Exuding confidence

Writer: Theresa Campbell

Confidence comes from within, but it is certainly helped along if you feel good about how you look.

Putting on a little lipstick and mascara can give women a “feel good” lift, so it’s not surprising a makeover of a new hairstyle, facial treatment, makeup, and well-fitting fashions can do wonders to bolster confidence.

Studies show men and women rate feeling confident as an “attractive trait.” Villages resident and former New Yorker Barbara Iannielli, boutique consultant for Stein Mart in Lady Lake, loves helping women feel more beautiful and powerful with clothing that complements their skin tone and highlights their best features.

“I believe every woman can look beautiful. It doesn’t matter her size, height, weight,” says Barbara, who recently dressed local fashion show models of all shapes in cold shoulder tops, swing dresses, and palazzo pants.

“To me, you should be proud of who you are; everybody is not meant to be a size 4,” she says, while also stressing there are more clothing colors besides black.

“A lot of people just want black; they feel it’s slimming,” she says. “I have put extra-large-size women in flower prints and they are amazed. I will never make somebody take something that I like on them that they are not comfortable in, because they will not wear it. You have to feel people’s comfort zone, and I do abide by that.”

To determine a person’s best colors to wear, Barbara aims to accentuate the eyes, skin color, and hair. She also relishes moments when people try on clothes they wouldn’t have thought of wearing only to discover they love how the outfit looks.

“A lot of people are very against wearing dresses, and why wouldn’t you put yourself in a sundress in the dead of heat? It doesn’t have to be dress up. People have this stigma that being in a dress is dressy and they cannot wear it. I think being in a dress makes you feel feminine. It makes you feel like a woman and it’s radiant,” Barbara says.

Makeover with hair and makeup
Dina Simpson, co-owner of Renew Day Spa in Leesburg, has years of experience as a stylist and previously served as manager of Cal’s Barber and Beauty in The Villages.

She believes it’s vital to get to know the person’s personality, lifestyle, hobbies, and other traits to determine the best hairstyle to complement their face shape.

“I definitely accentuate their better parts,” she says of hair and makeup. “If they have beautiful eyes, you want to open up where their eye sockets are, or accentuate strong cheekbones. It’s just bringing out the beautiful person that is within.”

Dina suggests picking one specific facial area to focus on with makeup, such as the eyes or lips. “Eyebrows play a big part,” she adds. Eyelash enhancements are coming back, too, along with hair pieces and wigs.

“I know that when you leave here, I can make you look fantastic, but that is not a compliment to me unless you can go home and create it yourself,” she says.

Surgical/nonsurgical options
Dr. Dino Madonna, board-certified facial plastic surgeon and otolaryngologist with Face 2 Face in The Villages and Leesburg, delights in seeing the transformation of patients who feel better about how they look after a procedure.

“We make them feel fresher and rejuvenated,” he says. “I think when you have that confidence behind you, it shows in everything that you do.”

Several nonsurgical options are available, including injectables and facial fillers for a quick boost, or resurfacing, such as the Silkpeel, a popular treatment without downtime that he says often leaves patients with a “nice glow.”

Among the popular surgical procedures are lower face lifts, neck lifting, brow lifting, eyelid rejuvenation and rhinoplasty, or reshaping the nose.

“People are afraid of the plastic look, and we do not strive for that at all. A more natural look is our goal,” he says, adding it’s important to have a face-to-face consultation with patients to identify their goals.

“It can be life-changing from an attitude standpoint,” Dr. Madonna says of patients achieving desired results. “Looking good and feeling good goes hand-in-hand.”