How much ca$h is $tashed in your clo$et?

It's no secret that Swapzaar is inspired by new-age fashion resale websites like Threadflip, ThredUp and The RealReal. We love these brilliant fashion resale brands which havae managed to carve a niche for themselves in such a short time. Fashion resale is a hot place to be in right now, it is predicted to grow at 16% every year!!

But what we are really, really, inspired by, is the power of the internet (and technology in general) in driving innovation across all businesses and domains of the fashion Industry. In Design, Supply Chain, Manufacturing and in Retail/ eCommerce- technology is actually creating more value and jobs than we could have imagined.
So cheers and more power to FashTech startups, we say!

But, more on all that later...

What we would like to mention is, how these new business models that are being created by the internet, are not just "interesting ideas", but are getting serious investment and high valuations. Which means that even hard-core Wall Street financier types see the potential in them, and firmly believe that innovative internet driven fashion business models are here to stay.
To quote Victor Hugo- " On résiste à l'invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l'invasion des idées."
Which means- Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.

Here is a detailed report from ThredUp on the US fashion resale market, with best practices and tips for it's customers. You might like to check it out, full of amazing insights including which brands have the most resale value!

Below is a fun infographic from Swapzaar, about how you could be sitting on a bunch of cash in your closet.
and why you really should consider a resale website like us, to monetize all your idle fashion stuff, only to make way for new stuff that you can enjoy.

We would love to have your fashionable items listed with us!
As the community grows, so will the fun- we promise.

Swapzaar infographic from mailforveena

Let us know why would or wouldn't consider making money off the completely brilliant stuff sitting idle
 in your wardrobe!!

Sources:

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/behindthestorefront/2014/07/01/online-clothing-resale-no-longer-just-the-privilege-of-luxury-goods-owners/

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/behindthestorefront/2014/06/27/how-the-fashion-and-technology-industries-are-competing-for-talent/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lydiadishman/2014/04/11/online-resale-shop-thredup-takes-on-ebay-with-a-move-into-designer-labels/

Swapzaar.com: India's First Dedicated, Fashion, Re-commerce Marketplace - Now Live

Are you a Swapaholic?
Swapzaar.com wants to know...

Many of us are guilty of shopping on impulse, buying clothes and accessories we 'think' we will wear and then stuffing our closet (till it is bursting) and never ending up using those things. For all good reasons naturally - you liked it at the time, did not fit as well as you thought it would, wore it once, now what? End result - the overstuffed closet and yet an urge to buy some more.

Here's a thought... make millions from your closet! OK - maybe not millions but there is now a dedicated, fashion market place that allows you to put up your gently used, pre-owned fashion items for sale. Swapzaar.com is the perfect cure for 'shopaholics'. Upload the items that you no longer use or need on this platform and earn 'buttons' or store-credits that you can either use to buy stuff you like from others in the network or hoard to en-cash later.

Start by registering on this unique website and earn a few buttons to get you started. Take cool pictures of your fashionable stuff that you want to off-load and put it up for sale. Write a description, put a price-tag and you're done. Well almost done... the thing is, swapzaar.com is a curated site; so you will have to wait for your item to get approved by the Swapzaar Team first. It goes live on the listing only if it is okay with the fashion police! Once someone buys it - you have it delivered and the buttons are yours to play with.

Right now swapzaar.com is running a launch promo - so you can win Rs 700 worth of online shopping vouchers by uploading 7 items on the platform. Go for it fashionistas. (details of the promo-contest are here)

Post by Beluxed Fashion | Swapzaar.

Perfectly natural: The simple makeup looks to master !!

The best makeup is when you look like you aren't wearing any makeup!

All stylish women have one thing in common- they take the trouble to figure out what works best for them and they stick to it, with a few tweaks now and then to keep things fresh.
This is even more true of makeup than clothes.

We can't speak for everyone, but we know a lot of women who wear makeup only to parties and have tons of perfectly good products lying waste in their beauty bags because they feel makeup is only for special occasions and that doing good makeup takes ages. So on most days they just don't have the time and energy to get started because they feel it's all a bit too fussy.

Then, when a party comes along they are over-excited, out of touch (that winged liner needs practice my dear) taking too long to apply everything, they tend to load on too much (where else are they going to wear that turquoise eye-shadow?)  and they end up looking terribly over-done and unnatural.

We've all been there, so no judgement, but now we've learnt- that's a very wrong and counter-productive way to think about makeup. Makeup should be used everyday and there's no need to save it for a special occasion- at least a truly stylish woman wouldn't do that- and it shouldn't look "special" if you can avoid it.

What you need to do, is to master just a few techniques that can  help you create a couple of  chic day and night looks in under 5 minutes (Okay 10). Just use these everyday regularly, and soon you'll stop thinking that makeup is a pain and then magically, you will become a lot better at it!!

The hi-tech and multi-tasking makeup products of today take the hard-work out of make up and cut down on the time required, as well. So even if you aren't the type to spend hours in front of the mirror each morning, there's no reason for you to run out "au naturale" everyday.

When you have a party just take up the glam quotient a notch higher, for example, replace your everyday nude lipstick with a brighter/darker one, or use a more colorful shadow- that's it.

The happy side-effect of creating and perfecting your own little "quick beauty routine" is that you will be more inclined to actually use make-up more often, and of course you will feel more confident and your facebook pictures will probably look a whole lot better too!

Here are some rules to keep in mind:
>> Use the best quality products you can afford- makeup and brushes.
>>Keep a few but well selected products and throw away old makeup- do not clutter your beauty bag.
>>Figure out what colors compliment your skin tone the best- this takes time and honesty.
>> If you have five minutes spend them on perfecting your skin and applying mascara!

Here are a few tutorials to get you started,once you master these- you're sorted.
The first two videos are for natural day looks and the 3rd and 4th are for amping things up a little for the evening!

Lisa's channel is very good for both basics and advanced makeup looks.
Take a look at her makeup basics tutorials to ensure your basic moves are mastered!
We are sharing some links to some other good channels too (at the end of the post) where you can find more tutorials to create looks for all occasions.

Write to us in the comments section below and tell us what you think, also share your favorite go-to makeup looks, products or techniques that instantly make you feel good and maybe share your favorite makeup tutorials as well.

Enjoy!

A few more make channels you might like are:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMakeupChair
https://www.youtube.com/user/MakeUpByCamila2
https://www.youtube.com/user/gossmakeupartist
https://www.youtube.com/user/robertjonesbeauty/featured