25 Fashion & Style Tips to Brighten Your Day
The weather is awfully depressing in the northeast right now, and it’s enough to make anyone feel down! Fortunately, dressing up and looking fabulous always seems to make a bad mood disappear. That’s what inspired me to create this list.
Fashion is not only functional, it’s fun! It can lift your spirits on a bad day and help you transcend the times when you’re not exactly blissed-out. If you’re not in the best mood or just want to beat a sudden case of boredom, here are 25 tips on how to light up a gloomy day with fashion and style.
25 Fashion & Style Tips
Wear a basic pair of jeans and a tee shirt, accessorized with the hugest, boldest pair of earrings you own.
Buy yourself something cheap and impractical at Forever 21. The cheaper and more impractical, the better – think bright pink, sequins, feathers, studs, or whatever embellishments you love. Ignore the fact that it might not last forever – have fun and live a little!
Use neon blue or lavender eyeshadow as liner. Keep the rest of your makeup look low-key. Your eyes will really pop!
Give yourself an at-home manicure. Paint your nails the hottest neon shade you can find (my fave: Orly’s Passion Fruit). Don’t be afraid to get caught checking your own nails out constantly. What? They look good!
If it’s raining, ditch your standard umbrella for a kid’s umbrella – they come in fun prints and colors and are the perfect size for one person. Even better, they’re cheaper than normal ones.
Invest in some really amazing lingerie. Even if you’re the only one who’s going to see it. Even if you think it’s a waste of money. On days when you’re just wearing sweats, cute lingerie can turn your whole mood around.
Two words: self tanner.
Adopt your favorite celebrity’s fashion attitude for a day. If she had your closet, what would she wear? Dress like that, but be sure to copy her confidence too!
Dress up, blast music, and take photos of yourself. Ruthlessly delete the bad ones. Keep all the good ones and start a lookbook of you wearing your favorite outfits. Bonus points if you do this with old-school Polaroids.
Wear a flower headband or stick a fresh flower in your hair.
Stubbornly refuse to wear anything you aren’t 100% happy with for a day.
Gather up items from your closet that are missing buttons, need to be taken in, need patching, etc., and FINALLY bring them to the tailor or sew them up yourself. Revel in your new outfit choices.
Download Evernote and get your fashion inspiration notebook going. For tips, see How I Use Evernote to Organize Everything.
Visit the dollar store with a friend and vow to each find something to incorporate into an outfit. Let hilarity ensue.
Go shopping for cute clothes to wear to the gym. Then put them on and go exercise! It’s the ultimate way to boost your mood.
Completely reinvent your look and wear something from the other end of the style spectrum. Usually preppy? Experiment with grungy rocker chic. Leaning more to the punk-rocker side? Borrow a Lily Pulitzer cardigan from your mom and embrace your inner conservative.
Experiment with red lipstick. Read this guide to learn how to find the right shade of red for your skintone. Keep your eye makeup toned-down to let your lips be the focus.
Wear really, really big shoes and enjoy feeling modelesque.
Raid your boyfriend’s or best guy friend’s closet. Borrow one of his blazers or steal some denim to test out the boyfriend jean trend. Return the pieces promptly so he’ll let you borrow again.
On a rainy day, ditch your heels in favor of brightly colored rain boots. Proceed to splash in the puddles. Repeat.
Visit your local Barnes & Noble, settle in to a comfy chair, and peruse some fashion books. For recommendations, see The Top 5 Must-Read Fashion Books.
Grab a random item out of your closet, and no matter what it is, vow to “make it work.” Note the sense of accomplishment you feel once you get it right.
Boost your confidence by dressing to highlight your favorite body part. Love your legs? Rock a miniskirt. Amazing arms? Go sleeveless. Keep the rest of your look toned-down so that one part will stand out.
Test out a crazy trend you never thought you’d wear, like cutout leggings or hot pink lipstick. You never know, you just might end up loving it!
Dress up. Not for an occasion, not for a job, not for anyone in particular. Do it because it’s fun and you want to. Life’s too short to blend in!
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Posted on on May 28, 2009 / Filed Under: Fashion Tips / Tags: Beauty, Colors, Fashion Tips, Inspiration, Mood, Style, Tips, Weather
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Jessica
Aw, I like this article. I’m going to try some of the tips today!
Sherin
These are brilliant tips. I can’t wait to use them. I’ve kind of been in a rut recently and am wearing generally boring clothes, so I’m definitely going to use these.
Lyra
Love this article! These are brilliant tips to make my day better. I’m gonna try some of the tips!
reed
i love this! i’m gonna do one every day :)
Sarah
These are such cute little ideas, I’m linking to this post on my site :]
M
Great post Zephyr! :)
katie
i love this post because it proves i’m not totally insane. i wear fancy dresses and occasionally a tiara around my house all the time just because it cheers me up.
krista
Hey! Reading this post definitely “brightened my day”! I’ve been getting into a fashion rut lately, but these tips will help pull me out. Thanks for sharing! =)
Rayna
I totally use the red lipstick one for days when I’m down. :) Definitely an instant pick me up.
Dorm Bedding
Great tips – I’d like to add:
Check out ‘What I wore Today’ fashion blogs – those are always inspirational. Also – try out new fashion alt magazines and even graphic design magazines.
Sarah Brooke
I really like this article! There are some really cute ideas and they work as boredom busters too! The flower headband idea is one that I use a lot and the umbrella idea. I have a bright yellow flower print one and it always cheers me up on rainy days :)
Caity
This is a fantastic post! Will definitely be sharing it with friends!
Lyd
Love it!
DS
Amazing post! Such neat little ideas, I can’t wait to try some of them, if not ALL!
Brittney
This is such a cute post. Loved it.
Ali
Love it!
Made me smile. =]
Definitely doing some of those!
Laura
Amazing tips! I am in a better mood just from reading them! Thanks, Zephyr!
-Shop It To Me
Katie
I love this article. One of my favorites I’ve ever seen on this website.
K
Love it! I’m working on getting out of a fashion rut right now, and the weather has been decidedly dreary, leading me to jeans and cozy sweaters often. These are great tips for breaking out of that funk, thank you!
rebecca
what a great vibe this article has! thanks a lot zephyr.
did you steal that picture from college candy by any chance? ive seen it on one of their posts about being single and i remember i really liked the image… and here it is on your page haha :)
Zephyr
Yay! I’m so glad you guys all liked the article :)
Rebecca – Nope, haha! The photo is from istockphoto.com – I paid a couple dollars for it. I assume College Candy must use that service too? It’s hard to find good photos for blog posts, especially if you don’t take your own photos.
natasha
awesome!
just what i needed LAST year lol.
thanks so much!!!
Bryannah
Oh my God, I love the dollar-store idea! :]
Me and my friend went the dollar store and we bought all of these rings in shapes of butterflies and dinosaurs and we were wearing everywhere we went! :]
I love this post! :]
xoooxoxoxo
la petite fashionista
such a wonderfully empowering and uplifting post!
I do alot of these things and it truly does make for a happier day!
mani
what a cute article! i love the tips that you suggested here…and i will definitely try some of them out sometime!
Fabiana Pereira
Girl, you have a gift.
zoey
WONDERFUL!
i swear, i was THISCLOSE to just quitting on college fashion,but i read this article,and i loved it! zephyer,PLEASE check out my blog!
Bruce
Great Blog, thinking to advertise in your place
Zakkiyya
These tips are sooooooooo awesome I Love them,I’m going to remember them forever :-)…
jessica
heyyy,these tips are really amazing!!!i like them,ill try some of these tips.nice post and fabulous blog!!
Amy
Great post, I’m sharing it with my friends!
Kathryn
this made my day! I loved it!
Nikki
Cute! I love these fun ideas! : D
joey
simply put,,the rbighter colors you wear,the lighter and mroe cheerful it makes you feel,,ive noticed this first thing in the morning when getting ready for the day.
emarie
great list!! & going to forever21 to buy impractical things is very fun— but its also a great place to buy new styles you’re not completely sold on to try out…
for example, i first purchased big headbands with bows/jewels and rompers there… felll in love, got many compliments, and then grew the confidence to get more expensive ones bc i knew i WOULD wear them and it wouldnt be a waste
Designer Sarees
article about fashion tips to brighten your day
kader
As its night time… i cant have my day brightened up.
But tomorrow i shall implement all these