DIY: Make your own braided headband

Want to reuse your old cotton t-shirts and don't know what to do with them? If you feel bad about throwing them out (and you should) you should re-purpose them into braided headbands! You can make these for yourself or give them as gifts to your friends and family, it's a super-cute idea and you'll have unique headbands to match all of your outfits.

What you will need:
- cotton t-shirt that you're willing to cut up or scraps of cotton fabric
- hair elastic (cut to open it up so it is an elastic strand)
- scissors
- needle
- thread

The size that you cut the strips from which you will make your headband should all be the same width in size (I suggest using about an inch in width from your t-shirt cotton material from the bottom of your tee) and cut 3 equal pieces. You should now have 3 round pieces from your t-shirt and you want to cut one side of them so that they double in length and open up from the circle shape into a line. Obviously the thinner the strips, the thinner your headband will be. It's best to start out a little thicker so you have room for error when you're sewing the ends together to close your headband.



Then tie a knot at one end of the strands to secure that side while you braid. Begin to braid with your 3 strands regularly and try to work in a tight braid as it gives a more orderly and beautiful appearance. Tie the other end down when you're done braiding. Measure the size you want the braided part to be, you must now cut one side and sew your hair elastic to the end of the braid. It helps to wrap some thread around the elastic after you have sewn to make it extra secure. Then use a small rectangular piece of the fabric to cover the sewing you just did (because it will not look flattering) and fold it in half so you have a thicker piece, you can either glue this onto the junction between your braid and elastic or you can sew it on (I prefer glue for a seamless finish). Repeat all of this at the other end so that you complete your headband! It's important that you use the elastic to finish off your headband because, unless you're using an elastic fabric for the entire headband, it won't be able to fit snugly against your head and will either fall right off or be too loose. Make sure to measure it to your head before you sew the final side together.

There are many variations of this that you can do, you can consider double or triple braided headbands, you can use various kinds of fabric and mix colors, or you can add rhinestones and jewelry onto your headband when you're done! Just keep in mind that if you want to do double or triple braids, you will want to secure them all together at the back of the braids by using one piece of fabric and elastic. Have fun and play with your accessories, that is what they're for!

Hairstyles for your age: your 20's and 30's

Everyone knows that certain hairstyles look great when you're young but not necessarily as you grow older. We find ourselves looking at others, at times, in shock and awe with what they've done with their hair. The most important consideration at any age is to find a hairstyle that flatters the shape of your face and to take into account the texture of your hair. Coarse hair lends itself better to wearing long hairstyles while short, fine hair should be worn shorter in a layered haircut to achieve fullness and body. Let's be honest, though, under the age of 20, you can basically get away with the biggest hair atrocities and still look good because of that youthful vibrancy!

Find out what you can get away with in your age group

Your 20's: You can try out all kinds of cuts and styles, many opt for the romantic and pretty long hair styles, but others either want to look younger or older so they get shorter haircuts (whether you look younger or older really depends on the style and the competency of your hairdresser). Beware of getting short cuts that are not ideal for your face shape and age, you don't want to end up looking like a cartoon with a boyish mushroom cut. Highlights and lowlights are always a great way to achieve dimension with any haircut, so consider getting them in a tone matching the full color of your hair.

Make sure to always choose a look that fits your age and latest trends. It's important to consider your career since you are most likely establishing what it will in your 20's. If you're more into the arts you can probably get away with some funky colors and fun styles, but if you're in a conservative profession you should steer clear of anything that might be construed as rebellious. 

You should experiment with length and color because this is the time that you can, later on maybe your hair won't grow as beautifully long and your face may not lend itself to trying all sorts of dye colors. In your 20's your hair will grow faster and thicker than any other time in your life, so make sure you take care of it and take advantage of it!

Your 30's: During these years, you're probably beginning a family or working your way up in your career (if you're lucky, then both) and you can still get away with quite a few styles but you should pick one that fits your lifestyle. If you're busy and need to take care of a baby as well as go to work and look professional, maybe shoulder-length hair is the choice for you so that you can style it more easily than longer hair since there is less of it and  you can throw it up into a ponytail when you're at home. It's simple to curl or flat-iron when you want to look professional or go out on a date with your hubby! Just because you're a mom doesn't mean you can't be sultry, if you want long hair then by all means achieve that long hair, just make sure to take care of it so you don't end up with ratty looking hair.

 Don't be afraid to try new haircuts or go short with your hair, some people just naturally look better with short hair, especially if you have beautiful facial features, they will be highly accentuated without all that hair in the way. If you're starting to have significant amounts of gray hair you can start coloring your hair pretty regularly, or you can ask your stylist to hand-paint the couple of strands of gray that you have in a tone that matches your hair, so that you don't have to color fully. Another great way to camouflage gray hair is to color it with a color of mascara that matches your natural hair (they make mascara in tons of shades now).

Wearing metallic eyeliner

It comes as no surprise to me that plenty of times when I see women wearing metallic eyeliner they just simply try to line their upper lashes with it and it gives for a very unappealing look, because I used to do this until I knew better. A much more beautiful way to line your eyes is to first apply your metallic eyeliner in whatever medium you have it (most are pencil but you can make it a liquid eyeliner by rubbing some on your brush and making a paste with Visine as the mixing medium, trust me, this works wonders) and then going right under this line with a black liquid liner for a precise and beautiful contour to your eyes. This way the metallic color won't change the way your eyes look (like bringing out the red in them) but will simply frame them. This technique is very simple and practical.

Even if you don't have metallic eyeliner you can mix eyeshadow with Visine and rub a thin angled brush into the mixture and proceed to line your eyes. There is a wide range of infinite possibilities with this because you can conceivably turn *any* of your eyeshadow colors into liners! How exciting is that, your makeup can now do double duty!

When the eye isn't contoured by a darker shade, the gold brings out the red tones in the eye

Check out the difference between these two metallic blue eyeliner applications. On the left you see an application that is not contoured by black or a darker shade and it looks downright ghoulish. This isn't an attractive look, even for a model. Makeup should enhance your features and not distract away from them. On the right, the blue is enhancing the model's natural eye color by being pushed out of the way of her own blue eyes by that black contour.

Friday Fun Day

Friday Fun Day by lethalglam featuring wing earrings

Knitted Dove pocket dress
$55 - modcloth.com

Sheer dress
$48 - modcloth.com

Oasis narrow shoes
$68 - asos.com

Flower handbag
$26 - amazon.com

Wing earrings
$295 - alexisbittar.com

Dorothy Perkins rhinestone ring
$15 - dorothyperkins.com

Taylor Swift Headband - White Lace : Headbands - Hats
taylorswift.com

H M flower hair accessory
£1.99 - hm.com

Patricia Locke | Two Sisters Gallery
two-sisters.com

This is a dream outfit for Friday Fun Day (aka today), the day before the long weekend (Family Day in Canada and President's Day weekend in the US). Start your long weekend off right by looking cute as can be! I have an obsession and fondness for Patricia Locke jewelry, especially since my adoring in-laws got me a beautiful bracelet for my birthday! My new color combination of choice is, oddly enough, metal tones with forest green, yellow and peachy pink! Hope this inspired you in some way to bring spring into your wardrobe!

DIY: Make Your Own Lip Scrub

Last weekend, I went into LUSH and impulse-bought a 'Bubblegum Lip Scrub' for $8, which is very pricey considering it really is just a sugar-based product that you scrub your lips with to smooth them out before applying lip balm or lipstick. I'd never tried lip scrubs before so I decided I would purchase this one to see what they should be like. I later noticed that I could make my own very simply so I figured I would save you all the time and money of going to LUSH and purchasing one (or getting one from any other makeup house, to be frank) by teaching you how to make your own.


What you'll need:
- Sugar in the raw (brown sugar but you can use white if you don't like or own brown sugar) - you want the sugar to be very coarse and not finely milled
- olive oil
- vaseline or petroleum jelly
- 100% aloe vera gel (come in container from drugstore or if you have a natural aloe plant you can squeeze it out of the leaves)
- chapstick or flavoring and food coloring of your choice (some people use honey but it is too sticky for my preference but it is always an option)
- clear glass jar (you can use any jar but I think it looks better in a small clear jar that you can easily carry around - small baby food container works very well for this)

You'll want to use about a teaspoon of vaseline, half a teaspoon of aloe vera gel, one quarter teaspoon of olive oil, one third of a chapstick (cut it off the stick) or smaller amounts of your flavoring/coloring agents, and as much sugar as will fill up your container and mix it all together until you get a paste-like consistency and the color/flavor is even throughout your jar. You  may want to mix it all in another bowl and trasfer it into your jar later, I find that this allows you better control over the consistency you're getting. When you are finished, this will be instantly gratifying because you can use it right away, it doesn't need to be stored in the fridge or anything like that, and you can use it as often as you'd like without worrying about how much it cost for you to purchase it because you can remake it anytime!

Product Review: Salon Express Nail Art Stamping Kit

I recently purchased this nail art stamping kit from Salon Express at the Rite Aid (you should be able to find it in many drugstores) in the 'As Seen on TV' section. I was intrigued by it because it seemed simple enough to use so that I could achieve salon-quality manicures without  paying a whole lot. The whole kit should cost you about $8-$10, so for that price I considered that it would be worth a try.

The kit comes with the following items:
5 metal stamping plates with various designs (as seen in the picture below)
1 stamper
1 scraper
1 stamping plate base


This kit is fairly simple to use if you read how to do it or watch a youtube video on how it's used, but it's also pretty self-evident. You place a metal stamping plate of your choice (whichever one has a design you like and want to use) onto the stamping plate base. Then you take a nail polish (preferably opaque so it shows up better) of thicker consistency and place it on top of the design stencil stamping plate. Then you take the scraper and run the blade over the design to wipe away any excess polish. Finally, using the stamper you want to quickly pick up the design from the stamping plate by pressing it pretty thoroughly onto the design and then rolling it onto your finger nail to transfer the design.

This is a fairly simple tool to use but it can be time-consuming so if you like to spend time on intricate nail designs, this is the cheapo product for you, but if not, don't bother investing in it. However, if you are really into perfect, precise looking nail designs, you may want to invest in a better set, such as the one Konad makes. Some of the designs on the stamping plates are really thin and over-complicated and will not show up on your nails because they do not transfer properly. You also cannot use glitter nail polish for the designs or anything that isn't very opaque and in stark contrast to your base coat of nail polish because the designs won't show up at all or appear smudged. With these drawbacks in mind, I still really like this product because it is very inexpensive and with a little effort you can have really cool designs that are sure to stand out! This was my first attempt at using the stamper with their cheetah print design. I was happy with the results.

Give Yourself Galaxy Nails

If you're like me and you need something to put on your nails so you don't bite them or pick at them or just to plain strengthen them and you're sick of the same old nail polish colors in your collection, spruce up your nails with this new galaxy look! 

This nail polish application looks like it would be really difficult, right? Well, it's not, and all you need is: a pair of tweezers, a makeup sponge, toothpicks, and nail polish colors (I suggest black, navy/dark blue, rosy pink, yellow, and white).

First, apply a coat of black nail polish to your nails and let it dry. Secondly, you'll want to get the makeup sponge and rip a small piece off of it and pick it up with your tweezers and dip the sponge in white nail polish. Make sure you only use very little polish when you do this or it will look blotchy and apply in a nebula-like line or constellation over your nail, leaving some black showing on the sides. Sponge some yellow nail polish in the middle of the 'white nebula'. Next, sponge on some rosy pink polish, keeping it near the yellow you have already added to get a multi-dimensional effect. Finally, sponge on some navy or dark blue polish around the edges of the nebula so that you can create a gradient effect or fade it into the black background. You can always clean up around your nails with nail polish remover if you need.

If you use a toothpick and dab it into the white nail polish and then quickly draw little stars around your nails,  you will achieve small constellations of stars around your nebula. Dot around the nebula as you can't see as many stars inside the nebula. At the end, you can add a few larger stars. Use fine glitter polish to create even smaller stars but make sure that the glitter will  not overpower your design or completely mask it. This layer should be fairly thin! Then add a topcoat for staying power and you're done with your fabulous galaxy nails design!

You can use other colors such as orange, green and purple to your design, just make sure you keep it cohesive and you do the same thing on all of your nails so they look like a set!  Good luck and have fun experimenting with outrageous galactic nails