Get Your Growl On With Animal Print Accessories

By Colette Bouchez
For CountryDutchess.com

It takes a special kind of woman to go “animal print” head-to-toe. I’m not sure any of us actually want to be that woman …but most of us can learn from her mistakes!

Indeed, the key to wearing animal print is to use it sparingly – and one of the best ways to do that is via accessories. From shoes to handbags, scarves to belts, jewelry, hats even gloves, accessorizing with animal print can be fun and stylish – and keep you looking current without spending a ton of money.

The key to making the look work: Choosing wisely where you place the “growl”.

Here’s a few tips to making animal print accessories work for every season.

1. Don’t over populate the zoo. And that means selecting one animal print per outfit. If you’ve got the leopard shoes and bag going on, don’t mix in the zebra belt or the giraffe print scarf. Unlike other prints which can be mixed and matched, blending in too many animals makes for one untidy fashion playground!

2. Do pair your animal print accessories with bright colors – but chose just one color. For example a great red dress can look amazing when accessorized with leopard . But if the top is red the bottom is blue and the bag is navy, adding an animal print scarf or shoes is just too much activity for the eye to focus on at once.

3. Wear no more than 3 animal print accessories at once. If you’ve got the bag and shoes happening, you can add an animal scarf, pin, bangle, or sweater – but not all of them at once.

4. The biggest animal makes the loudest roar - true in the jungle and on the runway. So the larger your animal print accessory, the fewer pieces you need to play it up. If you’ve got a great animal print topper or a huge oversized bag let it do the growling for you and accent it with other colors, not more animal print.

5. Tiny animals get noticed too – which means you don’t have to wear a lot of animal print to make an impression. Choosing one item – like a zebra print belt on a LBD or leopard print scarf on a LWD – can give you the updated look without going over the top

Flower pin available at CountryDutchess.com

To see a fabulous slide show of the latest animal print accessories at great prices click here.

Oringally printed by  Examiner.com.

For round-the-clock fabulous time & money saving beauty and style advice visit CheapChicDiary.com - or visit us anytime at CountryDutchess.com - Your Source For Fabulous! Copyright by Colette Bouchez 2011 - All Rights Reserved.

Plum Lucky! Wear The Hot New Color With Style!

By CountryDutchess

If you've spent even five minutes glancing the latest Fall fashion trends then you know that PLUM is one of the hottest colors around. From accessories to full frontal fashion, from lips and eyes and cheeks to the polish on your fingers and toes varying shades of this dusky purple hue are EVERYWHERE!

And we love this color. We really, really do.

BUT ... the truth is, as gorgeous as it is, it's also one of those colors that you can easily overdo. And when you do ....uh oh ... suddenly you go from femme fatal to Barney ( not the store, the dinosaur!) . So before you plunk down those hard earned fashionista dollars on trendy buys that end up in the back of your closet, here's a little plum advice on how to make the most of your Fall fashion dollars!

Fashion Plum Do's & Don'ts !

1. Do not do head-to-toe plum. Matching sweater and skirt - fine. Matching shoes and bag - good. Sweater, skirt, shoes, bag ,tights and make-up - all in plum - no. You're entering dinosaur territory.

2. Wear plum make-up sparingly. Again, the two out of three rule applies best here: Lips and cheeks - good. Cheeks and eyes - even better. Lips, cheeks, eyes all in plum ? Nope. See dinosaur reference above. :)

3. Use plum as an accent color - just be careful what you're accenting! It's great as an accessory or trim shade for black, brown, navy, camel, grey, denim, white, and some shades of very dark olive green. It's a Fall Fashion " Uh Oh!" when paired with red, hot pink, bright green or yellow.

4. If you can't afford to buy major pieces in this hot new color, update last year's little black coat with a chenille plum scarf and gloves. For that little black dress type a smoky amethyst plump chandelier earring or a plum crystal beaded necklace. All you really need are touches of this color to seem right in style!

5. Plum looks great with every shade of hair color - just not the same shade of plum for every shade of hair. Don't know what to pick? Here's your guide:

Yellow Blondes: Choose lighter, warmer shades of plum with a red undertone.

Beige Blondes and Cool Brunettes: Go for the dusky plums with the blue undertone.

Reddish Brown or Highlighted Brown : Go for a pure plum with a neutral color base

in darker hues.

Redheads : You can wear plum! Just be sure to choose a shade that has neutral

undertones. Warm plums will clash with your hair; cool plums will

wash out your sparkle. Also try for darker more pure colors - skip

the heather shades.

6. Plum Jewels - One of the best ways to accent plum fashions is either with a smokey shade of amethyst or with sparkling silver. While we know some of you are die-hard gold fans - and we love it too. But nothing sets off plum style like the wintry shimmer of silver - and the minute you try it on you'll see the difference! For extra pizazz try plum and silver chandelier earrings!
WOW

For round-the-clock fabulous time & money saving beauty and style advice visit CheapChicDiary.com - or visit us anytime at CountryDutchess.com - Your Source For Fabulous!

Copyright by Colette Bouchez 2009 - All Rights Reserved.
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