All About the Curls

Top, necklace (similar): c/o Our World Boutique; Skirt: c/o Lulu*s; Sweater: c/o Aeropostale; Flats: Nine West via Marshalls

I'm a low maintenance beauty type of girl. Same make-up routine since I was sixteen (eyeliner on the lower lid, mascara on the upper lashes, oil-free liquid foundation on the face, smudge of blush, and sometimes a lip gloss or lipstick). Same hair routine and set of hairstyles since I was sixteen (wash in the morning, blow-dry, and done. Pony-tail for the rough hair days, bun for when my hair gets long). I have never really been a hair-curler or straightener, a new make-up tester, a successful brow-plucker. Never experimented with a lip-color other than a really benign mauve-pink. Never experienced a well done cat eye and can't pull off a smokey eye (ever! How do you do it?).

I have consequently always been envious of the make-up geniuses out there. Those people that can pull off a perfect milk-braid or retro up-do. Those people that can do a different look for night and not look like a skanky clown going out on the town (my look when I try to do a smokey eye)

But every once in a while when I fish out my (really nice) curling iron and do my hair, I am wow-ed at how different your make-up and hairstyle can make you look and feel. It doesn't hurt that I'm two episodes in to What Not to Wear right now - but I do think that experimenting with new looks that can enhance your natural beauty is really important. And can certainly provide a boost to the ego.

I'm thinking about all of this today because of the curls I'm sporting in the photos above. There's nothing like a soft wave, on the rare occasions I can pull it off, that makes me feel ultra-feminine and beautiful. Though it's rare that I have the time to get out my make-up bag and just hang out in front of the mirror for a while, I think that I need to do it more often. What do you do to make yourself feel unique and gorgeous?