put a sock in it.

Your hair, that is. 

A friend told me about this super easy trick to get a perfect ballerina bun and easy curls. Wear the bun all day then take it down to have lustrous curls for the evening. Or wear the bun out at night, sleep in it, and enjoy bouncing curls the next day! 

1. Cut off the tube part of a tube sock and roll up into a donut shape. 

2. Place sock around end of pony tail and slowly roll it up towards your head.

3. Fold hair into sock as you roll, creating the same donut shape with your hair.

4. Voila! You have a perfect bun! 

5. Take the bun out many hours later to enjoy cascading curls.

I prefer putting the bun near the crown of my head, so I start with a very high pony tail and slightly damp hair. I wore the bun at work all day and slept in it, which is surprisingly comfortable. 

Once in the hair-down phase, I actually found my curls a little too 80s full (I have very thick hair, this might not happen with all hair types), so I pulled them back with a ribbon for a tamer feel. I am so full of ideas now for different ways to use this trick; Like using multiple child's socks for tighter curls, or starting with a side pony or pigtails!

I hope you will try out the sock bun and let me know how it goes.

Mexican prints for summer

Something that did not change in China: Georgia Summers are freakin hot! So I've eschewed structured clothing and opted for nice flowing breathable pieces like this simple top from Love Culture. I went through a hippie stage in High School and never imagined I'd be going back, but I am just loving these Native American esque prints I'm seeing around.... it makes me want to buy one of those Mexican wool blankets (zarapes) and decorate my new apartment with cow skulls and dream catchers on my walls.

Image source: Mex and the City

I'm not the only one who is in this mood. One of the only things I've posted on tumblr to go "viral" (I might be using that term loosely) is this "Aztec Pastel fabric leather backpack" I found on Black Luna's flickr. It has over 4,000 notes on it, which, even though it's not MY backpack, still instills me with a little ridiculous pride.

refuse to be nailed into just one color!

Image from Funky Trend.

One of my favorite ways to funk up a look is to be a bit creative with nail polish. The days of getting to choose only one color to suit your mood are over, and now we see trendtastic ladies donning all kinds of shades and variations on their nails.

I first started doing the accent ring finger last year, having seen it on some of my more fashionable classmates and fellow campus rats, and always considered it a kind of hiphop glam Atlanta thing. (Being from here, I have a soft spot for hiphop culture fashion and like to incorporate it into my looks). My boy and I have a photobooth photo diary thing we like to do, so I happen to have some shots capturing a few of my past nail designs. Blue and orange was just for fun, but mostly I like to do a somber color on the majority of the nails and one bright pop on the ring finger like in the last picture.

Yikes, please ignore the greasy, hungover, rolled-straight-outta-bed faces and focus on the glorious nail polish in the foreground!

When considering the origins of this trend, I think it's inspired in part by wacky nail variations in the 80's, which explains why 80's glam lover and fab nail pioneer, Rihanna, started switching up her colors as early as 2007 (in the picture on the left). Since then, she's taken her nail beds to even more dizzyingly eye-catching heights. Here she is earlier this year with leopard print and stick-on bling. And check out the pure sparkle middle finger accent. Swoon!

Images from All Lacquered Up and glamour.com

With my conception of this trend as a hiphop glam thing with ATL roots, imagine my surprise to stumble across the glorious hands of Molly from Chimerically Yours all the way in Scotland!! I like how she just went with the one fingernail on the left hand. I'm dying to know where she first saw this done or if it came out of her imagination!

The lovely paint job on Molly's hands from her blog, Chimerically Yours.

With a little searching, I also found the amazing nail polish blog, Kawaii Nails by Zahra all the way in Bermuda. Way back in May of '09 she sported the incredible design on the left. More recently, she posted a picture from a Japanese fashion magazine featuring a delightful combo of glue-on bling and accent nails.

Images from Zahra's blog, Kawaii Nails.

Now my theory of this as a hiphop culture, Atlanta based trend is even more questionable. It seems like the crazy accent nails are scratching up notice all over the place! Once again, my faith in the fashion collective unconscious is renewed.

I've also seen accent toes, particularly the big toe (though I don't really like that on my own feet). I am planning to get tiny little rhinestones or pearls to glue to my own big toe for a little sparkle in the summer heat without the added weight of jewelry! Here are my current accent toes, a more subtle hue change to suit my taste.

Do excuse my not so cute feet and not so neat paint job...

Having been inspired by the nail freedom and creativity of others, I decided to dig through my nail polish collection and try a new combo. I had some pastels that remind me of the American Apparel shades going around, and went with a pinkie accent.

Side note: my polish is years, we are talking YEARS (maybe 5?) old and is thus very thick and goopy. I tried adding a bit of nailpolish remover to the bottles and shaking them up, but does anyone else know any remedies for over-the-hill polish?

So, has anyone else seen these nail styles around their city, and if so, where do you think they originate?

Other fun nail sites: Nail Gal, All Lacquered Up.