Life's Beauty Resolutions for Your Best Year Yet!

Cheers to a wonderful 2012 and an incredible 2013!

My goal this year is to create and appreciate the beauty in every place it lives, beginning within myself. Now that I am older, I often hear the phrase that a woman is like a fine wine, better with age. That may be true but I am a big believer in reinvention, breaking rules and running with abandon toward your dreams. 

New Year's is traditionally celebrated with bubbles but did you know that Champagne is only just a wine with CO₂ ? Yep, a fine wine in a beautifully different package!

Why all the fuss? According to sources, the average bottle of champagne contains enough carbon dioxide to potentially produce 49 million bubbles! My friends, we are like champagne, designed to sparkle, to fizz and be intoxicating! Not allowing ourselves to bubble from pressure or fermentation, but to understand that beauty lies within us once allowed to breathe! 

Tonight I will drink champagne from a trumpet-like glass who's silhouette is purely contrived to enhance the rise of bubbles from the bottom to the top in a cascade of effervescent possibility. 

At the beginning of 2012, I couldn't have dreamed that my book would be endorsed by Cover Girl and Olay in a 2 page ad in a major magazine, I had no idea that I would be featured in campaigns for Four Seasons, the Phoenician, be Ford's model of the month, or appear in photo shoots for multiple magazines, that I would be co-hosting a live morning show on ABC or be a respected beauty, lifestyle expert interviewed in multi-media and travel to the Pyramids of Giza, float in the Dead Sea and see the Taj Mahal. This all happened in 365 days, seemingly out of no-where, but I know it was because I didn't buy into the rules, or limits and had a vision.

I double dare you to change your thinking, your packaging ...  opening up your possibilities.

Whatever your resolutions for the new year, losing weight, getting fit, earning more, spending less ... I hope you include a little beauty and lots of frivolous details into your journey. Check in with me here at A Model's Secrets, now and then, I promise to give you the best advice I can offer with waves of cheering to encourage you toward your dreams! 

XOXO

Shelley

Pictures are Prettier at a Distance - 4 feet to be exact!

Get a little bossy with your photographer and ask them to give you a little personal space for your next close-up ... 4 feet to be exact!

Research coming out of Caltech shows that photos taken at a distance greater than 4 feet away look more attractive, competent and trustworthy. (Take note future Presidential candidates!)

To read the full study Click {HERE}.

Apparently, visual distortion is the reason why. "It turns out that faces photographed quite close up are geometrically warped, compared to photos taken at a larger distance," according to Ronnie Bryan, the study's lead author. "Features such as the nose and cheekbones that are closer to the camera appear relatively larger compared to features that are farther away form the camera such as the ears and hairline."

Taking photos from 2 to 7 feet away, this study suggests that less than 4 feet is the magic number at which warping becomes more pronounced.  We have all experienced the "warp" from our self-portraits with camera phones where the entire photo doesn't look like us, but we sort of love it anyway because our eyes look so wide open and big.

I'm not sure why, but everyone calls the 105mm lenses "the perfect portrait lens" but I think it has to go back to the old days of film and 35mm cameras because realistically, it's your perspective and position that will make your framing tighter, not the lens itself. 

As you get closer to a camera, the nose gets bigger and your ears get smaller. Too much distance and the face flattens out entirely. You can use these distortions to your advantage if you have a crooked nose, or one eye smaller than the other if you know the tricks that I offer in my book, Face This: Real Advice from Real Models, Photographers and MakeUp Artists on how to become Picture Perfect! Available on Amazon, Nook, iTunes and Kindle {HERE}.

Sexy Photo Tips from the Original Supermodels!

We will never get tired of those blingy statement necklaces, especially for dress up but this holiday why not accessorize a little more elegantly with pearls? Victorian women were the first to understand the importance of a pearly statement necklace; timeless and never old fashioned ... Rhinnana rocked this look on the runway at the 2012 Victoria Secret fashion show!

There's a chance you probably have a string somewhere in your closet but even if you don't this is where you can fake it with an inexpensive strand from Claire's or Forever 21, it's hard to tell the real deal from imitation, especially in low light like at a cocktail party. Unless they are an heirloom, it's silly to invest ...  even the rich women on the Titanic, who surely could afford the real thing, left theirs in a safe and wore faux. 

Pearls not only are a great accessory, but the candle-like light they reflect on our faces enhance our complexion. And if you're lucky enough to be in a place that already has pretty, flattering light you'll look even ten times better!

Victorian women didn't wear alot of makeup but they knew how to do it right when it came to accentuating their beauty which is the whole reason to wear makeup in the first place!

• They bit their lips and drank cranberry juice to stain their pout along with slightly slapping their cheeks with the back of their hands for a flush. 

Take a cue from your great-great-great-great grandmom, and before your next holiday photo, bite down just a bit to send blood to your lips to make them fuller and redder and pinch your cheeks for a nice rosy glow.

To learn more secrets to looking you absolute best in every photo, purchase my book Face This: Real Advice from Real Models on how to become Picture Perfect! {HERE}

Beauty box Subscription - Monthly Gift for the Girl who has Everything!

Today I want to introduce you to a great gift idea, for yourself or anyone who is beauty obsessed ... the beauty box subscription. 

These are monthly deliveries of high-end deluxe samples (and sometimes full size products) One of the best ways to discover and try new beauty products. 

I have multiple subscriptions and look forward to receiving each of them every single month. To join, most will ask for your skin type, color and preferences so it is somewhat personalized. Starting at $10 a month these little treasures that arrive in your mailbox are alot of bang for your buck and just a whole lot of fun!

Here are two of my favorites:

Birchbox. $10 a month for women ($20 for men)
This is very consistent with great lifestyle choices along with high end brands and men can play along with their a box of their own. Sign up {HERE}. One of the 5 products I received last month was Stila's All over shimmer liquid luminizer, which is $20 in the stores just on it's own and I like it as much as the Nar's illuminator I was running low on. Birchbox also sent a few months back, a huge tube of cucumber peel mask that I am still using and have fallen in love with.

Ipsy is another subscription I love, designed by Michelle Phan and her stylists, also $10/month. Her glam bag arrives in bright pink foil and includes a different cute zippered makeup bag each month. Plus it seems to include a full size sample each month which is nice. Members can play along with tutorials online of how to use her picks.

October's glam bag was  Hello Bombshell themed and contained the following:

• Be a Bombshell Eye Liner in Onxy. Full size. Value = $14 {I loved this and have reordered one}
• What's Your TYpe Body Builder Mascara .11 oz. (.33 oz is $19) Value = $6.33
• Mirenesse Lip Bomb Glossy Stain light pink. Full size. Value = $39
• Pequi Oil hair treatment. Full size. Value = $12
• Coastal Eye shadow sample 4. Single color $1.99. Total Value = 3.49

Grand total without adding in the adorable chevron bag is over $74!

Perfect for the girl who seems to have it all!
Plus, don't forget to add my new book of everything beauty, Face This: Real Advice from Real Models. Available {HERE} and on Amazon, Kindle, Nook and iTunes. 

How to look skinny and slimmer in your photos - the Camera doesn't have to add 10 pounds!

Well, it is true that the lens of a camera can distort an image, but you should use this to your advantage by arming yourself with all the best skinny model tricks you can! Hint: Check out my new book on how to look Picture Perfect!

Does a camera really add 10 pounds? First off, a photo is a 2D version of a 3D image and if you aren't in the right light the camera's image will flatten you out making you appear bigger. And then there's always that lens thing, a wide angle lens that has a short focal length can make you spread (as in widescreen effect) if you aren't adjusting and using angles to your advantage. This is what happens when we take self portraits with our camera phones. You know, that huge bug eyed photo of yourself when you are too close to the camera. The very best lens to use is a 50mm for true perspective.

In the end most photographers will agree that these mythical 10 pounds are mostly likely due to bad lighting and angles ... which is why the pose means everything! 

The worst thing you can do? Stand front and center, giving your belly the focal point. So if you're sitting, LEAN IN a little and if you're standing angle your body and twist at the waist leaning forward just a bit. It's a fine line between the lean and the hunch-back so keep your posture straight or you will look like you have a pot belly even if you have no belly at all.

Keep in mind that the flat image you see in the mirror is incredibly limited; facing forward to see yourself, and always looking slightly down. Usually you will automatically pose for yourself in a mirror with what you perceive to be your most flattering look, hiding a figure flaw or titling your head toward your best side. Even if you try to replicate this over and over, the camera won't see this version of you because it's your "mirror" image. It's a little like hearing your own voice, it doesn't sound like you ... to you. 

And always remember that anything closest to the camera will look the biggest ... so rock the hips away from the camera ladies! Oh, and buy the book.

If you'd like to learn more tips and Model's secrets you can purchase my book on Amazon or download it on your computer for Kindle, Nook or iTunes for only $7.99 {HERE}!