1. The Look
Next to your wedding, you will probably never be photographed as much as you will be during prom festivities. Your parents, your dates parents, your friends and their parents, official prom photos. There will be a lot of pictures floating around for years to come! Go for a more timeless look that you won’t be embarrassed of when your kids someday go through them.

2. The Dress
There are a lot of great trends this year. Check out the collection of fashionable prom dresses at David’s Bridal. They have everything from fun printed dresses to classic princess ball gowns. If you go for a short dress, go for something more modest on top. If your dress is backless, choose something less revealing in the front. Remember, it’s prom, not an episode of Dancing With the Stars!

3. The Accessories
Your accessories should be based on your dress. If you choose to wear a simple dress, you can easily dress it up with fabulous accessories. Strapless dresses are great for necklaces but if you’re wearing a halter you are probably better off with a cute pair of earrings and a bracelet. Just make sure not to bling yourself out too much, leave the disco ball to the prom decorating committee.

4. The Shoes
Though you’re going to be tempted to buy a new pair of the highest heels you can find, be warned! From taking pictures before prom through the rest of the night, prom is hours long and it definitely takes a toll on your feet. Wear shoes that you know you’ll be comfortable in or take a pair to change into later so you’re not walking around barefoot or demanding a piggyback ride from your date. You’ll be thankful you did, and so will he!

5. Have fun
The most important tip is to have fun! Prom will be one of your greatest memories of high school. If you look great and are comfortable you will undoubtedly have a great time so keep these tips in mind on your big night.

When you’re dressing for warmer weather, choose lightweight fabrics where possible. If you’re prone to perspiration, a light undershirt worn beneath your top will help mitigate unsightly sweat marks. Avoid anything clingy, and if you want to create a slimmer appearance, vertical lines are always effective.

For office or formal wear, materials are more important than ever since you’ll likely be dressing in layers, despite the heat. Linen suits or lightweight wool are a must if you want to stay cool, and should be worn over a cotton-rich shirt. Try to avoid dark colours: a summer suit should be pale grey or cream. A single-breasted jacket gives a more slimming effect than a double-breasted one, and it’s worth paying a little extra for one that has been tailored to your unique shape.
You have a few more options with casual wear in summer: the classic T-shirt and shorts always looks good, while a light V-neck sweater over a crew neck shirt in contrasting colours can work well too. This layered look also has the advantage of making you look taller and slimmer. The sweater should be a little loose, but not too much – it should fall in creases around your middle.

Finally, whatever you wear this summer, be comfortable in your clothes – comfort equals confidence!

So, how do you match summer outerwear with summer underwear? If you’re going with casual T-shirts, it’s no surprise that your best bet is a T-shirt bra. These are made to give a smooth, subtle lift while remaining nearly invisible. Alternatively, if you’re opting for figure-hugging dresses this summer, figure-slimming lingerie helps to flatter your figure while still keeping your curves in all the right places! A tankee is the best underwear to choose for a breezy summer dress, helping to tame your tummy without being too restricting.

Camisoles are another great summer option that often come with their own shelf bras sewn in, removing the need to wear your own underneath. If you’re pairing them with a short skirt or shorts but want to keep your bum in check, a pair of boy shorts is just the thing. These enhance your figure invisibly, while still allowing your curvy hips to show through.

Once you’ve got figure-slimming underwear taken care of, you’ll find you feel much more free when picking out clothes from the rack! This summer, Aztec prints, tropical florals and animal designs are all undoubtedly in vogue, and colours are just getting brighter and bolder. Don’t hold back – splash out on the vivid hues that’ll make you stand out from the crowd. Look out for anything lacy or meshy – as well as being fabulously on-trend, these will help you keep your cool as the temperatures soar!

If you’re a curvier lady who is sick of sitting in the shade – both literally and through your style choices, it’s time to turn up the heat. There are plenty of trends around this summer that look great on girls of all sizes and some that will flaunt fuller silhouettes in particular.

If you’re afraid to try new styles because you aren’t sure what they’ll look like on your figure, try looking at ranges where the clothes are advertised on real women, like the women’s clothing at Simply Be. Look at the styles plus-size celebs are papped in too – Kim Kardashian’s sister-in-law Kaela Humphries always has fun with what she wears and as a model she’s a great role model for plus-size ladies.

Looking at the big trends of summer 2012, for a formal work look, if you’ve got hips like Ms Hendricks then swing dresses are a great style choice. Pick up designs in lightweight breathable materials and don’t be afraid to choose brighter shades. Team with cardigan and kitten heels for a real Mad Men inspired look.

For casual daytime outfits, experiment with pretty floral halter dresses, pastel coloured tunics and long vests featuring some of the season’s tropical flower or Aztec prints. Match tunics and vests with straight-legged shorts for maximum comfort, or if you prefer not to flash your pins, wear three-quarter length leggings.

For starters, you’ll want to select the plushest mattress available, since the standard mattress is typically rather thin and not very comfortable. Add to this a quality pair of sheets and good pillows; just because you’re not sleeping on a ‘real’ bed doesn’t mean you don’t deserve all the luxury of one!

You’ll want to think about the placement of your sofa bed so that you can relax and sleep with ease. Think about how you would place a standard bed in the room: would you prefer a corner? Away from the window? Keep these thoughts in mind when setting up your sofa bed. Otherwise, you may spend your first night restlessly rearranging furniture to get away from a drafty window, or moving the ‘head’ of the bed into a better position to watch TV while you doze off.

When the sofa bed is folded up, you’ll want to think about adding some decorative pillows and a cozy throw to complete the transformation from bed to daytime sofa. Large, decorative boxes, slipped underneath the sofa bed, can conceal your bedding during the day time; storage ottomans are also excellent for hiding pillows and blankets, and many have lids that flip over to become trays, turning them into impromptu coffee tables.

Since the sofa bed will be such an integral part of the room, it’s worth spending the extra time and money to choose a quality sofa that you’ll love, and dress it up with the little extras that make more than just a dorm room futon. If you make it cozy enough, you might not even miss having a separate bed to sleep in!

Whatever purpose you have for buying a sofa bed, it’s important to realize that not all sofa beds are created equal. You’ll need to first think about how often you’ll use the bed (for guests or nightly), since the mattresses included in sleeper sofas are typically not very comfortable. If you’ll be using the sleeper sofa in a studio apartment as your primary bed, invest the extra money for a better mattress, you’ll thank yourself later!

You’ll also need to think about how much space you have to devote to the sleeper sofa. Because sleeper sofas fold out in different fashions, depending on the design, you may need more space behind or in front of the sofa unit. Sleeper sofas may also come in twin, full, or queen sizes, so think about how much floor space you’ll have available for a larger model. You won’t want to have to move your other furniture nightly in order to fold out your bed!

Finally, the style of the sleeper sofa is very important. Dozens of styles, from hideaways to futons to modern fold-down sofas, offer you choices for every taste. So be sure to shop around for a style that you’ll enjoy looking at every day. Especially if you intend to use the sleeper sofa as your primary bed, now is not the time to settle for the first cheap futon you find; spend a little time looking at different styles and price points until you’re sure you’ve found a sleeper sofa you’ll love.

The first step is to decide which pieces you absolutely have to display, and which can be tucked away. Maybe you have some favorite photos from a vacation that you’d really like to see every day, while others from the trip can be tucked away in a photo album on the bookshelf. The remaining photos can be placed in a large collage frame, which takes up less space than a smattering of smaller frames and also looks more streamlined. You could use different collage frames for different ‘themes’, such as vacation, family photos, etc.

Tabletop items should of necessity be kept to a minimum. Move plants to a multi-tiered plant stand by a window, or place in hanging containers. Place candles in a wall sconce. Consider new and creative ways of displaying favorites; for example, instead of displaying deco spheres in a flat bowl, place them in a tall clear glass vase, which takes up much less room on a tabletop. Artificial flowers could be snipped to size and pressed in a shadowbox, rather than placed in a tabletop vase.

Decorating and storage also go hand in hand. Contain magazines in a pretty basket, use book boxes to hide miscellaneous items, and buy decorative storage boxes to hide items away in plain sight, on shelves or under a sofa or table.

But while you’re paring down, don’t underestimate the power of one or two large, well-placed pieces of decor, like a sculptural centerpiece, an oversized hanging lantern, or a large floor vase full of reeds. Surrounding yourself with the objects you love is the key to making your house a home, so don’t force yourself into a Spartan state of design! The trick is to choose just one or two pieces and allow them to command attention, rather than surrounding them with a jumble of smaller competing objects. This lets you appreciate the impact of these display items and offers the eye a clean, pleasing picture upon entering the room.

If your space is really small, buying a few select larger pieces of furniture can be better than filling it with lots of tiny pieces. That’s because a room with less furniture in it gives the illusion of having extra floor space, while a room crammed wall to wall with small pieces naturally looks smaller and more crowded. Just be sure the pieces you choose will fit comfortably in your space. Avoid shoving items like chairs snugly into corners, since this reinforces the feeling that there’s barely enough space to contain the furniture; instead, pull them out a bit to join the rest of the furniture, or eliminate them altogether.

Clutter makes a room feel instantly smaller, so resist the urge to fill every corner, tabletop, and inch of the walls with display items. Choose just a few favorites for a display that’s more pleasing to the eye. It’s also important to think about how you can free up more tabletop space, for example, by placing small potted plants into hanging baskets. Group photos into collage frames and hang them to avoid taking up tabletop room with a collection of tiny frames. And mount souvenirs like seashells in shadowboxes, rather than displaying them on a table in a flat basket.

Hanging curtains slightly higher and wider than the window frame visually raises the ceiling and gives the illusion of larger windows, always a bonus. Don’t drape the windows in layer after layer of heavy draperies, since this will make the room feel closed off. Also, invest in great lamps: dim lighting makes any space feel small and uninhabitable, no matter how tastefully decorated.

When you live in a small apartment, every inch counts, especially when it comes to storage space. Many people learn how to pare down their possessions and zealously tackle overflowing closets with storage system kits, but they’re often clueless about one of the most obvious storage dilemmas of a small apartment: furniture that isn’t pulling its weight.

While small, leggy pieces of furniture have a certain aesthetic appeal and may in fact be better suited to some living areas, an apartment full of leggy furniture wastes tons of potential storage space. This is especially true if you have a studio apartment, and need at-hand options for hiding bedding, living room clutter, and other odds and ends that don’t fit neatly into the coat closet.

Leggy end tables should be replaced by models with drawers and shelves. Storage ottomans, chests, or other types of storage coffee tables lets you store large, bulky items out of sight. Book boxes can stack innocently on a coffee table to hide unsightly clutter like TV remotes. Decorative boxes can slip underneath a sofa bed or a table and hold any number of items.

If you’re having trouble finding room for more than a small end table by the sofa bed, consider folding tables. Today’s models come in a range of designs far fancier than the basic card table trotted out at holiday dinners, so you don’t have to be embarrassed about pulling it out of the closet for dinner guests. Drop-leaf tables and coffee tables that adjust in height to become dining tables are also great options.

Book cases should be high enough, deep enough, and wide enough to hold anything you place on them. Don’t buy smallish, decorative shelves that really only hold display items; these aren’t a wise use of your square footage.

Once you make your furniture pull double duty as storage pieces, you’ll find that you have much more space and are much more organized, to boot!

1. Eyedrops are a stylist’s secret weapon for banishing redness and faking that eight hours. Another trick for bigger, brighter eyes? Run a fan brush over your mascara spoolie to pick up the product, then gently brush it through lashes for lighter, more even coverage, even on those baby-fine corner lashes.

2. Instead of spraying hairspray directly onto your head, spritz it onto a kabuki brush. Smooth the brush over your part and around your face to tame baby hairs and frizz without gaining a helmet head look.

3. Highlighter can magically erase blemishes and tiredness. Use a glow-enhancing primer for all-over radiance, or use a highlighter pen on strategic spots like the cheekbones, lips, nose, and brow bones for instant lift and contouring.

4. Think carefully about what you will wear. Navy blue is a sure-fire color for photos, since it flatters all skin tones and is a less harsh “neutral” than black or white. Avoid distracting patterns or brights, unless of course the purpose of the photo is to show off that awesome new maxi dress.

5. Take a few test snaps in both daylight and artificial light. This will give you the best preview of how your clothing and makeup will look in your final photo, and will let you correct mistakes like off-tone foundation or an unflattering blouse.

6. It’s one of the oldest warnings, but it bears repeating: don’t try anything new on the day of your photo shoot. A brand-new haircut or color can easily go askew, and you’ll want time to fix it before its immortalized in your college graduation photos.

7. Finally, a tip that doesn’t involve makeup skills: stand up straight! When you pull your shoulders back and your head up, it lifts your chest, tucks in your stomach, and makes you look overall taller and thinner. Putting a hand on your hip, a la Victoria Beckham, draws the eyes to a smaller waist and tightens the upper arm. And turning your head slightly, rather than facing the camera straight-on, offers a more flattering profile, whether the photo is for your Facebook profile or for something more professional.