More Updo Inspiration!

This past weekend I was able to do a wedding.  I love being able to do weddings. There is something so fun about being involved in someone's special day.  I thought I would share a few of the ones I did this past weekend.  Maybe you have a wedding or event you can tuck these ideas away for.


This one was fun! She really wanted a fishtail braid and to keep her hair looking long; she basically had mermaid hair!

The half up half down is such an elegant, classic look.  If you have hair that will stay pretty down all day, I think this is a great option. 

She wanted to have a lot of texture her in hair, so leaving the sides curly like that creates a lot of movement.  This style is fun to have and fun for me to do!

  

If you follow me on Pinterest at Mallorie Lounds, you will be able to find this post and pin these styles. 

My disclaimer to these styles is that these girls all had hair that had color or highlights in it, which is a huge help in getting hair to stay in place and curled.  Keep your texture in mind when you are choosing an updo!

Links and Love: Back to School Edition

I know, I know you hate me.  I said the dreaded "S" word - school that is.  While I hate that summer

is closing in, I thought I would share a few of our favorite school items with you all.

Here are our essentials for school:

I love Lands' End Backpack and lunch boxes.  The quality is incredible; they are indestructible. Nolan is going on year three for his and it is still in perfect condition.  I clean it, so it still looks new.  There is not a frayed seam or edge on the whole bag even with how rough boys are. Both the kids have these and I hope they are able to use them for many years to come.  The backpacks run in price from $40 to $50, however Lands' End is always running a 40% off coupon and every once a in a while they will do a 50% off backpacks which makes the price extremely reasonable for such a high quality product.  The lunch bags run about $25. While up front it may be a bit more then other bags, your kids are going to be able to use them for quite a few years.  Plus, Lands Ends' has cute prints for their bags!

Lands End Backpack 

Lands End Lunchbags

My kids take cold lunch about 95 % of the time, so I have liked finding nice lunch containers for them.  So far our favorite have been Yumboxes. They are a hard shell plastic container with dividers on the inside.  I like these the best because I can pack wet food like yogurt or applesauce next to dry food and the dividers are so tight that nothing leaks through. They come in multiple sizes and even have a snack size. It also comes in so many fun color and graphics on the inside.   Yumboxes fit perfectly in Lands' End lunch bags.

Another lunch container that my kids really like are kids' size thermos.  While the kids school does have a microwave, they like the thermos for days that they want soup, or even leftover spaghetti.  I usually just heat up the food in the morning and then pour it in to the thermos.  The kids say that the food is a perfect temperature by lunch.

The kids also like to bring a water bottle with them for lunch. We have found that the Contigo ones work great for school.  They keep the water cold and they are easy to clean. They also don't leak any water.

Since the kids take cold lunch and usually there is something in it that needs to stay cold, I found these fun thin ice packs.  I put 2 in their lunch bag and they are generally still cool by the time they get home in the afternoon.

I included links on Amazon for the kid thermos, the water bottle, and the ice packs, but I have seen all these things are either at  Meijer or Target. So that is all the general school supplies that I love. Here are the hair supplies that I think are needed for school:

My number one is always Fairy Tales Lice Repel.  My kids go from their summer line to the lice line once school starts.  It is a must for kids in elementary school or even day care.  Here is a link from my post all about lice prevention.

Next, I would say that a wet brush is a must for little girls.  Help fight those morning tangles with the Wet Brush and now the Wet Brush for Thick Hair.  These I think are must also. They go through the hair so much nicer then a regular brush.

A good idea for the beginning of the year is to restock your hair ties.  These always seem to disappear somehow, so I like to buy fresh at the beginning of the school year!

I hope you all enjoy your last few weeks before school starts and that back to school shopping goes well!!

Flower Girl Updo

I have had good luck with getting Kinsley's hair to stay in whichever way I put it.  Kinsley has slightly wavy hair, with a decent thickness and a nice texture.  It took her five years to actually grow hair, but once it came in,  it came in really nice.

So, I wanted to try an updo for you all on some thinner hair, to see if I could get it to stay and to look nice and full. Kins has a sweet little friend, who has perfectly straight, angel soft, blonde hair.  It is perfect hair to see if it would work.  Plus she is in a wedding soon, so it was good practice.
As you can see Anna's hair is so pretty and blonde. It is also very soft and fine.

Her hair does not love to stay tightly curled with a curling iron, so I decided to use Hot Tools hot sticks.  These things can curl anything. Before I put the hotstick in, I do spray the hair with a little of the Rusk workable hair spray.

Side Note: If you buy these, make sure you buy perm paper wraps.  They are thin little papers that you have to wrap the ends in.  I linked them below, but you can also find them at Sally's in the perm section.  It protects them from the heat and make sure the ends don't curl badly.

This is what they should look like in the hair.  Keep them in until the sticks are all cooled down.

Once cooled and removed, you can take a light hair spray to help hold the curl.  I also like to put a little paste in the hair to help separate the curls. It looks insanely curly, but for little girl updos, the curlier the better because you know that their hair is going to relax a lot.

From here, the video will do a great job showing and describing what I did to get the back up and to make it look full.

What I really like to do for young girls, specially ones with thinner hair is to do a nice braid in the front.  It holds the front wispy pieces in well.  It keeps the hair looking good all day, and it makes sure nothing falls out.

When doing updo on kids I use my regular hair spray.  I want to make sure that it is holding extremely well.

Three braids in to one.

I did this style as a practice on Kinsley last week and you guys loved it,  so we did a video right away.

All it is, is three French braids, just combined.  So if you can French braid, you can easily master this look.

If you remember when I did the waterfall braid, you do that same idea on the top braid.  You are removing the side strands out of the top braid, and then you are saving those for the two side braids.

In the video you can see how I remove those end strands and leave those down and how I pick up a tiny bit of hair in that spot and add it to the braid to keep the braid motion still going.

On the side braids, it is hard to describe how that braid is taking shape. The video will explain it better.  You are really just doing a regular braid but adding in the dropped down hair from the top braid into the side braids.

I stopped the braids at the top of the head and then did a little top knot, but you could do it differently and put it all up into a bun, which would look really cute!

Amazon Prime Day!!

If you are an Amazon Prime member you have been getting a bunch of emails about all their good deals from Prime Day.

I went through and picked a lot of items that I thought were a deal to watch and I thought I would share them with you all.  It has everything including products for hair, kids, books and exercise stuff.  I apologize for all the links. Happy Shopping on Prime Day!!

L'Oreal Paris Mascara -  This is a mascara I have been using for a while.  I like that it is has the white fiber and then the dark second coat.  It makes me feel like my lashes are really thick. Normally I buy it for $11 at Ulta.

Burts Bees Basic Face Care Kit -  I don't use anything too fancy on my face when I wash it, but I have really liked Burts Bee's skin care.  It cleans my face well, and doesn't seem to dry it out.

Burts Bees Mini Travel Kit -  I don't own this but I think it is something I will buy for the trips we have planned this summer. It has a little bit of everything you need in it. 

Wet Brushes - You all know how I love these brushes.  If you don't have them yet, buy these. Two for $15.99 is a good deal!

Wazor Hair Flat Iron 1 inch - I have yet to use this flat iron, but the review are good on it and it is a flat iron that was $109 and is a deal for under $30.  So if you are in the market, consider this one. 

Berta 1875W Negative Ion Hair Blow Dryer - This blow dryer is also a steal, with a professional grade blow dryer for under $40.

Girls Pajamas Short Set - Now I don't think these are that good of a deal, especially if you are a sale shopper, but the mermaid pajamas are so cute.  What little girl wouldn't love these!

Julie 2014 Mini Doll and Book (American Girl) - This is a Kinsley's pick.  Julie is her favorite American Girl doll. The mini dolls are so cute. It is nice to have them, so that if your daughter wants to bring a doll with them, at least it isn't their full size doll.

Rose Art Wooden Speedway Craft Kit - I thought Nolan would think this was a fun, even if he isn't super in to crafts. I thought painting a race car would be cool.

Little House Four Book Box Set - We love the Little House series.  Nolan and Kinsley have the 6 box set and we have read them all.  They are one of my favorite and now my kid's favorite books.  If you have yet to read them to your kids, I think they would like it!

Trademark Games Bocce Ball Set - We love outdoor games and Bocce Ball is one of our favorites.  It is a nice game to have when you are at the cottage or having people over to your house. 

Foam Roller - This is for all your runners, lifters, and exercisers of any kind.  If you get sore muscles, a foam roller works well to relieve them.  This one is a great deal. Originally $50 and on sale for under $20. It also comes with a booklet to show you how to use them. 

Strideline NCAA Athletic Socks - This is Nolan's pick.  These socks are really cool.  You can't go wrong with MSU socks. 

Gamma Proton Widebody Pickleball Paddle - I realize that Derek and I are not in our 60s and so we are some of the youngers playing pickleball, but it is so much fun.  It is like a cross between tennis and ping pong.  If you are looking for a new sport to play, try pickleball. It is fun!

Little Cosmetics Signature Pretend Makeup - We got this for the girls for Christmas and they love it.  It looks real and comes with real brushes.  If you have a little girl who might like this make sure you order it right away.  They sold out really fast last year. 

Low Chignon!

I thought it would be helpful to show a few more easy updos, ones that aren't too formal, but nice enough that you could wear them as a guest or even as a bridesmaid to a wedding, or a summer party. It is a great way to get your hair out of your face and off your neck and still look nice.

I have shown you something similar with braids, but I think this video shows a much better description and makes it a bit more classy with the hair wrapped instead of braids.

You will need to have medium length hair, so that it can make the flip in the back and be pinned up and that your front hair can reach all the way around to the back.

If your hair is thick you will have to use more pins and section the topsy turvy part into smaller sections to secure. If your hair is thinner you will want to make sure you back comb the pony tail a bit to plump it up more.

While the video shows how I did this on myself, this is also something you can do on your daughters!