How To Style Old Curls – Messy Curly Bun Hairstyle Video Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 29, 2013 | Hair, Hair-Tutorials, Tutorial, Video-Tutorials, Violet Vision Videos

Today I’ll show you how I style my curls once they are starting to fall flat. I use this style a lot while I’m traveling because I love curls but often don’t bother to bring curling implements for short trips. With styles like this and some other tips I can make the curls last a few days.

And here’s the transcript:
Hello Besties!
Today I’m going to show you what you can do with curls that are a couple days old and have lost their bounce!
Let’s get started!
Curls are awesome but after the first day they get kind of flat and floppy.
So rather than heat styling and risking damage, here’s what I usually do!
Leaving your fringe alone, brush all your hair upwards into a high pony tail.
Don’t brush through the curls, you want them to really messy and poufy.
But not SO messy that your curls try to eat your hair brush!
So now you can go one of two ways:
You can give it a twist like this and then pin the curls to your head…
Or you can cheat like me! This is way easier but looks a little different.
Just use an elastic hair band and pull it up into a really high pony tail.
Now just pull all the hair forward and fluff it out!
Fluff it out as much as you can so it’s super huge and messy.
Use some volumising powder if you want to go extreme!
Looks a little weird like this, but once you scrunch it up towards the band…
…and start pinning it in place….
You can form it into whatever shape you want, big or small, wide or tall!
And it just looks like a big curly bun that you actually put effort into!
Now just style your fringe so that it matches!
I like to curl my little side bits as well.
Minimal heat styling for the win! I always use a heat protector but even then a flat iron is around 180 celcius
Heat like that is always going to do some damage, so give your hair the occasional break!
And as Violet always says: hairspray the bajeebus out of it!
Once you’re sure all the pins are hidden, add some accessories!
A head band, huge bow or just something little, go with what you feel works best with your outfit.
There are lots of different ways to wear this one and it’s a good alternative to a plain old ordinary bun.
It’s very quick to do and with no damaging styling plus you get to wear your curls for an extra day!
This style is also really great for travelling.
I won’t tell anyone we started with old curls if you don’t 😉
Thanks so much for watching, bye!~~~~~~~~~~~~Shop: http://bit.ly/NknExz
Blog: http://bit.ly/qIKumk
Tumblr: http://bit.ly/oF86Yz
Twitter: http://bit.ly/onCld1
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/pdZ8B5
Instagram: http://instagram.com/violetlebeaux

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A blog and Youtube channel about a girl and her quest to make everything sparkle. New craft, hair and beauty tutorials every week!

Violet LeBeaux spends most of her time trying to think of ways to make life prettier, posting said ways on her blog and drinking very strong tea. She writes about big hair cute things, girly fashion, beauty finds, sometimes Hime Gyaru fashion (姫ギャル) and crafty tutorials.

She lives with her adorable boyfriend Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Music: Garageband unless otherwise credited

DIY Nespresso Coffee Pod Holder

by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 27, 2013 | Craft, Storage/Utility-Tutorials, Tutorial

So a few months ago James and I started drinking coffee. I hate the taste of coffee. I like being awake and getting stuff done though. I drink my coffee with a billion sugars and milk and also melted chocolate. Trust me it’s awesome. I used up all our old Lindt bunnies from easter by adding them to my coffee. Now that they have a vanilla version I am adding slightly less of the other things because it tastes more like chocolate anyway! Clearly even though I live in Melbourne, one of the coffee drinking capitals of the world, I am not a coffee snob.

It started as a way to keep awake during long hours and early morning meetings and soon developed into a bit of a habit and going to the 7/11 for $1 drinks was getting pricey so we decided to buy one of those pod machines because a Nespresso was out of our price range. We named it Map but it started leaking water after 2 days so back it went to the store. Luckily we found a cashback offer and managed to buy a Nespresso even cheaper than Map was originally AND it matched my kitchen colours!

I couldn’t think of a name for it though >_< I’ve been really bad at naming my things lately, I just can’t come up with anything. Bleh. Maybe Lorelei… because I’m always shouting COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE when I use it? I miss Gilmore Girls.

Anyway that long rambling story ends with us having nowhere to put the stupid pods and not being able to find a cute holder that didn’t take up heaps of space. Bench space is at a premium in our kitchen so after some googling I decided to just make my own for the time being and then work it out later. Suck it FutureViolet, it’s your problem now!

So I found a metal design that I liked (but wouldn’t ship to Aus) and made my own out of left over plastic from our bedhead and silver paper. It’s not perfect but it will do for now.

You need:

Pods for measuring
Plastic/cardboard
Wrapping paper
Stanley knife/box cutter
Chopsticks or something to create a gap in the back
Tape

I only had two small pieces of plastic left over so I taped them together.

If I was doing this again I would use cardboard or something easier to cut because this was an absolute bitch to do anything with.

So the idea of these things is that the pods slot into it and then you pull one out of the bottom when you want to use it. Because it’s up on a wall it doesn’t take much bench space and when you colour code them the pods look quite pretty.

So I drew out the rough design using a chopstick as a ruler because I’m classy like that.

Then it was a matter of cutting it out without severing an artery. Knives are sharp.

Taadaa!

Next I covered it in silver paper. If I was doing this again, I would pick better paper. This one was too thick and reflective so the creases and mistakes showed up a lot.

Lastly I taped some chopsticks to the back so there was a gap between the wall and the plastic for the pods to slot in between.

Done!

I drew some windows on the top so it looked a bit more building-y but to be honest, when I finished I realised that the cold hard city look really doesn’t work for our kitchen design. It looks great in other people’s homes but just doesn’t work with mine. We need something curvy and girly and much more adorable. So back to the drawing board I go 😀

I have another idea for this, I just need to think about the logistics some more and decide if it’s a good idea to encourage having a coffee habit haha! If you guys have that kind of style then I would definitely suggest making something like this, it’s much cheaper buying some thick cardboard than it is for the store ones!

How To Do The Easiest Nail Art In The World- Lazy Dot Nail Art Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 25, 2013 | Nail-Art-Tutorials, Nails, Tutorial

I talked about lazy inspiration in the latest issue of The VLB yesterday and I’m going to talk about it more on the blog next Monday but I wanted to share some of the things I’ve been doing in the mean time.

So lazy inspiration? Why yes I’ve got some awesomely lazy nail art today! This one is great because it’s hard to screw up. As long as you’ve got a paint brush, a match, a dotting tool or something pointy you can do this. I’ve even done it with a ball point pen in a pinch.

So the design is basically plain nails with dots decorating the moon area of the nail. It’s a little vintage, a lot cute and really simple to do. There are so many variations depending on how much time you want to take as well.

Here’s the most basic one:

First paint a base coat of something bright. Next paint little dots in a semi circle shape at the cuticle out of white acrylic paint. Version 1 done!

If you want to take it a step further you can add a second row of dots, placing them between every second of the first row. Version 2 done!

If you want to get really fancy just add more rows using the same basic formula. Or add a feature nail with your initials! Version 3 done!

Once the acrylic paint dries give everything a clear top coat to protect it and you’re done 😀 It’s a really simple design but it’s very visually effective. Let me know if you give it a try!

Want to download this tutorial in one handy file?

DIY Heart Bokeh Mask Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 23, 2013 | Craft, Other-Tutorials, Tutorial

Bokeh is the fancy photography term for specular highlights (pretty orbs of light) that show up in photos when using a wide apeture and a long focal length (higher mm number on your lens/more zoomed in) or it’s another word for dust ghosts if you are one of the hosts from that hilarious Ghost Hunter show on the Discovery Channel XD

Whatever it is, it’s extremely pretty and can be used in really interesting effects in photos! You can even make your own custom shaped bokeh mask in any shape you want… or just buy a kit… but yay making things!

I made a heart one and here are some of my results:

The heart cut out shapes the little round lights in the background into hearts or whatever other shape you can imagine.

More of my playing around later, let’s actually make one!

You need:

Black paper
Knife or scissors
Rubber band
Camera
Pen

I actually started making/experimenting with these so long ago that the photos are with my old phone and have black edges XD

Trace around your lens on a piece of black paper.

Cut a circle out of the paper which is around 3-4cm larger than the circle you just drew.

Make little cuts from the outside to the drawn circle all the way around.

Decide on your shape and cut it out of the center. If you’re going to use a knife please be very careful, a perfectly shaped heart isn’t worth losing a finger over!!!

Fold all of the tabs around the outside up so it makes kind of a cylinder.

Once you’ve done it all the way around you should slot it on the end of your lens.

Use rubber band to hold it place and that’s it!

These work best at night time in photos that have lots of lights in the background. The hearts here are cars:

Here are some of the photos I took when we went out 😀

This is the same photo with more and less blur so you can see smaller and bigger hearts.

I love the way the Melbourne lights reflect on the water.

Keep in mind that whether this works will depend on whether your camera has a large enough aperture and long enough focal length to create a good bokeh in the first place.

A good lens to use would have an aperture larger than f/2.8 and is longer than 50mm.

And here’s how it looks without the hearts, little round circles.

Go have fun with yours, you can make any shape at all!

How To Do Easy Victory Rolls – Hairstyle Video Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 22, 2013 | Hair, Hair-Tutorials, Tutorial, Video-Tutorials, Violet Vision Videos

I keep forgetting to post these videos across >_< I’ve been very lax in actually putting videos up lately because of the whole sick/stressed/tired thing but yay for actually doing things!

Today we’re doing really easy victory rolls, this is a popular hairstyle in many subcultures but it’s most associated with rockabilly and psychobilly styles. I think it works really well with sweet fashions too 🙂

Transcript instructions:
Hello Besties!
Today we are doing another adorable rockabilly style!
So let’s rock and roll baby!
Pin-up Victory Rolls Tutorial
Ok, let’s get cracking on these loops.
Today we are doing BIG hair, so I’m using a teasing comb for most of this.
Separate a small section of hair up to where your ear is on one side.
Comb through it a few times and then brush it upwards.
Tease the back of it and add some of your strongest hairspray!
This is the strongest one Tresemme makes, but I used to buy a magical one from Cedel that was discontinued.
Fan it out a little bit and gently twist it backwards.
The teasing will add some structural integrity and make sure there aren’t any gaps.
You want to form a big loop like this.
Now pin it in place. I have a video on hair pins coming up so subscribe if you want to catch that!
Now hairspray once again and do some shaping with your hand.
Fan out the back so you can’t see straight through the loop.
Now we are just going to repeat on the other side.
Same as before, brush through, tease and fan it out.
Hairspray.
Then gently guide it backwards into the loop.
Shape it with your hands.
Pin it in place. Once it’s pinned, shape it so that you can’t see through the loop.
Hairspray and you’re done!
Super cute and super simple!
Of course you can’t go wrong with an accessory so welcome back the hair flower!
And there you have it!
This hair looks great for all kinds of rockabilly gigs, car shows or dancing around the house to Secrets’ “Shy Boy”.
Rockabilly hair is usually quite intricate so you may want to do something with the ends, but this is a great start!
Thanks so much for watching, bye!
~~~~~~~~~~~~Shop: http://bit.ly/NknExz
Blog: http://bit.ly/qIKumk
Tumblr: http://bit.ly/oF86Yz
Twitter: http://bit.ly/onCld1
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/pdZ8B5
Instagram: http://instagram.com/violetlebeaux~~~~~~~~~~~~A blog and Youtube channel about a girl and her quest to make everything sparkle. New craft, hair and beauty tutorials every week!

She lives with her adorable boyfriend Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Music: Garageband unless otherwise credited

Sew Fun! A Look At Sewing A Dress From Start To Finish

by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 18, 2013 | Craft, Sewing 101, Tutorial

It’s been a crazy long time since I wrote a Sew Fun post but they are coming back and with a vengeance! There will be more of the ones I promised coming in the next few weeks but before we did some big projects again I wanted to show you my start to finish process of making a dress.

The dress in question was a gift for a friend who picked out her favorite fabrics laces and I made it for her based off a pattern that I drafted which I use for a lot of my own dresses. She was a bit camera shy so I ended up modeling it in the photos which is why the fit isn’t 100% on me.

You can tell how old the photos are by the fact that they still have black borders XD

So this is the finished dress, it’s a very basic princess seamed dress which is made of 5 pieces plus the straps and lace etc. There is no lining and it cuts a lot of corners. If cutting corners bothers you then look away now!

I like this shape of dress a lot because it can be perfectly fitted to the person’s shape and can accentuate/hide a lot when you get it right. I use it a lot for hime gyaru dresses and it can be easily adapted to classic Lolita styles by adding a much fuller skirt. It’s not really a beginners dress but it is one of my favorites.

The fabric I used was a thin satin with a really good drape to it. It was a remnant so there was only 1.5m. This pattern is good because you can add or take away fabric from the skirt to fit it into really tight spaces if you only have a little fabric left. I’ve gotten a dress out of 1m of fabric before but I prefer to work with minimum 1.5m depending on the person’s size. If there are patterns which need to be lined up or you are very particular on the grain of fabric you will need a lot more.

I don’t have a table to cut on so I have to lay it out on the floor. There’s still not much room so I usually fold in half to make things easier.

So this pattern is one I made around 8 years ago and have adapted over and over again. I don’t keep paper patterns partially because I hate working with them (paper obviously doesn’t drape like fabric) and partially because I don’t have room. Sometimes I’ll keep calico versions of patterns but most of the time I’m honestly too lazy to do versions in calico etc first. I lose interest with projects quickly so making the same dress twice has never really appealed to me. I totally understand it’s importance in the scheme of learning though and I think it’s a really great skill to learn when you’re starting out so you can find your best workflow. My attention span is something I’m trying to work on more so perhaps there will more more tutorials in the future dealing with that!

Anyway, I tend to just find a dress I know fits me with the same cut and lay it flat so I can cut around each piece. I don’t make for people other than my self often but if I am, I do the maths first to work out how much I need to add to bust/waist/hips then make the adjustments on the fly. Always cut larger than you think you need because it’s a pain to try and add more fabric later!

So time to cut the pieces. First the front:

Two sides:

Two back pieces. On the back pieces here I make sure to leave a lot extra for the zip and also for fitting it perfectly when it’s pinned.

So this dress is made of 5 pieces but two are mirror images. So from left to right is the back, side and front. The other side has a mirror of the side and back. The skirt for this one is not particularly full because of the lack of fabric I was working with.

At this point I would pin it all together and try it on to make sure it actually fit. It’s a good idea to do that after every seam to make sure you’re going in the right direction.

So let’s get to sewing and overlocking.

First I sew one side to the front.

The the other side to the front. You can see the skirt getting fuller and the shape coming into the bust now.

Next, the two back pieces go on either side.

Next I overlock all of the raw edges to seal them in. Now it’s time to deal with the back. Usually I’d be putting in a zip at this point but this dress will have a lace up back so I’ll take care of that in a bit.

First I fold the dress in half with the bad side out and work out where the bottom of the zip will be. Then I sew the bottom of the two sides of the skirt together below where the zip/laces will go.

Like so (or should that be “like sew”? ;D )…

In place of a zip I’m using some lace to put the threads through. So I turn the edges under and sew the lace up the back opening.

Like this:

It kind of looks almost like a dress now 😀

Now it’s just about the extra details. I turned the edges under on the top and stitched on a row of lace around it.

Top lace around the bodice:

Ribbon threaded to lace it at the back:

Next some ribbon for straps.

I find it’s best to put the dress on when measuring for straps and get someone to pin them in place so it has the support you want.

Then some nylon lace at the bottom. I don’t usually sew with nylon lace but cotton lace really didn’t match this fabric and was much too structured to keep the drape. Soft tulle and netting is great for bottom of the skirt details.

And that’s pretty much done!

Font:

Back:

Bottom:

Huzzah, finished! I’ve done this pattern so many times that when I’m making one for myself and actually pay attention I can get them done in a few hours. New dress in a few hours? Winner!

So that’s it from start to finish. I know it wasn’t an actual tutorial but hopefully this will be a decent introduction for those of you who have never made a dress before so you will know what to expect in the full tutorials later. Everyone has their preferred methods for sewing so hopefully some of you like mine!

As always, let me know if you if you have any questions and thanks for reading!

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