Cocktail Curls. The Curl Files

An easy, elegant naturally curly hairstyle for an evening out.  

SO, for obvious reasons that I think are pretty obvious, it's important to me that people don't just think of straight hair and smooth wand-created curls when they need to be fancy.  Why can't we all just be a little bit more unruly and dare I say frizzy.  Natural curls are professional, elequeont (even if I can't spell it) and fancy.

To me, big fluffy hair is the perfect accompaniment to a cocktail dress.  Black tie event?  Go big.  Fluff it up.

Variations of this curly hair style are my go-to for evenings out.  Side swept always adds interest, is super forgiving - making crazy runaway curls look intentional.  Plus you just pick the side that is looking best that day and pin the other side back.

I am loving the trend right now of multiple barrettes.  Why should bobby pins be so boring.  I dug through my bathroom vanity and found all my old favorites.  There's no rules here folks.  To get you inspired check out here, here and here.  Honestly I am obsessed with all of her barrettes.   And more simple but still stackably fabulous here and here.

The Not Really Directions, Directions...
step 1.  decide your part, I like to part my hair different then how it is laying that day, this way it creates instant volume at the root.  I have been wearing my part more towards the middle lately, so for this look I pulled pieces over from the left.
step 2.  I used a little bit of Beautiful Mess to smooth down the side that I was going to pin back, especially all the little baby hairs, a little goes a long way.  I also used a touch on the pieces I re-parted - to keep them from flipping back to the original part line.
step 3.  pin back with barrettes, make the side swept more dramatic by pinning it back further.  I just did a little bit because my curls were behaving (I just washed it yesterday.)  If my hair was on a further wash day I would have pinned if further back - maybe all the way to the left side. 
step 4.  fluff it up and spray with Innersense I Create Finish.  Get Dramatic.

What do you think?  Did I mention that this hairstyle also takes less than 10 mins.  Fantastic, because if I am having a night out, there's usually dinner for the kids and a home that needs picked up, and getting dressed and picking up the babysitter.  Already exhausted. 

Here are some of my favorite barrettes right now...

Every day styles

Fancy it up a bit.

Happy Fluffing.

best
Kirsty