Choosing to be in fashion by stepping out of your comfort zone is scary. A part of my job as The Ultimate Sparkle’s VP Sales is to read fashion magazines (I know, I have it rough) so that I can stay abreast of fashion trends and help ensure that the jewelry we sell is on trend. I also pay attention to what’s current in clothing, makeup, and even nail polish color.
In preparation for an upcoming Ultimate Sparkle event I set off today to the salon to get a manicure. Having reviewed assorted magazines I knew that bold, bright nail polish colors are all the rage right now. Colors like purple, turquoise, and even gold are being shown in ads, on models, and written about as the trending colors. With this in mind and determined that I was going to have fashionable nails, I confidently walked into the salon, confidently strode over to the wall of nail polish colors, and confidently grabbed a bottle of light pink nail polish. I like light pink nail polish. Light pink nail polish is girly, relatively neutral, and looks good with whatever I’m wearing. Light pink is also about as untrendy right now as it is possible for a color to be.
So after a few minutes I slowly put the bottle back on the shelf, grabbed a bottle of candy apple red nail polish (with sparkles – in for a penny in for a pound) and thrust it at the manicurist, begging her to “hurry up before I changed my mind.” Now keep in mind that we’re talking about nail polish here. I was not engaging in radical plastic surgery. I was not about to permanently dye my hair purple. There was nothing that a bottle of acetone and some cotton balls couldn’t fix if I really hated the color. But still, stepping outside of my comfort zone was scary.
I see this same fear and hesitation in many of my customers. They look with interest at a large ring, or study a flashy pair of earrings. Yet when I say “would you like to try that on?” they suddenly get a panic-stricken look on their face and explain how they don’t ever actually wear big rings and that anything flashier than a small stud earring doesn’t work with their face. And sometimes of course they’re right. But more often than not, when they slip the ring on their finger or fasten the necklace around their neck, or try on the earrings their whole face softens and they turn in wonder to their friend or to me and say “you know, this actually looks pretty good…”
So I want to encourage all of you to try taking a fashion risk. Whether it’s wearing an in vogue shade of nail polish that you would normally never wear, or trying on a pair of earrings that you like but will “probably look terrible on me,” step outside of your fashion comfort zone. I bet you’ll like what you see.
Let us know how you stepped out of your comfort zone and tried a new look.
