You are more beautiful than you think...

What is beauty? When we say someone is beautiful, what defines beautiful? Is it the way they look, or is it their heart? Having a beauty blog clearly, I believe in beauty. I believe in makeup, I believe in beautiful hair styles, beautiful colors and cuts, amazing wardrobes, and basically just pampering yourself. However, is that what really makes someone beautiful? In some ways, yes. Doing all of these can boost a woman's confidence to the point that she is literally radiating her beauty. 
How do we as women get to the point where WE radiate our beauty? Why are we so hard on ourselves, but can see the beauty in everyone else? 

Today my blog post is based off of the dove real beauty sketch on nickritchielive.com there is a link to the video below. 

http://youtu.be/litXW91UauE

Watching the video my eyes truly filled up with tears thinking of myself and thinking about how hurtful my own thoughts about myself can be. The video speaks for itself and PROVES just how critical we can be. 

Having a beauty blog I not only want to promote physical beauty, but I want to promote CONFIDENCE, and INNER BEAUTY. We control so much of what our minds believe! So it's time not only to believe we are beautiful but to know it and find what makes you beautiful! 
Be confident, love yourself, believe in everything you are! Then and only then will we start to see how beautiful we really are. Just as the video said, you ARE more beautiful than you think. 

I challenge everyone to watch this video and work towards loving yourself, work towards seeing the things that make you beautiful. 

Super Fun Low Ponytail

This is probably the easiest ponytail ever and the best part about it is that it looks like you spent quite some time creating it! Don't you love that! 

1. So first you are going to grab the crown section of your hair. Make a half twist. 

2. Pin the section by securing it with bobby pins.

3. Next grab a two inch section and cross it over the twist. make sure you hide the pin and the partings from the first section. Secure with pins.

4. Repeat to the other side. 

5. Next go to the other side and grab the remaining hair on your sides. 

6. Braid the section and pull to make bigger 

7. Repeat to the other side. 

8. I don't have a picture for this step, I'm not sure how I missed it but cross the left section over to the right. Secure with pins. 

8. Repeat on right side. 

9. Braid the hang over from the last section that you pinned. 

10. Wrap in around the pony tail and secure with pins.

The best part about this style is that you can be so creative with it! You can do more braids with your sections or you can leave out the braids completely! Have fun with it!!  

FINDING THE RIGHT SHADE FOR YOUR EYES!

A Cheat Sheet to discover what colors are YOUR colors! 

When choosing eye makeup colors the classic rule is to use colors that are complementary to your eye color. 

However, skin and hair color are two other important factors to consider. 

Here are a few basic guidelines when choosing colors for your eyes:

BLUE EYES: 

Warm hair/Warm skin- 

warm bronze, copper,and peach. 

Cool hair/Cool skin- 

Taupe, cool browns, pinky peach, mauve

GREEN EYES:

Warm hair/warm skin- 

Brown, red brown, rust

Cool hair/cool skin-

Plum, mauve, taupe

* good colors for red hair and either of these eye colors are- 

Rust, brown, and warm tones. 

BROWN EYES: 

Warm hair/warm skin- 

Brown, rust, bronze, red brown

Cool hair/cool skin- 

Mauve, plum, pinks, some blues

GRAY EYES: 

Follow the guidelines for blue eyes or green eyes depending on which color is the more prominent undertone. 

MATURE EYES: 

Stay with medium pastels and/or neutrals that don't have too much red or pink in them. 

Stay away from colors that are too dark or muddy. 

Eyeshadow a with a slight shimmer can be extremely flattering. 

Half Up, How to

Here are some quick styles that are insanely easy for days you want something besides just down, but you don't want to pull it all up! 

I like to do half up styles on curly hair. Make sure not to make your curls too tight though when doing a half up style. Stick with something like more of a wave to prevent the style from looking too juvenile. 

1. Section your sides out from Judd behind your ear. Clip your back aside if it's easier! 

2. Starting with the left side braid with just a normal braid. 

3. Pull on the braid to make it bigger. 

4.Wrap the braid to the opposite and pin into place. 

5. Next step you can either just braid the other side and follow the above steps or you can do what I did and start a French braid on the "heavy side" of your part. 

6. Pull on the braid to make it bigger 

7. Wrap it around to the left side. Tuck the braid behind the first braid you made. 

1. Start out by teasing the crown 

2. Pull all of your hair into a half pony tail

3. Give the entire section one big twist. It will create a "roll". 

4. Secure it by placing the bobby pins upward into the twist. Use as many as you need to hold your hair. 

5. Take the end of a weaving comb or a rat tail comb! Slide the end of the comb in and pull up to create volume and get the shape you are wanting. 

6. Hold up the hair and spray, after this step don't run your fingers or a brush through it. This hairstyle looks great with a lot of texture. 

1. Start by pulling your hair half up into a normal braid. 

2. Pull on the braid to make it bigger.

3. Create a bun by wrapping it around and pinning it underneath. Secure it with pins wherever you need.

4. Once it's secure pull on the bun softly to make it bigger and to give it texture. 

Emma Watson Chignon Inspiration

 

How classy is Emma, right?! I wanted to show how simple such a classy look can be! 

1. First start by taking your side sections and clipping them aside. We will get to them later. 

2. Create a low pony tail using a clear elastic. 

3. Next you will create a topsy tail. (Refer to my topsy tail tutorial if you don't know how) 

4. Bat comb your pony tail as big as you want your chignon to be. 

5. Start at the ends of your hair and roll into a tight loop. Pin the inside of the loop on each side so it is secure. 

6. Once it is securely pinned you can pull on it and make it the size and shape you want it to be.

7. Next I let go of my left front section. Wrapping it softly around the chignon and pinning underneath. Repeat on right side. 

Ta da! Super simple and similar to a tutorial in my hair in a hurry post but this can be made so classy and I love it! 

Curling with a Flat Iron 101

This is something that I can't wait to show when I do video tutorials because it honestly is so much easier explained by seeing it rather than reading it. So I'm just going to give some tips for now. 

*Make sure you have a good flat iron! One that has curved blades will curl better. My favorites are GHD, Centrix, or Babyliss

*Curling with a flat iron is all about movement. It is not like a curling iron and you don't want to hold it in one spot for too long. 

*As you can see I start with about a one inch section of hair. Starting in the middle of the section I start to roll my flat iron away from my face, I continue holding onto the end of the strand so that I can guide where I want it to go. Once again it's all about the movement so just keep moving, you have no reason to stop! 

*It is important to not hold the flat iron with too much tension. Be soft and let your hair flow through the blades. If you hold it too tight you will start to see creases and you will not be able to keep moving! 

*Try not to use any products that will make your hair sticky or tacky until after you have finished curling it. Anything like that will only make it harder to curl. 

*Last but not least KEEP PRACTICING! This is a motion that for some people can be so awkward to control but once you get it, it will be so easy! I promise!! 

Michele and Kyle

My sweetest friend Michele and her husband Kyle are on their way to Texas on Monday for a new adventure with the air force! I was so excited to see her before she leaves and that I was able to do her hair and make up for this stylized shoot! This is just a sneak peek, but seriously it was too good not to share! 

Photo by Serenitee Photography-Jess (Jessica Hansen)