John Frieda have been updating us weekly with hair trend reports for Spring/Summer 2010, which they noted from the runways at London Fashion Week.  This week think of Gossip Girl Blake Lively who is this seasons IT girl for desired looks sporting tousled locks, move over Jen!  Here’s what the experts had to say on recreating this look yourself…

Unstructured curls – are big news – loose and natural, random textures – an ‘undone’ look.  This curly look is soft and moves away from the very overdone Hollywood curled look – Spring/Summer is relaxed and about lazy days and warm weather, not the glamorous siren look of the Christmas party season.

Wash your hair using volumizing products.  Next prepare washed hair with a curling spray/product for the desired look.  Then, blast dry the hair to get rid of the heavy wet, followed by tossing the head upside down to achieve the loose curled look.  Follow this by diffusing the hair in sections using the diffuser application on your hair dryer.  If necessary use a tongs to create further loose curls, adding a thickening hairspray so that the hair holds its shape.

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John Frieda had front row seats at all the major catwalks this season and have been bringing us a ‘how to’ on the latest trends from the world of hair.  Today’s lesson is on bobs!

Bobs are in again for Spring/Summer 2010, looser and longer with a fluid bottom and not so bluntly cut – think more of a ‘grown out’ bob then Danni Minogue’s sharp cut of Autumn/Winter 2009.

How to:

To create the look, prepare your hair by washing choosing the right shampoo and conditioner for your hair type.  It’s also a good idea to choose from a range suitable to different hair colours to get the most from your locks.  Next, apply a small amount of frizz ease or smoothing gel onto soaking wet hair, then using a natural bristle round brush blow–dry hair into a smooth straight finish, leaving some natural bounce and texture in the hair.  Give a small spritz of hair spray with a flexible hold for help with holding the style in place.

All hair styles are moving away from anything with too much work, the look is glowy and natural and hair extensions are a definite no!  Gemma Arterton, Bond girl below, showed us how to work this trend at a recent movie premiere.

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Summer is almost upon us and that means new hair trends have been appearing on all the catwalks.  The John Frieda Salon in London had a front row seat at all the top Spring Summer shows and noted some of the hotter trends emerging for 2010.  We’ll be bringing you their ‘How to’ create the most up to date hair trends over the coming weeks.

Spring and Summer has traditionally meant softer, more natural looks in both fashion and hair trends, and 2010 continues with this theme.  The trends emerging are a departure from the overdone structured styles of the Winter and festive seasons, with an emphasis on softer smoother hair, relaxed waves and fluid bobs as well as a return to plaits.

The experts at John Frieda begin with a lesson on plaits!  Heidi hi all

Braids are a big trend for this season as lots of different types of braids and ‘braid wrapping’ were done in the catwalk shows.

Firstly, prepare the hair by washing and use your preferred product, perhaps a hair serum, working into your hair while wet.

Blow dry the hair first smooth and sleek.  Direct the nozzle of your hairdryer downwards to smooth the cuticle flat along the hair shaft, and always blow-dry your hair against the direction it will ultimately fall.  Ensure all tangles have been brushed from your hair before beginning to create braids.

Part the hair down the middle, dividing the hair into two equal sections as if you were creating pigtails.  Clip one section up to keep it out of the way and using your fingers, divide into three equal sections, proceeding to braid it til the end.  Ensure the braids are pulled tightly so that the hair is neatly tucked into the length of the braid. Attach an elastic band to the end of the braid to secure in place.  Repeat the same steps with the other section of the hair, then twisting the braids around to the crown of the head.  The Braids can be brought up as close to the forehead or crown depending on the look you wish to achieve.

Finish with a spray of hair spray to give a glossy finish and ensure the braids hold in place.

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We here at wow.ie are obsessed with anything nude, not meaning to be frisky you’ll understand – just fashion related, honestly!

This has to be one of the best bargains out there currently for nude shoes.  If you are also a fan of nude shoes check in for more on this beautiful subject over the coming days!  For now we bring you our pick of the day from Tesco, hard to believe but honestly, these shoes are Tesco’s own!  The cheap and cheerful lovelies arrived in store at the end of last month and we think they rival plenty of the more expensive high street or even high end versions out there.  The shoes by F&F are priced at £18 – we’re not sure of the euro equivalent but if not a match it won’t be much more.

Patent and suede detailing coupled with added platform, you’ll get plenty of wear from these throughout the Summer, if you don’t you won’t have the nagging guilt of seeing them unloved and unused with a hefty price tag

The ever stylish and elegant Angelina shows us how to work the trend with skinnies, short hemlines and flares!

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Littlewoods want to see us all march into Summer on trend and have sent us a sneak preview of what to expect.  The new Summer collection will be available from the 19th April… enjoy!

The Military Look

A key look this Summer is utility dressing with a focus on combat colours and military detailing.  For frontline chic, try Military jackets or cropped combat trousers.  A great way of giving a subtle nod to the trend is to inject utility colours into your Summer wardrobe, replace grey’s and navy’s with khakis, creams and browns for easy-to-wear combat styling or try adding aviator sunglasses to your outfit for a subtle hint of military.  South Military shoulder detail jacket – €72.

Pastels

Pastel and nude tones dominate this season as nudes and sugar coated colours such as lemon, baby pink, cream, and lilac create soft romantic looks.  Lace, frills and feminine fabrics and details such as chiffon, silks and ruffles add extra femininity to this pretty girlie style.  Vila Satin Petal Effect Skirt – €52.

Statements Prints

Statement prints offer an alternative to the softer pastel shades this season and are a fantastic way of injecting some needed colour into a summer wardrobe.  With bold paint splashes, abstract, floral and geometric designs, there is something for everyone from dabs of colour to dramatic attention-grabbing prints to create a statement look for the extrovert.  Teatro Floral Printed Dress – €62.

Flowing fabrics & beach holiday

This season see’s the welcome return of the maxi dress and flowing fabrics, for Summer in the city to beach holiday, a must for every wardrobe.  From the floral-print or bloc-colour tiered maxi to calf-length bandeau dress, there are cool & stylish options catering for each individual shape and more importantly each budget!  South Print Maxi Dress – €62.

Footwear

The Summer collection is jam-packed with footwear from fashionable flats, stylish pumps & killer heels to the must-have Summer peep-toe booties to help complete your look.  The ever popular gladiator sandal see’s another season with various takes on the look from flats, wedge to high heel. L-R, Firetrap Pace Gladiator Sandals – €89, Ravel Ezra Leather Studded Sandals – €69.

Nautical

This trend never seems to die away and just sees designers scrambling to put their twist on it year after year.  Nautical can be done many ways, trendy, smart, chic, with accessories or clothing depending on how you like yours!  Love Label nautical cardigan – €37.

Occasion Wear

Coming into the season of “Ladies Day’s” and weddings, Littlewoods have a stunning collection of occasion wear to get the perfect glamorous look for whatever your Summer event is.  Love Label Printed One Shoulder Dress – €69.

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Go nude… and blush!

With Summer finally here (we’ve been waiting aaages!) it’s time to say hello again to… culottes!  Yep, that’s right, they’re back and I couldn’t be happier!  Topshop, Oasis and River Island have all been freshly delivered with the cute shorts but Penneys have done it again and caught my attention first.  These cute salmon pink culottes with black polka dots are only €11 from the pocket friendly store.  I’ll be wearing mine with a little black crop top and pumps!

The hat is also from Penneys and is an unbelievable €4.  A safer bet if you are not a sequin headpiece kinda gal.

Continuing to embrace neutrals I’ve paired them with this blush pink top.  It’s from Topshop and is priced at €58.  It has a zipper back and victorian style sleeves.  Yes please!

The Balmain inspired peep-toe heels have a touch of military about them to toughen up this look.  They are from New Look and are priced at €19.  They’re very comfy too… trust me!

This Turquoise bag with gold chain detail and mock croc effect is sure to brighten up the dullest of outfits.  It is priced at €28 and is from Asos.

Oh Summer, we love you!

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There’s a lot of love out there for the nautical trend, here here from the girls at wow!  Hence our excitement on the discovery of this little gem at Penneys.

The canvas striped pouch bag is only €7.00 (where else would you get that!!) and hit the stores at the beginning of last month so hurry if you need it to complete your nautical look this Summer.  The nautical style of the bag echoes French Riviera chic fused with a tint of young, and as always you won’t have to live on beans and toast for the rest of the month to buy it!  For inspiration on how to add a hint of nautical check out Chanel‘s marine themed bangle.  Oasis are carrying a great range of nautical accessories this season if Chanel is out of your budget!

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When Chanel release a new colour for the season you can be guaranteed it will be THE hottest colour to wear, that and it will be sold out, gone without a trace just as you give in to buying a bottle!  If you want to know what to have drooled all over you talons this Summer this is it, Chanel Nouvelle Vague.  The limited edition Summer 2010 colour has hit the Chanel counters so be quick if you like it, they honestly do seem to sell out remarkably quick.

The varnish has a creamy textured look with pearl veining through the shade of bright turquoise – which will work best with a tan!  Chanel have brought out other shots of colour for your nails including Mistral (517) and Riviera (537) above but it’s definitely the turquoise Nouvelle Vague (527) that will get you noticed.  OPI have a great silvery blue in their latest collection called Breathe Life (in fact they have a great selection of ‘greens’).

Illamasqua do a couple of shades similar to this (see here for our previous post on these lovely pastels) and good old M&S have a gorgeous Baby Blue – plus one very similar to this offering from Chanel.  Gosh have produced a pearlized blue – Oceanic, which is definitely a little more neon in colour than most of the other takes on this trend.  I am finding it hard to let go of my Chanel Rouge Noir (thanks sis!), although it seems we can still get away with dark colours even if Winter is allegedly behind us.

As always, DON’T FORGET YOUR BASECOAT!!

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Unless you’ve had your head down the loo (quite possible with the Winter vomiting bug doing the rounds!) you’ll know that it’s all about the denim this season.  Hence our pick of the day happens to be a great pair of patch work skinnies well priced at €35 from AWear.  Team with flats, boots or killer heels depending on the look you are going for.  These jeans are a great take on the trend and not dissimilar to offerings from big fashion houses.  Check out our previous post on denims here.

Grab your leather jacket (another big trend), fitted check shirt, waist coat – lay yourself up and you are good to go.  In fact, you might even squeeze a lace cammy under that shirt, you may feel like you’ve got more layers on than an onion but you’ll be hitting all the trends in one sitting!  If it’s too hot for leather use a belt high around the shirt.  Cameron Diaz shows us how to do denim effortlessly.

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Steal her style from Littlewoods.ie have picked Victoria Beckham‘s Spring wardrobe as the look to re-create today.  At first you may think this isn’t one you would opt for, but hang on before you wander off into cyber space, these looks are actually easy to wear, even for us mere mortals!

Spring is definitely here and this steal her style segment sees this seasons key catwalk trends covered for the months ahead!  Eye balls ladies, pay attention – a full wardrobe update that won’t mean spending your holiday fund and doing a Father Ted style caravan break!

Catwalk queen (!) Victoria Beckham rarely gets it wrong when it comes to what’s on trend.  Below are three of the designers most recent looks showing you how to get the look for a fraction of the price.

Without further a do ladies, let’s see how to recreate Vicky’s Spring wardrobe…

1. Soft spot for Polka Dots!

Dots and spots are big news this Spring and a fun and flirty element to our sometimes serious wardrobes!  Mrs. Beckham was ‘spotted’ (couldn’t resist..) in this belted mac with her trademark collar up and oversized bag.  This South Double Breasted Spot-Belted Mac reduced from €59 to €39 from Littlewoods.ie is almost identical without the designer price tag!  It also comes in red.  (If spots aren’t for you have a look at this similar check trench recently seen in the window of the Tommy Hilfiger store in Dundrum Town Center)

2. Leather Mania!

Forever the wardrobe statement, leather is here to stay and in every form imaginable from jackets to shorts and skirts to accessories!  Colour trends for leather this season are grey, tan and of course black!  The trendy Spice Girl wore this fitted black leather jacket with stonewash skinny jeans and killer heels.  Love label have this fabulous Studded PU Biker Jacket reduced to €35 with round collar and side zip detailing.  The bleach wash stud jeans are also Love label at €59.

3. Sculpt and shape!

While the lady herself is pictured modelling one of her many structured dress creations (naturally!) Littlewoods Love Label have come up with this great ‘looky likey’ Sculptured Dress at €62 with peplum style waist and side panels – all helping to create the structured look her designers are notorious for.

One to note – Delivery is free and within four days so you can order on the Monday, wear it on the Friday!

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