Category: natural

After 8 months at Sea: Style secrets to always have good hair

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

It’s been too long since I’ve posted in here. And I’m sorry. I don’t know why I haven’t checked in with y’all. Truth is I’ve been learning so much about hair and make-up since I’ve been away. Where have I been? I’ve just finished my first 8 months contract as a hairdresser on board the MSC Meraviglia, a cruise ship extraordinaire! I glamorously (and sometimes not so glamourously) sailed to Bahamas from NY all winter and then sailed the Mediterranean in the spring. My ship had a huge spa dedicated to the art of relaxation, self care and beauty….and I’m here to dish out style tips that saved me on this amazing work journey and kept it on the glamourous looking side. Because travelling and working requires practical hairstyles, that look glam. I’ll talk about the ones below because they balance functionality, with professional polish, and style. And they’re also so easy!

  • Embrace the frizz: I was in the middle of the ocean, and the air was salty, damp and misty. There was no way to have pristine, perfect glossy hair. Unless my hair was coated and weighted down in oil and wax. Or if I were firing up the heat tools every morning to style, which not only did I not have time for, would have fried my hair. I instead heat styled after shampooing only once a week! Then I added a light application of dry waxes and hair oils day to day to keep my ends looking less damaged. That meant I was rocking about 15% frizz on a daily basis. But that’s totally acceptable because the hair looks effortless that way and the frizz was forgivable, because it was still light and bouncy.
This is me in my uniform on a typical day onboard. I feel pretty and ready to work with my half updo hair!
  • We all use thin hair elastics to do braids or hold a pony, or half updo. But the trick to making it look polished? Don’t show the tiny elastics. That’s right. Always cover it up with a ribbon or any polished fascinator or flip it to cover with your own hair with a pony inverter. Same goes for bobby pins. Hide them as anchors under the hair.
This elastic was a simple black one. But what was the elevation? I flipped it to hide it.
  • No low pony tails with a bushel of frizzy ends: For some reason, low pony tails looked very lazy and sloppy on the ship. I think it’s the fact that when hair is pulled back it loses volume and the face looks severe. Then after the elastic, the tail end of the hair style poofs, asthe sea air adds frizz and makes too much undefined volume. It doesn’t looked balanced or tidy, as one may think. The solution I always did was if I was to wear a pony tail, it had to be high pony tail and with straight, sleek hair. it just looked a lot cooler that way!
Higher pony tails with slick hair avoids the frumpiness of low ponies and frizz
  • Professional looking buns are made with french pins: A french pin is an amazing hair tool. It’s not hard to use, and it looks chic and not overly formal. The way I used it was with a pony tail tied with a thin elastic, and the ends wrapped around. In the same sentiment: never use claw clips or scrunchies to hold buns. Claw clips damage hair with their teeth and scrunchies look sloppy.
A beautiful bun without any fuss or overly ornate claw clips with a french pin
A simple french pin is the way to fasten a bun and make it look chique
A simple french pin is the way to fasten a bun and make it look chique
  • Check the back with a mirror in front of a mirror to avoid unknowingly wearing cowlicks: This tip was an important one for me. My hair at the back has a cowlick split that always parts vertically. It’s not pretty. And should be fixed. It’s also a game changer to always know how your hair looks to other people from the back! Ways to fix a cowlick? a bun, a braid, a partial pony, or lots of hair spray!!!
  • Soften up the appearance of pulled back hair in ponytails or buns by leaving out face framing pieces: Women in the workplace and seafaring have to look able bodied without hair falling everywhere, but we also want to look pretty. On a ship pulled back hair signals order and control. But nothing adds more softness and femininity than to leave out some strands at the front of the face to look less rigid and uniform.

And the most important take away from these tips are that none of the styles look overly done up. They just look thoughtfully stylish. And trust me, as a seafarer, there was never enough time in the morning between downing the cup of crew mess coffee and running to report to work. So all the styles mentioned above take less than 5 minutes. That’s the true beauty of any hair routine, in that it looks effortless because it was. More styling tips to come stay posted about the fashion vibes I rocked on the ship!

A look into the new Rom Com “Materialists”: the fashion, the make-up and beyond…

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

My genre of choice is not the typical chick flick, rom com genre. It’s well known to be a formulaic critically panned genre. At most a guilty pleasure of smart, thinking people when they want a break from being feminists looking for depth in cinematic art. And here’s where I decided to give Materials a try. After reading a few review summaries about it being not the typical rom com, my interest was piqued. One quiet Tuesday night, I went to see this flick with my kid, and I’m glad I did. Here’s why:

The main character is flawed, but lovable because of these flaws. Dakota Johnson plays the lead heroine well. She plays Lucy, a no-nonsense numbers cruncher when it comes to her career as a matchmaker, living in New York City. She excels at the game of matching people up based on statistics and numeral dating “values”. Her flaws show heavily in that having been raised poor, Lucy now covets the flashy, cushy life that dating an affluent man can afford her. Enter Pablo Pascal as Harry, a handsome rich suitor. At the same time however, she still has feelings for her struggling actor ex boyfriend John, played by the hottie Chris Evans.

After developing the main characters, the film expertly directed by Celine Song, talks about real dating world problems, in a contemporary and realistic way…giving way to a more sober and serious rom com that the typical one. There are some funny scenes; Harry’s nod to male vanity, John’s absolutely horrible roommate situation, and Lucy’s experience listening to her client’s delusional dating expectations. But one of the more pressing topics addressed was that of the physical violence that can exist in a modern dating world where people desperate for love, are vulnerable to get victimized and abused.

Dating violence has always existed in any time period, but talking about it at length in a movie is contemporary. Not enough attention has been placed on the intense burden most single women face today because of the pressure to be married and to have children. It is still seen as the main way women are successful in life. That’s right. Being a woman in the top of her industry or earning a lot means nothing. And the status quo culture is still prioritizing getting a “ring on the finger”.Early in the movie, one of Lucy’s clients has cold feet on her own wedding day, having realized she was unsure WHY she was getting married. A reminder that getting a “ring on it” means more than fulfilling romantic destiny.

These stories in the movie Materialists, go on to illustrate how dating and love are not the same thing. Something that fairy tales and proper young ladies like myself and my upbringing were not allowed to explore. But in this day and age, it’s not a new message being expressed, it’s just a more truthful admission of this fact. In the not so distant past, marriages were politically designed unions to join the assets and reproductive values of two families or “corporations”. The smokescreen of the recent era is to erase that reality and place romantic and soulful completeness as the motive for dating. But the reality is “you can’t have your cake and eat it too”. You have to choose one or the other as Lucy did in this film.

And because this is a fashion and make up blog, let’s talk about it!!! The fashion and makeup was so on point in this movie. Dakota Johnson looked beautiful in almost every scene with hair and make-up that was fresh, feminine and smart. Her outfits matched every scene to the tee, and the male fashion was also on point. Both Pablo Pascal and Chris Evans looked amazing. Both male leads had presented themselves as if Dakota had chosen either one of them, it would have been a win win. Must mentions: Lucy’s thick but perfectly cut bangs, and her long flowing mane stole the show. Her sapphire coloured strapless dress in the first act looked expensive and tasteful, complementing her chestnut brown hair. And as she progressed into discovering her deeper romantic destiny, her frilly floral dress at the barn yard wedding visually showed her free spirited headspace and diversion from the past.

I absolutely love this look! The deep blue dress on light skin, the sleek dark hair and cute sandals. A nod to perfection!
Romantic, effortless and feminine. The quintessential get up for a country wedding, while looking modern and relaxed.
Wonderful hair and make up team on this production. Dakota’s complexion glows, her mauve lipstick so wonderfully compliments her dress, hair and eye make-up!

Are you going to give this unconventional rom com a try? please do! It will not disappoint!

Are there rules to Make Up after 40?

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

I have passed by countless articles and videos on social media over the past few years about how wearing and applying make-up is different for aging faces. And I never paid much attention to them, always skimming the feeds and skipping the links. The main reason is that I have just looked very youthful for most of my adulthood and did not feel the tips applied to me. My vanity and confidence in my youthful appearance would not let me entertain the idea that I maybe needed these tips…it’s not for me, I always told myself. But here I am, thinking more about it more recently. I now do see fine lines appearing, and places on my face that are a bit saggy. So what are these make up tips/rules now that I can see changes? I want to write down some of my own tips that I believe are ageless good practice, fand have nothing to do with being “over 40”.

Truth is, I don’t believe age should affect make-up application, colours or techniques, that’s too broad of a generalization. I think that changes in make up application is more personal and should be tailored. As a society that is pushing more forward with gender inclusivity, political and social awareness, the place that I feel is still left behind is the stigma with aging female bodies. Society assumes certain things about someone of a certain age. Older women especially seem to get pigeon holed into categories that are age biased and unpleasant, A “hag”, a “cougar”, “grandma”, “milf”, “pre-menopausal”…etc. Even the well meaning “mature” lady is kind of well, sucky. As one ages, skin texture does change, but instead of calling it aging skin or “over 40 skin”, it should be recognized as just a change in texture.

My Makeup Tips for Skin with fine lines and less plumpness:

  • Moisture is everything: Fine lines are actually accentuated by dry skin. Be sure to hydrate internally (drink lots of water) but also externally. Antioxidants like vitamin E oil does double duty, it hydrates and increases the suppleness of skin on an outer level. It also promotes healing from sun damage or pollution in the air.
  • Sunscreen should be in the makeup or under the makeup. Science doesn’t lie. UV rays in the sun does cause aging of the skin, dryness and fine lines.
  • Be careful with cosmetic powders. I love a pretty eye shadow colour, and setting powders to make make up last. But powders also absorb moisture and is drying in that sense. I now opt for cream eye shadows, and cream blush. And only use a light dusting of face powder over my foundation. We want a bit of shine and glow as we age, since powdery and cakey make the skin look like it is dry and wrinkly.
  • Exfoliate often: cell turn over rate slows down over the years. Help out the face by using gentle exfoliants to keep skin soft and diffuse any fine lines that may want to show up on dead skin. I like to use a lactic acid exfoliator. Super gentle.
  • Metallic shimmer is pretty, but it’s light reflecting ablity can settle into fine lines and highlight what is not smooth. Choose makeup colours that are matte or pearlescent. Much more flattering.
  • No harsh lines: eyeliner should be super soft and blended, with the exception of liquid liner to get a bold cat eye line. Otherwise, pencil liners should be diffused with a blending tool for softness. Add to the softness by opting for a charcoal grey pencil colour instead of jet black!
Mimimal powder and cream blush and cream eyeshadow. Blended eyeliner. It makes all the difference I feel these days to flatter my changing skin.

These are my tips for the small changes I see in my skin and how make-up might be adapted to better suit me. But everyone is different! I have talked to people whose faces actually get oilier as they get older and in that sense would have a different set of tips for make up. At the end of the day, just stay beautiful and take the best care of oneself possible. Be thoughtful and willing to change routines and rituals.