you do a zoom on the fashion piece itself and see that what they are offering doesn’t look as good as you thought it did, in some cases. Lunchbox letdown.

Other sites have models that look like they are in the army.  No expression, hands at the side, you hardly notice the fashion piece because of the model’s stance. But they do this for the front, sides and back view.  It gives you the full at each angle. The fashion presentation doesn’t look ‘appealing’, but once you do a zoom on the fashion piece itself you will see that what they are offering looks way better than what you thought. The piece is exquisite, only the presentation is not doing it justice!

In my opinion, when it comes to showcasing the wonderful fashion designs out there they need a bit of both. If the full view won’t work with a bit of expression than it is better to just maybe offer a front and back version.

So you those of you who are looking for a fashion gift my suggestion is to not take what you see at face value.  Take a few seconds to zoom in and actually have a look at what you think looks great – you will be amazed at what you see.

I hope these are helpful suggestions from this life long fashionesta.

Jan

I would love to hear your comments on what the image showcases to you.

The new feature I am adding to the site looks like this.  It has a special feature when you put your mouse over it

Helpful Hint: There are many flash sales that go on that you probably don’t hear about because some last only 1 day or less. Drop me a note and I’ll add you to my notification list so you’ll be ‘in the know’!

This is a ‘feature’ that will provide my personal comments and suggestions that will help you in your gift search.

It’s still new, I just started yesterday, but you can find them sprinkled throughout the site with more being added daily.

My goal is to help make the make the site ‘more helpful’ and make it easier to find what you are looking for when you arrive at our site AND to give you great “Hints” that will help you decide what gift you should give your special someone in your life when you are struggling to find one.

If you need help drop me a note on live chat or if I am online you can ask me directly. You can also just ping me and say hi. I would love to chat with you!

Jan

Did you know that you can find artisan gifts in all creative categories, not only crafts, which most people think when they think of artisan items. In fact you will also find exquisite handmade jewelry, clothing where every step of process from dying to tailoring is done by the artist. The same for furniture, home decor and more.

I never considered myself an artist, though I did needlework, petit point, knitting and for over a decade have created web sites.  But I have come to understand that art comes in many forms and anything that is created by an individual can be art.

It’s not the type of item that determines whether it is art, it’s the talent, creativity, level of craftsmanship and finally the love they pour into it that elevates a craft to art. Whether it is appreciated by one, or many, it really doesn’t matter when it comes down to the fact that it is art.

So if you are looking for unique, this is it.

Also, when you buy an artisan piece you will also be supporting the artist and their craft, so in many ways you are paying it forward.  Helping artists in countries all over the world continue to work on their craft and bring beautiful items to us.  Now that is a gift for everyone.

Check out some unique artisan gifts here.

Jan

p.s  If you do drop by say Hi when I am on live chat – would be great to talk!