Whether you’re celebrating with someone familiar, someone new, or a group of friends, Valentine’s Day is always an excuse get dolled up and look fabulous. Here are some of my favorite trends made easy and classy with a Valentine’s twist!
Ombre Lips
1) While I usually like to use darker colors such as plum or wine, I’m going to suggest lighter, pinker tones for a fun Valentine’s look. Before beginning, lightly dab your lips and the area around your lips with your foundation, to create a blank canvas so that the color comes out more vibrant. Begin with a lip liner in a bright red color. I used Bite Beauty’s high pigment pencil in “Pomegranate”, which is not actually a lip liner and is more expensive than the average drugstore lip liner, but any kind will work.
2) Line your lips with your pencil, making sure to fill in the corners of your mouth. Next, take your lipstick, which should be a bright pink color, and fill in the rest of your lips. For my lipstick, I used DuWop’s lipstick in “Private Pink”, which actually changes color to match your coloring.
3) Blend the two colors together by rubbing your lips together. Take your liner again, and run it over the edges of your lips and the corners of your mouth. Continuously drag the liner from the corners of your mouth out toward the middle, without drawing on the middle of your lips, so that the middle of your lips are the lightest, and the corners are the darkest. Dab your lips together, but don’t rub them together too much so that the colors completely blend together. If you want a more matte look, take a makeup wipe and dab them on your lips. If you want a shiny look, use a clear gloss to coat your lips, but make sure to dab so that the colors don’t bleed.
Heart nails
1) For someone who was never good at nail art, this was easy to do! I used Essie’s “Mademoiselle”, which is a very light pink, almost clear nail polish. I used three coats, but two works just as well.
2) Using a toothpick and a dark, burgundy color (I used Essie’s “Wicked”), dab two dots of paint next to each other on your nail, wherever you want your heart to be. Dabbing some more paint, drag a line from one dot to the bottom of your heart, and back up to the other dot. Fill in the space in between.
Twisted Ponytail: For an elegant date night hairstyle, a simple ponytail can be turned into a masterpiece with only a few easy adjustments.
1) First, using a curling iron and some hairspray, make loose curls starting from midway down. You can also braid your hair and press it with a flat iron, taking out the braid after ironing it for teased waves. You can then secure your beach waves with a spray of salt water. With any elastic, tie your hair into a low ponytail, at the nape of your neck.
2) Splitting your hair in half above your ponytail, make a hole for the end of your ponytail to go through. Flip the ponytail through the split so that it appears that your hair is in two twists before coming together into a ponytail. Pull your ponytail tighter and pull out your waves so that your hair appears bigger. Take a strand of hair and wrap it around the elastic, securing it with a bobby pin underneath to hide the elastic for an even classier look if you prefer. Feel free to add a headband or hair clips if you prefer.
Photo Sources:
http://sonailicious.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ombre-lips-12-styles.jpg
http://www.vanillabloom.co.nz/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78e…