Look Expensive without Breaking the Bank with Glamour's "Ask Andrea"

https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/439wni/Andreafinal2_-_6_25_21_333_PM812nr.mp3

EPISODE SUMMARY:

Having worked at Sephora, Cosmopolitan and Glamour, Andrea Pomerantz Lustig is a fashion expert and author whose successful career has helped people worldwide find the best trends and tips for looking and feeling good. In today’s episode, we sat down with Andrea to discuss her time working at Cosmopolitan, her advice column at Glamour, and her own fashion and makeup tips for looking classy at an affordable price. First, we asked Andrea about her time working at Cosmopolitan. She gave us insight into what it was like writing for the magazine, including that a lot of the stories and tips were often made up or based on experiences that happened to employees. She even shared a story of how Helen Gurley Brown spent around $20,000 redoing a photoshoot because the model was wearing blue lingerie and, according to Helen, blue was not a “sexy color”. When asked if she’d ever received any advice from Helen, Andrea said that Helen helped see her through a lot of life milestones offered insight into a lot of the advice published in Cosmopolitan, including fashion, diets and more. We then talked to Andrea about her journey from Cosmopolitan to her “Ask Andrea” advice column in Glamour Magazine. For her, “Ask Andrea” was her way of staying involved in a fashion centric career and allowed her to give other women the same knowledge and tips she’d been learning for years. Having the advice column gave her the opportunity to go out and find the best trends in person, which led to run ins and tips from celebrities and their stylists.

When asked about her book, How to Look Expensive, Andrea said that while the book was published years ago, it still receives praise for helping people find the most affordable ways to look classy. To her, classy doesn’t mean expensive but instead polished in hair, clothing, and makeup styling. Her book also debunks certain fashion myths and gives tips. For example, a lot of celebrities do not wash their hair when getting their hair styled for red carpet events because it gives the hair more volume. One of the book’s best tips when it comes to hair is to not dry wet hair with a towel but rather to blot it with paper towels. We also spoke to Andrea about the concept of the beauty uniform, a term Andrea likes to use for a look everyone should know how to do when attending important events and meetings. In her opinion, the best looks for the beauty uniform are a bronze eye look, foundation used on the t-zone and forehead, cream blush, a natural lip color and a lighter lipstick color to dab in the middle. When asked about makeup dont’s, Andrea said that wearing frosted eyeshadow is a big don’t. She also said the most important tips for successful makeup looks are that less is more, to maintain a makeup look you’re comfortable with and to use a mirror that has magnification and lighting. With her “Ask Andrea” column in Glamour, Andrea received thousands of questions from women, so we asked her what the most frequently asked question was. She told us that many women wanted to know about how to properly conceal dark circles under her eyes, and one of the best tips she gave for dark circles was to put non-adhesive paper tape under your eyes overnight to avoid liquid piling up while you lie down. We then asked Andrea about some of her best fashion tips for classic looks. She explained that sticking to a singular color palette and keeping your look monochromatic can help make your fashion look classier. She emphasized the importance of having the right bra, since proper coverage and support can significantly help make a look better. She also recommended wearing a white shirt with shortened sleeves and a necklace for the basis of a more polished look. Finally, we asked Andrea if she had any tips for wearing and choosing the right shoes, and she said that shoes with a little bit of a wedge are the ones she tends to gravitate towards, for they look more flattering and are more supportive for your back.

Andrea Pomerantz Lustig

Andrea Pomerantz Lustig is known around the offices of Glamour as the “Beauty Sleuth,” thanks to the wildly popular beauty advice column and articles she wrote for the magazine for the last decade, as well as her BlackBerry bursting with the hottest beauty pros. She started Glamour.com’s beauty blog and is cherished by Glamour readers for her fresh, original beauty tips, ideas, and solutions. Prior to becoming a contributing editor at Glamour, she was pioneer editor in chief at Sephora.com, and before that spent ten years as beauty and fitness director at Cosmopolitan. She regularly appears in the national media, on shows including The Early Show, Good Morning America, Today, Oprah, and Entertainment Tonight. Her beauty tips have appeared in Glamour, the New York Times, Women’s Daily, Allure, and bloggers share her tips with their audiences regularly. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she lives in New York City with her husband and three children.