Yay, Professional wedding pictures!

Can I just say how much I love these pictures?!  Amy looks absolutely gorgeous! Professional pictures are 100x better than my simple iphone.  Thank you Amy for sending me these fantastic pictures! 

(iphone)

(professional)

Flashback to the 80's

I can't help but notice all the 80's flashbacks lately.  I remember when girls would take kool-aid and dye the ends of their hair blue, purple, and red, and used a highlighter to paint blonde locks hot pink or green.  (p.s. in a black light it glows)  Today I saw a side pony and loved it, so I'm dedicating this post to the 80's and the fashion it's bringing back. Thank you 80's!  But you can keep the perms!


                                            SIDE PONY

                                          HAIR TIPPING

LACE HEADBANDS 

LC inspiration

Lauren Conrad has amazing color and hair! I love her dark base with perfect highlights and the blended results it creates.  I had a guest the other day who came in and wanted the ombre effect in her hair.  She had about 2-3 inches of grown out blonde highlights and was very blonde.  Since ombre is dark graduating into light, I needed to darken her very blonde hair, yet reserve it on the ends, while making it look soft and natural.  I'm kicking myself for not getting a before photo.  Oh well, the end photos are worth it. This isn't photo shoot quality, but you can still see the color.  In person the ends are much blonder. Some of the photos are with flash and others are without.  

 It wouldn't be right to use Lauren Conrad's photo and not give a shout out to her amazing blog; I love it!  Thanks for the inspiration! 

This isn't your librarian's bun!

 I've had a lot of request for buns, and I must admit, my favorite are the big kind with lots of volume.  You don't have to have thick hair to create a big bun, just the right technique; backcombing!  Even though we think there is only one way to wear a bun, check out the varieties below. 

                                                         

                                                           
             

                                                            
                                         

                                             

A little bit of lately

As I was showing a friend pictures on my iphone of hair I've styled lately, they mentioned I should put them on my blog, so why not? I usually add editorial photos, but today you get to see some of the work I do inside the salon.

 A little bit of updo's:

Best part of living in DC, are all the Balls, Galas, and formal events that happen.  Which means, I get to style a lot of updo's.  The first two are for galas and the last one was a retro wedding; she even had a fascinator with a vail.

                         Even though this looks very tight and sleek, the front was loose and soft.

A little bit of coloring:

Natural red hair, with ombre blonde. 

                                                                      Before

After

Two things l Love!

Most of us put on some sort of makeup to enhance our look, but can get confused on how to do it correctly. I love this site for makeup tutorials. She does everything from basic daily looks, date night, Hollywood glamour, false eyelashes, eyebrows, contouring, highlighting and eyeliner. I get asked a lot how I do my makeup, and this is exactly how I do it. Below is a tutorial on a very basic look that can be worn daily. I suggest getting down the basic steps of using a base/primer before applying eyeshadow, using brushes- instead of the sponge that comes with the shadow, and layering blush with a bronzer for highlight and contouring. This will give you the foundation to create any look you want. You'll be a makeup whiz in no time!



This video is full face in 5 min. Impressive and very doable.



My second love is Aveda Control Force hairspray. This stuff is amazing! I have to admit, I didn't love it until I moved from Arizona to DC and went from living in a dry climate to a humid climate. Control Force hairspray is anti-humidity and will keep your styled hair looking great all day. This hairspray is workable and won't leave your hair dull, flaky, sticky, or crisp. It's also great for second day hair, holding curls in place, and all hair types. Hands down best hairspray I've ever used! (the models hair was not washed between styles)

Shara and ombre, like two peas in a pod

This week was so fun styling and coloring Shara's hair for this photo shoot. We did her color the same day as the pictures so you can see the richness and depth in tone and shine from the natural conditioners in the color. (aveda hair color) I love her base color because it takes on different tones and has a lot of dimension. I debated about styling it curly vs straight, and went with straight so you can see the true ombre color going from dark to light, and the natural progression of the color. Thanks Shara for the beautiful hair and Caroline for the fantastic photos.

.....before.....

..........after..........

Gorgeous Erin

When I first met Erin, we had the "I'm getting married and I need longer hair, better color, and great hair on my wedding day" conversation. We had around 9-10 months and luckily her hair grows fast :) For the engagement photos, we decided on a round brushed style. On the wedding day, it was loose curls, slightly pinned up, then pulling it back for the reception. I like the look of two hair styles on a wedding day. The first style is more innocent, romantic, while the second says I'm ready to celebrate! I styled the women of the wedding party, except one because she already has super curly hair. What a fun day!