Oscars Hair Tutorial- Anna Kendrick

To be honest, I'm not much of an Academy Awards viewer. Generally I haven't even seen most of the films that are nominated (or haven't even heard of them...) I do, however, like to check out the red carpet. This year, one of my favorite looks was worn by Anna Kendrick. From the gorgeous salmon dress, to  the soft, dark eye makeup and textured up-do- I loved it all.


Photo credit: Getty Images

It also felt inspired to recreate the look (because it's totally easy to recreate the work of professional makeup artists and stylists, right? Ha.) So, if you loved Anna Kendrick's look and want to try it yourself, follow the steps below!

1. The first step is all about creating volume. Starting with wet hair, apply a volumizing product, such as Sexy Hair Big Sexy Blow Dry Volume Gel. Next, blow dry your hair using a round brush, lifting your hair upward and blow drying from the roots up.
You can also start with day-old hair if you like, as this would help create volume, too.

2. Curl your hair with a 1" (25 mm) curling wand (I used the Bellami 6 in 1 curler). Holding the wand upside down, wrap a 1" hair section of hair down the length of the wand and hold for 5-10 seconds. Once the time is up, slide the curling iron out but don't let the hair fall down. Catch it with one hand with your index finger in the middle of the curl. Gather the curl up and pin it on your head. Repeat until all of your hair is pinned up.

3. After your hair has completely cooled, unpin your curls. Flip your hair over and shake it out to loosen up the curls and to make them less "ringlety." That's totally a word.

4. Now we are going to add some more volume and texture. Spray your hair lightly with a sea salt spray, such as Not Your Mothers Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray . I focused primarily on the upper section of the hair because this is where we want the hair to look the most piecey. You can also spray the roots of your hair with dry shampoo and/or volumizing powder for extra volume and texture.

5. It's time to start pinning. Be prepared because there's going to be a lot of it. Back comb the top section of your hair, teasing it a little to add lift and help it stay in place. Loosely pin back your hair toward the back of your head on either side. Make sure that you have volume in the front of your hair. You can pinch sections and pull them forward slightly to add to the piecey texture.

6. Below the hair that you just pinned, take another section of hair from one side of your head and loosely pin it at the back of your head. Repeat this with the remaining hair on the same side. Pin loosely enough that there is still some texture on the side of your head.

7. Now we have the least precise step. Grab a small section of hair and wrap it up, gathering it at the back of your head. Pin it in place. Repeat with the rest of your hair. Make sure to gather it up in different directions as you go.

And that's it! Adding a little more volume to the of the top of the head would give you more of the behive look that Anna Kendrick had. Also, the back of my hair looks slightly different from Anna Kendrick's because I have so much hair to pin up. If you have less hair than me then you hair probably won't go as far down the back of your head. If you can, keep all of your hair above your neck.