Tag: favorites

Talking Points With Your Stylist: Fusion Hair Extensions

On By Christine RinehartIn beauty, hairLeave a comment

Screen Shot 2013-03-12 at 12.02.48 PMAre fusion hair extensions the right choice for you?

Fusion hair extensions use heat-bonded protein to fuse small sections of hair extensions to your existing hair. The result is seamless blending of extensions into your current hair.

Fusion extensions are great for both thick and fine hair, adding just color, thickening, lengthening, and chemical-free highlights.

Fusions extensions aren’t encouraged for heavily processed hair, very short hair, or un-relaxed ethnic hair.

There are a lot of different companies out there, so stylists have a lot to choose from to ensure a good texture match.

Seasonal Style Rules

On By Christine RinehartIn beauty, hair, lifestyle1 Comment

Often as seasons change, my clients ask me what’s trending in with the new weather pattern. While there’s always a fair amount of unexpected fashion, there are also a lot of style rules that don’t really change. Hope these help you stay on point.

 

springSpring.

-Makeup returns to peach tones and colorful pastels, think “playful” and “innocent.”

-Clothing is shorter, of course, as few items as possible, kind of the anti-layering, usually lace or other “open” fabrics.

-Hair gets lighter though don’t go too light too quickly, but more natural sun-kissed, typically on the ash/beige end of the color spectrum.

 

 

 

summerSummer.

-Makeup is typically dewy with soft, brown-rimmed eyes, not black, and nothing too deep for lip colors. Sometimes bright eyeshadows for extreme color trend, but that can be hit or miss.

-Let’s address the clothing trends: Denim! It’s always denim. I don’t know why, it’s a terrible fabric, but summer brings is denim skirts, shorts, vests, oh gosh, everything!

-Hair this season views lots of blondes, golds, caramels for darker hair with beachy, worn-in scrunchy wavy softness.

 

 

AutumnAutumn.

-Lots of natural soft looks with makeup, sometimes just a bit of color to keep it interesting. Since it’s just starting to get cooler people seem to start cutting down their beauty routine. Possibly to spend a few extra minutes in a warm bed each morning?

-Autumnal clothing is pretty well understood by most already. Unlike spring, despite similar temperature ranges, there is almost an obsession with layering as though you aren’t dressed without three outfits at the same time. Also wear lots of brown, since Autumn is the season to celebrate brown everything.

-Personally it’s my favorite hair season because I love all the gold, red and copper. Emulate the local foliage as much as you reasonably can.

 

 

winterWinter.

-Makeup settles in with bold, jewel tones with a soft neutral lip, or goes the other direction with a Snow White look and red lips.

-Clothing gets puffy. As the temperature decreases, the level of mass required by clothing increases exponentially. 40=jacket. 30=puffy jacket. 20=strap on a polar bear and hide it with an even puffier jacket.

-Hair trends darker, more intense, and often straighter, my guess is that since this is the coldest season it’s the only one where the hair is chosen based on ease. If you cannot leave with wet hair, straight is usually the fastest.

Some Notes on Link Wefts and Malaysian Style Extensions

On By Christine RinehartIn hairLeave a comment
example of link weft hair extensions
example of link weft hair extensions

Link wefts and Malaysian Style Hair extensions are great for medium-length hair looking to go longer. Link wefts and Malaysian style hair extensions both use wefted track hair extensions to add length and/or thickness quickly and easily. Link weft hair extensions use only micro link beads to hold weft hair in place. Malaysian style hair extensions use a row of micro link beads to create a “track” to sew the wefted hair extensions onto.

The biggest benefits? Both methods use no heat and no glue. These extensions can also be tightened every month or so without having to be removed or replaced. This means your hair can stay looking better for a longer period of time.

Fair warning: These extensions aren’t good for people who have very short hair because it doesn’t blend as well as methods with individual attachment points.

Talking Points for You and Your Stylist: Tape Weft Hair Extensions

On By Christine RinehartIn beauty, hair2 Comments

53Tape wefts are a relatively new format for hair extension application. Tape wefts are also referred to as sticker hair and skin wefts, depending on the salon. There are a lot of great brands out there producing them right now as well. Some of my favorites include: Di Biasi, Cinderella Hair, So.Cap USA ( SHE by So.Cap), Georgie OSY, and Babe.

Tape weft hair extensions are best suited for “short term” extension wearers, or those who change their hair frequently. Tape wefts are best when worn one to three months and then replaced.

Fine hair works well with tape wefts, since they are completely flat to the head and are easily hidden.

Unfortunately, tape wefts are not good for making short hair long because too many pieces are required, and that decreases the wear time.

As always, the best way to determine what kind of hair extensions are best for you is to visit your local extension specialist. In person consultation in advance is key for making sure you get the amazing head of hair extensions that you’re dreaming of.

And of course, if Northern Virginia is local to you I’d love for you to visit.

My Winter Face – Favorite Things

On By Christine RinehartIn beauty, lifestyleLeave a comment

With the weather all wonky for Winter skin can be dry and lips can feel like they need some extra oomph (technical term, I swear). So today I reached for some of my favorite Winter products to protect and emphasize.

Dermalogica Barrier Repair
Dermalogica Barrier Repair

I’ll start off with Barrier Repair, a calming “moisturizer” for sensitive skin by Dermalogica. Barrier Repair is a water free silicone and natural oil based “moisturizer” designed to instantly form a soothing barrier for your skin. You’ll notice I keep putting moisturizer in quotes. This is because it’s not a moisturizer in the traditional sense. Most moisturizers add lots of oils to your skin to fill it up and keep it feeling supple, what Barrier Repair does is different because it’s not creating moisture so much as it’s protecting it. It’s also full of other vitamins to keep the health of your skin up during these chilly dry months. Think of it as the grown up version of when your parents put Vaseline on your face before you went out to play in the snow. Added benefit: it can be used as a primer before make-up or instead of make-up because the silicone adds a soft focus feeling and reduces the appearance of pores. Really a great multitask product. That’s what we all need right? Fewer things in our bag?

 

 

Du Wop Lip Venom Flash
Du Wop Lip Venom Flash

My other favorite Winter product isn’t as much a multitasker or hugely beneficial, but it always makes me feel like my lips really pop. In the Winter I feel like my lips start to disappear on my face because they get dry and they aren’t shiny so they look thin and, well, blah. Enter Du Wop Lip Venom (I prefer the Gold Flash version for added sparkle). Unlike many other lip plumping products this one stays shiny all day so that long after the effects have worn off it still feels like it’s working. It also has more of a cinnamon “flavor” than mint so I’m quite appreciative of the warmth during Winter instead of just the tingling you would normally get from other products.

So those are my gotta have Winter favorites for my make-up kit. What about you? What Winter product do you always turn to?

Beauty Blog: The Importance of Primer

On By Christine RinehartIn beauty, lifestyleLeave a comment

Primers are one of my favorite things ever so I’ve listed some of my favorites and why I love each of them so much to help you choose a great one for yourself.

Per-fekt Skin Perfection Gel– This is currently my favorite because it is not only a primer, but it also contains topical vitamins to treat skin. Best part, it’s tinted! That means I can just throw it on my face and be done with a little lip balm.

Benefit ‘That Gal’ Brightening Face Primer -Another great choice for outdoor/indoor use on a daily basis because it’s a bit more reflective and can help hide dark circles and uneven tone by itself. I don’t suggest it for flash photography though.

Becca Resurfacing Primer– Anti-aging and super matte. Works really well for skin that is a bit more oily. Makes pores disappear.

It’s My New Favorite Thing

On By Christine RinehartIn beauty, lifestyle2 Comments

So I get on kicks about stuff, as I’m sure you could guess. I find new products to try and when they’re awesome I simply have to share.

So here’s the latest: my new addiction is imPRESS press-on manicure by Broadway Nails. They’re designed to last up to a week. I’ll grant that because my hands are in shampoo sinks all day long they don’t last as well as they should, but I’m happy to use it as an excuse to change them twice a week. At $6.99 a pack it’s still cheaper than when I used to get a nail salon fresh set done every two weeks.

 

I just LOVE these!

My Favorite Things (Right Now)

On By Christine RinehartIn beauty1 Comment

In no particular order:

— NEW Venus Breeze disposable razors, incredible, two creamy-dreamy bars of what looks like soap become a silky smooth shave gel, brilliant, time saving, just add water and go, great for travel, great for hungover mornings, great for girls on the go

— Urban Decay NAKED Palette, super flattering on everyone I know, there are two versions out now and this is the original, my favorite because the colors from this palette are slightly more blend friendly (some more dramatic shades were picked up for palette #2, if that’s what you like go for it)

— Pure and Good Hand Cream Lemon Tarragon (not pictured, Anthropologie’s site has them all though), I love this one because it smells exactly like Fruit Loops, I don’t know how it does it but it’s incredibly cool, it’s such a nice combination of a child-like scent with the richness of the lotion, melting into your skin quickly, it’s a good year round hand cream because it’s not too heavy for Summer and Spring but it packs the moisturizing punch needed for Fall and Winter