absolutely dapper

before (we just finished her weave). . .

after!

Shana and I sat next to each other on the first day of school and hit it off from that moment. Anything that I need, she is there for me without a question. Just like this photoshoot. Well... I tricked her actually. Because I told her that I would do her weave... but since she was here, we barricaded the door and forced her to get dressed up! She didn't put up much of a fight.

Shana is super sweet and likes to keep things simple. This translates into her personal style as well. She is a t-shirt and jeans kinda gal and doesn't wear a stick of make-up, EVER! So I decided for her look, we were channeling the early days of Coco Chanel. She would pair men's riding trousers with a silk blouses. Or structured blazer with ball gowns. I love the contrast of feminine lines with hard structure. Women can look absolutely gorgeous in men's wear.

Hairstyle:

I gave Shana a full headed weave. You don't have to do this, but we were already planning on doing it before I decided to do this shoot. I curled her hair with a 1 inch curling iron and pin curled it after. Some may wonder why do i do this step so often, because it keeps the hair curled and volumized longer. After Daeng applied her make-up, I took out all the pins. Clipped on some golden blonde hair underneath a track, because she wouldn't wear it on a daily basis. Though I needed to break up the black for this photoshoot. I sprayed Regis volumizing spray and then started teasing all over. I made a deep part for the front section and did a two strand braid along the right side. I took the left side and wrapped it around to the back and did a low side-ponytail at the base of the neck. I continued teasing the ponytail to create a large strategically messy ball. I love having smooth lines and contrasting it with what I call, "organized chaos."

i wish i was michelle!

photography: Bobbie Yanoupeth and Matt Nuccio

Michelle Reyes is one of the most incredible people I know. She moves through life with such elegance and beauty, even through the most trying times. She's an amazing mother, a great friend, super creative and makes the most amazing things... This girl would put Martha Stewart to shame. I always told to her, "if i were a girl, i would want to be just like you!"

When I asked her if she would be a model for my portfolio, she enthusiastically said "YES!" I had so many ideas and wanted to create all these different looks, but at the end, I decided I wanted to recreate her wedding photos. Reason being, I knew that she wasn't so crazy about how she looked that day (even though she looked freaking amazing).

Hairstyle:
I started off by applying Regis pomade. I then pin curled all of her hair after curling it with a 1 inch curling iron. I let it cool down for about a half an hour as I steamed her dress. I then made 2 french braids along her front hairline. I teased all of the crown section, leaving a 2 inch section in the front alone, later this will be used to cover the section which was backcombed. I then applied a little medium hold spray by Design Line on the front section, and loosely combed it back with my fingers. I pinned some of the pieces into the pompadour to help the curls from falling apart. I tied the remainder of the hair at the lower occipital bone. I took some extensions and wrapped it around the ponytail and created a simple chignon!!!!! This look is more natural and organic, I added a flower to the side of her hair-do to give a little color and compliment it. Finish it off with a final spray

A picnic in Paris...

I love Gregory Peck and Cary Grant... these are strong, dazzling, and leading men of the 1940's. Men, who I as a young lady dreamt of as my leading man... LOL!

Scene: I am alone in Paris after a flopped fashion line, and my long time lover left me. I am totally distraught, but still glamorous as ever. I bump into this handsome and mysterious stranger at a cafe, on a rainy day. We converse, and hit it off. We have an intense affair throughout this romantic city. Picnics, cafes, ballets, fashion shows and weekend trips to Capri. We fall madly in love and he saves my broken heart and basically my life.

I always imagined myself as a Judy Garland or a Veronica Lake character, but with dark hair. Hair is always intact, clothes are well fitted and pressed. Make-up and skin, is flawless. A soft but strong character, who is well poised and graceful. Obviously I could never be her, so I turned Daeng into her today (God bless her heart for putting up with me).

Hairstyle:
Everything in the 40's was about being glamorous. Flowy waves, and perfectly pinned curls. I started off by spraying her hair with Regis Volumizing Spray, so her hair would hold the curls and be playable. I took my 1 1/4 curling iron and curled the hair at a 90 degree angle. I pinned curled 2 inch sections. Once finished with the whole head, I let it cool down for 20 minutes (this helps the curls to last all day and also gives maximum volume). Then I took everything down. I carefully manipulated the curls with a paddle brush, so that it all flowed together. Sectioned the front pieces in three and rolled pinned them away from the face and into a pattern I liked. I pinned them with 2 Bobby Pins each, making an "X" formation for more security.

haircut done a few months back, but she's too cute to be left out

in the beginning ...

... this is at 3am

after!

My little cousin Sandy, is the most sweet and sincere person. She won't say much, but you will always hear her giggle. She was here a few months ago helping me out by orchestrating this extravagant surprise birthday party for Daeng (our other cousin and a permanent fixture on my blog).

She has super long hair and her ends were all lightened by heat damage. She decided to take a seat in my chair and allowed me the honor of giving her a little haircut.

Color:
To blend some of her pre-existing color and to liven the cut a little, we broke it up with highlights. I first started by lifting her hair color with Goldwell 4A with a 30 volume developer since she is naturally a level 2. I wanted a rich natural brown without too much red undertone. I then came back with a lightener, mixed with 20 volume developer to give some subtle highlights. I normally don't fuss with a toner afterwards, because if you watch it carefully, you can control the levels and Goldwell colors tend to tone itself.

Hairstyle:
She has long and super thick hair. To achieve this Angle Forward Bob, we had to create volume and depth. I started off by hacking almost 6 inches right off the bat. Then I cut the back section right at the nape and slowly start angling the cut downwards as you come past the ear. This part you can go as subtle or dramatic as you want. For Sandy, we made it a little longer to compliment her heart shaped face.
Afterwards, I went through out the hair and did a twist cut and razor like cut with my shears through out to remove bulk and to give her volume. Gave her swooped bangs by slicing downwards and then point-cutting afterwards to break it up.
Finished the style by putting a little Matrix Smoothing Serum through out the hair and blowing it out with a 1 1/2 round brush.

every girl wants a little glamour in her life

Yohko is my upstairs neighbor and is super cute!!!! She was gracious enough to model for me aside from her super busy schedule. Originally I wanted to do her photo shoot in a studio next month, but she is actually gonna be shooting a film all of next month. So I insisted that we did an inpromtu photo session because I wanted to have the chance to glam her up.

Fortunately for me she was totally game. Yohko's personal style is very cute, casual, and understated. She normally wears her hair down and straight, and not much makeup. So for this make-over, we went the opposite direction.

Hair Style:

Just like many Asian people, Yohko has really straight and thick hair. Which normally presents an obstacle when trying to curl or style it in anyway. My answer for this, become bestfriends with hair spray. I used Regis Design Line "Volumizing Spray." Spraying all throughout the hair to create a texture so its playable. I back-combed (teased) the crown section, leaving the bangs out. Lightly comb the bangs over the Pompadour afterwards to finish the top section and pin it together in the back with a couple of bobby pins. Pull the rest of the hair into three separate ponytails right on top of each other along her occipital area. I curled the pony tail with a 1 1/2 inch curling iron. Lightly backcomb subsections and roll and pin them into place. Finish off with a mist of spray again.

a little makeover

before...

after!

My cousin Melinda is amazingly hilarious and always down to have fun (i.e. her before picture is after a visit at a local NYC Irish Pub on St. Patrick's day, hence green lips). She is from our hometown of Holland, MI. A Dutch town known for its tulip festivals and clogs. What I am really trying to say, it is so VANILLA out there. So when we met up in Seattle for our cousin's wedding not too long ago, we both concluded that we have to desperately give her a makeover!

Haircut:

To give her a subtle glimmer of color, but not go crazy, we gave her nice chocolate brown highlights (using Matrix Soco Color 4A with a 20 volume developer). You have to understand, that Melinda has super thick and coarse hair. So we had to eliminate some of the bulk with thinning shears and I then came back again and did a twist cut (twisting a lock of hair and cutting downwards). I gave her high layers as well, so when she curled her hair, that the curls wouldn't be weighed down. This is part of the misconception; tons of girls want big voluminous hair but are not willing to put any layers in. It takes more than just teasing and hair spray.

I then do the bangs last, by sectioning a deep triangle on the top of her head to make thick and dramatic bangs. The bangs aren't necessarily blunt bangs, but more of a fringe. I accomplished this by point cutting the bangs in a rainbow like shape.

Hair Style:

Apply some mousse while the hair is towel damp. This will help the curls last all day. Give a quick blow dry. With a 2 inch barrel curling iron, curl the hair away from the face. Make sure to start from the bottom up.

oh how these kids grow up so fast...

Since I moved out here to New York, I have met so many people and some of them have become fixtures in my life.

For instance, Cynthia. When I originally met her, she only believed in lycra spandex (jk, but serious at the same time). In the past three and a half years, she has evolved and been more adventurous in her clothing and adapted a more confident and glamorous attitude. Wherever this new woman has emerged from, we love it and I love you Cynthia!

Hair Style:

Cynthia has naturally curly hair and tons of it. I prepped the hair with gel to get it sticky, so i can get a good grip on it. With a paddle brush, I pulled everything to the side and tied it (she has so much hair that we had to use 4 hair ties). With a 11/2 inch curling iron, start curling 1 inch sections of the hair. Roll and pin the hair in a circular pattern. I normally pin bigger sections for the bottom to create a stronger base and build smaller curls on top to cover it. There is no right or wrong way, just do it by eye and what you think looks amazing. I finished it with a finishing spray (a lot of it, I had to even pull out Aquanet because humidity in New York isn't too kind to curly hair). And lastly, I did a light mist of oil sheen to make it more sleek.

wigs aren't always bad

There is always negative stigma when it comes to wigs. Cause you always imagine nasty synthetic and super glossy pieces that looks like they are about to take flight off of the person's head. I had created this wig for Daeng before we colored her hair. So to ease her into going lighter we gave the wig look a whirl, because she was a bit apprehensive about coloring her hair since she hadn't done so in over 10years.

The Wig:

You have to cover the individual or a mannequin first with paper towel, and then a layer of Saran Wrap. You are doing this to protect the real hair from the glue when you are making the wig. I then put on a stocking cap over the head, making sure to not cover the ears. You want to start from the base of the head. Take the track of hair, measure it along head and cut it at the desired width. apply the glue onto the track and place it on the stocking cap. Make sure to blow dry the glue so it sets faster. Start stacking one track on top of the next. Eventually you'll be making a horse shoe shape as you glue. Stop this as you get to the crown, cause from here, you are gonna start laying and gluing the hair the way you want it parted at the top.

Hair Style:

I cut her hair into a angle forward bob and some fringed bangs. I also razored a lot innerlayers to take away the bulk. Then I finished the style with the flat iron and a little silk drops from Regis Design Line

our first photoshoot

Here is my first photo shoot with my wonderful cousin Daeng, who allowed me to play dress up with her.

Color:

We started off by doing a three-step dye job on her hair. First foiling hair lightener through out her hair (which was a natural black). Then doing an all over color (we used a Matrix Soco Color 7A with a 30 volume developer). What you achieve by doing this process, is having a base color with subtle highlights that will add depth to the hair. And then we did more highlights with the lightener afterwards to add more color to break up the the hair.

Hair Style:

We shall call this look "Beyonce." I achieved this look by evenly applying pomade throughout her towel dried hair. Starting from underneath the hair and working our way up. I then rolled her hair in a combination of pink sponge rollers and pink perm rods. Alternating between the two allowed us to have different textures in the curls and creating more body. After a quick blow dry, I took out the rollers and combed the hair out with my fingers.

Teased the roots and did one cornrow across the front to add a solid structure amongst the chaos or curls.