Forever and Always

Hello my dear readers!
It's been far too long since I have written a blog post. I've just been so swamped with school and life, but I've had a lot on my mind lately that needs to come out in a form of a blog post. So here it goes.

Forever. Always. These are two words of stability, of permanence; words which meanings we come to expect, words that are used often, but aren't thought or talked of nearly enough. Think about it. How many times have you told a friend that you'll always be there for them; a boyfriend that the two of you will be together forever? At the time they are spoken, we may mean these words with all of our hearts, but do we ever really think about these words and the responsibility that comes with speaking them? Until quite recently, I know I never did.

So what do they mean?
According to Dicionary.com, "always" can be defined as:
1. every time; every occasion; without exception.
2. all the time; continuously, uninterruptedly.
3. forever.
4. in every event; at any time; if necessary.

"forever" is defined as:
1. without ever ending; eternally.
2. continuously; incessantly; always.
      Okay, so you may have known the meanings of these words, but have you thought about the problem with them? There are only so many things one can always count on; not much lasts forever. These words are eternal, infinite, are consistent to the ultimate point, are permanent. But very few things in this life are permanent.
So what is?
     I'm the type of person who longs for deep, life-long friendships. And I don't need that many friends, I just need close ones. Therefore, I often have the mindset that my friendships will last forever - that nothing will come between my friends and me. I know things will change, but I always expect my friendships to adapt to change. This leaves me completely and overwhelmingly shocked when a person I was once close to drifts away, or something happens that causes a break in the friendship. I can easily remove myself from unhealthy situations, but I never see them coming, and I am always hit square in the face with the fact that no matter how much I want them to, friendships don't last forever. People grow up, change, and move away, and I have to move on. Friendships aren't permanent.
     Circumstances aren't permanent either. I know a lot of people who get so shaken up when something in their life changes. If they have to move, change schools, change jobs, etc., it's like they expect everything to always remain the same. But it doesn't.
The truth of the matter is, there is only one thing that is permanent. Only one thing that will always last forever. And that is love. But not the kind of love that popular culture promotes these days - the kind that one can "fall out of", the kind that demands something in return, but the kind of love that can only come from Jesus. The perfect, sacrificial, intense, all-consuming love of Jesus. The kind of love that inspired him to die for us, the kind of love that promised us life. That love is something we can always count on no matter what, something that lasts forever, that is infinite, that is consistent, true, and real.
     Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't use forever and always unless speaking of God's love, but I am saying that in this temporary life, we as Christians can have hope. We can have hope because we know of something that these can be applied to truthfully. We have something that is permanent.

6 Easy Ways to SLEEP More

I don't know about you, but I like my beauty sleep, ladies. Since I'm starting school on the 24th, I've been trying to think of ways to cut my getting-ready time down so I can sleep in as long as possible. Most of you have probably already started school (and are loving having to wake up early again, I'm sure!) so I thought I would share with you what I have come up with.



1. Time yourself.
Use a couple mornings to time yourself to figure out how long it takes you to get ready. You might find that you are allowing yourself way more time than you need. If that is the case, take the time your using on facebook or texting your friends to SLEEP instead.

2. Take showers at night.
I used to take showers every single morning and this was definitely cutting in on my sleep time (not mention, not very nice to my hair). Now I take one every other night. I find that taking a shower before bed also helps me to relax.

3. Pre-perpare your breakfast.
I can't even tell you how long it takes me to decide what to have for breakfast some mornings. Our family doesn't buy cereal often so that's not even a quick option for me. By taking a Saturday afternoon to make up and freeze a bunch of waffles to warm up when I need them, I cut down a lot of breakfast time in the morning.

4. Plan your outfits.
Okay, lets be honest, most girls take way too long to decide what to wear. But if you plan ahead, it can save a lot of time and headache on a hurried school morning.

5. Find cute and easy hairstyles.
Curling or straightening your hair every morning takes a lot of time, hassle, and can be very damaging to your hair. Youtube has tons of video hair tutorials for every texture and length, making it easy to find ways to style your particular hair type. I have a couple go-to styles that work really well for my hair texture. And when I want to change it up, I either french braid or roll my hair up in socks like rollars before going to bed to get a wavy or curly texture.

6. Take care of your skin.
Yeah, this is a weird one; how can taking care of your skin help you get more sleep? Bear with me ladies, it will make sense in a minute. So, am I completely weird in that the way I feel about my looks depends on how my skin looks? I have an acne problem most of the time and whenever I get a new breakout, my looks-esteem drops quite a bit. Yes, I know, beauty is not skin deep. But that fact doesn't change that we want to look our best, does it? I have tried so many different products to clear up my face. The problem is, whenever something worked to get rid of the acne, it made my skin dry and dead looking. This week I decided that putting all those chemicals on my face could not be good for me at all. Thus began my search for the perfect natural skin-clearer. I'm getting pretty close to finding it (thanks to pinterest). There will be a post about it once I do find it.
Anyways...that long skin story did have a point. That point is that when my skin looks good, I feel good about my looks and don't feel like I have to make up for my not good skin by wearing more makeup, making sure my hair is extra perfect, or spending more time on my clothes. Thus, I spend less time getting ready in the morning! (Whew, glad I finally got my point accross!)

I hope these ideas will help you sleep in later! Let me know if you've tried any of these things and how it worked for you. Or if you have other ideas for cutting down your getting-ready time.

Five Ways to Break the Ice

We all have those times when we're in new places, meeting new people, and we have no clue what to say or do. Maybe you're starting in a new school this year (I'm starting at my local community college next month) going to a new church, starting a new activity with people you don't know, or just want to step out of your usual "group". Here are five tips on how to break the ice.

1. Be Comfortable with Yourself.
When you can be comfortable with yourself, it makes it easier for others to be comfortable with you. Don't be afraid to look like a fool and be quick to laugh off mistakes. People are drawn to those who are confident in their own skin.

2. Use Complements.
Complementing is one of the most effective ways to break the ice, especially when complementing something that invites further conversation. By simply commenting that you like the new person's shoes, for example, you can discover that both of you are thrift store shoppers or that you both have grandmas with good shoe taste. Even silly things in common can go a long way in being comfortable with each other. Complementing also sends a confident message that says, "I'm confident enough not to be threatened by you and your cute shoes and I don't want you to feel threatened by me."

3. Ask Questions.
When the conversation starts to drag, asking questions like "what do you do for fun?" or "where did you move from?" can pave the way for other things you have in common or learning about something new. Just be sure to stay clear of questions like "where do you live?" which can unintentionally sound a little stalkerish.

4. Be Open.
It is hard to get to know very personal people. By opening yourself up, other people will naturally open up to you. Talking about your family, your plans for the future, and the things you have experienced is inviting to others. There is a happy medium here, however. Don't burst out your entire life story the first time you meet someone, make sure there is plenty of room for the other person to talk. And getting into really personal stuff about yourself like your insecurities can get messy.

5. Speak Well of Others.
Gossiping and showing dislike of certain people by your words proves to the person you're talking to that you're not trustworthy. No one wants to be friends with someone who will complement them one minute then talk bad about them behind their back the next. People who gossip aren't fun to be around.

Long Time No See:Malea

Wow. It has been a really long time since our last post. 
I think some catching up is in order. Sara has been very busy adjusting to her new life in South Africa (she's been living there for over six months now! Craziness!) and school has been taking up much of her time. I'll let her do a catching up post of her own soon, though.
It seems as if the crazy business never stops for me. I had this thought that after I had finished driver's ed (yep, I went through that while I was away) life would slow down some but I've been done since November and it really hasn't. At the moment, my life consists of school, church, music, and occasionally friends. I have started leading worship for my church youth group (singing) with my friend Craig (who plays and arranges awesome stuff on the keyboard) and that's probably been the most life-changing thing that's happened lately. At first, I was very reluctant to doing it...I'm not a fan of singing in front of people...but we both really feel like this is the direction God is taking us right now. Both for us as individuals and for the whole youth group. Before Craig and I started leading, a few people have attempted starting praise and worship but nothing ever worked for very long. The time is definitely now.
I have also been attending a bible study that I very much enjoy. Right now we're going through a book together called Becoming a Woman of Prayer by Cynthia Heald. I highly recommend it.

 


Whelp, I should probably go now. But I will leave with a promise of more blog posts in the near future. 

Giving Everything

Isn’t it amazing how much God loves us? I mean, he  sent his son to die for us - and no matter what we do, no matter how ugly we can be sometimes, he loves us despite everything. Not only that, but he gives us small reminders of his love every single day. I was given a huge reminder just recently and I would like to tell this story.

I love music - a lot, I practically live and breathe it. I take piano and voice lessons and I’m constantly either singing, playing, or listening to music. I’m home schooled but the reason I have been able to take both piano and voice lessons is because my family is enrolled in this program where we get publicly funded for some school. This year, however, they cut it down so that they only pay for one fine arts per student. When I found out about this, I was pretty shook up. I knew that meant I would have to quit either piano or voice lessons. And as spoiled as this sounds; I didn’t want to give up either one. So I practically got on my knees and begged Mom to some how, some way, even if it meant not eating, come up with money to pay for my voice lessons. Unfortunately, she decided that eating is more important than my voice lessons (we agree to disagree on this subject) and sat me down to talk. My parents decided to pay for a certain amount monthly for my lessons, leaving me a big chunk to come up with. I have a job working at a kitchen store and if I worked regular hours, having enough money wouldn’t be a problem. But since the Christmas rush ended, I only get asked to come in when whoever was supposed to work then can’t. I haven’t been called in since April and most of the money I have is going to be used to pay for driver’s ed. next month.

I needed another solution.

Mom’s ideas:

1) Ask the grandparents to pledge some money each month.

Pros: If they each only gave $20 a month I would have enough.

Cons: I hate asking for money, I’m not sure how much I could count on that money coming in, and I would feel bad to ask them for money...coming back to hating asking for money.

2) See if I could work one day a week at the kitchen store.

Pros: I would get to work and get more than enough money to pay for my lessons.

Cons: I would hate asking for that, it probably wouldn’t work well for them, and I might not get paid when I need to.

After this talk, I was pretty discouraged. That night I felt like it wasn’t possible and I would have to give up something I love to do. I cried and prayed for about an hour before I went to bed. I told God that I had given up finding a solution on my own and that it probably was not possible doing it my way but through him, all things are possible. I let go of everything and I gave it to Jesus and let him fill me with his peace. I stopped worrying about it, knowing that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I had to stop taking voice lessons. I still wanted it and hoped for it, but I thanked God that he knows what he’s doing.

A few days later, Mom got an email from my voice teacher saying that she needed to hire someone to clean up after a class she taught to little kids and asked if I would do it. This solved everything! I just kinda stood there in shock. A realization came over me, I wrote it down in my journal that night: “Jesus loves me so much that not only did he die for me, he gave me something so small in comparison by letting me continue to do something I love, to remind me of how big he is and how big his love is for me.”

The moral of the story is: Jesus loves us so much and we should give everything, all of ourselves to him, and thank him for everything, even the bad things, because he knows what he’s doing. We might not like some of his plans at first, but they always turn out for our good.

Why Not?

    The other day I mentioned to someone how I disapprove of teenagers dating. The reply to this was: “You’re just saying that because you’re jealous.” Even though it was said in jest, I was a little taken aback by this answer because the person who said it isn’t in a relationship (that I know of) and should know me well enough to know my views on this matter. Anyway, the conversation ended there and I didn’t get the opportunity to give my opinion. But it really got me to think about why I don’t approve of teenage dating. If you’re a teenager in a relationship right now, it would be very easy to get back on facebook and not take another look at this blog. Before you do that, however, I encourage you to keep reading (I encourage you to keep reading even if you’re not in a relationship) I’m not writing this post to accuse you of doing wrong or convince you not to date, I’m just trying to express my views and hopefully give another side to think about. Now, back to my reasons why. When I first started pondering this, I thought of how it would be super easy for me to be jealous if I wanted to. I mean, most of my friends either have boyfriends or won’t call it that but pretty much have a boyfriend. It would make sense for me to feel left out.
         That thought then, gave way to what I would reply if the subject ever came up again. One of the first reasons that I have is that it’s just a waste of time. How many couples that start dating when they’re fifteen actually get married when they grow up? Not that many. Most teen relationships end within a couple of weeks. The argument to this would be that the point of dating is not to find a spouse. If that is the case, then what is the point? To have fun? Well in my opinion, teen relationships aren’t fun. Sure, there are a few moments of fun and the idea of having a boyfriend (or girlfriend) can be exciting. But since teen relationships are almost destined to end, it’ll only end in heartbreak. The last few days of the relationship will be spent wondering if you should break up or whether or not your boyfriend/girlfriend will break up with you and then when the end finally happens, the result is tragic. Why is this the case? Because with each romantic relationship you’re giving part of your heart away. I don’t know about you, but I want to save my whole heart for one person; the person God wants me to marry. I don’t want to get married and live with any regrets about what I did during the time that I could have been single and waiting for my Prince Charming. I love the way Heather from becomingahopefulromantic.blogspot.com puts it in her blog post “My Fall Will be for You”. Basically, what she says is that if we don’t protect our hearts, we’re going to “fall in love” with so many boys that won’t bother to catch us when we fall. Besides Jesus, there is only one person who will catch me when I fall and never let me go. I want my fall to be for him and only him.

“Well,” you say, “what if my sixteen-year-old boyfriend is the person God wants me to marry and we stay together for the rest of our lives?” Personally, I only want to fall for my “one” when the time is right. Even if I was dating someone now who was the “one”, it’s not like we could get married now. Sure, we could be together for years, but by doing that, we could miss out on opportunities that could have changed our lives if only we had taken them and not been so focused on being together. I only plan on entering a relationship when I know that it’s God’s timing... Not just when I want it so much that I’ve convinced myself that it is his timing but when I know. If what my future husband and l will have is meant to be, then I can wait  for it to become.

What good can come out of dating so young? I was honestly trying to come up with something good that could come out of it but failed. Just something to think about.

Read Heather’s blog post “My Fall Will be for You” at: http://becomingahopefulromantic.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-fall-will-be-for-you.html

It is well worth the read.

Dealing with Change

Change. This is a word I don’t think anyone wants to hear unless it involves clothes. Why does this seem to be the case? Because change is scary. Deathly frightening. Change usually includes doing something outside of one’s comfort zone, leaving something that is familiar and comfortable. Sara and I are going to have change thrown in our faces at the end of this week. The kind of change that is really, really hard; Sara will be moving.

When I was little, moving was something new and exciting. But now that I’m older, it is something I dread. One of my biggest fears is that I’ll have to move somewhere far away; so far that I will have to give up everything that I Iove to do, say goodbye to all of my friends and never see them again. Sara will be moving to South Africa for over three years. By the time she gets back, we’ll be all grown up and very different. Though knowing that she’s coming back makes things easier, it is still so hard. Dealing with change is probably one of the hardest things to do. It would be so much easier to shut my mind to it an pretend like I don’t care. I do care, however, and ignoring emotions rather than dealing with them is very unhealthy. One thing that I do to deal with change is to talk to God about what’s bothering me, why I am not embracing the change. I even try to thank God for the change... because I know that somehow, someday I will look back on it and see that whatever I didn’t want to happen at the time ended up being the best thing that happened to me. Or it ended up making me a better person anyway.

Another thing I do is talk to other people about it. It is very important to have people in your life who you can talk to about almost anything. I have a few such people in my life like my mom and two really close friends. I am so thankful for these people.

A couple of my favorite verses in the Bible are my favorites because they helped me through some change or other. Whenever I’m having a rough time, I reread those verses or think about them if I have them memorized. One of my favorites in Joshua 1:9 which says: “This is my command: be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” This applies to just about everything in life. No matter what happens, remember to be strong and courageous - God didn’t just “highly recommend” it he commanded it. In whatever you do, wherever you go, remember that he is with you. Jesus is all we need.

Cranberry Muffin Recipe

One thing that I really enjoy is baking. I love to make cookies, muffins, cake, brownies - anything easy and delicious! Today I am going to share one of my favorite recipes. It's for extra yummy cranberry muffins. Muffins can be a great breakfast and snack food, no matter what kind. Normally I would make these with the left-over cranberry sauce from thanksgiving but they taste great any time of year.


Before making, make sure you have all of the necessary ingredients. 

Ingredients needed:
2 cups Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Oil
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup (about 1/2 can) Whole Cranberry Sauce

Directions:
Preheat  oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center.
Beat together eggs, oil, milk, and cranberries in another bowl.
Poor wet ingredients into the well made by the dry ingredients and stir until moistened.
Batter will be  lumpy.
Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 of the way full.
Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. (check at 18 minutes)
EAT!

Five Ways to Have Fun With Friends: Spring

In February we wrote a post about having fun with friends on those dreary winter days when you really have no idea what to do. This post is about fun Spring things to do!

1. Photoshoot!
This is an activity I absolutely love to do with my girlfriends. Dress up (or down) in your favorite clothes, do your hair and makeup a little differently and take the girls to a park to take lots of pictures! Try out odd angles and different backgrounds like hanging upside-down on the monkey bars or sitting on a fallen tree. Make sure everyone gets a chance to get their pictures taken and do the picture taking.  It’s also really interesting if you focus on a part of the person’s face, especially eyes, and then get a blurred out background behind them. If you have an SLR camera (or one of your parents has one that you can borrow) switch the focus to manual and focus on something unusual that the auto-focus would normally not.

2. Paintball
If you and your friends are feeling adventurous (or just really bored) paint balling can be a great solution. Find the nearest paint balling place and a good time for all of your friends to get together. Find out how much it’s going to cost and dress in thick clothing. You’re probably going to get hit with a paintball, and it can sometimes hurt.

3. Bike Rides
This is something fun you can do by yourself or with a group of friends. Find  a place you would like to bike to and do it!  Oh... check to make sure your bikes are in working condition first, and that there are enough bikes for your whole group.  It’s no fun if someone has to walk. But other than that, there’s not much planning needed for a bike ride.

4. Sew a new summer skirt
If you are crafty and like to sew (or have a friend who does) look online for a good tutorial  and some fabric on a good sale. Sometimes you can even find an old curtain or  table cloth at Goodwill. Maybe you have some fabric laying around the house somewhere. Besides that, all you need is a sewing machine,  a pair of scissors, some thread, and elastic or hooks and eyes to keep the skirt on.

5. Sports
It doesn’t matter if you are an athlete or even into sports; there are many ways to use sports as a form of entertainment. If you play a certain sport you probably spend a lot your time at practice or a game but if you don’t, there are still ways to have fun with sports. Most people have access to a soccer ball or beach ball. Just kicking the ball around or throwing a frisbee can be a blast. But if you have access to things like tennis courts and equipment, a baseball and bat, or soccer goals you can set up an organized game or match. Maybe play a game of ultimate frisbee or capture the flag. But if you and your friends aren’t the athletic type, there are other ways to have a good time with sports. Go cheer on your little brother at his little-league baseball game. Support your school team at the soccer game. Or just get a bunch of friends together, buy a lot of snacks, and watch tennis matches on TV. Whatever you choose to do, there will be lots of fun involved!

Embracing Who We Are

Self-worth. This combination of two words is something I believe everyone (myself included) struggle with. When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see all your faults, all of the mistakes you’ve made, everything you wish you could take back, or do you see the beautiful person that you are and are becoming? At this moment, you’re probably thinking something along the lines of;

   

“Hey, hold up there. You don’t know me, you don’t know how ugly I am or all of the bad things I’ve done.”

If this is running through your head right now, you’re absolutely right. I don’t know what you look like and I have no idea what you have done in your life.

So how can I do something so bold as to tell you that you’re beautiful? The answer to this is simple, you were created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 says “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female  he created them.” (NLT)

Are you a human being? Yeah, that’s what I thought. That means you were created in His image. It’s so easy to let ourselves believe what the world tries to tell us. That we’re not tall enough, skinny enough, pretty enough, strong enough, whatever the case may be. Instead of listening to these hurtful lies, next time you look in the mirror remember that God made you in His own image - no matter what the world says, you are BEAUTIFUL, you are LOVED, and you don’t have to change who you are to be accepted. This does not mean you can’t want to look nice or want to better yourself …Those things are important, too. The point is that you need to love yourself just the way you are. Jesus loves us just the way we are, which I think is pretty amazing considering that he knows everything about us ...Even the stuff we don’t want anyone to know about.

Likewise, we should try to love others just the way they are and not make fun of them for being different. The people we laugh at because they don’t live up to what the world thinks is important in a person are made in His image just as much as you are or I am. It is crucial that we remember this. I know it’s something I struggle with.

Lastly, we should ask Jesus to help us to be worthy of being made in His image. Yes, it is impossible but through what Jesus did on the cross, it doesn’t matter if we’re worthy. Then what’s the point of trying? So people who don’t know Jesus can see him through us because we are really trying to do what he wants with our lives.

Eyeliner: How To

Eyeliner: it can either be a blessing or a curse. The trick is to know how to wear it. Before you consider attempting this daring item of makeup; (if you haven’t already) you should consider if you really want to follow through with it. I’m not kidding. This is a very serious matter. (Okay, maybe I’m making it a bit too serious) But a lot of people (myself included) have/are misused/misusing this weapon called eyeliner. Many teen girls go for the emo feel of heavy black eyeliner (which some girls can pull off nicely while others … can’t) thinking that it is the only way they can wear it but are mistaken. Pulling off eyeliner comes in only two basic steps:

1) shade/color

2) how it is applied

Eyeliner is very useful for making your eyes pop and giving the dramatic look without much effort. Before you do this however, you need to choose your weapon. Makeup is very expensive (which makes me glad I don’t wear much) so it’s easy to just stick to the cheapo, wears-off-in-seconds, smears-all-over-the-place-when-I-cry brands. In the long run, though, I have found that spending a couple more bucks to get the good stuff works better. It’s harder to figure out what colors work for you. It was hard for me anyway. It really all depends on your shade of skin and hair.

For dark hair, medium skin, and dark eyelashes: Brown-black, black, or charcoal are your best bets.

For dark hair but fairer skin: use brown, gray, or brown-black. Some can pull of black eyeliner but sticking to the before mentioned colors is safer.

For dark hair and dark skin: Chances are, your eyes already pop and look incredible but if you still wanna try your hand at eyeliner, black and dark purple will work for you. Dark purple tends to look less natural but it can also look absolutely amazing.

For fair skin and blonde or red hair: paired with a brown or brown-black mascara, brown or gray eyeliner will really make your eyes stand out.

Now that you’ve chosen your weapon; it’s time to use it! The main rule here is to start with the inside corners of your eyes for the top lid and outside corners for the bottom. My motto in this area is less is more. It will take a few tries to get it right but starting out by applying it as thin as possible works best. There are even YouTube videos out there to show you how it’s done if you don’t get it. I wear my eyeliner almost all the way around my eye but it gets thinner the closer to the inside of my eyes until there’s nothing at all. If you have fair skin and blonde or red hair, it’s best to only apply to the top lid. Otherwise, applying it to the top lid then half-way on the bottom or just in the bottom outside corner works well.

Good luck and have fun experimenting!

Color is Key: How to find the colors that you look best in

     As a teen girl, I love dressing up, doing my make up differently, and looking nice in general. But for everyday, it’s harder to look good without over-dressing. A great discovery I have found is that the color you’re wearing can really affect your overall appearance. Not only can it bring out the smoothness of your skin, the shine of your hair, and the brilliancy of your eyes. But color can also drown out you skin, dull your hair, and overpower or wash-out your eyes. So how can we avoid all the bad affects of color? By choosing the right colors.    
    If some one were to ask me what color looks the best on them, I would definitely reply “your eye color”. I have never ever seen a person who’s eye color does not look absolutely amazing on them. That, however does not mean that that should be the only color worn. For example, my eyes are green and brown (a ring of brown around the center then another ring of green, but mostly green.) So I (Malea) look great in both dark green and brown. But those are not the only colors that work well for me and sometimes I get bored with those colors. I have dark-ish hair but fairly light skin so I look good in coral, peach, and pinky colors as well.
    I (Sara) have found by trial and error (lots of error) that warm, deep colors look best on me; colors like deep purple, or gold.   I also have green eyes, so most greens look good on me, especially the darker greens.  I know these type of colors (coral pink and warm blue as well) work because they tend to bring out the natural red-gold highlights in my hair.
   
   There are only two steps to finding the colors that look best on you. The first step is to discover your “season”.  Just as there are four seasons in the year, there are four types of skin, hair, and eye tones.

1. Winter
Winter characteristics: Very dark or very light hair.  
Skin: if your skin is light, it’ll look pink. If medium toned, olive. If dark, bluish.  
Your eyes are bright blue or dark brown.  
What works: Bright, cool colors (blue-tone reds, royal blue, true purple, black or white)
Stay away from: Pastels or powdered colors.
Colors such as true orange can work, but hot pink looks better, as gold and beige can create a washed-out look.
Silver jewelry looks best on you.

2. Spring
Spring characteristics: Golden blonde, reddish brown, or auburn hair.  
Warm skin tone (veins look green rather than blue).
Blue, green, or hazel eyes.
What works: Clear warm colors (peach, gold, coral, warm purple or warm blue)
Stay away from: black and white, or muted colors
You can rock the gold jewelry better than silver.

3. Summer
Summer characteristics: Pale hair (blonde).  Cool skin tones.  Pale eyes.
What works: Cool toned but muted colors (powder blue, pale pink, dusty yellow)
Neutrals and pastels accentuate your eyes and hair.
Avoid bright colors, they’re too overpowering for summer tones
Gold or silver jewelry will work for you.

4. Autumn
Autumn characteristics: Golden brown, reddish, or dark brown hair.
Warm skin tones.  
Golden brown eyes.
What works: Spicy, gold-toned, earthy colors (olive, gold, dark brown, deep, warm purple)
Rich, warm grays work really well
Avoid black, white, and most cool colors, which can act as a wash out
Gold jewelry works best on you.

The second step is a bit tedious, sometimes discouraging, but a whole lot of fun! This is it: Try all the colors that you think would look good on you - your eyes color, the colors that work for your season, your favorite colors. Make a check-list of all the colors you want to try, put on a clothing item of that color and rate each color from 1-5. You will be surprised how well this test works. It’s also a whole lot of fun, especially if you do it with your friends. (Maybe Sara and I should do it together this weekend) It might help if you used a friend’s clothes or went shopping that way any attachment to a clothing item won’t get in the way of finding the right colors.