We’re only 11 days away from the Spring Equinox and even though it’s still cold outside, cabin fever has set in. Crocuses have been spotted and we’ve been wearing our sunglasses a little more often lately, but we can’t quite bust out our new spring clothes just yet.

Magazines may suggest mixing spring floral dresses with heavy sweaters to transition, but this year we’re changing it up: home fragrance. After seemingly endless winter days of closed windows and dry central heating (hello, humidifiers!), it’s time for a breath of fresh air. I’m not talking about any old “Spring Flowers” room freshener–I’m talking about elegant-and-earthy reed diffusers from Amazing Stone’s Semi-Precious Home Collection. With a diffuser in…well, almost every room, the fresh-yet-romantic signature Amethyst scent is bringing me out of the winter doldrums and making spring cleaning a little bit more bearable. Each bottle is filled with authentic semi-precious Amethyst crystals, brightening up every room–a touch of nature and glamour!

for more information on the Semi-Precious Home Collection or Amazing Stone, see www.sphomecollection.com.

In the midst of international fashion weeks, we’re overwhelmed by all the hot new makeup trends showing up on the runways. Some are a bit too crazy (bleached eyebrows are not my look), but some can easily be adapted for everyday–or every night–use. And if you’re the type of woman who follows fashion and beauty trends down to the minute, you need the supplies to do it.

Enter…

3 of the most striking and talked-about looks on the runways are bright (even neon!) eyeshadow and liner. Addiction NV has trend-friendly and skin-friendly products to help you look straight off the catwalk.

BRIGHT EYES, meet HUNGRY EYES & LINE UP.

From left: Yigal Azrouël, Peter Som, L'Wren Scott

Shadows from hot red to acid green washed over eyelids at Yigal Azrouël and L’Wren Scott (and just about everywhere else) while Derek Lam and Peter Som equipped dramatic orange and yellow eyeliners to highlight their models’ eyes.

Addiction NV Line Up gel eyeliner

 

Now maybe you’re not quite ready to line your lashes with yellow–but if you want to rock the trend with a slightly-more-tame color, ADDICTION NV has the perfect solution: Line Up gel eyeliner. Try Hell on Heels for a bold electric blue, Trouble Maker for bright purple, or even Red Handed for girls bad enough to rock a Rihanna-red eye.

Addiction NV Hungry Eyes eyeshadow pans and palette

If you’re more of an eyeshadow girl, try Addiction NV‘s Hungry Eyes in Hook, Bewitch, or Captivate: bright orange, hot pink, and a sparkling turquoise.

To view the colors mentioned above and more hot products for your fashion week-inspired looks, check out the Addiction NV website.

To all my fashionista jetsetters, tis the season to travel!  From New York’s Fashion Week to Paris’ next week, it is essential to travel organized and, most importantly, in style. The most important item for a fashionista, second to her apparel, is her make up – because color coordination is a must.

We all know how hectic Fashion Week already is and there is no time to deal with unorganized messy make up. If you’re the person always losing your favorite lip gloss or can’t find your eye liner in your endless make up bag you’re in luck! I have to recommend Mini Kittour, the perfect kit to couture. Mini Kittour is the premier line of travel accessories; they offer smart, convenient and customizable features that make traveling a breeze. Savvy, stylish and completely vital, mini kittour was created to organize, simplify and beautify your life.

http://www.minikittour.com/

Co-host of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards Anne Hathaway turned center
stage into a fashion show with a wardrobe that included seven gowns and
a tuxedo.  Hathaway cycled through her Rolodex of fashion’s most
coveted designers: Valentino, Armani, Lanvin, Vivienne Westwood
Couture and more, to make her presence known as the Oscars’ youngest
host ever!

For me, she stopped the show in her strapless, exquisitely detailed Givenchy Haute Couture gown, pictured above. Luckily, Sherri Hill has a similar dress that won’t cause me to pull a “127 Hours” and cut off an arm with style #3733, retailing for $450.

Check out www.sherrihill.com for more of the latest looks from Sherri
Hill for the “fashion slave on a budget.”

Owning a business providing services to other businesses I know just who my “big” rivals are in the world of beauty and fashion pr.  Some are firms so huge they employ 50 to 100 people and offer layer upon layer of staff support and a hierarchy that a higher client fee is needed to support.  How do I not only compete successfully but win business over them?  Its all in the service…

Our whole approach is to partner strategically with our client to determine just how we can grow their business and what areas of public relations and marketing will most successfully and cost-effectively help them reach their goals.  We fine-tune not just the type of service offered, but the timing and intergration of diverse services to guarantee success.  Is it pure product/service publicity where we place their brand in free editorial in the media?  Or celebrity seeding and dressing – getting their products used by influence-rs, or maybe creating and managing their Social Media or the right combination of these and other marketing tools.   Our point of difference is sitting down together acting as an extension of our client’s own workforce and becoming part of their day-to-day corporate culture.

As a boutique agency our top people are involved in every project.  Our big competitor’s have a typical corporate “pyramid” structure – where their talent keeps moving up and away from the clients – leaving lower level support teams to manage the everyday workings of the account.  With C.I. Visions,we provide and our client’s get the top talent on every project.

During these economically challenging times budgets and timelines are often in flux and clients need and want more work done at the last minute and to meet evolving objectives.  As a smaller agency we have the ability to shift deadlines and stay flexible in the moment completing the task at hand competently, successfully and with stellar results.

Three great ways the allow us to beat our big competitors everytime!

The first famous person we ever dressed in one of our clients dresses was Carrie Underwood in 2005 – things have changed considerably since then!   American Idol is now a mega-brand and Carrie Underwood is the most successful contestant in Idol history as well as one of the world’s top entertainers with a fashion style that women all over the world covet.   When we welcomed Carrie and her stylist into our client WDNY’s NYC showroom she had just scored her Idol win and client Warren Donner custom designed her dress for the Grammy Awards.  Carrie won big that night and the rest is branding and CIV history.   Today top designers vie to dress Carrie and stylist Trish Townsend has her pick of the best of the best…yet we still maintain a wonderful relationship and have introduced her to more clients as she continues to introduce us to more of hers!  Win-Win!  Everyday we score best-dressed kudos for new clients and help launch their brands as we add to the growing list of  super-stylists on our roster.  What does it take to forge these all-important alliances besides offering a great product?  Trust, integrity and stellar communication skills.  As a New York-based public relations agency (the majority of national media works out of NY, so I can never understand why a company would choose a LA based one!) we identify fashion trends and the up and coming next style icon before they peak and this is where we begin to earn trust with our style partners.  We don’t say no and pick and choose only to work with a-listers, we don’t send the same dress to 10 different actresses hoping they will all be wearing it for those “who wore it better” segments, and we don’t give the same dress to a competitive celebrity to wear.  What we DO do is keep to our promises, honor that value of celebrity branding and never assume any dressing opportunity is guaranteed and have as much of an understanding of the style, taste and need  of each woman we are trying to dress as their stylists do.   We also make sure our clients have the resources to create a custom dress, or alter an existing one and we move heaven and earth to get that one-of-a-kind sample to and from that last minute event — even though our ‘star” may or not wear it.  We also offer exclusives and will hold a certain style sometimes months until a celebrity can preview the design at an event.  Recently we partnered our client Sherri Hill with Miranda Lambert’s stylist Tiffany Gifford to custom design over a dozen pieces for Miranda as considerations for both red carpet and performance wear at the CMA’s, spending time and money to fit and style both short cocktail dresses and gala gowns for the big event. And while Tiffany, had gathered lots of other potentials looks for the big night – Miranda wound up wearing four Sherri Hill designs for red carpet, performance, and afterparty on the big night!  She was featured on virtually ever best-dressed list and helped jump start the talents and put Sherri’s name on the fashionista radar!   Every celebrity dressing opportunity doesn’t always turn out this successful – sometimes you win big and sometimes for too many reasons to count – the dress or item just doesn’t work.  But being able to keep on delivering fresh and new options, to concentrate on long-term relationships not short term results, to go the extra mile, and to always remain calm, cool and collected – gives you the edge not just for the Golden Globes, Grammy’s, Sag’s, and Oscars but for the long haul.  Keep your fingers crossed —  as i post this we are sending several clients designs as potentials to a lady that’s “Country Strong”, one that resides in zip code “90210″, another that is both fabulous and “Shameless”, a very “Modern Family”, and a couple of “Housewives”…my team at CIV earns top rewards from me!

I can’t tell you how many times I have said and wholeheartedly offered, a “win-win” to woo a new client and negotiate a deal.  In tough economic times especially, a little compromise leads to an agreement that works for both sides. Right?  Actually NO!  Ok, I have you attention now – especially because those of you who have known me for a long time know that I am a smooth negotiator and love saying YES.   I love and am passionate about what I do and sometimes that passion and drive to create is bad for business.   Compromising too much is not a win-win – and settling for only part of what you want is not good business!  Think about all those blockbuster movies you have seen with some crazed bank robber holding dozens of innocents hostages – does the FBI negotiate?  STICK TO YOUR GUNS!  When someone proposes that you compromise – SAY NO!  As a women of integrity and confidently knowing that I am one of the best at what I do – I tell the truth each and every time I am dealing with a potential client or business associate – and most importantly – I deliver on my promises.  If you cut your fees to gain a new client, you are setting yourself up for failure by being unable to deliver first-rate services at a second-rate price. And something will have to give.  I am confident in the services I offer and if I  set myself up in a compromising relationship  - I have sold myself,  my agency and my client short.  My advice?  Respectfully decline to slash fees – explain to the client that you would rather pass on the business than fail them by not being able to provide your stellar services at a bargain price.  Be confident, end on a high note – tell them that once that “cut-rate” competitor doesn’t deliver to call you.  This is a real “win-win” – clients usually respond by meeting our real, realistic fees.  If not – I believe in and live up to my agency’s own PR and know they will be back…

Twitter and Facebook are smart Social Media tools to help businesses and brands market themselves.  But like any other marketing tool if they are not used correctly they can hinder rather than help get the message across to millions of potential customers and brand consumers…

When partnering with our clients to determine Social Media outreach one of the first areas we monitor is the competition and social media has lots of easy ways to do this.  Using sites like TweetBeep ( tweetbeep.com) and Goggle Alerts (google.com./alerts) are effective and effortless ways to see what others are doing.  These sites allow you to receive auto alerts (you set the parameters of how often) each time your competition is mentioned online (I put quotations around key words in my searches to weed out the irrelevant posts).   Knowing how your competition is interacting with “fans” and “friends” and tracking their activities provides an insight to how you want to create your own Company’s online buzz.

It always a surprise to me when I am researching a company or brand and I see “customers” (fans/friends), leave comments that go unnoticed or unanswered by the Company.   Ignoring what your customers have to say about you is a big mistake.  Just as the old and true adage “The customer is always right goes” this has no better application than when communicating online.  Caring about what people are saying about your brand, fixing a problem and opening up a dialogue all showcase your business in a positive light.

It is important to remember when communicating that arguing is a losing battle anywhere but nowhere more so than on social media pages.  It is important to train your administrator to remain professional and unemotional at all times – and when a mistake has indeed been made – own up to it and indicate that you want to make it right!

When you make a promise and commitment to someone on your social media links make sure that you handle the problem and/or provide the information requested.  Dropping the ball, especially in such a public venue can only exacerbate negative consequences.  Social media sites allow us to monitor more closely how customers interact with each other and discus our companies and brands – so you want to ensure that what they are airing is indeed a positive review or comment about you…

Its best to monitor all the different avenues of Social Media before jumping in and interacting to determine how the tools will benefit you.  I often ask clients to first sign up as consumers themselves, play around and get to know the vehicle we are adding to their marketing mix – and provide feedback of their experiences to not only the discussion but in determining the tone and voice of their Social Media communication.   A golden rule – don’t just tweet for Twitter’s sake.  Make focused, informative tweets on items and links that matter to you and your business…

A company’s Facebook and Twitter pages must be a reflection of the same brand identity you are using to build your brand or Company.  They work as part of a total imaging package that continue to build an interesting and consistent brand image.  More bright ideas for sharpening those Social skills…

So, okay..I’ve been MIA on my posting for the last few days, but I’m back – and ready to talk some trends.. As you all know from my previous entries, I am quite the MTV aficionado/a. Name a show and chances are I watched it when it aired and have watched it a few times since. Well I’ve become a fan of the network’s newest trial, ‘The Seven.’ Yes, some would put the segment on blast for mirroring E!’s Daily 10, but I’m pretty sure that this ‘borrowing’ of TV curricula has been practiced for quite some time (so haters, cool your jets…). As a brief rundown, the half-hour long show catalogues/countdowns the top seven celebrity gossip-ish news pieces of the day – MTV aptly refers to these seven as the ‘must know’ stories. In many ways, I would classify ‘The Seven’ as a reinvented/redirected renewal of the once-popular, Carson Daily-delivering TRL show. I prefer it just a tad more, because the focus is taken away from solely music to more broad popular culture topics..and, well, I think Kevin Manno is a much better looking alternative to Carson – my apologies. Anyhow, I’ve gotten attached to this show and find each episode pretty entertaining. So my newest MTV website obsession – the style page. Well as I was doing my daily perusing, I just so happened to come across a post all about ‘The Seven’s’ hosts Kevin Manno and Julie Alexandria! Didn’t say much about the show, but critiqued or, rather, appraised their fashion. The color and the verdict? PURPLE and it is TRENDING! Both hosts wore variations of the majestic color and each looked hot. A woman after my own heart, Julie wore a bright magenta and purple tank that looked FAB with her suede booties. A man after my boyfriend’s own heart, Kevin wore a deep purple and gray plaid button down (swoon). See, boys, purple is totally rock-able. I am always a fan of purple and Sherri Hill’s collection of purple pretties definitely proves a favorite of mine. Whether in longer jeweled gowns (for a regal goddess look) or shorter, body-hugging sheaths with all-over sequin embellishments, Sherri’s purpuraceous (why yes this IS a real world) designs are much preferred. Purple is definitely in my ‘seven’ for the week…

So, okay, as an MTV enthusiast I’m pretty much ‘tuned in’ to anything and everything that the network puts out. Well, when it comes to reality programming, that is…I never knew how fantastic and resourceful the MTV website was – I’ve mostly referenced the site to check up on the TV schedule and when I should expect the latest episode of ‘The Gauntlet’ to air on repeat. Recently, though, I’ve discovered that MTV.com has a fantastic Style section; one that uses pop culture as its central muse. Just today, I was visiting the Style section’s ‘trends’ tab and it just so happens that MTV’s fashion 411 is right on target with ours! You’ll have to check out the site on your own (http://style.mtv.com/category/trends/), but I can give you a quick synopsis! So, glitter, sparkling, sequined GOLD: this style is a GEM right now with celebrity starlets. According to the detailed blog post and supplementary stunning photos, AJ Michalka, Heather Morris, and Halle Berry have all been entranced by this rich hue and its extra glistening accent. This post was particularly poignant considering what I’ll segue into in a few, but if you gloss over the rest of the style blog you’ll find tons of other trends and celebrity-driven fashion fixes that are complete with helpful hints for creating your own ‘famous’ adaptations. Now, MTV and CIV must be style-watching in harmony, because just today I was marveling at a ‘get the look’ story we were working on. The always beautiful Heidi Klum arrived to Roberto Cavalli’s 40th Anniversary bash (in Paris) wearing his own gold and peach metallic draped gown. Trend-savvy Designer Sherri Hill’s unique metallic chain mail style is right on par with Heidi’s golden goddess look – and you don’t need to be a supermodel for this one. A golden ‘get the look!’ Well would you look at that! MTV and CIV…we might not be Midas, but everything we touch turns to gold…