We wholeheartedly approve of looking hot, but sometimes there is a fine line between looking absolutely captivating and looking... desperate! Here, we chose the five areas most likely to go asunder — along with tastefully hot guidelines to keep you in check.
Too Tight Jeans Are Over the Top
Form-fitting jeans can look hot, but jeans that strangle your form are over the top. No matter how amazing the rest of your body looks, make sure you find jeans that fit at your hips or waist, (to prevent the dreaded muffin top). You also want them to fit your rear end... not crawl up it. Also make sure your jeans lie flat in the front and don't bunch. Essentially, says Melissa Ladines, the denim fit specialist at Levis, Levis if you're not comfortable, you're over the top. "You should never have to hold in your stomach to fit into your jeans," she says, "and your buttons should lie smoothly — not as if they're about to pop open."
Unwieldy Shoes Are Over the Top
It doesn't matter how divinely crafted, elegantly shaped or superbly stylish your shoes, sandals or boots appear to you — or how amazing they looked on that model in last month's Vogue — if you can't walk in them without tripping or wobbling, you're over the top. Before you buy those pretty shoes make sure you do a run-through at the store, which means walking in them for at least five full minutes. If you teeter or totter, try on another pair. (This is also a good way to avoid buying shoes that don't quite fit. If they hurt, don't buy them.)
Extremely Volumized, Excessively Sprayed Hair Is Over the Top
Elaborately volumized, teased and sprayed hair works on fashion runways, not in real life. It's over the top, but not in a sexy way, in a way that makes you look severe. The key to hot hair, says Marianne Carlina, head stylist at Aveda Aveda Concept salon in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is to have hair that moves. And you can get volume and movement, she says. "For a good amount of volume, while still keeping hair's spontaneous movement, forget about teasing and tons of spray. Instead, try using large Velcro rollers on damp hair with a volumizing spray applied just to the roots. After the hair is dry, unravel rollers, and give hair a light finishing spray." "This way, you'll get a soft curl, natural looking volume and hair that remains silky and pliable — very hot!" She recommends Aveda's Volumizing Tonic and Aveda Air Control.
Makeup That Obliterates Your Face Is Over the Top
"Makeup is over the top when you recognize the makeup before you actually recognize the individual wearing it," says makeup artist to Deborah Grayson, (whose credo, by the way, is wear the makeup; don't let the makeup wear you.) "In our quest to appear attractive, we sometimes go too far, which can appear clownish and strange." It's so much more appealing to take care of the skin underneath, and then apply only a little makeup. Otherwise, if you want to try something striking, like a bright lipstick, allow that to be your focus and keep cheeks and eyes soft, and the same way, if you want to do strong eyes, keeps lips and cheeks neutral; if you want highly flushed cheeks, which can be really gorgeous, keep lips and eyes minimal."
