obsessions

WEEKENDSPIRATION

design and post by Eunice Chun

For some of you SPRING BREAK has arrived. HOORAY! For others it’s right around the corner. ALMOST HOORAY! So the question is, what do you take with you when you’re heading to the beach or out of town for a visit with friends or family? I mean, spring can be pretty tricky. It’s not crazy hot out yet, but the sun is certainly shining. We’ve got to protect ourselves while looking chic (and taking photos)! I chose this bright orange Anthro top to wear as a cover up, and I’ve styled my entire “Spring Break Bag” around it…

  1. Floppy Hat ($12.80 at Forever 21)
  2. Elizabeth + James “Lafayette” cat-eye sunnies ($155 @ Nordstroms)
  3. Nicole Petal Sandals ($79 @ Piperlime)
  4. Madewell Striped Tote in neon green and white ($68 @ Madewell)
  5. Polaroid Instant Camera ($70)

AND… we’ll packing these of course:

What’s in your bag and where are you off to for spring break?

hair

BAND TOGETHER

photos by angelaandithyle.com post designed by kristin ess

Music festivals like SXSW, Coachella + Bonnaroo not only bring out the serious sound, but the serious style as well. We’ve seen more types of braids at these festivals than we even knew existed. Our current favorite is this mamma jamma right here. It’s just a regular braid, but instead of taking 3 equal sized pieces like you do in a normal braid, you just make one piece smaller than the other 2. You can see how one section is smaller in the braid if you look closely at the top photo.

Luckily, Jaclyn Johnson, from the blog somenotesonnapkins.com, was kind enough to lend us her lovely locks. We did 3 of these braids to create a little cluster and tied each of them off with small clear elastics. We think doing a few of these in back makes wearing your hair half up so much more interesting! And since you’ll find yourself standing in the middle of a bazillion people at any given time, you’ll be giving the person behind you something fabulous to look at!

Why it’s great for a music festival: it’s totally texture friendly, so dancing + swinging this hair do everywhere is highly encouraged!

tutorials

NAILED IT!

photos + post by Kristin Ess

If you’re a fan of pretty shiny things, you’re going to love our first spring mani of the season. We all know everything looks better dipped in gold, so we thought this should do the trick. I decided to use gold leafing sheets to accent the corners of these turquoise nails. Here’s how you do it:

TOOLS: Turquoise nail polish, gold leafing sheets (available at your local art supply stores or see link below), clear top coat, nail file, q-tip (regular or pointed).

STEPS:

  1. Select a good turquoise polish. I used this one, but to be honest you can use any color that you think goes well with gold. (It’s really pretty with white + coral!)
  2. Paint all of your nails with the base color you choose.
  3. Gold leaf sheets (I used these) are VERY delicate so make sure your hands are clean + dry before handling. They tear so easily! Use scissors to cut small triangle shapes that will fit the corners of your nails. You want to cover about 1/3 of your nail, so make your triangles about that size.
  4. Wet a q-tip and use that to pick up your gold triangle. Don’t try to pick them up with your fingers– you’ll crumble them and that’s a bummer!
  5. Lay the gold leaf triangle on the corner of the nail. You want to work quickly so the leafing sticks to the polish. The polish should be dry but still slightly tacky. If it’s too dry, put a very thin layer of clear top coat down before laying the leaf on the nail.
  6. Smooth over the gold leaf with a clean dry q-tip to remove wrinkles/bubbles. If you mess up and chip off a piece of gold, it’s totally fine! Gold leafing is so thin that you can just lay another piece over the messed up part and it blends right in.
  7. Use a nail file to gently file off the excess just like you would with nail stickers!
  8. Finish with a quick drying clear coat to lock the gold leafing down!

tutorials

MANI MONDAY

photos: jen gotch, post designed by kristin ess

We have some PRETTY FANCY nail tutorials coming up– starting tomorrow! Today we’re sharing our spring palette so you can get your nail kits prepped with the colors (or similar colors) that we’ll be using! Click on the link to see each specific brand + color!