Why I Created Pick Up The Mirror - Self Image Coaching For Women

A different approach to self-image, confidence and personal style

Hi, I’m Lucy, founder of Pick Up The Mirror.

And perhaps the best way to introduce this space is to tell you why I created it in the first place.

Pick Up The Mirror grew from something I kept noticing in women, and something I understood personally too.

There comes a point when you can look at your life and recognise it perfectly well, yet somehow feel a little disconnected from the woman living it.

You might have spent years being a mother, a partner, a professional, a daughter, a friend. You’ve changed, your body may have changed, your priorities have shifted and the things that once felt like you don’t necessarily fit anymore.

You open your wardrobe and have plenty of clothes, but nothing feels quite right.

You catch your reflection and wonder when you stopped recognising the person looking back.

Or perhaps nothing is particularly wrong. You simply have the feeling that there is more of you waiting to be expressed.

That is the space Pick Up The Mirror was created for.

Self-image coaching for women is about so much more than appearance

When we hear the words self-image, it’s easy to think about how we look.

But our self-image is much bigger than that.

It includes how we see ourselves, what we believe about ourselves, the roles we identify with, the standards we hold ourselves to, the way we treat our bodies and even what we allow ourselves to want.

And our outward image is part of that too.

The colours we wear. The clothes we choose. The way we take up space. The things we instinctively reach for and the things we’ve decided somewhere along the way are “not for someone like me”.

That’s why my approach to self-image coaching for women brings together identity, confidence and personal style rather than treating them as completely separate things.

Because I don’t believe changing your wardrobe alone can make you feel at home in yourself.

But I also don’t believe appearance is superficial or something women should simply learn not to care about.

But I also don’t believe appearance is superficial or something women should simply learn not to care about.

Sometimes changing the way you dress can be incredibly powerful.

Sometimes the work has nothing to do with clothes at all.

Usually, I think, the interesting part is discovering how the two connect.

I didn’t want to create another set of rules for women to follow

This was particularly important to me when I created Pick Up The Mirror.

There is an enormous amount of advice telling women what they should do.

Wear this for your body shape.

Avoid that colour.

Dress your age.

Find your style type.

Be more confident.

Love your body.

Put yourself first.

Even advice intended to make us feel better can quietly become another list of standards we're trying to meet.

And I wanted to do something different.

Of course, there is expertise behind what I do. If you come to me for a personalised colour analysis, body and proportion guidance or style analysis, I will give you real guidance.

But I don’t want you to leave believing that I know you better than you know yourself.

My job isn’t to create a version of you that I think works. It’s to help you see yourself clearly enough to make those choices for yourself.

That distinction became the foundation of Pick Up The Mirror.

Why I created the Reflections

That philosophy is also why my services look a little different from traditional image consultancy.

I call them Reflections.

There’s Colour Reflections, Body Reflections, Style Personality Reflections and Unseen Reflections, alongside my more comprehensive three-month Reflections Experience.

Each begins with understanding you.

Your preferences. Your experiences. Your relationship with yourself. What feels good already. What doesn't. What you’re drawn towards. What you want to change and, importantly, what you don't.

I then bring my expertise to that information and create personalised guidance for you.

But there’s another part.

Reflection.

Rather than simply handing you answers, I want to help you understand why something works for you and what you think about it.

Because being told that a particular colour suits you is useful.

Understanding how you feel wearing it, how you want to be perceived, what you naturally gravitate towards and having the confidence to decide when you want to completely ignore the “rules” is much more powerful.

The goal is not dependence on an expert.

The goal is greater trust in yourself.

Why “Pick Up The Mirror”?

The name has a very deliberate meaning.

We spend so much of our lives looking outside ourselves for answers.

What should I wear?

What should I look like?

What should I want at this age?

What would make me more attractive?

What would make me more successful?

What will other people think?

Sometimes we need to pick up the mirror instead.

Not to scrutinise ourselves.

Not to search for another flaw to fix.

But to look with curiosity and ask:

Who am I now?

What matters to me?

What feels like me?

What have I outgrown?

What would I choose if I trusted myself a little more?

For me, “see yourself clearly” isn't really about the mirror on the wall.

It’s about the relationship you have with the woman reflected back at you.

Especially for the woman who has changed

Much of my work speaks particularly to women in their 40s and beyond.

Not because I believe there are rules for how women over 40 should look or dress.

Quite the opposite.

I think this stage of life can bring an interesting question:

Who am I when I stop automatically being who I've always been?

You may have spent years building a career, raising children, maintaining relationships or simply getting on with life.

And somewhere amongst all of that, your own identity can become quieter.

Then things change.

Perhaps your children need you differently. Your body changes. A relationship changes. Your career shifts. Your priorities move. Or you simply realise that the woman you were ten years ago isn't quite the woman you are today.

That doesn’t necessarily require a reinvention.

Sometimes it requires a reconnection.

And that is much closer to what Pick Up The Mirror is about.

And that brings me to The Journals

I wanted this part of the website to exist because not every thought belongs inside a service.

The Journals will be where I explore the conversations surrounding self-image more deeply.

We’ll talk about confidence, identity, body image, personal style, colour, ageing, self-abandonment, changing relationships with ourselves and what it actually means to feel like yourself again.

There will be practical guidance, things to think about and probably quite a few questions that don't have neat answers.

Because I’m not particularly interested in telling women how to become a “better version” of themselves.

I’m much more interested in what happens when we become curious about the version that's already there.

So if you've found yourself here because something in your life, your wardrobe, your confidence or simply your sense of self doesn't feel quite like you anymore, welcome.

You don't have to have it all figured out.

Perhaps you just need somewhere to begin looking.

Pick up the mirror.

Lucy x