I feel weird talking about super girly stuff here just because – well, I love my clothes and I know my way around makeup and a curling iron, but I really don’t get my rocks off on it. Like I do a good run or a bike adventure or a philisophical discussion on the theory of games or a perfectly poured drink on the back patio in the perfect weather around sunset. However, I’m getting over the last few years where I tried to deny all things girly. I might trend towards being a tomboy and feel more comfortable surrounded by a group of dudes, but I don’t have to shun the absolute LOVE I have for clothes and putting together a fabulous outfit I feel wonderful in. And now that I’m trying to refresh my mad makeup/hairdo skillz, I’m feeling rustier than I’d like. So expect to maybe hear a bit of girly stuff in between my diatribe about how sweat soaked by shirt was after my run.
Also – major apologies if this blog becomes all wedding crap all the time, but it’s only for the rest of the month, promise. First let me talk about running so you all don’t think I got kidnapped by aliens or something…
I did a 5k on the treaddy yesterday for pace. It had been a while since I ran an “all out” 5k (makes sense, because that’s the race I’m training for *bonks self on the head*). I hit 26:10. The good – it’s a PR by about 30 secs and I felt strong during most of it. The bad – I was aiming for under 26, I got super pooped by the end of mile 2 and had to actually slow to 6.5 – 7.0 for the first part of mile 3. The more good – I’m impressed 6.5-7.0 is what I slow down to now, and I was able to pick it back up and dash into the finish at 8.5 so I had some kick left. Going to shoot for a 8:30 pace per mile during the race and see how close I can get to it. I wanted to do 25 flat but I’m just not seeing magically knocking off 60 seconds off my time, especially when I haven’t been running outside regualrly.
Ok, now that we have that out of the way – lat night I did makeup and hair trial #1 in project: do my own wedding ‘do. I considered splurging on the stylist, and decided that it wasn’t the money (although that was my first complaint – it was going to be over 200 bucks!!!), and decided it was a matter of pride and trust. Pride – as in I’ve ALWAYS done my own hair and makeup for every event I’ve gone to. Trust – as in I don’t want to leave the fate of my pictures to some random stranger I won’t meet before that morning. So I decided that it’s all up to me. I’ve got two weeks to practice and learn and get good at what I want to do – so here’s the first chapter.
First of all, I spent a long, long time researching hair and makeup online. Basically, I’m trying to do beachy tousled waves, partially up but mostly down. I want to work braids in there somewhere but they seem to be above my level right now. I can braid and french braid, but for some reason when I try to do it upside down my fingers get a case of the willies. I decided against dramatic makeup that we tried and going more for the traditional dewey, fresh faced look. Now, I love me some crazy makeup and I’m not scared of color, but as some of the wedding makeup sites said – you don’t want to look back at this picture and cringe. Oh – and the flowers in hair are placeholder ones.
Here’s the methodology:
Started with the hair. Took a shower, washed, conditioned, and put gel in my hair and combed it through with my fingers. Then, I put the wet hair up in a loose messy bun and ate dinner. About an hour later I dried it on low heat, scrunching it the whole time. I made sure to get at my roots for some volume but I was definitely missing the mousse for more volume. Then, I started playing. I was going to try to do a variation of the mama mia milkmaid look but I lost my patience with it after a while (my braiding upside down skills suck). I just did an asymetrical part and did little french braids and a poofy back. Not happy with how it turned out but its a starting point.
Used this picture for inspiration and then did trial run 1.5. I’m much more pleased with it. I toned down the eyes a little bit, and played up the lips and blush. I think that’s pretty close to the look I want (just want to get some better quality makeup). The hair took me less than 1 minute to do. It would have looked better if I had sprayed it cause it fell a bit by the time we took pictures but all things considered, not bad. I really like the side shot, and I’m considering ditching the big side flower in favor of little ones throughout the do. I am not sure I like the actual texture of the hair/curls, so I need to see if some friz control fixes that or it’s something I’ll have to fix with a different means of doing my hair (curling iron, etc). Hoping it can be this easy though!
Things that need to improve:
-Need to purchase concealer, foundation, and translucent powder in my proper shade. The rest I will give some more trial runs to see if I want different colors or if what I have will do fine.
-Need to purchase mousse, spray gel, and some sort of friz control and see what product does to the ‘do.
-Need to pluck the brows and see if I’ll need a brow pencil. Hope not, never used one…
Trial 2 tonight! Wish me luck! Be back Friday with more results…