Need your help!

[MonaLisa]

I've got a fabulous wedding incomming this weekend!
I really want to look good!

Here's the thing - I don't want to go to a salon to have my hair done. I feel as if too much would be damaged/pulled out.
Another problem is, that ..well to put it this way, when it comes to me and updos, I'm like...retarded:( Can't do almost anything.
Need suggestions! Simple and pretty ones.
No one in my close environment could help me...

Would like at least some of my hair to be loose...so is there any simple but fab half-updo...?
Or any advice for curls?
I love curls, but don't want them to look like a mess...and also my hair curls really easy, but it's also heavy and they stretch down really quickly...
How bad is hairspray?

Also...Offtopic here but feel free to help me with some good make up tutorials or something, because I suck with that too..:o

[Yozhik]

I went to my friend's wedding a couple of months ago with a french braid half-up, and the remainder twisted into a cinnabun. You could also have a plain french half up, which should show off your length beautifully! Add some accent braids to spice it up, or a nice hairtoy!

If you want to go really simple, you could just do a half-up ponytail flipped through with a nice hair toy, or a half up going into a herringbone braid . . .

Hope these ideas help, and have fun at the wedding!

[racrane]

I just did half up half down and put a flower in my hair for a friend's wedding last summer. It was so simple but people kept telling me it was cute. Hairspray isn't that bad for my hair if I use it rarely. It's if I use it everyday that my hair looks nasty. But once is okay, I think.

And if you google makeup there are lots of tutorials on youtube for any look you desire. But for me I know barely any eye makeup and a strong lip color is nice for a wedding. I use a brick red shade and it looks very nice on my pale skin. But I recommend youtube searching. It's fun, convenient and pretty decent. :)

[CrystalStar]

What you could do is perhaps sockbun the lower half of your hair of your hair or do this to it http://rapunzelsresource.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/bandana-waves/. And then you could simply twist the upper half up into a mini-cinnabun whilst pinning each coil, and maybe finish with a pretty clip.

Hairspray.. not so good. If you look on the memberslist for 'Nightshade' she has a brilliant article in her signature about damaged hair. It has images of what hair spray does to your hair! If you want your curls to stay longer, you can mix a little bit of aloe vera gel with some water and 'scrunch' your curls a little to keep them in place for the day!

[celebriangel]

I went to check out your hair album, Monalise, and my goodness, but you are quite lovely! I would not be surprised at all if you told me you were a model.

Regarding hair, Torrin Paige's youtube channel has a massive variety of styles, some simple, some more complex - but all are clearly explained with lots of turning around and talking - not those silent videos where you just watch someone and try to follow their hands. She even taught my completely uncoordinated self how to french braid! And Dayum, but has has some beautiful styles. She doesn't really do "intricate" things - it's mostly things that look simple and are, but beautiful, and things which look complex but are still simple, and just have a few more steps.

Tell you what, I'll go back and watch a few of them, see what I recommend. What's your base level of styling abilty? Additionally, for your face/colouring, you might want to consider a french twist - I think that would be utterly gorgeous with your hair and face, and quite sophisticated, if that is what you are going for.

As for make-up - what make-up are you wearing in your photos? If you are wearing face make-up (foundation, powder - though it looks like you aren't) wear that; if not, don't wear any, and know that everyone you pass will be green with envy at your lovely skin. May I ask what colours of eyeliner/eyeshadow and lipstick you own? I am a great believer in using what you have, and have worked with the dark hair/pale skin combo a lot in my life (years of dying my light brown hair dark brown, and I also have pale pinkish skin and blue/green eyes), so I know a lot of things that may suit. Also, what colour is your dress?

One tip I can give is to make your eyeliner much finer under the eye than above. This draws attention to the eye, rather than the eyeliner, and you have beautiful eyes. See this photo: http://cdn2.wn.com/vp/i/d0/ad6bee17ef7db6.jpg this is what I mean. What you can do is, starting in the tear duct corner of your eye, make a hair-fine line with a sharp pencil which gets a little thicker towards the outer corner. That's for the bottom line of your eye - you can do the top as normal.

The mascara you currently own is not all that great, too. You want your lashes to show above your eyeliner. You could try putting castor oil on your eyelashes? It will work much quicker than with hair :)

One more thing - you have a photo where you're holding beads; the lipstick you wear there is very flattering to your skin tone. I would wear this.

(looking at your photos, I can hardly believe you feel you are inept at makeup! I think you are naturally beautiful and need only a little embellishment on eyes and lips, so this maybe accounts for it :))

[Firefox7275]

What about sockbun waves and then a simple half up with a pretty French barrette? I'm no expert on styling products, but I think the best hold for curls comes from applying a product before so it really sets the curl. You would have to apply a lot of hairspray to hair of your length and thickness to ensure you hit every part.

[MonaLisa]

thank you so much guys! So many great ideas!

as for my level of skill...well ouch...i really can say i'm complete newbie :o i had to google french braid!
I can make simple braid....and i tried sock bun since i joined the forums several times, and all ended in frustration...
Thanks for the youtube links! I have some days to practice..
And thanks for keeping it simple!
When i browsed forums for styles...I found wonderful ones, but they seem so hard to do that i could just watch them, drool and cry :o

And really, these ideas and suggestions mean a lot to me!

Most inclined to sockbun curls at the lower loose part, that is if i learn to make sock bun...and some cool french braid sounds good, that goes around the head or on one side...
googled french twist as well, and i love the look! it just seems hard to do :o


As for the make up, celebriangel, u're being sooo amazing, I'm gonna write on your profile page to not go too offtopic here.

[terpentyna]

I agree with celebriangel, visit Torrin's you tube page. :)

Fishtail braids are my favorite "simple" ones.

[Aaroo]

I think your face looks fabulous in Picture 7 of your album..something like that is simple and shows everyone you are naturally as beautiful as a Model!Unfortunately I am also newbie about hair but if I were you I'd let my beautiful hair down. Your hair looks so healthy and beautiful, why should you hide it in a bun?

[MonaLisa]

Thank you so much!! :o you're too sweet...

well not exactly a bun, still plan to have a whole lot of it down, but just a little something something, to not look like my everyday to go style....down and wild :)

[torrilin]

We've got somewhat similar coloring... ghost pale, dark hair, and pinkish. If you cruise around makeup boards, this coloration often gets called "high contrast" or PPP for Pale Porcelain Princess. (the latter irritates me and has since it originated around 15 years ago)

For fancy events, I mostly throw black liquid liner, black mascara and red lipstick at the problem. A red lip stain can work too... bit trickier to apply but lasts longer. Maybe some face powder if my skin is being very shiny. If I need to be *really* dramatic, I'll apply a thin layer of dark eyeshadow over the dry liquid liner to give myself a bit more oomph. (current dark shadow of choice is a navy blue L'oreal one, which ends up doing a better job of being black on me than an actual black, but I've used a wide range of dark shadows over the years)

It's a pretty hard look to screw up, and it takes advantage of the high contrast.

For hair, I'd do something similar. A half-up is basically take the front of your hair and make a ponytail out of it. ALL the elaborations start from that. Since you're new to updos, the fanciest thing I'd try is taking that ponytail, twisting it until it just starts wanting to kink up, and then coiling it. Use hair pins or some of those Goody Spin Pins to hold it in place. Voila! You just learned a cinnamon bun. And mercifully, it takes far less practice to learn that than to learn makeup. You won't need anything else, since your hair is gorgeous.

Most special occasion hairstyles are special because of how your hair is decorated, not due to the style. As you get comfortable with a cinnamon bun, you can pick up things like jewelled hairpins, or silk flower to decorate your hair. Not an issue for this wedding tho!

[MonaLisa]

Thank you so much, Torrilin! :)

This has set my mind on some 'hair decoration' thingies....this should really help any newbie style I'll ( hopefully) make :)

First time I've heard of this PPP expression, but i don't see why it bugs you! :) sounds flattering to me! :)

[MonaLisa]

Ahhhh :D
I managed some sort of sock bun on top of my head last night, to try out the curls! Maybe my hair was too wet, or it was too much on top of head, but this morning woahhhh -afro look :D
Maybe it's because of so many short layers.
It doesn't look bad, I look sort of like a curly lion rofl...
But its not the look that can work for such an occasion...
I tried wetting and taming it a bit but then it just looked weird, very 'unprofessional'....
Totally screwed up make up atempt also....
But I'm not losing hope, got 3 days left to figure it out!