MONDAY MAKEOVER: Jacque Spott!

I am thrilled to bring to you JACQUE SPOTT...our Monday Makeover Model!

For those of you who are new here, each Monday we feature a woman who has read Good Girls Don't Have to Dress Bad and she shares her makeover story! You could be one of them!

Before we get started, I want to say a BIG, HUGE thank you to those of you who responded to me about being a featured model! Because of your willingness to do so, I've got a line up for the whole month of February!!!!! So girls, if you were NOT one of those gals, then you've got another month to get it together and be featured in March! Here we go! The following is from Jacque, in her own words:

Hi, I'm Jacque!

Here are my BEFORE pics first:

Definetly BEFORE.  Too much white too close to my face!

Ahhhh...bad hair color, bad clothes, purse doesn't even come close to matching.

After I read the book these things were donated to my local thrift store!

BEFORE for sure: This black skirt was a staple. At least it was away from my face!?! After I read the book both items left my closet. The cuffs of the shirt were pretty worn upon closer inspection.

Now for some AFTER pics!!!!

After:  I bought this color before I had my color swatches in hand. 

 But I think I did an okay job. And isn't my husband a hottie???

 

 

AFTER!!! No more black!  

Brown and red, I've discovered, are both my colors!

So here's my story!

 I am a Mostly - SAHM. I clean homes for elderly people here in my town and volunteer one day a week at a local Thrift and Gift. This allows me to have a little "pin" money of my own and still be flexible enough to be home when I need to be.

I recently started blogging and have found it to be a great creative outlet for me. I've been married to my husband for 18 years and we have two beautiful, incredible daughters age 13 and 15.

I loved!!! Shari's book!!!

 I bought it for at least 6 of my favorite girlfriends for Christmas!

And so my story begins, about 3 years ago I lost 35 pounds, so my transformation started about that time.

I went from a size 14 to a size 6/8!

Both of my girls were in school then and I was a SAHM without a day job!

 I had to find myself again. Boy, had I left myself go. Overweight, out of shape, bad clothes. You name it.

FIRST, I decided to update my wardrobe.

I found that the nicer I looked the better I felt about myself.

Then I decided that while I ate pretty healthy I needed to let some of the sugar go. Okay, a lot of the sugar go and I really had to start exercising.

Initially I started out just to get healthy. But then this amazing thing happened. One day in the dressing room of a store I discovered that I could wear a size smaller!

That was an amazing day for me.

 I had been the stereotypical Mom, too busy worrying about the family to remember just who she was. I'd forgotten my love of pearls, pretty heels, and perfume. Everyday was just about getting my kids cared for.

Sunday morning, which is really my only excuse (still) to dress up I just had to make sure the family looked good and we all made it out the door. Pretty sad, but true.

 I reverted to orthopedic shoes (you can easily chase a toddler in those) and wash and wear clothes. My purse and jewelry was multi-purpose. I never changed because I didn't have the time or energy to - Or so I told myself.

 Your book seems to be the latest piece in this puzzle of ME!

I want my girls to grow up and be real ladies.

How can they do that if I don't model it? This book has been a fabulous addition to my motherhood journey.

Together and with the book open we have poured through all our make-up to see if we were wearing the right shades.

We've measured our faces too many times to count!

We finally gave up and took the book along to the hairdresser to have him check it out!

I'm a square by the way, which is what I thought myself. Still coming to terms with that square doesn't sound nearly as pretty as heart shape or oval.

We have hauled it along on shopping trips and to Gramas! (We loved it so much we gifted each G-ma with one too)!

 "Where's "the book" ?", has been a common question around our house!

This book was an excellent reference and guide to just make sure I was on the right track.

A great friend commented that she really liked the part about (loosely quoted) "loving this body God gave us just the way it is right now".

I'd have to agree.

There are still days when I feel fat and just because you lose weight you still have the same body shape issues but I know that

 I'm beautiful in His eyes.

 Not only that but your book helped me to address those shape issues and find clothes that work for me! It's really not about the weight anyway because he would love me at 200 pounds.

It's an amazing thing to be fearfully and wonderfully made!

The woman I saw in the mirror before the book is not a lot different than the one I see now.

Spiritually it was refreshing to have you say it's okay to do something for me. I'm a first born and by birth order I have a really hard time doing for me! So that's still stretching me, but I'm a work in progress after all.

My favorite chapters were...all of them really, but I loved that you told us where to shop for jeans. I loved the color chapter and finding my style chapter.

I think I'm somewhere between a pure natural and classic modern! I run a house cleaning business so I usually wear -gasp - workout pants and a long sleeve t-shirt to work in. It just makes sense for me! That is definitely something I've come away with. Whatever you're wearing, wear it well!

It just doesn't make any sense for me to scrub someone's floor in a fabulous suit but I certainly wouldn't go out to dinner in my workout wear! And by the same token I don't want to show up at a client's home in scruffy worn out sweats even if I am the cleaning lady!

As far as practically how I started this change, well, after reading the book cover to cover I emptied my closet and donated anything that wasn't in my color group.

Overall I found I had been doing pretty well. But the black was definitely out.

 My first purchase in my colors was a new winter coat. I had a black one and it was just too much black for me.

No wonder I looked so tired all winter long!

My new coat is a beautiful camel color that I wear with brown gloves!

Next was a visit to my hair dresser.

I always put my own hair off much too long! You're right! I really have to keep my cut up to date. I've been doing much better at that and find that a lot of my hair issues were really just a cut that I left go too long.

In conclusion, I'd recommend your book...in fact I have...to EVERYONE!

What a fabulous find.

This stays within easy reach to answer any fashion question that pops into my head! Thanks Shari!

You can check out my blog HERE!

In honor of being a Monday Makeover feature I'll be giving away a home made dishtowel and a bottle of dish soap for all those nasty dirty dishes we women have to do, to one lucky winner who leaves a comment over at my blog on my featured day! Can't wait to see what the ladies have to say!

 

THANK YOU, Jacque for your beautiful story!!!!! Thank you for sharing and for stepping out and being bold and honest before us about your makeover. Do you love it, girls? Show her some love!!!!! And don't forget to pop over to her blog, too, so you can win her giveaway!

Love you girls...and love you, Jacque!!!!

Shari

Author of Good Girls Don't Have to Dress Bad!