Attention to clothes and makeup a form of etiquette

If you want to add a little "extra" spark to your date night, experts suggest it's important to look good and go beyond wearing your everyday jeans and T-shirt.

Not only will your partner love the fact you dressed up, but it can have a powerful effect on how you think and act and feel about yourself, according to Holly Stone, owner of Re-creation Studio, an image-management company in Provo (www.learntodomakeup.com).

"Image is not about being shallow or vain," said Stone. "It's a form of etiquette and politeness. You're showing respect to the person you'll be with by the way you dress."

And looking good doesn't have to take hours. In Stone's opinion, a woman can be out the door in the morning in 15 minutes, with hair, clothes and makeup perfectly polished. It just takes a little prep work to know what you look good in.

Judith Rasband, founder and director of the Conselle Institute of Image Management in Provo (www.conselle.com), said she encourages women and men to be daring and "dress up."

"Women often tell me their boyfriend or husband doesn't look at them the way they used to," she wrote in an e-mail interview.

"So get out of your jeans and T-shirt and into something pretty, and I promise, he'll look."

For men, Rasband recommends doing something simple, such as putting on a nice jacket, to add a little pizazz to his outfit.

e-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com