Approx. 1300 words
3 mental “spoons” per hour required to read, understand, and put into practice
Written by Julie Goodie
Wearing an outfit without any accessories is like eating a piece of cake without icing. It’s edible, but it’s awfully dry and bland. It’s wearable, but it lacks personality.
Even minimalists wear a certain number of accessories: reading glasses (if they need them), a pair of earrings, and maybe a small bag to carry their phone and cards,...
Which types of accessories do YOU wear on a regular basis:
Hair accessories?
Hats?
Reading glasses?
Sunglasses?
Earrings?
Necklaces?
Scarves?
Bags?
Belts?
Bracelets?
Watches?
Rings?
Wearing just enough accessories – generally three to four at a time – helps your outfits feel more complete, and pack more of a punch. Accessories help you express your personality. They help you tell your story from the inside out.
If you’re like most, you probably already own more than enough accessories. Especially if, like most, you choose your accessories last resulting in every outfit having its very own and unique set of accessories.
I remember how my paternal grand-mother used to buy a complete set of costume jewelry for each of her outfits to make sure she matched. She ended up with quite the collection!!! She ended up with more beauty bundles or groups of coordinated accessories than needed, because instead of owning just a few multipurpose pieces of jewelry, she had a multitude of earrings, bracelets, and necklaces in a whole host of colors.
Fun, but a little complicated and cumbersome… That’s for sure!!!
To simplify my accessory collection, the way I do beauty bundles is to have one bundle (or group of accessories) for each pair of shoes that I wear on a regular basis. This ends up covering all the levels of “chic” I need, since I have one pair of shoes, per season, for each of the levels of formality I anticipate I’m going to encounter in my real day-to-day life (not in the ideal life that I wished I had, nor in the one that only exists in my imagination).
Every season, taking the time to put together a few beauty bundles costs me less time, energy and money in the end, because I end up needing a lot less accessories than I ever thought I needed. Carefully choosing pieces that coordinate well with one another and with all my shoes does take a little bit of work at first, yes, but my brain, my schedule, and my pocket book are all very grateful in the end… From the bottom of their hearts!!!
Beauty bundles is a concept and method that was first introduced by Brenda Kinsel in her book entitled Brenda Kinsel's Fashion Makeover: 30 Days to Diva Style. She wrote the book in 2007 in which she explained how to pull together a few pieces to form accessory families. Ideally mostly from what you already own. In which every individual item relates to its “siblings” in the same “family”, or in the same bundle, in style, color, and level of formality.
Individual items in a beauty bundle do not have to exactly match one another, just like individual members in your family do not have to all share the same personality traits for them to get along. They just have to have a minimum amount of compatibility to be able to work well together… For an optimal effect.
TIPS ON HOW TO ASSEMBLE HARMONIOUS AND PRACTICAL BEAUTY BUNDLES
Every season, I start by selecting my SHOES FIRST. I choose the 4 to 6 pairs of shoes that I think I’ll need for all of my anticipated occasions and activities, and to cover all the levels of formality I’m expecting to encounter. Am I going to need sneakers? Sandals? Flats? Heels? Booties? Boots? How “chic” will all those need to be?
Once I’ve gathered all my shoes, for the season, in one spot, I then proceed to the next step which is to assemble one beauty bundle per pair of shoes taking into consideration the following tips:
1. COLOR AND PATTERN
To make sure all my beauty bundles are harmonious, I make sure to select colors and patterns that coordinate well with one another. At this stage, I might even choose my color palette for the whole season to cover everything from shoes to accessories to all my clothing pieces. Like, for example, for the upcoming summer season, I might decide on the following five colors plus white:
After which, I start to build my first beauty bundle that will coordinate with one of my pairs of shoes. If the shoes I’m working with happen to be in one of my accent colors (not in a neutral), then I try to make sure not to add too many more colorful items to my beauty bundle. I will maybe just add one patterned piece to the mix for added interest. But… That’s all!!! I will then choose the remainder of my items in metallics and neutral colors like gold, silver, white, grey, beige, brown, or black:
One pop of color and one patterned piece per beauty bundle is usually quite sufficient for me as it allows me to add enough interest to all of my outfits. Selecting more than two pieces per bundle in accent colors or patterns would just risk making my outfits way too matchy, matchy for my taste instead of well coordinated and well put together like so:
2. HARDWARE COLOR
While mixing different metallic colors is perfectly acceptable and can even be seen as quite fashionable, committing to only one hardware color for my entire wardrobe is usually what I choose to do as it makes getting dressed in the morning a whole lot easier, and creates much more calm and cohesive looks overall:
3. LEVEL OF FORMALITY
Each of my seasonal pairs of shoes usually cover one of my levels of “chic”: from very relaxed and casual to out and about to meeting appropriate to evening ready. Therefore, I ordinarily end up with 4 to 6 different pairs of shoes per season in total. With which I then put together 4 to 6 different beauty bundles that end up covering all the levels of formality that I predict I will be needing in the upcoming season...
4. VERSATILITY
When I choose accessories for one of my beauty bundles, I try to make sure that I have a minimum number of pieces that are versatile enough that they can be dressed up or down. I try to select a few accessories in each bundle that are timeless and that have clean lines so that they will look elevated enough to pair with many of my smarter, more polished outfits. Like, for example, if I think that I’m going to be needing a hat, I select one that can not only be worn early morning running errands at my local farmers market, but also be worn that same afternoon at the beach, and then again in the evening for a fun night of betting on horses at the derby with the gals…
And if I think I’m going to be needing a scarf, I choose one in a solid color (pattern less) and silky instead of a more casual patterned cotton one so that it can be dressed up or down as needed…
5. VARIETY
Now, I have to admit that I’m not one for wearing bracelets nor watches nor rings as I find they get in the way of messy work and the frequent hand washing that is needed between tasks. As for hats and belts… Not my cup of tea either. So that just leaves me with eyeglasses, earrings, necklaces, scarves, and handbags to make up all of my different beauty bundles.
In the end, it leaves me with 5 different types of accessories in total to work with which just happens to be the minimum amount necessary in order to have enough variety for putting all my outfits together so there’s not too much repetition, and that all my outfits don’t end up all looking the same in the end…
Want to give beauty bundles a try??? You will find a free downloadable worksheet below to get you on your way… Enjoy!!!
