Angela Kinsey from one of the funniest sbows on TV, The Office, knows how to work the red carpet. She also knows how to get ready in a pinch when time is a ticking! We got our hands on her top beauty tips:

1. Pick a light-colored nail polish for your manicure—not only does it dry faster, but if it chips before the big night, it’s less noticeable. Try and do your nails the day before so wet nails won’t be an issue on event night. (I always abide by this. Nothing worse than bright red chipped nail polish.)

2. Skip the false lashes and try a great lengthening mascara like CoverGirl LashBlast Length.

3. Choose a long lasting lip color—only one application and it lasts the whole night, all you need is a glossy touch up! (I’ve been wanting to try a lip tint…heard it stays on all day)

4. Make sure your roots are kept at bay – for busy gals like myself, try coloring your hair at-home with Nice ‘n Easy the week of the event to brighten your look and ensure shiny color.

5. EAT! On event day, choose something light but filling so you’ll still feel like your fabulous self when you get into your evening attire.

Photo: Glamour

My boyfriend and I hosted a BBQ yesterday and the rain was no fun. Not only was I forced to block the food from getting soaked…but also my hair! Celebs at the Golden Globes last night must have felt my pain. Keeping your hair lookin’ good in the rain is a challenge…especially if you have PGH. Lucky for us, celeb hairstylist Philip Pelusi sent us some tips on weathering the storm during a special event. I will use these next time so that I don’t have to choose which to save…food or hair.

• Check the weather report a few days in advance so you can plan to wear your hair up or down. If rain is in the forecast, plan ahead to wear your hair either all up or half up and half down.
• Pulling hair into an updo or half upsweep is the best strategy to stay looking good in rainy conditions because hair is already curled, pinned and sprayed in place. If it gets rained on a bit, hair can simply air dry in place, and it is also easier to keep an updo dry under an umbrella.
• If you wear your hair down and are caught by surprise, make sure to bring a small emergency kit in your purse to a special event with a few hair pins, a ponytail holder and a small purse size hair spray. If hair gets wet, go for a quick style change. Pull hair back into the ponytail and wrap hair around the ponytail holder and secure into place with the hair pins. Mist with spray.

Celebrity hairstylist Philip Pelusi, who is well-known for his signature Volumetric® haircutting technique, sent us some tips on how-to get volume without the 1980’s  “big hair” look. While achieving volume is never my problem, I know a lot of ladies out there hate limp locks. Hope these tips help!

* Use a volumizing conditioner and shampoo: Volumizing products (such as the P2 InCrease Volumizze Shampoo and Conditioner) are formulated not to weigh hair down. Be careful to apply conditioner only to ends.

* Give Your Roots a Boost: Apply a root lifter before blowdrying, from midshaft to root (try Mod di Phy Define Root Lift Volumize Spray)

* Blow dry for “oomph”: Lift sections of hair toward the sky as you blow-dry, directing hot air toward your scalpl.

* Don’t blow-dry upside-down: To keep volume moderized, do not flip your head over

* Back-brush instead of tease: Instead of teasing your tresses with a comb, use a flat-backed brush, which will damage your hair less

* Mist hairspray – Heavy hairspray is more likely to weigh hair down instead of give it volume. Spritz hairspray in to the air and walk through it (try Mod di Phy Fluid Shaping & Finishing Spray)

Celebrity hairstylist, Francky L’Official, has a holiday hair tip we found very useful! You may know Francky from Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City. His Madison Avenue salon is visited regularly by celebs such as Kate Beckinsale, Vanessa Minnillo, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Kim Kardashian, and Bethenny Frankel.

Now, for your holiday hair tip from this hair guru!

To go from work to a party, it is best to always have a hair tie and bobby pins with you. (I never leave home without a hairtie!) For an easy style, women can twist hair up in the back and secure with bobby pins. Be sure to leave some pieces of hair down by the sides for a sexier look. Another option is to put hair in a messy ponytail with pieces left down to frame the face.

How is it December already!? Somebody please tell me where this year has gone!

As the weather gets colder and dryer (everywhere else besides Miami!), you need to make sure your locks stay healthy. Here are some tips to make sure your hair stays lovely even in cold temps!

1. Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! We can’t say this enough. Use a hydrating conditioner if you wash your hair daily (which we don’t suggest) and a deep conditioner at least once a week.

2. Which brings us to our next tip – don’t wash your hair everyday. Harsh shampoo strips your natural oils leaving your hair dry and brittle. For better second day hair, leave your hair loose while sleeping and refresh your strands in the morning with a curl refreshing spray. For straight hair, use a drop or two of  a silicone-based serum to tame frizz.

3.  Avoid alcohol-based products. For a great everyday hairspray, try Aveda Air Control. It’s my fav!

4. Watch your hat. While hats are great in the winter for covering up a bad hair day, they can also cause limpy, greasy locks. Just plan accordingly.

5. Easy on the up-dos. We know you’ll be going to a lot of holiday parties, just take it easy on your hair. Bobby pins and tight elastics can cause major breakage. A glitzy hair piece may be a better option, like this L. Erickson. Leaf barrette. It is loaded with glistening crystals like frozen dew drops on a wintry day!

Pam Kelly, National Director of Technical Salon Services for Fantastic Sams Hair Salons, gave us some tips on what is going to be Holiday Hair Hot this season:

The use of braids woven into the hair will be very popular at holiday parties as well as jeweled headbands and barrettes.

Celebrity styles, as always, will be requested during the busy holiday season.

Up do and special occasion hair will be either sleek and pulled back with the focus on the back/nape area, or soft and tousled, rather than a structured look.

Deep sweeping side part bangs and full front fringes will be popular on most haircuts.

Haircuts will include soft layering.

Soft waves will play a big part.

Want more style how-to’s? Check out their site here or become a Facebook friend.

Photo courtesy of Bellasugar.com

Twi-hards are upon us. In lieu of this Friday’s opening date, it will be hard to turn your head without seeing some form of New Moon mania. 

The gang has been making their worldwide rounds promoting their new film and I can’t imagine how hard it has to be maintaining red-carpet ready hair at all times. Kristen Stewart seems to be doing a good job at this. She was wearing her normally super short locks in a longer way for Monday night’s big premiere in LA.

I personally love her no matter what she does because she isn’t afraid to take risks and she has a pretty nonchalant attitude about what people think of her. Self confidence is always sexy.

Bellasugar.com has 5 easy steps to help you recreate this look. Click here for the full story. 

P.S. I’m on Team Edward!

We just found out that Walmart has a beauty blog with everyday tricks, tips and solutions. We just read an article on trimming your own bangs…a must-know for any ladies with fringe. Here are some tips posted by Twyla, one of their beauty experts.

1) Get a good pair of salon-quality scissors.
2) Cut your hair when dry.
3) Cut hair in tiny sections – angle the scissors at 45-degrees and use the tip of the scissors to snip just a few strands at a time.
4) Start longer – you can also go shorter.
5) Only go as far as the ends of your eyebrows.
6) Be patient! Don’t rush it!

Don’t ya just hate struggling to hide your bobby pins? Well now you don’t have to! Bobby pins have been spotted on the runways as a hot fashion accessory. Up there with heabands in fact.

Jeni Hoover, owner and stylist at Pearl Hair & Make-up Studio, gave us a great how-to on how you can recreate this look. I haven’t tried this yet but I plan to try it out this weekend for a wedding. Enjoy!!

1. Make a side part in the your hair, we will be working with the stronger side.

2. Using your curling iron, make horizontal barrel curls below the part, spraying a setting spray on each section, combing through, wrapping all hair around iron, and then sliding it off the rod and pinning against your scalp with a pincurl clip. Hair should be in a similar shape as when it was on the curling iron.

3. Do this down to your ear, there should be about 4-5 curls pinned parallel to your part.

4. Spray all curls with hairspray.

5. Once curls have cooled, take down and brush thoroughly, roots to ends. This pulls out the curl a bit, creating a wave, and also joining the curls together into one piece.

6. Use some polishing creme, or a light pomade, to smooth this section and create one large waved section.

7. Position this wave with a bit of slack and bring it and the rest of your hair back into a pony tail or loose bun.

8. While keeping the natural shape in the waved section, slide bobby pins in from the front of the wave, about 1/2 -1 inch apart. Pin the whole wave starting a few inches from your part. This will hold the wave in place as well.

The wonderful people at Spornette were nice enough to send us a bunch of hair brushes to test out, as well as a complete brush buying guide. Whether you want your hair sleek and straight or bouncy and full, it’s important to keep the different types of brush bristles in mind when you’re trying to achieve a certain look. 

Spornette has been designing and distributing hair brushes for more than 50 years, so let’s just say they know their stuff! They gave us some tips for picking the proper round brush:

Fine hair – Staggered bristle length pure boar bristles

Medium to thick hair – Boar bristles and longer nylon bristle tufts

Thicker hair – Nylon bristles, and usually a ball tipped for gentleness

Besides texture, you also have to consider hair length. Spornette’s basic rule of thumb is the shorter the hair, the smaller the overall diameter of the round brush and vice versus. The reasoning makes perfect sense – if you style long hair on a small diameter round brush, you will be rolling hair on top of hair already gathered on the brush, therefore not getting the holding power/tension needed to effectively style hair. 

We’ll be posting more styling tips from Spornette, but in the meantime check out their site here.