This pretty magenta strapless evening dress from Phoebe Couture will flaunt your assets and hide unwanted flabs in the hips with its tiered petal detail. The cute pink band gives your waist the silhouette it needs to look flattering and sexy as it falls on your natural waistline. Feel absolutely sexy as its silk cloth wraps your body in its soft and comfortable embrace. Can’t wait to grab one? Head on to the nearest Neiman Marcus store or go to www.neimanmarcus.com and for only $330, you can  make this dress your own.

Show off those purty little toes of yours and look absolutely rockin’ in these THEROCKETT Sandal Boots from Nine West. Pair it off with your comfy leggings or match it up with your fave skirt to keep it from looking too drab. It’s low enough to prevent those nasty varicose veins yet it has enough heel to keep your gams looking sexy.

I’m so lovin’ the gray color (shown in the photo above), but if you prefer darker shades, these sandal boots are available in black and brown for only $99 per pair.

You know you can never go wrong with a chic dress like this. From the Oscar dela Renta collection, this silk bow-trim dress can take you from day to night with its classy cut and design. Show off your playful side and flaunt those adorable bows. Once the sun dips its rays, strut your stuff and feel like a model in a catwalk.

Priced at $2,990. Available at all Oscar dela Renta boutiques.

Feeling down in the dumps? Brighten up your day with these uber chic and oh-so-lovely embellished sandals from Jimmy Choo. Glam up your daily ensemble and add this as a staple in your wardrobe to keep you from looking too plain and boring. Pair it up with a maxi dress for that modish, laid-back vibe.

For $525 a pair, these sandals can definitely take you from day to night anytime, anywhere. Grab it now and see heads turn as you go!

The $654 price tag might look like a steep one at first but I’m positive that’s not the case. I mean — you’re getting the good stuff here! ;-)

My favorite is by far the Wool Crepe Jacket, but the others are awesome too! Don’t hesitate, as they’ll fly off the e-shelves! :D

1. Wool Crepe Jacket by Dolce&Fabbana — was $2500, down to under $1000.

2.  Pointy Toe Pump by Dolce&Gabbana — Was $600 down to under $360

3. Tall Leather Boots by Dolce & Gabbana — Were $1500, down to $900.

Pretty sweet deals, huh? :D

Look at the metallic heels!

DON’T BUY THESE TONIGHT. Your order might be accidently pushed ahead of mine and I’d have to come and kill you. Order these on Tuesday, when mine are hopefully in the mail to me.

Peace!

“Home parties are a pyramid scheme!”“Home party consultants pressure their guests into buying overpriced merchandise.”“They always make you play silly games at home parties.”

These are only a few of the many austere attitudes held by the growing number of home party skeptics – those who are certain a home party hostess is sentenced to spending tons of money on food and hours of her time cleaning – only to receive a paltry $10 gift for her troubles!

I have made it my mission in life to single-handedly revolutionize the home party industry and the many unfortunate categorizations which plague this profession!

You may be wondering why I am attempting such a thorny, menacing journey – uphill both ways in the snow with the same pair of shoes shared by my family of thirteen for the last seven years. It’s simple. Those unfortunate categorizations and austere attitudes are wrong! At least when referencing Lia Sophia!

I have to say I love doing my parties, but I have a secret. When I start my very brief presentation at each of my Lia Sophia parties, I begin by telling my guests that I am a “Home Party Skeptic turned Advisor”. Usually this is quite alarming to some, but others nod their head knowingly. Perhaps they were harassed into attending that particular show by a close friend, or maybe they agreed to go because they needed a night away from the kids. Undoubtedly, they assured their husband, boyfriend, or roommate that “it’s a racket” and that they “didn’t intend to buy anything”.

I’m sure you are wondering how I went from Home Party Skeptic to Advisor extraordinaire? Frankly, I still kick myself for not joining Lia Sophia earlier! A friend of mine – and an Advisor with Lia Sophia – would regularly tell me that I should join because she was making decent money selling jewelry in her free time – Say What?? Impossible, I thought. I had two kids, I was in school, I had a third child some people call my husband and, well, you get the picture. My excuse: I didn’t have the time for another commitment. As I busily went along with my life, I would receive frequent phone calls from my Lia-Sophia-selling-friend announcing that she had just put new windows in her home… or that she just paid off one of her credit cards. After about a year of these “stories” and a move to St. Louis, I finally broke down and asked her about “The Opportunity” as she so fondly referred to it. Here are the secrets I discovered that have certainly changed my family’s life (cheesy, I know!):

Top 5 “Unfortunate Categorizations” About Lia Sophia Home Parties:

1. “Home parties are a pyramid scheme!”
This may be true with some direct sales companies, but not Lia Sophia. The company has very tough sales requirements for their management team (think $5,000 in personal monthly sales for the lowest level manager). If their managers don’t meet their goals they lose their whole team and the people they have recruited and trained. Yes they do make commission off their recruits, but only if they are performing to the companies standards. They are not able to recruit a group of Advisors and sit back while their underlings make them big bucks!

2. “I can’t afford the startup costs.”
Also known as: “My husband won’t let me spend the money to start.” Again, very true with other direct selling (a.k.a. home party companies) companies, but NOT with Lia Sophia. At the direction of a skeptical friend, I personally did a plethora of research prior to signing on with Lia Sophia. I found that Lia Sophia had the lowest startup costs of any of the direct selling jewelry companies ($149 + shipping/tax), they provided the most jewelry and supplies for that low startup cost (over $1,000 in jewelry and $400 in supplies), and finally – I could start FOR FREE! Yes, you heard me correctly. FREE! Who doesn’t love that word? Not all Advisors offer this option, but many do. It is not something offered by the company, but by individual Advisors in order to alleviate that initial monetary burden on new Advisors. All you have to do is commit to 5 parties within 5 weeks (so not hard to do!), and have a starter show that is over $1,000 and then I pay for your starter kit! This ensures that you are going to get off to a great start because Advisors typically book 2 shows from each party. That means in those five weeks, you’ll book an additional 10 parties, 20 parties from those 10 and so on.

3. “They always make you play silly games at home parties.”
Some Advisors do try this approach to get additional bookings (called “booking games”), or to give away free jewelry or credits to their guests. Personally, this is not my approach. The beauty of Lia Sophia is that it is your business. You can do whatever you want – or don’t want – to do. I give a short presentation at my parties to outline the monthly special, the lifetime replacement guarantee and the awesome hostess benefits. This takes approximately 20 minutes, and then I start taking orders. I do offer jewelry credits for anyone who books shows, but why make them work for it? It benefits my business if they have a party. I give $50, $75, and $100 credits to people who have parties. The best part? The company only charges me 30% of the value of the credit, which means for a $100 credit I only pay $30 out of my pocket. I get another party and I will probably make $250 or more in profit from that one show. You gotta spend money to make money!

4. “The benefits of having a party don’t make it worth the trouble.”
This is an incredibly false statement! Again, there are direct selling companies out there that give their hostesses minimal “thank you gifts”. Are you surprised that this is not the case with Lia Sophia? My hostesses, on average, earn about $700-900 worth of jewelry (approximately 15 pieces) in hostess benefits. They have the opportunity to earn up to 40% of the show sales in jewelry credits, select five $100 items and pay only $15 for each, receive a 50% discount on two additional items, and receive yet another half price item at any show that was booked at their show. Obviously this really adds up! When my past hostesses attend parties they will be the first to tell everyone how much great stuff they got – and it doesn’t cost me a dime! A recent new Advisor earned 32 pieces of jewelry at her starter show (which she can now use for her display), valued at $1,325, and booked 11 shows to get her started. The benefits the company offers is just one of the many ways Lia Sophia makes it easy for their Advisors to sell and book shows.

5. “I don’t have the time.”
Once you see me paying off my credit cards and going on vacation, you’ll make time! As you know, this was my original “excuse”. Quite frankly, it was just that – an excuse. Once a new recruit is qualified as an Advisor with Lia Sophia, they are only required to hold 1 show a quarter in order to remain active. I don’t know anyone who actually does this simply because they realize how much cash they can make! For example, the average Lia Sophia show is $750. Given this average, you would stand to make approximately $225 from each show. By holding just one show a week, you will average approximately $1,000 a month! That’s $1,000 for approximately 4 hours of work per show (including administrative work such as sending out invites, submitting the show to the company, and actual show time). Now, let’s understand that my show average last month was approximately $1,200. That means I could have made nearly $1,500 of “extra money” last month by working 12 hours. Really, does it get any better than this?

Even after these amazing insights, I’m sure there are some of you still saying “it sounds too good to be true.” Fortunately for me and my family and my friends who have jumped on the wagon, it is very true! I will never tell a potential recruit that it is easy money, because you are self employed and you have to have a bit of discipline to get everything done. I guarantee, if you commit, if you dedicate yourself to making your business successful, it will be very difficult to avoid that success! I could go on for days, maybe even weeks about all of the details, perks, and benefits (the above are only the tip of the iceberg!), but I won’t. The best way to get to know Lia Sophia is to jump in with both feet!

Donnell Probst
www.liasophia.com/stlouis

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Try matching cap-toe heels with a smart suit (a la 1940′s), slim pencil skirt or long wool slacks. Sling backs will give you a more contemporary look, while the classic pump or a Mary Jane style will compliment that retro feel. Feel free to set your hair, put on a deep red lipstick and actually wear a slip to really complete the look.

*Shoes pictured are Guess ($110), Prada ($298), Justsweet ($115), and Dior ($450)

What I like about Shopbop is they focus on a certain style, organize by trend, boast some really great lookbooks and even better sales. Here’s to hoping those majorly discounted sale prices will extend to their high-end arena.