Hey everyone! Whenever I wear my hair with soft, bouncy curls I always get requests to do a video on it. Today seemed like the perfect day for that! Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how I get the look.



What's your favorite way to style your hair?



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It's that time again! Prom season is here and everyone has been asking me for a makeup tutorial. I decided to do a gold and purple smokey eye - up close you can tell it's colored but from a distance it looks beautiful with more dimension than a tradition smokey eye.

Watch the video to get step-by-step instructions on how to do this yourself.



Do you want me to do a prom hair tutorial like how I have mine in the video?

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Hi loves! How stunning is this photo of Blake Lively? I think this is such a pretty, bright summery look and I’m obsessed with all the colors… Oh my goodness I just love it! Anyway, I thought it would make a great Get the Glitz post, so here’s how I suggest getting Blake’s light and bright look:

1. To start things off, her skin looks very natural and I almost can’t even tell if she has any foundation on. It might just be a tinted moisturizer because her skin looks very healthy and luminous and you can still see her freckles. So if she is wearing a foundation it’s a very, very light one. The Chanel Vitalumiere foundation is a really popular one right now and something like that would be great to use for the light coverage of this look.
   
   
2. She has a very rosy pink blush on. I’d suggest trying Nars blush in Deep Throat.
   
   
3. Next, lightly fill in your eyebrows with a pencil based on the shape that’s already there. Choose a pencil that’s close to the color of the roots of your hair.
   
   
4. For her eye makeup, it looks like she’s wearing just a light, rosy eyeshadow just on her lids. It looks very similar to Nars Nepal. (By the way, these are just the products that I would use to recreate the look, I don’t know what products she’s actually wearing and I’m sure there are others that would work really well too!)
   
   
5. She also looks like she’s wearing a yellow-y, golden shimmery color underneath her lids to give her eyes that awake, iridescent effect.
   
   
6. Apply pretty thick black gel eyeliner and then black pencil for the waterline.
   
   
7. Her lashes look really full, so do 3 coats of mascara. I would even bet she’s wearing falsies, at least on the outer corner, because her outer corner lashes look a lot thicker compared to the rest. I would suggest buying a set of false eyelashes and just taking one of them and cutting it in half. Then use one of the halves on each eye for pretty demi lashes. I actually do this all the time…it’s the easiest trick.
   
   
8. And as for the lips, I honestly don’t even know what color she used…it’s SO vibrant and SO pretty. YSL lipstick in Provocative Pink would be my closest guess.

Ok that’s it! This is actually a pretty low-key look considering how stunning it is. Now I just need to figure out how she did her hair like that!!

What do you think of Blake Lively’s look here? Do you have any Get the Glitz requests? Leave them in the comments!

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Today's Video: Beauty Army March Box!
Here’s the Glam: Tiger Hugs, Taylor Swift, Healthy Snacks & More!
Glamour Guide: The Spring Beauty Trend I’m Most Excited For
Ask Elle: Summer vs. Winter Style

Photo is from here.

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Hi beauties! A lot of you wanted to know about Taylor Swift’s makeup in this picture so I decided to do a Get the Glitz post on it and walk you through each step!

Here’s how you can get Taylor’s pretty, feminine look in this photo:

1. Start with your foundation routine. Taylor has really matte, porcelain skin in this photo so I would pick a mattifying foundation like Make Up For Ever’s Mat Velvet + Matifying Foundation. You won’t even need to set it with setting powder because the finish is already so matte on its own. Just make sure to use foundation in the exact shade of your skin for this look; sometimes people will get a foundation a shade darker than their natural skin tone to give themselves a little flexibility but in this case it needs to be exact because of the almost vampire-esque look that you are going for.

2. She doesn’t have any bronzer on so you can skip that step too.

3. She has just a tiny bit of the palest pink blush on the apples of her cheeks, so find a pretty pale shade of pink and apply it delicately over your cheeks. It looks like she might be wearing Well-Dressed by MAC:

4. For her eyes, I would say begin by lightly filling in your brows just to give them a more defined shape. Hers aren’t very full or dark so just use a really light color and only for the shape.

5. She has a color similar to MAC Wedge along the crease of her eyelid that you would apply with a tapered blending brush (I like the MAC 224 brush).

6. Taylor has tons and tons of black liner on in this look, so what I would do is I would get something like the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean and I would apply it all over your lid. Then smudge it out with your finger and blend the MAC Wedge color over it to blend out the lines.

7. Line your lower lash line with a black gel eyeliner and then smudge it out with a dark brown shadow because it looks like she has a bit of brown underneath her eyes as well. You could also try using a more reddish-brown or even burgundy-brown color like MAC Sketch for this step. I think either of those would work really well too.

8. Add a little black mascara and you’re done with the eyes!

9. For lips, it looks like she has a lip stain on. Revlon’s new lip butters would actually be perfect for this effect. I would suggest trying one in Candy Apple to get a color like Taylor’s.
 
That’s it! I think this is such a cute look of hers and hope you found this helpful!

Do you have any other requests for Get the Glitz posts? Leave a link to the photo in the comments below!

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Healthy Habits: Yummy Beauty Snacks
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Mani Monday: Topshop Nail Art Pens

Photo of Taylor Swift is from here.

Today's tutorial is perfect timing with Valentine's Day coming up. This is the type of look that I will be wearing that night - it's sultry and sexy without being overpowering. Plus, it will make you feel like a goddess! If you have never tried a red lip, or feel like it wouldn't look good on you, think again! There is a perfect shade of red out there for everyone, and almost everyone looks good in it, if done right. So grab a tube of your favorite red and feel super sexy. Good luck!

What is your favorite shade of red lipstick to make you feel sexy?

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Today's Video: Chanel Beauty Haul
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Hi loves! Over the weekend I posted two videos to YouTube, one on each channel, so I thought I would post them on here as well!

The first one was on my beauty channel, and featured a really cool and unique braid:

On my second channel, I posted a Glitterature on the newest House of Night book:

Did you guys have a good weekend?

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Today's Video: Products I've Used Up
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Hi guys! I hope you liked my last How To post about covering up acne scars Today I am going to teach you a few tricks on how to use liquid eyeliner. I bet most of you think that using liquid liner just looks way too hard. But it’s actually one of those things where if you practice, you will get the hang of it and love doing it too! Liquid eyeliner is a bit trickier than gel and pencil liners because it’s liquid—kinda like drawing is a bit easier than painting… Anyway, here are a few tips to help you use liquid liner like a pro:

• Before applying liquid liner, do your eyeshadow! So eyeshadow, then liner.
• Until you get the hang of it, you may want to lightly hold the edge of your eye as you paint on the liner. I don’t suggest keeping this habit for a long time though because the tugging can cause unwanted wrinkles…
• Instead of starting from the inner corner of your eye, start from the middle of the eye and lightly apply pressure to the liner wand and drag it across your lash line. Then you can go back in and fill in where you left off!
• Don’t close your eye! Keep it halfway open and if possible, try to stay as relaxed as possible. If you strain the eye you are trying to line, then your line won’t be very smooth.
• Use an anchor. Whenever I apply liner I lean my elbow of the painting hand onto a sturdy surface (like a wall mirror) and then line my eyes. This will keep your hand steady and once you get better at it, you won’t need to do this leaning trick!
• I don’t recommend lining your bottom lashes with liquid eyeliner. More often than not it’s a recipe for disaster. Plus, since liquid liner creates such a distinct line it can actually make your eyes appear smaller.
• Liquid liner is supposed to leave a very sharp line so don’t try to blend it.
• After you have applied the liner, leave your eyes half open and let it dry for 10 seconds or so.
• Hold the liner wand closer to the tip so you have move control over it.

I hope you guys find these tips helpful!

Watch this video to see how I apply it (fast forward to 8:02 to see the liquid liner part):

Do you have any tricks for applying liquid liner? What's your favorite brand?

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I am absolutely OBSESSED—like obsessed—with Miley’s hair and makeup in this picture (above). When I first laid eyes on it I seriously died. LOL. Almost. It makes me want to dye my hair her color because it looks so good in the picture…but don’t worry, I’m not actually going to dye it! Anyway, I thought you guys might want to know how to achieve this beautiful look on your own so today I’m going to show you how to Get the Glitz on Miley’s hair and makeup!

1. Do your favorite foundation routine. If you want to give mine a try, watch this video:


2. Miley has bold, defined brows so be sure to fill yours in too.

3. She is wearing lots and lots and lots of individual false eyelashes that are glued on, but they are short ones so they’re full but not incredibly long.

4. It looks like she is wearing NARS Orgasm blush on her cheeks, so I would suggest using that or a similar shade on the apples of your cheeks.

5. As for eyes, she has on a very light champagne color in her inner corner and a more shimmery sand color on her lid with a matte brown in the crease. For the inside corner I would use your favorite light, shimmery highlight color or you can use MAC Dazzlelight. For the lid, use All That Glitters by MAC and for the crease I suggest using MAC Wedge.

6. For liner, do subtle winged liner that doesn’t go out too far using black gel liner. It gets thicker on the outer corner so be sure not to carry out the wing too far.

7. Use MAC Siss lipstick on your lips. It doesn’t look like she is even wearing gloss over it, so just use the lipstick and if you really need it put some lip balm over the top.

8. Hair time! For her hair I would just blow dry it upside down so that you keep a lot of the volume. This works best if you have a lot of layers. Also, make sure you really tease it up at the crown. For the braid, take the longest layers and braid them in a side braid so it looks kinda messy. Once you’re done braiding, tie it off with a clear elastic. I would even wrap a little piece of hair around the clear elastic to hide it.

And there you have it! Do you have a Get the Glitz request? Leave a link to the photo in the comments below!!

Photo is from here.

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Get the Glitz: Taylor Swift’s Glam Look

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No one wants yellow nails (unless it’s intentional and you’re using a mustard colored polish), but it’s a very common curse that many of us experience, especially during the wintertime when dark nail polish is really popular. Usually your nails are left yellowish when you forget to apply a basecoat underneath a dark polish. While the polish is on, everything looks great but as soon as it comes off you discover your nail beds have been discolored to an icky yellowish shade. Luckily, this is super easy to fix!

Here’s what you will need: 1 tablespoon peroxide & 2 ½ tablespoons baking soda.

Mix up the peroxide and baking soda until it becomes a paste. Then apply the mixture to your nails (be sure to cover the entire nail bed) and let it sit for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, rinse off the mixture using warm, soapy water and voilà—you have beautiful, healthier (and whiter) looking nails!

Do you have a nail related question for me? Let me know in the questions below! I’ll try to answer them in another blog post.

Photo is from here.

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So it’s the last and final day of my very first Hair Week. I really hope you guys had as much fun as I did testing out all of the different hairstyles I showed you throughout the week. I posted all the links to them below so you can go back and check them out in case you missed one.

For the final look, I’m going to show you guys how to do one of my favorite hairstyles—my messy bun! (Sorry the video is a tad out of focus at times…but you can still see all of the steps.)


I feel like there isn’t really a right or wrong way to do a messy bun. It’s something you can just "mess" with and play around with until you get the look that you want.

Show me a picture of your signature messy bun by uploading a photo to your ElleandBlair.com profile page for a chance to be featured in a Member Spotlight post!

I hope you guys enjoyed Hair Week!

If you have any requests for my next Hair Week series or any general hair questions, leave them in the comments below!

And a very BIG special thanks to Travisean for all the expert help and tips that made Hair Week possible! Be sure to check out his website, Travisean.com, for more beautiful and inspiring hair ideas!

Here's everything else that we covered this week:
Va Va Voom Volume
Lovely Loose Curls
The Dirty 'Do
The Waterfall Braid
Simple, Sassy "S" Curls
The 5-Minute (Red Carpet Ready) Up-Do

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OMG can you believe it’s almost the end of Hair Week!? No!! LOL. If you liked these posts, I’ll just have to do lots more of them throughout the year.

Today Travisean is going to show you how to do one of his favorite up-do hairstyles. He told me that he does this for a lot of his celebrity clients for red carpet events, which got me really excited. When he first started telling me about this up-do I was sure it would be a tricky one. Like I thought it would take forever and that there would be a bazillion bobby pins involved. But I was so wrong! Ends up, you can do this up-do in only 5 minutes (or less if you practice)! Pretty sweet, right?

Here’s a video showing you how Travisean did it on my hair:



Video Breakdown:

1.    Twist back each side of your hair.
2.    Secure each side of twisted hair with bobby pins and a hair clamp for extra hold.
3.    Put two sides together into a pony tail. This is the ponytail holder Travisean used (it wraps around and then you hook the ends. Pretty cool! You can buy them at most beauty supply stores.):


4.    Next, take the ponytail and twist it into a bun. (You will notice that Travisean pulls the ends to the bun… You will tuck them in using bobby pins at the very end.)
5.    Loosely hold the bun with one hand while you secure the outside perimeter of the bun with bobby pins. Be sure to take the ends and pin those into the bun as well.

Violà! This is the finished product. It’s supposed to look slightly messy and a little undone. I think up-dos look especially pretty when they are a little looser like this. If you’re going to something formal like a school dance or a fancy dinner, add a pretty crystal headband for a little extra hair flair.

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What do you think about the 5-minute up-do? Are you going to try it out??

Here's a little Hair Week recap:
Va Va Voom Volume
Lovely Loose Curls
The Dirty 'Do
The Waterfall Braid
Simple, Sassy "S" Curls

Check these out too...
Fowler Favorites: Lipstick & Liner Love
Beauty Bit: The Best Tinted Moisturizer
Fab Fashion: Get Your Glow On
Tag: Top 5 Style Icons