Franca Personal Style Consultancy

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Green

Hello humans,

Big hug, super happy you are back to my blog.

The fourth colour I wanted to discuss with you is one of my favourites. Green!!

I love green because when I was a kid, struggling with severe cystic acne, struggling with depressive episodes, struggling with self-worth & self-love, I thought the only beautiful thing in my entire body was my green eyes.

What a sad, sad mindset I had. But I was/am the result of my circumstances, upbringing, education, values and teachings. I was learning how to recognise myself as an individual in this world, I was trying to figure out things by myself and I obviously struggled, like many of you.

I want to gladly shout out to the world that I have changed my perspective a lot. I have spent many hours investing in myself, not only treating my acne condition, but also healing my heart and my mind. I’m sad when I talk about my younger self, but at the same time I’m so happy about my journey and where I am right now. It was/is hard, but so worth it.

If any of you are struggling right now, I want to testify the work is worth it. Do it!

So going back to my 1st statement, yeah I thought my green eyes were the only pretty thing I had, so I learned how to highlight them. When I started wearing makeup I wore red, purple and orange tones, which are the best to highlight green eyes. I obviously wore a lot of green tops, since anything you wear close to your face, will highlight your facial features.

My green eyes also react a lot to sunlight. In a gloomy country such as the UK, they don’t pop as much and most of the time people think I have brown eyes, just because the green gets really dark.

When I lived in Portugal or if I’m in a country with lots of sun or at the beach, my green eyes really pop and sometimes I have these lizard type of eyes. It is so cool, I really miss having these summer eyes, as I call it.

Nowadays, in regards to clothing, I still love green but I moved away from darker tones. I don’t have any army green in my closet, but in recent years I fell in love with mint green. I love it, it reminds me of peppermint, something fresh and light.

Here are some of the meanings and feelings the colour green transmits:

Green often symbolizes nature. It is thought to represent tranquillity.
Other common associations with the colour green are money, good luck, health.
In ancient mythology, green was used to reference the fertility of the earth as well as the fertility of women.
Studies have shown that the colour green may inspire creativity.
Green is thought to relieve stress and help heal.
It has been found that green can even improve reading ability. In one study, a green light environment improved reading ability in participants, whereas a red light environment reduced reading ability.
Shades of green found in nature may help put us at ease in a new place. For this reason, designers often feature the colour green in public spaces like restaurants.

I’ll leave you with some of the plants/flowers I observed in the Oxford Botanic Garden.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Purple

Hello humans,

Sending you a big hug, wishing your week is going well.

The third colour I wanted to discuss with you, was one of my favourites for years.

From a young age I was attracted to purple. When I was not wearing black, red or army green (this was actually a thing I did for years), I would sometimes dress in something purple. It would break my black routine and in my head it looked as I was wearing bright colours 😀 In my head purple would still be kind of acceptable in my punk/rebel look I was trying to pull.

Now looking back and realising that for years I only wore black, army green and red actually makes me sad. This was such an unconscious way of me trying to explain to the world I was not ok, that I felt sad, that I needed support.

I am not saying these colours I’ve mentioned only reflect sad and depressing emotions, but when you ONLY have these colours in your wardrobe, there is a subliminal message there that people around you will react.

It is not just the colours you use, the frequency you use them also matters. I still love black, red and green, all of these are still my favourite colours. But now I explore other tones and I wear them occasionally, not every single day.

Right now, I continue to like purple but I wear lighter shades and tones of purple. I associate it to lavender and because I react greatly to scents too, the colour makes me feel good and calm.

Here are some of the meanings & feelings the colour purple transmits:

The color purple is often associated with royalty, power, and ambition.
Purple also represents extravagance, creativity, wisdom, dignity, mystery, independence and magic.
The color purple has a variety of effects on the mind and body, including calming the mind and nerves.
Purple is the color of the Crown chakra. This chakra is located at the top of the head and is linked to the crown of the head, nervous system, and the brain, and is representative of pure thought. This chakra connects one with the infinite consciousness. Opening this chakra will help tap into a deep spiritual understanding.

I’ll leave you with some of the plants/flowers I observed on the Oxford Botanic Garden.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Orange

Hello humans,

Hope you are having a great day.

The second colour I wanted to discuss with you, is actually not one of my favourite colours. Today I will talk a bit about orange.

I find that bright orange tones create a not so nice feeling inside of me. I don’t know to what I associate this colour to, but I simply reject it. I cringe when I see someone wearing a big piece of clothing in bright orange.

I find that bright orange needs to be counterbalanced with a much smoother and calmer colour, like white, beige or maybe brown, to bring the orange a bit down.

Yet, one must not forget that colour tones are very important to consider! I do like softer shades of orange. If I see pastel tones of orange, salmon colour, peach colour, etc, I like it and find it quite warm and it soothes me. I also like orangy earthy tones like clay colours, it makes me feel grounded and safe.

Here are some of the meanings & feelings the colour orange can transmit:

Orange is considered an energetic colour.
Orange has one of the strongest measurable physical effects of any colour. Orange stimulates the appetite, increases energy level, and even stimulates the thyroid to boost metabolism.
Orange calls to mind feelings of excitement, enthusiasm, and warmth.
Orange is often used to draw attention, such as in traffic signs and advertising.
Orange is the colour of bright sunsets and fruits such as oranges and tangerines, so many people might associate the colour with the beauty of a setting sun or the refreshing taste of citrus. Orange is also linked to autumn.

I’ll leave you with some of the plants/flowers I observed on the Oxford Botanic Garden.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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White

I know I have been away, I have been busy doing nothing. You may find this unbelievable, but I myself am a person that struggles not to be doing something. I took 2 weeks off of work, had a staycation and yet I was not super active on the blog.

The reason for this is because I wanted to disconnect. Ever since I started having smartphones and laptops, I always felt the need to disconnect for a while. I would usually would do this when I was on holidays and going to the beach for 2 weeks, where I spend my days reading.

Recently I have finished a 6 week reiki running session. If you have never done reiki it is an alternative therapy that helps you balance your internal chakras (points of energy), where a therapist using their hands (but not touching you) will check in on these points and will try to to help you balance your energy centers.

I tried to do reiki more frequently in the past, but I guess that real life rat race makes us forget the things that are beneficial for us and only when we feel not so great, we realise we need help.

For me a good way of analysing how each session goes is to express the colours I see in my mind’s eye. I also find that when I am doing reiki I have this need to use bright and light colours.

The first time I was introduced to reiki, I was going through a very shitty period of my life and I remember the therapist asking for certain occasions to wear white clothes. I remember telling her I didn’t have white in my wardrobe, to which she replied to wear light colours, pastel tones instead as much as I could.

With time I have come to change my perspective of the world, I have learned about the stimuli that I react to. The more I know myself, the more comfortable I feel about myself, the more colour I have embraced in my life and now I can say I have very few pieces that are black or dark in my wardrobe. I still love black, I think I look great in black, yet because I feel certain colours hold different energies I only use it on very specific occasions.

With all the above said, during my staycation I went to Oxford and I’ve visited the Oxford Botanic Garden https://www.obga.ox.ac.uk/visit-garden which is such a lovely place to visit, plus it is the oldest botanic garden in the UK. It was originally created to study plants and botanicals.

I observed so many plants and flowers, I was amazed by Mother Nature’s beauty, the colours, forms, patterns, in all the plants and flowers.

I decided to expand a bit on the meaning of colours on this blog and at the same time share with you some of the flowers I photographed in the Oxford Botanic Garden.

I am starting with white. White is a very powerful colour I find it is used very smartly by people and brands. I like white a lot, yet I don’t have a lot of white big pieces of clothing. I love a white shirt, there is a small sense of perfection right there on your chest. I also find that a white shirt/top in the work environment, others will react to you in a more open and friendly way.

Here are some of the meanings and feelings the colour white that transmit:

White represents purity or innocence.
Designers often use the color white to make rooms seem larger and more spacious.
White can convey simplicity.
White often seems like a blank slate, symbolizing a new beginning or a fresh start.
In marketing and branding, white is used to convey a feeling of safety, purity, freshness, and cleanliness.

I’ll leave you with some of the plants/flowers I observe on the Oxford Botanic Garden.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Week Course

Hello humans, I hope you are doing well.

This summer has been rough for me.

With Covid-19 pandemic, waiting on vaccination, rules being set up and then changed weeks later, it was very hard for me to try and decide for a summer break/holiday.

I knew I couldn’t repeat the same mistake as last year, where I thought things would be resolved soon and I spent 9 months working full on, with no break. I just want to say, it was a stupid decision and hard. Therefore, this year I wanted to take more frequent breaks throughout the year, to take my head off work completely.

Because the rules of travelling in the UK were constantly changing, I decided I would stay in the country this summer. Once I realised it was also hard to travel within the UK, plus prices of hotels in England were sky-rocketing, I finally decided to do something creative in London instead, invest in education and creativity.

My first summer break, a week now in July, I enrolled in a sewing course in University of the Arts London | UAL https://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual , where I’ve learn how to work with patterns, fabrics, and I sew 2 pieces of clothing from beginning to end. It has been an amazing experience that I totally recommend. I think that being creative is very important in ones life and more people should experience it too.

I will leave you some photos of my work, I hope you enjoy. I definitely did.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Weekend in London

Hello friends,

As I’ve mentioned recently I had one of my best friends visiting me in London.

Obviously I planned a few activities throughout the city, but above all I wanted us to enjoy each others company and not rush.

Back in the days I always wanted to do as much I could, in a short amount of time. But as I grew older I figured out I was just going through check lists and would be constantly thinking I needed to be in a different place at X hours. I was not fully enjoying the experience.

We went to a peculiar museum because it is the oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe. It offers a unique insight into the history of medicine and surgery as it is the oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe https://oldoperatingtheatre.com/. I totally recommend it, it was super interesting.

We also went to a rooftop for drinks, which was also an intense experience, for me at least. It was as if I had been teletransported to a Love Island scenario. I was very intrigued by many of the ladies looks, but at least showed me another side of London I had never experienced before.

I will leave you with some of the photos of the weekend.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Work event

Hello humans,

Hope you are doing well. I am doing well too.

These past weeks I have had a few events in my life that really made be happy, because I was really craving social interactions. Now that most of the population is starting to get fully vaccinated, it’s becoming more comfortable for me to engage socially.

As per usual, there are long periods when you don’t have anything to do, or you just want to cocoon at home and not interact with anyone (at least I do).

Other occasions there are plenty of stuff happening. It was a bit like this past week, because like I had a work event, plus my best friend visited me in London.

I wanted to share with you some of the photos from the work event. We were told the dress code was casual chic, but I was not sure if my colleagues were going to commit to this. Many times dress codes are asked from the guests, yet people still go in jeans and tennis shoes, which for me it is disappointing. Not in this case, people did dressed up, invested time and made an effort to put on their best looks.

I was a bit indecisive, tried a few options before hand. At least in the UK, you always have to consider and/or guess what the weather is going to be like. If you think it may rain, if it’s going to be cold, or if it’s going to be warm enough not to wear tights and/or sandals. Just because it is Summer, you cannot assume it is going to be dry and warm.

Secondly, I didn’t want to overdress and everyone else around me in normal office clothes. I initially considered a dress, but then remember I had a pair of trousers I bought last year, I hadn’t had the time to wear.

As per usual, I was trying to go for a more sophisticated look, but at the same time work appropriate, plus comfortable so that I could be relaxed and enjoyed the entire night.

I will leave you with some photos from the event. I had a lot of fun and concluded how important these events are for colleagues to bond, engage and lift up a companys’ morale.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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I cannot stand ponchos

Hello humans.

Happy to see you back.

I think the title of this post is very clear, I don’t like ponchos.

Originating from South-America, ponchos were initially created to provide warmth while remaining breathable and comfortable.

In the meantime Humankind has evolved and has been able to create sleeves and design more body fitting clothes. Therefore, I don’t understand why anyone would chose to wear something that makes them look like a tent.

I honestly think this piece of clothing doesn’t look good in any body shape, it is so unflattering. If you are thin, you get lost underneath it. It you are bit bigger, it will make you look bigger, this is my very honest opinion.

If it is a matter of having a big garment that you can put over your clothes in a cold, damp winter day, I personally choose big winter overcoats.

Yet, if you want something different, I would then suggest a cape. Why? Capes are designed shoulder down, the piece should fit your shoulder length and drop down. This tiny detail allows to define your body size defining a long vertical long line. A cape will make you look taller and slimmer.

The opposite of a poncho, ponchos usually have a triangle shape, with a main hole for the head. When you wear it, the triangle shape will open up from your shoulder down, making your figure look bigger than actually is. No es bueno.

If you are wearing ponchos because you want to hide your body, ponchos will not resolve your insecurities, if anything, it will highlight them.

Developing a style that aligns with your taste and that favours you, is a journey. But for you to be successful in your journey, you definitely need to accept yourself, your body. This also means that you’ll have to face your insecurities and this requires your time and attention. All I can say to you is that it not easy, but it is worth it.

We’re here to be loved and this starts with us loving ourselves.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

**Poncho, even in a tall slim woman, it makes her body figure look bigger. No, no thanks.**

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Jessie Reyez

Hey people, thanks for being here.

Following my appreciation post about 070Shake, I’ve decided to also mention I love Jessie Reyez https://www.instagram.com/jessiereyez/.

I love her because she is super talented, has an amazing voice, she writes super fierce lyrics. She is super cute and sexy, I love how she owns those big brows and if I could ever choose someones hair, it would be hers. I love her long, dark, curly hair. She is the only woman I like seeing wearing a messy bun.

Majority of times she presents herself in baggy, masculine clothes. Yet she “jumps” very well between a masculine hoodie and baggy shorts look, to a feminine evening gown. See for yourself below.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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070 Shake

Hi people,

thanks for showing up.

As I’ve expressed before, I seek inspiration in Art, artists, genuine real people, not necessarily from “influencers” on the internet.

Sometimes inspirational people come as comfort, I’ll explain. Growing up in a small town, in a small country back in the days with no internet, if you didn’t fit the cookie cutter stereotype, you would feel lost. I felt lost, I simply had no references for what I felt, what I wanted to express, how I wanted to dress. This is why representativeness matters.

Growing up, traveling, the internet, etc, helped me a lot with my restlessness. Now I know I am not alone in my aesthetic, that I am not so far fetched, that other people express themselves in similar styles to mine.

Recently I discovered a new artist (for me at least) that I have been obsessing. Her artistic name is 070Shake and she is a rapper. I am very happy because I’ve bought tickets to see her live this November, if the virus allows us. Can’t wait to hear her raspy voice. https://twitter.com/070shake?lang=en

I really like her style because I can see a bit of my younger self in her. I like the way she carries herself, the way she moves her body, love her artistry, her voice. Plus I have a huge crush for females that accept and navigate their masculinity so well, like she does.

I was a boyish girl, always being asked “why can’t you be like other girls?” and this broke me for years. Now I understand the people surrounding me at the time, didn’t have the tools to understand why I was like “that”.

A work in progress is to continue to love myself and to accept my femininity, my masculinity and everything in between. To accept that I am one of Gods creations and God loves me the way I am, because She made me. So I love to find other human beings similar to me, knowing that in all Gods greatness we are not “mistakes”.

Dear reader, I hope you find your path and you can accept yourself the way you are, as you’re perfect.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Weddings during a pandemic

Hello humans.

Great to see you back here.

Every situation, every event, everything in Life, in the Universe, has a positive side and a negative one.

This pandemic came to disrupt many things, including weddings. One of my best friends had a big wedding planned in Portugal, big guest list, food and entertainment, the works.

A virus showed up and everything we took for granted, was taken from us.

The wedding was postponed.

Then location was changed from Portugal to the UK.

Guest list revised.

Ceremony postponed again.

Finaly after many changes and delays, they were able to celebrate their love and life together and they were able to consumate their ceremony.

After the legal ceremony and during the small gathering and celebration (following social distancing rules in place at the time), many people expressed that actually they enjoyed themselves very much. That it was a more personal experience, closer, genuine and much more relaxed.

The grooms also expressed the same in their toasts, that even after so many changes and delays they really appreciated the party and their guests.

So one of the positive things that came out of this pandemic was the downgrade of massive wedding events.

A wedding originally is the celebration of a couples love and a gathering of family and friends. Why were we so far away from this, with hen parties abroad, dress changes, fireworks, white horses, etc, etc? Where did we care more about the colour of the cake, the flowers, the lettering on the invites, than actually making sure everyone is having fun?

I think the pandemic forced us to come back to the basics in many situations and weddings were definitely one of these situations.

Following the “back to basics” line of thought, I googled alternative wedding “dresses”. Simple, polished, relaxed pieces of clothing that females can consider, instead of falling for the long white expensive dress trap. Here are some suggestions.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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New designer

Hello Humans!

Happy to see you back here.

Today I wanted to share with you a jewelry designer from my home country, Portugal. Her name is Carolina Curado and she does amazing pieces, as you can see on her website https://www.carolinacurado.com/.

I got introduced to her work through my sister, that ask me to chose a piece from Carolina as birthday present, a couple of years ago. But since then, I have purchased some pieces myself. I took some photos of the pieces I own, I hope you enjoy.

Much love, my name is Franca and this is personal!

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Perfection, our silent enemy.

Hi humans, hear this.

Perfection can be detrimental for us. For years I didn’t do things, I didn’t adventure myself into new projects because I knew I wouldn’t be able to produce something perfect the 1st time around. This was so, so stupid of me.

Anything in life, we only reach perfection with pratice, pratice and more practie. The 1st time trying anything is not going to be good, but may be the starting point for something great. I just needed to allow myself time and allow myself the errors I would be making. Errors are just learning experiences.

Why was I like this? There are several factors to take in consideration, being a big one that I was not raised in an environment where it was Ok to fail. But I also spent many of my adult years putting myself down and I have to take responsibility for my poor decisions.

I am working hard to accept my errors, it will always be a work in progress. Yet one of the things always refused was any social platform that tried to “sell me” perfection. The perfect blogger posts, I roll my eyes. The influencers “selling their perfect relationships, houses, babies, dogs”, I say NO Thank You!

I don’t seek perfection, I seek honesty, in me and in others. I want authenticity, I want to see real people, real experiences. Even in a Picasso paiting, I know some strokes weren’t supposed to have that angle and that was Ok for Pablo.

We need to be gentle with ourselves, allow ourselves time and care, allow errors and I am sure if we do all this, we will definitely be more adventurous with our lives and with our styles.

I am Franca and this is personal!

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OTT

Hello humans,

Tell me the truth, when you browse through the internet and you’re looking for style inspo, aspirational lifestyle etc, how many times do you actually think “I could wear that”?

This rarely happens to me, that is why I follow only a few blogs about style & fashion. Majority of things online are so OTT for me. I tend to follow very specific people, I feel that they are authentic and real about their styles and lifestyle.

Majority of fashion influencers seem to have an OTT style, because they believe this is the only way they have to catch attention throughout this ocean of influencers, that they need to stand out, always and constantly.

Many of us simply can’t wear those clothes because we have a “serious” job and our boss would freak out if we showed up with rainbow hair for that huge presentation.

Or we have a job that requires direct contact with customers and so we have to reflect the brand/business brand, before our own style.

Yet we waste hours of our life watching these influencers, many times buying the things they advertise and then we don’t use it. We don’t wear it because we are scared of calling attention to ourselves, because we are waiting for a special occasion, because we want to lose some weight before putting it on. And so, we carry on lying to ourselves.

I don’t believe we have to be OTT 100% of the time. I think sometimes in life it is good to stand out and show your “true colours”, but many others it is good just to relax, stay back.

If you are looking for your own style, first of all you need to know yourself, otherwise you’ll end up being a bad copy of someone else.

Secondly, you don’t have to be OTT, you need to be you! I don’t believe in extreme changes. Example, if you feel you wear a lot of baggy clothes and you would like to wear something more fitting, don’t go and buy a bodycon dress. No! If you wear it and you’re not used to it, you’ll feel so uncomfortable and self-aware, you won’t wear it a 2nd time and that is money wasted.

You need to ease into more shaping clothes slowly, initially buy a smaller top. Try different colours and then with time you can buy something smaller and smaller and one day without you even noticing you’re wearing the type of clothing you always wanted.

I believe we have to be honest and realistic with ourselves “Can I wear that piece of clothing? Will it suit my body? Is it appropriate for work or can I only wear it on weekends? Will that colour work with my skin colour?”

Wearing stuff because it is a trend on Tiktok, that then makes us super self-aware and self conscious, it will take away the joy from us and the experience we’re having. All we’ll think is that we want to go home and change clothes asap.

Everyone is brave in their own way, you just need to find out how far you can go (at a time) and still feel good with yourself. I share with you my truth.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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Authentic Self

Hello humans,

As I browse social media as I browse real life, I continuously ask myself, where are these people?

Where are the people that spend 2 hours doing make-up, that then compress it in a 7 min tutorial?

Where are the people with colourful and vast wardrobes? Because all I see around me is monochromatic clothes?

Where are the people with great shoe collections? All I see is people in tennis shoes or flats, white or black.

As I immerse myself more and more into the web, like Alice in Worderland down the rabbit hole, I come to the conclusion that the majority of people online are living a double life.

Online they are cheerful and happy, with Barbie face make-up, with amazing shoes & bags, all shapes and sizes. With a rainbow wardrobe.

IRL things are way more bleak, with people wanting to blend in and not stand out at all, full of fear of other people’s judgement.

I wonder what is the real version of those people, the one we see online, or the one we see IRL? Are people actually “living” online hiding their personal styles from friends and family? Are they living their best life in the hallway where they record their tiktoks? Are they spending $$$$ on expensive dresses, to wear it in their living rooms for 10 mins and then spend their days in tracksuit bottoms?

From my point of view, my real self is the one I live IRL interacting with friends, work colleagues, etc. I spend a small amount of time on social media and what I show is what you see if you were to meet me. If you see a photo or a reel, I do actually wear those clothes. I actually wear the crazy shoes and bags!

Ater years of self-improvement work I’ve decided I am not dimming my light anymore and I refuse to hide my personality, creativity and style. I am real IRL and what you’ll see in my social media feed is an authentic version of myself. I am the real me!

I hope one day everyone feels secure, safe and loved so they can express their authentic self too.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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Queer Pride

Hello humans, thanks for showing up!

June is the month of Gay Pride, a month dedictated to celebrate queer people, accept and embrace them and above all celebrate diversity.

Unfortunately this year most Pride celebrations have either been cancelled or postponed due to Covid-19. Hopefully next year, we will return to our celebrations. In the meantime I would like to ask everyone to support the queer community. This means, to provide the same equal access opportunities to jobs, education, medical treatments.

But I especially would like to ask for the support from the white gay men. If anyone thinks of queer people, media will portray a couple of white gay men hugging or kissing. Yet, the queer community is so diverse and has so many facets, that cannot be fully represented by this standard picture.

Since this prototype couple is more and more accepted in society I would like to ask for their support to the rest of the queer community. To open their arms to lesbians, trans people, to people of colour, etc. To stop using comments on dating profiles like “no asians” as this is not an preference, this is racism. To stop giving the evil eye to (cis) women on gay bars.

I myself, have been in queer “safe spaces” and was made feel uncomfortable because I was not a man, or not visibly “gay enough”.

I myself, have heard from gay and hetero friends “what’s up with all these names people are coming up with pan-sexuals, cis people, trans, fluid, isn’t there enough designations already? Why can’t they just pick one ?”.

Well, the simple answer for this is that humans have many different shapes and sizes, have different hormonal systems, have different lifes experiences, feel differently, are attracted to different kinds of people. For some their sexuality is something stagnant, for many is an ever evolving process. Just because you feel that you’ve arrived to your place, where you feel good and comfortable, it doesn’t mean that everyone has the exact same life experience like you. The fact that some people have to explore more than you, that need to get to know themselves better, doesn’t affect you in any way.

Never forget, the queer liberation movement started with trans women of colour. So no, not all gay queer people are white gay men.

White gay men, just because you’re accepted in society, don’t close the gate to the ones behind you.

Everyone, support the queer community, not just by putting a rainbow sticker on your desk at work. Put your support into action, buy from queer owned businesses. Instead of having another coffee at Starbucks, donate £1 to queer charities and if you financially can, don’t do it just once. Do it accross the year, don’t you think that £1 donation per month is feasible ? I can assure you it will mean a lot to the queer community that needs so much support.

I am Franca and this is personal!

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Bonus

Hey humans!

Hope you are doing good, thank you for coming back.

I am very lucky to work in a company that acknowledges my skills, knowledge and efforts, and compensates me fairly. I have worked really hard all my life and I tried to navigate my career so that I could find a place where I liked going to work in the morning. After all, it’s the place we spend 8h per day, or even more.

I want people to understand that a good work place doesn’t simply show up in your life. You have to look for it, attempt various places, work with different people so you know what you like, what you don’t like. What business dynamic you thrive and feel good, and the ones that deflate and demotivate you.

And once you find a great company, you have to invest a lot of energy doing your work, keeping good relationships with your colleagues, superiors, etc. All relationships work both ways, if you want to be treated well, you will need to treat others well too.

I went into the interview for this job with the mindset of “I am the best person for this position and this is why. I am going to excel on these tasks. I will persevere to learn new things, so I can succeed in all other areas” and since then, every day I show up for work, I live by my own words.

Reciprocally the business has acknowledged my efforts and has promoted me, has raised my wages and has provided me with annual bonuses. This year was no exception.

My pay rise was above 10% and I see it as an opportunity to increase my savings. The most important thing when someone gets a pay rise , it is to maintain their expenditure and allocate the “extra money” to savings.

What happens is that many times people are so excited for getting a pay rise, that they automatically go find a way of spending this pay rise money. This is negative because once you have new expenses (you have a new gadget, or you start buying new services like for example doing your nails) it is very hard to revert back.

If you keep your expenses the same, you can allocate your pay rise/extra money to savings, make plans, etc. The only exception I would do in regards to your pay rise money is:

Increase your pension contributions
Buy medical insurance
Invest in education.

In regards to the bonus, as per usual I allocated majority to savings. Please see below how I allocated the lump sum:

82% – Savings, either long term savings, or short term savings.

18% – I spent on gifts for myself.

I decided I deserved some sort of gratification for all my hard work in these past 2 years in the company and I’ve decided to buy something I had wanted to buy for so many years now, which were some Gucci shoes. I also decided I wanted to invest in better fashion jewelry to replace old, cheap pieces I had.

The Gucci shoes I wanted were the famous Marmont Gucci loafers. I adventured in a new selling platform and found 2 pairs my size. As many of you know, these loafers the most simple model cost around £500/£600 a pair. I used a 2nd hand platform called Vestiaire Collective to buy the shoes. I bought 2 pairs and in total I spent £493. Both shoes came in original packaging and refurbished, they both come with brand new anti-slip soles. I am super happy with my purchase, 2 pairs for less that the price of one single new pair. Great!

The jewelry I decided to invest was from Calvin Klein. My sister gave me a silver ring as a birthday gift, I have this ring for more than 10 years. I still wear it a lot. I find that CK does very nice neutral, polished, sofisticated jewelry that endures very well the test of time. I found they were on sale on TK Maxx, so I ended up buying rings, bracelets, earrings, etc. Items that usualy cost £100, I found them for £12. The most expensive piece was the bangle that cost me £16.

The last item I purchased was a Missoni scarf, that I also found in TK Maxx for £40. They usually retail for £260, so I also thought it was a great find.

Fashion is great and it can boost your mood and self-esteem, but it shouldn’ come at the expense of your financial independence and future. Be smart with your money.

I am France and this is personal!

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Period Underwear

Hello friends.

Hope you are enjoying these warmer days of Spring.

I wanted to share my thoughts with you about period underwear. I want to tell you that I like it as a supplement to other methods. I’ll explain.

Roughly about 2 years ago, I decide to start using a menstrual cup and since I was on an experimental vibe, I decided to also try period underwear.

I have trialled them separately and together, and I found that what works best for me best is, wearing them both.

Menstural cup was life changing for me, for the following reasons:

You save a lot of time with your personal higyiene, since you can wear it up to 12 hours.
You save a lot of money in other menstrual products.
It is super easy to clean and maintain.
You save the environment, since you will stop sending thousands of used menstrual products to landfills.

I have also tried menstrual underwear by itself, I found that I felt a bit discomfortable. Since my 2nd period that I always used tampons, and even though the underwear does absorb your menstrual blood, after a while I felt the underwear getting wet. I didn’t like that feeling.

Why the combination of the two, is the best option for me?

As some of you may know, I do WT Taekwondo for the last 11/12 years. It is a high impact sport where I use my legs a lot, there is a lot of leg elevation for kicks and body rotation. When I am doing Taekwondo I need to wear good quality, nicely fit underwear so I can perform well. With all the rotation, sudden movements, etc, it would be normal to have a bit of leakage when you are on your period.

In rare occasions I have experienced leakage using the menstrual cup, since my body is moving and so it will the cup inside of me. Since I had already purchased period underwear and they were nice and tight, I use them as complement to the menstrual cup. So even if there is leakage, I know for sure the period underwear will absorb it and not let it spill over my white martial arts suit.

Why I chose to talk about period underwear and menstrual cups in a style blog?

Because personal style is feeling good in your body, feeling comfortable, feeling clean, fresh, active. Anyone who menstruates knows how hard it is sometimes to feel good, during your cycle. Lets’ destroy the taboo and embrace our natural bodies cycles. We can be on our periods and wear white pants!

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Uniform

Hi humans,

thank you for coming back!

I have written about this before, but since lockdown is slowly coming to an end and people are slowly going back to their offices, I’ve decide to share my thoughts again about having a work uniform.

When I refer to a work uniform, I am not referring to a mandatory work uniform as if you work in retail or in a warehouse. I am referring to people who choose to wear the same type of clothes to work everyday, for your reference think Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs.

The main reason why people do this is mainly to save previous brain energy to make more important decisions throughout the day. You have a certain amount of “brain energy” to make decisions, you need to be smart on how you spend it.

On todays post I want to show that, if you “wear a uniform”:

you don’t have to be boring and only wear black/dark colours.
you can wear different types of flat shoes, not just tennis.
you can wear denim to work.
you can save money, since you know exaclty the pieces you need to rotate throughout the week.

When I left University and was looking for a job, I was petrified that that meant I had to stop being me, and conform to the blob of “grey people working in offices” type of person. With time, with help of my sister and new friends I’ve made, I quickly catched up and discovered that I could still look professional and mature but keep my identity.

For this blog post I wore:

2 blazers, both bought on sale.
3 pairs of trousers. The violet jeans and the floral pants, bought on sale. The black pair, I can’ remember when/where I bought them, I have them for many years now.
3 pair of different shoes. Tennis shoes, bought 2nd hand on Ebay. The black heels were bought on sale, and the Melissas shoes I have them for more than 10 years. I’ve asked my friend to buy some pairs in Brazil, when he went to visit family.

Another objective about uniforms is to be super confortable, hence me wearing jeans or wearing different type of flat shoes.

People of the world, hear me out! You dont’ have to wear all black, you don’t have to wear black boring ballerinas or tennis shoes, every day of your lives either.

If your job allows you to wear denim, go for it. Personally, I draw the line with ripped jeans. Keep ripped jeans for your personal life and social events. For work if you have casual fridays for example, you can go for denim.

For confortable shoes, increase your scope. You can wear confortable shoes, without having to be black brogues or tennis shoes. Your shoes will have a huge impact on your look, you can elevate a look if you wear heels. As you can see on my photos I chose block heels as they give me more support.

If you wear the same clothes, but you wear tennis shoes, it will make you look younger (which for women sometimes it is not beneficial in the work place). The cool option in between is some nice ballerina flats or even kitten heels. Still low heel shoes, but elevates the look.

I would suggest you start with a simple base, ideally with no print or pattern. Easier option is white/beige, but you can try any other colours. I want to suggest people to keep it light at the top, as it will bring attention to your face, it will make you look younger, it will make you look modern and refreshed.

For trousers, and if you feel confortable, try different colours or even different patterns. If you find a model you like, I would suggest you buy 3 pairs all in different colours or patterns, so you can rotate them.

If you also keep your trouses game quiet, then you can risk it on the blazers. Again, avoid black. Think what colours you like or that match your skin colour. I have replaced my blazers last year and I bought 3 in one go. I have a red one, a navy blue and a beige. These are colours I like and since the blazers have no pattern they won’t overpower the looks. If you are more sassy, adventure yourself in choosing blazers with patterns. Currently I only have a fourth one, a leopard print blazer that was a hand-me-down I got 7 years ago.

And eventually when you start feeling more confident, you can add more creativity or glam to your look, by adding a nice scarf, a necklace, some earrings.

There are 2 additions I would suggest which are:

buy a couple of jumpers for winter,
buy a nice pair of neutral boots, that won’t clash with any of the looks so you can wear them everyday, for rainy days.

If you have this amount of pieces of clothing in your closet:

2/3 blazers,
2/3 shirts,
2/3 pairs of trousers,
2/3 jumpers,
1 pair of boots,
1 pair of heels,
1 pair of ballerinas
and 1 pair of tennis shoes,

You will save money, since you know exactly the piecs of clothing uyou have and need for work.

You will save time in the morning getting ready. After a few days, getting dressed will be an automated task you will be able to accomplish in minutes.

You will look professional with no effort.

You will be confortable throughout your day.

I hope you like my suggestions. My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Vivienne Westwood

Hi humans, thank you for coming back.

Following my recent post where I shared my adoration for people that inspire me, today I want to talk about the one and only, the real queen Vivienne Westwood.

Where do I begin about this woman that inspires me so, so much. She is a rebel, I love her spirit.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a punk. But then I learned that most punks would live in abandoned buildings, all sharing the same space and I was like “I’m tapping out”. Nhaaa, I really hated my life but I could not let go of having a safe, secure bedroom. I love my bed.

I’ve spent years thinking on how I could express my rebel punk spirit, without falling for the cliches of mohawks and leather jackets? How could I express my desire to change the world, without being a homeless girl travelling around with a pack of dogs. How could I, by myself, actually change the world, by begging for money and cigarettes in the street? Do have in mind that I grew up in a small rural town in Portugal, my knowledge of the movement at this point was very limited.

Bit by bit I have learned more about the punk movement and I appreciate it’s contribution to the world and how it influenced so many artists, culture, society, etc. But I also learned that you can be a punk at heart but express your angst and desire for change, in a more productive way.

Obviously during my researches I had to come across Dame Vivienne Westwood.

In her early years she studdied jewellery and silversmith. In the 70’s she met Malcolm McLaren and started creating clothes he designed. They went on to open their first store in London, called SEX. They eventually separated and Vivienne carried out by herself.

The best description of her design style is this one I read from The Slits Viv Albertine “Vivienne and Malcolm use clothes to shock, irritate and provoke a reaction but also to inspire change. Mohair jumpers, knitted on big needles, so loosely that you can see all the way through them, T-shirts slashed and written on by hand, seams and labels on the outside, showing the construction of the piece; these attitudes are reflected in the music we make. It’s OK to not be perfect, to show the workings of your life and your mind in your songs and your clothes.”

I can write and write about how Dame Vivienne inspires me, but in this post I just want to highlight her spirit, how she has surpassed so many obstacles on her personal and business life. How in her 80’s she still rebels and she instigates change (she is a fierce environmental activist) and how unique her design style is. She definitely makes me think “when I grow up I want to be like her!” .

If you want to know her a bit more check out the online exhibition at the V&A Museum in London:

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/vivienne-westwood-punk-new-romantic-and-beyond

Definitely buy her book titled Get A Life!

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/books/vivienne-westwood/get-a-life/9781781254981?gclid=CjwKCAjw-qeFBhAsEiwA2G7Nly19rMbVIPO4w42bgc3xH9B4Jxu4wKVEaugKfM3D89rWzGkhsxvyShoCkCMQAvD_BwE

And watch the documentary:

God Save The Queen Vivienne.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Franca Sozzani

Hi humans, welcome back.

On these series of sharing with you people that inspire me, I want to share Franca Sozzani.

This woman inspired me so much, to the point of influencing me on the name of this blog! The blog name is inspiration drawn from her name and word play with my native language, Portuguese.

Franca Sozzani started working at Vogue in 1976 and she grew inside the magazine, taking so many different job positions.

She was know for including difficult topics in a fashion magazine such has domestic violence, drug abuse, climate change, etc. She was in the frontline of people reshaping fashion publications by introducing these difficult topics, along side with colour palettes and season trends. Because surprise, surprise the same person who likes nail polish is also interested in reading an article about domestic violence or drug abuse. Humans are complex beings.

Who doesn’t remember the oil spill photo editorial?

Either you are pro or against it, you have to at least acknowledge that it woke people up, it made people talk about the issue of the oil spills. So this reaction, just by itself, shows how successful the editorial was.

Unfortunately Franca Sozzani December 2016, at the young age of 66.

Franca had a amazing personal style, she was quiet and calm. She carried herself with such elegance and refinement, that observing her was a delight. The biggest style statement for me was the fact that she carried her long hair, when we know that usually ladies tend to cut their hair short, after a certain age gap.

I loved her eyes, her smile and her golden locks, she seemed so sweet. But what made me really fall in love with her and it resonated deep inside of me was that she was this polite, introvert lady. But deep inside she was fierce and courageous. Humblingly I see a little of myself in her.

If you want to fall in love with her like I did, you must watch the Netflix document her son produced.

My name is Franca and this is Personal!

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Iris Apfel

Hi humans, welcome back.

On these series of sharing with you people that inspire me, I want to share Iris Apfel. I love this lady, she is so OTT but at the same time so genuine. This dichotomy really fascinates me.

Iris started a business with her husband in 1950 and she has worked most of her life as an interior designer. She has travelled a lot, she has seeked inspiration throughout the entire world and she has developed the most genuine personal style.

She is so unique that at around the year 2000 she started to get attention from social media platforms, with so many people taking photos of/with her.

She is so known and famous, that at the age of 90 years old she started modeling, she has been part of adverts, brands fight to have her as their “face”. Who would have thought a lady in her 90’s would become a brand’s spokesperson. This comes to show, we really never know what life will bring for us in the future. All we have to do is not shut ourselves off from the world.

I admire Iris because in this age we live right now where everyone “follows” instagram influences, plastic surgery keeps on the rise, everyone wants to look unhealthily younger, people like Iris show that you don’t have to go with the flock, you can do your thing at any age.

I also like to seek inspiration from people older than me, not 16 year olds on Tik-Tok wearing crop tops. I want to know people that travelled more than me, know more than me, have more life experience than me. Where did we lose the habit of learning from our elders? It doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive, we can learn from younger people and we can definitely learn from older people too.

Anyhow, I think Iris is living her best life, she has so much joy and that transpires in her style.

Another thing I love about Iris is that she is definitely NOT A MINIMALIST. She has a lot of clothes & accessories, she wears a lot of them at the same time. Yet, it doesn’t feel the clothes are wearing her, she is wearing the clothes. She doesn’t exude being overwhelmed by clothing, she exudes security on her taste.

Iris proudly states she has many designer clothes but she loves to find a bargain and mix everything together. She is so creative, I love it.

Iris has written a book titled Accidental Icon. Along with other books, I’ve recently bought a 2nd hand copy but in excellent condition. I leave you with a link:

https://wordery.com/iris-apfel-iris-apfel-9780062405081/GB?currency=GBP&gtrck=true&gclid=CjwKCAjw-qeFBhAsEiwA2G7NlzfebUQVSKftWTrLolA1JSYdg6RLs7fY_yeo0KqfoxAAmbtzpPLQRxoC89EQAvD_BwE

You can find Iris Apfel across social media platforms https://www.instagram.com/iris.apfel/

What if we aim to be inspirational to the world, even at the approximate age of 100!?!?

My name is Franca and this is Personal.

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Grace Coddington

Hello humans,

Thank you for coming back to my blog.

Recently I have been feeling a bit down. When I feel like this I like to reach out for inspiration. I seek people that can lift my spirits with their creativity and tenacity. Somehow when I see how other people dealt with their obstacles and thrived, it gives me hope. It shows me this episode I am going through now, it is temporary and therefore there is hope in the future. I may need a moment to recoup, but I will be fine.

I decided to share with you some of the people that inspire me. These people inspire me in many different levels, but overall they do inspire my fashion choices, to seek my unique personal style and be more genuine.

The first person I want to share with you is Grace Coddington. This lady started by being a fashion model and later in life she became the creative directlor of American Vogue. I got to know her at this stage of her life.

This woman has created the most amazing fashion editorials and you can see that she is so cultured and seeks inspiration herself from great painters, other artists. Yes, it is photography and yes, it is just clothes, but she has created pieces of art herself. I leave you in a few examples.

She has written her memoir titled Grace, was published in November 2012. I bought it recently, I can’t wait to dive into her life story. I am sure I will like it, because every time I have heard her giving interviews, she sounds amazing, so educated, secure, everything I hope to achieve myself one day.

As per usual I found a 2nd hand memoir online, to save money but the book is in excellent condition.

You can find Grace on social media platforms, even though she is not a great fan of these https://www.instagram.com/therealgracecoddington/?hl=en

My name is Franca and this is personal !

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Happy purchase

Hello humans, welcome back.

Today I wanted to share with you a happy purchase.

Purchasing something new for me, it needs to have a meaning, a hope. I hope to love the item, to wear it a lot so it serves its purpose. It is a happy purchase when I am super glad with the item, either because of the price I’ve paid, or the item suits me perfectly, or it is something I end up wearing A LOT, or it is something I’ve searching for a long time. Something about that item makes me super duper happy.

A happy purchase I made was a dress from And Other Stories brand. The dress was a collab they did with another brand called Rodarte and it is just an amazing piece. It is fully beaded and elevates a simple wrap dress into a beautiful garment.

As soon as I laid my eye on the piece I had no doubts I wanted to bid on it. I won the bid and only after I decided to investigate what was the recommended retail price. I rejoiced in finding out the RRP was around £200, when I had paid less than £25 for it.

I love the dress, it fits me perfectly, I can wear it on so many different occasions and it was super cheap.

I hope this post will show you that buying second hand is nothing to be ashamed of, that you can find amazing pre-loved items and that you can save a lot of money.

I am Franca and this is personal!

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Silk Scarfs

Hello Humans!

So happy you are back to my blog.

Today I wanted to address an item that I feel is very underrated, which is silky scarfs.

When I was a kid, I thought silk scarfs was something old ladies wore to church 😀

I have been wearing scarfs for many years myself, but I don’t see a lot of people wearing them. I see people wearing wool scarfs and pashminas because of the cold, of course, but I don’t see people wearing silky types of scarfs as an accessory that much.

The main reason I wear them is because it uplifts the look, if you choose a silky scarf with a bold pattern or bold colour. It protects my coats and jackets collars from make-up stains and it can gives a flowy vibe to the look.

I personally enjoy wrapping it around my neck and invent different knots. A cool silky scarf can refresh your look and elongate your neck.

Plus you can wear them around the neck, or you can use them on your head.

I ask you to consider adding a couple of silky scarfs to your wardrobe.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Key pieces that you should have on your wardrobe

Hi humans,

Thanks for joining me once again. I hope you are doing well.

I wanted to share my ideas about key pieces everyone should have on their wardrobe. I find lists and posts of trends, color pallets, etc but none of these posts talk about functionality, comfort, safety, things that are important for me.

As you understood in my first paragraph, I am not going to suggest colour palettes, patterns or heel sizes for this season. I am going to suggest comfort and functionality, because I honestly believe that if we don’t have these, we won’t enjoy wearing our clothes and we won’t enjoy the experience we’re having at that moment in time.

Winter Coat:

The first item on my list is a winter coat. Everyone should invest good money in a good winter coat that is wind/snow proof, water resistant, with good pockets and ideally with a hoodie.

This should be that coat, where you can be wearing a nightgown underneath and still not be cold. It should be big enough for you to be able to wear a suit underneath, if you are going to work but not look slouchy.

It should have good size pockets, or several pockets spread around the garment so you have space to keep your things close at hand. If it is cold and/or rainy, no one wants to open their coat to reach their pant pockets, or struggle to push their bag to the front, to get the bus travel card. The things you will use in your commute or on your errands, should be easily accessible to you.

The hoodie obviously is good to protect your head, for when the weather is cold or rainy and you forgot to bring a hat and/or an umbrella.

When choosing your winter coat I would choose a neutral colour or pattern. Reason for this is because a good winter coat can cost a lot of money and you want to get your monies’ worth. and wear it a lot. The objective is for this garment to be versatile, as you will want to wear it for work, taking care of the family or just go grocery shopping. The more neutral it is, the less it will clash with what you are wearing that day.

Winter Boots:

The second item on my list and following the winter coat, I am going to suggest a good pair of winter boots. Style doesn’t matter, but they need to keep your feet warm, protected you from bad weather and have a good grip to avoid falls and injuries.

I became more aware of this necessity when London had the beast from the east storm and it snowed for about 2 months. It was so hard to navigate the city, walk around and I’ve witnessed some street falls that made me purchase a new pair of boots with a good grip.

A good pair of winter boots is what you need when you have to wake up to go to work, you hear the bad weather outside and you start realising how wet you are going to get, even before reaching your car or the tube station.

When I have to face the harsh weather, it makes me feel better knowing I have a good pair of boots that will keep my feet warm and I will not slip if I have to walk fast to catch a bus. l also know that if my feet are warm, then the rest the of the body will follow.

If you are concerned about the boots not matching your day look or you have work style requirements, don’t worry. Carry the shoes that you want to wear on that day on your bag, when you arrive work, you switch.

Backpacks:

The third item on my list is a backpack. Ever since I moved to London I gradually put aside the tradicional womens bags/purses. They are very impractical, very hard to maneuver them in a packed train on rush hour and the tension it creates on only one side of the body is bad.

Personally, me having to drag around a big sports bag at least 3 times a week (pre-covid19 era), was enough of a challenge. Bit by bit I decided to invest in backpacks that would carry my daily essentials like: lunch, kindle, wallet, mobile, etc.

Not only the backpack allows me to split my daily essentials, I know exactly where my travel card is, where my snacks are, etc, but most importantly it splits the weight evenly on my back. This for me is very important and one should avoid carrying heavy items always on the same shoulder as this can negatively affect your posture/back.

Sports Bra:

My last suggestion is a sports bra. All women should buy good sports bras, period. We should not be cheap with our boobies, they deserve better. Doing sports is great, I love it. I have small breasts and still I find some exercises hard to complete if I am not wearing a good sport bra.

I know my cup size and since my breasts are small, I don’t need reinforced bras, I can easily find good second hand ones. But people with bigger cups should find a good reinforced bra that provides all the support needed and be easy to put on or take off. The struggle is real to take these babies off when you are sweaty.

A sports bra has a lot of health benefits, mainly to the person’s back posture as it splits the boobies weight throughout a person back. It also makes the person feel more comfortable and not shy away from doing sports. Doing sports is great for our physical health and mental health. Get a good bra, do sports, now!

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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Pep Talk

Hello humans! I am thrilled you are back.

My connection to style and fashion has evolved a lot throughout my life. From a rebellious skinny tomboy living in rural Portugal, to being an independent female working in the financial industry in London, it has been a good ride. Sometimes I struggled, sometimes I enjoyed it, but what I can say for sure is that it has been worth it.

When I was a kid, I knew I wasn’t like the other girls, but without role models to guide me (remember I am pre-historic and I didn’t have the internet back then) I was very lost about my style. I navigated that journey the best I knew, but overall I remembered feeling guilty about liking clothes and fashion “things” and I remember enjoying creating new looks, new things.

I thought that people involved in the fashion industry were vain, superficial, even dumb. In my little world I was told that fashion was a rich people’s thing, not essential for humankind survival and us “the real people” had bigger problems to be concerned with.

Yet, I adventured in creating a personal style and the backlash of that was family and school friends commenting on how strange I looked, or the piercing comment “why can’t you be more like your sister?” that I heard a lot and hurt a lot.

Now that I am almost 38 years old, I see how wrong I was. I now accept that at every stage of my life I do the best I can, with the tools and the knowledge I have.

Now I know that liking colors, patterns, textures is not a useless thing, that it doesn’t make me a vain or a superficial person. Now I can see how I can use these talents of mine, to improve my appearance and how this can improve my self-esteem. Consequently improving my mental state and helping me reach my goals and objectives with more joy.

Fashion, style, clothes, shoes bring me joy and that by itself it is enough for me to pursue it. I believe it was Andy Warhol that once said this when he was asked why he did the work he did? He simply replied, because he liked it.

One of the reasons I created this blog was to show people that you can interpret fashion/style your own way. You own it, it shouldn’t own you. Whatever you decide to wear, should make you feel happy and make you feel good. Anything that makes you happy, is valid.

If you feel good and you feel happy, you are a better person, a better mother, sister, uncle, father, friend, employee, etc. If you are a better person and you make people feel good, this will create a snowball effect. Your self esteem will continue to improve, you will believe in yourself more and you will be more likely to follow your dreams, objectives, etc.

So this is the reason why I like to dress up, I like the colours, the pattern combinations. I like to surprise myself and others. I like to make myself happy and others too. If a piece of clothing I’m wearing makes someone wake off of their slumber, great. I’ve showed something different to the person that day. If they like it, great. If they find it funny, great, you made someone laugh.

With this said, you also need to develop a thick skin because people can be mean to you consciously or not. People will make awkward or negative comments about your look, your appearance and you will learn how to shrug things off, or to say “so what?” a lot.

Reason why people talk when they have nothing good to say? God knows! There are so many explanations for this, but don’t waste your energy on this. There are a lot of people that don’t enjoy happiness and if they are down, they will try to bring you down. You can park these people on the side road.

Playing with style and fashion makes me happy, brings me joy, consequently improves my mood and self esteem. That in return makes me a more confident person and pushes me to follow my dreams and aspirations. Who would have thought that matching shoes with a dress, could help me achieve my financial objectives 😀

Dress it up, dress for yourself, look in the mirror before you leave the house, give yourself a pep talk “You look great, you are intelligent, you are a hard worker, you deserve more, you deserve the best. You are going to get it!”. Because one thing is for sure, if you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. If you don’t chase your dreams and ambitions, no one will.

I am Franca and this is personal.

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The devil is in the details

Hey humans, happy to see you here again.

I have mentioned before, details are important for me, don’t overlook them.

It really depresses me when I see someone with a great look and then I look down and their socks are old, loose, discoloured… A tiny bit of me, dies inside.

Keep in mind that just because it isn’t on full sight, it doesn’t mean it can’t be seen or it won’t matter.

Pay attention to your underwear, socks, the lining of the coat, etc as this will polish your look. You can be wearing a super expensive suit, if the socks don’t match or are old, it will affect your appearance.

The tendency I see around a lot, is that many people think that other peoples gaze is straight forward or upwards and that people won’t look down to pay attention to your shoes or socks. This is blatantly wrong. People will look at you fully, from the bottom, up to your head level.

Regarding shoes, clean them, have them polished. This will improve your look so much.

Socks, if you are not good colour coordinating, have them at least match the colour pallete of your look that day. If they are old and can’t be repaired, throw them out or wear them solely at home.

Check the inside of your coats, is it clean? Make sure nothing is ripped .

Open your coats pockets and back vent, these are originally closed to make sure the garment keeps its shape while in store. Once it is bought you need to remove them.

Remove the lint that some pieces start to create on armpits, sleeves, waist line.

Before leaving the house, make sure you have no hair or lint on your clothes. Use a lint roller or a brush.

I assure you that once you pay attention to these details your look will improve, without having the spend money and this is always a plus for me.

My name is Franca and this is personal!

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“We are going for the sleeping bag kind of look”

I have receive The North Face newsletter and one of the products that really caught my eye was this, what I call the “duvet skirt”. This is the ultimate skirt if you really don’t feel like leaving your cosy bed on a cold winter day.

I like the photoshoot, the red, black and silver juxtaposing really highlights the skirt.

Yet, personally don’t like the skirt. It looks really warm and practical, since it has several pockets but ultimately it looks like the person is wrapped on a sleeping bag.

I did a bit more of research and I found out Maison Margiela did a collab with The North Face and this “puffer style” was a constant throughout the collection. Here is their scarf:

Obviously this scarf/skirt reminded me of Moncler puffer runway outfits that looked like The Handmaid’s Tale 😀

Old bond street Moncler store

I like to be warm, but this is way OTT even for me.

Let’s be realistic, this “puffer style” is warm and confortable, yet only suits a minority of the population, it only suits thin people. Anyone else will look as they are wrapped in a sleeping bag.

I give them 10 points for trying to inovate, but it is a no for me, thanks.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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Oops, I did it again!

Hello humans!

Thank you for your visit to my blog.

I have a big revelation this week, I have shaved my head… again…

The 1st time I did it was early 2015 and I really liked the experience, but I didn’t repeat it. The reason for this was mainly because at that point in time I was thinking about looking for a new job soon and unfortunately your appearance matters.

I never want my appearance to interfere with my skills and knowledge and distract the interviewer. I want the interviewer to focus on my CV, on my answers, but we all know other soft details are taken into consideration, how you enter a room, how you shake a hand, your tone of voice. This is how humans are built and we have to learn how to work with this, but because of the job search I decided to grow back my hair.

Now I am in a much more comfortable job situation and I am not planning to hunt for a new job soon. I work in a place where my colleagues know me, they know my work ethics, respect me for my input and quality of my work. My appearance now is a side variable, if I have long hair or a buzz cut, they don’t care.

I had been thinking about doing it for some time now, but I hesitated. The reason I hesitated, which I don’t like to admit, but the honest truth is that I don’t want to deal with other people’s reactions to my shaved head.

I had a few experiences in my life where I changed my hair length dramatically and every time I did it people had very expansive reactions. Unintentionally you kind of become the center of attention, because other people around are making such a fuss, but you are just trying to move on with your life. Majority of the people do it without thinking, this thing that a woman’s appearance and especially a woman’s hair is for public appreciation is a patriarchal lens that is very pervasive, so they think it is Ok to publicly comment on your hair change.

Women’s hair length has been studied and affects men’s attraction, we are biologically built to try to determine a woman’s age and fertility, by her hair length. To this, add thousands of years where women’s hair length was kept solely for men’s pleasure. There is science behind it and there is a patriarchy in place that still pushes all to think women’s appearance belongs to the public eye. To this I say “bollocks!”, it’s my head, my hair, I own it.

To make this clear, it is OK if someone says “wow, you’ve cut your hair, interesting choice” and then moves on. Another thing was, which was what I’ve experienced myself, is to have a work manager shouting across the office “OMG WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”. This obviously made other colleagues look up to see what was happening and chiming in on my new haircut. Even though the majority made positive comments, I felt I was a science project, where everyone was looking from the outside and making a remark, almost as if I was not there. That made me feel uncomfortable.

So yes, I took a few weeks to prepare myself for society’s comments on my buzz cut, but I’ve done it and that is what it matters.

I am happy, I really like it, it is obviously super easy in the morning to get ready. This look allows me to play with the gender binary. As expressed before, I like to navigate the female and male world, I like to look ambiguous sometimes. Sometimes I want to look more masculine, sometimes I like to explore my femininity and this haircut allows me to explore both ends.

Also to be very honest, I look F***** good!

I am Franca and this is personal.

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Sir Elton John

Hi humans, welcome back.

I have just watched the Elton John biographical movie and it came to my mind how much I admired him when I was a kid.

I loved his exuberance, flamboyance and his huge amount of sunglasses and hats. I always thought “I wish I could dress up like that”.

When I was a kid, about 2 or 3 times a year my parents would take us on a day trip to Spain. We would mainly cross the border to buy groceries, which at some point were cheaper than in Portugal.

The best part of the trip was that we would visit these department stores that for me and my sister, were the best place in the world. The department stores name is EL Corte Ingles and now it exists in Portugal as well, but not in the days. I am referring to the late 80’s, early 90’s.

The store was huge, shiny, with so many sections and variety. One of my favourites sections was the sunglasses and hats aisles. I had never been in a place that allowed customers to simply take the items and try them on without having a sales assistant help. I would go to those sections and spend so much time trying sunglasses and hats, asking my sister if I looked like Elton John.

Sometimes I would come up with other imaginary characters and pretend to be someone else with a super interesting life. I would put the glasses back on the rack and think to myself that “when I grew up, I am going to buy as many sunglasses and hats I would want”. I was right!

I hope Sir Elton John knows he has inspired kids all around the world with his style.

Here is a link to the movie trailer, I do recommend it.

I am Franca and this is Personal!

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Bling Bling

Hi humans,

Welcome back.

One of the purposes of this blog is to show to the world, you can develop a personal style, without spending a lot of money.

Obviously one of the things you can do to save money, is to look for 2nd hand items. Some people prefer going to vintage stores, others prefer to do their research online.

I personally don’t like 2nd hand stores as they are usually disorganised, big amounts of clothing are hanging on small spaces, where it is very hard to see the pieces.

I prefer shopping online and the platform I use the most is Ebay. I like shopping but I don’t want to spend hours and hours doing it. I know my size, I know the brands I like, I know the piece I am looking for. I type this on the search bar and I get tons of results, then I can filter according to my criteria, price, size, etc, etc. The process is so much more efficient, I prefer it.

While browsing for party dresses, due to the upcoming wedding, I found this precious, precious thing. I had no doubts I wanted to bid on this dress and I was crossing my fingers I would win. When I won, I was super happy.

When I received it and tried it on, it fit great, yet there are 2 negatives about this dress:

1- Clothes with sequins and/or beads, if there is friction, the beads/sequins will fall out. This happens to any garment heavily beaded. Get used to the fact, you will hear and see sequins/beads fall out.

2- The cleavage is a tiny bit big for my chest. I have small boobs and so the cleavage closes low in my chest. I didn’t get demoralized, because this is something common that happens to me. What I do to resolve these situations is, either use an inner pin that closes the cleavage at a higher part of my chest. The other option is, I wear a nice bra underneath, so even if the cleavage opens a bit more or I bend over, my boobs are taken care of and in a secure place.

After I received the dress at home, I realized the dress was much more elaborate and high quality than I expected so I decided to research the retail price of this piece. This dress is a collab between 2 brands, And Other Stories X Rodarte.

I was really surprised when I saw the retail price of this dress was around £200, when I bought it for less than £25.

I love this dress, I can’t wait for an occasion where I can wear it. But after 2020/2021 pandemic/lockdown life experience, I might as well wear it to go grocery shopping at Sainsburys. Who cares? I used to work in Chelsea, Kings Road and I used to see all those posh ladies going grocery stopping in full length (real) fur coats and I was like “Work it, B*tch!”.

I am Franca and this is personal.

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Dress revelation

Hello everyone,

Hope you enjoyed my previous post.

Do you want to know which dress I ended up choosing and why??

I ended up choosing the blue dress. The reasons why I decided for this dress were:

The wedding was going to be in the UK Midlands which is usually colder than London. It was a wedding in April and you never know what weather you are going to get here in the UK. As a default state, I am always cold in this country. The blue dress was the one that was longer and had ¾ sleeves, so I thought I wouldn’t be as cold compared to the other options I had. I also liked the dress was classy with an over the knee length, but at the same time had an open back, which I love.

I didn’t want to be overdressed and consequently overshadowing the grooms. I thought this was a classy blue shade that would pop with the sun light, but at the same time not stealing attention.

I wanted to wear my mothers vintage fur coat and I thought this dress would match the coat style.

To complement the dress I also wore:

Blue sparkling fishnet tights, that brought a bit of sparkle to the look.

A heart shaped black sequin clutch, bought 2nd hand on Ebay.

Snake print BCBG Max Azria shoes, also 2nd hand bought on Ebay.

My mothers gifted fur coat.

Vivienne Westwood earrings.

I actually don’t have a lot of photos of my look, as I strongly believe that constantly taking photos removes you from the experience you are taking part of.

I am waiting for the photographers’ proper photos to share here, but in the meantime I can share the photos the other guests were kind to share with the group.

I loved all the dresses I tried on, but I personally like this one because it has a very good cut, it drapes very well on my body and the fabric is very easy to take care of.

I am Franca and this is personal!

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Wedding Preparation

Finally after many, many hurdles, covid-19, lockdowns, etc, etc, my best friend’s wedding went ahead recently. I was very excited.

I was hopeful there were no unexpected things stopping it from happening, to get out of London for a few days, to actually attend a party. God knows it has been a while since we have been able to go to a party/gathering. Happy to see other humans and happy to take part in such a happy event, the wedding of two people who love each other.

When I have an important event to attend, I usually do some trials at home to see what I am going to wear on the day, check if I have shoes, clutch, jewelry, or if I need to buy anything.

After confirming what I am wearing on the day, I also check what I am going to do in regards to make up, hair, etc. The purpose of this is to arrive on the day knowing exactly what I am wearing, what make-up will I do, what hair-do I will have, with no hesitation and not having unexpected delays.

There were few things that crossed my mind:

It was my first wedding at a registration office, I was unsure how dressed up people could/should be. I was unsure if there is a protocol for these types of weddings.

It was in the Midlands, meaning the weather is usually colder there than in the south of the UK, so I should be prepared for colder weather.

Since it would be a small wedding due to covid-19 restrictions, would the other guest bother to dress up, could I possibly be overdressed and overshadow the grooms? This is something you definitely don’t want to do, after all it is their day.

With all this said, I want to share with you my dress tests, where I just put on dresses and some heels and see how I look.

Blue dress: And Other Stories, bought online, 2nd hand on Ebay.

Red dress: Zara hand me down. I have this dress for around 7 years now.

Python print dress: Biba, also a hand me down. It was given to me by the same friend who gave me the red dress.

Sequin dress: And Other Stories, bought online, 2nd hand on Ebay.

Let me know which one you like best!

Which one do you think I chose? Leave your guess on the comment section 😉

I am Franca and this is personal.

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We are social beings

Hey everyone it has been a while. Lockdown has definitely affected my mood, clarity and direction.

There are moments where I am ok with my solitude, there are other moments when I’m just fed up and want things to go back to what they were.

Yesterday I had a great day by myself, and had a tinny taste of normalcy. The weather was great this weekend, which you won’t hear me say often while living in the UK, so I decided to wake up fairly early for a weekend and went to central London.

I really like doing this every once in a while. Go window shopping on New Bond Street, check the tourists on Piccadilly Circus, walk around my beloved Soho, do some shopping on Regent Street or Carnaby Street.

I loved it, it wasn’t crowded and stores are doing a great job at managing the amount of people inside the stores, which made me feel safe.

I went to a few shops, but I have behaved very well, I didn’t buy a lot of things. I only bought some new tights, since I am having a wedding coming up and wanted brand new sparkling tights. Bought some bras that were on sale and exchanged some points for 2 gifts in the Vans store. I got a new tote bag and got new shoe laces.

It was so good to take the tube (it’s unbelievable I now say these things hahahaha). One of the things I love about living in London is going out and looking at other peoples looks and styles. Every once in a while there is someone that stands out, or you find someone with a simple detail, that makes you wonder what type of person they are. I am that curious.

It was great to see other humans and people enjoying the sun, simple as that. I came home happy.

My style yesterday was Spring inspired. I wore light green tones and earthy tones, topped up with some sparkling pinks shades. Hooo yes, it was sunny enough to actually wear shades, amazing! Check it out below.

I’m Franca and this is personal.

What I wore:

New Levis jeans, I bought last year on sale.

COS jumper, 2nd hand, bought on Ebay.

Lime green Adidas Gazelle, bought 2nd hand on Ebay.

Monki denim jacket, bought on sale about 2 years ago.

Vivienne Westwood bag, new. Last year I have received a bounus for my good perfomance and I decided I deserved a present, so I bought this bag. I ador Dame Vivienne Westwood.

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Acne

I am a 37 year old woman with acne, I have had acne since I was probably 12/13 years old.

I knew I was going to have acne, since I was a little kid, it runs in the family so I was kind of mentally prepared for it. I was not close to understanding the repercussions it would have on me, having acne throughout my life.

The reason for my consistent acne is a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (POS). A very simple way of explaining the condition is that my ovaries produce high levels of “male” hormones, more than an average woman and one of the side effects is nodulocystic acne. This is a type of acne that you cannot cure with soaps and creams.

I have been in and out of dermatologist for most of my life and one memorable moment I had was when my dermatologist told me “You will never stop having acne, you can only learn how to manage it”. I have never forgotten this statement since she shattered any hope I had left.

Acne runs you down. Sometimes I would feel it was eating me up from the inside. It corroded my self-esteem and made me shy away from the world. It made me a depressed teen and made me think I was worthless and no one would ever love me. I hated my skin, I hated how ugly and deformed it made me look, how people would comment on it, etc. I hated the treatments and drugs I had to take, to control “this beast”. I struggled a lot, for many years.

A negative side effect of having constant acne, is that I have also developed a bit of dermatillomania or excoriation disorder, which is a condition when you pick your skin when you feel anxious or stressed. I am constantly trying to stop this old habit.

Sometimes I think that acne will never “leave me” even if I was able to reach clear skin, since it had such a big impact on my personality, during my teen development years.

Eventually a moment came when I started to learn more about self-care, consequently self-lovel, and I can now say I have reached a point where I am OK with it. I still don’t like having acne but I have learned how to control it, I have also learned how to control how acne affects me mentally and emotionally.

One thing that helps me is being thankful for what I have (healthy body), rather than being upset for the things I don’t (clear skin). When I look in the mirror and I don’t like the scars I still have on my face and back, or I have acne popping up in my face, neck or back, I think to myself “You know what? I have an amazing body, I am healthy, I am smart, I can do sports that I love. Acne won’t stop me from being the best version of myself”. I have finally found a mantra that soothes me.

I am Franca and this is personal.

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Hats have shape.

I am all for experimenting and trying new things, new perspectives, but there is something I am not willing to budge, which is hat shapes.

Hats have shapes, a structure that should be kept while wearing it, I think this is beautiful.

I have found this amazing page with all the different types of hats, names and shapes: https://fashionsizzle.com/2015/10/24/types-of-hats/, check it out.

Yet, it is very frequent to see people wearing berets, but pulling them so deep in the head completely destroying the shape of the hat.

If you are wearing a basque beret, then you should keep the rim of the hat inside.

Yes

If you are wearing a military beret, these usually have a leather strap rim around it and this yes, should be showing.

I really don’t get why some people push the berets so dep in their head. What do you think?

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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What The Sticker On Your Shoe Means.

Recently I have bought a couple of boots on Ebay and I had my doubts about the upper material on one of the pairs.

I knew the shoe label provides the information for the materials used to construct the shoe, but I had never bothered to actually investigate the meaning of the signs.

The shoe label is divided into two columns and each column has three categories. The left column is the three parts of the shoe and the right column shows the materials used for the part.

I have found this diagram to show you the meaning of the label:

By the way, one of my pet peeves are people that don’t remove the labels from the shoe. It is so ugly to see that when you are walking behind someone, or when they are sitting down with their legs crossed. Some people don’t even remove price tags, if they are glued to the bottom of the shoe.

No, no, no please, please remove these tags. I honestly appreciate it, thank you.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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How to do a personal budget.

Following my previous post, I have decided to explain how to make your own personal budget.

It is not hard, don’t think that if you were not good in maths in school you won’t be able to do one. Don’t let anyone convince you, you cannot manage your own finances. Trust me, my grandmother was illiterate and she ran a business by herself because she knew this basic rule.

This is as simple as Income – Expenses = Surplus.

Income is everything you receive per month.

Expenses is everything you pay for, or spend money on per month.

Surplus is the amount you have left, after your pay your essential expenses.

Your objective is always to have a positive surplus, this means your income is bigger than your expenses. It means you have money left, after paying all your bills.

You can have a negative surplus, it is called a deficit. This means your income is smaller than your expenses and it means your income is not enough to pay all your bills.

Income can be your wages, benefits, parents allowance, etc. It’s all the money you get every month.

You can split income in two categories:

Reliable source of income is when you know, for sure, you will get that amount every month. This can be your wages or benefits payment.

Unreliable source of income can be a parents allowance, ex-partners allowance, a side job you may have. It is any money that you may or may not receive. The payment dates can vary, as well as the amounts, some months you may get £100, other months you may only get £20 or £0.

Expenditure you can also split in to two main categories:

Essential expenditure are all the expenses you have monthly, that you have to pay such as rent/mortgage, utilities, food, medicines, mobile + internet, insurances, school fees.

You should always pay your housing expenses, food, education bills/fees, insurances, first. These are items you cannot survive without.

Non-essential expenditure are expenses that fluctuate, that you may spend money that month, or not. These can be a massage, nail appointment, dining out. It is everything that if you can’t afford this month, you may afford next month. These are items you can survive without.

This is not hard, right?

You can do your personal budget in so many different ways:

Pen and paper
Excel spreadsheet
You can use an App. Please bear in mind that many of these apps will have access to your personal data.

It doesn’t matter how you do this, but it is very important that you do it.

Many of the bank apps have budget tools and you can visualise how much you’ve spent on different areas. Be aware that some items will be mixed up together and it will not give you a true reflection of your expenses. Example, my supermarket bill will include my food bill (essential expenditure) but may also include magazines (non-essential expenditure).

If you do your own budget, you can split these two items, food at the top since it is an essential expenditure. Magazines will go at the bottom, because they are non-essential expenditure. If I can’t afford Vogue this month, I will survive and can consider buying it next month.

I will leave here a link if you wish to get more information about doing your own budget: https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/income-and-expenditure-financial-statement.aspx?channel=ppc&gclid=CjwKCAjwz6_8BRBkEiwA3p02VTIX02JZ2DfD2o78B0Bl3AzN_L74QrDs4a8-pqjf01OMpcwVzgoB9xoCfdQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I also want to highlight on this post, one tool that will help you make automated savings. Most bank apps offer round-ups and this will allow you to save money, without you even noticing it. I use these tools a lot and I can assure you, it works.

These tools will round-up all your transactions to the nearest £1. Example: I pay £1.60 for a coffee, £0.40 will go to a savings pot. After a year or so, you’ll see how much money you saved!

You can of course set an automated payment instruction to save a specific amount every month, if you are that disciplined, great news.

Listen, this is simple! Once you control your finances, you will feel so empowered and you will be able to save and afford a new pair of shoes or maybe a new trip. I am saving for a trip I want to do in 3 years time.

If you have doubts, please let me know.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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Be Financially Savvy.

Inspired by the second wave of Covid-19, I was inspired to write a bit more about being financially savvy.

I work in the financial industry during the day, at night I browse the net for the next fashion trend 🙂

I created this blog with the objective of showing people you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have style or to be fashionable. I wanted to join two of my favourite subjects, style and financial tips.

After years of browsing the web I concluded the majority of the blogs, instagram accounts are of “fashion influencers” posting amazing things, expensive bags, expensive make-up. It’s all about spend, spend, spend.

I have expressed my view about this “lifestyle”. For me it’s bullshit, I am not the brands I buy, but I know this is a personal journey each one of us has to go through. Another negative side of this lifestyle, is that people will go into debt to buy things they actually don’t need.

And this all connects to my “financial side”, women still earn less than men and are more likely to be affected by an economic crisis. Please be aware poverty is a sexist phenomenon, I cannot stress this enough https://www.one.org/international/blog/25-facts-poverty-sexist/.

We are now going through Covid-19 second wave and this will affect many more jobs, work opportunities. Many people will not have money to afford essential items such as food or rent.

Now ask yourself, is your Louis Vuitton bag going to help you buy groceries? Will your Chanel make-up help you pay your rent? I doubt your landlord will accept make-up as payment.

Since most of the fashion blogs belong to women it kind of makes me sad that we don’t educate ourselves more on being financial savvy and independent. Poverty affects women more, before buying anything always ask yourself:

How is my monthly budget?
Have I covered all the essential expenditure?
Have I added something to my savings, pension fund?
Was I able to pay off some debt?

I know I post a lot of “new stuff” I buy, but know that I never buy anything without checking my personal budget first and make sure I have a surplus to afford that purchase. My essential expenditure is ALWAYS covered.

Don’t get fooled by instagram photos. Reality is what happens to your bank balance after you click “Add to Cart”.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

Be safe, wear a mask.

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Bralettes.

In recent years I have decided I would not buy anymore bras with wires. I had this epiphany one day, that I didn’t have to use bras with wires, and I surprised myself thinking why on earth I hadn’t thought about this before

I have small breasts that I affectionately call them my peaches. Thankfully I don’t need a lot of support in this area and wires hurt me on my chest, on my ribs.

The underwear has been changing a lot for these past years. For years the industry was focused in helping humans with big boobies and that is great, for sure they need help and support. But this led to products that were heavily structured, with a lot of unnecessary features for humans like me with small boobies.

Recently the trend has been diversifying and now it is really easy to find pretty bralettes. All my recent bras are all bralettes and I love it. They have enough support for my small breasts, it doesn’t compress my chest or ribs throughout the day.

I have found very good deals online as well. Recently I bought 3 bralettes in 3 different colours, beige, black and dark green, for £3.06 each. I particularly like their back that is low cut and perfect for summer tops.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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Thrift Stores.

I buy a lot of things second hand, but I buy them online. I don’t like thrift stores and the reason why I am not a fan is because the majority of the thrift stores are cluttered.

I have entered thrift stores with an idea in mind of something specific I wanted to buy, but the racks are packed to the max, it makes browsing really hard.

Or I have entered stores wanting to be surprised with “let’s see what I can find in this place?” in my mind, but leaving empty handed because everything is cluttered.

I understand many of these stores are charities, they have volunteers with no retail experience in stores, they might struggle with storage, etc. I get it, but ultimately their objective should be to sell as much as possible, to help their cause. If a customer goes in and feels overwhelmed by all the items in display and gets out, all their work is useless.I wish they could see this and improve their retail experience.

I mostly use Ebay to do my thrift shopping, where you can search for a specific brand, size, colour, etc. Overall my experience has been positive, there have been a few negative experiences, where the item hasn’t arrived, or the item was not accurate as described on the advert, but they have their Money Back Guarantee policy that helps a lot. So far, I recommend it.

Everytime I think of something I would like to buy, I always search Ebay first. If you know your size, if you know your measurements, if you know a specific brand and you know that size will fit you, search it on Ebay.

Most of my tennis shoes are second hand. I refuse to pay £100 for a pair, when I can buy them for less than £20. My most recent purchase was a pair from Adidas by Stella McCartney. If they are sports shoes, you can easily wash them before using them, but I also use an antifungal shoe spray, which is a shoe disinfectant for hygienic care of the inside of your shoes.

I have bought a couple of pairs of sports bras, also from Adidas by Stella McCartney and from DKNY.

Lately I decided to adventure and buy me some jeans and skirts. Some have arrived, some have not, I’ll keep you posted 🙂

Buying second hand is nothing to be ashamed of, we have to fight back the stigma. We should do everything we can to avoid more shoes and clothing ending up in landfills. Reuse, upcycle, do i! And obviously, I get a huge kick of having the item I wanted, for ¼ of retail price. $$$$$$$$ in bank account, yyesssss!!!!!

I am Franca and this is personal!

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Bonus

Mid year I got paid a bonus, at work. This bonus came at the same time as a job promotion.

I had worked really hard the past year and along with the job promotion, I felt I could use part of the money to buy something nice for me, a gift to myself. Something I liked, something iconic, something I didn’t have to think too much about the price tag (obviously within reason).

Yet, I am a natural overthinker and I did spent some time thinking about what item(s) I wanted to buy, the brand I wanted to get, etc, etc. If I was going to spend “serious” money, I wanted to be sure, I didn’t want regrets or returns.

I finally decided by Vivienne Westwood, because … ICONIC. And I decided to split my money into 3 items, one bag and a pair of earrings.

My bonus was around £3K and I this is how I distributed the funds:

Paid one credit card in full, around £400.

In total I spent £315 with Vivienne Westwood. The earrings cost £130, the bag was £185
Second hand Kurt Geiger Rainbow Kensington Bag. It was £160 on Ebay, currently retailing at the price of £229.
I put £700 on one saving pot I have for a trip I want to do when I turn 40.
Remainder I placed on another saving pot.

I want to say that never in my life have I ever bought accessories or even clothing pieces, so expensive. The most expensive thing I had bought many years ago was a pair of tube leather boots that I think I paid around €200. They lasted at least 10 years and I sold them a couple of years ago, on Ebay.

Never have I ever had congratulated me with something expensive, to symbolize my hard work, my achievements. So yes, for once in my life, I did it.

When the parcel arrived I was so excited, it was like Xmas. I was happy to get new things of course, but I was excited I was able to afford Vivienne Westwood, a woman I admire and idolize. I was able to buy itemsI believe are timeless (for me).

I opened the box and SURPRISE, I loved everything. I love the earrings and I love the bag.

I feel I will never get rid of these 2 items, because they represent many things, but above all it represents like my mother fur coats, I have made it. I am successful in the goals I have set to myself, I am proud of myself, of my hard work, I am deserving.

The Rainbow Kensington Bag was also a bag that had always mesmerized me and I had been thinking about getting one, for over 1 year. I checked online and I found an awesome 2nd hand bag, in excellent condition, saving me £70.

When will I make a similar shopping spree? I don’t know, but not soon for sure. I have other financial goals I am focused on. Like I said, I want to do a big trip when I turn 40, I also want to invest in property soon.

Here are some photos of the bags and the earrings.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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Quarantine shopping habits.

Shopping habits have been changing in recent years mostly due to social media, this is not new. You can find several studies/articles about it:

This is how the pandemic has changed our shopping habits

Young people have grown up seeing their favourite singers, actors on TV, on instagram and quickly searching online if they can get a similar shirt to the one their idol is wearing. See it, buy it.

This “new shopping habit” has led to services like Klarna to flourish among younger consumers.

I consciously had tried to keep away from this new trend, because I understood how dangerous it can be purchasing things over one click. I love marketing, I studied it a lot in Uni, I know how easy it is for brands to manipulate us, so I always avoided online shopping.

But then Covid-19 hit us, really hard, and all our habits changed and unfortunately I joined the ranks of online shoppers.

My timeline this year was mostly this:

First 2 to 3 months I barely bought shoes, clothing. Uncertainty levels were high (work uncertainty, unexpected expenses could possibly happen). Clothes are not priorities, let’s save money. I didn’t buy anything.

After the 3 months mark, some shops started to open and I missed the retail experience. Very occasionally I started visiting certain stores, wearing a mask and avoiding peak hours. Many stores were also re-opening with a lot of summer sales on and I ended up buying a few things.

When my uncertainty and anxiety levels started to decrease and I wanted to take advantage of brands summer sales, but not wanting to go to physical stores frequently, I started going to their websites, downloading their apps, etc.

Got a bonus at work, purchasing levels increased a bit.

Five to 6 months into quarantine/lock-down, I started to decrease my shopping levels and it has been declining ever since.

Negative sides of online shopping:

It Is Just So Easy to get carried away.
Brands lure you into payment plans (which is a big No – No for me. Don’t use credit to purchase clothing/shoes/accessories).
High chances of impulsive shopping.
Constant push notifications from brands about new stuff available.

Positive sides:

If you know the brand, your size, their models, you know the item will fit you, it’s much easier to purchase an item you want. Convinient, buy it, get it at home.
When you download the app or register w/ their newsletter brands usually offer around 10% discount, with your first online purchase.
Allows social distancing 😀 dhuuu obviously.

I got to a point where I was happy with all the things I bought and started realising I actually need to go outdoors to wear them, which nowadays I am lacking the opportunity. So until I can wear my new things, I will try not to spend a lot of money.

My opinion about online shopping habits is, it can be beneficial specially during covid-19 times, but be very mindful of what you are doing. You need to be super alert of your finances, your budget and have self-control to stop when you have to.

If you know you can’t control yourself then Uninstall the Apps, Unsubscribe the newsletters NOW. Clothes are non essential items and your personal style doesn’t depend on brands. Trust.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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Family vintage.

I have shared with you my story about cleaning up my family house. I went through wardrobes, drawers of clothing, especially my mother’s clothes.

The fun part of going through “old stuff” is that you find cool unique pieces you remember your mother wearing back in the days. It’s like thrift shopping but in your own home.

I had told her I wanted to find and check the status of 2 coats she had, one leather jacket, one fur coat.

One of the items was a leather jacket, 80’s style with big shoulder pads. The jacket was in good condition, I had it dry-cleaned and now looks mint.

The second, was a rabbit fur coat my mother had bought before I was even born, I think. I had known of that coat for years, yet I had never seen her wear it. Back in the days the mentality was that you would have nice things, but ONLY to wear in SPECIAL occasions.

Now, if you have a common life of work, taking care of kids, husband, house, etc, those special occasions don’t come often and you miss out on wearing your nice clothes.

The rabbit fur coat meant a lot to my mother, hence why she has cherished this coat for some many years. She grew up in extreme poverty, this was probably the 1st luxury item she ever bought with her own money. This coat represented something, represented that she had made it in life, she was no longer poor, that she could afford things.

She also gave me this coat. She said “If there is someone who will wear it, it’s you” 🙂

I now own these 2 coats and I really like them. I know for fact, I will never sell these or give them away because they will always be my mothers’ coats. When I wear them, I know she HAS made it. She has worked really hard, raised 2 amazing human beings (me included), built/owns several properties. She has made it, when I wear these coats, I carry my mothers’ legacy on my shoulders.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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Statement pieces.

Sometimes I get this idea in my head of something I want to buy and I can’t really shake it off. It’s not like I lose sleep over the new item, but definitely stays in the back of my mind.

I like the idea to simmer for a while. I avoid impulse purchases at all costs, that’s when you don’t make smart choices and usually overspend. So my strategy is that if I forget about it, then I “really didn’t need the item” and I will save my money.

For months I had been thinking I wanted a used/vintage/2nd hand leather jacket, but I wanted it to be a statement piece. Not a common ordinary jacket, no sir I wanted to be a Wow type of jacket. One that all you need to wear under is a white T-shirt and that’s it, there’s the entire look right there! I had also been curious about trying some tassel on my life 🙂

Mid August I was browsing the internet and I found this beauty. My first reaction was definitely “You either Love It, or Hate It, that’s for sure. And I LOVE IT!”

I made my bids and I won the auction. The jacket arrived while I was away on holidays, busy cleaning my family house.

When I arrived home late at night, 1st I called family to let them know I was home safe. The 2nd thing I did was search for the jacket, I was so excited. Mannn, when I saw it I kept wishing “ I hope it fits, I hope it fits”, because you never know when you buy things online if size 8 is really Your size 8.

I slid inside the jacket like butter, perfect fit in every place, waist, my arms, neck. Perfect!

As I looked at myself in the mirror, I kept twirling to see the tassel move. I later checked the general state of the item, it was mint for a used jacket.

Like I said before this is a Love It or Hate It piece. I know I am going to get a looootttt of jokes and funny comments. But I am going to shrug my shoulders, waive my tassel and sing out loud “Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joooleeeeennneee. I’m begging you please don’t take my man”.

My name is Franca and this is personal.

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Hoarding

Hoarding disorder is a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them.

My “holidays” were spent cleaning the family house, so we could place it in the market. I spent 5 days of my life cleaning a two storey property, with my mother. It was definitely one of the hardest tasks I ever had to do in my life.

I love my mother, but I finally had to confront her about her hoarding habits, that are not full blown but they exist, and how this affects her and others. 😦 It was hard…

Her habit of keeping things, comes from a complex life experience but the keys trigger points were:

An upbringing in extreme poverty. Portugal in the 40’s, 50’s was an extremely poor country.
A mother (my grandmother) that already had the habit of keeping things.
Not catching up w/ times and not understanding that if something is ripped, broken, etc the repair may not be worth it and it is better to get rid of the item.
Access to space that allowed her to “put things in the garage, I’ll have a look later”.

I am definitely not an expert, but following my experience, hoarding doesn’t make anyone happy. It’s the bodys’ inability to deal with separation, to digest life events, to maneuver through life changes.

It’s a temporary measure (“put things in the garage, I’ll have a look later”), that piles and piles until someone “bursts” and says NO MORE! In this case it was me, out of the desperation of wanting my parents to have a better life quality and not be engulfed by long outdated life habits.

We did it, we cleaned the house in 5 days. We woke up early and put on a pair of gloves and masks and did it. Sometimes silently, digesting the old memories in silence. Sometimes raising my voice when I was not seeing progress made (I had a deadline) and asking why on earth we needed another blanket.

I took breathers and made sure I explained to her why something had to be thrown out or donated.

My mother’s hoarding habits are not severe, but we had to clean the property of things over 30 years old. They now live in a nice comfy flat and since they moved I explain to them their lifestyle changed and that slowly they need to adapt and that they have to manage their new space. They cannot go back to keeping everything.

I honestly think she is making a huge effort to understand this and adjust, especially after she saw the effect of the cleaning had on me and the hard physical labour we both had to put in. I keep a positive outlook on this process, I think things will get better.

I’m a very intuitive person and you may not believe in this or understand it, but this is my experience. When I was doing the deep cleaning I kept feeling a weight being lifted off my shoulders, of all the old memories, bad and good experiences that we were releasing into the world/universe. As I threw away old school books, I was grateful for the good memories in that house, all the hard work I did in school, the shelter that house gave us, etc but now it was time to move on. I threw away old silverware and was grateful for all the food I ate in that house. I cleaned the garden and was grateful to have grown up in such a green place. But I choose to be focused on the future, that is so bright (I choose to believe).

I keep repeating “things don’t own us, we own them”, we have things to make our life easier and prettier and happier. If they are not doing any of this, maybe it is time to donate it, sell it, throw it away.

So my advice that I follow and I give to you is, when you buy something ask yourself “do you love it?”, “is it useful?”, “will it make that person happy?”. If you don’t get a hell yes to one of these questions, put it back on the shelf, you don’t need it. Put the money on your pension fund 🙂

I love my mother. We are all humans doing the best we can, with the tools we are given.

I am Franca and this is personal.

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Melissa, a love story.

Like Carrie Bradshaw had a love affair w/ Manolo Blahniks’, I have an affordable love affair with a brand called Melissa.

I want to say that my review is not sponsored or paid. This is my honest review of a brand that I think deserves the accolades.

In a nutshell, Melissa is a brazilian brand that creates shoes made completely out of plastic. One of the details I love about them is that many models are just one piece, a block of plastic molded into an amazing shoe.

The other curiosity I show everyone, when I buy a new pair, is that the shoes smell nice, they have this bubblegum scent that last quite a long time. So when I buy a new pair, I take it off and give them to people to smell. It can be funny, as no one expects to smell someone else’s shoe and be pleasantly surprised it actually smells nice.

Here goes a more detailed explanation of why I love the brand.

Amazing designs, the brand by itself does a very modern kind of futuristic type of shoes.

But they also do a lot of collaborations w/ other designers. Some are running for a long time such as Vivienne Westwood collaboration, some designers cooperate with Melissa for one season only.

The smell of the shoes are definitely a plus for me 😀

They are super comfortable.

They are versatile, because you can wear them in Winter or Summer. In Winter, if you get caught in the rain, it’s Ok. When you get home you can dry the shoes with a cloth.

You can wash them. Yes you read this right, I wash my Melissas all the time. In Summer w/ the heat and sweat, the shoe can get a bit dirty. Also if they are light coloured and you bump them in the pavement, cars, stairs, etc, they can’t get spots. Every once in a while I gather all my Melissas and I wash them with cold water, non abrasive soap and a sponge.

And my favourite thing about the brand is that these shoes last a lonnnnnnggggggg time. I have been buying, using this brand for years, I have had many many pairs and they last many years. If the shoe has glitter, rhinestones, etc, etc, anything attached to it, it can affect the shoe longevity and they wear off faster. But I can attest that the average pair, with me, lasts about 7 to 8 years, at least. And these are shoes I use a lot, not just for special occasions.

This is my favourite feature of the shoe brand and this is important to emphasise because Melissas are not cheap, but in this case I think you get your money worth out of the shoe.

Back in the days, when I was young and with less financial goals in life, I would buy Melissa’s full price. Nowadays, if I have friends going to Brazil I try to order some pairs. If not, I browse the internet for used pairs and/or check the sale section on the brand website, or the physical store.

The one I like to visit is the flagship store in Covent Garden. I have been there recently and saw this heart shaped bag that I really liked.

My most recent purchases of the brand have been on Ebay, I bought 2 high heels, one from Melissa and one from their sub-brand Mel (Mel is a diffusion line of Melissa usually cheaper, with more basic designs).

I also had to let go of a pair recently and this always leaves me sad, because I have had these shoes for years. Seeing them break down, fall apart and having to put them in the trash is always a tiny bit difficult. This last pink pair, I had it for about 8 years, one of the bows fell out and I still tried to super glue the bow back, but it didn’t work. I still wore them for a while, but I couldn’t stop the bow from falling apart. I had to accept that it was time for these shoes to go.

I will leave you with the brand website: https://www.shopmelissa.com/ if you want to browse, but always check other platforms to see if you can buy used pairs, to save some money.

I am Franca and this is personal.

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Deciding to wear a uniform on working days.

This post is not about mandatory uniforms. I am talking about people who choose to wear the same look for work, everyday, by choice.

I guess this started to be popularized by the ascension of Steve Jobs, as the business grew and bigger audiences started to realise he wore the same look everyday. Blue jeans, a black sweater and tennis shoes.

This has been studied and one of the most straightforward benefits of wearing the same look everyday is that increases productivity.

In a nutshell the idea is that you should save your brain for hard decisions you have to make throughout the day. Small decisions should be automated, so all your energy goes to more important tasks.

Thinking about what to wear every single day, can be tiring and time consuming. We all have those days that we are unbelievably indecisive. If you are someone like me that needs to feel my mood for the day, to decide what I want to wear, means that many times I get frustrated right when I am starting my day.

A trick my mother taught us in my childhood, choose your outfit the day before and leave everything ready on your bedroom chair. I try to follow this, up to today.

I am keen on this uniform trend and in a way I have a few tricks that kind makes decision making in the morning easier. I have full suits and I wear dresses a lot as well. These are outfits that pretty much style themselves.

Dress, means tights and a pair of boots or heels, a belt. Specially in winter bodycon dresses are my favourites as they keep me really warm.

Suits, you need a blouse or top, you can wear with shoes, heels, moccasins, etc.

Another thing I changed when I came to live in London, on workdays I wear a backpack, to carry my food, my books, wallet, mobile, etc. I used to change bags, depending on the outfit of the day. Moving to London, having to carry all the things I will need for that day with me, the most intelligent solution is a backpack. Why? You need to protect your back and shoulders.

I am concerned about comfort but also health. Why are we wearing one shoulder bags that can’t properly carry all our stuff, don’t zip properly, you can lose important things, plus damage your posture. No, thanks!

I want to clarify that just because you decide for one look for your workdays, it doesn’t mean you have to be boring or that you will only use one or two colours.

You can decide to wear a different colour jumper everyday, with the same trousers.

You can decide to wear a different scarf everyday with your white blouse.

You can wear a different skirt everyday.

If you are a busy person, I think this trend is something that could be useful for you.

I am Franca and this is personal!

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a10441/why-i-wear-the-same-thing-to-work-everday/

https://www.fastcompany.com/3026265/always-wear-the-same-suit-obamas-presidential-productivity-secrets

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Women’s styles in the workplace.

Is part of the human condition to judge. We all judge over people’s style, appearance, hairstyle, etc. It is a survival instinct tool, we have it ingrained in our brains.

The one thing we need to train ourselves is not to let our judgement stop us from actually knowing that person, enquiring about their qualities and capacities. We need to override our brain and get to actually know the individual.

We also know how style reflects our personality, but it doesn’t mean it reflects the whole of our personality. I like to think humans are like walking kaleidoscopes, therefore the person’s style on that day, does not reflect the whole being that person is.

Women also have to manage the glass ceiling everyday at work. One thing we need to manage, in a smart way, is our professional style. How can our personal style help me look great and reflect the great person/employee I am.

I am a true believer that if I look great, I will feel great. If I feel great, I will feel more confident, consequently it will be easier for me to talk on that important meeting, do that pitch better, sell my product-service, etc.

There are enough statistics that show how misogynists are workplaces and that a woman’s appearance is judged more frequently than men, so I think that we need to be smarter than the patriarchy and use personal style as a tool to improve our well-being in the workplace and hopefully help us push the glass ceiling further and further away.

Some of the my own guidelines are:

Don’t wear anything that is sheer.

Underwear must not show at any time

No short skirts or shorts.

Shoulders should be covered.

Cleavage should not be showing, just in case I need to lower myself or bend over things.

No tight clothes that show a lot of body curves. Not only because it can distract many male colleagues, but also because I don’t like to have my body restricted at work, even having a desk job.

Not a lot of jewelry, that can make noise and annoy colleagues.

I want my outfit to reflect the following:

I am professional.

I am an active person.

I am focused on my job.

My instinct tells me to follow this objective “I want people to look at my face and pay attention to what I am saying” so they look up, to my face.

With this said, I think we can still wear colour to work and can use something unique like a scarf, a pair of earrings, a lapel pin, something that shows you have a unique personality and you care about your look, that everything was thought through.

Is the glass ceiling fair? No.

Is it fair that women keep being blamed, for men to be distracted in their workplace? No.

Is it fair that it is harder to get our voice heard in the workplace? No

But are we all here to change this? Yes, we are!

For now, we need to be more intelligent and use every tool we have at our reach, to navigate our workplaces and make ourselves respected and heard.

I am Franca and this is personal!

https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/news/a37305/women-appearance-workplace-caution/

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