Half-up Hair & Pretty Plaits, The Sequel. Starring Jennifer Lopez & Gwyneth Paltrow.

Tue, 21 August 2012 12:19PM

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Jennifer Lopez and her friend Maria Menounos hit a Las Vegas red carpet to let their hair down after J.Lo’s concert.

Well, not all of their hair was down… Jen must have been flicking through our half-up hair gallery for inspiration lately. Here’s her semi-updo from another angle.

Hmmm. I don’t quite know how I feel about this one. On one hand, it’s J.Lo. And bless her for rocking out new looks all the time. On the other hand, it kind of looks like a hair ‘do that would be more suited to a pet poodle. The half-up bit is possibly too high and too tight. Which isn’t necessarily a dire thing. If, say, the rest of the hair was sleek and straight, too. But with that mass of curls billowing out below, it all could possibly be a little mullet-y. Then again, on the other hand (if I had three of them), it’s  – I repeat – J.Lo. And she rarely puts a Louboutin out of place. Actually, she tends to be one step ahead of many a beauty curve. So while I’m a bit ‘meh’ about it right now, I also won’t be surprised if the look grows on me (and my head) any time soon.

It certainly grew on her friend Maria who, that Sunday afternoon, fronted up to the Do Something awards like this …

Copy-cat, much? Although, granted she did do a stellar styling job. I love how she went for waves rather than J.Lo-like curls, which ensured a softer, sleeker overall result.

In other half-up hair news, Kristen Bell gave the sexy style a cute twist. And twirl: She French-braided the top half of her hair, letting it hang down the back in a lovely loose loopy plait; at the same time a couple of mini-braids weaved their way from the side of the head, back into the main plait, until it looked like this:

Speaking of plaits, they’re the new tongs, don’t you know? At least, according to Gwyneth, who attended a film screening in the Hamptons over the weekend, looking delightfully fresh-faced and so prettily tressed:

Again, Gwyneth is one of those pied pipers of beauty trends; we tend to blindly follow everything she does because she makes anything look so so good. But why I particularly love this ‘do is that it couldn’t be an easier style to steal. Simply wash hair at night, spritz with styling spray and rough-dry off before working it into random plaits all around. Just make sure to plait from the mid-lengths down, so as to keep the crown flat and smooth. In the morning, de-braid and lightly shake.

And there you have it, Primpettes, some new hair inspiration to get you through the week.

 

Which is your favourite look?

And who did half-up hair better: Jennifer or Maria?

Kat x

 

Posted by: Katrina Lawrence

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Tags: braids, french braid, gwyneth paltrow, half up, jennifer lopez, kristen bell, maria menounos, plaits, waves