14-Day Makeover Challenge: Hair

Week 2: Last week, we left Jessica with a chic, new cut and irresistible, coppery-red color. Still basking in her post-salon glow, the hard part of the 14-Day Makeover Challenge was just beginning: giving her new locks a different style for two weeks straight. Now with one week down, left’s find out how she’s doing!

Turns out, a makeover challenge isn’t so hard when you love your hair. Jessica can’t stop experimenting with her new beauty products from ideeli, straightening and curling her locks into new looks every single day. In fact, she gets so many compliments, she can barely field them anymore! But while it’s nice to be noticed, the best part is how she feels about herself.

”I actually feel lighter, better, and more confident in myself when I walk out the door in the morning. It really makes a difference in your disposition when you're happy with how you're presenting yourself.”

Here are Jessica’s three favorite looks—with easy steps to making them your own.

Scrunched-up Waves
“I wanted tight-messy curls that would loosen as the day went on—so they could go from a day at the office to a night out.”

1. Blow-dry hair fully.
2. Use medium-size, clipless curling iron; wrap hair downward around the iron with your hand, but don’t curl the ends.
3. Add de-frizzing product (I used E.V.A. Argan Oil Treatment).

Soft and Sleek
“For a just-from-the-salon look at work, I did a total 180 from my usual wavy hair, straightening it but still keeping a slight curl at the bottom.”

1. Blow-dry hair completely.
2. Add a heat-protecting product (I used Carol's Daughter Heat-Protection Foam). Straighten with flat iron.
3. Add de-frizzing product, like E.V.A. Argan Oil Treatment.

Pin Straight
“I wanted to straighten my hair, but spend less time than I did with the style above. The result is edgier and more textured.”

1. Blow-dry hair completely.
2. Add a heat-protecting product, like Carol's Daughter Heat-Protection Foam. Straighten with flat iron.
3. Use a hairspray or gel (I used Carol's Daughter Macadamia Heat-Styling Hairspray) to add texture.

Tune in next Tuesday (4/17) for the final results of Jessica’s hair makeover and to score her favorite styling tools and hair products in our 14-Day Makeover Challenge: Hair sale. You can also learn more about our makeover series and follow our healthy-eating and fashion challenges.

Fashion Makeover: Meet the Expert

From What Not to Wear to Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style to The Zoe Report, the personal stylist has become a modern-day fairy godparent. Whether they guide us with tough love or the softest cashmere, one thing’s for sure: we all want one. Alas, we are mere mortals who, most days, only get feedback from our full-length mirrors. Last week, however, our lucky fashion makeover winner, Nicole, got to live the dream when we brought in a professional stylist to help refresh her wardrobe.

Yesterday, we introduced you to Nicole, an ideeli employee who wants to take her laid-back, all-black wardrobe to a new level of colorful sophistication. After Ariela Suster — a celebrity stylist and owner/designer of the accessories label Sequence Collection — showed Nicole how to update her wardrobe, we sat down with her to get some advice. And, fortunately, she was game! Here are Ariela’s five foolproof styling tips for updating your look.

1. Want to add more color to your wardrobe? Start with accessories! They provide the perfect pop without traveling too far outside your comfort zone.
2. If (like me) you’re vertically challenged—in other words, short!—use nude or light-colored shoes to elongate your legs. Stay away from anything dark that will cut you off at the ankle.
3. One well-fitting blazer is a wardrobe must-have! It’s the easiest way to add structure to an outfit. Plus, it makes anything you wear it with feel infinitely more polished.
4. Always highlight your waist. Even if you’re wearing a blazer or cardigan over something else, wrap a belt around your natural waistline. It will nip you in at your most flattering point.
5. Patterns can be overwhelming, so here’s a good rule of thumb: The larger (and wilder) the print the further away from your face you want it. So stick with smaller prints on tops and blouses, and if you really want to go for it, try a boldly patterned skirt.

Check out the first part of Nicole’s fashion makeover and learn more about the 14-Day Makeover Challenge. You can also follow our challenges for hair and healthy eating.

Healthy Eating: The Results

Now that Kirsten had a nutrition consultation, completed a food cleanse, and spent two weeks eating an ultra-healthy diet, she has new knowledge and tested tips to share with us. What did she learn? What tools helped the most? Let’s find out!

Kirsten started her journey with a one-on-one consultation with Keri Glassman, author and founder of NutritiousLife, and says Glassman’s Slim Calm Sexy Diet was equally helpful, providing recipes, nutritional facts, and quick references like ingredient substitutions. ”Knowing what each food has to offer (and not offer) makes it much easier to choose healthy foods,” says Kirsten. “Being aware is what can make or break your level of success.”

Here are five items that Kirsten found indispensable over the last two weeks.

Cuisineart 8-Piece Nonstick Pots and Pans Set
“These truly ‘nonstick’ pots and pans made it so easy to cut out unwanted fats while cooking. Clean-up was a breeze, too, because I wasn't busy scraping away particles that became one with the pan.”

Cuisineart SmartPower Premier Blender
“Experimenting with different types of smoothies entertained me for a freakishly long time, but this blender can also whip up a serious batch of salsa. Clean up was easy, and the smaller portions helped me maintain my cool without over indulging.”

Cool Gear Containers
“With sturdy utensils built in, it was easy to bring anything for lunch. The separate, built-in compartments are nothing short of genius!”

KitchenAid Salad Chopper
“My obsession with "Slim Slaw" (from Slim Calm Sexy Diet) pretty much began on day one of the cleanse—and this chopper was the easiest way to make it. It was fun to use, and life was so much easier when chopping fine, consistent pieces. Every kitchen should have one!”

Tempted to start your own healthy-eating makeover? Score Kirsten’s favorite products in our 14-Day Makeover Challenge: Cooking sale (ending 4/12 at 10AM EDT). You can also learn more about our makeover series and follow our hair and fashion challenges.

14-Day Makeover Challenge: Fashion

Week 1: What’s better than getting a wardrobe makeover? Not much if you ask us. It's like an exhilarating day shopping with your own personal stylist. So when our social media specialist, Nicole, said she was ready to punch up her wardrobe with colorful, new styles, we got right to work and asked for her three main goals.

1. Leave her all-black comfort zone for colorful pieces
2. Be more adventurous with cuts and styles
3. Update her work wardrobe, taking it from Florida-beach to New York-chic

To start, Nicole told us what she likes (A-line dresses, heels, and patterns) and what she doesn't (florals, skirts, and purses) and showed us some inspiration for her new look with magazine tear-outs. We then invited celebrity stylist and accessories designer Ariela Suster, founder of the Sequence Collection, to our Soho office for an afternoon of mixing, matching, and styling.

With a rack full of spring clothes from ideeli and a few of Nicole's favorite pieces from her own closet, Ariela put together three new looks.

Casual Summer Friday
Nicole’s own worn (but loved) jeans are the base of this casual-sophisticated look. A blouse with a bright, graphic print adds color, while a black blazer creates a streamlined polish. To step it up, Ariela chooses a pair of wedges that not only add a pop of blue, echoing Nicole's printed top, but also some welcome height to Nicole's 5'3" frame.

Presentation Perfect
A sunny yellow, A-line dress takes Nicole's look (and color) up a notch. Paired with the same versatile black blazer and wedges, Nicole’s ready for business. She looks summery, professional, and feminine.

Right on Time
This classic coat in crimson has it all: the sophisticated silhouette you’d expect of a trench and a modern pop of color Nicole wants. So whether she’s strutting down the street or walking into work, this coat makes a chic statement.

Check back tomorrow for a Q&A (plus some great styling tips) with Ariela Suster — and next Wednesday 4/18 to see how Nicole’s doing, one week in, as she incorporates a new piece into her look every day of the challenge. Want to learn more about the ideeli 14-Day Makeover Challenge? Click here.

You can also follow our 14-Day Makeover Challenge for hair and healthy eating.

Hair Makeover: Meet the Experts

There's nothing quite like just-from-the-salon hair. It's light and shiny, and it smells so good! But sooner or later, you have to wash and style it on your own, which — if you're like us — is when all good hair intentions comes to an end. But now we’ve got professional help!

Yesterday we launched our 14-Day Makeover Challenge for hair and introduced you to Jessica, an ideeli employee who turned her dark-blond locks into head-turning coppery red waves, thanks to two experts at the Ted Gibson salon in NYC. We sat down with Jessica's colorist and stylist, Ronny and Jill, not only to learn how to get our own dream cut and color, but also to get a few styling tips for after the post-salon glow washes out. First up, Ronny tells us how to get the best hair color — and keep it.

Ronny's Coloring Tips
Q: What’s the best way to go about picking a new hair color?
A. Keep your natural hair color in mind and look at how far this new shade is from that. Then think about the level of maintenance you're willing to commit to, and if you have gray or not (as that means more trips to the salon for touch-ups). The further you get away from your natural color, the more upkeep you’ll have.

Q: What should you never do when coloring hair?
A. Never color it at home. There are so many things that can easily go wrong. Box colors tend to be a shade (or two) darker than the actual dye is. If you must color your hair at home, only do your roots.

Q: What's special about Iona, the hair-color line you used for Jessica's makeover?
A. It's by L'Oreal, and it's the first hair-color line that doesn’t have ammonia in it — you can barely smell it! Iona doesn't open up the hair cuticles as much as ammonia-based dyes, so your hair won’t fade as easily.

Q: What hair color trend is not going anywhere anytime soon?
A. Ombré. I thought it was trend, but it's so easy to maintain, because it's darker on the top and lighter on the bottom.

Jill's Styling Tips
Q: How do you get the haircut you want when you go to a salon? Are photos really useful?
A. It's all about what the client wants to feel. When people describe what they’re looking for, what they're really telling me is how they want to feel afterward. As for photos, celebrity references are wonderful. Even if you have a different hair texture, I can tell what you're feeling — there's is no way to misinterpret what you want!

Q: What are good ways to get that just-from-the-salon feel at home?
A. A new haircut is all about sleekness, scent, and feel, so anything you can do to play up one of these three things will help. Use pomade and piece your hair out. That’s like a foolproof way to get texture — you can scrunch it out.

Q: You cut Jessica's hair shorter in the back and longer in the front — what does that do?
A. Narrower faces should always get more layers, while wider ones should have less (especially around the face). If you do have a wider face, longer, more-angled layers are better.

Q: What's a common misconception about styling products?
A. That a flat iron will fry your hair. Yes, it will if you don't protect it! Use any kind of styling product — a cream, smoothing serum, or a heat-protecting spray. They work as a lubricant or sheath, safeguarding your hair from the iron's extreme heat.

Learn more about our 14-Day Makeover Challenge and our healthy-eating makeover. Check back next Wednesday (4/11) to see how Jessica is maintaining her shiny new locks.