Beauty for the Economically Challenged

Obviously I didn’t go to prom, but I had the pleasure of doing my sister’s hair and makeup, and my friend’s hair as well. So, here they are!

For some clarification: my sister is adopted from India, so the girl in these pictures that you would assume is my sister is my friend (whose hair I also did). The girl whom you wouldn’t assume is my sister is my sister. Haha.
Anyway, for my sister’s long, thick, beautiful hair (that I am forever jealous of) I simply curled it with a curling wand, parted it on the side, and braided tiny braids on either side of the part, and gathered them at the back of her head. I could have done something so much more complex, but she insisted that she wanted that. So that’s what I did, and I think it turned out beautifully.
For fun, here’s a “during” picture:

Yes, that’s my dad, with his reading glasses on, painting my sister’s nails. I’m sorry but I think that’s so hilarious/adorable. He used Zoya’s Happi.

Here is my sister’s eyeshadow:

I used the Naked 2 palette. Her dress was orange/coral-y, so I thought that golds would work best. I used Chopper on the lid and Half Baked on the crease and in the inner corner. We were running super late and never got a good picture of her eyeliner, but I did a winged black liner and then outlined that on the top with liquid gold eyeliner. It looked beautiful. You can kind of see it here:

 

I did her blush and lips but they were her choice, and I honestly have no idea what I used.

Then we all headed over to my friend Monique’s house, where I did her hair. For Monique’s hair, I curled it loosely with my curling wand, did a dutch lace braid around her head to the back, and then gathered her hair in a complicated side bun. Here’s a side view of the braid:

And here’s the back:

And here’s another angle:

I was really really proud of this hairstyle. Monique’s hair is long and beautiful, but it’s also extremely fine and silky and slippery, so it took a lot of working to get it to do what I wanted and not fall out. I believe it took 5 tries just to get the braid to stay. I’m glad that it will live forever in pictures because I honestly can’t believe I did it. Here are a few more pictures:

Me, my sister, and my very best friend Kayla, who was with us the entire time taking all of the pictures that you see. Kayla is part of our family so she’s always included in things like this. Yes, I’m still clutching my curling wand. Hahaha. 

There was a great picture of me and Monique in her dress but I realized that it was in front of the huge sign of the high school where Kayla and I graduated and where my sister and Monique still go, and I didn’t feel comfortable posting it. 

Anyway, yay!

xox

Noelle Alysse

As I discussed before, I am starting a series on all the different ways to achieve summer waves: how to do it, how it turns out, and tips and tricks. Since there are so many different, and odd, methods, I wanted to be your source for how it ACTUALLY turns out, so you don’t have to waste your time with trial and error to find the right one!
If there are any methods that you want to see me try, please let me know and I’ll love to do it! 

Side note: This is supposed to be a beauty blog but I find myself looking like a fool in a surprising amount of my posts. I have no makeup on at all because I was right out of the shower and about to go to bed. Oh well. :)

If you’re on Pinterest, you have probably seen this method. I hadn’t heard of it before this year, and I was surprised at how well it turned out. It’s also super easy.

If you see my pictures, you can pretty much see how to do it, but here’s a step-by-step of what I did:

Step 1: At night, apply mousse (I used Garnier Fructis Wonder Waves, I swear by it!) to damp but almost-dry hair. Don’t be shy with the mousse, and make sure to use a kind that doesn’t make your hair all crunchy!

Step 2: Part your hair the way you want it. Put a headband around your head and across your forehead (see picture). Then, slide it upward a little bit. This will lift your roots so that your hair has volume once you take the headband out, instead of being pasted flat to your head.

Step 3: Starting on one side, in the front, take the first strand of hair and wrap it once around the headband. Once this is done, most of the strand should be hanging down again, with just one loop around the headband. Then, add a bit more hair to the strand, and repeat.

Step 4: That’s pretty much what you do with the rest of the hair, until it’s all wrapped up. Start on one side of your part, move backward toward the middle of the back of your head, and then do the other side, so that the two sides meet in the middle in the back of your head.

Step 5: Go to sleep! In the morning, carefully pull the headband upward off of your head and let the hair fall off (it might take some bouncing and patience to get it all off). Run your fingers through if you want, and adjust accordingly. The finished product:

This is after some fluffing and combing through with my fingers. I reallllllllly like this, it’s really beachy and looks effortless to me. This picture was taken on one of those miraculous 80-degree Boston days that we had in early April. Obviously, I was in a very happy mood. Yay.

This one was taken the first time I tried the look. As you can see, my bangs didn’t turn out well so I pinned them back. I was also afraid of how well the curls would hold, so I didn’t brush through them very much. These curls are much softer and less fluffy. I prefer them combed out more and a little more crazy, especially for summer, but I think these are pretty too. It just depends on what you’re looking for. 

Other important tips:

-From doing this a four or five times, I will say that it comes out slightly different each time. For the best success, I suggest wrapping the strands pretty tightly around the headband (like the photos), instead of having big loops. The bigger the loops, the less this method works, and it’s very likely that the back of your head could end up straight. 
-If you have bangs, be mindful of them while wrapping. Think about the way you want them to fall and try to angle the loop so that your bangs will fall at an angle away from your face. If you notice in the picture, I pulled my bangs up above the headband a bit more than the rest of my hair because I didn’t want them to be crazy curly and I wanted them to lay nicely.
-If your hair is much longer than mine, you may have extra hair at the back of your head that won’t fit around the headband. I suggest twisting it into a bun and pinning it. It stinks to use heat on your hair, but if your hair is very long, it might be a good idea to have a curling iron or wand on hand to fix any pieces that didn’t come out. 

I have opened my submit button! If you try this, or any other method, I want to see and I will probably post it on my blog! 
Also, again, if there are any methods that you want me to try and write about, let me know and I will do it!

xox

Noelle Alysse 

Finally, a new makeup post! Yay!!!

I like to keep this blog positive, but just for one second…

You know when you are going to see some people you really hate, maybe because they’ve done you wrong in the past, or made you miserable somehow, and so you know you need to look really good? Well, that is what caused this makeup look. I love to say that happiness is the best revenge. ;)

Face: Revlon Colorstay Foundation, Revlon Photoready Concealer, Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Powder Foundation, ELF Studio Blush in Candid Coral

Lips: NYX Round Lipstick in Gardenia. I ended up blotting this a lot to tone it down (after I took the photo). It looked a lot better then. The lipstick is super glossy, and so it made my already full lips look even bigger, which then made my relatively small eyes look even smaller, so toning down the lipstick helped a lot. I also used ELF’s Lip Lock Pencil.

Eyes: I used ELF’s Eyelid Primer. Then I used the Naked 2 palette; Suspect on the lid, Snakebite in the crease and outer corner, Foxy on the browbone, and Bootycall in the inner corner. Then; ELF’s Liquid Eyeliner Pen and Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara.

For my hair, I used my Proliss 1” curling wand; more on that in a later post.

xox

Noelle Alysse