Reddit mentions of Bobbi Brown Beauty Rules: Fabulous Looks, Beauty Essentials, and Life Lessons for Loving Your Teens and Twenties

I'm stealing another redditor's format to make it easier for you to find the useful information in this ramble...haha


DRESS:If you are a small enough size, try looking in the kids'/juniors' section - no joke. My friend only just breaks 5', and she found a really pretty white dress that was a fraction of the price of adult dresses.

Dress shopping is hard :( It's worth finding out about your body type to help narrow your options. When your arms are relaxed at your waist, are your elbows below your natural waist (the smallest circumference of your waist)? If you said yes, then congratulations, you're short-waisted like me and cheap dress shopping will be a bitch because everything cheap is catered to long-waisted women (elbows are above natural waist). If you are short-waisted, for instance, babydoll styles look silly, but empress waistlines/dresses that ruche at the side or wrap around are flattering. If you're long-waisted, I think you can rock a wider variety of styles.

It may be a worth a spin by Ross, Filene's Basement, or the like - often, you can find decent, cheap stuff there.

MAKEUP:For makeup, many people get makeovers from the counters at malls (Bobbi Brown does the most natural-looking jobs). Sometimes these are free, and sometimes they do this with the understanding that you will buy one or two items afterwards. This can cost $30 and up in products, though, so do your research and see who will do it for free. I think the Body Shop does free makeup, although it'll be their mineral-y powerstuffs which don't augment as much as other kinds of makeup would. I, personally, prefer Bobbi Brown because you exit looking like a slightly prettier normal person, and you get some high quality products you can use for the next year (if you wear makeup as infrequently as I do, haha. Actually, I may still have products I bought for prom makeup four years ago).

By the way, Bobbi Brown has some books on beauty that I still refer to - here and here, although this might be most helpful for you if you decide to do your own makeup. The InStyle Secrets of Style books are also like DIY manuals for fashion/style/life in general. You could also check out the blog Already Pretty, although I don't remember if there are many prom-appropriate articles. They do have a lot of confidence-boosting articles, though, and confidence is important for any social event! They also have some stuff on finding the right clothes for your body type, which could help with dress shopping.

EVENT: The event varies from place to place. Mine was a dance in a large hotel hall that came with a seated dinner buffet and dessert buffet. It was chaperoned by teachers. The deejay did a bit of challenging girls vs. boys to dance, but nothing with plastic inflatable goods. He played mostly top 40 songs, and then some songs we had requested (e.g. "Don't Stop Believing" was our prom song). There wasn't a lot of grinding at our school because the clothes were generally too restrictive and the girls were wearing heels, haha. I doubt you'll feel pressured into doing that; some people are totally happy just sitting and talking and eating for the whole time, if those are options for you.



Above all, have a great time! Everyone's nervous, but it is so much fun to see everyone all dolled up - especially the dudes forced into tuxes. Bring a camera and you'll always have something to do :) Best of luck!