hair

ROPE BRAID CHIGNON

photography/post/graphics: Kristin Ess

You asked for it! Remember the hair flowers post from Valentine’s Day? We got a ton of emails asking if we could show how the hairstyle from that post was done. You’re going to need a few important things to get this look, so we’ve teamed up with Pantene Pro-V. For this tutorial, we’re using 3 products from the Pantene “Stylers” line which is endorsed by one of our favorite hair heroes, Pantene Celebrity Stylist Danilo! We’re using a heat protector, a soft texturizing wax and a shaping spray. Here we go!

  1. Blow your hair out all the way and put it on top of your head in a bun for about 10 minutes. That should help re-direct the hair so it doesn’t lay too flat.
  2. Grab a little pile of bobby pins in assorted sizes.
  3. Take a “pea-size” dab of Texturizing Sculpting Wax in your palm. Rub your hands together to warm + soften it up.
  4. Massage it into the root. This will give us the proper texture and will keep the hair appearing flat + limp. Remember– this wax is water-based so don’t be afraid.
  5. Grab your 1″ curling iron + your Heat Protection Spray.
  6. Spray a light veil of heat protector over your hair, wait for it to soak into the hair, then wrap curl your whole head for more texture.
  7. Do a rope/french braid on one side and pin it in place using a large supportive bobby pin.
  8. Then rope/french braid the other side.
  9. Lightly tease the hair in back. This will give volume to the bun portion of your chignon.
  10. Pull all of your hair to one side and twist it the same direction you’ve twisted the rope braid. In this case,  you can see she’s twisting it upward and toward her face.
  11. Pin it in place as you go.
  12. When you get to the ends, tuck and pin them as you see illustrated in picture 12.
  13. Gently tug at your rope braid to loosen up the look and make it a bit more romantic.
  14. At this point, you should pull out any small whispy pieces you’d like. You can see what it looks like with more pieces pulled out versus zero pieces pulled out in the Valentine’s Day post.
  15. Do a final veil of hairspray with something that will stay put but not look helmet-y. Obsessed with this Shaping Spray.

I made a quick video (not our regular style production), just so you could see how the rope braid is done! xo

Oh… and that cute little peach tulle dress is right here.

makeup

EASY STREET

post + photos by amy nadine, graphic design by eunice chun

Never before has there been an easier way for even the biggest novice to apply false lashes. I stumbled upon these a couple weeks ago at CVS (ok, honestly I know every single aisle and product there so there’s no chance for something new to sneak by me) and I was so irritated that I didn’t think of them first! So genius. Why? Because individual lashes take practice and have a tendency to turn on their sides in wild directions (dodgy little things) and lash strips tend to either stick up at the corners or look too costume-y. But these little beauties are fool proof and look amazing.  READ MORE…

hair

KITCHEN BEAUTICIAN

photos/post/design: Kristin Ess

Sometimes you just gotta Treat Yo Self with an at home beauty mask! This one is particularly for soft shiny hair but we’ll be doing quite a few for both hair and skin in the coming weeks. Oh, FYI- the Magic Bullet mixer has officially become one of our favorite beauty tools at TBD. You know– the one from the infomercials!? Normally we mash up “Kitchen Beautician” mask ingredients in a bowl but the other day we thought to try it in this teeny blender. Boom! Perfect size cup makes the perfect amount for one mask. Hope you have one at home! If not, try a food processor or a hand-held mixer. It feels so much better when the ingredients are blended– almost the same consistency as conditioner. Here’s how I make my favorite moisture mask:

Mixing:

  1. Split an avocado, remove the seed and spoon the whole thing into the blender bowl (or blender cup in this case).
  2. Add a little less than 1/4 teaspoon of Vitamin E oil. If you have Vitamin E gel capsules, pierce them and squeeze out the oil. If you’d rather, you can buy the oil for topical use.
  3. Pour 1 teaspoon of your favorite oil– jojoba, olive oil, sweet almond oil or coconut oil. I usually stick to olive oil because it’s worked wonders for me every time with this mask.
  4. Blend it up until it reaches a whipped/creamy consistency.

Application:

You can either put apply this all over or your can do the ponytail method! Put your hair up in a ponytail, saturate the ends and then cover with plastic wrap. Try to give it about 10 minutes at the least, go for 20 if you have the time! Then hop in the shower, shampoo and condition as usual. Blow your hair out or air dry for soft, shiny goodness!

makeup

SPOT CONCEALING

post + photos by amy nadine, graphic design by eunice chun

First let me say it was very hard for me to post a picture of a blemish on TBD! But in the name of sharing secrets, I decided it was worth it. Here’s how I cover blemishes in a way that you can even do on bare skin (like I did on our model in the top picture above). If you wear foundation, then do this technique after you first apply foundation all over.  READ MORE…