Hair Extensions 101

Wearing hair extensions is a great way to add volume and length to your hair! My hair is extremely short and refuses to grow. I absolutely love the length and volume my hair extensions add! They're a great, semi-permanent, and easy way to add beauty to your every day look! Caring for them can seem like a huge hassle, but with tips, it's a breeze!

Storage

Storing your hair extensions properly is extremely important! This will keep them from tangling and becoming knotty or ratty. Hair extension storage units can be quite pricing, but you can easily create your own from items you probably already have in your house! Just tie some string (ribbon also works) around a typical clothing hanger. The more wefts you have, the more rows of string you will need. Clip the wefts onto the string and hang them in a cool, dry area! 

Styling

Hair extensions can be styled just as you style your hair. However, the ends can be damaged just as your real ends become damaged as well. Always use a heat protectant before styling. I recommend Temme's Keratin Smooth Heat Protectant Spray. It's also great to use on your real hair as well!

Treatments

Extensions need constant conditioning to keep them from becoming tangled and looking unhealthy. Using Nourishing Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum on the ends of your hair and your extensions daily will keep your ends from breaking off and keep your hair healthy and soft. Neutrogena's Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask adds moisture back to hair and extensions and keeps them looking natural and healthy. 

Feel free to comment with any other questions about hair extensions! Also, let me know what your favorite hair extensions brands are and your favorite hair treatments! 

Best Foundations for Each Skin Type!

Finding a foundation that works you for is always difficult. To give you a hand, I've grouped great quality foundations into which one works best for the major skin types - dry and oily.

Dry

 

Not only is this foundation built in with a long lasting formula, it's extremely hydrating. It also hydrates without any harmful oils, which helps to keep your face hydrated but natural looking at the same time. 

Another great hydrating foundation is L'oreal Lumi Magique Light Infusing Foundation. This foundation is great because it works hard to even out your skin tone and conceal any dry patches. It's also infused with a hydrating serum to keep your face from getting dry throughout the day! 

One of my personal favorite makeup brands also has a great hydrating foundation! My favorite thing about this foundation is the creamy feel. It provides just enough moisture to give you a natural, dewy look without making you look oily. 

Oily

Benefit's Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation is a great way to stay shine free throughout the day. The light-infusing properties hide the oily patches and bring just the right amount of light to your face. It's lightweight and is easy to build from medium to full coverage. 

Estee Lauder's Invisible Fluid Makeup is also a great way to keep your skin from becoming oily throughout the day. It works to adjust to your skin tone and even it. The coverage is light and allows your skin to breathe, which keeps your skin from overproducing oils. 

Laura Mercier's oil free supreme foundation is extremely lightweight and easy to blend into your skin. The foundation also has an amazing long-lasting matte finish to combat oily skin. 

And there you have it! The perfect foundation for dry or oily skin, whichever you may be! As always, I hope this helps! Drop a comment below with your favorite foundation for oily or dry skin! 

Full & Sexy Lips

Let's face it, it doesn't matter if we've got a big date or we're going out with a few friends - we all want big, full, voluminous lips! Here are some easy tips & tricks to have fuller, more defined lips in seconds!

Lip Liner!

Lining your lips is a great way to define those outer edges and really add shape and volume to your lips! However, make sure you use a nude shade or a shade that matches your lip stick. You don't want to have 80's throwback makeup on your big night out. 

Cupid's Bow 

Adding a highlight to your cupid's bow really brings attention to your lips and gives them a fuller shape. See the three dots above on your top lip? Just add some highlighting powder (your favorite matte white eyeshadow will do just fine) to this area and bam! Your lips are looking fuller and will have all of the attention. 

Lip Plumper

Try using a lip plumper lip gloss! Lip plumpers stimulate the outer cells of your lips, giving them a bigger, fuller look and also add some natural color to your lips! Two Faced Lip Injection is one of my favorites! It is a bit pricey, so if you're on a budget try out e.l.f. Studio Lip Primer & Pumper for a cheaper, but still great quality option! 

Finding Your Shade

The biggest makeup mistake most people make is wearing the wrong shade, whether it be foundation, blush, powder, or bronzer. However, finding your right shade isn't always easy, especially if you're shopping at a drugstore or online. 

Never fear, Beaut & Cute is here to help! 

The best tip I can give is when choosing between two shades, choose the lighter one. It's fairly simple to add some bronzer or loose powder to darken up your foundation, but lightening it is far more difficult. 

Another tip is this handy little website called Temptalia . Not only does this website give you an amazingly list of hundreds of makeup dupes (which I will do a post about later), the website has a section called the Foundation Matrix. Answer a few simple questions about your skin tone, and bam! The foundation matrix gives you a list of hundreds of brands and your exact shade in each brand! It's a wonderful tool, especially for beginners! 

Buying a sample, if possible, is also always a good idea. Not only does this let you make sure the shade is correct for your skin before shelling out money on the foundation, you can also test out the finish, look, and how well this particular foundation works with your skin. Everyone's skin is different, so obviously everyone's skin will react differently to different products. Samples can be a huge money saver. 

With that said, the most full proof way to get your correct shade is to have a makeup professional match it to your skin. However, that isn't always possible, so just use these tips above and buying a new foundation will be a breeze!