Your Image: The Devil is in the Details

By Sandy Dumont –
The Image Architect

When it comes to image, the devil is in the details. What does that mean? You get one thing wrong and that’s all they notice – or remember about you. Your image includes everything from head to toe, from the shape of your eyebrows to the shape of your shoes.

When it comes to eyebrows, Mother Nature sometimes isn’t perfect, so we have to make little corrections. Take your garden, for example. You get weeds alongside all those beautiful flowers, so you pull them out. Same thing with eyebrows. Sometimes they need a little “weeding.” The problem is, a lot of women re-shape their eyebrows without any thought about the new “line” that they create.

Eyebrows should begin where the tear duct is at the inner corner. If you hold a ruler in place at about a 90 degree angle from the tip of your nose to the tip of the outer brow, the brow should end at approximately that point.

The most natural and attractive eyebrow shape is the “gull wing” eyebrow. As you can see from the adjacent illustration, it resembles the wing of a bird. Eyebrows often get too rounded, with results that may prove to be less flattering.

The woman here is very attractive, but she looks much younger and prettier with eyebrows in the gull wing shape. When the brows are rounded at the outer edge, it suggests a protrusion there in the shape of a “round ball.” This suggests that the eyes are puffy, so you can easily look older with this line.

In body language, lips that are “curled” (rounded) at the outer corners suggest dislike or cynicism (below left). These lips are reminiscent of the 1940s look of starlets such as Joan Crawford. They not only send out very subtle negative signals, they also look dated. Worst of all, they may cause you to look older. Many women have lips that are naturally rounded like those on the left, but it’s a good idea to get out your lip liner and tweak the shape of your lips if you want to appear friendlier and more attractive. Take a cue from the lips to the right for your re-shape.

The lips on the left are rounded from the center point and then form a nearly straight line all the way out to the outer corners of the top lip. Think “cleavage.” Don’t be fearful about changing the shape of your lips. No one will notice if you keep the re-shaping no more than the width of your lip liner. Once you’ve lined and re-shaped your lips, dust the liner color with translucent powder; then re-line atop the powder. Now you can fill in with your lipstick, just barely touching the liner. Liner is formulated not to bleed, but lipstick can easily do so, which is why you don’t want to put your lipstick atop the lip liner.

When it comes to image, the devil is truly in the details. One wrong “line” and you can add ten or more years to your appearance.

Sandy Dumont is an image consultant and speaker on the subject of professional image. Get a free copy of her book “Tattletale Looks” on her website: http://www.theimagearchitect.com/. If you would like to be the subject of a future makeover in Tidewater Women, contact her at 757.627.6669.