A few weeks back, my friend & fellow +model Kamari & I were playing around with the idea of how to style 1 item in 2 different ways. We both took a dress from H&M, dug through our closets and this is what we came up with.

On me: a cropped tuxedo jacket, leggings with brass zippers and gray snakeskin pattern pumps with golden embellishments. My earrings are from Kenya and bracelets are from Aldo. I would wear this to work, or for a night out.

|Dress, Leggings: H&M| |Cropped Tux Jacket: City Chic|

|Earrings: gifted, Bracelets: Aldo| |Snakeskin print pumps: Just Fab|

On Kamari: A pale green sateen jacket and studded pointy flats make this dress more casual. She completes her outfit with a green pendant necklace, silver cuff and rings. This would be great for a trip to the market on the weekend, or a brunch with friends.

|Dress, Shoes: H&M| |Jacket & Jewelry: Kamari’s own|

Coming up on Curvy Conquers: New outfit posts to go with the new look! I’ll be collaborating with photographer Tonya Jeter (who I have worked with in the past) to bring some great new stuff!

Until next time Conquerers…XO!

I promised more in the beauty series, but my love for my new iPhone has me caught up posting outfits with Instagram (follow me there @CurvyConquers). Needless to say, I got a touch distracted. So I thought I’d make it up to you with a little about makeup (I’m a cornball). But not just anything about makeup, oh no, but tips from some of my favorite plus models!

To set it up, some poetry: these ladies are not only friends but fantastic at what they do, so you can trust that if it’s a tip from them, it’s tried and true! (See? Cornball. I warned you!)

Griselangel Paula on Eyes

“I like to wear brown eyeliner (as opposed to black) whenever I’m looking for a more casual/less dramatic look for a fun night out on the town. If I’m looking for an extra pop, I’ll smudge a bit of brown eyeliner on my bottom lid!”

Want more Grisel? Find her at www.griselangel.com!

Allison McGevna on Lips

“My favorite is to put foundation on my lips before applying lipstick. Then, I line the full lip, working my way in from the outside, and sweep on color. It lasts longer, makes the color pop and also makes your lips look fuller.”

Allison has a fabulous style blog, make sure you check her out @ Inside Allie’s World. (alliemcgev.blogspot.com)

Tara Liggins on Eyebrows

“I’m big on brows, so I like to make sure that mine appear clean and polished without being too dramatic. I tend to stay away from brow pencils because they darken my already dark hair. My trick is to use an angled brush, MAC makes one: #208, and dust a brown eye shadow across my brows. I like to use a shade that is slightly lighter than my hair to soften my face.”

Tara works for Mac as well, so make sure to follow Tara on Twitter! (@TaraElle)

CC Makeup Tip:

|Illustration by Veronica-Marche Miller!|

I love to twirl my eyelash wand at the base of my lashes before coating the shaft. It has the same effect as a curling iron on your hair: volume! And, depositing a little extra mascara there adds emphasis for your eye line!

Until next time, keep conquering…XO!

Two posts in one day! I’m doing awesome with my New Years Resolutions! Okay, well at least the one about posting on Curvy Conquers more often. I’m still planning a new look for the blog, and (*fingers crossed*) some bigger/better/more awesome outfit photos. Until then, I still wanted to share what I’m wearing, albiet a touch unconventionally.

CC Style Notes:  Today I’m sporting leopard spots, bright red, mustard yellow and off-white accessories and a fantastic pair of suede booties. I love accentuating patterns with color, and in this case all of my colors are heavily saturated. Because of that, I’m able to combine two strong colors like red and yellow, temper it with the pattern and create cohesiveness without overwhelming myself. I always feel like these silver bird earrings are a touch edgy, so I like to wear them when I’m feeling bold.

Also worth noting is that I’ve tied back my curly hair in a chignon behind the red headband. This way, I don’t have to worry about my curls upstaging my look (although I could have also done my hair in a way to compliment the boldness, I felt a more subdued style went better with the chunky necklaces). 

                                                          \Leopard Sweater - Old Navy\

   \Headband - Goody\ |Bird Earrings - Gifted\ \Beaded Necklaces - Boutique, Chicago\ 

                                    \Brown Suede Booties with Gold Grommets - Sole Society|

There are many words thrown about the industry that may mean one thing in the “real world” but mean something quite different when applied to modeling. I’ve already briefly touched on the idea of raw vs. retouched images, but today I’d like to discuss the even more ubiquitous term of Clean. So, let’s take a look at our Model Dictionary (thought I was going to say Modelictionary? I almost did, but I’m kind of tired of portmanteaus. Like tired + angry = tangry. But I digress). 

Model Dictionary: CLEAN. [kleen] adjective 

1. free from dirt; unsoiled; unstained: She bathed and put on a clean dress.

2. characterized by a fresh, wholesome quality: The clean smell of pine.

The first definition (thanks dictionary.com!) is the real world version (although models should also shower. Just sayin). The second is what we might consider clean in the modeling industry. Only, disregard that reference to pine. Unless you like pine. Nothing wrong with that, but I’d recommend saving it for mops and cars. When you’re a new model, it can be a little hard to understand why you shouldn’t go to an agency’s open call or a casting in your best smokey eye or trendy new red lipstick, after all you look AH-MAH-ZING with a full face on, and isn’t that what you should be showing off?

I’m here to help, so I won’t sugar coat it: Nope. No way. Nu-uh. NO! What you should be showing off is yourself as a clean palette, so that the potential client can invision painting you in their brand. Instead of your best makeup artist imitation, you should wear your best natural face and accentue your natural beauty.

This is my DO list for castings, if you’re seeing an agency the rules are a little different. I’ll talk about that another time (though if you have questions now, feel free to ask).

DOs

• Conceal any blemishes
• Use powder to control shine
• Wear a bit of blush, especially if you tend to get washed out in indoor lighting (remember, you’ll probably have to pose for a Polaroid and you have no idea if you’ll be in lovely natural lighting or garish office building fluorescents) 
• Contour your face (I like to do this with bronzer), but only if you know what you’re doing because it’s one of the easiest things to take too far! If you don’t know how to contour, there are plenty of tutorials online (and maybe I’ll do one myself in a later post). 
• Wear mascara to accentuate your eyes. Lining is optional, but recommended if your eyes are small or deep set. Save the kohl for the club though, for castings, consider eye liner in a soft color like brown or grey.
• Wear a light pink or neutral colored lip gloss. You can also go with just lip balm, but remember you want to accentuate your natural beauty without going over the top. 
• Use a neutral palette for eyeshadow. Stay away from bright colors or deeply pigmented hues. 
• Brow powder to fill in/form your eyebrows. I love Brow Zings from Benefit because it contains everything you need to get shapely brows on the go!

I have a full face of makeup on here, but this is just an accuentuated version of how I look with a truly minimal face, as seen in the first image of this post. 

Fun, but definitely not natural! 

CC Casting Tip: If you’re an agency model (or the potential client has seen pictures of you before they see you in person), it’s important that you match expectations. Which is to say, if you have naturally curly hair but most of your portfolio has pictures of it straight (as I do), or you always cover a particular mole, or wear extensions, etc, you should go to the casting looking similarly. 

I love my curly hair, but I look much different. It’s better to meet potential client’s expectations than show off how versatile you can be. (And this hair is versatile!!)

Learning how to prepare your look for castings can be a bit of a curve for a new model, so my best advice is to ask other girls at your agency and watch what others do. And remember, a +model’s attitude is as important as her look, so be kind to everyone you come into contact with. You never know who’s watching! 

Until next time Conquerers…XO!

Regular outfit posts will be back in February!! Until then, I’ll be sharing as I can with a little help from Instagram (and a very kind co-worker). Today’s outfit is made up of a few of my favorite things:

\Handmade dangly earrings by Fennimas\

I love the funky feather and extra long length. These get a lot of compliments/stares. Makeup today is my ultra-simple natural look: concealer, powder, mascara and carmex.

CC Tip: If you’re going to rock something that will bring extra attention, wear extra confidence to match!

\Black loose knit sweater - Banana Republic\ \Camo Jeans - Victoria’s Secret\ \Shoes - Timberlands\

If the earrings weren’t enough, I thought I’d really rock out my look with my favorite pair of camo print jeans. I wanted to be careful to balance my edgy with my basics, so my favorite black loose knit sweater and neutral colored Tims complete my look.

CC Tip: To dress up an edgy/rock look, wear sky high heels. A dash of sex appeal can really soften the edge. 

I felt like gold colored accessories were more stand-out; the jeans are actually tones of blue and green so silver would have been too muted for my tastes today. 

CC Tip: Try pairing various sets of gold and silver jewelry with your outfits (or for a middle ground, mix them together). Notice how much the tonality can change the feel of the look. Sometimes all it takes is an accent piece in a different color to take a look from quiet to loud or soft to sexy!

Instagram makes everything pretty, no? 

Next Up - Modeling 101: How to Get Clean (& Casting Ready)

Happy Monday Curvy Conquerers! We’re still doing our beauty series, but I thought a little outfit love couldn’t hurt. =D

E-window shopping is my favorite forms of retail therapy. I was engaging in this lovely pastime on Gilt when I happened across these Coco Lace Up Booties by model-turned-shoe designer Tabitha Simmons (and what an awesome name). These have ALL of my favorite components to a shoe, with a price tag to match. Since I can’t drop the $385 to get these little ladies (and that’s on sale, original price $945!) I thought I’d try styling an outfit to go with them. 

Now, I’ve never styled an outfit this way before, and can I say it was quite challenging! It’s one thing to go through your closet and pair things based on your whim, feeling, the weather, etc. It’s quite another to browse site after site, trying to create a fun match. I also forced myself to stick to sites that catered to or at least carried plus sizes, because what would be the point if none of my curvy friends could shop there?

About This Look

I paired a striped blazer with a shimmery blue jersey top and black lace skirt to mix patterns and textures (something I am trying my hand at more often these days). I wanted to stay with blue tones, but didn’t want the lace to overpower the rest of the outfit or compete too hard with the striped blazer, so I chose an understated black. I feel like the striped blazer pulls this together because it picks up on the gold undertones of the top and the dark neutrals (note that the stripes are navy, not black) of the shoes and skirt. I think it’s okay to mix black and navy here, and of course the blue on the shoes is very different than the top or blazer. I wanted to stay away from that light indigo tone in the clothes to make sure the shoes stood out against all of our textures!

1. Dorothy Perkins Navy/Stone Strip Ponti Jacket $69

2. Dorothy Perkins Navy Slubby Jersey Knit Tee $35

3. Carmakoma Cotton Lace “Liberty” Skirt Aprox $32 (converted from Danish)

4. Tabitha Simmons Coco Lace Up Booties $385

How would you wear these shoes? And how’d I do with my outfit pairing? (It’s okay if you don’t like it, I’m still learning!)

Hey Friends, I’m now on Bloglovin’! So please: Follow my blog with Bloglovin!! And stay tuned for a new look to the blog! I’m excited to share some more fun topics in the beauty series, so I hope you’ll check back next week!

XO,

~S