A Few Of My Favorite Things

As a stylist for Broadcast, there are items I use to be sure that our preachers look fantastic on HiDef in front of more than ten thousand people every weekend. I do this so there is no distraction visually to hinder the Gospel in any way.

In the December holiday season, with all the parties and family events, you may find yourself in front of lots of people with opportunities galore to share your faith, too. I thought I would share some tips I use for our preachers and the people on Broadcast. Thankfully, we don’t have to socialize in HD, but these tricks can help you look your very best this Christmas season.


Your New Best Friend for Dark Clothes: The $2 Lint Roller

It drives me bananas when I am looking at someone with shmagmie all over their clothes. I feel like a capuchin monkey that needs to begin grooming her young.

Whether it’s hair (your own or your pet’s), dandruff, lint from drying a white towel with your sleek black pants, or just jank that you’ve picked up from the environment, a lint roller cleans it all up easily!

 Define Shmagmie: 

TCGW’s made-up word for “stuff”

that doesn’t belong on your person;

includes the aforementioned

and is not limited to

eye  goobers,

ear yuck,

snot or

makeup smears

and such.

Don’t drive the monkeys in your life crazy.

Use a Lint Roller.


Super-Cheap Tooth Brightener: NaHCO3 + H2O2

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Who knew the “More” is teeth cleaning?

If you want to look more youthful or if you are a tea or coffee drinker, whiten yo’ teeth!

Take your toothbrush with toothpaste on it and dip it into baking soda (NaHCO3). Brush for 2 minutes. Take a swig of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) plus some H2O and thoroughly swish-n-rinse. Spit it out completely. (duh)

You can also buy the expensive whitening strips or have your dentist bleach or laser your choppers, but why not give this a try first? (If your teeth are sensitive, please ask your dentist first!)


Paintbrush For Your Face: Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclait, Radiant Finish.

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Find this at sephora.com

Boys, don’t stop reading now! I may have just given you the perfect gift idea for your lady this Christmas.

This handy little concealer pen has a paintbrush bottom with a thumb pump that puts out exactly the right amount of gorgeous, easily blendable, high coverage concealer. Not only do I use it to cover dark under-eye circles, popped zits, surface veins, or broken blood vessels, I also use it to freshen and highlight the complexion.

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The paintbrush tip

At the end of the day your skin can look tired and red. A dash of this magic elixir at the inner and outer corner of the eyes, outer fold of the nose, and across the top of the chin indent blended well can make you look awake and refreshed even if you don’t feel like it. I’ve used this trick on one preacher for Thursday night services so he doesn’t look so tired at the end of the day bringing God’s Word to the people!


Coffee Up, Cowboy!: Illy Ground Coffee

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This totally gets me going early Sunday mornings for church!

You can find it all over Europe as the gold standard in coffee. It’s so smooth and delicious.

French press it.

Auto-drip it.

Percolate it.

Gravity-drip it.

Drink it hot or cold, it’ll keep you going even if the party goes later than 9PM! (Find this at amazon.com or in any big-city grocery store.)


Blaze A Christmas Fashion Trail: The Velvet Blazer

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Found this little beauty in a consignment shop in Italy for cheap! Fashion doesn’t have to be expensive.

So, I’ve had too much sugar and junk food already this season. My pants are feeling tight, Friends. The Muffin Top is busting out but I don’t have time to buy a brand new wardrobe, do I? SPANX is not my friend when I just want to be comfortable and (literally) hang out.

Blazers are a wondrous part of the wardrobe. They seem to class everything up just by being there. A great one covers over a multitude of body sins, too.

NEWSFLASH: You. Can’t. See. My. Belly. In. A. Blazer.

Or my arm flaps.

Or my love handles.

Or my dun-lap.

The lines of a well-tailored blazer are ever-flattering.

The velvet…well, I just am digging velvet for Christmas, that’s all. (Don’t be surprised if you see our pastors ROCKING some velvet on the Jumbo-tron…)

It’s okay you’re not as svelte these days as you’d like to be, Ahhr-nold. The gym can wait until the New Year.


A Pen That Does Everything: The Black Sharpie

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Oh, how I love me a black Sharpie! Let me sing its praises.

Is your black shirt looking a little fade-y at the cuff or collar? Your black shoes looking a little scuffed and you have no time for a shoe shine? You found a little hole in your clothes where skin is showing through with no time to sew it?

Enter: The Black Sharpie marker.

This miracle worker always has your back in a pinch. I have color-corrected a black shirt as a preacher is walking onto stage when I unexpectedly saw a white stain (was it a bleach stain, mud, or food?) at the last minute. I couldn’t use water or a wipe to clean it at this point (you’d see the water darken into a spot and it won’t dry in time!), so I color over it with Mr. Trusty.

Tricky, tricky!

*wink, wink


Who Needs An Iron When I’ve Got This??: Downy Wrinkle Release Spray

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I love it so much, I often have a travel size in my purse…

I hate ironing so much that as a young girl, I would do the dishes for my sister if she would do the ironing. It didn’t matter if the dishes were every single day, as long as I didn’t have to touch the ironing board, I was happy. In my later years, I have curated clothing for myself that mostly does not require ironing or dry cleaning.

I detest ironing. Capiche? 

(the infomercial continues…)

Ten years ago my friend, Shawna Mitchell, introduced to me this wonderful product that changed my life…

Seriously, though, between services, the guys like to sit down and relax. No problem, they’ve been preaching God’s Word, changing lives and reshaping eternities.

But, THIS MAKES WRINKLES, Friends!

Instead of making them get up, change and swap out their shirts for me to steam and then re-dress, I use this spray now before the guys go onstage instead. It’s amazing and it works, no matter that the Stage Manager and Tech Team claim it’s just water in a bottle. (It’s not!)


What Are You Gaping At?: Men’s Double-Sided Grooming (Toupee) Tape

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Another favorite miracle worker! This box is well-used. Not just for hair pieces, but for unruly bras straps, gaping blouses and button down shirts. It also hems in a pinch.

I have used this product far more than anything in the stylist arsenal except possibly the Black Sharpie or the Wrinkle Release.

  • Have you ever fit into a shirt only to have it gape somewhere unexpectedly–perhaps around your chest or at the belly? (Thank you, holiday work parties, Christmas cookies, and family dinners!) *peekaboo #blush
  • Maybe your blouse’s neckline drapes too low, or it’s a “quitter” and keeps falling off your shoulders, exposing you a la Madonna in the eighties? People, don’t be causing others to stumble…

Please welcome to your life: The Fabulous Double Stick Tape!

Just one strip of this will hold your clothes in place for the day or night–no slipping around! It’s safe to stick directly on the skin, too.

When I realize that a shirt is too long for stage and don’t have time to take it to a seamstress or stitch it myself, I have used this double-sided wonder to shorten it.

Ta-da!

The outfit’s proportions are back in line. The stuff STICKS!

(And I suppose if you ever needed it for your toupee, you could use it for that, too.)


As a final CGW stylist note: For as fun as this post has been to write, it doesn’t escape this Church Girl that we want to be relevant and able to reach people for Christ first and foremost or to be an encouragement for other believers, just like our preachers. But sometimes when we have things that are a distraction, it might keep people from hearing the Gospel or giving us a shot for a conversation opportunity.

My ab-fav things in life are Jesus and His Word. Above everything else, let’s get out there and use every opportunity to spread the Gospel of Jesus in our hearts with the love of Christ at the forefront of our minds this Christmas.

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One of my VERY favorite things…

 

 

Final fav’s:

What are some of your favorite things?