Are your fashion and beauty choices ruining a good first impression?
You get only one chance, as the saying goes, and it is true. Maybe you’re the most meticulous dresser in the world with a closet full of smart clothes, but if you have disheveled hair, smudged eyeliner, and ripped sweats on when someone new meets you, it will be hard for them to shake that image out of their head. If you're in a professional situation or on a promising first date, the stakes are certainly higher. But looking sloppy is only the most notable misstep. The following faux pas may be less obvious, but they'll still undermine the image you’d like to put forward. In this episode, we run through the first impression ruiners that you need to look out for.
Revealing too much
There’s sexy, and then there’s too much information. You want to play up your assets to impress a date, but balance is key. For example, show off your toned legs in a miniskirt, but pair it with a colorful silk top that’s not too low-cut or form-fitting.
Piling on the makeup
Make your look appropriate for the situation. If you’re meeting someone during the day, sparkling disco eyes are not appropriate. You don’t want to look as if you are hiding behind a mask. Go for a less-is-more look with a little mascara and add a subtle shade of lipstick.
Having a yellow smile
This one can creep up on you. Even if you’re a fastidious brusher, all that coffee, iced tea, and red wine can leave you with faded, yellow teeth, which is not the message you want to give the world. You can book a pricey session at the dentist, or you can score a box of new Crest 3D White Intensive Professional Effects Whitestrips, which can whiten teeth as well as a $500 professional laser treatment.
Ignoring chipped nail polish
When your polish is flaking off—get out the nail polish remover asap! You look like a 5-year-old with patches of color on your nails, and it’s inexcusably easy to reapply fresh color.
Wearing too much perfume
You may love your signature scent but that does not mean that everyone else does. If you walk around in a cloud of perfume, it can be unpleasantly overwhelming to people you’re trying to please, and it also raises the question, what are you hiding?
Chewing gum
If you want to pop in a piece to make sure your breath is minty before a first meeting, by all means, go ahead. But get rid of it before the encounter begins. Chomping on gum loudly -- or, worse, trying to dispose of it in the presence of another person -- gives the impression that you are not taking the meeting seriously.
Do you have another first-impression faux pas? Let us know by posting on our Facebook wall.
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