Helpful tips on how to curl your hair with a straightening iron

Hair

I'm not particularly good with my hair; I can straighten, blow dry, braid and scrunch. That's pretty much the extent to which I can transform my combative hair.

Frizz, it's a problem.

About a year ago I purchased a proper hair straightener, but I haven't put it to good use. There's that conundrum of allocating myself with enough time to get ready in the morning -- sleep usually wins. This morning I went on a mission to find a quick tutorial on how to curl my hair with a flat iron; there are quite a few videos out there, you just need to know what to look for.

I watched two videos, but primarily followed the steps shown in this video:

[jwplayer mediaid="4453"]

Aside from a good straightening iron, here's what else you'll need to make lovely curls..

• Heat Protection Spray - I used a discontinued spray from KMS.
• An alligator clip
• A comb
• Hairspray - I love L'Oreal's Elnett hairspray
• Approximately 30 minutes; the more you practice, the less time it'll take!

The final results

Do you have any tips or tricks you'd like to share?

Video credit: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-curl-hair-with-straighteners-2

Nail colour of the week: Butter London's Molly Coddled

Butter London's Molly Coddled

Milky lavender perfection.

I'm slowly working my way through Butter London's Spring 2013 collection; out of the six shades released Molly Coddled and Jasper are my favourites so far.

A glimpse at the lips: Armani's Lip Maestro in Ecstasy 504

The conductor ambled up to his podium as a wave of silence moved across the audience. Tap, tap, tap.

The maestro has arrived -- the music streamed out; string, wind and percussion intertwined into one.

Armani Lip Maestro in Ecstasy 504

Armani's Lip Maestro is a gloss which dries down to a semi-lacquered finish, lasts hours and eventually turns into a lovely stain. This is the sort of lippie that takes you from morning to night. The last time I found something such as this, I didn't think anything could come close.

Like those cheesy infomercials out there, you can "set it [lip maestro] and forget it." Lip maestro's formula is non-drying and non-sticky, two big thumbs up in my book! With that said, I still like to apply chapstick on my lips prior to putting anything else on them.

Flat doe foot applicator

Swatch of Lip Maestro in Ecstasy 504

Wearing Ecstasy 504

Ecstasy 504 is a vibrant and bright fuchsia pink. Initially it appears red (see swatch above), but a few minutes after the glossiness wears down the lovely pink hue is finally in clear view. If you're worried about feathering/product migration, line your lips with Makeup Forever's Lip Line Perfector; it'll stop your lipstick dead in its tracks.

Total amount for Armani's Lip Maestro in Ecstasy 504:

• $49.00 AUS / $32.00 USD 

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 8 out of 10 bags – I had to take a couple of points off for price and colour selection (Ecstasy 504 is one of the twelve shades available for purchase).

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• I wouldn't mind trying a lighter colour for work, perhaps Blush or Casual Pink will do?

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Ethereal Light

There's something there, but you don't know what it is. Something about the girl with the lit from within face; subtle, soft, quiet. The din of a lightbulb. In this review I'm not going to beat a dead horse -- Hourglass' Ambient Lighting Powders have been covered, a lot and the reviews swing from love to loathe. I purchased Ethereal Light to see what all the fuss was about.

To be honest I didn't get it at first; the questions swirled inside my head: how does it work for me, what does it do and what am I looking at? Well, inner Nicole, I'm glad you asked.

"A wardrobe of six universal finishing powders that recreate the most exquisitely flattering light—from ethereal moonlight to luminous candlelight. Each powder captures, diffuses and softens surrounding light with groundbreaking photoluminescent technology."  - Hourglass

Ethereal Light is a cool, translucent powder I apply all over my face as a final step to finish my look. Things didn't click into place until I was editing pictures of myself; I found that Ethereal Light helped the camera's flash to bounce off my skin and it even minimised the shine. Initially I feared Ethereal Light would leave a white mask on my skin and even change the appearance of my colouring, but the powder's translucence worked with the colour and light.

Close up of Ethereal Light's pan (upper right) and Ethereal Light on my makeup brush (lower right)

Out of the six shades, I think Ethereal Light is probably the most user-friendly. My opinion is based on reading user reviews published on Sephora and the myriad of beauty blogger reviews. In order to see how Hourglass' Ambient Lighting Powder worked for a few lovely ladies out there, take a gander at these reviews:

• Kelly of Vampy Varnish is paler than me, tried out Ethereal Light as well and stated, "As far as this shade goes, I would say it’s nice, but nothing that incredible for me."
• Karen over at Makeup and Beauty Blog incorporated Dim Light, Radiant Light and Luminous Light into one look! An ambitious and "effortless" vision. Refer to steps 11, 16 and 19.
• Kelly a.k.a. Gouldylox Reviews said, "At first, I wasn’t excited about these but now, I’m a little bit in love."
• Gummy of Gummy Vision exclaimed, "How can I say this nicely???? I can't so I'll be blunt. It sucked. It looked like I had applied bronzer over my entire face and it completely changed the color of my foundation to where it was at least a shade (or more??) darker than my neck!! Ugh." This was in reference to her experience with Dim Light.

My take away message: these powders can be thought of as a roll of the dice, one size doesn't fit all and try to to do your homework before investing in something you're uncertain of.

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Ethereal Light:

• $45.00 USD - purchased from Sephora.

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 8 out of 10 bags – If you had asked me for my opinion last week, I would've said skip it.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• The swatch of Luminous Light over at The Beauty Look Book is breathtaking.