How to Work Teal Like the New Black

Sweetheart, if you want more teal in your life, don’t be afraid. You can do it too. Let me show you the way!

So, not only did I have a lot of fun putting together an outfit with strong teal accents recently while messing around in my closet, I chose to wear it to the Indie 500 Part Deux (Finale Runway Show).

The Shopping List:

Hair

Gray hair is really in. But I’m not brave enough to go the whole hog and endure a bleach + dye process. So, a wig with bangs dyed white and gray, then frozen to an icy turquoise at the ends might work for you too. (Seriously, it was less than $45 at the back of a beauty supply store in Westfield Mall/Wheaton Plaza for the DC oldheads).

Keep in mind that wigs with black crowns or black accents are more likely to be mistaken for your real/weave hair that’s just been dyed. (I love my natural hair, so I always tell people up front that I’ve got a wig on, though.) This is the kind I got, in Mint/Mint at www.janetcollection.com.

Makeup

And, just the previous day, I sat in Macy’s near the Clinique counter watching a demonstration on how to apply smoky eye make-up, not just in black, but in blue, magenta, any color. If you go with smokey eyes, use nude lipstick.

Go to Ulta in Silver Spring to get any color of makeup you could ever want at great prices. Even some unique British brands are available. Ulta also has a cornucopia of nail colors in every brand imaginable so you can match those too. Don’t hit me for saying this, but I’d pick Ulta over Sephora any day. Ulta has the colors, the selection, better quality products, cheaper prices, coupons, and their store-brand products, like their eyebrow pencils and body sprays, are affordable and excellent.

If you go with colored lipstick, try for nude eyes. The model above wearing a wig very similar to mine, on amazon.com, shows you exactly how it’s done. Nude eyes and dark burgundy lipstick seem to compliment gray hair too. There’s a model in Allure magazine who is constantly wearing deep burgundy lipstick with her gray hair and dusky pink outfits. Eyup, I noticed you cool gray-hair-burgundy-lips lady!

Dress

It clicked that smokey blue eyes might not be too overpowering with the wig I planned to wear and then I ultimately created a high-fashion look with the help of a sleek black Calvin Klein wrap dress. (I think it was $30 from TJ Max downtown—and it was so beautiful and cheap I was able to double up and get a red one too.) And you can get a black dress pretty much anywhere else.

For the casual route, I bet dark jeans and a dark t-shirt with white wording or another white design will make that mint-gray wig pop too.

Shoes and Purse

As for my shoes, I chose some simple white Nine West pumps, about 2-inch heels, that happen to have golden metal wing tips. They’re out of season now, but any pure white heels will work with your wig, or try sneakers if you’re going casual.

And so, the bold white turned out to complement my wig, the black, the cool teal tones in my coat and a white snake-skin Vince Camuto purse (looove Vince Camuto) that had a gold and white tooth hanging from the zipper (from Marshalls, in Columbia Heights). Stores like Marshalls and TJ Max arrange their purses in a spectrum of colors making what you need easy to find. Lou Lou’s (Dupont Circle, Metro Center) is a little more expensive but they’ve got their store color-coded too. Express is also a great place to find statement handbags in bold colors, but watch out, they don’t have the whole rainbow for you; just what’s in this season.

Jewelry

My necklace was a silver and turquoise masterpiece from Charlotte Russe at Westfield Mall in Wheaton… a cheap masterpiece less than $15. It’s really a flimsy beautiful thing, but I love it. So when I put it on, I always pray and hold my breath that it doesn’t break apart!

Whatever you choose, silver, dark or bright white bling will best reflect the white, teal/mint, gray and black colors best. If you go with more blue, ensure that it doesn’t compete with the rest.

Coat

It’s not so warm you can’t indulge a cute coat, right? Ladies, I am fairly sure you can still find the deeply discounted NY&CO belted wool teal trenchcoat online. If not, they have lightweight teal coats in their store, and in other pastels too. By the way, Express is also owned by the same company, so you’ll see color schemes (and even similar clothing styles) repeated in both stores. Sometimes, I feel like Ann Taylor Loft is to Ann Taylor, as Express is to NY&CO.

Tip: Always try Express if you can’t find something in NY&CO, if both stores have your size.

Or, Do it On the Cheap

All in all, the cheapest way to go if you want to rock teal right now, is to grab a wig or bold teal eye shadow with nude lips. (If someone finds good teal lipstick, tell me! You’d pair teal lipstick with simple, natural-looking eyes.) Then, add a bright blue jacket, or shirt… one teal big statement piece with what you’d normally wear. Something dark, even dark denim or charcoal gray would do it since Spring colors haven’t really burst onto the scene yet. I did it. T’was straight awesomesauce.

And how did I just happen to have all this stuff lying around? Well, that’s another funny story for another time… about how to go shopping in your own closet. Check back later this week for my notes on that one. 🙂

Anyone else have a color they are completely obsessed with right now?