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Man Fashion

Men’s fashion sins

Dear ladies and gentlemen, there are some rules that should not be broken. However, some men make those “fashion sins” maybe even without knowing that. Here is the list from which you can check whether you are a “sinner”. Let’s stop with these crimes from today!

1. White socks

They should be ONLY and ONLY worn in sports, please don’t wear them together with your dress shoes. And the other way around, white sneakers/shoes don’t get along with black socks.

2. Ill-Fitting suit

Donald Trump is a great example: his suits are not well-fitted, often sleeves too long, or too big in shoulders, etc… It should be like your second skin – get it fitted!

3. Shirt Collars Outside The Jacket Lapels

In formal occasions, keep the collar in! The jackets and shirts that fit best for this collar-over-lapel look are blatantly casual.

4. Runners (For Running) Or Ratty Sneakers With Your Suit

It’s the same as you wear your gym clothes and have dress shoes with it, a huge mistake which I see quite often. The suit is worn with dress shoes, no exceptions, find comfortable one instead of wearing the sneakers.

5. The Deep Vee

Are we a woman to show off our cleavage? NO, of course. Shirt with deep V-neck is okay for the beach, please skip it in other places.

6. Backpack With A Suit

I’ve seen so many men doing this. I get it, it’s convenient, you can fit inside the bag everything you need. But! The suit requires a higher level of style. Find a leather briefcase or a tote, people will treat you more seriously.

7. Overabundance Of Jewellery

Same as for ladies, over-accessorizing will make you look cheaper. The rule is: no more than 3 pieces at a time, find your match between rings, watches, bracelets, cufflinks, necklaces.

8. Vests without suit jackets

You can do this only if you are working as a valet which I doubt you are.

9. Socks with sandals

This is a huge sin! Take sneakers or shoes if you feel cold or for any other reason. Sandals are worn without socks, as simple as that.

10. Not matching the belt with shoes

The belt should be in the same colour and material with your shoes. When you get the new pair if you don’t have the matching belt, get it also and have it ready. Also if any, your bag should be also in the same style & colour.

11. Matching tie and pocket square exactly

We spoke about this already, the pocket square should have some elements from the tie, but not to be the sample. Here you can review it.

12. Exercising In Fitness Leggings Without Shorts

You are at the gym, not at home. Make sure you are dressed properly, not too sexy nor overexposing.

13. Unbuttoning the shirt all the way
When doing business, your shirt should be well-buttoned, which means all buttons should be closed, if you can’t close the button on your neck it means the shirt is too small for you, get a new one.

Dear all, I hope now when you know it all, you will help yourself or others in avoiding these faux pas. Did you notice any other fashion mistakes I didn’t mention? Please let us know!

Quiz
When in formal situation, should you truck in your shirt into pants? Write your answer in the comments below!

 

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Daily Etiquette

Ideal lady: Beauty standard in China vs. West

Dear ladies and gentlemen, we always say everyone is unique and beautiful in her/his own way. However, societies have set beauty standards all over the world. Let’s compare the ideal Chinese and Western lady in the 21st century!

1. The Height

WESTERN
In the western world, ladies do appreciate to be taller (more than 170 cm) but don’t pay too much attention.
Western ladies won’t wear high heels just to look taller, wear also to look more feminine.

The average height of European women is 167.5 cm

CHINESE
In general, Chinese ladies think the perfect height is between the range of 165cm-170cm.
Ladies will like to wear high heels to look taller.

In China, the average height is 155.8 cm.

2. The Body

WESTERN
Hourglass (lots of curves) is the goal！
Having curves is so important. Ladies will spend hours in the gym working on the perfect body! Or can also do plastic surgeries.

CHINESE
Unimportant as long as you are skinny! Having a skinny waist that can fit into A4 paper is considerate as the standard.

3. The Skin

WESTERN
Ladies prefer to be tanned, they will even use solarium to achieve the perfect colour.
White skin is sometimes considered as a sign of poor health.
They use olive oil a lot to keep their skin hydrated and young.

CHINESE
You just have to have perfect pale skin.
They will spend lots of time in nursing their skin, especially the facial skin.
Ladies will try to hide from the sun to maintain the perfect skin.


China has become the world’s second-largest market [after the United States] in the total consumption of cosmetic products

4. The Face

WESTERN
Oval face shape is considered as ideal, however, face shape is not so important as symmetry. To be beautiful, your face features have to be symmetric!
Amber Heard has the World’s Most Beautiful Face because she fits, most closely, the Greek beauty ratio Phi which determines what makes a beautiful face.

CHINESE
Slim `V` shape is the most important.
guāzǐliǎn melon seed face
é’dànliǎn goose egg face
Pointy chin
Cheekbones are acceptable if the jaw isn’t too wide.


Fan Bing Bing has the perfect V-shaped face!

5. The eyebrows

WESTERN
Thick and well-shaped eyebrows are the standard.
Grooming is mandatory: plucking, trimming, waxing, styling is an everyday routine.


Kim Kardashian is considered as an ideal when it comes to eyebrows.

CHINESE
Beautifully arched eyebrows are always one of the most popular eyebrow shapes among Chinese ladies; in recent years, straight eyebrows become the new trend.
Most of the time ladies don’t have naturally thick eyebrows so they will do the micro-blading eyebrows.

6. The Eyes

WESTERN
There is no particular shape but seems that blue eyes are considered more beautiful.
Long eyelashes are preferable, they’ll use fake ones.


Liv Tyler has beautiful blue eyes.

CHINESE
Eyes must be big! Eyes must be big! Almond eye shape AND Archan Wealatap are the most popular ones!
Preferable to have furrows under the eyes; girls will do makeup to emphasis them.
Mono lids are unacceptable, therefore double-folded eyelid is must-have.
Long eyelashes are also desired since their natural ones are very short.

7. The Nose

WESTERN
Small button noses are appreciated, but a stronger profile is also not a bad thing.

CHINESE
Narrow and pointy nose with the high bridge is the nose a lot of woman dream about. Chinese ladies are quite often unhappy because of the look of their nose!

8. The Lips

WESTERN
Large, plump lips, that you can really pout are an attractive and sensuous feature of the face.
A woman will quite often use injections to enhance the lips’ volume.

CHINESE
Small mouth is appreciated even though most of the time they have plump lips by nature that ladies from the west wish for!

9. The Brests

WESTERN
Western ladies like to have bigger size breasts but to also keep the natural look. A lot of ladies will do breast implants to achieve it.

 

CHINESE
Chinese ladies prefer to have a good size of breasts (B or C, depends). So they could still look slim on the upper body and with small curves to show the feminine shape.

Dear ladies, John Ray once said: “Beauty is power, a smile is its sword.” Do you agree with him: is the beauty the power? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!

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Woman Fashion

How to achieve French chic?

Dear ladies, French chic is the effortless elegance style, guided by a less-is-more approach. To achieve this timeless feminine style besides having the elegant attitude you have to dress accordingly and actually to put effort into it. Here’s our guide to 10 essential garments you have to have in your wardrobe to build up this style!

10 essential garments

A French woman always prefers quality over quantity, have that in your mind for the next shopping day. Here’s the list of the items you must have in your wardrobe to achieve this Un « je ne sais quoi » look.

1. Black dress

It can be a different style but it should be all in black and the one that enhances your very best look. You can use accent colours like red and pink for the details to boost the look.

Combination red lipstick & red nails is very common for French ladies.

Eva Green always having the red lipstick & manicure & pedicure

2. Blazer

Elegant blazer is always a safe choice to cover your arms and to add a finishing touch. It can be a bit oversized but not too much, better go for well-fitting one.

For flattering look, you can have details on the blazer.

However, if you have e.g. silver embroidery on the blazer, match silver jewellery with it (don’t mix colours in your jewellery).

 

3. The squares

Oh là là!! Perfect item for breaking the monotony! Every French woman has at least 1 silky square, it’s been a symbol of elegance over the last century.


Audrey Hepburn wearing a square in old-fashioned way around the head.

Nowadays, French women will tie squares around wrists or head.

4. Black high heels

Rocket high stilettos that elongate your body will always help you to look gorgeous!

Actually stiletto high heels were widely popularized by French people.

Brigitte Macron quite often wears stiletto high heels, especially when having official visits.
When wearing cocktail and evening gowns, French women will match the heels with the dress and not with a bag.

5. The tailored pants

Tailored pants are a must, especially the classic-cut, straight or slim leg fit. Having this pair opens you a lot of possibilities for your outfit of the day.

Olga Kurylenko wearing 3 essential items at a time: white shirt, pants and black stilettos
Know which body shape you have and find the flattering pants style. Leave us a comment if you’d like us to write an article on that topic.

6. Big bag

You must have a bag into which you can put everything you have to carry. Wearing multiple bags or plastic bags is a big NO GO!


Leia Sfez, ultra-chic Parisienne
Also, the bag should be matching your shoes in colour and fabric and also the belt.

7. White shirt

It’s worn in formal and informal occasions, but it must fit according to your body shape. For a more elegant appearance, go for a silky shirt.

Usually, French ladies stick to 2 colours for the entire outfit, but no more than 3.

 


Inès de la Fressange, a style icon

8. A coat

French women tend to use beige, camel, cognac, champagne colours in their look a lot. That’s one of the reasons they have a beige/camel coat years after years in their wardrobe.


Marion Cotillard wears the coat even for gala nights
It can be worn in the autumn and winter as well.

9. Turtle neck sweater/shirt

It looks beautiful and elegant, especially if it’s made from good fabric, such as cashmere.

When choosing a dressing combination, have in mind that French ladies DON’T mix black and brown in their outfit.


Juliette Binoche

10. Dark blue jeans

Jeans are worn only for casual events, however, with a white shirt and an elegant blazer, you can pull out an elegant, effortless look.

If you buy lighter pair of jeans remember that it’s poorer in quality, since the bleaching process damaged the fabric.


Eva Green, the elegant style!

Dear ladies, it’s all about feeling good in your own skin, find your own style and stick to it, that’s what definitely French ladies do! Who is your favourite French style icon? Please share with us!

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Daily Etiquette

Is he/she lying to you? 6 cues to recognise

Dear ladies and gentlemen, did you know that a person on an average lies 10 times a day? It includes all the lies, even the white ones: “How are you? I am fine.” – Even though you may have a headache, etc… However, in our daily life, it can be critical if we can’t uncover a liar in front of us. Let’s do it together!

Nonverbal cues
Even though lying is very complex, and you should consider more indicators, few cues can alarm you to know when you should look for more information and be alert.


Is he lying, what do you think?

Hand-to-face activity

In response to your question pay attention to interlocutor’s head region, because they might be:

1. Touching / Hiding the mouth
If the person is untruthful, there is a natural tendency that her/his hand will cover/touch the mouth while talking to you. The brain subconsciously tries to repress the truth with the palm, fingers or fist.

2. Touching the ears, nose
Lying causes the anxiety, so to dissipate it, the autonomic nervous system will drain the blood from the surface of your face, ears and extremities. That creates the sensation of itchiness and cold. The next moment the person is touching the nose unintentionally.

3. Eye movement
Experienced liar won’t look around when lying, on contrary, he/she will look straight into your eyes because they want to persuade you. However, usually, they will overdo it which means they will blink less than normally. On average in a minute, a person blinks 15 – 20 times. Everything more/less than that is suspicious.

If the person does look aside, you can still have hints on his/her honesty:
1. If she/he looks on the upper left it means he/she is trying to recall
The person most probably won’t lie.

2. If she/he looks on the upper right, it means she/he is trying to create an answer
The person might be lying.

Grooming gestures

1. Grooming oneself
While heaving the conversation, a deceptive woman can move a few strands of hair behind her ear or straighten her skirt. In case of a man, he might adjust his tie or shirt cuffs, or maybe his glasses.

2. Grooming the surrounding
You ask a question, and suddenly the chair is too far from the table, the glass of water is too close, or the bag isn’t in the right place.

3. Long pauses
Liars can make long pauses because they might be working on what they’ll say next or they want to give the impression of a person that is thinking hard when actually he/she already knows what to say. Of course, a person can do that when she/he tries to recall something, that’s why the moment when a person uses long pauses affects whether you should be suspicious.

4. Microexpression
Microexpressions on the face expose a person’s real thoughts. Even though he/she trying to hide it, it will occur in less than a second. For this cue, it’s very important to observe the interlocutor and to know some of the universal microexpressions like:
Shame – The person looks down and the mouth droops in sorrow.

Contempt – An emotion of superiority, could be detected if the lip corner is tighten and raised only on one side of the face.

5. Frozen movement
The person that often lies, becomes more focused on the lie, therefore he/she gets quieter in their body. Gestures that normally can occur become more still so we have fewer arm and legs movement which is unusual. That way he/she may trick you because they appear calm and honest.

Dear all, I hope this article will help you in future! Is there another clue that we didn’t mention? Please share with us!

Quiz question
Watch these Gifs and tell us is she/he lying? Why do you think so?

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Table Manners

3 tips to appear socially refined when drinking

In high-end social gatherings, there are always some tricky situations when you wonder yourself: “What should I do now?” Of course, you don’t want to disgrace yourself and let others comment you. Let me release you from some doubts with the following faux pas that definitely should be avoided when drinking beverages.


I left a lipstick /food mark on the glass, what should I do?

It would be a shame to have a messy glass in front of you no matter if you are a refined lady or gentlemen. Here is how to handle this situation.

To avoid
1. When you leave the mark, don’t take your napkin and polish the glass, that’s a waiter’s job before serving the glass.

2. Also, don’t just leave the mark for the entire night, it’s very tasteless.
3. Is it okay to ask the waiter every time to replace your glass? Absolutely not!

To do
1. Dab your mouth before drinking for the first time, to remove the surplus lipstick/food.

You had your first sip but you still left the mark:
1. Lower the glass at the belly level while having a conversation, or having eye contact with other dinner participants.
2. Without looking at, discreetly erase the mark with your thumb.

 

3. Return the glass onto the table.

 

4. Clean your thumb in your napkin and continue enjoying your dinner.

 

Don’t decide anymore not to apply lipstick when drinking!

 

My tea is ready, but what should I do with a tea bag?

These days you may quite often find yourself served with a glass of hot water and tea bag. For the correct etiquette do/avoid the following.

To avoid
1. If you place the bag in your teacup and you don’t remove it at all, over-steeping tea can make the tea taste bitter and has an astringent effect in the mouth, leaving you feeling dry and pucker. Also, it may bring stains on your cup or teeth!
2. Don’t pick up the bag by its string and jiggle it.

3. Avoid removing it without letting it drain, it will flood your saucer.

 

To do
1. Remove the bag with your spoon and hold it over the cup so it can drain.

 

2. Wind the string around the bag while it’s on your spoon and squeeze it dry.

 

3. Place the bag on your saucer, behind your cup.

 

4. When the tea is served in a mug without a saucer, go ahead and ask for a small dish.

 

My drink has the garnish, can I eat it?

 

Usually, you can eat it as long it has the edible parts! Here is how to eat it.

To avoid
1. Tapping the bottom of the glass or frantically trying to fish out a garnish with a straw is simply not acceptable for anyone.

 

2. Don’t eat lemons and limes because they will destroy your taste buds before your next drink.

To do
1. Eat your garnish after you have drunk your beverage.

 

2. Inedible portions of garnish should be placed onto its cocktail napkin, in the absence of it, place them into the glass or your bread plate. But never onto the bare tabletop!

 

Dear all, these summer tips will help you present yourself as gracious, polished and refined at any social gathering. Do you have any other tricky questions for us? Please share with us!

Quiz question
If your glass is wet from the ice melting on a hot summer day and you don’t want to wet your hand as well- what will you do?

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Daily Etiquette

Face exercises to stay young and slim

Dear ladies and gentlemen, time flies very fast and unfortunately none of us is getting younger – our face can reveal our actual age. Therefore, today I am sharing with you a few exercises to have a slimmer and youthful face!

First, let’s warm-up

Sit down and hold your back straight. Sing vowels A, E, I, O until you feel your entire face is warm.

 

While doing the following exercises focus only on mentioned areas, other areas should remain smooth. If some exercise is causing you pain better not to do it anymore.


Miona at the moment & Miona in 40 years if she doesn’t do exercises.

Exercise 1: Neck rejuvenation

As we age our muscles become weaker causing the skin on the neck and jawline to sag.


Instructions:
Tilt your head back, looking at the ceiling.
Press your tongue into the root of your mouth.
Keep your tongue pressed and return your head to the natural position
Release your tongue and relax for 10 sec.
Do the exercise for 10 times.


Benefits: It will tighten up your neck and give the slimmer and younger appearance, the double chin will be forgotten.

Exercise 2: Lower lip lift

Over time, our main face features are falling, one of them is our lips.

Instructions:
Sit down and tilt your head back.
Stick out your lower lip upward, like you want to reach the ceiling. Hold for 10 sec.
Take 5 -sec break and do it again.
Benefits: By doing this exercise you get more defined and higher cheekbones and jawline, also it gives you fresh and toned appearance.

Exercise 3: Lifting with a spoon

Our smile is important feature that we carry through our life, smiling muscles should be in good shape, they are also connected with our cheekbones.

Instructions:
Take one spoon and place the handle in your mouth, between the lips.
Raise the spoon upward, smile and hold like that for 10 seconds.
Relax your muscles, the spoon goes to the former position, rest for 10 sec.
Repeat steps 2 & 3 for 10 times.

Benefits: Naturally lifting your cheekbones and smoothing out the laugh lines. Also can strengthen the neck muscles.

Exercise 4: Chubby cheeks removal

Are your cheeks too fluffy, big or loosen? You should rejuvenate & reshape them!

Instructions:
Pretend that you want to send a kiss or kiss someone
Blow a hundred kisses without making a break.

Benefits: It will activate your muscles in the cheek zone by forming the visible cheek lines with losing the fat.

Exercise 5: Crows feet elimination

Everyone has crows feet, this exercise will help you to erase them when your face is at rest, when smiling you will still have them.


Instructions:
Place your index and middle fingers at the bottom of your eyes. Pull your eyes gently up a bit, but don’t stretch.
Start to close & open your eyes. You are just moving your eyelids.
Do 50 repetitions.

Be gentle with this area
Benefits: Building the muscle at the corners of our eyes which leads to stretching of the skin and those small wrinkles will disappear.

Exercise 6: Eyebrow lift

The skin on your forehead can sag and wrinkle causing your eyebrows to drift lower and lower.

Instructions:

Place your index fingers between your eyebrow and eyelid
Raise your eyebrows as high as you can and pull the skin bellow the eyebrow downward at the same time.

Benefits: It slows down eyebrow sagging and reduces forehead wrinkles.

All these exercises can be done either in the morning or evening, 6 or 7 days a week. However, we are suggesting for better results to be done in the morning.
For the first results, you will have to be persistent for one month. The more you exercise the slimmer and younger you will look!

Dear all, try on these exercises and let us know your results after 4 weeks. 15 minutes a day is nothing comparing to what you can achieve! Let us know if you have further questions!

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