A little rebel are you...!?

Antithesis to the velvet-drapery straight long locks with heavy bangs or the film noir waves that framed the pale face in dramatic allure, defy gravity and the dominating trend by whisking your hair to new heights a la Bill Blass a/w '07 runway style:



To up, up and away:

1. Work in a voluminizing gel into semi-damp hair, only applying to the roots

2. Comb the front section of hair all to one side, across the forehead

TIP: use a blast of cold air towards the direction that you want the bangs to go in if you need extra help setting hair to one side

3. Gather up hair in a high ponytail at the crown of your head

TIP: easier done by bending over and flipping hair over the head and brushing down into pony tail at the top of the head

4. Secure pony with elastic

5. Comb backwards from the midsection of the pony towards the elastic from underneath the pony to create texture and volume

6. Loop the pony into a very loose bun and secure the ends underneath the pony to hide the pins. If you are more advanced, separate the pony into three or four strands and twirl each around elastic loosely to create a more multi-layered, volumnous bun on top of head

xox

Cameleon Rinko: Pulling off drastic looks with ease & grace

Every since her Babel breakthrough, Rinko Kikuchi has been hitting various red carpets with a drastically different look while maintaining a punk-but-elegant consistency. From platinum blond hair to pure black, from stick straight to volumnous curls, her hair has had quite a year, too!

Arigato Rinko, for showing us that blonde is definitely do-able for the brave of heart and that it's A-OK to go from dark to blonde to auburn for those of us fickle of heart!

At the Oscars, in a sophisticated black dress, dangly earrings that flatter the neck and jaw, and a clean, pulled back bun. For an evening look like this, try angling the eye liner and shadow up to strengthen and accentuate the eyes.






Fresh faced and adorable at a press conference before the big night. For a youthful, fresh look like this, try an orange lipstick with a slight gold flip. Keep eyes natural yet awake with a trusty concealer, brown liner on just the above lid and layers of black mascara after curling lashes up, up and away.



Platinum blonde but still innocently chic, the soft pink Chanel dress and her big smile keep her hair from overpowering her personality. Keep skin lucent by going easy on the foundation and dusting sheer loose powder over face instead. For a healthy glow, finish with a sweep of subtle light orangy brown blush on the apples of the cheeks.



For a sexier, evening look, curl the ends with a medium to big curling rod and set with a blast of cool air. Keep eye color to basic tones to avoid looking overdone. Allow the hair to take centerstage, especially if it is dyed blonde or another pop color, by keeping clothes clean, modern and straighforward.



xox

all images from wireimage.com

How to Polka Dot - Runway Report #2

Being an asian girl with just a little over 5 feet in height, I have a tough time wearing Polka Dots without looking like a little girl that mommy dressed.

I've vowed to generally stay away from the on-again, off-again trendy pattern, until I saw a fresh ensemble at the Lela Rose Fall '07 show that who other than Anne Watanabe flawlessly pulled off. So easy to copy and take onto the streets, afterall, it IS still winter in the Real World, too!



Runway Look Tip:
ONE. Polka Dot prints are most flattering on sheer, flowy material as shown above that doesn't cling or stretch out over your body. The dots should be floating off you rather than outlining your curves.

TWO. Stick with smaller dots unless you want to go the Diane von Furstenberg fall '07 look (Left, model Hye Park) with black/white graphic patterns or bold reds OR the classic YSL MOD prints with a huge dot that covers the entire dress.

THREE. Don't do candy-pop or jelly-juice colored dots. Screams "I am longing to go back to my childhood happy days" and it just isn't...well, it just isn't. Go with sophisticated color combos like black, grey, silver, muted blush, gilded gold or dusted silvery tones.

FOUR. Pair with skirts and pants with classic winter fabrics as herring bone or wool, as ingeniusly shown here. Needless to say, no flannel! yikes.

FIVE. Keep accessories simple, hair sleek or pulled back into an office-type bun and makeup, in cool shades as to avoid looking like a teenager trying on mom's clothes.

Now go enjoy the dots-scene and look beyond chic with the new twist to the print that , admit it, you know you've missed wearing since you were three.

xox

Tuleh wins the Sunday award - Runway Report #1

HAIR: Soft, thick bangs, face framing tendrils, a slight undone curl at the ends and exquisite luster that makes you want to touch.

Mini-Tip: Use an intense conditioner or treatment the night before so that hair is nourished, moisturized, with the least number of split ends and frizzyness when blowdrying hair. Dab in texturizing light gel only at the roots to keep volume intact. And at your next hair appointment, bangs bangs bangs!!!

MAKEUP: Red stained lips, dewy doll-like eyes and a matte, doll-like pale face. An untouchable yet alluring mix of innocence and sohistication.

Mini-Tip for lips: clear balm -> red liner -> fill in a little in the middle of lip and smudge with finger tip -> subdued red lipstick with moisturizing agents, the more dewy looking, the better -> dab of lipgloss only on the middle of the bottom lip.

Mini-Tip for eyes: -> eye line only the top with a black kohl pencil, then smudge with a dark bronze. Use a bronzy gold, almost rose gold, coloured shadow on the upper lids, lightly sweep upwards at the out edges. On bottom lids, start on the inside corner of the eye and dab a clean gold (not yellowy) shadow towards the outer edge. Curl lashes and follow with black mascara on top and bottom lashes. I depend on YSL Ombre Vibration Duo in the 37 Brown/Copper to achieve any sun-kissed gorgeous bronzy eye look that looks just gilded enough.

Mini-Tip for brows: -> keep it no darker than the hair color so that it doesn't over power the eye and the bangs, brushing it and holding the brows in place with a clear brow mascara is enough for this look. This will keep the face with a natural-beauty purity rather than 1950's vamp.

Mini-Tip for face: -> mattifying translucent powder with a soft pink or soft orange blush underneath it all so the cheeks do not over power the other features on the face. Let the lips take center stage.

xox

cheat sheet #1 - short crop with long hair!?

I always thought bambi had the look down sqwat. Let me translate, I've always been in love with the short, cropped hair paired with big doe-like eyes rimmed with dark liner and mascara look. What better way to accentuate the eyes, show off the neck and collar bone, and look demuringly trendy all at the same time?

Admittedly, Miss N.Richie as featured in the January '07 issue of Allure is not asian but tada~ Ayumi Hamazaki (J-pop star) did it way before and I've adored this look since HS, and THAT was a long time ago. But after a solid year of intense long-mane obsession within the fashion and media world, I, too, now have long hair and I'm not willing to chop it off just quite yet... I'm also still pathetically enjoying my new found skill that I've always been jealous of when the popular girl in front of my seat in middle school would skillfully secure her long hair with just a pencil/pen/piece of stick...

So today, I trotted to the Stephen Knoll New York salon on Madison Ave to get the ultimate cheater's version of the short crop. Under the talented hands of Hikaru, my beauty accomplice and hair stylist extraordinaire, I asked for a simple trim in the back, keeping the length, but with a lot of heavy layering on the top layers of the head, volumnous side swept bangs and shorter strands framing my face so that when I pulled my hair up and away, I looked like I had a short crop. The shorter layers stay out of the knot in the back, falling all around the head and in flirty layers around the face and the heavy bangs add texture to the cut, bringing the focus forward and to the eyes. Follow the eye-lining tips and poof, sexy bambi.

A few tips:

1. Add texturizing wax to the roots at the crown of the head to add movement and texture to the shorter strands. Try Stephen Knoll Solid Wax or Polish for a soft, touchable texture that keeps a natural hold all day long without any buildup.

2. Try a high-count, short bristle, pad-style brush to tweak out the shorter strands away from the pulled back hair. They only catch on to the top layers of the hair and not the longer layers on the bottom so it's much easier to create a volumnous, short bob look and keeps you from having to tie and retie hair over and over again. Try the must-have staple Mason Pearson brush in their largest size made of only boar bristle rather than nylon bristles.

3. For an evening-kitten look, pin-up the long strands in the back, pull out just enough of the shorter top layers from the back with a thin comb or a sharpened pencil to cover the pinned-up strands and tease the comb towards your head at the crown so that the shorter layers create a volumnous pouf.

Accessarize with chandelier earrings or big, single-drop earrings for a classic look and colourful resin or lucite hoops for a mod-Twiggy look. Alexis Bittar earrings.

xox