We girls are faced with the same question every year…… What is it that I really want for Christmas? Some dream of exotic holidays whereas others hope that Santa will bring fine jewelry. Other than health and happiness my wish for this year is simple – all I want is lots and lots of costume jewelry!!
Working as a personal stylist my objective is to transform women in a matter of hours. And only now I realize that no transformation is really complete without that extra little touch that you can achieve by introducing jewelry to the outfit.

Fine jewelry is great, and there are some that will never wear anything other than gold and diamonds.  There is nothing wrong with that, and truth be told we all like a bit of bling-bling when paired with the right outfit. More recently however, I find myself pairing outfits with less expensive alternatives such as rubber, plastic, ceramic, silver and gold-plated pieces.  If done right the outfit will never look short on style or cheap.
I give advice to women on how to shop strategically i.e. how to buy things that complement what they already have in their closet. In most cases this means focusing on buying a few quality pieces, but I have to admit when it comes to costume jewelry I wish I could buy it all.

Here are some of my recommendations:

Inexpensive: Accessorize, Topshop, Bershka, J. Crew.
Mid-range:  Kenneth Jay Lane, Tom Binns, Lulu Frost.
Expensive: Dolce Gabbana, Lanvin, Marni, YSL.
In Singapore I shop for accessories www.shophannalee.com,
www.pinwheeljewels.com , Club 21, and Forever New.

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