If you have any low-maintenance hair tricks, let me know in the comments and lets all commiserate on which parts of the beauty routine get the short end of the stick when we are short on time. ;)

If you've ever watched a Victoria's Secret commercial and wished you had the soft, wavy curls of the models but didn't know how to achieve that without looking *ahem* inappropriate, I wanted to show you an easy way to get those sexy, natural curls in about 10 minutes.

I don't know how the weather has been for everyone but in my neighborhood, the sun has been out and shining in full force! It seems that Spring has sprung early and in lieu of that, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite Spring and Summer hairstyles: the fishtail braid.

Braids have been a huge trend for the last couple of years and I know it's going to be seen all over the place this year as well. I've been sporting the fishtail braid quite frequently lately since it's so easy to do yet looks very complicated as a finished product. Many people must've thought the same as well since I got so many requests for a tutorial after wearing this hairstyle in my Sister Tag video.

Since I'm not one to turn down a good request, here are 2 easy techniques to do this look yourself...

Hello lovelies! It's now right before Halloween when plenty of you are probably knee-deep into preparing your costumes for the parties going on this weekend. Since a lot of costumes don't require a specific look, I thought I would do a more generic smoky eye look to compliment any costume. If you want to have striking, smoky charcoal eyes this year then watch the video below!

Products mentioned:
Makeup Up For Ever Mat Velvet + Foundation in 40
Urban Decay Primer Potion
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean and Cottage Cheese
Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette (Ace, Blackout)
MAC Eyeshadow in Shroom
Lioele All-in-One Gel Liner
NYX Auto Eyebrow Pencil
NYX Eyebrow Shaper
Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler
Covergirl Lash Blast Volume Waterproof mascara
NYX lashes in 101
NYX Blush in Pinky
NYX lip pencil in Red Hot
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in Bordeaux
NYX Round Lipstick in Eros

For the hair tutorial:
Rusk Thermal STR8 Protective Shine Tonic -this is old (current Rusk thermal shine product)
Bedhead "Wave Artist" Deep Wave Iron

Here are my pics of the look:

It's been some time since I've done my last hair tutorial, hasn't it? Well ever since I posted my "Would You Rather?" tag video and MAC Turquatic Inspired tutorial I've had a large number of requests for the rope-braided updo that I wore in both posts. It's a look that I've sported a lot this past summer, and I think it would still be really chic to wear this fall with a warm scarf around the neck. :)



Products Used:
Snag-Free Hair Elastics (similar)
Goody Spin Pins (for blondes or mini pins)
LOFT Sequin Flower Pin (similar, similar, similar)

One tip that I find useful with this hairstyle, and most other updos in general, is to work with dirty hair. I know! Some of you might think it's gross, but if you skip a day of washing hair and instead use a dry shampoo (I'm currently using Suave Dry Shampoo which I talked about here) to soak up the oils and give volume, you actually get a ton of texture and the hair really holds the style nicely.

Great for those too-lazy-to-wash-hair days! I know I'm not the only one who gets those, right? ;D


And a view from the back. I can't tell you how much of a lifesaver this hairstyle was during the hot summer days when I didn't want anything touching my neck!


The best part about this hairstyle is that it's easier to do than a traditional 3-strand french braid or dutch braid so it goes much quicker. At the same time, not many people do this type of twisted rope braid so you'll get people asking you how you did it because it looks more complicated than it is! I'm all about the high impact-low effort when it comes to hair. ;)

I hope you guys enjoyed this hair tutorial and let me know in the comments if there are any other hair requests that you have!

Some of the most frequently asked questions I receive have been about my hair; everything from the cut, color, and texture, to most of all my routine for taking care of it. Previously I did a post on my ombre dyed hair color here but I haven't really gone into depth about my hair in general before.

I've said this many times before, but I'm relatively low-maintenance with my hair with just a couple extra things I use to really boost the softness of the texture so if you want to hear about my whole routine you can watch below. :)


Products mentioned:
L'Oreal EverStrong Bodify Shampoo
Shiseido Tsubaki Damage Care Conditioner
Kao Essential Damage Care Rich Premier Shampoo & Conditioner (also here)
Kao Essential Damage Care Rich Premium Treatment (also here)
Excelsior Millenia Mud Reconstructor
Biosilk Silk Therapy

As I said in my video, I am not brand loyal to shampoos and conditioners. I have tried most drugstore lines and generally don't find a huge difference in the health of my hair between shampoos.

What I do see a difference in is when I use an Asian conditioner versus drugstore conditioners from the US. I just find that even with drugstore-level conditioners from Asia, the product is richer and makes my hair noticeably softer. They also smell better, like floral candy, but I know that's up to personal taste. ;)


My hair is pretty typical among Asians in that it is made up of thick individual strands of hair and I tend to have quite a lot of it. Of course there are always variations of hair types among groups of people, but I just know most of my relatives and friends who are Asian have this type of hair compared to, for instance, my Caucasian friends who have fine or thin hair.

Because of my hair type, I like to use extra nourishing conditioners and treatments from my ears down to soften any coarseness the thickness of my hair might cause. Also, I prefer seeing an Asian hairstylist because they are more used to putting even layers in thick hair. If you think about cutting noodles, thicker linguine noodles will leave a bigger gap of space than if you cut and ate a thin spaghetti noodle. In the same way, thin-stranded hair is more forgiving when cutting layers

Some basic tips for haircare:

1. Shampoo all over, but condition only from ears down to prevent a greasy scalp
2. Concentrate conditioners at the ends and use a shower cap for deep-conditioning
3. Avoid letting conditioner lay on your skin since it could potentially cause acne (I tilt my head to the side)
4. Avoid or limit heat-styling for healthier hair
5. Before heat styling use a thermal protection spray

I also wanted to mention something that a few people may find funny. In Korea they say that if you are horny or think about sex often, your hair grows faster. I can assure you that, along with wet hair causing blindness, death, a shorter life, and several other tragedies mentioned in the Youtube video comments, this is also a superstition.

My best advice for growing hair out is simply not to cut it or trim off just the split ends! Other than eating a healthy diet and possibly vitamin supplements (I've heard prenatal vitamins work wonders on hair and nails) there's not a whole lot you can do to improve hair growth other than to wait. :)

I hope you enjoyed watching and, whether you are a haircare expert or a novice, you might find some of my personal hair experiences enlightening. If you have any hair questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll try my best to answer! Also, if you have any interesting hair-related superstitions feel free to share them as well! It's always fun to read about what others grew up hearing and if they are founded in any truth or not. ^_~

You ridiculously perceptive girls have called me out for dying my hair since the first photo and video was uploaded! I know I've been promising to do a post and video talking about my new(ish) ombre dye job so here it is. :)

It's funny because when I decided to get mine done I really hadn't seen it much on black-haired ladies but my sister-in-law was the one who showed me this pic of Camilla as reference and it was exactly what I had in mind!

So here are photos of my actual hair:


As I've said before, I'm not a huge hair-coloring person. I tend to stick with my natural color with occasional brown highlights here and there. Since I'm very low-maintenance with my haircare, I didn't want to have a dye job that would be difficult to keep up with. I do love how all-over color looks but I just don't think I could keep doing it so ombre was a good option for me.

People seemed to be very polarized on Youtube comments about liking or not liking the look but I definitely do love it and I (and all of my friends) swear it does look quite natural in person. Obviously, cameras skew the color, even here!

At the end of the day, we should do what makes us happy despite what is trendy or what others think so I am content with my new hair for the time being. ^_^

So are any of you feeling the seasonal hair-change itch like I did? Share about your change or change-to-be
in the comments!

Today I wanted to share another highly requested video, a tutorial of my everyday updo. I had gotten several requests from having posted videos with this hair here, here, and in my Boston haul here. It's supa-dupa easy so hair noobs, this is perfect for you! ;)
Tools used:
2 bobby pins (basic black here)
2 hair ties (my favorite no-snag kind here)

2 bobby pins (I also recommend matching this with your hair color)

Hey guys! This is a really quick video that is just a hair tutorial for the Gyaru Makeup Tutorial. I didn't want to make it too complicated so it's a bit of a cutesy-fied version of the Snooki pouf. Hahaha~



Products used:

Silk Elements Mega Silk Heat Protection Spray from Sally Beauty
BaByliss Pro Ceramic 1.5" Curling Iron
Headband is from http://www.ekilove.com (visit Eki's blog here)
Goody Spin Pins in Brunette



Like the makeup tutorial, I'm definitely not saying that this is how all gyaru do their hair, it's just a really quick interpretation of something you could use for a Halloween costume without ruining your hair. If you want to go all out, you could also buy yourself a really adorable wig but I didn't have anything that fit the look on hand. *closes vast wig closet*

Just kidding y'all, I only have that one toy soldier wig and it would not be right for this look! It's too bad I don't have my shorter bangs at the mo' since I'm growing them out, hence the fake curled + pinned bangs. Earlier this year I has having massive amounts of hair fall out after being sick for a couple months (probs due to stress, eep) last winter and it's all deciding to grow back all at once. I have the worst case of baby hairs and cowlicks right now and bangs would make it basically look like I'm trying to be David Bowie for Halloween instead. ;(

Oh well, always new opportunities in the future to redo looks again in different ways. ^_^

Time for me to go to a friend's bday party then get in my Halloween costume for tonight's party! It's going to be a very cool party for only the coolest, hippest, partying-est people, AKA my parents-in-laws. Gettin' crazy with the cheese wiz! Should be a good time. Hehe.