Bohemian Spring Break

Maybe it was the South by Southwest festival happening just a few hours away in Austin this week. Maybe it was all the flowy 1920s costumes on Downton Abbey. Maybe it was the recent release of all the "festival clothes" in every clothing store in the last week or so. Maybe it was my desire to feel like I was relaxing on a beach somewhere. Whatever it was, this week, I wanted my style to feel bohemian, and since I didn't have to be in an office or a classroom, I pulled out all my most flowy, fringey, flowery items, let my hair stay in its naturally curly state, and had a bohemian spring break.

I learned that the secret to getting a bohemian look without buying anything new is to delve into your hoarder's collection of flowy scarves. If, unlike me, you do not have a ridiculous scarf collection, I can't help you. Also useful are leather boots, maxi skirts, flowers for your hair, and some iron-on fusible web (more on that in a tutorial next week).

For me, the most important element of feeling bohemian was minimal, rosy makeup and romantic, curly hair. Although my hair was in its "natural" state, ever since I started straightening my hair, some of my curls are stringy and almost completely straight. So to get them to look like they do in the picture, I used the no-heat-handband curls method that I saw on the TV show "Mirror Mirror." (Here's the tutorial). In the very first picture, my hair is actually wrapped around a headband, which just looks like a pretty twisty updo, but was also the way I set my curls. It's a really easy method for curling your hair; you should try it.