Wear a dress in one of the most flattering colours for you:

It’s so easy and so standard to opt for a little black dress for a Christmas party but unless black really suits you then you will fade into the background. Even if it does look great on you why not try something different to really stand out in the crowd.

When choosing a new dress consider what you natural colouring is, if you have light hair and light eyes avoid black, try on lighter colours or soft silver or gold.

If your colouring has a yellow warm base to it then gold will be more flattering than silver, which is best for a cool pinky based skin tone. If you have depth to your colouring for example very dark hair then stronger colours will be really striking.

The other thing to assess in the mirror is if you can really take bright colours, if your colouring is quite soft then that fire engine red or shocking pink dress will over whelm you. People will see the dress first before they see you, and you don’t want that when you have made such an effort to do your hair and make up!


Horizontal Lines - When buying an outfit consider where the hemlines end. Where ever you put a horizontal line across it will shorten and widen the area so certain areas to avoid are a jacket ending across the middle of your bottom, a skirt ending across the widest part of your calves and unless you have very long slim legs ankle straps will cut your legs in half.

Underwear -If Trinny and Susannah have not drummed this into you by now then hopefully I will! Wearing the correct bra is crucial; it can change your whole shape. If you don’t have much of a bust then a padded bra can give you shape and if you do then you need one to provide uplift and give a smooth line to your shape, rather than digging in and creating double breasts or squashing you. Some dresses you might find you can’t wear a bra with but it’s worth trying on some strapless ones so you still feel supported and shapely.

Pants of Steel! There are lots of fantastic support pants out there to hold wobbly bits in and give you a great curvaceous shape. You can find ones that hold your bum in or actually give you one, hold that stomach in and even ones that do all of it. Check out M&S and department stores such as John Lewis for a good range of styles. There is no need any more to go out worrying about love handles, wobbly tummies or saggy bums!

Prepare Prepare Prepare! By the time it gets to the Christmas party time of the year we usually have not exposed our flesh for a good few months, and with the summer we have just had it might have been even longer! So to get your skin ready for exposure so you feel fabulous prepare by exfoliating your body to get rid of dead skin cells and feel lovely and smooth. De-hair in which ever way you prefer and then perhaps you might like to put on a bit of fake tan or there are some great shimmer lotions around you can apply on the night to leave you all sparkly and seductive! Benefit is one of my favourite ranges for various shimmery body products – beware of the counter, you might leave with more than you planned to buy!!