California Wedding!

Hello! Unfortunately I've been pretty negligent towards my blog in the last month or so, I think it's down to the fact that I was in California for 3 weeks and have been really busy with work since I got back. I dunno, excuses, excuses. I kept meaning to post something and then completely forgetting bla bla bla...

Nick and Flora
The happy couple

Anyway, as I said, I was in California in March and April, I spent 2 weeks in LA and 1 week in San Francisco.
I'd never been to San Fran before, although I had always wanted to check it out and conveniently one of my old school friend's, Flora, decided to celebrate her wedding there!
Flora and Nick(the groom) met at university in Cali, hence the location, so a bunch of us flew out for the occasion. What better excuse to visit a city than to celebrate a wedding!

Finished look - beautiful bride

She got married in Shakespeare Gardens in Golden Gate Park and then had the reception at the Foreign Cinema. Nick wore a bow tie which he tied himself - one of the most impressive things I have ever seen and Flora had the most beautiful bouquet, the colours were gorgeous and complimented the Spring wedding perfectly.
It was such a beautiful day from start to finish and so lovely to have experienced it with great friends in such a cool city.

Me looking weirdly moody,  prepping Flora's hair

I offered to do the hair and makeup for the day which was really fun but also kind of scary doing makeup for friends on such a big day! Luckily everything went swimmingly and Flora looked so stunning. The makeup was fresh and classic and she went for an up-do with a bun and a few soft waves, we put tiny white flowers throughout the bun at the end that were the same as some of the flowers in the bouquet which tied everything together for the finished look.

Curly Sue!

I can't believe I am old enough to have married friends now but I'm definitely not complaining. Weddings are so much fun and who doesn't enjoy love, food, drinking, dancing and listening to a few heartfelt vows and speeches? I think I just listed my top 5 favourite things...

40's Wavy Hair Tutorial

The 40's wave is a timeless hairstyle and once you know how to do it, you can use the technique in many other hairstyles, from retro to modern.

40's Hair - Before and After

It is best to start this hairstyle on clean, dry hair. My hair was washed yesterday but I have done this style before immediately after drying my hair and it has stayed in until my next wash (2 or 3 days).

You will need -

• 1 pair of curling tongs - I used babyliss 25mm but you can vary this depending on your hair type and how tight or loose you want the wave.
• 1 crocodile clip or hair tie to secure your sections.
• 1 can of medium hold hair spray - I used VO5 Ultimate Hold.
• 1 smoothing brush The image in the pictures is a back combing brush but this is a link to a good smoothing brush.
• 1 pintail comb
• 1 serum or conditioning milk to smooth your hair at the end. I personally love the Aussie Conditioning Milk.
• 1 heat protective spray to prevent hair damage. I used Tresemme Heat Defence.

Step 1 - brush your hair through to remove any tangles and decide where you want the hair to be parted. Traditional 40's is a side parting which you can make as light or heavy as you like. I went with quite a light parting because my hair is quite fine.

 Step 2 - section your hair into layers leaving out about a quarter of your hair loose at the bottom. The main thing about sectioning is that you want everything to be even. the hair sections you tong should be an even size and shape throughout the whole hairstyle. Start as you mean to go on. Each section can then be split into 6-8 individual curls as you go.



Step 3 - Spray each layer of hair with a heat protective spray
 and start tonging.With this look you will need to curl towards your face for the side with the lighter parting and away from your face for the side with the heavier parting. It may help to split your layer in half down the back of your head.

(I'm left handed and I hold the tongs in a bizarre way so don't necessarily copy that but do make sure the tong is vertical and parallel to the head and that the hair curls from top to bottom.)


Step  4 - Continue curling until the whole layer is completed then spray the layer thoroughly with hair spray and let down the next quarter of hair. Repeat Step 3 until all hair is tonged evenly.
Make sure your parting is defined before starting the top layer.

Step 5 - Once everything is curled you may feel worried that you look like Shirley Temple or some sort of 90's prom queen. This is normal.
Spray your hair thoroughly with hair spray.

Step 6 - At this point you may want to pin up the front of your hair with your crocodile clip and spray with hair spray to help maintain a little height at the front.
You may also want to apply suitably 40's makeup to go with your new hairstyle. I went with black eyeliner, pink cheeks and red lipstick.

Step 7 - The next part is quite scary but this is where the magic happens. Get your smoothing brush and gently brush out all of your curly little corkscrews to reveal the finished look! By brushing out the curls you will create the softer wave which gives the classic 40's feel.

Step 8 - Tada! To finish everything off smooth a little serum over the hair to add shine and smooth any strays.


(Whilst posing for what is essentially a 'selfie' is not my strong point, especially front on, I had to get a proper picture of the old boat race to show the look, so excuse the stupid face and here we are!)

The End. Xxx

Xx

Gel Nails Review - Gelish Forever Beauty

There's something about a fresh manicure that fills me with a surprising amount of happiness and for this reason I try and get my nails done with a gel polish every 2-3 weeks. Not to mention that in my lne of work I'm constantly touching peoples' face/hair and like to keep my hands as clean and presentable as possible.


The Place: I currently pay £20 (such a bargain) to get my nails done in the aptly named 'Nail Bar' in Hanwell, west London. The salon itself is run by a vietnamese team of very talented nail and beauty technicians and whilst its basic layout doesn't look like much with the slightly dated 4 nail stations and 2 pedicure chairs, the quality is always extremely high. Value for money is also excellent and I wind up saving myself about £50 a month (or two and a half more mani's) compared to the £46 it costs for the same service in a nail bar I used to use in Notting Hill.

The Colour: I should mention that I am desperately indecisive, this makes picking a nail varnish a very difficult task for me and quite often results in me choosing something either nude/pinky or red/burgundy. True to form on this day I chose a pale peachy pink shade with a very slight pearlescent effect. I was a little concerned because pearly nail colours usually remind me of old lady nail varnishes, but this one was very subtle and just made my nails look a bit more glossy.

The colour I opted for was Forever Beauty by Gelish, a brand that I've used before and have always been happy with. They have a good range of colours and were one of the first brands around when gel nails started to breakthrough.

The Result (Excuse my weird claw hand)

The Result: I am very happy with the result. I've had loads of compliments on the colour and along with all this sunshine it's getting me in the mood for spring! I went with a friend who liked mine so much she ended up getting the same colour as me. As always the service was excellent and a week on they're still looking pristine.


Xx