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Life & Style.

Style Roundup March 26-April 2

Your bi-weekly dose of sartorial snippets

By Savis Irandoost, Contributor, and Sophie Isbister, Life & Style Editor

This week on Style Roundup, Savis and Sophie look at ways you can add colour to your spring wardrobe to keep looking as fresh as possible. We look at beauty product trends in nails and hatr, colour-pop accessories, and introduce you to the colour of 2013.

Pop out of the norm

When it comes to creating

a look, any glam gal knows that accessories are your best friend. I spend more money

a year on accessories than I

do on actual clothes. Clothes can only get you so far, while accessories polish your look and make you stand out. The mother of all accessories is the statement piece, which can be

a big, bold piece of jewellery, a funky shoe, or any other bold and bright accessory item. A personal favourite of mine is a pop of colour on an otherwise neutral outfit. I usually go

with an all-black outfit and wear a bright lipstick, purse,

or shoe—try fuchsia, royal purple, deep green, or azure. Colours, while not necessary, can be especially inspiring for spring. Gold and silver jewellery work as a statement piece as well. Trending right now in the market are clunky necklaces and we're loving it! Whether you go for colour or metallic, accentuate your amazing fashion sense

by drawing attention to your statement piece!

Chalk: it’s not just for sidewalks

Are you a hair colour commitment-phobe looking for a way to spice up your locks without investing in toxic bleach and dye? Look no further than hair chalk! It’s exactly what it sounds like—blocks of coloured chalk that you rub onto strands of your hair for fun, low-impact streaks. The chalk comes in bright hues like pink, orange, and purple and can usually

be found in specialty makeup stores and hair salons. Try to pick up chalk specifically for hair—while you can use your little brother's sidewalk chalk

for a similar effect, the kind that is specifically made for hair will be brighter, less damaging, and will wash out easier. Concerned that your hair might be too dark for the colours to show up? I asked my brunette bombshell bestie Sharon Miki how she gets the chalk to stay in her trendy tresses—she says to straighten the strand of hair, rub the chalk on while it’s still warm, then spray it with hairspray. Repeat until you achieve desired saturation!

Shellacin’ Around

Tired of doing your nails just

to have them chip a day later? Do you want the brightest of bright awesome colours at your disposal? Do you want a shine and thickness to your polish that can’t be replicated with anything else? Then you probably want Shellac. It baffles me how few women know about Shellac nails. It’s been around for a while, with an ever-growing fan base. Shellac is a nail lacquer, somewhere between gel nail polish and regular nail polish. It’s a trademarked formula that is only sold at specialty beauty suppliers. The polish itself is more expensive and requires a few other items like bond aid, shellac base coat, and shellac top coat—most people go toa salon to get Shellac. Your nails can be super short and it'll still look great. Shellac lasts two to three weeks, way longer than

a regular manicure, and it is virtually impossible to chip—it even needs to be soaked off with acetone. The one thing that keeps us glamazons from doing our own Shellac nails

on a regular basis is that the polish requires an ultraviolet light to activate and set. Mini UV lights are hard to find and expensive, but are becoming more accessible. Until then, I’ll settle for the nail parlor!

Emerald city

Pantone, the pigment company that sells colours to the entire fashion industry, has scientifically deemed emerald green the colour of 2013. Remember 2012? When you couldn’t walk down the street without seeing someone wearing the bright orange that Pantone called Tangerine Tango? That was the colour last year. Pantone determines the colour of the year based on their industry sales, so

CnalBing and nails photos courtesy of www.Randee|.com and www.heoddsaregood-c.blogspot.ca

when they say the colour is emerald, be prepared to see this manifest in countless items at the mall. Described by Pantone as “Lively. Radiant. Lush... A color of elegance and beauty

that enhances our sense of well- being, balance, and harmony,” emerald is great in accessories: belts, bags, shoes, headbands, or even earrings. It’s alsoa great colour for eye makeup.

An emerald shadow or liner can make brown eyes stand out, and you're sure to find several great options of this trending colour at Sephora.

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