Fishtail Braids for Wedding Days

When I see a new braid on Pinterest (which is a lot) I generally decide I'm going to learn, there and then, how to do it. And last week it was dutch fishtail braids. 

These pretty little things sit against the head but give the look of a separate braid, They're neater and more secure than their french sisters, and the finish look is gorgeous! 

It means that even if your hair doesn't reach past your bum, you can get that "Milkmaid Braid" look.

Which is pretty much what my beautiful friend Naomi wanted, to a tee! 

I went to college with this lovely lady and whilst I branched my creativity into my hair, she put hers into being incredible at interior design - her house (and garden) are so lovely, I get envy every time I go!

I digress, these lovely lady is a "Lob" lover, so her hair isn't that long, but she's currently planning an elegant autumnal wedding for her and her musician fiance Darren, and said she would love to have braids if her hair was long enough...

On Saturday she was attending a friends wedding so we decided to have our first trial, and then she could see how it felt to have her hair up all day and see if she liked it and it lasted - which is such a good idea for brides-to-be! It gave her the chance to test-drive her style and then we can tweak it on the big day.

Here's what we tried out for trial #1...

As Naomi's hair has a natural curl and texture, we decided to keep that element and pull strands out and keep it fly-away and flattering. 

A halo of fly-away hairs is such a pretty, soft, ethereal look. The braid looked incredible and we have some ideas on how to maximise it's impactm but overall it was a roaring success!

Gorgeous couple and the best co-ordinating outfits!

Thank you so much Naomi, it was such a pleasure! xoxo

Pretty Braids and Structured Waves

A couple of weeks ago, Alice asked me to do her hair up for a wedding.
Simple! Lovely! What better way to spend my Saturday morning, I thought. A few curls and pinned up.
And it was lovely, and it would've been simple, and then Alice told me the wedding was going to be up at the beautiful Beacon Crag, a gorgeous clifftop location overlooking Porthleven harbour with spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean.

In fact, the Cornish birds amongst you may have been here for the Porthleven Masked Ball - and if you have, you'll know the whilst beautiful, it's a bit blowy up there!
And unfortunately, on this particular day, it happened to not only be blowing a hoolie, but it was a bit damp out there too.

We decided we would be best to proceed with a hair up - curls down would fall flat in an instant - and of course, a lot of hairspray!

Alice wanted something soft and feminine but with a good structure and a polished edge, so we came up with this little look.

We gave it a little bit of height for a glamorous edge, and then swept it all to one side with a Dutch Braid - I loved how her highlights looked in this! Gave it such a pretty texture.

We then clustered the curls up at one side and then loosely pinned the front section back, which was soft and feminine around Alice's face without falling in her eyes! This also meant that should any sneaky pieces fall out in the wind, they'll look delicately dishevelled rather than like it's been messed up in the wind!

It was such a pleasure to help you get ready Alice, thank you so much! xoxo