I'm Moving!

Just got a new domain, so I'm moving camp. New articles will be posted at www.seductive-style.com

Interesting Tips

I went out to breakfast with my girlfriend today, and got some interesting insight into men's fashion. While dining on a delicious chocolate chip pancake, I listened to her talk about some of the simple mistakes most men make when dressing. Here's a few tips I thought you might find helpful:

• If you're wearing a suit, make sure to wear the right shoes. Lots of guys have this misconception that any shoes that are black and leather can be paired with black/grey suits. This is not so: go for round tipped, dress shoes. Think wingtips. Square front shoes are too casual to wear with suits. Here's an example of the right type of shoe to wear, if you like this particular one, you can click on the picture and you'll be directed to it's page on Zappos.

• Dress your age: if you're 40, don't try to wear what the 18 year olds are wearing. I think this is pretty common sense myself, but I know alot of guys that seem to miss the plot.
  
• If you're having trouble finding a certain type of garment that you like in any store, you may want to think about whether the garment/style is on it's way out. My girlfriend told me about an ex that spend hundreds of dollars and hours of his time going to every GAP in town to buy their tapered jeans when he found out that they weren't going to be carrying them anymore. He even bought different sizes so he could wear them in the future if his size changed. WOW.
  
• Don't buy clothes just for a conspicuous label; an ugly ass shirt doesn't look any better just because it's got an expensive name brand on it.
  
• Conversely, don't be afraid to buy cheaper clothes if they look good on you. If they fit you well and look good on you, they'll look alot more expensive than they are.
  

Running websites

I finally started running again a few months ago. As with almost all of my ventures, I started by searching the web for some tips and tricks. Here are a couple sites I discovered:

1. Map My Run - this site is AWESOME. You can look up your area and map your runs (pretty self explanatory, eh?). Once you enter your starting address, you can plot points along your run. In addition, you can view the way that elevation changes throughout the run. I found this feature incredibly helpful... I live in an incredibly hilly area, and there are some monster hills I'd much rather avoid. The other cool thing you can do on this site is save your run plots and share them with other users.
   
   
   
2. Cool Runnings - this is my other favorite running site. It has links to running articles and advice, races, and discussion forums. I especially like the personal training log offered on the site. You can use the personal running log to chart your progress over time, by inputting the time and distance of each run you go on. An especially helpful feature of the personal training log: you can specify what shoes you ran in for each run, so that you can track the mileage on your shoes. I always lose track of how long I've had shoes, so this was a godsend for me.
   

How to Shave

I've noticed a lot of guys posting questions on message boards about the best way to shave. Here's my method, which I think works really well.

1.) Always shave in the shower. The heat and steam from the water will open up the pours on your face, which helps you achieve a smoother shave.

2.) Exfoliate first. This gets rid of all the dead skin cells on your face, and it brings your whiskers up to attention.

3.) Wash the exfoliant off completely.

4.) Apply your shaving creme. I prefer creme over gel, but that's just a personal preference.

5.) Let the creme soak into your face for a minute or so. I personally use this time to scrub the rest of my body with soap.

6) Shave slowly. It's not a race. Shave WITH the grain. I can't stress this enough. That means shaving downward, most of the time. The only area (on my face at least) where the grain goes up is the lower part of my neck. I think this holds true for everybody's face. Frequently run the blade under the shower to get the excess hair out of it.

7.) After the shower, make sure to use an aftershave.

8.) Cap things off with a facial mosturizer.

9.) Done!

Fragrances

Find the best scents around, then get them for dirt cheap prices.

Information Sites and Articles

1. Basenotes - the definitive fragrance site. Search for scents by their notes, or who made them, or when they were released. Awesome.
2. "Cologne and the Restaurant" - a brief article about fragrance ettiquette.
3. "Common Perfume Application Mistakes" - an article about fragrance faux pas.
   
4. "Men's cologne" - an askmen.com article focused primarily on how to pick a scent.

Gifts for Women

1. "Guide to buying lingerie" - tips on giving the gift that keeps on giving.
2. - Pretty Good Women's Site - Has a lot of designer jeans.
   

Online Stores

Here is my big bad list of online shops that are worth visiting. If you have any sites you think should be added to the list, please add them as comments to this list!

General Men's Stores

Sponsor Sites

Please visit my sponsor sites; every time you go through this site to purchase from these sponsors, it puts beer money in my pocket!

I'm sure you already know about Thomas Pink's quality, so I won't spend much time describing them. Suffice it to say, if you want some AWESOME work wear, Pink is the way to go (in my opinion). In fact, I'm wearing the blue Nixon stripe tie as I write this.

Zappos is great. At first, I was wary about buying shoes online, but now I love it. Their prices are great, and they make it really easy to return shoes if they don't end up working out.

I like Penguin's polos.

I like pacsun's t-shirt collection. They have other great comfy clothes as well.

A good place to get scents.

Designer brand premium ties. Pretty good prices.

Other Great Sites

1. Blue Fly - great prices on designer label clothes (e.g. Gucci, Prada, Armani, etc.).
2. Guyshop.com - huge selection, focused primarily on casual clothes .
   
3. Karma Loop - good selection of casual clothes.
4. Nordstroms - online home of the department store.
   
5. Revolve Clothing - great selection of designer casual clothes. Awesome Denim selection.
   
6. Urban Outfitters - good casual clothes.
   
7. Digital Gravel - cool urban casual clothes.
   
8. 2K T-shirts - loads of t-shirts from top designers
9. Threadless T's - Awesome site! Get t-shirts from aspiring graphic artists at really low prices.
   

Helpful Sites for More Information

Hi again. Here's a list of sites that also offer information on men's style.

1. "The Executive's Closet" - basic information on clothing for men.
   
2. "Sharp Man" - information on fashion, grooming, and relationships.
3. "So You Wanna Dress Better" - offers advice on grooming, fashion, etc.
   
4. "Modern Man" - offers articles related to fashion.
   
5. "Mens Health: Style" - fashion advice from one of my favorite magazines.
6. "Men's Wearhouse: Guy'd Lines" - offers advice tailored towards business attire.
7. "Just Mens Wear.com" - offers advice about how to take care of your clothing.
8. "Men's Fashion at About.com" - A so-so directory of fashion information.
   

Hairstyles

Finding information on guy's hairstyle has to be one of the most frustrating quests ever. Women don't have to deal with this; do you know that entire magazines are dedicated to women's hairstyles? Doesn't seem fair to me, but whatever. Here's some information I dug up for guys hairstyles:

1. "2006 Hairstyles" - an article about the newest trends in men's cuts.
   
2. "The Hairstyler" - this site is cool; you send them a picture of yourself, then you can check out what you would look like with different hairstyles.
   
3. "Matrix: Men's Hairstyles" - a site offered by the Matrix product line; has photos of different hairstyles and some styling directions.
4. "Male Celebrity Hairstyles" - offers a list of male celebrities with links to pictures.
   
5. "Transforming Hair Tips for Men" - offers advice for guys with troublesome hair.
6. "Men's Long Hair Site" - as the name implies, this site is dedicated to people who have or who are growing long hair. The message board is the most helpful part of the site.
7. "Men's Face Shapes Secrets and Tips" - this is an article from a site that, surprise surprise caters mainly to women. Regardless, the article does have a couple good tips for men's styles.
8. "What's Going on Upstairs?" - Men.style.com take a whack at 20 of the worst celebrity haircuts.

Shoes

People can tell alot about you by the shoes you're wearing. Well, women can at least. I used to be wary of buying shoes online, until I did it the first time. Now, I always look for my shoes online; the prices are almost always lower than in stores, and there's a way better selection. Here's some information you can use when looking for a new pair of kicks:

Articles

1. "How to Choose the Right Men's Shoes" - a helpful article that sums up the basic rules for picking out shoes.
   
2. "Top 4 Essential Men's Shoes" - talks about the four types of shoes every guy should own.
3. "Men's Shoes: 5 Trends for Fall 2006" - some good tips for what to look for this season.
4. More to come!

Stores