Ashton Wears Things: beauty

I am no expert at doing nail art, but I have posted a few photos of my floral nails on Instagram and had some requests for a tutorial....so here it is! I know the focus has almost totally shifted from flowers to fall leaves in the last couple of weeks, but here it is anyway for the last few weeks of summer!

Here's everything I use when I do floral nails.

I choose a light colour for the base, and then two different shades of one colour, in this case purple, for the flowers. I use two different colours to make them look a little more "3D" I guess.

My weapons of choice for this manicure:

Seche Clear Base Coat

Seche Vite Top Coat

Base Colour: Essie, Mint Candy Apple

Flower Base: Essence Colour on the Go

(There was no name for the colour on the bottle, but Essie's Big Spender is pretty similar)

Flower Center: Essie, Play Date

Leaves: Revlon, #571 Posh

+ Tootpicks for dotting

Do your base coat and your base colour and let dry completely.

Drop some nail polish onto a clean surface. Best to not use paper because it will dry fast. I'm using the underside of a Bath and Body Works candle lid, just to give you some perspective on how professional things are around here.

Dip the toothpick or whatever tiny tool you have chosen, and start dotting.

The best advice I can give when doing this is try to be precise but work fast, because the drop of polish that you're dotting from will get tacky fast and not 'dot' on your nail very nicely.

Workin' my way up my nail...it usually takes me about six 'dots' to get the right size for the base of the flower.

Done with the bases of the flowers. Sometimes I do little 'half' ones that are going off of the nail to make it look more uniform.

Wait for these to dry.

Next, go in and add the lighter of the two shades of your chosen colour to the insides of the flowers.

Last but not least, go in and add a little bit of green for the leaves. I add one to each side of the flowers, but put them in different places on each of them so they're a little more random.

I usually do my ring finger and my thumb with flowers...I have done my whole hand before but it was just a little too busy for my taste.

I finish off with Seche Vite top coat, and that's it!

In the past few months I have had lots of people ask me how I curl my hair!

I am not a hair expert by any means, nor have I ever done a tutorial on anything before, but I decided to do a post with some photos of me using my curling wand and chat a bit about the products I use.

I have naturally wavy and frizzy hair....it is thin on top and thick on the bottom...so this might not be the best tutorial for all hair types. It's just what works for me!

Hair Products & Tools:

I use Dove Intense Repair Shampoo and Conditioner. I always have bad split ends no matter what I kind of hair care routine I am doing, so mostly I use this brand because it's affordable and it makes my hair feel soft.

I use TRESemmé Climate Protection hairspray. It holds my curls, and it fights static and wind which I need on most days where I live because it's super dry here.

The comb I use came with the box of Wen hair products I tried out a few years ago. It's the best of both worlds as it has a fine and wide tooth comb all in one. However this also means I'm doomed if I forget to pack it when I go on vacation. I may as well note that I only use a comb on my hair. I used to tear through my hair with brushes because I was impatient, but I really started to notice the breakage that was happening from doing this every day, so I stopped using them.

Last but certainly not least, Moroccan Oil. This stuff is amazing, and while it is pricey, it's worth it. I have pretty long hair and I only ever have to use one pump, so it lasts a long time. I got this bottle last Christmas and it looks like it will make it until this December, so $33 per year sounds pretty affordable to me! I swear by this stuff because it makes my hair smooth and shiny without making it greasy, which is more than I can say for a lot of other "anti-frizz" products I have tried. I recommend it for sure.

The star of this show is my Sultra Bombshell curling wand. I have the 3/4 inch one.

It is $130 on their website and at Sephora, but I have also seen it at Winners (US translation: Marshalls/Home Goods) recently for $80!

I can't speak for any other curling wands because this is the only one I have ever used, but I have had it for almost two years and it is still as fantastic as the day I took it out of the box. It heats up right away and it gets crazy hot, so it curls my hair fast and it holds all day. It also doesn't have a clamp, so it doesn't leave any crinkly parts at the end of my hair. I was never able to master the flat iron curling trick...so this tool works really well for me.

I love it, and everyone else I know that has it loves it too!

Styling:

I start by combing my hair while it's still pretty damp.

Then I use one pump of Moroccan Oil. I apply it by rubbing it in my palms and then running it through my damp hair. I don't apply it to the top of my head, just the mid part to the tips. I follow this by blow drying until my hair is completely dry.

I don't use any heat protecting spray. I used to, but I found that I got split ends and dryness anyway, plus the product weighed my hair down and made it feel gross.

Like I said, my hair is pretty thick, so I curl it in three layers. I just tie the excess up on top of my head while I'm curling the bottom.

I split my hair in half, and then into a few sections on each side.

I start on the left side of my head and work my way around.

To make my curls look more natural, I curl one section one direction, and the next one the opposite direction.

Here I start with the wand behind my hair:

And for the next section it's in front of it:

Then I very carefully wind my hair up to the top of the wand. Emphasis on carefully because this wand is stupid hot. If it so much as touches my skin, it gives me bad burn blisters. They do give you a glove to wear while you're using the curling iron but mine was misplaced long ago.

I curl the section for 5-8 seconds depending on the thickness of it, and then I let the curl go. I finish each one by grabbing the end while it's still hot and holding it away from my head for a few seconds as it cools...I do this to avoid really tight ringlets.

I continue this process the same way, all the way around my head, for all three layers.

Doing the second layer...

While doing the top layer, I always grab the section at the back of my head and curl it all together...I do this to avoid a weird bald patch / awkward hair part at the back of my head.

It takes me about 10 minutes to curl every section. The front on the right side of my head is always the last one I curl, as I seem to always work left to right.

If some of the curls are looking a little wonky or loose I go through and fix them.

This is how it looks as soon as I am done curling it. This isn't really my style, so I choose to comb it out to loosen it up.

I use the wide end of my comb to brush out the curls. I usually only go over it once or twice to achieve what I like. Sometimes I "over brush" it and the curls look pretty frizzy, so I just re-curl that section.