First Day Being a Creative

First Day Being a Creative

Finally got moved up to Creative btw.

Here's how I got ready.

I woke up nervous...and also I looked like a hot mess.

First I got my hair in check.

Then makeup and also coffee. I don't know why the look on my face is so sexual. Sorry, I'm not sorry.

Then I listened to the Great Gatsby soundtrack while I got dressed and did a little work before school.

I also decided to treat myself to a good lunch in my R2D2 lunchbox (don't judge). 

AND THEN IT WAS MOVIE DAY! We watched the Vidal Sassoon documentary and our school gave us popcorn and juice. I may have moved up to Creative, but I'm never too cool for apple juice.

-SamanthaK

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

So, yeah. I don't know what been happening lately. I feel like everyone in the past week has been drinking from the same grumpy punch bowl. 

Self included maybe.

But I was determined to get out of the funk, I still am.

Last Saturday was sort of horrific. It wasn't the guests fault, and really it wasn't even the fault of me or anyone else- it was just one of those days where you let others talk you out of acting on your instincts, but then you find your instincts were right the whole time.

Lesson learned...lesson learned.

I'm not sure how to catch you up on the last few days OTHER THAN TOTALLY SLOWING YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WITH MY AWESOME PICTURES.

You're welcome.

I took this set of pictures when I did my makeup TOTALLY ON POINT. Those eyebrows, am I right?

I think the best part of this set is that you can see the natural progression from "totally into myself" to "totally embarrassed of myself". That's art.

Amy: Have you ever seen Crystals' angular fish impression?

Me: No.

Then Crystal did this.

She also does a pretty convincing ostrich.

Dunno why I took this... I think that's a fly outfit though. Also, see Bear there on the right? Every day when I get dressed, he sits there like that on the edge of the bed and tries to pull my clothes and if he can't reach me- he cries.I am not even joking. 

Taking pics of a full outfit is sort of difficult.

She is though.

Then my teacher Jeannie taught me a new braid. I HAVE BEEN OBSESSED WITH IT EVER SINCE.

Paola was making me laugh by trying to fit inside a locker. When I saw this, there was only one question, "Are you going to Narnia?"

So like I said, Saturday was rough. I spent the rest of the night eating chicken wings and brownies with Crystal, Amy...

And Amy's son. He and I have a lot of things in common it seems.

-SamanthaK

You Too Can Do: A Basic Blow Dry

You Too Can Do: A Basic Blow Dry

No seriously. You can do this.

So this post is dedicated to Sarah, one of my good friends who has the biggest poofiest hair I've dealt with other than my own. Her desire, want, and need is to know how to do a good (easy) blow dry that won't encourage frizz. 

Now, while taking pictures for this post, I realized that I'm an idiot. IT TAKES 2 HANDS TO DO A BLOW DRY AND YOU NEED AT LEAST ONE TO TAKE PICTURES.

Most of this post is going to have to be explaining the blow dry as opposed to visual examples (sorry visual learners). Hopefully though this is helpful. When I have a camera that I can set with a timer, then we'll see some progress- but I'm poor, so, it's gonna be awhile.

So to start this off, lets talk product for a second. Blow drying is all great and dandy, and I could show you 800 different ways to do it, but half of the work is product.

If your hair is dry, fine, lightened, curly- basically anything like mine, here's the exact list I used.

Forever Blonde Shampoo (Cause my hair is lightened and damaged)

Forever Blonde Conditioner (Cause my hair is lightened and damaged)

Forever Blonde Reconstructive Treatment (Again, hyper damaged)

(FYI, the forever blonde series is not just for blondes, it's super great for dry, brittle, lightened, or damaged hair)

It's a 10 Leave in Treatment (as a heat protectant for the blow dry)

Awapuhi Hydrocream Whip (moisture and control)

Quick Slip (speed up my dry time)

If your hair is anything else, leave a comment in the section below and I will do my best to recommend something that would be better for you. Sarah, if you're reading this, you can pretty much use everything I did. You're welcome.

Step one: Blow dry the roots/bangs. 

The fringe/bang area and around the crown are the usual suspects when it comes to cowlicks and splits. I don't know why that is. To banish them from your head, you have to blow dry to one side and then the other. Usually I start with my bangs since they dry IN LIKE 2 SECONDS and they turn ALL KINDS OF CURLY CRAZY. I use my fingers as a brush and kick them to the left, the right, up off my face and then back down. It encourages the roots to lift off my head so they don't slick down all stupid-like. I do not like flat bangs, I do not.

Then I go around the temples. For this, I lean to one side, letting gravity do it's job and I just hit it with the blow dryer. For those with short hair, you might want to use your fingers to weigh the ends down so it doesn't fly everywhere and get all weird up in there.

Step 2: Keep going with them roots.

When it comes to blow drying at home, I am so lazy. Normal hair will stretch as it dries, creating a really nice blow out. My hair stretches when it's already dry. I don't... I'm not sure why, I won't lie. I have no clue.

So basically instead of doing a predry and trying to figure out the back of my head by touch, I let gravity do the work.

Flip your head over and let your hair drape over your head. Using your fingers as a brush, encourage the hair up and over your scalp. Doing this encourages the hair to be volumized at the roots, but because you're shaping it against a flat surface, like your head, it keeps the midshaft tamed down. You're welcome.

I flip my hair to the left, right, then I tip upside down, then right side up- just like the bangs. By making the hair go in all different directions, you're confusing the hell out of your cowlicks and they're like, "Forget this" and then they give you the peace out and they're gone.

You're welcome. 

Step 3: The Rest.

Ok, so now your roots are dry all over and all you have left is the ends. Divide your hair into 3 sections- the bottom, the middle, and the top.

Taking subsections, use your brush like I'm showing in the picture and then point the blow dryer nozzle into the brush, but slightly downward towards your ends. 

And brush/blow to your ends.

You're encouraging the hair to lay down flat and not letting it frizz. When you blow dry upwards against the hair, you're basically like, "Hey, you wanna be 8 times your normal size and be all tangly?" And your hair is like, "I guess I don't have the choice." Blow drying down with the hair is you saying, "This is where you're living now." And your hair is like, "I guess I don't have a choice."

Do the bottom section, then the middle, then the top.

You'll end up with something like this. Ignore my straw-like ends. I am due for a haircut and I've been putting it off for 3 weeks. Don't judge, I'm busy.

Then you're going to style accordingly. Because my hair stretches and behaves when it's already completely dry, I could go in with a round brush to smooth and bevel the ends. For normal people, you would go in with a round brush when your hair is still a little damp. For a smooth, non curly look, you could do the exact technique I showed with the paddle brush earlier and just keep laying down those ends. Mine don't look very nice because they need to be hacked off, and I also hate straight hair on myself. You guys know me, curls are kind of my jam.

So I went beachy. (For those curious, follow my easy and polished curling tutorial, but do not add hairspray.  Use Awapuhi Styling oil and immediately brush through the curls while the hair is still warm/not totally set yet).

Sorry about that picture. I don't know why my eyebrows are up so high.

I hope this was helpful. Keep in mind, this is not the blow dry technique I use on my clients. For one, it's too hard to go that route on the back of my own head and obviously I'm not going to make my clients tip their head all over the place to do my style of blow drying. I don't think they'd pay me to do that.

-SamanthaK

Face off: High vs Low (Cream Eyeshadows)

Face off: High vs Low (Cream Eyeshadows)

It's so rare that I focus on makeup but I feel like lately it's been my whole world- especially now that I'm getting into the idea of airbrushing. (Whaaat? I know. One day I'll be so pro.)

But when I really thought about it, I was like, "What's the difference between high and low end? Seriously?"

Here's the facts: Half the time parent companies will own both a department and drugstore makeup lines to maximize sales and profits. The difference between certain products? Packaging. That's all. For example: L'oreal owns Lancome. And Estee Lauder you ask? EVERYONE, even MAC.

Don't believe me?

http://www.elcompanies.com/Pages/Our-Brands.aspx

BOOM. Did I blow your mind?

So now let's open up the can of worms. I know a lot of people are dedicated to MAC, but now that we know MAC is owned from a different parent company, it's time to look twice at comparative products. Being dedicated to just one line in a company is just silly. Why commit to just Dior when we know L'oreal has the identical product, in practically identical packaging for a fraction of the cost? Why buy MAC when we can go Maybelline.

I just saved you money. You're welcome.

OK. So while I'm not going to spend all my waking hours finding the identical dupe for certain products, I CAN DEFINITELY show you some stuff and talk a lot about it. Ready, here we go.

FACE OFF: High vs Low (Cream Eyeshadows)

I love me some cream eyeshadows. I do. They're easy, fast, efficient, and you can even double them as pigmented eye shadow primers. This face off in particular is between Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in "Recess" and Maybelline 24 hour color tattoo cream shadows in "Barely Branded", but I'm gonna talk a little bit about the MAC paintpots as well.

So as you can see, the colors are practically identical. MAC has a similar color in "soft ochre" or "painterly" I believe too. They all have the similar effect- neutral beige. 

The stats:

Benefit retails at $19 and has 0.16oz

Maybelline retails at around $7 and has 0.14oz

MAC paintpots retail at $18.50 and has 0.17oz

You guys, these are practically identical. Other than slight tonal differences, they're pretty much the same in consistency, packaging, and they're almost the same in ounces. the only 2 differences I can tell are this:

Maybelline's color tattoos don't dry out nearly as fast and they're so much cheaper.

Now before you get all crazy about your beloved MAC. The paintpots are great too and don't dry out too badly, but the clincher for me was that they can't be as easily used as a tinted primer. They don't hold up it seems. And really, for almost 20 bucks a pop, who cares? I'd rather buy 3 of Maybelline's and actually get to enjoy all the colors then to buy one "decently ok" MAC paintpot.

Although I love Benefit to death, and have several other products from them- the cream shadows are just not that great. I feel like they blew a lot of their money in producing awesome foundations and face products that they really didn't spend as much time developing their eye products.Their powder shadows are good enough, but really they aren't great.

Maybelline, for whatever reason, bounced back super hard these past couple years. They have awesome brow products and cream shadows, and their lipsticks are growing more and more popular. I feel like if they keep growing in the direction they're moving- eventually there's going to be a stand out product in every category. 

Sometimes it's good to root for the underdog.

-SamanthaK

You Too Can Do: Lazy Yet Polished

You Too Can Do: Lazy Yet Polished

Lately I've been really bad about trying out new hairstyles. I'M A BUSY LADY, SO SUE ME. 

However, my goal is to never go to school looking un-done, so I've been kinda nailing it with this hairstyle. I change it up by using different sized curling irons, or taking bigger sections- but for the most part it has the same effect.

Step 1: So, you woke up late again, and much like my school, your place of work/business/schooling has a dress code of sorts. You're staring at yourself in the mirror like, "Oh my God. What is this hell I'm living." Girl, it's cool. I got you. Spray your hair with a heat protectant, then use really long diagnol sections to keep yourself organized.

Step 2:  Using a curling iron of your choice, take subsections and begin curling (duh, I know. Stay with me here). 

Step 3: Be sure to curl sub sections in opposite directions- Example: If you're curling one towards your face, curl the next one away from your face. What happens with this is when you go to brush them out, they wont cling together and end up in one giant barbie-pony-tail curl. It creates bigger, fluffier, curls and won't fall flat. YOU'RE WELCOME! DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND?

Step 4: DON'T TOUCH YOUR CURLS. I know, the first thing people want to do is touch them. Just don't. You want them to cool off in a lazy curl/wavy shape. The more you touch them when they're hot, the more the curl is just going to fall out. So quit it. Tip your head upside down and give it a good healthy dose of hairspray- I mean, don't go all 80's aquanet on yourself. Just a light coat will do.

Step 5: Hang out for a second upside down, when you think the curls are cool enough or when you're just over this whole process already, brush our the curls with your fingers.

Step 6: (optional) Give the crown of your head a little boost with a light tease- or more. Whatever. Girl you know me, I like to jack my hair up to Jesus most days.

This process, FYI, takes me roughly 15 minutes with a bigger curling iron (like a 1 or 2 inch)- teasing included.

-SamanthaK

You Too Can Do: Texas Barbie Hair

You Too Can Do: Texas Barbie Hair

This is my cousin Katey. She is pretty much a barbie- blonde, blue eyed, sequin dress wearing... So when prom came up, I wasn't surprised she asked for something like this.

SO, here's how to do it!

Step 1: Try to work smart and not hard. Use a lot of clips to keep yourself organized. I like using Paul Mitchell's ProSticks on long hair because it's cool and clients get all impressed when you bust them out.

Step 2: With a curling iron, make tight spiral curls. When you remove the iron, and the hair is still hot, roll the section around your fingers and pin into a standing barrel curl. The idea is that you're creating your own hot roller, and the curl will cool off in the shape you create. Helpful hint, is you want bigger curls/waves like I did on Katey, wrap the hair around more fingers to create a bigger barrel curl. For the run-through I used 2 inch sections with a 2 inch iron, and made a 2 inch curl. For prom, I did 1 inch iron, 1 inch sections, slightly more than 1 inch barrel curl. CONFUSED YET?

Step 3: Tease the hair into a giant nest. Aim for a bigger tease than you think you want because when you go to smooth it back, it'll take some of it out. Use lots of hairspray. LIKE, A LOT.

Step 4: Smooth it back into place and curl the front bangs away from the face. For an everyday look, a headband would be adorable. You could even jazz it up with clips or something. 

Step 5: Get a spray tan, big jewelry, and move to Texas to start the Real Housewives of Houston.

-SamanthaK

You Too Can Do: Being Positive Even Though Sometimes IT CAN BE DIFFICULT

You Too Can Do: Being Positive Even Though Sometimes IT CAN BE DIFFICULT

We have a saying at school- "be a visionary". Now while most people interpret this as trying to embody a discoverer or achiever, I have interpreted this as "try to be positive" and also, "don't let anyone know you're drowning". 

I have a "say yes to everything" attitude and I rarely turn down a challenge. However, when a challenge comes my way and there's nothing I can do to fix the problem, or solve an issue- I mentally shut down. It happens. My brain turns off, and I can feel the heat rising to my face. The only thing that remains is this statement, flashing through my brain, "I do not like you."

I feel when you're a visionary, A LOT of "non-visionary" people like to throw sticks in your wheels. It grinds you down to a halt and half the time- there's nothing you can do.

I won't tell you specifics, because that's not fair to other people and myself. And I'm definitely not going to be that guy who gossips on my blog. Sorry, if you wanted school drama, it's not here.

Suffice it to say, I'm bothered that I work very hard for particular achievements and I am not granted the courtesy of moving up despite that I have my ducks in a row.

So for the last few days it's been very hard to stay positive. (Especially when you go to school with 800 women and all they want to do is hear the details over and over again. Take my advice, don't get stuck in that loop- complaining over and over again isn't going to make you feel any better and it's going to make you look like a Grade A buffoon).

It helps that my friends are awesome though. It helps when you have people who support you and distract you from nonsense.

I woke up like this to the sounds of my dad slamming the door in the office and yelling quite loudly, "Hey, you awake yet? Don't you have school?" Yes, I do have school, IN MORE THAN 2 HOURS.

Needless to say the coffee didn't help much.

It was made worse with a certain problem I won't discuss here. In addition, a bunch of girls who, no matter how many times I explain it, cannot figure out a color wheel and instead of trying to learn, spend over an hour giving me scenarios like, "So she has like, dark red hair, and she wants light brown and highlights, what should I do?" Needless to say, my nerves are fried and my temper is short. 

But then Abby roped me into a mini class. At least she has a good attitude, I spent most of the class griping about foils.

To be fair though, they did come out well, so I felt a little better.

Abby, Amy, and I had Wing Stop for lunch BECAUSE IT IS VERY GOOD. It made me feel A LOT better just scarfing down food I love with people who make me happy. They were really good about distracting me. Also, I did not take pictures of that moment because my hands were covered in sauce, so instead, enjoy this terribly attractive picture of me eating ribs.

Then Gabby attempted to do a blow dry but the head kept falling off the stand every 2 minutes. She says it was the stand, I maintain she's an aggressive blow-dryer.

But at the end of the day, I just really couldn't deal with people. It happens to me sometimes. Between anxiety problems and being around crowds or texted 24/7, sometimes spending an evening by yourself can be the reset button you always needed. So, I spent the night watching My Little Pony and eating Madellines. Don't Judge.

Also, Kristina made this for me! Isn't this awesome? I realize it kind of makes me look like I drink a lot or something, but I still think it's adorable.

-SamanthaK