Personalizing Your Clothes
Get creative with your clothes and your style. If you’re required to wear a uniform, you can’t do much to change that, but you can enhance your standard-issue look in a number of ways by learning to make strategic choices. Wear colored tank or camisole underneath your uniform shirt. Particularly if your uniform involves neutral colors, you can choose an accent color that will really pop. Cuff the sleeves of your coat, sweater, or cardigan to add a small but noticeable twist. For a little more variety, tuck your shirt in if you usually wear it out, or wear it out if you usually tuck it in. A popular uniform trend is to wear an oversized sweat-shirt or hoodie under your uniform/polo shirt. Try out this style in the colder months. Add pins to the collar of your uniform shirt. Pins or badges look good on the collar of your shirt. If you want to do this but don't have any pins or badges, you can try using studded earrings instead. Wear knee-high boots or socks for a bolder look. If your school allows it, you can get more colourful or stripy socks. Otherwise just wear the sock colour you have to, but on a knee high sock. Wear earrings, necklaces, and bracelets to express yourself and show off your sense of style.
Wear colorful or striking scarves, hats, or gloves. Even if you have to take them off in class, scarves, hats, and gloves are perfect for adding color and personality to your look between classes. Scarves are a truly versatile clothing option. You can learn to tie them in almost limitless different ways, and you can choose from an entire spectrum—from light summer scarves to cozy, bulky cowls. Start here for a guide to choosing and tying scarves to suit your style.
Choose a stylish coat. Coats are statement pieces—choose the right one and you’ll set your entire look apart. A neon trench coat or a patterned raincoat goes far! Look for different styles—knee length, pea coat, trench, puffer—in bright colors and patterns.
Wear colorful or patterned tights or socks. If you’re allowed to choose a skirt or shorts as part of your uniform, you have a great opportunity to make your outfit eye-catching by adding socks and/or tights in bright patterns or colors. If you can't wear neon ones try knee socks with ruffles or a pair of opaque black tights!
Wear unique shoes and/or colored laces. Most schools have at least some leeway in your footwear options, and you should take full advantage. Unique and stylish footwear can make an entire outfit stand out. If you have to wear 'school shoes' choose some without Velcro.
Have your clothes tailored. Yes, you all have to wear the same clothes, but those clothes aren’t necessarily going to work on everyone’s different body type. Tailoring your clothes is the simplest but perhaps the most significant step you can take to make your look stand out. Clothes that fit well and look good on you will ultimately be more flattering than any colorful tank or stylish scarf.
Hair and Makeup
Experiment with what you can control, like your hair and makeup. Particularly if your school allows more leeway with hair or makeup, this can be one of your best tickets to personalization.
Apply a smaller amount of makeup if your school is stricter. If your school is stricter on makeup, you should just use very natural looking makeup. Most school's allow a minimal amount of makeup. Remember, you should only wear makeup if it makes you feel good and confident, don't wear it because you've been pressured into it. Apply concealer to your T-zone and anywhere with blemishes or pimples. Blend with a beauty sponge. (Use baking powder to "naturalize" your concealer if it's not matte). Apply blush to your cheeks, forehead, nose, and chin. Make sure to blow on your brush before each application so you don't look clown-ish. Roll lip balm onto your lips. Apply a clear lip gloss on top if you want. Smack your lips together a couple times to evenly disperse your lip gloss/lip balm. Add highlights! Highlighting your skin is the best way to enhance your nicest features. With your finger, rub some highlighter to your cheekbones, nose-tip, forehead, and the corners of your eyes. Highlighting the corners of your eyes will make you look more awake. Curl your lashes with an eyelash curler. Apply mascara. If you're worried about using a black mascara, many brands sell a clear mascara, which works the same way as regular mascara without the color.
Play with your makeup by trying out new and different makeup colors, products, and techniques. If you’re a trendsetter, set some trends. You can get inspiration from different resources like How to Have Fun Experimenting with Makeup, Pinterest (for example, take a look at this board), Tumblr (like this search page), or makeup blogs (like SlashedBeauty). Experimenting is encouraged, even recommended, but do also brace yourself for some sideways glances if you decide to seriously push some boundaries.
Get a stylish or unique haircut. You can push your look even further with an interesting haircut, which you can then experiment and play around with. For new haircut ideas, check out places like Pinterest (for example here or here), Tumblr, for example, or here), or blogs like DailyMakeover or BeautyRiot.
Try out different hairstyles. Go from a messy bun one day to a slicked-back look the next, or from a sleek ponytail to beachy waves. Your options are only limited by your imagination (and possibly your school’s dress code—again, read it!). Look around for styling options and inspiration from places like Buzzfeed (here, for example), YouTube channels (like Alyssa Forever), or blogs like HairRomance or TheSmallThings. You can do styles like a French braid, and learn how to do braids like fishtail braids. Braids can look cute, but not as simple as other hairstyles. You can also stick with more traditional hairstyles like buns, ponytails, or a half-up half-down. Accessorise your hair with bows, scrunchies, clips, and/or headbands to make a statement. Work out which colour looks good on your hair, and if you like you can try to get a matching scrunchy or hair piece to the uniform. Use heat tools like hair straighteners and curling irons on your hair to give your hair a new look every once in a while. Remember to always use a heat protection spray on your hair to prevent heat damage.
Dye your hair. Dying your hair a flattering or eye-catching color can seriously enhance your look. But do your research first, whether you plan to dye it yourself or to go to a salon. Dye with extreme caution if you plan to do it yourself. Dying hair is a tricky business and you can not only end up with a color you don’t want, you can also seriously damage your hair in the process. Remember to wear old clothes and make sure you don't splash dye on any surfaces. So do your research and get help—you’re going to need at least one extra set of hands. If you decide to go the DIY route, check out How to Dye Your Own Hair. If you’re going for a drastically different color than your natural one, definitely go to a reputable stylist to have it done.
Play with nail polish looks. If you aren’t quite ready (or allowed) to take big risks with your hair or makeup, get playful with your nail polish. You can play with bright and unusual colors and color combinations as well as with new and eye-catching designs. Pinterest is one of the single greatest resources of collected DIY nail-design techniques. Try starting here or here.
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