Posts Tagged ‘the beauty department’

ALL HAIR, ALL WEEK

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photos/post/graphic design: Kristin Ess

The shorties have spoken! Here’s a tutorial for all the lobs + bobs out there. We HAD to hit up our favorite songstress Alison Sudol to be in this tutorial because she recently went shorter, and like many of you she mentioned that she has a hard time doing pretty updos. This one’s fairly simple if you know how to french braid. If you don’t, better click here and learn that first! If you do know how to french braid, grab some bobby pins + hairspray because here we go!

  1. Start with clean, dry hair.
  2. Part your hair all the way around in a big horseshoe shape about 1- 1 1/2 inches above your ear. Clip that section up.
  3. French braid both sides and get them to meet in the middle in the back of your head. Take both of the loose ends and make a teeny tiny bun. If you need hairspray to make the bun stay, give it a little shot and then bobby pin. It’s TOTALLY okay if it’s a bit messy. It’s going to get covered up anyway.
  4. Let down all the hair from the section on top and take a bit of texturizing spray to it (we used THIS ONE which is a bit expensive, but you could also use THIS ONE which I also love!).
  5. Tease the crown area for some volume and then smooth it over with your comb.
  6. Give the top layer a light veil of hairspray.
  7. Now start twisting the sides back as you see Ali doing in photo 7. Pin the twist to the braid as you go. NOTE: That’s the whole point of the braid! You’re using it to secure the hair! That’s the trick to getting short hair “up”, otherwise everything tends to fall out or not reach.
  8. Repeat the same twist + pin method to the other side. Secure the twist by pinning it to the braid as you go.
  9. Once both sections reach the back, roll those two “tails” you have left over from the twists. I prefer to roll upward, but you can roll sideways or down if you prefer. Just be sure to check your work in the mirror as you go. Look at it from the front, the back and the side to make sure it looks balanced! If you have a hard time rolling the leftover pieces (aka: if they’re too short) you can always just tuck them into the braid. If the hair is too soft, spray it a little with some hairspray. YOU CAN DO IT!
  10. Once you’re done, give it a good veil of a strong-hold hairspray. You know my FAVORITE.

We’ll try and do more updos for short hair! We hear you + we know you want them! If you try this, please let us know how it went for you via instagram @thebeautydept! Good luck! xo

ALL HAIR, ALL WEEK

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photos/post/grahic design: Kristin Ess

Calling all curly girls! Here’s a fun, fancy little updo for you. We get lots of requests for updos on curly hair from our readers who want to embrace their natural texture. Working with curls when doing an updo is so much fun because almost anything you do looks romantic + girly! This tutorial is pretty easy and you can accessorize it with anything you want. Here we added a necklace from J. Crew  (incorporating jewelry into the hair is always SO much fun!) but you can add flowers, a headband, or just leave it plain + simple! If you don’t have curly hair and you want this look, you can always spend some time and curl your entire head with 5/8″ or 3/4″ barrell iron and then follow along! Let’s do it…

  1. On clean, combed, wet hair work a golfball-sized dab of mousse into your hair. Start at the root and work down.
  2. Diffuse your hair or you can just let it airdry if you’re not a fan of the diffuser.
  3. If you have any extra frizzy/misbehaved bits, wrap curl them around a 5/8″ barrell curling iron.
  4. Add a light hold styling spray if your curls feel too soft. Nothing too sticky! You don’t want to rough up the curls by pulling them apart after using a strong hairspray.
  5. Separate the “bangs” section as you see in photo 5. Clip that away and save it for later.
  6. Pull up half of your hair. Start behind the ears and pull it up on top near the crown.
  7. Twist that whole section and pin it in place.
  8. Use a ponytail holder (best if you use one that matches your own hair color) to make a ponytail in back. You want the ponytail to end up right below that bone that you can feel in the back of your head (the occipital bone).
  9. Roll that ponytail up into a loose, messy bun and pin using large bobby pins.
  10. Take the “bangs” section out of the clip.
  11. Pull it back, twist and secure into the bun.
  12. Once that’s secured, spray everything with a light holding hairspray.
  13. ACCESSORIZE!!!

Hope you’re enjoying hair week! See you tomorrow. xo

PS– the blazer can be found HERE and the necklace in her hair can be found HERE.

 

ALL HAIR, ALL WEEK!

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Hosting a party? You’ll probably need a hairstyle that will hold up while you finish prepping the party for your guests. Now before you get intimidated and RUN from these 25 (which seems like a lot) steps, just know that most of theses steps are broken down into serious detail. It’s not that crazy, I promise. To duplicate this look, you’ll want to actually see the intricate details because that’s what makes this look so special. It shouldn’t take you more than 15-20 min to do after you’ve waved your hair. This looks extra-romantic when done on naturally curly or wavy hair–it also saves a lot of time! Ok, here goes!

You will need: a beach spray, a light holding “flexible” hairspray, a comb, a 1″ barell curling iron, bobby pins, 1 clear elastic, a blowdryer and a soft detangling brush.

  1. Start with clean dry hair. (If you have naturally curly or wavy hair, you can skip down to step 10.)
  2. Spray some beach wave spray at the root all over. This will help add texture and volume.
  3. Once you’ve applied beach spray to your root, heat it up with a blowdryer. (Oops- accidentally cut most of the blowdryer out of this photo, but that’s what’s happening.)
  4. Now apply a thin layer of flexible hairspray all over. Try to use something that’s also a heat protectant if possible.
  5. Gently brush the hair out using a soft brush.
  6. Leaving the ends out, curl your hair all over.
  7. Here’s an extra visual of curling with the ends out.
  8. Tease the crown for a little volume.
  9. Smooth it over.
  10. Take the bottom section of your hair and make a low loop using a clear elastic. Pull the ends around and mess it up a little. Then give it a light spray with hairspray.
  11. Take two pieces above that and twist them backward (inward toward each other).
  12. Now tie them together right above the clear elastic.
  13. Pin them together and then pin it to your clear elastic.
  14. Do another twist and tie right above that.
  15. Pin that together as well.
  16. If you have extra loose pieces, you can twist them and weave them through.
  17. Here’s an illustrated shot so you can see where the hair is weaved through.
  18. Braid a piece on the left side and pin.
  19. Braid a piece on the right side and pin.
  20. Take the remaining sections in front and lightly tease. If your hair is naturally curly, don’t tease it here!
  21. Twist the hair and pull out a couple fine strands as you twist.
  22. Pull that section back.
  23. Pin it.
  24. Lightly tease the bottom of the ponytail part for a little extra texture. Again, don’t tease here if your hair is naturally curly.
  25. Spray all over with a finishing hairspray.

If you do this and you Instagram it, please tag us @thebeautydept! We would love to see your final result. Remember– don’t try too hard. This hairstyle should be loose and flow-y, not too tight. xo

PERFECT EYE SHADOW BLENDING

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Post + Photography by Amy Nadine, Graphic Design by Eunice Chun

I can’t stress this quick tip enough. Do not blend with the same brushes that you used to apply the shadow! Don’t do it! Hear my voice in your head and put the brush down, grab a clean unused one and blend with that one.

Why? Because when you create a smoky eye, you’re depositing a lot of product onto the lid, so how can you truly blend the shadow you’ve precisely placed if there’s still product on the brush? You’re just applying more, not blending. And smoky eyes are all about blending. Furthermore, you typically use more than one shade when creating a smoky eye (lighter on the lid and darker in the crease or The Reverse Smoky Smoke with the darker on the lid and the lighter in crease), so if you blend with the brush that you applied one of the colors with, the remaining product on the brush will spread over the entire area and create a sloppy and muddy look. What’s the point of taking the time to do something pretty to only undo it or not finish it properly?

OUR FAVORITE BLENDING BRUSHES:

STEPS:

  1. After you’ve finished your smoky eye, grab a clean, unused brush and blend all over by sweeping the brush back and forth in a windshield wiping motion then in smaller swirling motions, then again with bigger motions.
  2. Continue until there are no harsh edges.

If you don’t have a clean brush in your arsenal (you know who you are!), no worries, just put your laptop down and take a trip into your makeup bag and clean them so I can sleep tonight knowing our TBD readers clean their brushes regularly! Revisit my Brush Cleaning Tutorial if you need a refresher. Thank you!