How to Decorate a Christmas Tree



Chances are that decorating a Christmas tree is no mystery to you. But wouldn't you like to know a few designer tricks? How about ways to get more lushness and drama? The secret is in the layers.


First. the Lights

Sparkle and shine comes primarily from the tree lights. Faceted glass bulbs will refract more light and appear brighter.
Small twinkle lights and colored lights also have impact when you layer several strands and pair them with ornaments having reflective surfaces.
To illuminate the tree from the inside out, string lights around the trunk and the branches.
Starting at the base of the trunk and working up, wrap the lights around every major branch, moving from the trunk to the tip and back.
Don't skimp on lights! For every vertical foot of tree, use a strand of 100 lights.
And don't be afraid to mix and match lights. There's no rule stating that you can only use one kind.

A "background" of white or clear lights can be highlighted with strands of colored lights that wrap the outside of the tree.
Experiment with different lighting schemes until you get one you like.

Second, the Garland
There are no firm rules when draping garlands on a tree (as long as you don't create a sausage effect, with branches bulging between tightly-cinched garlands).
Start at the top, stringing less garland, and work your way down, increasing the amount of garland.
Thin bead garlands look best swagged from branch to branch; thick paper, ribbon, or foil garlands look best wrapped loosely around the entire tree.
Use a variety of garlands -- from plain to fancy -- to avoid a busy look. For every vertical foot of tree, use about two strands of garland.


Third, the Ornaments 
To showcase your ornaments, start with the most important ones. Then hang the largest ornaments, spacing them evenly apart. Fill in around them with medium and small sizes, balancing the overall look.
Finish with specialty shapes, such as bird clip-ons. For interesting variety, include all shapes, from icicles to teardrops. And create depth by hanging some ornaments closer to the trunk.




Analyze your Body

If you like your body shape you are either male or a very unusual female! However, whether you like your body or not, if you understand what your current shape and proportions are and know a few style guidelines for your shape you are well on your way to looking your best.

Combine wearing flattering clothes with your best colors and you'll feel fabulous and impress everyone you meet.

There are a number of factors that are involved in a full style analysis.  These include assessing...
  • Your vertical body type
  • Your horizontal body type
  • Your face shape
  • Your weight
  • Your height
  • Your bone structure
  • Your shoulder size and angle
  • Your neck length and circumference
  • Your age
  • Any figure flaws such as a large bottom, a large stomach, or saddle bags
However, you can get started by self assessing your vertical body type and your horizontal body type.


SHORT LEGS AND LONG TORSO

If your legs are short compared to your upper body you have short legs and a long torso...
  • Your hip-line height is less than half your height
  • You may also have a low waist -- your waist will be lower than your bent elbow
  • You will have a long torso -- typically you will put on weight first on your thighs and hips
  • Your bottom will typically be low and heavy
  • You may also be short – although tall people can also be short legged

Your main style aims are to create the illusion of longer legs and a shorter torso.
Do wear...
  • Jewellery, scarves and garment designs that draw the observer's eye up towards your shoulders and face
  • Short to medium-long tops
  • Tucked-in tops (if young and slim)
  • Layered tops
  • Medium or light tops and dark pants or skirts
  • Medium to wide belts
  • Straight skirts
  • Straight or boot-leg pants
  • Pant, sock and shoe colors the same
  • Medium to high heels
  • Pant hems to the ground
Don't wear...
  • Long tops (if you are short)
  • Pants or skirts with a dropped waistband
  • Tight or tapered skirts
  • Tight or tapered pants
  • Cropped pants
BALANCED BODY
If your upper body length is about the same as your lower body length you have a balanced body...
  • Your hip-line height is half your full height
  • Your waist is at your bent elbow
  • Females may be low busted
  • You tend to put on weight around your torso or hips and thighs
  • You probabaly have a round well formed bottom or you have a flat bottom
  • You have proportionally slim arms and legs

If you are less than 160cm (5’3”) with a small to medium body scale then you are alsopetite.
Your main style aim is to elongate your mid-torso.
Do wear...
  • Jewellery, scarves and garment designs that draw the observer's eye up towards your shoulders and face
  • Medium-long tops
  • Un-tucked tops
  • Tops and bottoms in the same color
  • Tops and dresses that flow through the waist
  • Skirts and pants with narrow waistbands or no waistband
  • Straight or flared skirts
  • Waisted, low-rise or hipster pants
  • Straight or flared pants
Don't wear...
  • Short tops
  • Empire line tops and dresses
  • Wide belts
  • Pants or skirts with a high waistband
LONG LEGS AND SHORT TORSO

If your legs are longer than your upper body you have a long legged vertical body type...
  • Your hipline height is higher than half your full height
  • You should also have a high waist -- your waist will be higher than your bent elbow
  • You will have a proportionally short torso
  • Your bottom will typically be round and high
  • You tend to put on weight around your waist, above your waist or on the back of your hips
  • You may also be tall -- although short people can also be long legged

Your main style aims are to create visual balance by creating the illusion of a longer mid-torso and shorter legs.

Do wear...
  • Design details that draw the eye down, such as border prints on skirts and pants (unless you are short)
  • Medium-long to long accessories (unless you are short)
  • Skirts and pants in the lighter colors than tops
  • Medium-long to long tops (if you are short, no longer than knuckle length)
  • Un-tucked tops
  • Tops and dresses that flow through the waist
  • Skirts and pants with narrow waistbands or no waistband
  • Straight and flared skirts
  • Low-rise or hipster pants
  • Straight and flared pants
Don't wear...
  • Focal points that draw the eye upwards
  • Pin stripes
  • Short tops
  • Empire line tops and dresses
  • Wide belts
  • Pants or skirts with a high waistband
  • Tapered pants and skirts

ADRIANA LIMA WEARS THE VICTORIA'S SECRET FANTASY BRA 2010


And The Fantasy Bra goes to…..


Supermodel Adriana Lima will look like a million bucks — Actually, three million bucks — when she dons the coveted, jewel-encrusted Bombshell Fantasy Bra at the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show later this fall.
The Brazilian beauty, 29, returns to the catwalk after giving birth last year and will be doing so in style as she sports a starburst design, valued at $3 million. The one-of-a-kind brassiere features almost 2,000 diamonds!
Adriana welcomed her first child, daughter Valentina, with NBA star hubby Marko Jaric.
Last year, Vicky’s Secret Angel Marisa Miller was the chosen one to wear the $3 million Harlequin Fantasy Bra.

Adriana Lima diamond Fantasy Bra 2010 victoria's secret
Two million dollar baby: Adriana Lima in the 2010 diamond Fantasy Bra. Photo courtesy of Victoria's Secret
It's one thing to feel like a million bucks, but two million?



Victoria's Secret Angel Adriana Lima is one of the rare women who literally knows how this feels, having been chosen to wear the lingerie giant's Bombshell Fantasy Bra, which is worth an astounding $2 million. 

(Marisa Miller stunned in the company's bedazzled brassiere last year.)

The Fantasy Bra, designed by Damiani -- the jeweler who shot to fame after creating Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's wedding rings -- is inspired by celestial prints and opulent constellation patterns.

It consists of more than 3,000 brilliant cut white diamonds (60 carats in total), light blue sapphires, and oval-shaped topazes (another 82 carats), which are all set in 18 karat white gold. 

According to VS, the masterpiece "took six Damiani craftsmen 1500 hours of full-time labor" to craft, with each diamond being hand-set.

"I finally feel like two million bucks!," Lima told StyleList.

This is the second time the Brazilian beauty has modeled a Victoria's Secret Fantasy Bra -- she was bestowed the honor of wearing the Black Diamond Fantasy Miracle Bra in 2008, worth a whopping $5 million. 

However, this is the first time Lima will hit the runway in the iced undergarment for Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (just one year after giving birth to daughter Valentina), which has added another element to Lima.

"I feel very confident," the model told us, in part because of her post-natal strategy to get back to shape. "After having a baby my body was very different. I went to see a nutritionist. Who better to help you than a doctor?" 

Adding, "He taught me how to eat right and I have to exercise." And unlike some of her former Angel colleagues, she admits to hard work -- "working out two hours a day," which includes 60 minutes of jumping rope everyday and boxing." (Maybe she inspired some of this year's ring-worthy show ensembles.)

After Lima's turn in the diamond-encrusted bra and more (or, um, less) including her first look, which resembles tattoos for a rock-chick theme, at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, airing Tuesday, Nov. 30 at 10/9c on CBS, the supermodel is planning a low-key holiday season, despite showcasing the work of art in Victoria's Secret's Christmas Dreams and Fantasies Catalogue, hitting mailboxes Oct. 20.

"I am looking forward to spending Christmas with Valentina. As far as work, I don't have any plans," she admits. "I am happy right now."


Source: Enews

Body image problem

Motives: why we look in the mirror

We are all more obsessed with our appearance than we like to admit. But this is not an indication of 'vanity'. Vanity means conceit, excessive pride in one's appearance. Concern about appearance is quite normal and understandable. Attractive people have distinct advantages in our society. Studies show: 
  • Attractive children are more popular, both with classmates and teachers. Teachers give higher evaluations to the work of attractive children and have higher expectations of them (which has been shown to improve performance). 
  • Attractive applicants have a better chance of getting jobs, and of receiving higher salaries. (one US study found that taller men earned around $600 per inch more than shorter executives.)
  • In court, attractive people are found guilty less often. When found guilty, they receive less severe sentences.
  • The 'bias for beauty' operates in almost all social situations – all experiments show we react more favourably to physically attractive people.
  • We also believe in the 'what is beautiful is good' stereotype – an irrational but deep-seated belief that physically attractive people possess other desirable characteristics such as intelligence, competence, social skills, confidence – even moral virtue. (The good fairy/princess is always beautiful; the wicked stepmother is always ugly)
It is not surprising that physical attractiveness is of overwhelming importance to us.
Concern with appearance is not just an aberration of Modern Western culture. Every period of history has had its own standards of what is and is not beautiful, and every contemporary society has its own distinctive concept of the ideal physical attributes. In the 19th Century being beautiful meant wearing a corset – causing breathing and digestive problems. Now we try to diet and exercise ourselves into the fashionable shape – often with even more serious consequences.
But although we resemble our ancestors and other cultures in our concern about appearance, there is a difference in degree of concern. Advances in technology and in particular the rise of the mass media has caused normal concerns about how we look to become obsessions.
How? 3 reasons:
  • Thanks to the media, we have become accustomed to extremely rigid and uniform standards of beauty.
  • TV, billboards, magazines etc mean that we see 'beautiful people' all the time, more often than members of our own family, making exceptional good looks seem real, normal and attainable.
  • Standards of beauty have in fact become harder and harder to attain, particularly for women. The current media ideal of thinness for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population.
Even very attractive people may not be looking in the mirror out of 'vanity', but out of insecurity. We forget that there are disadvantages to being attractive: attractive people are under much greater pressure to maintain their appearance. Also, studies show that attractive people don't benefit from the 'bias for beauty' in terms of self-esteem. They often don't trust praise of their work or talents, believing positive evaluations to be influenced by their appearance.

Images and reactions: what we see and how we feel about it

What people see and how they react to their reflection in a mirror will vary according to: species, sex, age, ethnic group, sexual orientation, mood, eating disorders, what they've been watching on TV, what magazines they read, whether they're married or single, what kind of childhood they had, whether they take part in sports, what phase of the menstrual cycle they're in, whether they are pregnant, where they've been shopping – and even what they had for lunch.

Species

If you were a dog or a cat or a horse you wouldn't realise that the image was a reflection of yourself. Most animals in this situation think that they are face to face with another member of their species.
The exception is the great apes – chimps, gorillas and orang-utans are capable of recognising themselves in the mirror – and of course the Naked Apes: us.
What's interesting is what the other apes do when presented with a mirror: they use mirrors to groom themselves, pick food out of their teeth and make faces at themselves for entertainment – i.e. more or less the same reactions as us Naked Apes.

Sex

All research to date on body image shows that women are much more critical of their appearance than men – much less likely to admire what they see in the mirror. Up to 8 out of 10 women will be dissatisfied with their reflection, and more than half may see a distorted image.
Men looking in the mirror are more likely to be either pleased with what they see or indifferent. Research shows that men generally have a much more positive body-image than women – if anything, they may tend to over-estimate their attractiveness. Some men looking in the mirror may literally not see the flaws in their appearance.
Why are women so much more self-critical than men? Because women are judged on their appearance more than men, and standards of female beauty are considerably higher and more inflexible. Women are continually bombarded with images of the 'ideal' face and figure – what Naomi Woolf calls 'The Official Body'. Constant exposure to idealised images of female beauty on TV, magazines and billboards makes exceptional good looks seem normal and anything short of perfection seem abnormal and ugly. It has been estimated that young women now see more images of outstandingly beautiful women in one day than our mothers saw throughout their entire adolescence.
Also, most women are trying to achieve the impossible: standards of female beauty have in fact become progressively more unrealistic during the 20th century. In 1917, the physically perfect woman was about 5ft 4in tall and weighed nearly 10 stone. Even 25 years ago, top models and beauty queens weighed only 8% less than the average woman, now they weigh 23% less. The current media ideal for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population – and that's just in terms of weight and size. If you want the ideal shape, face etc., it's probably more like 1%.

Age

Children: Female dissatisfaction with appearance – poor body-image – begins at a very early age. Human infants begin to recognise themselves in mirrors at about two years old. Female humans begin to dislike what they see only a few years later. The latest surveys show very young girls are going on diets because they think they are fat and unattractive. In one American survey, 81% of ten-year-old girls had already dieted at least once. A recent Swedish study found that 25% of 7 year old girls had dieted to lose weight – they were already suffering from 'body-image distortion', estimating themselves to be larger than they really were. Similar studies in Japan have found that 41% of elementary school girls (some as young as 6) thought they were too fat. Even normal-weight and underweight girls want to lose weight.
Boys were found to be significantly less critical of their appearance: in one study, normal-weight girls expressed considerably more worries about their looks than obese boys.
Adolescents: Boys do go through a short phase of relative dissatisfaction with their appearance in early adolescence, but the physical changes associated with puberty soon bring them closer to the masculine ideal – i.e. they get taller, broader in the shoulders, more muscular etc.
For girls, however, puberty only makes things worse. The normal physical changes – increase in weight and body fat, particularly on the hips and thighs, take them further from the cultural ideal of unnatural slimness. A Harvard University study showed that up to two thirds of underweight 12-year-old girls considered themselves to be too fat. By 13, at least 50% of girls are significantly unhappy about their appearance. By 14, focused, specific dissatisfactions have intensified, particularly concerning hips and thighs. By 17, only 3 out of 10 girls have not been on a diet – up to 8 out of 10 will be unhappy with what they see in the mirror.
Adults: Among women over 18 looking at themselves in the mirror, research indicates that at least 80% are unhappy with what they see. Many will not even be seeing an accurate reflection. Most of us have heard that anorexics see themselves as larger than they really are, but some recent research indicates that this kind of distorted body-image is by no means confined to those suffering from eating disorders – in some studies up to 80% of women over-estimated their size. Increasing numbers of normal, attractive women, with no weight problems or clinical psychological disorders, look at themselves in the mirror and see ugliness and fat.
Research confirms what most of us already know: that the main focus of dissatisfaction for most women looking in the mirror is the size and shape of their bodies, particularly their hips, waists and thighs.
In the most recent research, there is some evidence of an increase in body-dissatisfaction among males. As well as some early-adolescent boys, men undergoing the so-called 'male menopause' or mid-life crisis – i.e. men between the ages of about 45 and 55 – are most likely to be dissatisfied with their appearance.
When men are dissatisfied, the main focuses of concern are height, stomachs, chests and hair loss. We may see them surreptitiously drawing in their stomachs and walking 'taller' as they pass the mirror.

Ethnic group

There are some exceptions to these rules. Black and Asian women generally have a more positive body-image than Caucasian women, although this depends on the degree to which they have accepted the beauty standards of the dominant culture.
A study of Mexican immigrants in America found that those who had immigrated after the age of 17 were less affected by the prevailing super-thin ideal than those who were 16 or younger when they came to the US. In a Washington University study, Black women with high self-esteem and a strong sense of racial identity actually rated themselves more attractive than pictures of supposedly 'beautiful' white fashion models. In another study about 40% of moderately and severely overweight Black women rated their figures to be attractive or very attractive. Other research indicates that this may be because African-American women are more flexible in their concepts of beauty than their White counterparts, who express rigid ideals and greater dissatisfaction with their own body-shape.
In a study of British and Ugandan students' evaluation of body-shapes, the Ugandans rated an 'obese' female figure much more attractive than the British (they were also more tolerant of too-skinny males). Another British study showed that Asian-British women were more content with their body size than white British women, despite the fact that the Asians' ideal body size was as slim as that of the white women, suggesting that the Asian-British women were less concerned about matching the ideal than the white women.

Sexual orientation

Gay men are more likely than straight men to be unhappy with their reflection in the mirror. But lesbians are likely to be more satisfied with their mirror-image than straight women.
Recent studies show that homosexual men experience greater body-dissatisfaction than heterosexual men, while homosexual women have a more positive body-image than heterosexual women. This seems to be mainly due to the higher emphasis on appearance in gay male culture – although it is possible that stability of relationships (see below) may also be a factor.

TV & Magazines

People's reactions to their reflection in the mirror may depend on recent exposure to idealised images of physical attractiveness. Experiments have shown that people become significantly more dissatisfied with their own appearance after being shown TV ads featuring exceptionally slim and beautiful people. Control groups shown non-appearance-related ads do not change their rating of their own attractiveness.
Although many TV programmes feature attractive people, ads tend to use the most idealised images, so people who've been watching a lot of ITV and C4 are likely to feel less positive about their image in the mirror. Programmes such as 'Baywatch' are also likely to induce a sense of dissatisfaction.
The same applies to reading fashion magazines. Recent experiments have shown that exposure to magazine photographs of super-thin models produces depression, stress, guilt, shame, insecurity, body-dissatisfaction and increased endorsement of the thin-ideal stereotype. Magazines like Vogue and Elle are banned in many eating-disorder clinics, because of their known negative effect on patients' body-image.

Mood

Experiments have shown that when people are feeling low or in a bad mood, they experience greater body-dissatisfaction. Most studies have been on women, who also suffer body-image distortion, estimating their size larger, when feeling low.

Childhood

Teasing factor: If you were teased about flaws in your appearance (particularly your size or weight) as a child or teenager, your body image may have become permanently disturbed.
Touch-deprivation factor: People suffering from extreme body-image disturbance report a lack of holding and hugging as children.

Married or single

Generally, people in stable, long-term relationships (not necessarily marriage – see note on lesbians above) have a more positive body-image than singles. This applies to all ages, although an American study of adolescent 'dating-behaviour' showed that teenagers who 'date' in groups have a significantly better body-image than those go out alone with their boyfriend or girlfriend.

Pregnancy

Several studies have indicated that pregnant women have a more positive body-image than non-pregnant women – although their 'ideal' body shape remains in line with the ultra-thin cultural ideal, their concerns about failing to match this ideal are reduced during pregnancy.

Eating-disorders

Anorexics and bulimics suffer from greater body-dissatisfaction and greater body-image disturbance than other women: these women are even more likely to be unhappy with their reflection in the mirror, and even more likely to see a distorted image.

Lunch

In experiments, women with eating disorders judged their actual body size to have increased after consuming a bar of chocolate and a soft-drink. Eating-disordered women may see an even larger person in the mirror if they have just had a high-calorie lunch or snack.

Shopping

Surveys show that women who have just been trying on clothes (particularly swimsuits) in communal changing rooms of high street stores will be experiencing a higher level of body-dissatisfaction and self-criticism, and are more likely to have a negative reaction to their reflection in the mirror.

Menstrual cycle

Women in the pre-menstrual phase of their cycle experience higher levels of body-dissatisfaction than at other times.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

also known as Dysmorphophobia and Imagined Ugliness Disorder) People suffering from BDD (an extreme level of body-image disturbance, body-dissatisfaction, self-consciousness and preoccupation with appearance) will experience the most negative reactions to the mirror.

Sport

Perhaps surprisingly, given that their physique is closest to the stereotype masculine ideal, male body-builders experience greater dissatisfaction with their appearance than almost any other males. Body-builders are generally regarded as vain: in fact they suffer from low self-esteem combined with high perfectionism.
One American study indicates that female body-builders, by contrast, seem to have a more positive body-image than other women. A London University study appears to confirm this, finding that women who take part in sport (body-builders, rowers and netballers) have more positive perceptions of their own bodies and increased acceptance of muscular body shapes, despite their divergence from cultural ideals. It is interesting to note that another study showed exercise therapy to be as effective as conventional psychotherapy in treating serious body-image disturbance in young women.
Generally both men and women who participate in sport have a more positive body-image than those who do not.

Obesity

Fat-phobia and prejudice against the overweight in our culture is such that obese people (particularly women) tend to have a very poor body-image – not to mention severe anxiety and depression (studies have shown the mental well-being of obese women to be worse than that of the chronically ill or even severely disabled). These problems are not caused by obesity itself – in cultures without fat-phobia or where fat is admired, obese people show no signs of these effects – but by social pressure and the association of beauty with thinness.

Acceptance of sociocultural standards

Most of us are aware of our society's emphasis on the importance of appearance, and we know what the socially sanctioned standards of beauty are. But not all of us accept or 'internalise' these standards: strong-minded individuals who reject current standards are more likely to have a positive body-image.

Daily Dose of Everything