Smoke Signals

Listening to the Beauty and The Beast Soundtrack.
Excited about Corey coming home tomorrow!
    I have to apologize. I was going to post my August Five Faves and a Flop today, but honestly, I have not had time to put that post together. I had a ton of reading to do this week, and I had to deep clean the basement since Corey will be here tomorrow!!! So I decided I'll post my Faves and Flop on Saturday, the actual last day of the month, and y'all will get an extra post this week!
    So. The smoky eye. Symbol of mysterious, smoldering seduction in the beauty world. But let's face it. Sometimes it's just a little too much for everyday wear. We all know how to wear it to a wedding or a night out on the town, but if you do it for your 8 am class, you look like you slept with your face in the dirt. You gotta tone it down for the daytime - here's how I do it!

1. Prep your eyes. Use a thin layer of your favorite primer.
2. Use a C-brush and a very pale golden tan on the inner half of your lids. Not too bright - the highlighting will come later.
3. Use a medium taupe on the outer half with the same type brush. Not too dark, but also not lighter than the golden tan you already used. We're just adding a slight definition to the outer halves.
4. Select a brownish-grey color, and using a crease brush, apply this to the crease and the outer-V.
5. Using a fluffy blending brush, buff out the edges and blend the brownish-grey into the taupe. They keys to a wearable day-time smoky eye are careful layering and ensuring there are no defining lines between colors.
6. Apply whatever's left on the blending brush along the outer half of your lower lids. Don't bring it all the way around like you may for a more dramatic nighttime looks. This is just a faint smoke.

1. Select a dark brown - darker than the brownish-grey from the previous step 4 - and apply that directly to the crease a clean crease brush to really define it. Blend it out.
2. Take a brown pencil eyeliner and apply that on the outer two-thirds of your lower lash line. Use the buffer on the other side of your pencil, or a dense smudge brush, and smudge it out, being sure to connect it with the color from your upper lids.
3. Use a waterproof and smudge-proof black pencil liner and line your lower waterline. Don't bring the color all the way to the inner corner, though. Just to the inner edge of your lash line. This is another way to ensure that the look is not too intense to wear everyday.
4. Apply a black gel eyeliner to your upper lash line. Keep the line thin and precise, and don't wing it out. The look is already intense enough without a wing.
5. Take a C-brush and dust your favorite highlighter on your brow bone. Be sure to select a warm-toned highlighter like a peach or golden champagne as opposed to white so the contrast between the highlight and your smoky lids isn't too drastic.
6. Use the same highlighter on your inner corners, meeting the inner edge of your lower lashes so that the highlighter illuminates the entire inner corner of your eye.

To finish up, curl your lashes, and layer on a few coats of your favorite volumizing mascara!

When will you be rocking this wearable daytime smoky eye?

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Products Used (in order of use)

• Maybelline 24-Hour Color Tattoo in Barely Branded
• Fifth shade from the top in the Physicians Formula Nude Classics Palette
• Third shade from the top in the Physicians Formula Nude Classics Palette
• e.l.f. Mineral Eye Shadow in Socialite
• Fourth shade from the bottom in the Physicians Formula Nude Classics Palette
• Covergirl Perfect Blend Pencil Crayon in Black Brown
• Rimmel Exaggerate Auto Waterproof Eye Definer in Noir
• e.l.f. Studio Cream Eye Liner in Black
• e.l.f. Mineral Eye Shadow in Elegant
• Maybelline Mega Plush Volum' Express Waterproof Mascara in Black

P-I-Z-Z-A, Gimme Pizza!

Does anyone remember that song from that old Mary-Kate and Ashley Sleepover movie? Maggs and I went through a massive Olsen Twins phase.
Listening to Almost is Never Enough.
    I did a recipe on here last summer for fresh frozen yogurt, made with fresh fruits and Greek yogurt and was rather proud of myself for doing something in the kitchen that didn't involve a microwave or a toaster oven. Turns out, I'm not as bad as I thought and there are a few recipes I kick butt with in the kitchen. Most I came up with when I moved out last year, and are relatively easy, with few ingredients, and don't require much time. This one, Pesto Pizza, is adapted from a picture and recipe I found on Pinterest.

 

Ingredients: Pinterest told me to make my own dough. So I bought Pillsbury premade Thin Crust. Pinterest also said I needed mushrooms. I said, "Mushrooms smell like feet," and nixed that one. If you like mushrooms, a) what's wrong with you? b) by all means, put them on your pizza. I bought the biggest organic tomato I could find so I could slice it thin like pepperoni.* I also bought pesto and goat cheese because these two should never be apart, and because they were part of the original recipe. Seriously, greatest combo ever.

Step 1: Prebake. Anyone else hate those dough package things that are terrifying little exploding dough bombs? Because they scare the you-know-what out of me. I stabbed mine with big knife. Anyways, prebake the dough at the time and temp dictated on the package (or by you if you're cool enough to make your own dough - what a little jump-starter you are). Mine was at 400 for five or six minutes. I did five cause our oven doesn't heat evenly and I didn't wanna mess it up.

Step 2: Chop. Whatever ingredients you have, take this time to chop them up. I'm pretty bad at making good use of my time, but I used my noodle here and *discovered just how bad I am at slicing tomatoes thin as pepperoni.

Step 3: Prep. Get all your other ingredients ready. Spoon for the pesto to scoop and spread, toppings and cheese.

Step 4: Pesto. When your dough is finished prebaking, pesto that puppy. I used the whole container, but in hindsight that may have been too much. I got a little overexcited. Pesto has a slightly stronger flavor than your typical pizza sauce and it overpowered the rest of my pizza. I'd use half that much next time, but that's just me.

Step 5: Tomato. I ended up not using all the tomato slices, but I probably could have used more. Really it's all a matter of taste, if you love tomatoes, pile 'em on. If you love mushrooms, keep them away from me.

Step 6: Bake and Cheese. Finish baking the pizza - mine was for ten to twelve minutes, and I might have undercooked it. Once again, we all know I'm weird. I don't like my cheese baked into the pizza. I put it on afterwards. Some of my childhood friends (Hannah or Suzanne) may recall me ordering pizza at Mellow Mushroom without cheese so I could put the grated parmesan on it after it had been cooked. It may be a texture thing, but regardless, I put it on afterwards. Don't judge me. You can put your cheese on whenever you want.

Step 7: Enjoy! There's mini step in there I didn't bother photographing, because it would look just like this photo - fresh cracked pepper. Don't just use the pepper shaker, it's so much better fresh cracked in big peppercorn chunks. I like mine coarse and I like a lot of it. And I definitely did undercook it a tad, but oh well. It was still delicious, and I still ate it.
   
    So take from this what you will - add ingredients, take some away. But all in all, it takes about 20 minutes to prepare and it's not super unhealthy. Next time I may even throw in some artichoke hearts because I feel like that would be delicious.

 

What do you think? Will you try it? What will you do differently? Tell me below!

Style Transition: Skater Skirt

 Listening to Cinema (Skrillex Remix) by Benny Benassi
Feeling overwhelmed. Already.
    So I recently went shopping with my friends Suz and Natalia. We hit up the mall looking for a few particular things for Natalia and Suzanne, but I had only one thing in mind: a skater skirt. See this style is cut so that it flares out right at the natural waist. It's super complimentary, can be dressed up or down, and it's very casually girly, so I don't feel like I'm suffocating in ruffles. I got very good at shopping when I moved out and had to save all my money for rent. Now I'm saving for mine and Corey's wedding, and I'm even better at it. I found one that I loved at Urban Outfitters, which was forty dollars, right when we walked into the mall. So we went to every other store that I thought may have a similar style at a lower price. I searched high and low, but I couldn't find a single other one that was cut at the right length for my long legs, and that was cute. (I found one at Forever 21, but it was cut just a bit too short, and the pattern wasn't my style.) So I went back to UO and that one skirt was the only thing I bought.*
    The great thing about this particular one is that it's a great transition piece. It can be worn in every season with the right top and accessories, and look great every time. Plus I already had a lot of colors to match it in my wardrobe. 

• Summer: To keep it light, I paired it with my rose gold sandals from Target, along with a sheer blouse and bandeau underneath. You can tuck in the blouse and wear a cute belt, or if you're feeling sassy, knot it and bare a little skin!
• Fall: As it starts getting cooler, I like to do long sleeves, but rolled up, since fall afternoons can still get plenty hot, especially in the South. A chambray works well here, with a cami or bandeau underneath, then throw on some nude ballet flats and you're good to go. As a bonus, floral prints are still hot as anything this fall.
• Winter: Some people might argue that you can't do floral in the winter, but I say, if it's dark and a smaller print, you can totally still get away with it. Ideally, I would wear tights in the winter, but the ones that would've matched this had a bad hole in them that I wasn't aware of, so bare legs it is! A tank, slouchy sweater, and scarf keep this look layered and warm. Combat boots will keep your toes toasty and also give the outfit a little edge.

What styles do you think transition well through the seasons?

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*I lied, I bought the flats I'm wearing in the fall outfit - the heels I was wearing were giving me vicious blisters.*



Keep the Positivity Going

Listening to Maestro from The Holiday (sometimes I just need something to be my soundtrack, you know?)
Bracing myself for the upcoming semester.
    I start every semester so confidently. Yes, I can handle every class, and here are all my books, and sure you can borrow a pen because I have a billion, and oh I'm drinking pumpkin spice tea that I had plenty of time to French press this morning, and let me just jot that down in my planner. Roughly four weeks in, I'm reduced to sweats, half my books were left in the car because I didn't feel like carrying them, I've lost every pen but the one that only sometimes works, and we had a quiz today? When did he tell us that?
    I feel like everyone does this. In fact, I'm sure they do. You start off thinking, "I got this," and somewhere along the way, you lose your grip. For me personally, I get lazy. That's my problem. I love the concept of staying organized, and keeping track of all my notes, and using a planner. I realize its importance, I do. But it only takes one time. One "It's only one assignment, I'll remember it" that leads to "I remembered that one assignment last week, I'll remember the date of that exam and to turn in the notecards and the review guide, and then that rough draft for that other class" which ends with "Why don't I do schoolwork anymore? Surely I have something due tomorrow. How did I oversleep again?"
    I think another part of it is I lose my positivity. When the weather starts looking darker, and cloudier, and windier, and bleaker, so do my classes and my chances at doing well. Last semester was a big bummer for me. I made the Dean's List, but before you go getting excited, I started with five classes, and had to not drop, but withdraw from two. I've never withdrawn from any of my courses before, and this past Spring I withdrew from two. I cannot let that happen again.
    Some of you have already started school. Some of you started a week ago, some this past Friday, some today, and some (like me) tomorrow. But it's still early. Here is my proposition. Let's keep the positivity going. Keep a hold of the organization, and the productivity, and the planning, and the proactivity. Keep it going as long as possible. For some of us, it's our last semester (like my buddy, Hannah - you go girl!), or our last year (like me, I hope - psh, who knows). Go out with a bang. And if you still have a while longer (like I may if I can't fit everything in), don't drop the ball. Think of how great you'll feel throughout the semester without the added stress of "did I have something due today? Where did all my pens go?"
     Now I can't help you keep track of your physical stuff, but I found an app. I'm terrible at using planners, I really am. I try every semester. I buy them, fill them out with everything I know at the beginning of the semester, and then don't look at them again until I'm panicking four minutes before my midterm and I've written nothing else in them. But this one. I used it all last semester and it really saved me. iStudiez Pro. Yes. I paid for it. I downloaded the free version, and loved it so much I paid for the full. You have a calendar, and you can keep track of different classes with different colors, and quizzes and tests and finals and assignments and notifications and reminders and it's wonderful. I wasn't paid to advertise this, or review it or anything. I just found it useful. And maybe you will, too.

How do you keep organized and proactive during the semester? Tell me in the comments!

Style Wishlist: Fall 2013

Listening to Take Back the Night (I swear I'll get over him as soon as Part 2 of The 20/20 Experience is released. I hope.)
Ready to be feeling 100% again.
    So I'm not a big magazine reader. I don't like wasting my time flipping through ad after ad searching for the one article that caught my eye in the first place. I'd rather find the same article online and read it there. But somehow we've started getting InStyle. My mom plopped the hefty thing in front of me the other night when I was slumped over the kitchen table half-dead. I flipped through about ten pages for her benefit, but I wasn't about to go deep when I could barely hold my head up. Today, though, I did a bit of flipping through, mostly looking at what's hot for fall. And it got me thinking of a few things I'm looking to get.



Express $79.90

 Black Skater Dress. I desperately want one of these. Not this exact one, as I don't have eighty bucks to spare. But this style for sure. I have but one little black dress, and it's just a little too "little girl" for me. It's adorable, don't get me wrong, just not quite as versatile as I'd like. This cut is the kind that can be dressed up or dressed down, and it's highly flattering.

ModCloth $29.99

Pink Ballet Flats. I just bought a cute pair of faux leather quilted nude ballet flats from Forever 21, but I can't turn down a pair in ballet pink with bows. (bows!) They also come in a caramel color.

Old Navy $39.94

Mustard Peacoat. I have two peacoats. One in charcoal grey that flares out a bit that I will wear day in and day out, and another in black that's cut more like this but needs its buttons sewn back on. Last year I was thisclose to buying either a mustard one or an olive green one at Old Navy when they were having a sale, but I didn't. I've regretted it ever since. This year I will get one. Preferably in a more mustard yellow, but this one will suffice as an example.

ModCoth $59.99

 Oxford Heels. I have a pair of faux suede oxford wedges, but they aren't a high enough heel, and frankly, they've seen better days. I would love a pair of actual oxford heels like these, although cheaper would be nice.

GAP $51.97

Oxblood Coated Skinnies. Coated jeans started to make their presence known at the very end of this past winter. At least, that's when I started seeing them advertised. I hadn't seen anyone wearing them yet. This year, they're already showing themselves and it's not even September yet. I love this oxblood color and, aside from black, I think it's the best way to wear them.

Which fall trends are you excited about? Tell me in the comments!

What's in my Bag? Backpack Edition!

Listening to Blood by The Middle East (You may recognize it from the end of Crazy Stupid Love)
Subsisting on tea and cough drops
    So. I start classes in a week. It's only fitting that I get sick, right? It started off as a stomach bug, but it's turned into a killer cold, complete with cough, congestion, and hot nails in my throat. My room is a hot zone, I sound like a man, and I keep finding tissues wedged in all manner of weird places. And yet I'm blogging. For you special seven people.
    I even went out Saturday - even though I was so sick I had to call out of work (I had a fever and was throwing up; they wouldn't have wanted me anyways) - to buy school supplies for a back to school post. It was also the last day of tax-free weekend, and since I just spent 237 smackaroos on twenty books for school, there was no way I was paying sales tax on my school supplies, dangit.
    I don't know about y'all, but I have a special place in my heart for school supplies. Having gone to a private Christian school for half my life where we wore uniforms, the primary way we (at my school anyway) expressed ourselves was through our school supplies (and tennis shoes). We bought the biggest pencil boxes available and filled them with every pencil, pen, eraser, gel pen, sticky note, highlighter and mini stapler we could find. Bonus points if they were Lisa Frank or rainbow colored. By fifth grade we discovered the world of trading. "I'll give you my cloudy patterned sticky notes for your sparkly blue gel pen and scented eraser set." It was insanity. It actually got banned in seventh grade because it was distracting us from class and making kids who couldn't afford to buy the entire stock of Staples feel bad. So we would trade "on the black market" during recess behind closed doors. It was super sketch.
    Weird as it is, I still feel an adrenaline rush when I see a cool pen or squishy pencil grip. I did have to stay on the cheaper end of the scale as far as my school purchases this weekend. Also I was in a drug-induced fog so I didn't stand looking at things for too long before chucking 'em in the basket and coughing into my sleeve. (I'm pretty sure a middle eastern family thought I was racist 'cause I kept avoiding them in the store, but truthfully they had three little girls under the age of ten and I didn't wanna get them sick.)
     Anyways, here are some of the things I got that I thought were neat, and not too expensive. I know some people have already gone back to school, but us college kids have another week. Ish. Prices and links at the end of the post.

1. Post-it Flags. Since I'm an English nerd, and I'm taking three English classes this semester, I'm gonna be writing papers left and right. My favorite way to keep track of important quotes is with these little boogers. I like the wider ones so I can jot down on the flag which point in my paper the quote on that page coincides with. Bonus points for color-coordinating the color of the flag with a certain character.
2. Starbucks Cool Lime Refresher Instant Drink Mix. No, it's not as incredible as buying the drink at Starbucks. It's close, though. In my opinion, even though the packet is for 16 ounces, it's too strong. I usually use only half a packet, so the package lasts even longer than five drinks. I have yet to try the orange one, but with my love of everything citrus, I'm sure I'll love it.
3. Cool Gear Thermos. Y'all. It looks like a can. How freaking cute is that? My mom bought it when she was at WalMart (one for me and one for Maggs), and I just think it's the coolest thing ever. She said it was supposed to come with a straw, but I don't mind using it as is. You push back the faux tab and it slides the covering back from the little opening. My work friends made fun of it, but I'm pretty pleased with it. Plus, it's water tight when it's shut, so if I need to give my refresher a little shake before drinking, it won't make a mess!
4. Bic Erasers With Grips. I'm weird, y'all already know that, but there are a few things whose textures I don't like. The feeling of newspaper is one. Erasers are another. I don't know why. I just don't like it. When I buy erasers for school, I always get the clicky ones (where you click it up and down?) so I don't have to actually touch the erasers. Those, however, were twice as expensive as these, with their little grips. So I'm trying something new. Wish me luck!
5. Pentel EnerGel-X Express Roller Gel Pens. Long name, but I'll let it go because these are the greatest pens on the planet. Because I do so much writing, I have very specific preferences on my writing utensils. I stole a pen from Maggs a few months ago and freaking loved it. But within a few weeks it was already out of ink. I scoured Target, Walmart, and CVS for the pen to buy more, but couldn't find any. I found the InkJoys at WalMart and decided they were a fair enough substitute, until I visited Staples with Suzanne a few weeks ago. I found them, you guys. And not only in black, but in super bright awesome happy colors. You know how much I love bright colors. So you better believe when I went looking for school supplies I zeroed in on these babies and snatched them like a crazed bargain shopper at a store closing sale. I don't have a problem. Anymore.
6. Pilot Frixion Erasable Highlighters. Who here gets overexcited with the highlighter and colors a whole page neon orange? *raises hand* These, my friends, are for us over-eager highlighters. They're erasable. I have no clue if they actually work. I haven't opened them yet. But the back of the package says, "Unique Thermo-Sensitive Ink formula disappears with erasing friction." Sounds legit, right? I'll keep you updated.

There you have it. My Backpack Essentials. Some of which may or may not be as awesome as they claim. Which makes it exciting.

And I'm going back to bed.

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Supplies and Stuffs

• Post-it Flags $6.99
• Starbucks Cool Lime Refresher Instant Drink Mix (Available at Starbucks and SuperTarget for about $6.00)
• Cool Gear Thermos (No longer available. I'm sorry. I suck. I know.)
• Bic Erasers With Grips $2.99
• Pentel EnerGel-X Express Roller Gel Pens $7.29
• Pilot Frixion Erasable Highlighters $5.29

The Neutral Wing

Listening to Summertime Sadness, Lana Del Rey (Cedric Gervais Remix)
Craving some Chickfila. It's about that time, folks.
    One of my favorite trends is winged eyeliner. It's been around for a while, and much to my relief it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I used to wear it all the time with liquid black eyeliner, but I recently crossed to the gel side, and I haven't looked back. I feel like you can be so much more exact with gel than you can with liquid. That may just be me, though.
    Anyway, here's a little tutorial for a neutral winged look. Enjoy!

I start off with a base of Barely Branded, but any primer or creamy neutral base will do. Then I use a fluffy brush and apply a warm taupey brown to the crease, and blend it up past the brow bone (but not to the brows). I also pat some on the outer third for added depth. Next, I use a C-brush and swipe a shimmery champagne on the rest of my lid, blending it into the taupe on the outer corners.

Using the same shimmery champagne and the same brush, I apply a bit of it on the brow bone, but don't overdo it - it shouldn't be the center of attention here. Just a light wash. (Not pictured) I dab an extra dose in the inner corner as well. Next, using a smaller crease brush and a darker brown color, I define my crease and outer V and blend away. Then, using a matte charcoal grey, I create a fake drop-shadow from my "voluminous" lashes (ha) by taking the C-brush with the grey on just the edge, and draw a small short diagonal line down and away from the outer corner of my eye (you can see this best in the second photo of the next photoset). Marilyn Monroe was known for doing this to make her lashes appear longer and more dramatic. Just be sure it's matte, because a shimmer in a drop-shadow would defeat the purpose!

Now time for black eyeliner! Once again, I love using that e.l.f. concealer brush, but use whatever you feel comfortable with. I generally start from the middle of my pupil and work my way to the outer corner, then, starting again from the middle, fill in the rest to just before the inner corner, saving the wing for last. (If I'm not wearing liner on my waterline, I don't draw my liner all the way to the corner.) For the wing, I draw a diagonal line up and away from the lower lash line, and draw a small line from the upper lash line to meet it. Since this look is more neutral, I don't line as thick as I would for a true 40s-inspired wing look.

Finishing up! I fill in my brows and set them with brow gel, curl my lashes, slather on some mascara (do my hair from another tutorial) and I'm done!

Reasonably simple, quick, and straightforward. How do you wear your wings?

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Products Used

• Maybelline 24 Hour Color Tattoo Metal in Barely Branded
• e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Enchanting
• e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Elegant
• Physicians Formula Nude Classics Palette
• e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Seductive
• e.l.f. Studio Cream Eyeliner in Black
• Revlon Brow Fantasy in Dark Brown
• Maybelline Mega Plush Volum' Express Mascara in Black

Endless Rewrites

Listening to Blue Ocean Floor, by my man JT. I really cannot get enough of this album.
Thinking about writing and the many issues that accompany it.
    I was reading old posts to be sure I still wanted them on the blog. Just on a whim. I stumbled on one from the December I'd first started this blog. I'd just finished my first NaNoWriMo, and I was filling in the blanks between big events in the story. The same story I'm working on now, only this is a complete rewrite. I was having problems, I wrote, with the boring and the mundane. The every-day events. Now that I've changed so much of the story, I'm trying to tone down the big events so that they don't take so much stage. I don't want them to be the center of the story, to stand out from it. I want it to all be one continuous line. The way the novel should end, were I to put it in musical terms, is on a softer note, and the whole story should lead up to it at the same tempo, but still with a sense of forward motion. Does that make sense?
    The thing is, I took two short story writing classes, and my strength, unbeknownst to me, is writing the mundane and still making it entertaining. I would take small vignettes and make a story out of them, and though nothing huge happened, it was still a moving and engaging story. That's the feeling I want to evoke in this novel. It doesn't lead up to the big bang ending you want, but you're content with it nonetheless. This is apparently my strength, isn't it?
     So why do I find myself struggling with it? Someone de-riddle this for me, because I'm losing my patience with myself.
***Added*** Shout out to my good friend Hannah from Hannah Cynthia Lane for being such an awesome reader and writer, for that matter! (Y'all go check out her blog ASAP; she makes me giggle like a hyena during a hostile takeover.) Hope you have fun in Fiction Writing this semester with Big Daddy Platt. Also known as the Plattypus. (Side note, don't call him any of these names. We kinda got him angry a few times.)

The Big Girl Bow

Listening to Pusher Love Girl, JT. Don't worry, though. I still love That Girl. I'm just trying to break the streak.
In the mood for some iced tea.
    So lately I've been kind of obsessed with wearing bows. Thank Beth and her little DIY tutorial here. I made one (only I hand-sewed mine) and then fell in love and made two more. I have one big polka dot one, a medium sized red one, and a tiny black and white if I wanna just clip back my bangs (which I'm growing out, so they're driving me mental). I really want a big blue one so I can wear my hair like this. Don't judge me.
    One of my favorite ways to wear it is half up and half down, with the bow in the middle of the back of my head so it's loose. Wearing these bows, I feel that there's a fine line between looking chic and cute, and looking like a four-year-old with a giant bow on top of your head. I have enough trouble looking like I'm younger than I am; I don't need to exacerbate the problem with an ill-placed bow. So here's a tutorial for wearing The Big Girl Bow, and rocking it. (N.B. I part my hair on the left. So if you part your hair on the right, do the opposite of what I tell you for the curling process.)



Click to enlarge.

1) Brush your hair. Duh. But really, since we're using a flat iron, you do not want to flat iron tangles into your hair. They're a nightmare to deal with after that.
2) Part your hair into two sections, from the top of your ears...
3) ... to the center of the back of your head...
4) ... and twist the top section so it'll be easier to secure.
5) Take a big alligator clip (my mom used to call them that, am I the only one?)...
6) ... and clip that top section out of the way.
7) Now separate the bottom into left and right sections and our prep work is done!



Click to enlarge.

1) On the left side, take a 1-2" section (the bigger the section, the looser the curl), and curl it under with the flat iron.
2) Move slowly down the section with the flat iron on medium heat, with your wrist flipped under, like my wrist here.
3) This curls the hair towards the face.
4)Finish curling the left section then spray. I like Aussie's Mega Finish Hairspray. It's still flexible and touchable and it smells like Pez.
5) For the right side, take the same sized section, but this time flip it up and wrap the hair over. Because you're using the same hand on the opposite side, if you flipped it under, it would curl away from your face, not towards it. Bizarre, but there you go.
6) It's slightly difficult to see in this photo because my hair is dark underneath, but it's curled towards my face.
7) Finish the right side, and spray again.



Click to enlarge.

1) Now take down the top section and separate it on your part. For me it's on the left.
2) I like to curl the underneath towards my face, and the top away, so on the left, we're going to flip it up this time.
3) ... And away from the face.
4) Since I have a ton of hair, and there's way more on the right side, I separate it into two sections - a front and back - and clip the front up with the alligator (mine's missing a few teeth. ha. haha.)
5) for the right side, flip it under, and it will curl away from the face (the opposite of what you did underneath on this side).
6) See? All flipped away.
7) I take one or two sections at the crown at the back and flip them under as well, and give 'em some hair spray.



Click to enlarge.

1) Last section! I'm starting to get a little loopy here. Curl the front section, flipping it under as well, then spray.
2) If you have bangs, like me, hold them up like so...
3) ... and part them at a diagonal to get the most natural layering of hair (rather than in vertical or horizontal sections, or all in one section - do not do that unless you want super flat bangs).
4) Flip them under just like the rest of the right side.
5) See how nicely it flips back away from the face?
6) After you've curled each section of your bangs (my sister Maggs would kill me if she saw this - she goes to Toni&Guy, and evidently, they're called fringe), which is about three sections for me, spritz them and run your fingers through them to break it up.


Click to enlarge.

1) Now, the fun part! Run your hands through the curls to make them looser.
2) Flip your head over and give it a few good shakes.
3) Look at this adorable bow!
4) Separate two sections at your temples...
5) ... pull them to the middle of the back of your head and secure with the bow!
6) Now grab your brush...
7) ... And brush both sides...
8) ... to make it even looser.
    And voilà! Rocking that bow like the awesome big-girl you are. ha ha.

What do you think? Will you be wearing a big girl bow soon?

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Products Used

• Aussie Mega Finish Hairspray
• Revlon 1" Titanium Stay Smooth Hair Straightener