I hope all of you had a great weekend and are off to a good start this week! Wow, what a beautiful Mother’s Day, we had. The weather was perfect. We had such a great time hosting our Mother’s Day Brunch. Follow up pictures will be coming to the blog later this week. In the meantime, it is time for ‘Fashion Tip Tuesday’.

This beautiful cobalt blue dress that I am wearing was a perfect choice to wear on Mother’s Day. Looking through the pictures of me wearing this dress, inspired me to share a fashion tip with you. With the warm weather and the many events coming up, I thought this was the perfect time to hit on a tip for sporting bare legs.

Graduation and open house season is upon us. That means a lot of dresses will be worn and bare legs will be shown. This leaves many ladies a little self-conscious of baring those legs. Let’s face it … the older we get, the less smooth and toned those gams look. If you’re self-conscious with how your legs look, you’re probably dreading getting into a dress. These special moments are not events that should leave you worrying about how you look. Today, I am going to share a tip to help you feel a little more rest-assured with how you look in your spring and summer dresses. The dress that I am wearing in these photos is a perfect example to use in explaining this tip.

Before I get into the tip, I can not stress enough the importance of following me on Snapchat. Almost daily, I share and personally show tips, just like the one that I am writing in this blog post. In fact, while wearing this dress on Mother’s Day, I shared a tip for leaner looking legs. I am slowly phasing into starting a Youtube channel and will definitely get videos out, pertaining to all the topics that I cover on my blog. But, for right now, Snapchat is one of my most informative platforms for information on healthy living, exercise, diet (including ‘What I Eat in a Day’ snaps), beauty, fashion, and pure entertainment. It is true, unedited, unfiltered and authentic daily life of a hustling mother of 5. It’s not all clean floors, high heels and false lashes … trust me. I show a well-balanced life of the working/stay-at-home/on-the-go/sleep deprived woman of today. Probably something you can relate to. If you are looking for more of what I have to offer, get on board with Snapchat. Username: tracy_hensel.

Let’s get on with the Fashion Tip

Fashion Tip Tuesday

SKIN COLORED SHOES: Not only have I talked about this tip in a previous blog post, here, I have done snaps on Snapchat, as well. The number 1 way to make your legs look longer and leaner is by wearing nude colored shoes. Take a look at my photos. The cobalt blue dress clearly POPS with color. From there, you see a seamless look from my legs to my toes, almost as if there are no shoes at all. There is no break to this seamless look. The wedges that I am wearing are perfect for my skin tone and leave me with longer looking legs. Longer generally means leaner. When you initially look at me, all you see is a striking blue dress. If I were wearing black shoes, your eye would focus on the dress and then the black on my feet. What’s happening is you are seeing a breakup of color and in the process, you will notice my legs. The focus here should be on my dress, not my feet. One seamless look from your legs to your feet will ensure the eye focuses on the intended piece of clothing. Which in this case, is a pop of color. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are times when the focus can be on the feet. If you are wearing a shoe that you want to be a ‘statement’ or the focal point, this would be the time. But, if you are self-conscious of your legs, whether you feel they are short, heavy, white, or aged, the last thing you want to do is bring attention to them. A nude shoe will take the focus off the feet and all that will stand out is the garment that you are wearing. This can include heels, wedges, sandals, flats or any footwear that you are wearing. If you are a shoe addict, stock up on skin toned shoes for every season. Most women have a ton of black EVERYTHING in their closet, because we all know and have heard over-and-over that black is slimming. There is truth to that. However, although wearing black on the feet has it’s place, when exposing legs, nude is going to be your leanest choice.

I’m going to share another tip with you to help you understand the concept more, of taking the focus off your less flattering areas. We’ve all seen the jeans with bling on the back pockets. If you don’t know what I mean, I linked a couple examples, here, here, and here. Let me point out, I am not demonizing these flashy jeans. Many ladies wear them. And some wear them well. However, when you look at someone wearing a pair of these bling-butted denim, your focus immediately goes to the back pockets. This is also your rear-end, ladies. You are probably starting to grasp where I am going with this. If you do not have a nice derriere, or you find it to be one of your less flattering areas, then why would you want to draw attention to it? If your feel you have a big butt, no butt, or just flat out don’t like your butt, you would not wear bling, bright white stitching, or any other eye catching accents on that area. You wouldn’t wear anything to draw the eye there. Same goes for big chested women. If you don’t like when you are talking to someone and their eyes keep traveling from your face to your chest, then your best choice is to stay clear of tops that are too plunging, have letters or numbers across the bust area, have emblems, or again, bling. I’m pretty sure by now, these tips should make sense.

Always remember … just because something looks fantastic on someone else does not necessarily mean it will look fantastic on you. However, there is ALWAYS something out there that you will look fabulous in. Get to know your body, your flaws, and your assets. Yes, you do have assets! If you can’t find them, ask an honest friend, sister, mother or whomever you can trust. Don’t ask your hubby, however! Lol Play up the assets, downplay the flaws.

Stay tuned for more fashion tips to look great in your summer outfits. Self tanning is another great tip. Check out my blog post, here. And stay tuned for my upcoming Youtube video where I share my favorite sunless tanning products. Have a great day!!!

Dress: Nordstrom I am wearing a small | Nude Wedges: BP ‘Summers’ {on sale} / BP Springs {on sale} / Sole Society ‘Jenny’ / Sole Society ‘Chaya’ | Earrings: The Vanessa Mooney’s that I am wearing are sold out. Here is my pics to go with this dress: Baublebar Tassel / Baublebar Chandelier / I love the color of these Baublebar Drop earrings with cobalt blue. If your prefer the white tassel, options here and here | Sunglasses: Coach, similar at H & M | Clutch: old, recommendations: Love this new one at Nordstrom,  H & M, Dress Barn | Bracelet: Macy’s, Tassel | Lipstick: Maybelline ‘Fifth Avenue Fuchsia’ |  Lip Pencil: Urban Decay ‘Jilted’ | Lip Gloss: Rimmel ‘Fuchsia Fever’ Nail Polish: O.P.I. Let’s Be Friends | Toes: OPI ‘Alpine Snow’