Kiko Mizuhara is my style icon. She and Park Sora are two models I am obsessed with at the moment, and I think it's kind of nice that the "wish I were blonde" syndrome I had as a child has been replaced with a "being Asian is cool, but I wish I were tall" one. (That's a lie: I still go back and forth with whether or not I should attempt Sora's gorgeous hair colour).
The problem with having these Asian beauty icons is thinking that I can get away with the same stuff they do because we have similar-ish colouring. Problem: I am not a devastatingly beautiful 5'10" model.
Last year, Kiko inspired me to chop my mid-back-length hair into a bob. Yes, a chin-grazing bob. I liked it for a whole of five minutes before I decided my face was too round--whoops. Luckily, my hair grows pretty fast, but every time I see her looking like total perfection on Instagram, my heart starts longing for those scissors. She's so amazing. Seriously, see for yourself.
Thankfully not all of Kiko's selfies involve a trip to the stylist followed by hair loss remorse.
When I saw this photo, I knew I just had to find a way to do something similar to my own hair too (see my first attempt here).
And now I'm showing you! It's surprisingly easy.
First start off with a strip of ribbon around two inches wide. I used a long piece of cut-out fabric since I had some lying around. The length will depend on your hair, but it should be longer than your hair on both sides because you will be tying a bow. Hopefully the picture explains this better.
Place the ribbon in the middle of your head. The middle of the ribbon should be aligned with the middle of your head. Let the ends hang down the side.
Part your hair down the centre and make two pigtails. Secure with hair ties, including the ribbon in each pigtail.
Braid each pigtail, but instead of of using three sections of hair to braid, use two sections of hair and the ribbon as the third section. Braid as usual, and secure at the ends with hair ties.
Take the ends of the ribbon and tie into a bow. Pin down anything sticking up with bobby pins. Finish the front of your hair however you choose. Since I have bangs, I pinned mine to the side.
All finished!
Note: if your hair is longer than mine, you might have to pull the ribbon out so it doesn't sit at the end of the braids, but wherever the centre of your head will be when tying the bow, pinning the ends of the braids to your head before tying. This will hopefully make more sense as you do it.
I kept the makeup fairly simple with this one. Mascara, the tiniest (and I mean ultra thin line) of liquid eyeliner, matte bronzer under the cheekbones and of course, red lips like Kiko's, courtesy of MAC's Brick lipliner. Oh, and highlighter for that ethereal glow.
Would you try it? What are your favourite fancy but easy hair styles? Should I attempt Park Sora level blonde using the lovely Alle's bleach's wash? Let me know in the comments!