Of course, you don’t have to spend a fortune to look well groomed; you just have to cultivate a few of the same habits as the most flawlessly groomed men in your life…

Schedule Regular Barber Appointments

Flawlessly groomed men visit the barbers at least once every month to ensure that they maintain their style with the minimum of effort. After all, you don’t need many products or much time to style hair that’s always freshly cut and styled.

Work Out Which Products Work for You

It’s so obvious, but if you’re using products that don’t enhance your looks, then you’re wasting your money. So, take the time to try out various waxes, creams, and sprays to see which give you the best looks. If it turns out that it’s the high-end products that you need, well consider it an investment. When you look your best, you can attract more people, and it might even help you get the one that got away back with some help from the getherbackguide. If it works for you, then it’s worth it, and that’s all there is to it.

Go for Subtle Scents

A lot of men think that applying copious amounts of the strongest aftershaves and antiperspirants will make them smell more appealing, but they are wrong. Immaculately groomed men know that having a subtle signature scent and applying it so that only those closest to you can really appreciate it is the way to go. Spicy, herby scents tend to be the most appealing, so if you’re single and looking to change that, look for an aftershave that fits the bill.

Take Good Care of Your Teeth

The first two things potential partners look at are your smile and your teeth. It’s a lot easier to buy a good pair of shoes than it is to deal with bad teeth, so invest in a decent electric toothbrush and a Waterpik and use them twice a day every day. You’ll have a winning smile if you do this.

Trim the Garden

Trimming down there is no longer a taboo for anyone, and actually, it is considered polite for men to keep their downstairs hair well groomed. That doesn’t mean you have to shave or wax (ouch) if you don’t want to, but you should at least take some scissors to the area once in a while.

Exfoliate

Exfoliating every other day will ensure that your face is dead skin free and that you look fresh and smooth. It is non-negotiable. Moisturise after to keep the wrinkles at bay.

Tame the Facial Hair

Whether you prefer the clean shaven look or you like a bit of fuzz on the face, it is important that you maintain your facial hair even if that just means using a trimmer to keep your beard need. The Grizzly Adams look does nothing to convince people that you’re a well-groomed man.

Time to hit the bathroom?

(Partner Post)

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Sadly, there are times in life when it’s simply impossible to take the time you need to keep yourself looking your best. Maybe you’re short on time because you’re travelling through Europe, or you head off on a bachelor party to play paintball and need to clean up for the subsequent evening out. Whatever the reason, you need to look your best, and the clock is ticking on achieving your usual high standards.

In an effort to provide some clarity, here are a few essential tips for bringing your physical appearance back to its best, even when time is short.

#1 – Carry Vaseline everywhere you go

Vaseline is a lifesaver if you’re in a pinch and need to smarten your appearance without spending hours in front of the mirror. You can use Vaseline to:

Neaten your hair
Tame stray beard strands
Moisturise your cuticles
Ease unsightly dry lips
Help your eyelashes stand up, which will make you appear more awake

You can buy Vaseline in small pots that will slot into your pocket, ready to be deployed in a moment of urgency. It’s just important to remember to use a light touch; just rub your fingertips over the product rather than digging your fingers in. You’re looking for control, not to make yourself appear unpleasantly greasy. Use sparingly, and you can always apply more if you find you need it.

#2 – Multipurpose tools

Clippers or nail scissors are useful if you’re a fan of short nails, but they can also be used for a variety of other tasks. They can trim stray eyebrows or beard hairs, helping you to return to looking sleek and well-groomed even when you don’t have the time to go through your full routine.

#3 – Colour correcting makeup

Makeup for men is finally becoming more common, as guys accept the artistry in personal appearance improvement. One of the most vital pieces of makeup you may wish to carry with you is a colour corrector.

Colour correctors double as concealers. They come in a range of colours, some of which can look frighteningly vivid. However, when used sparingly, they’re invisible on the skin and make a huge improve to colour, texture, and pigmentation issues in record time.

There’s a great guide to using colour correction in this post, which should help you identify the colour you need to help mask any skin issues you have. If you’re in a rush and want to instantly improve your appearance, colour correction is definitely a viable way to achieve this.

In conclusion

Follow along with these tips and you’ll be back to your sharp, groomed, stylish self in no time.

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Before you’ve styled your beard for the day, and you haven’t decided what t-shirt to match with that jacket you can’t stop thinking about, there’s a lot of foundation work to complete. You see, when it comes to waking up in the morning, there’s a lot you can do just to make your under eyes seem a little less prominent. However, there’s a lot more you can do to perfect the look. Here’s some tips from the experts for a bit more mirror loving when you absolutely need it.

When You Get Out of the Shower

After you’ve just rinsed yourself off, make sure you’re not filling into any of the common mistakes that can make a lot harder to groom. For example, patting your hair dry instead of rubbing it will make sure you’re not tangling with broken strands and hating yourself for buying the cheaper hair spray. You can easily work with any product when you’re laying down those good foundations mentioned above.

Let your hair dry a little more naturally if you can’t be bothered with the patting technique, or break out the hair dryer. This can add a lot more volume to a look, and means you can be out of the door in about 5 minutes if you desperately need to leave.

Try a Little Relaxing

When it comes to skin health, letting yourself chill a little more often is key to vim and vigor in your look. For both your face and your scalp, a good massage every now and then will stimulate a lot of healing via essential oils being secreted; plus, you can better see where the problem areas are to counteract any breakouts.

Overall, just make sure you’re taking 10 or 20 minutes to yourself every so often; when you’re able to just simply be in the moment with yourself, you’re going to have a much healthier outlook overall. Chilling has never been so good for a person than in these moments! Let yourself get all the work and business of the day out of the way, and then make sure you’re rewarded for your hard work.

The Head Hair Maintenance

So this is arguably the biggest part of your morning routine, and you’ve run out of hairspray. Or maybe you’ve got plenty of hairspray and you just can’t get the comb you’re looking for. There’s no need to worry, rocking any style with confidence can make you feel better about yourself, and more natural amongst other people.

One of the strongest contenders here is the comb over style, which isn’t just for hiding a bald spot in the middle of your head. Oh no, there’s a lot more you can work with when you have a full head of hair and plans to make it stand out like never before. Work a little styling cream into your roots (which you can find a recipe for here), and then part your roots naturally to get the comb over on the right side of your head. The run a comb through if you want a little more refinery to what you’re rocking.

If these styling tips are making you feel less and less confident about what you can do with your own head of hair, we can fix that too. For example, if you’re starting to notice a little receding on your hairline, or you’re thinning at the back of your head, don’t panic. It’s not the end of your full-headed dreams, as there exists a lot of solutions out there for you to use. Something like Finasteride tablets, which are used in men with hair loss, can help you here, so speak to the pharmacist or your doctor, or simply fill in an online form.

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Life can be tough, and when people are more concerned with surviving and growing day to day, spending time in creative recreation can be a little more tough. However, that doesn’t mean it’s anything but intrinsically worth it. The inner artistry block can be overcome, and in most cases it must be overcome. In order to truly mine the fissures of your soul that can unlock such wonderful works, and to develop this with all of your might, you need to keep a hole on your self-maintenance.

These following tips should help you unlock that creative spirit within.

Dressing The Part

You need to dress well. In order to understand your creative limits, you need to infuse yourself with a framework of self-respect. Grooming, staying impeccably clean and wearing fresh threads gives you a sense of being updated and belonging in the world. If you hope to push the industry forward (no matter what industry this is,) you will need to become a part of the tide. Wearing great clothes is not only a fun activity, but it helps you build confidence, and can inform your personality in new ways that may eventually unlock more confident and risky artistic expressions. This might sound like a superfluous link, but experiencing it is something else entirely, and you’ll understand when you do.

What’s more is that this needn’t cost you your entire paycheck to manage. Many firms are now offering subscription based services concerned with simplifying men’s fashion, allowing you to stay updated, clean, fresh and more importantly self-confident in the world you occupy.

Exercise
You also need to exercise. A sedentary person will not express a fraction of the artistic capability that same person would if they had exercise behind them. This might sound prejudiced, but it’s intrinsically true. When you have the blood moving throughout your body and brain, it’s likely that you’ll come up with your best ideas. Plus, an artist’s life is not a cop out. Simply because it can be fun, deeply expressive and a wonderful thing to live does not mean that working for it is out of the question. In order to stay a formidable force in your artistic discipline you need to work on yourself, and allow yourself the time to grow and rise like a phoenix.
Training towards a goal in fitness can help you achieve this. It helps your cognitive abilities, your self-reliance, your confidence and your ability to communicate with integrity. Starting a strength lifting program with high intensity cardio peppered in can help you get started in an easy and sustainable manner. Again, you’ll notice the difference when you partake in it.

Exposure
No great artist is born or developed in a vacuum. In order to stay relevant, pressing and full of substance you need to understand the society around you. After all, how can you break the mould if you’re not aware of the mould to begin with? This will take a number of different sources to achieve, from reading books that challenge you to viewing arthouse cinema to heading to art galleries you might not have otherwise visited.

Exposure to numerous cultures, modes of artistic expression, philosophical thinking and the historical context to back that up can inform your design choices now and forever. It might be that a select discipline interests you greatly, and informs your work dramatically from now on on account of your willingness to try. You never know what could be the next catalyst of your excellent creative outpouring, so make the advice here a prominent part of your artistic self-development, and you’ll notice just how beneficial it can be.

In Conclusion
Working towards your highest artistic aim means crafting yourself as a worthy recipient of that aim. The journey there will help define you as this, but so will an excess amount of self-maintenance, reliance and love. Before long, the creative spirit that waits within will be unlocked and ready to take on the world.

The post Unlocking The Creative Spirit Within appeared first on KIMU.

Nutrition and Exercise

If you’ve read this recent post you’ll know about the benefits of adopting a vegan diet, and how it can improve you both physically and mentally. But even if you don’t choose to follow this way of eating, you should still be taking steps to clean up your diet and using food as fuel for the body. That means plenty of fresh produce, whole grains, beans and pulses and lean protein. Not only will you feel less sluggish but with the help of exercise will begin to drop excess weight and tone up. If you find an activity you love, whether it’s the gym, a sport, a class or a solo activity like swimming or hiking, you’re far more likely to stick with it. When you look good on the outside you feel it on the inside. It promotes self confidence, and your body feels as fit and healthy as possible.

Refresh Your Wardrobe

When you’re feeling like the best version of yourself, you want to dress well and style yourself to make the most of it. Clothes are more than just a practical way to keep warm or preserve modesty, they’re a reflection of our personal style and tastes, and dressing in a way that’s authentic to you always feels great. Try on some outfits that are perhaps a little different to what you’d usually wear, experiment a bit. Cool accessories such as Garrett Leight glasses or sunglasses, hats, jewellery and bags will finish the look. There’s loads of styling advice online if you’re unsure. Certain cuts of clothing for example will work best on certain body types, once you know what yours is it can make shopping a lot easier.

Go to Your Health Appointments

Been putting off the doctor, dentist, optician or other health appointment? While these things can sometimes be awkward or embarrassing, a cause for worry or just an inconvenience, it’s far better to just go and make the time to do so. You’ll either be given a clean bill of health which is great, or any issues will be picked up as early as possible so that the right treatment can be given. Even things like dermatologists for skin issues, chiropodists for foot issues or chiropractors for pain and tightness in the body can all make a huge difference. If there’s an appointment you need to make, get it done and you’ll feel far better.

How will you be making 2018 the ‘year of you’?

The post The Year of You: Look Good, Feel Better appeared first on KIMU.

Choose Your Coat

It is fairly self-explanatory that your coat is going to be one of your most important items of clothing during the winter months. You may want to have a couple of different options depending on the weather outside. A long woollen or faux fur overcoat is a stylish option, but it will not stand up too well in the rain or snow. In these conditions, you will be thankful for a good-quality waterproof jacket. If your workplace is more casual, you may well want to go for a short and simple coat option. Take a look at some of the different choices on Dickies Life. However, if you wear a suit to work, a nice winter overcoat will do the job of keeping you warm and protecting your outfit.

Winter Business Suits

Now that the weather is getting colder outside, you may want to switch to a three-piece suit which is a stylish choice and one that will keep you that little bit warmer when you are in the office. Make sure that all of the pieces go well together as an odd waistcoat can look a little sloppy compared with the rest of the outfit. If you are sick of plain grey or black suits, why not try a nice charcoal pinstripe one instead? Pinstripes help to both slim the figure and give off a sophisticated image.

Select Your Shoes

When it comes to your shoes, you should make sure that they are both polished and pristine. If you are looking for a stylish and practical option, you could try some ankle boots which appear like a smart business shoe but they have the added benefit of keeping your feet both warm and dry.

Finish Off the Look with Accessories

No winter look is completed without a couple of well-chosen accessories. Leather gloves look great with a wide variety of outfits and a nice scarf is a ubiquitous and stylish choice. Going for colours which are a little bit darker is the safe choice as they will go with more things. If you would prefer to go for something that is a little more out there, maroon or emerald are good choices.

So, hopefully, you now feel a little more confident in choosing winter outfits which are perfect around the office. Essentially, you are looking to get the right balance between style and practicality. Darker colours tend to be the most popular during this season. The staples of the season include your coat, shoes, a couple of suits and the right accessories.

The post Winter Clothing Ideas appeared first on KIMU.

Every day is different. And each day, with its own individual moments and mission, can require a different kind of outfit, So much so, that sometimes, you’re going to need to work with wearing something different a few times a day! But, lets’ face it, with a busy calendar, you can’t always guarantee that a wardrobe change is going to happen. But when you’ve got work in the day and an event at night, what’s a man to do?

In an ideal situation, you’d be able to dress for each occasion that you have on. But in reality, that’s never the case. And when after work events often require a completely different dress code to what you’re used to wearing, it can completely throw you off. But it doesn’t have to. If you want to be able to go from work to workin’ it in the same day, here’s how to make it work.

Wear Your Wardrobe Well

First of all, you need to think about what you have in your wardrobe, and how it’s going to work for you here. And being practical. You might like those sweats, but they’re not going to do the job. So make sure you start with something that’s going to fit with the evening event in question. Work in an office? Tend to wear a suit most days? You’re going to be off to a good start with most evening occasions.

Be Practical

At the same time, don’t just think about the evening event and forget the fact that you’re going to need to wear the bulk of what you choose for the entire day beforehand. Because you still need to be comfortable at work. So be practical. Don’t choose the suit that’s uncomfortable to sit in for hours on end, because if you’re going to be at your desk all day, it’s not going to cut it. At the same time, don’t choose something that’s going to get worn out after being worn at work and look awful come evening time.

Accessorize Well

What you are going to want to focus on for this is your accessories. Because you may not be able to do much with your workwear during the day, but you can definitely make a difference come evening time. Say you wear a tie for work, why not switch it up come evening? You could also think about changing your shoes to a more formal pair to take you through to event.

Pack A Bag

To make this happen, you’re going to want to think about packing a bag to take to work with you. Because to be able to make the look work for you, you’re going to want to have everything you need with you ready to switch things up when the working day is done. So pack a change of shoes in a bag and hide them in your office or under your desk. If you have enough room, you may even want to keep a few pieces at work permanently should you ever need them on the spur of the moment.

And Freshen Up

You’re also going to want to think about freshening up before you go. After a long day, you may not always feel your best in what you’ve had on since you left the house. So, for this reason, you’re going to need to have some deodorant and aftershave ready and waiting at work. If you have showers in your office, you could definitely think about washing off to help you feel ready for the night ahead too.

Change It Up

Maybe you’d even like to change up your hairstyle? Sometimes, just redoing the style that you always wear will make you feel ready for your evening events. But maybe you want to go with something a little more fun? Depending on how you wear your hair, you might be able to shape it into something more exciting for the night.

Add On

From here, you should then think about how to you can to your look and even switch things up. There’s so much you can do with mens’ formal dressing, that you might find a different jacket or shirt can really shake things up for you.

Dress It Up

Then, you’re going to want to work on setting the look off too. For this, you’re going to want to work with showy accessories. There’s nothing quite like working with a stunning watch from somewhere such as mastersintime to complete your look. If you want to wow, then you need to work with something absolutely stunning that’s fitting for the event.

Leave The Rest Behind

But if at this point, you’re worried that you’re going to have to take this huge bag to your event, don’t panic, just leave it at work. Once you’ve been able to pull your look together, you’re going to want to make sure everything else stays put. It’s often for this reason that it can be useful to have a small selection of pieces to store at work. If you have your own office, it’s definitely worth thinking about adding a wardrobe style storage area in.

Photography via Saint Laurent Paris

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The 1960s was a time of revolution politically and culturally. Woodstock festivals were the centre of all things hippyish, underground and edgy. This sense of revolution was internalised within the fashion industry to create some of the most inspiring menswear labels that are still adorning hipsters, hippies, industrialists and the most distinguished gentlemen to this day. Take a look at these labels that saw their brands emerge in the mid-century only to reach global domination fifty years later.

Ralph Lauren : 1967

Mr. Lauren was not your typical fashion guru. The son of Jewish immigrants, he worked as a lowly salesperson, but always had a flair for the more creative. Setting up his own label in 1967, Ralph Lauren began selling bespoke neckties to the businessmen that craved something a little more edgy than the Savile Row staple. Soon, Ralph Lauren was designing the elegant and classic shirts that we see today available from outlets such as The Iconic.

Remaining affordable to the masses, Ralph Lauren rejected the ridiculously high-end retail prices to become a more accessible designer brand for men all over the world.

Kiton : 1968

A less well-known brand than the likes of Ralph Lauren is Kiton. These off the peg suits are made from the most luxurious and expensive fabrics. In the late 1960s men could adorn themselves in velvet, tweed or gabardine that fitted as if they were created on Savile Row. Nowadays each suit, although ready to wear from high-end department stores all over the world, is handmade and crafted using artisan techniques. This probably goes some way to explaining why a Kiton suit will set you back upwards of $5000 today.

Comme Des Garcons : 1969

Rei Kawakubo, the mind behind the label of Comme des Garcons has had something of an epiphany over the near fifty years of its incarnation. When the label first began, menswear wasn’t even on the radar, and all female collections were the order of the day. Fast forward ten years and Kawakubo was creating eccentric men’s tweed suits with neckties pre-sewn into the fabric. She remains hugely secretive of her designs, never leaking samples to the press before launch days. Her quiet confidence with pattern, colour and texture have led to her label becoming a mainstay of menswear all over the globe.

Tommy Nutter : 1969

Whereas classic crisp lines, well-fitted tailoring and uniformity with a mere touch of individuality was the style of the 1960s, Tommy Nutter decided to set his label on a different course. When he set up his tailoring business on Savile Row at the end of the 1960s, he wanted to introduce a more bold, crazy and manic ideal onto the fashion world and he succeeded. While the 1980s woman had oversized shoulder pads and garishly gold detailing, Nutter’s 1960s man had giant lapels, eye-watering patterns and large bow ties. What could have come across as clownish was harnessed to create a favoured brand of 1960s British rock stars.

Calvin Klein : 1967

While not exclusively a menswear designer, Calvin Klein used the 1960s to bring forward a more provocative approach to fashion. Even now, there are social media campaigns and TV adverts showing nothing but a well-sculpted guy in a pair of Calvin Klein boxer shorts frolicking on a catamaran with a beautiful woman. Calvin Klein designed pieces that encouraged men to believe wearing them would make them achingly cool. Like Ralph Lauren, the prices for his pieces, while not cheap, aren’t out of reach of the common man, making designer fashion affordable and viable for all. Calvin Klein revolutionised the fashion world, having his fingers in many well-coiffed pies from womenswear to menswear and from bags to perfumes.

The 1960s is remembered as a pivotal decade in world history where revolt and revolution were embraced like never before. The counterculture movement was given space to flourish as was the emergence of a new breed of fashion houses across the world. Those that have endured to the present day still produce some of the most iconic menswear ever to grace the catwalk.

The post Why 1960s Menswear Was Great appeared first on KIMU.

Timepieces

There’s something of a lost art to wearing a watch that seems to have disappeared over the last half a decade or so. This probably comes down to the reality of each and every one of us having a device in our pockets that can tell time more accurately than ever before. So the chance to wear a timepiece now is definitely more aesthetic related. Watch companies are looking back, embracing what worked in the past and combining it with everything that we’ve learned over the last two decades. Now, far from being clunky and inaccurate, your Swatch watch can function as a reliable, stylish timepiece that helps to solidify and define your style. Men’s fashion has always been closely linked to the presence of a stylish timepiece, and it’s about time that they made a genuine comeback.

Headgear

It’s hard for a lot of men to find a hat of any kind that really works for them, and it’s rare as hell for that style to age in any way other than becoming intensely embarrassing a short while after that. However, the right headgear mixed with the right outfit can be the perfect finishing touch. I always think “be iconic”, make something work for your personally that you can grow old gracefully in. Outside of 30’s film noir, trying to take people to take you seriously in a hat is always going to end up backfiring. Take a look at someone like Bruno Mars. His style is entirely built around a sense of levity and relaxation. That’s the only reason why he’s able to rock the kinds of ensembles that he does, so it goes back to what really works for you personally and how you carry that off. I’d suggest hitting up Goorin Bros in LA for sure.

Around Your Neck

Y’all know I’m a minimalist when it comes to tie etiquette, a necklace, or anything around the neck for that matter. Having said that, what you wear around your neck needs to be closely connected to everything else going on around it. Outside of something with tremendous sentimental value, you can’t just wear the same things with every outfit. Different ties aren’t going to fit with certain colours and cuts of a suit, and the choice of necklace needs to be based on the rest of your ensemble. And don’t be afraid to branch out in some interesting ways. A lot of guys would baulk at the idea of a choker, but they can add a great deal of interest to a subtle outfit without going too far into the territory of being gauche or indulgent and it’s a solid gesture of a more non-binary solidarity move.

Ring ring

When it comes to rings, subtlety is the name of the game. Unless you want to look like a prince or an oil baron (which both obviously have their moments), you don’t want your hands covered in rocks for ease of living mostly. Simple bands in either darkened brushed silver or gold are the best option. The patterning is up to you, from plain bands to Celtic engravings, the choice comes down to your preferences and outfit. You should also keep them to a maximum of one per hand unless you’re feeling especially bold.

Now, don’t think that you can create the style you need just by throwing all of these things on and hitting the streets. A perfect style is always about minimalism and what feels authentic to you.

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