Thank you for your electric response to last week's message, Refuse to be Dumbed Down. I am inspired by your passion to elevate society by cultivating your mind and seeking out the arts! I could have picked every single comment submitted to be the comment of the week. If you have time, scroll through and read some of the comments as you will get even more motivated.



This week I am answering reader questions:

Le No Makeup Look Over 50

Amy asks about women over 50 and if they need more coverage than the le no makeup look provides. Le no makeup look is not about the amount of makeup worn, it is about the effect. The effect we are going for is a natural look that highlights our best features. If you need more coverage to even out your skin tone or make the eyes stand out, you can still do this and produce a natural effect.

Chic Weddings
Xandra from Heroine Training asks about my advice for chic wedding planning. My number one bit of advice is to not get carried away with the wedding planning/ Bridezilla culture that seems to have eclipsed the true meaning of the day. Let's not be pressured by people to have the latest, biggest and most extravagant weddings but to forget what's popular in society and have a wedding that is special and won't put us into debt.

Quality Clothes
Katrina asks about how to spot quality clothes that are not necessarily pricey. No matter what the price is, you have to look at the garment and see if it's high quality. If it looks like it could shrink, it probably will shrink. If you are concerned about the quality at all (shrinking, potential for frayed hems or holes) then it is probably a lesser quality garment. Over time you will be able to hone in on a quality item quite easily. You will also be able to compile a list of brands that consistently produce quality clothes that you will become loyal to.

Please watch this week's video for my extended thoughts on each of these subjects. If you are unable to see the video above, click here, look in the sidebar of this blog, or visit my channel: www.youtube.com/TheDailyConnoisseur (and don't forget to subscribe!)

Since I am not able to individually respond to all of your messages, I always keep your questions compiled in my notes and refer to them for these videos. If you would like to submit a question for a reader questions answered segment, be sure to leave me a comment below, on my video or on social media.

News
The Daily Connoisseur blog and videos will now be posted every Monday (previously Sunday). Thanks for your understanding!

Diva and the Divine and The Shull Family blog loved Lessons from Madame Chic.


Comment of the Week

On YouTube, Mili P writes:
You're right, it's important to learn from our bad purchases. I started to write down every lesson learned from bad purchases in a notepad app on my iPad, so I can refer to it before going shopping. For instance, I bought a beige sweater a few months ago but it has yellow undertones and it doesn't work at all with my complexion, I look sick when I wear it. So no more yellow-beige clothes for me. No more dresses that will shrink and end up being too short. No more coloured work pants, because I always feel better in black pants - skinny black pants, not straight leg, not bootcut. I also realized that I'm never fully satisfied with clothes from certain brands, so I stopped going to these stores altogether. Last September I donated 12 garbage bags full of clothes. Now I'm down to 30-40 pieces I really like.

Mili, I love how thoughtful you are with your purchases! It's a great idea to reflect on what doesn't work for us in our wardrobes so we can get ever closer to embracing our true style in a workable way.

Question of the Week
On YouTube Adorabelle writes:

I am stuck and overwhelmed with my wardrobe right now. I started a new job that requires a more corporate wardrobe, whereas I used to dress business casually. I don't know if I should put work clothes in one half of my closet and casual in the other?

Thank you for your question! If you have a job that requires corporate dress that does not fit into your everyday life outside of work, you can create two capsule wardrobes- one for work life and one for downtime. You'll find that many of your extras and even core items will cross over and work and over time you will come up with a great fit for you. For my work, I often do fun events such as book signings or appearances and because of this I have a few more special occasion dresses in my extras, for example. Best of luck and let us know how it goes!


Be sure to stop by the blog and YouTube channel this Thursday for a very special giveaway from Christy Linens.

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This past weekend I attended at wedding at the gorgeous Manor house in Stoke Poges, just overlooking the golf course. I love a good wedding and this was one of the nicest I'd ever been too. It was also my first traditional English wedding and I was loving every minute of it. The night before we stayed at the illustrious Stoke Park Club hotel to catch up with friends and get ready for the wedding festivities in style- and did we ever! The hotel is magnificent. You'd be hard pressed to find something so utterly gorgeous, old fashioned and luxurious in Los Angeles so it was an incredible treat for me to stay there.

As we drove to the hotel I noticed the magnificent green of the golf course on my right and on my left a rather large pond- complete with graceful swans and beautiful water lilies. A strange sense of deja vu came over me. The feeling continued as we checked in at reception and then were presented to our room- The "William and Mary" suite. I later found out that Bridget Jones' Diary was filmed here- and that pond was the infamous one that Hugh Grant had so much trouble in. Our room was beautiful and traditionally English with overstuffed chairs and sofas- a grand bed and a stately color scheme.


The loveliness continued at the wedding the following day. Every guest turned out in their finest- gorgeous dresses and flamboyant hats; the men in tails and colorful ties. (My dark blue Temperley dress and Vivien Sheriff hat were a big hit!) It was a church wedding complete with traditional hymns (I had to do some improvisational lip syncing). The celebration continued afterwards as we were ushered towards the tents on the lawn, glowing with candle light. After cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, we made our way towards the dining area- an amazing marquis shining with the light of chandeliers and candelabras. Dinner was traditional- shrimp cocktail and lamb with roast vegetables. The conversation was lively and the dancing afterwards was even more so. My favorite part, as always, were the speeches. I always get emotional when I hear family members and friends give speeches at weddings- maybe it's because I know they feel safe in saying the things they wouldn't otherwise say and give expressions of love and emotion. My favorite speech was given by the father of the bride...

The evening ended with over two dozen Chinese lanterns being released to the sky... pure magic.

For information on staying at the Stoke Park Club please visit: www.stokeparkclub.com

Image of Stoke Park Club provided by: www.vivideventgroup.com

Image of room provided by: www.stokeparkclub.com

Next week I’ll be leaving Santa Monica and traveling to England for three whole weeks- (*rubbing my hands together*) and I can’t wait! I LOVE England- the people, the roasts, the blazing fires and yes, even the weather (eternal summer in California does get tiresome). This time while there, however, I will be attending my first English wedding. The invitation came in the mail a few weeks ago and suggested “morning dress” for the dress code. Petrified and excited all at the same time, I googled “morning dress” and found a lot of rules for the men- tails, ascot, top hat optional etc.- but no suggestions for the women. I started to panic. Sure I have a lot of great silk dresses that I’ve worn to weddings in California but I’m pretty sure they don’t qualify as “morning dress” and I’m even more sure a hat needs to be thrown into this equation (yikes!).

I do remember recently reading a lot of press about Kate Middleton attending a few royal weddings without Prince William and decided to study her for inspiration…. After all I can’t go wrong learning from a potential future queen!

Here’s what I found:

This is Kate attending the royal wedding of Autumn Kelly and Peter Phillips...


...and attending the wedding of Laura Parker Bowles to Harry Lopes.

I’m noticing a trend of dresses with fitted jackets and, of course, delicious little hats.

I would love any input from you daily connoisseurs on what types of things one wears to an English wedding… I need all the help I can get!

Image of England courtesy of: http:davenportlibrary.com

First image of Kate Middleton courtesy of: www.dailymail.co.uk

Second image of Kate courtesy of: www.dailylife.com