tutorials

PRETTY PROJECT

photos/post/design: Kristin Ess

Have you ever taken a peek behind-the-scenes on a photoshoot? More often than not, there is a big vanity with a lot of lightbulbs around it which help us see every little detail with our client’s face + hair. Lighting is incredibly important when you’re getting ready and it can be quite tricky if the room where you’re getting ready is darker or if you’re getting ready to out at night. As you may know we’ve partenered up with Target for the month of May to see what beauty favorites we could introduce you to… and now we need a new place to put it all! Today we’re going to show you how to build your own vanity at home for less than it costs to buy one (because let’s face it, vanities with lights are NOT cheap!).

We ordered the desk, the mirror and the lights online. We also ordered some small nails, but you may have some already. Below, you can find the links to the things we ordered along with the price.

  • Carson Desk ($82)- Assembly for this table took about 20 minutes. PS- IT’S ON SALE RIGHT NOW! Hooray!
  • Threshold Flat Mirror ($35)- Prep the mirror with the small nails before you hang the mirror. I put the nails about 6″ apart.
  • String Lights (order these online $11.99 or pick up these in-store $12.99) - String the lights around the mirror using the nails to hold them up. There will be excess lights so you can either go around again or you can take the bulbs out and gather the cord behind the desk with a rubberband (which is what we chose to do.) Wish we could have found these lights with white cords, but no such luck! The ones we got still looked great.
  • Accessorize with anything you want! Here you can see we love a good mix of makeup, flowers and sparkly jewelry on the vanity. It’s really fun to style with your own pretty things.

We know the grand total of $130 still isn’t cheap, but it’s a fraction of what we’ve found out there for vanities with lights and we think it’s well worth the investment. Follow TBD + TARGET on Pinterest for more fun beauty finds!

tutorials

NAILED IT!

photos/post: Kristin Ess

We couldn’t be more excited for The Great Gatsby movie!! Between the diamonds, the fashion, the hair, the makeup, the music and the men, we’re pretty over the moon about this. Considering this is one of the greatest eras of all time for glamour, we HAD to do a mani inspired by! This nail art reflects the swag (not as in #swag or swagger, but as in a curtain-shaped drape, curved between two points) that was often used when designing decor, fashion, art + jewelry. Here’s how it’s done. READ MORE…

tutorials

NAILED IT!

photos/post/design: Kristin Ess

We love a good egg hunt to celebrate Spring! We love it even more when they’re filled with nail polish and nail stickers. Here’s our favorite way to incorporate trend + tradition.

  1. Get hollow plastic eggs and put a polish inside (try to get a larger size so you can fit everything in). Saw these at Target in the seasonal sale aisle and nearly passed out.
  2. I always save extra nail art stickers. If you have individuals + extras laying around, throw one in to coordinate with the polish color. Just one or two are great for an accent nail.
  3. Close it up and hide ‘em.

The nail colors above are: (left to right) Flora, Royal Blush, Wednesday and Wasabi. And the nail art stickers are from a Japanese beauty supply store. If you have one near you, you should definitely go! They’re stocked with the best nail stickers all the time!! xo

tutorials

KITCHEN BEAUTICIAN

photos/post/design: Kristin Ess

Considering nail art + polish colors are all we talk about for the first 20 minutes that we see each other, you don’t want to be that girl who has an immaculate mani accompanied by dry, crusty hands. Here in California winter has come to an end (UH, BYE!) but no matter where you are or what season it is, take 5 minutes to make this scrub at home with stuff you probably already have. You wish I was kidding when I say IT’S THE BEST. I’m not just saying that because I’m doing this post. I’m saying it because I used to spend $30 on a scrub for hands and feet that didn’t feel or smell as good as this. Here’s how it’s made…

  1. Get 1/4 cup of coarse sugar. If you don’t have coarse sugar you can use brown sugar or salt but I find that the chunkier sugars make a huge difference and you can now find it at almost any store in the baking section.
  2. Half a lemon.
  3. 2 Tablespoons of coconut oil.
  4. I’m obsessed with adding Josie Maran’s “Balance” Argan Oil because it smells like fresh cut roses but you can use olive oil, jojoba oil, vitamin e oil or anything you feel has great skin benefits. There are so many and all are great for different reasons.

Mix it all together in a small bowl until the coconut oil chunks have disappeared. Once it’s done it should be a creamy consistency. Scrub your hands with this for 2 minutes and rinse with luke-warm water (No soap!). Allow the remaining oils to stay on your hands and soak in. Pat your hands dry with a towel.

If you have any left over (which I never have because I always do my hands and feet), you can put plastic-wrap over it and save it in the fridge for a couple days.

BOOM! You’re welcome. Can we PLEASE discuss how crazy soft your hands feel once you’ve done this!?

tutorials

FLORAL WATER SPRAY

photos/post/design: Kristin Ess

What’s the best thing about Spring? Flowers, obviously! Especially the ones that can be bottled up and sprayed all over. Today were going to show you how to make your own floral water.

You will need: A large metal pot with glass dome lid, a ceramic ramekin, flowers, cutting board, knife, bottled water, turkey baster, ice.

  1. In the center of your large pot, place ceramic ramekin as your “catch bowl”. This is where the floral water will fall. Some people use bricks below their catch bowl but I’ve always thought that makes my water smell a little dirty. Instead I use a ceramic ramekin that can withstand higher heat. I’ve never had a problem with the ramekin getting too hot and “cooking” the fragrance. But if you want to put a brick under as a buffer, go for it!
  2. Pull the petals off of your flowers and give them a little chop. Not too much– I just do it to help release the fragrance.
  3. Pile the flowers around the ceramic ramekin as you see in photo 3. Add 1 1/2 cups of water for each cup of flowers. Note: Depending on where you live, I suggest using bottled water. If there’s any unwanted bacteria in your tap water, you certainly don’t want to bottle it up. Could get gross, fast!
  4. Place your glass lid upside down on the pot. Add a tray of ice on top. Without going into too much detail- the cold temperature of the ice will help procure condensation underneath the lid.
  5. Place it on the stovetop on low. I used a turkey baster to clear away the ice as it melted. Watch your flowers– once the color is gone from the petals, lift the lid. You should end up with a small amount of clear liquid inside  your ramekin.
  6. Use a turkey baster to transfer the floral water into a bottle. You may have to repeat the process to get an entire bottle full. Tighten the lid and spray away!!  

Here’s my hilarious little illustration of how the process works. Uh– don’t judge.

My favorite flowers to use:

  • Rose (particularly Sterling Silver if you can find them)
  • Jasmine
  • Chamomile (any tea for that matter)
  • Lemon Thyme
  • Lavender
  • Orange blossom
  • Honeysuckle
  • Champaka
  • Sage
  • Verbena
  • Coconut
  • Peony
  • Frangipani

Sadly I haven’t been able to make gardenias work for this yet, but luckily all of the ones above have worked really well.