Beauty / Simple Low Ponytail With Some Twists

August 12, 201511 Comments

Ponytails can be rather boring, can’t they? I honestly don’t wear my hair in one very often, mostly because I have great disdain for my ears (can one even have disdain for part of their body?!). But with my new desire to step out of my comfort zone, let my ears be free (sort of) and try new hairstyles, I decided to take a simple low ponytail and make it a little more interesting with some mini ponies and a bit of twisting (sounds so professional), to create a look that appears much fancier than it actually is. So let us learn how, shall we?
1. start by taking two sections of hair from either side of your head; much like the way you would do a half ponytail
2. tie your sections into a ponytail with a small clear elastic (or whatever you want, really)
3. take the end of your ponytail and guide it over top and through where the two sections of hair meet, to create a fun lil’ twisted effect
4. continue the first 3 steps as many or as little times as you like, and the same with your sections, they can be as big or as little as you like; i did 3 twisties and I took fairly small sections, but honestly, I think this look would be quite striking if you used more hair for your twists
5. tie the remaining loose hair into a ponytail
6. finish the look off with a cute bow (or whatever you have on hand)
That’s it! Told you it was easy peasy! Let me know if you give this hairstyle a try.

*you can view more of my tutorials and other beauty related things here.

Cute Clips & Pins For Your Hairs

August 7, 2015August 7, 20154 Comments

After my last hair tutorial, I had a couple questions about where to find cute hair pins. So I thought instead of sharing with just those few people in the comments, I’d put together a whole post of where to find cute and strange pins for your hairs. I enjoy both novelty pins, and more romantic, classic sort of clips, so I’ll share all sorts with you in case you aren’t interested in having a popsicle on your head.

CROWN AND GLORY

Crown and Glory is the place to find truly unique and standout pieces for your noggin. If you’re looking for accessories to give your hair that extra pop, this is the shop to head to.
ASOS

Most of the hair accessories I found on ASOS were cute, however, quite subtle. So if you are looking for something with a bit of interest, but not in-your-face type pieces, I’d recommend these ones below, and a ton of others available right now.LANEYLOU123 + AISHA123

These two sister shops (one carrying only hair accessories, and the other has all types of jewelry) carry ornate pieces, with a mix of simple, pretty and silly, which I quite like; a little something for everyone.SWEETIEPIPS

I think this shop is my personal favourite because the pieces are so special and just downright adorable. This shop really puts the novel in novelty hair clips, so if you are looking to cover your head in sweets and sillyness, this is the one to keep an eye on.

MODCLOTH

I’m loving the simple silhouettes of these gold hair pins; not too much going on, but still something that would catch the eye. Maybe colourful pins are just not your thing, so these would be the pieces I’d suggest, along with a ton of others currently in their shop.
What are your favourites? Any shops I didn’t suggest that you absolutely love? Let me know in the comments below.

Beauty / Simple Summer Skin

July 29, 2015July 29, 20154 Comments

Dewy summer skin seems to be all the rage lately, and with good reason; it really makes your skin look alive and well. Take for example the two images above, on the left, my bare skin looking a little dull (also kind of looks like a mugshot) and on the right, my skin with a wee boost and a lively glow. This look is super easy to achieve with only a few products and minimal steps, so I’m going to show you how I did it below. I’ll share what products I used, but honestly, you can use whatever you have on hand…this is no fascist state.

Note: my foundation does not match my skin tone quite right, which I quickly realized while editing these photos! Thought my skin was a bit darker than it is…whoops, I’m a dumbdumb.

1. Mix a small amount of your face moisturizer with Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation and apply with your foundation brush (or fingers) in circular motions; I find circular motions help to really blend the foundation in (unless of course you’re a dodo like me and use the wrong foundation…)
2. Use Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer to highlight under the eyes and along the bridge of your nose, blending with your fingers
3. Apply a rosey blusher to the apples of your cheeks; I didn’t have a true rosey blusher on hand, so I mixed two colours (cream and pink) from this eyeshadow palette to achieve the colour I wanted
4. Blotting with your finger, use Revlon Skinlights Face Illuminator along the cheek bones, cupid’s bow, bridge of nose, chin and under the brow bone
5. Using a shimmery white shadow, highlight the cheekbones, applying with a blend-able eyeshadow brush (who said shadow had to stay on the lids…we do what we want here!); I used a shadow from the palette I linked above
6. Apply your Mega Color Stick (or any peachy lip colour) to the lips and dab a little pink lipgloss on top
And that’s it sweet ones! Fresh, dewy summer skin in a pinch ❤

*see more of my beauty posts here.

Beauty / Roller Lash by Benefit

July 24, 2015July 24, 20154 Comments

I recently picked up Roller Lash by Benefit to find out what all the hype was about. To be honest, I never really considered that different mascaras would bring about different outcomes. In my mind, a mascara is a mascara; it makes your eyelashes more pronounced, and that’s pretty much it. But after trying L’Oreal Telescopic Shocking Extensions mascara (which I reviewed here), I quickly realized that a truly good mascara has a truly wonderful outcome and can significantly enhance the lashes you have.

I’m pretty certain that Roller Lash is my new favourite mascara (amen), and I can’t see myself wanting to pick up anything else from here on out (I sound like an ad! I’m not though!). The packaging is absolutely darling, which I love – maybe that’s superficial, but good packaging/branding goes a long way. It has a very retro vibe, which makes sense since the whole idea of roller lash is that the brush is like a roller (like for your hair), but for your lashes. But the most important thing of all, it actually does what it claims to do, and quite obviously. Their brush is designed so that it hooks to catch every lash, which helps with lengthening, and it’s curved shape helps to curl your wee lashes. I was so pleasantly surprised when I first tried it. It really did curl my lashes quite significantly (although, that’s a double edged sword, because then it sometimes gets on your lids) and then lengthens, which I could actually see happening as I was applying it. It probably got me far more excited than it should have, although maybe not, because I am really not that easily impressed.

I would definitely recommend this mascara to anyone who is looking for something new. It is a little pricey however, at least in my opinion, but the tube is quite hefty, so I figure it will last for a good amount of time and hopefully be well worth the price in the end.

What do you guys thinking of Roller Lash? Have you tried it already? Going to give it a go? I’d love to know in the comments.

Beauty / Simple Side Braid With A Twist (literally)

July 22, 20158 Comments

The simple side braid is a good friend of mine. I sleep with one in pretty often, which helps to keep my hair wavy baby throughout the day, but when it comes to wearing a side braid during the day, the back bit of hair, near the nape of my neck, has a tendency to kind of droop, which has a way of annoying me thoroughly. So, I came up with a way to have that back bit of hair stay off my neck and add some interest to a very simple hairstyle, and all it takes is a twist (pun very intended).
1. using both hands, roll the hair closest to the nape of your neck towards your head, starting from behind one ear, until you reach the other side of your head
2. hanging on to that twist – which will act as 1/3 of your braid – start parting the remaining hair into 2 even sections, just the way you do with a regular braid
3. braid! easy peasy!
4. pull out any hairs you would like to have framing your face and loosen the braid a bit by pulling it apart. I also curled the hair framing my face to add a romantic vibe to the look; if your roll is feeling a little loose, add some bobby pins and hairspray – that should do the trick! Easy as that! It should take you no more than a minute (unless you do some curling like me) and it adds a little extra something to a very simple, basic hairstyle. Below I will also show you 3 different ways you can add some interest to this look with hair accessories.

ACCESSORIZE THAT BRAID!
CUTE HAIR CLIPS: add some cute hairclips, like these sunglasses (that kind of look like goggles) to add a playful, yet subtle quality to your look. HEAD SCARF: add a headscarf (or in this case it’s a head band acting as a scarf) to add a little colour or pattern to your sweet little noggin.BOW: want to cover up that dreaded elastic? wrap a ribbon around it; both cute and functional