Congratulations, you are sticking to the goals you set in January to loose weight, get fit, update your wardrobe, and develop a new image! The weight is starting to come off, the exercise is changing your silhouette and it’s time to go shopping! This month we will share our shopping tips to help you find success in your planning, fun in your shopping and develop your best image.

Look in your closet; do you wear 20% of the clothes in your closet 80% of the time?
Practice the Feng Shui theory for eliminating stress from your life by reducing the clutter of unworn clothing in your closet. Keep only what you can wear now. Don’t make the mistake of saying “I’ll keep that because I am going to fit into it some day” or “I paid a lot of money for that” or “I love that outfit, wish it were still in style”. Remove what you do not wear, then make a list of what is missing before you shop.

Ask yourself did I wear this at all last season? If the answer is no, you most likely will not wear it again next season, and it’s time to get rid of it. If it is too valuable or cherished to throw away, consider donating it to charity, giving it to a friend or family member, or selling it at a consignment shop or yard sale.

A suggestion from a professional organizer - turn all your hangers the opposite way from how you typically hang them. If you wear an item, turn the hanger back to the way you typically hang things. At the end of the season, check the hangers. The ones that are still hung the “wrong” way should be the garments you eliminate from your wardrobe.

Get your closet in order. Hang like articles of clothing together i.e. slacks, tops, jackets, skirts, suits, etc. Further refine your like pieces by color.

If you are not one to put different outfits together yourself, have someone put your outfits together for you, hang them as a group. You may even want to include the accessories in a Ziploc bag on the hanger. Put the clothes you wear the most front and center. Hang special occasion wardrobe to the sides or back of your closet.

Have you noticed the stores seem to always be one season ahead? By the time winter hits hard and we need warm clothing, spring styles are already in the stores. During the heat of summer, you go to the mall just to find something cool to wear only to find the fall and winter wools are out.

The cold, hard, retail truth is that chances are if you wait until you need it, it’s gone. You have to train yourself to think a season ahead. It’s a lot like gardening. If you want spring flowers you need to think ahead and plant the bulbs in the fall.

This retain shopping calendar guide should help.

January
Stores let their stock go low this month because it makes it easier to do inventory at the end of the month. Winter things are on clearance and spring merchandise is dribbling into every department. Cruise Wear is in - flowy print silk pants and linen jackets, straw hats, handbags in bright fruity colors and fun, colorful shoes. Spring hosiery colors are in, happy and peppy. Valentine's Day inspired items appear; the color red and hearts are seen in everything imaginable. If you’ve been lusting for a cashmere coat, this is the time to pick it up. It’ll be 30- 60% off.

February/March
Spring clothes are in the stores in transitional fabrics first; i.e., cottons, linens, silks, rayon, and polyesters that are medium weight in both casual and career clothing. Mid-March is the pinnacle for spring merchandise selection.

April/May
This is when you find serious summer clothes, sleeveless, skimpy, lightweight fabrics. The late deliveries are still in transitional weight fabrics; clothes that are a little heavier to transition into early fall. Navy shows up again because it’s a good transitional color. Look for spring clothes on the sale racks. April has the biggest selection of summer clothes.

June
This is the month of summer clearances. If the weather has stabilized and you’re just now thinking you’d like to have a couple of summer dresses, RUN, don’t walk to the stores.

July
Department stores try to wake you up out of your lazy poolside daydreams by announcing full-page ads of pre-season sales. For two weeks they bring out “never before seen” fall merchandise at sale prices to get you to buy wool. Again, the first wool that comes out is a lighter weight or a silk/wool blend to transition you into the thick of fall. Fall handbags appear in darker colors and heavier textures.

August/September
Summer clothes are gone; the floor is loaded with wool and heavy cottons. You’ll find long-sleeved turtlenecks in transitional ribbed silk. Fall hosiery colors are in. Don’t go later than September for the biggest selection of fall merchandise.

October
The heaviest weights wool, velvet and cashmere are in. Thick merino wool sweaters, tunics, skirts and pants appear. Turtlenecks are wool. Long johns and flannels are in season. Holiday clothes appear this month and are often picked over or gone by the end of November; what’s left is on sale in December. "Holiday" is a particularly short season; if this is the year you have lots of parties to attend, shop early. Mid-October has the best selection of winter merchandise.

November/December
Resort Wear shows up for winter travel to warm climates. Resort influences include nautical colors of red, navy and white, palm tree prints, chiffon, some sleeveless items and swimwear.

The Retail Calendar Resource Guide was reproduced with permission from The Association of Image Consultants’ International (AICI) article “Clip Out Tips for Every Season” by Brenda K Kinsel, AICI. We would like to thank Brenda and AICI for allowing us to share this information with our readers.

Our Product of the Month -
Alpha Hydroxy Serum

The harshness of winter is very harmful to our skin. Dry heat, lack of humidity in the air, cold weather and wind all cause the skin to become dry and flaky. We have a fantastic product line to combat harshness of winter. This month we would like to feature Alpha Hydroxy Serum. It smooth, sooths, and improves dryness.

Product
An alpha hydroxy that’s both gentle and effective at smoothing your skin! Alpha Hydroxy Serum Plus is the only alpha hydroxy with a gentle touch. It perfectly blends the exfoliating properties of alpha hydroxy acids with oat extract, a clinically proven skin soother. In just 12 weeks your skin can feel 60% smoother.

How
Apply it twice a day under moisturizer after cleansing and toning.

Benefits
• Improves skin smoothness by over 60% in 12 weeks
• The only alpha hydroxy product to contain skin-soothing oat extract
• 5% Alpha Hydroxy Acid
• Oil-free, colourant-free, fragrance-free
• Allergy tested
• Ophthalmologist and dermatologically tested
• Can be used with Retin-A* therapy
• Net weight; 1 fl. oz./30 mL
• Reduces skin flakiness
* Retin-A is a trademark of Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ

Results
24 hours – improvement in dryness, roughness, firmness and luminosity of skin.

1 week – improvement in the appearance of skin color informality.

2 weeks – noticeable improvement in the reduction of fine lines.

12 weeks – 34% reduction in the appearance of fine lines, 44% improvement in color uniformity of skin, 49% improvement in skin tone, 49% improvement in skin luminosity.

Price Point
Artistry Alpha Hydroxy Serum Plus - $46.30

Estée Lauder® Fruition Extra Multi-Actioin Complex - $46.50

La Prairie® Cellular Retexturizing Booster - $160.00

Trademarks: Estée Lauder (Estée Lauder, Inc., New York, N.Y.); La Prairie (La Prairie, Inc. New York, N.Y.)


Get more details about out entire skincare line and Alpha Hydroxy Serum on our “Beauty Site” listed below. You can also purchase products from this site.

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