It's not an April Fool's Day joke, everybody. I just finished a marathon-like 4 day grooming workshop for Tampines Secondary School. This is the longest grooming workshop I've ever done thus far. But from the grins and smiles all round, I guess the 30 hour long programme was well worth it. Another first record for me was that I was allocated an all girls class. Who would have guessed I would be teaching 22 girls? Of course not forgetting that there was an assessment component at the end of the workshop which I had to set and test the students, subsequently grading each student. 

But rise up to the challenge I did. To me, the gender doesn't matter. The most important element in my workshop is to make the materials interesting to arrest the attention of the students. One cannot have too much theory stuff less it becomes boring. Too much practical would mean challenges in coordination as it was inevitable that the students had to wait for their turn while I helped others.

I gave everyone a surprise by announcing that I was going to check their fingernails. Some panicked, while others were cool about it. I explained the rationale of it that it was part of the assessment. One must always be prepared to upkeep one's outer appearance. And this refers to our face, hair, nails and teeth. Had I given the students time to trim their nails or buff them shiny, it would have defeated the purpose. 


Who has the cleanest nails of them all? Let's compare!

When I taught them the different facial and body shapes, the girls got excited and started examining themselves and their classmates. Some pinched, while others used a ruler to measure. When they were done, guess who they analysed next. Yes, me! Haha...Using their newly acquired knowledge, they had a fun time dissecting my face and wanted me to verify my own facial shape. 


Can I pinch your face to tell your facial shape? Hmm...I'm very sure I didn't teach this...hahahaha

As with most of my trainings, the students absolutely loved the colour analysis part. They learnt that wearing their best colours made them more alive, alert and younger. Wearing the wrong colours on the other hand made them look tired, dull and uninteresting. Looking at all the colour drapes and cloth samples, the girls were naturally inducted into the world of colours and fashion.

 
 

I really admire the students as they were very quick to learn and completely grasped the concepts of warm versus cool colours easily. Helping one another along, they soon found their best colours. Add to this, my best colours as well...hahaha...

Posing with the coloured clothes and drapes, we must have been a colourful sight to behold while taking a class photo along the corridors. 

Moving on, the other two segments that particularly interested the students were the demonstrations for the various human postures - think standing, sitting and squatting. As the aim of the workshop was to turn the girls into sophisticated ladies, all were asked to participate in these postures. Then I had the class share what they felt was good or not. 



Perhaps the one segment that the girls were looking forward to was the mock interview part. Each had to come dressed in an outfit suitable for an office interview. The 'interviewee' then had to be subjected to a series of questions designed to understand why she came dressed in a particular manner. Of course, colour selection and style played huge parts in the allocation of marks.



See how pretty everyone has become with the right choice of clothes and poses. Awesome!

Students who passed the assessment would be granted a special one point deduction for entry to the ITE admission. It was only natural that the girls were all wary of whether they would do well. 

Splitting the assessment into two parts – the first on grooming and the second on etiquette, it was evident that in order to do well for the assessment, the girls had to give their best in both sections as both sections contributed to the final score. 

I'm happy to announce that everyone passed the assessment! Congratulations girls. I'm happy to have been part of your grooming journey. 

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The little secret is out. Yes, I'm one of the 24 guys in the August Man A-listers Competition - the search for style, substance & success!

Completely different from the other competitions I have taken part so far, this competition seeks to unearth real gentlemen who are not only stylish in their fashion sense, but also have succeeded in life. 

Having done my photoshoot & video recording some weeks back, I am so looking forward to this stage of the competition.

But in any competition, there are of course rules to follow. In this case, only 12 guys will make it to the next round. And they will be determined solely by public votes. That's why it's important for you to cast your vote.

To everyone out who knows me or has been following my life stories & tips in this blog, I really hope you can make my dreams come true by voting for me & sending me through to the next round. 

We live life only once and that's why it's important to live life to the fullest. Everyday we are either learning and growing. Or we are not. I choose to learn and grow. And this is what I hope to gain from this competition.

Here's how you should go about voting for me...in 6 simple steps!

1. Visit www.augustman.com/alisters & create a free account
2. Click on the verification link which will be sent to your email to activate your free account
3. Login with your email address & password
4. Click on the red 'Vote Now' button on the left
5. Look out for my name. I'm the 4th guy from the left in the first row.
6. Click on my picture & vote by clicking on the 'Vote' button below

Once u have voted successfully, u will see a pop up box with a thank you message. This is the confirmation that your vote has been registered.

If u face any difficulty in voting, just drop me a mail ya. I'll help u out :)

Every vote counts. Help to spread the word among your friends and family as well. Many thanks everyone!

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It's the 2nd parter to my grooming workshop "The Visual, Vocal and Verbal Art of Looking Good". From the visual components, we will be moving onto the vocal and verbal components of looking good.

Drawing from a wide array of fields such as NLP, dating, oral communication to singing and mind mastery, the participants were treated to a delightful blend of the best in each field. Personally, I enjoy taking concepts from different areas, blend them together and come up with my own unique fusion inspired materials. Many a times, it is not the concept that is important. Rather, it is how we utilise the concept in the art of looking good that truly matters.


Who's mirroring who? Hmm...

Even without the cloth fabrics, the participants had fun albeit of a different type. The art of looking good certainly goes beyond the looks and the dress. 

Thereafter, given the opportunity of a life-time, the participants turned charismatic orators in what is probably going to be the experience of their life. Forget about the butterflies in your stomach. Just be confident and let your voice captivate the audience :) 

Like what I tell my participants, it's perfectly alright to make mistakes and learn from them. If nobody makes mistakes, then this world be a more miserable place to live in. In a classroom environment, you are free to make mistakes because only through mistakes do we accumulate learning experiences.

The highlight of today's workshop must have been the vocal warm-up exercises that I imparted to the participants. Aahh...and you thought only singers need to warm up their vocals. Not true at all. Practise makes perfect. 

The art of looking good is about self discovery - who you are deep down inside, who you want to be at the end of the day and how I can help you achieve your aspirations. Those of you familiar with my story will know that I used to be an ugly duckling as well, with my acne problems, inferiority complex, sickly body constitution and reed thin exterior. But that was all in the past. I've turned my life around completely.


The visual, vocal & verbal art of looking good grooming workshop

If you are keen to sign up for the next run of the 2 day programme, pls contact me & I'll fill you in with more details. 

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The grand finale with all the models on stage 

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It's going to be a super busy week ahead for me but I'm truly happy as I really enjoy what I am doing. Besides my personal training sessions, I'm booked on the following dates. Super busy but truly happy :)

• 27 Mar 2010 (day & night) - Rehearsals & Voice Over for Fashion Show at City Square Mall
• 28 Mar 2010 (day) - 2nd parter of "The Visual, Vocal & Verbal Art of Looking Good" Grooming Workshop at Prinsep Place
• 28 Mar 2010 (night) - Voice Over for Fashion Show at City Square Mall
• 29 Mar - 1 Apr 2010 (day) - Grooming Workshop Trainings at Tampines Secondary School 
• 3 - 4 Apr 2010 (night) - Voice Over for Fashion Show at City Square Mall

From the schedule above, I will be doing lots of speaking during the trainings. Hence, the need to keep my voice in pristine condition. My own reminder to drink lots of water everyday, stay cheerful & do my vocal warm-ups before starting any serious talking for long.

It's strange but true. When you are busy, time flies by so quickly. Yet the intangible rewards in the form of satisfaction is immense that it doesn't really matter. 

Stay with me, my friends as I update you on the exciting week ahead :)

 

 

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Read the title and it's certainly a mouthful - "The Visual, Vocal and Verbal Art of Looking Good". But it's not really. The title is a good giveaway on what are the areas I'll be covering. Yes, I'm talking about my full-length 2 day grooming workshop which starts today. The 2nd parter is next Sun (28 March 2010 - anybody still interested? Contact me pls....)

Today, I covered how to impress visually. Going beyond just facial and body shapes, I brought out my secret weapon - cloth in different shades of colour for the colour analysis. The participants loved it as it was fun and no doubt the highlight of today's session.


Posing with the colourful drapes

Draping the different coloured fabric around the participants for them to get a hands-on experience on the importance of wearing the right colour, I explained concepts like warmness and coolness, and the distinct characteristics of each season. In all honesty, when I first did my own seasonal analysis in 2006, I too remembered getting very excited as it opened a whole universe for me. And today, I'm sharing this same universe with my participants. It is interesting to note that for novices, through trial and error (and through the wrong colours), we eventually get the right colours. It's really a matter of patience. But whether it was the right colour initially or finally, I only sensed the 'fun' word in the air. 


Clear red looks exceptionally good on this gentleman as he's a Spring

After having determined the season for each participant, I proceeded to help them explore the workings of both the male and female wardrobe. It's often been said that clothes maketh the man (and woman I should add). With their newly acquired knowledge of what constitutes essentials and accessories, I covered an extra portion on scarfonomics. Scarfonomics simply refers to the art and science of scarves. Don't belittle scarves, they are perhaps the most useful accessory in both the female and male wardrobe!

Just a quick tip for all readers - men can carry off the rectangular fashion of the scarf very well. Check this out. He's a living model.

Helping to complete the rectangular fashion look of the scarf

I know my strength lies in simplifying difficult concepts for the participants. Nobody remembers difficult procedures or concepts. But everyone appreciates it in byte sized parts - hence my '1, 2, 3 step' recipes for them.

Always wanting to add maximum value to everyone, I threw in a portion of skincare as well. After all, knowing how to impress is more than just the dress. It's also about learning how to maintain good skin. Often complimented for my good skin (yes, besides the genes, I take good care of my skin as well) and looking much younger than my real age, I dished out my personal skincare tips to the participants to help them look their best too! 

Rounding up today's full day session, I emphasised the dual concepts of personal space and posture. Now it was fun time again as the participants had to practise (or should I say demonstrate) how they stood, sat, squatted and shook hands. 


Don't shake hands with too much vigour less you crush my bones...neither do you shake with insincerity


Checking her standing posture...and her feet placement

I can't wait to share on the vocal & verbal parts on looking good next Sunday. Watch this space...and in the meantime, remember you can further your education in the art of looking good continues with Lionel Lim. Buzz me to find out how :)

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Here's the 3rd tip to beat the heat. It may come across as common sense but I know a lot of people still don't practise it.

Never Leave Home Without Sunscreen 

We've read all about the depletion of the ozone layers and how the harmful rays of the sun are resulting in a spike in the number of skin cancer cases. Yet we don't look after ourselves, especially our skin well enough. Take heed my friends as that big whole in the sky can really do serious damage to your skin if left unchecked.

Yes, I'm talking about never leaving home without applying sunscreen on your face. Your face is the most exposed part of your body. While a little sun is good as it gives us the necessary Vitamin D, over-exposure to it could damage our eyes, immune system and eventually lead to skin cancer.

To prevent this, I advise everyone to apply a sunscreen with SPF (sun protection factor) 20 to 25 before leaving the house. It will help block both UVA and UVB rays, and help diminish the effects on your skin. Help fight against or retard the occurrence of pigmentation problems and ageing. 

Here's some good news for everyone - most moisturisers in the market do come with SPF ingredients already built in so you may wish to get them. This certainly beats helping to apply another additional layer on the face. 

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