Instyle Hair

With the upcoming remake of the Gatsby movie, flapper hair is quietly coming back in style. From finger waves, short crops, and flashy accessories-putting on a little 20′s style is a great way to spice up your hair!

Short Crop: if your daring and bold, you can always take the plunge and cut your hair. Flapper style hair is like the one that Carey Mulligan is sporting in the picture above-bangs, cropped just at the ear, with a little curl at the ends.

Faux Bob: Make a deep part in your hair. Section off 1 inch sections and using a curling iron, curl each section by folding your hair under. Repeat all over your head, making sure to curl all the sections in one direction. Brush the curls out and tease. Gather the ends of your hair and either tie and/or pin your hair inward (toward your face) to create a faux bob.

Headbands: Headbands, scarves, and other sparkly accessories are quick and easy solutions to getting 20′s inspired hair.

Are you tired of your hair? A simple and easy way to change up your hair is to amplify your hair color! Depending on your hair color, there are various tips and tricks to keep your color beautiful!

Brunette: The key to keeping brunette color looking hot is shine. Investing in an at-home gloss kit will give dimensional to dark hair. Looking for something a little more drastic? Try highlighting or low lighting darker or lighter (1-3 shades lighter) around your face.

Red: Refresh your color! By investing in ammonia free/natural dyes like Manic Panic can be a quick and easy way to refresh and keep your red looking fiery!

Blonde: A common problem women with blonde hair face is brassiness (orange). Brassiness can occur for various reasons including UV rays, chlorine, etc. The best way to combat brassiness in blondes is to tone your hair using a violet based toner. Simple purchase a violet based toner and mix a 10 or 20 vol developer and apply like hair dye. Toning should only be done every few months. In between toning, utilizing a purple tinted shampoo and conditioner will also keep brassiness away as well!

Coloring hair, especially when coloring hair vibrant and unusual hues can be complicated. Pastel colors especially can be difficult to achieve since pastel colors need to be created, not purchased. Traditionally, pastel colors can only be created when you mix a color with conditioner. Sometimes, if the ratio between the colors and conditioners is off, color can become too faint or even too strong. Luckily, Pravana (a professional hair company) has created a special line of pastel color dyes! Pravana is  known for creating unusual hues that are vibrant and really LAST. These new pastel dyes will take the guesswork out of dying your hair into a pretty pastel hue. Pravana will be launching five shades: : Pretty in Pink, Luscious Lavender, Blissful Blue, Too Cute Coral and Mystical Mint.

Ever dread going to the hair salon? Are you always stuck on which types of looks or cuts to try? Too afraid to change up the look you’ve been sporting since middle school? These are all the factors that come into play with you make your next trip to the salon-and while nobody can be 100% certain whether or not a look will look fabulous or be right for you, here are some tips and tricks to steer you in the right direction!

Face Shape: Knowing what type of face shape can determine which kind of cut may be best for you. There are many types of face shapes out there-Oval, Round, Oblong, Heart, Square, Triangular, and Diamond. The easiest way to determine your face shape is by drawing your hair back and on a mirror, trace the outline of your face. Compare this outline to each of the shapes and whichever one is most closely matches with is your face shape!

Skin Tone: Coloring your hair isn’t just simply choosing a color. Each skin tone has shades-warm, cool, and neutral. Cool tones are for people who have a pinky or fair skin. Warm skin tones are those with yellow or peach undertones. Neutral skin tone is skin that has neither. Knowing which shades goes best with your skin tone can be the difference between a red looking fantastic or awful.

The 60′s are this season. That means-graphic patterns, lashes, graphic liner, and big, beautiful, voluminous hair!

The easiest way to be on trend this season is by adding volume to your hair. Adding a little volume will not only add a little 60′s style to your hair, but it will look instantly glamorous!

Achieving volume is simple and only requires a few key essential tools:

Hair Mousse

Boar Bristled Brush-(use to back-tease and smooth over hair/the boar bristled brush will create shine and will not tangle your hair or create knots like traditional plastic hair brushes)

Hairspray

Velcro Hair Rollers

To achieve a simple beehive or bump, start with hair mouse. Use it only at the roots of your hair. Section off your hair and roll your hair into the velcro rollers and blow-dry. Take out the rollers and comb your hair through with the boar bristled brush. Then, take sections of your hair and backcomb (comb backwards at the bottom of the whole section of the hair), this will create massive volume. Once you achieve your desired height, smooth your hair over with the comb and set with hairspray!

Gel nails is the new innovative and on trend product at the moment. Unlike regular nail polish, gel nails do not chip. It takes about 10 minutes to completely cure and dry and they are insanely easy to remove! It even applies just like regular nail polish! The only drawback is that gel nails require a UV machine to cure each layer. Up until now, you could only get gel nails at a salon because the UV machines were insanely expensive. But now that big brands like Sally Hansen are coming out with the personal sized UV machines, gel nails are becoming much more accessible than before. Below is a comparison between two gel nail polish brands and how they stack up against one another.

CND is a professional gel nail brand that is available for professional use only. However, they are available on Amazon and other online retailers. Each bottle averages about $12 USD a bottle.

CND: The brush is exactly the same as a regular nail polish brush. It’s long, thin, and very bendable. The formula is thick and extremely opaque. Though it’s recommended to apply two coats, one coat is sufficient to completely color your entire nail. However, there’s a chance that you could get a much thicker looking nails if you’re not careful.

CND SWATCH (DARK LAVA)

Bluesky on the other hand, is a dupe brand of CND; offering the same colors and results for a fraction of the costs, about $9 USD.

BLUESKY: The brush is a little bit shorter and denser than the CND brush. The formula is less like a gel, but more like regular nail polish. It’s runny and you need at least two or three coats to get a nice, opaque finish.

BLUESKY SWATCH (DARK LAVA)

Comparison of colors between CND and Bluesky Colors (DARK LAVA)

FINAL ANALYSIS:  In all honesty, the results are virtually identical. I wore both polishes for about two weeks and both were chip-free at the end of it. Both polishes were removed just as easily too. When it comes down to it, it really depends on how you personally like your nail polish formulas/your budget concerns. For the color match ups, I tried on two colors, CND’s Dark Lava and Tutti Frutti and their Bluesky counterparts. The colors are virtually identical. To the naked eye, I could barely tell them apart from each other. Moreover, I would recommend CND if you hate spending a lot of time on your nails and don’t mind a thicker look. However, I would say pick Bluesky if you are willing to spend a bit more time on your nails, allowing complete control over the thickness and look.

Curly, wavy, or frizzy hair can be a constant source of frustration. Not only do you have to spend more time straightening, drying, and styling it, but humidity is your biggest enemy! Gel tames and defines your curls, but leaves it looking heavy and feeling crunchy. So, where do you turn?

The first thing to do is to look for products that are specially formulated for curly/wavy hair. Looking for products that are labeled as “weightless” and  “non-sticky” will help steer you into the right direction. Turning to all-natural products like shea butter and aragan oil is an easy and simple way to define and nourish your hair! In addition, there are tons of brands out there that focus solely on curly/wavy hair like Mixed Chicks.  So, no matter what you do, there are tons of options out there to help deal with achieve instyle curly/wavy hair!

Now that the holidays are over, it’s time again to buckle down and return to our regular scheduled programming. Here are some simple and easy tips and tricks for women on the go!

Vaseline: Winter is still upon us, and that means chapped lips and skin. Vaseline  is a great way to keep your lips and skin hydrated through the remainder of this winter season. You can also use Vaseline as an eyebrow groomer, eye makeup remover, and even get rid of those nasty cowlicks! ($4-5, Drugstores)

Baby Powder: Baby powder is a great way to soak  up excess grease in hair. Simple sprinkle a little on 2nd day hair and brush through. You’ll be left with gorgeous, texturized looking hair! Plus, it’s a whole lot healthier for your hair if you don’t shampoo everyday. ($4, Drugstores)

SPF: SPF is usually associated with summer and our skin, but UV protection is also very important for your hair too! While it’s not wise to slather on your sunscreen on your hair, you can simply look for products such as leave-in-conditioners or styling products with UV protection built in. (Moroccanoil $17-42, Salons, Amazon, or Frizzy2Silky.com)

Do you like dying your hair but just hate the process of bleaching and coloring? Do you dread the harsh chemical-y smell and the itchiness of bleach? Do you wish that you could color or bleach without having to endure these things? The answer might be simpler than you think!

The source of that harsh smell and irritation we often associate with dying hair is all due to ammonia. Ammonia is an ingredient that is used in most dyes and bleach to facilitate the opening of the hair shaft. You will notice that when your dying your hair with semi-permanent dyes, there is no irritation and the dyes can often smell nice. That is because these semi-permanent dyes do not penetrate the shaft at all and only coat the hair-leaving behind color that only lasts about 4-8 weeks. Demi, permanent, and bleach, on the other hand, all contain ammonia. But not to worry, if your sensitive to ammonia there is an alternative!

Ammonia-free dyes! CHI, for instance, is a professional hair care/color line that contains no ammonia at all! They even offer gentle bleaching options. Just as effective as bleach and dyes that contain ammonia, CHI dyes and bleaches utilizes CHI’s 44 Ceramic and Far InfraRed that allows maximum color penetration inside of the hair. In addition, the Ionic Technology-Ionic charge (+/-) will anchor the dyes inside of the hair. Leaving behind ultra shiny and beautiful color and instyle hair!

With the Holidays approaching and everyone worrying about last minute gift shopping, what about sitting down and treating yourself to something nice, hmm? The Holidays are the perfect time to invest is something extra special and what’s better than an iron? It’s something fun and personal and it’s a tool that you will actually use! Investing in the right iron is the best way to guarantee beautiful instyle hair all year long and for many years thereafter!

My personal favorite is FHI Heat Platform 1” Iron. Retailing at around $100-$180 (depending on where you purchase), the FHI Heat Platform is a great high end iron that will perform brilliantly, but won’t break the bank! It has three layers of scratch resistant ceramic plates which are coated with tourmaline. In addition, it has an advanced PTFC heater (heats up quickly), has a wide temperature range (140F-450F), it irons damp or dry hair, has a patented NanoFuzeion Technology that leaves hair soft, shiny and healthy while removing bacteria and toxins, AND features floating plates. Phew!

All in all, FHI Heat Platform is an affordable, higher end grade iron that will leave your hair look amazing in a short amount of time AND gives you better results.