The final makeover recap is here! Of course I saved the most dramatic transformation for last.
If you’re just tuning in, the makeover winners were chosen by a panel with consideration given to what each sponsor felt could be done in their particular area (Tease for hair; me for closet and styling) and best fits for the clothing brand sponsors – Miles David, Bonobos, and Monkee’s of Houston. Trust me when I say it was the hardest decision! We received over 70 entries and every single one deserved to win. If you are a clothing brand and want to sponsor some runners-up, I’m game just say the word.
Our last makeover winner is Amy. I love Amy’s story and was so happy to help her get a portion of her world under control. She and her husband went from being a family of four to a family of six more or less overnight. In addition to the usual work of maintaining a picked up, organized space, Amy had just lost additional closets in the house six-months prior when their two newly adopted boys came to live with them. Their family of four was now a family of six and her closet became the catchall. Please there are four small humans to keep alive – who has time for haircuts and shopping?!
Enough with the intro – you have to see how it went!
Let the Makeover Commence
You know the drill by now. We start with the basics and assuring everyone involved that I’m not going to make my client(s) look like a trend poster or like someone other than their best selves. There is a real moment of panic many feel right before our appointment. When they pause for a moment and think, “oh my goodness what exactly is going to happen here? And will I have any clothes in my closet left?” To which I have two truthfully responses: 1. I’ve never left anyone naked. 2. If it’s the piece your great-grandmother Ethel sewed for your debutante ball I’m not going to make you get rid of it. I will make you move it out of front-and-center prime visual real estate though! But I digress.
Amy was so excited and couldn’t wait to get started! Though if I’m being honest her husband did have a moment of,” wait, I love my bride just the way she is – why do we have to change that???” Spoiler Alert: I’ve been assured he 110% approves of the results. ;-)
Judy Francis took the before and after shots, which I can now tell you was a huge deal as she was in the middle of her first trimester and wanted to fall through the floor.
We talked through all the initial fun stuff – body shape, colors, face shape and then jumped right into the closet. We had a lot of work to do!
The Closet
We chose Amy because her closet, well, needed serious help. The recent closet consolidation with her two new cuties meant her closet became the catchall instead of the functional space it needed to be! We get dressed every day and often with just a few minutes to make something stylish happen. We have to give ourselves the best possible chance to make it happen.
Our goal was a complete overhaul. Purge, clean, edit, organize, the whole shebang! The same criteria follows me wherever I go – anything that stayed in the closet needed to fit her, flatter her shape, and match her personal style. A lot went to the clothing graveyard but what was left was wonderful.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, see below for a few tips to regaining control over your closet.
Closet Edit Process Tip – Battling Overwhelm
You know the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Let’s face it, sometimes the clutter can be overwhelming. Break it down into steps and go from there! Here’s the order of our operations:
- Removed everything not related to getting dressed out of the closet (and found new homes for it! I’m happy to report we didn’t leave a mess scattered all over Amy’s bedroom floor).
- Got everything off the floor. We needed a clean working area! Editing items that were on the floor, put things away, hung things up, etc.
- Took it one category at a time starting with the smallest category for some fast wins: skirts, dresses, tops, pants.
- While we organized as we went [tops on top rung, bottoms on bottom rung, the way you get dressed. ;-)], we did a final reorg at the end when we knew exactly what we were dealing with and how much space was needed for each item!
- AFTER editing and organizing within each category and in the closet, we found organization tools to help keep things organized. It’s just too hard to maintain an organized closet without some tools keeping it looking good and giving everything a home.
We also made sure everything that belonged in the closet was in the closet. Because there was no space and a lack of storage solutions, Amy’s shoes had started taking over the bedroom floor. We wrangled them back in and tucked them back in the closet where they belong!
It took us five hours to have a PERFECT closet. Literally every nook and cranny touched and every piece evaluated, with some dusting and vacuuming thrown in there for good measure. After pics later. Consider this a dramatic pause.
The Clothes
For clothes, I chose Monkee’s for Amy’s party look. Monkee’s is a fun, colorful boutique and one of my favorite boutiques in Houston. This mom-gig needs a healthy dose of fun for us all to maintain our sanity so a stylishly, fun outfit was what we were looking for!
Shopping Tip
Take pictures. Of the things you like for reference, sure, but specifically of you IN the pieces. A friend, or your friendly neighbor image consultant, are great to have on hand for this. There is just something weird that happens when we look at ourselves in the mirror. We somehow don’t see the whole picture. A photo makes it easier to see the full look AND divorces us from analyzing ourselves and instead puts the scrutiny on whether the clothes are flattering and worthy of addition in our closet.
The Perfect Ensemble
Amy falls into the incredibly common for females, triangle body shape. Generally speaking if you are going for the most flattering look, you’ll want to create an hourglass silhouette. You can create the hourglass visually by keeping visual interest on top with bright colors or an interesting print, or physically but adding volume on top. We ended up doing both!
We found SO MANY cute pieces at Monkee’s, one of which was this fantastic floral Trina Turk top. It wasn’t the final party look but it, and several other cute pieces, had to go home with her.
The pieces that made the cut were a fabulous and fun Hunter Bell black skirt in structured black silk and a dramatic bell-sleeve green top. Here’s why it works:
- Kept the brighter, eye-catching hue on top.
- This skirt could make her hips look wide if we had paired it with a halter top or sleeveless shirt. Though her top would have looked tiny, it actually would have made her look heavier overall. Which to be clear she is not at all!
- Fabulous bell sleeves = visual weight and drama.
- The skirt has a generous hem so later if she decides she wants it longer, it’s an easy alteration.
Here is the halfway-styled version of her final look!
The Hair
Those blonde streaks in Amy’s hair are natural! She hadn’t colored her hair and didn’t want to cover her trademark streaks, so Dani at Tease used them. Knowing Amy would be hard-pressed to make a regular 8wk appt, he used a toner technique. The goal was to balance her tone, blend the streaks a bit so there wasn’t such a stark contrast, and have a style that doesn’t show crazy roots in the growing out phase. To that end, he lifted some color, darkened some others, and gave her hair overall tone. These are clearly all the technical terms – can you tell I’m not a hair stylist? lol.
I have a similar treatment done on my hair and I love it. No roots, fast processing time, and gives the hair extra body and texture which makes styling easier. Highly recommend if you aren’t having to cover gray!
A little chop action in progress. ;-)
Clothes found and dramatic hair change done, it was time to party!
How It All Came Together
We revealed the makeover winners’ final looks at our Makeover For Life 5yr anniversary celebration and benefit for CURE International Clubfoot (this is our campaign-specific link if you want to contribute! The Tease crew was on hand for photo-worthy hair and Brandie Seifert with Hollywood Hippie Cosmetics did the makeup for Maria and Amy. It was such a fun evening!
In Person
Brandie is truly gifted. She is wonderful at finding the perfect way to naturally enhance a gal’s face. I’ve seen her work many times and each time I’m reminded that the title is “makeup artist” for a reason. It is an art form! Brandie has her own makeup line and she generously donated a custom color palette to each of the winners. Amy sent me the before/after car selfie of her meeting with Brandie and it was so impressive! You know it’s good if even in the darn selfie shot she looks good.
Ailee Petrovic with Snapshots and My Thoughts is to thank for all the party shots.
I mean – she looks so good!
In Her Closet
And the results of our closet time? Ta-da!
You can see the floor again!!
The more you can make your closet look like a boutique the better. An organized closet full of pieces you love and look good in makes getting dressed a 1000x easier. Because last time I checked it’s not socially acceptable to spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to figure out what to wear or leave the house naked.
Sure we were talking colors and how the right tones give light and life to your face but would love to remember exactly what was being said here. lol
We went for an oversized look with her Jord watch because we just couldn’t get enough of this beautiful green face!
What She Said
“The makeover experience was overwhelmingly generous! There’s not been such a process that was strictly focused on me in a VERY. LONG. TIME. I’m not one to need a bunch of “ME” time, but this was a time to refocus, organize and define what I want with no other agenda. All the vendors were so gracious and generous with their time, talents and goods. I often found myself asking how I could pay for this process and truthfully this was not something that we would have ever spent the money on at all one time. I was not prepared at how much I was ‘putting’ myself out there, yet Natalie was there the entire time equipping me to be able to handle the situations. Time and time again, each vendor really tried to understand my lifestyle and make improvements that I could keep/maintain in the midst of it.
I will say that most see my hair as the most transformational, and while it was HUGE for sure, the biggest thing for me was the closet edit. Natalie did such an incredible job of elevating my style, meeting me where I was, and showing me how to do better. I constantly tell my husband that Natalie found the best version of me, and unearthed me from my closet. Somehow giving me the tools to keep the best version of me with little to no effort J I am forever grateful for this opportunity ” – Amy
What do you think? Doesn’t she look fantastic! We’ve run into each other several times since the makeover and I love how well she has used the pieces we found and the tips she learned. She has looked so stylish and put together!
It was so much fun getting to know and making over these three winners. It’s a big leap to trust someone you don’t know to come in and change up something that affects you every single day. I loved getting to know them and helping them look their best so they can be their best!
Now that you’ve seen the three winners (Kevin + Maria if you missed them!), the next post will be all about the party and the wonderful people that made it happen.
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