Here are a few ways to bring more color into your life. (And, believe me, once your life starts playing in color rather than in black and white, there’s no going back!)

What colors do you love most?

* Visit the paint store. Give yourself the treat of a half-hour dawdling in front of the paint-chip display in a paint store. Collect a handful and shuffle them. Which ones do you love? Enjoy their visual appeal.

* Visit an art museum. If you live in or near DC, it’s free! Take an hour and walk around a museum and pay especial attention to the art’s colors. Again, what appeals to you — and what doesn’t?

* Browse magazines and art books. Try this same approach with magazines or art books. Open yourself to new colors and combinations.

* Notice the physical and natural environments. Mother Nature pairs colors together beautifully, so take your cue from her. See the irises blooming, or the beauty of some warm-red tulips against the fresh grass. Or think of the rich mix of colors in an autumn treescape. It’s all beautiful!

Not sure which colors look best on you, or want help getting used to the wonderful world of color? Send me an email or give me a call at 202.352.7120 and we’ll figure out how I can help you color your world beautiful.

[Next time: More ideas about your best colors]

Post-recession skincare

I am not a beauty product devotee. (For a great blog by someone who is, visit Closet of Style.) I’m not immune to great packaging and branding, though. For many years I seriously loved Kiehl’s, the no-frills-yet-pricy, European-seeming skin-care brand. (Its history actually reaches back to Kiehl Pharmacy, in New York, circa 1850.)

But I digress.

With the recession, I switched to, yes, drugstore brands for most skincare stuff (I’ve never been able to break the habit with makeup). So maybe it’s a sign of the times that I’ve recently fallen in love with a super-rich moisturizer called, foolishly, Skin Nanny, from Lush, which definitely doesn’t have a drugstore price tag.

Then this weekend I saw something, I thought in the Times, that really got my interest: Midnight Recovery Concentrate, from Kiehl’s.

Love the blue bottle, love the eye dropper in the bottle’s lid, love the name.

Love the product.

As the saleswoman told me, I really needed just two drops, one for each side of my face. Because it’s winter and my skin is dry and, well, aging, I then layered the Skin Nanny on top, as the saleswoman suggested I could do if I had very dry skin.

No miracles — I’m still not 25 anymore — but several hours later, even with makeup on, my skin still feels moist and supple.

Let’s hope the economy really is on the upswing, because I’m not sure there’s any going back.