Perfect Winged Eyeliner

Today I’m going to be sharing with you a super easy, fool-proof way to get a smooth, straight wing with eyeliner! If you’ve ever tried to free-hand it before, you know just how hard it is to make the lines clean and crisp. This little tip I learned will take all the guessing (and frustration!) out of applying eyeliner. Let’s begin!

1. Begin by placing a small sticky note to the corner of your eye in the angle you want your eyeliner to be. I stuck mine in a line with my upper lash line.

2. Next just draw your eyeliner along your lid and give it a wing! Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect.

3. Thicken your eyeliner to the size you want.

4. Now peel off the sticky note and enjoy your perfect eyeliner!

Voila! That’s it! Super easy, isn’t it? Now you don’t have to worry about messy eyeliner ever again. It’s definitely a win!

♥Amara

Summer Photography

Summer is usually a really busy time of year for everyone, including bloggers, which is why I haven’t posted anything in a long time. But I recently took some photos, and since I love photography, I thought I’d share some of them with you!

Do you realize just how hard it is to get a semi-clear photo of a chipmunk? Talk about hard work!

 

Despite all the years I’ve been to this particular pond, I have never seen water lilies growing there before! I was so shocked, thrilled, and amazed! (I love water lilies.)

 

I found a lot of ducks! Looks like a family day on the pond…

 

Who ever thought dry, cracked dirt would make a good photo subject? Apparently me. 😉

 

I love close-ups.

 

See?

 

Or what about these rocks? Did someone put them there?

 

I love good birch bark.

 

Shot 1.

Shot 2. It’s all in the focus!

 

How about a cute little robin?

 

Enter, another close-up. Does anyone know what kind of bird left this feather?

 

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed it – which is your favorite?

♥Amara

Cascading Half Updo

Hey everyone! It’s been a long time since I posted and even longer since I did a formal hairstyle. I love this hairstyle, despite looking super intimidating. I didn’t see a tutorial for this, so I tried to figure it out from a picture I saw. I really liked it when I was done, except for the fact that it was really hard to take out. But it isn’t too bad if you have someone do it for you. 😉

 

I hope you all enjoyed it, but most of all, I hope you give it a try! 😉

♥Amara

Rope Braided Ponytail

Despite taking an extremely long break from blogging, I have not forgotten about it! Today I’m going to show you how to do a classy ponytail – a stepped-up version of a basic hairstyle.

Ponytails are super easy to do, but they can get boring if you don’t spice it up every now and then. So why not add a braid?

You could leave out the curls if you were in a hurry and it would still look pretty!

♥Amara

Ponytail Curling

Today’s tutorial is the fastest method I’ve ever used to curl my hair. And it’s all because you ponytail your hair first.

You could use any of your favorite curling tools to do the job. I used a wand for these but you could use a regular curling iron or a flat iron for squarer curls. It totally depends on what you like!

♥Amara

Jojoba Oil for Strong Nails

First of all, I’d like to give a short explanation about why there was not a post last week. I usually post every Friday, but last week I skipped. Why?

I was busy at a dress rehearsal as Mrs. Banks for a ballet of Mary Poppins. That being said, let’s get on with this weeks’ post!

Between cutting, filing, buffing, nail polish, acrylics, and nail glue, your nails can take quite a beating and it’s important to give them some TLC from time to time. This is a quick and super easy thing you can do to help your natural nails and cuticles stay in tip-top shape.

All you’ll need is jojoba oil and 30 seconds. At bedtime, put some oil in your hand (a few drops goes a long way) and then massage it onto your nails an cuticles. Make sure they’re thoroughly coated. Then sleep, and wake up to stronger nails! I did this every night for several weeks and I noticed a huge improvement in looks as well as strength.

♥Amara

Waterfall Combo Braid

Hello, all!

Today’s tutorial is a pretty braid combo that I’m calling the “Waterfall Combo Braid.” From the front, it isn’t anything fancy, but once you take a look at the back, you’ll soon change your mind!

It’s one of those “surprise!” hairstyles.

You could easily skip the french braid and leave your hair in a half up. (I explain this in the video.)

Either way, be sure to give this one a try!

♥Amara

Help! I Have Banana in My Hair!

So you found a nice recipe for a super hydrating mask for your hair with ingredients like olive oil, coconut oil, eggs, honey, and a banana. You mixed them up and then massaged it through your hair. But when you went to wash, the banana was dried like cement to your hair, and nothing would get it out.

*panic attack*

I’ve been there, so don’t worry. I have a couple quick tips for you.

First of all, don’t panic! It’s totally doable to get it out of your hair, so you don’t need to let your mind linger on scarecrow type haircuts for the sake of removing the banana.

1. Wash your hair

You can start by soaking your hair for a long time under running water in the hopes that might loosen it up. Then try washing it with shampoo. If your banana isn’t stuck too badly, this should work.

Mine, however, was dried like cement, so I had to go to a little more desperate measures.

2. Use conditioner

I mean lots of it. They always say don’t put conditioner on your scalp because it will make your hair limp and greasy, but if you’re in a crisis, go for it!

That’s what I had to do. I applied it to the ends of my hair, but it did little to no good at all. I tried combing, and combing, and combing, and combing, and combing…

I finally said, “I don’t care if my hair is greasy from now until the day that I die.” So I slathered conditioner all over my scalp and let it sit for over ten minutes.

3. Comb it out

After the conditioner, I started combing it with a wide-tooth comb, but it didn’t do the job. Now, usually I don’t recommend this for wet hair, but in this case you should use a fine-tooth comb to get the smallest pieces out.

Even with that, it still took me forever. However, slowly but surely it was making its way off my hair.

4. Wash

If you went through all that conditioner stuff, and you got the banana out *sigh of relief* then it’s time to wash! I used a heavier-duty shampoo to get rid of the grease, and I washed it a couple times. Even then it wasn’t entirely clean, but it was good enough.

After it was washed, I combed it out (very little trouble with tangles, though!) and then let it dry. I washed it again the next day, and it looked just fine.

All in all, it took me about an hour and a half to do all the combing and conditioning.

I think I know one ingredient that I don’t EVER want to use for my hair again!

♥Amara

Formal Fishtail Updo

Today’s tutorial is a hairstyle that I think would suit the name “occasion hair.” I love formal hair. Updos are my favorite kinds of hairstyles and fishtails are my favorite kinds of braids so if you put the two together…

Despite looking a little bit intimidating, when you break it down it really isn’t very difficult.

Like I said in the video, you could do this hairstyle with regular three strand braids instead of fishtails if you’re running out of time.

♥Amara

Little Women: Movie Review

I love doing movie reviews and today I’m going to do three movies instead of just one. The thing is, they’re all the same movie redone over and over.
Before we officially begin, I’ll have to say that I really liked the book “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott. However, when a book is adapted to a movie it doesn’t always turn out. (i.e., you miss most of the story.) But I’m going to quickly review three versions of this classic book. I’m not going to delve into the details of the story, but I’m going to do short reviews of the movies themselves.

 

1. Little Women: 1933

This is an entirely black and white film (which doesn’t bother me at all) and it’s extremely cute and quaint. Though the film is supposed to be set during the American Civil War, its actors have an unmistakably ’20’s and ’30’s look.

Left to right: Amy, Beth, Jo, and Meg March

Starring Katherine Hepburn as the tomboy, Jo March. She does a really good job, despite the “dramatic” acting style of the time.
While a cute old movie, this version omits a lot from the book that probably would have helped the viewer understand the characters better. But it is a movie, so I know you can’t put in everything or we’d be sitting there for hours. Still, perhaps just a little more character development – like between Jo and Laurie, or even between the sisters themselves – would have made things more clear.
But I really enjoyed this little movie, fake eyelashes, lipstick, and all. If you like old movies, then this one is probably for you.

 

2. Little Women: 1949

This version of Little Women was filmed after World War II, the bright red lipstick and fake eyelashes prevail. I love ’40’s style makeup, but since the movie is supposed to be set during the American Civil War, it doesn’t quite fit in.

Left to right: Amy, Beth, Jo, and Meg March

But that’s a little nit-picky, so let’s get on with the rest of the review. Again, Jo was really good, played this time by June Allyson. Elizabeth Taylor played Amy March, but it’s difficult to think of her as anything but Cleopatra.
I found it a little strange, however, that this film is almost exactly the same as the ’33 version. The script is almost the same, the house is the same, the screenplay is the same, the music is the same, and even Amy’s school teacher is the same actor. (It’s got that little tune that easily gets stuck in your head – I’ll let you decide whether that’s good or not.)
At any rate, I enjoyed it, even if it didn’t stick exactly to the book. Either way, it’s another cute old movie!

 

3. Little Women: 2017 TV Series

The BBC put out a three part miniseries of Little Women a handful of years ago (pretty recent, actually). I have to say, I was a little leery of this version. While I’ve said before that the other ones don’t really exactly follow the books, I was worried that this one would be even worse. Boy, was I wrong.

Left to right: Beth, Jo, Amy, and Meg March

This beautiful miniseries followed the book so closely that they even kept in the part where Amy (Kathryn Newton) tries to make a plaster casting of her foot.
This cast is by far my favorite. I don’t even know where to start here but to just say that they were all incredible. But I have to say a quick word for Marmee (Emily Watson). She has won so many awards over the years and should have won one for this.
And Angela Lansbury makes an appearance as Aunt March.
And Laurie (Jonah Haur-King) was the best out of all the other Lauries. And Jo (Maya Hawke) – ah, nevermind! Just watch it!
The costumes were gorgeous and so was the scenery. I mean, they did everything right. (You’ll probably never hear me say that one.)

One of my favorite parts in the whole series is a little music montage to “Land o’ the Leal” beautifully sung by Annes Elwy (who played Beth.)

This one is not a remake of the other two; it’s a completely new take on the same book, and with its original soundtrack, fresh scenery, and amazing actors, this one is by far my favorite version, and is one of my favorite movies in general. Definitely a must-see.

I enjoyed them all in different ways, and it was really fun to see the different eras make the same movie. So all in all, I would definitely recommend these movies!

♥Amara