It’s almost mid-december and holiday parties are in full swing! I have a fancy DIY updo to teach you today, created on my beautiful model Michele. It’s ideal for medium to long hair, and is a real show stopper if you ask me!

Start out by curling the hair or setting it in rollers. You’ll fight with it a lot less if it’s nice and curled. Don’t spend too much time perfecting them, you are going for big, loose curls. I used this tutorial to create the curls you see below!

Section a small amount of hair at the left side of the nape and use a duckbill clip to hold it away.

Gather the hair from the top and left side of your head, and pin in place at the center back of your head with a few bobby pins. Try your best to insert these horizontally!
Beginning on the right side, roll the hair toward the back, holding it loosely. Once it’s rolled up to reach the bobby pins, slip a pin under the roll to hold in place.

Keep repeating that process, anglin down toward the lower left side of your nape.

Once the hair is all pinned, release that first section from the clip, and lightly twist it. Then softly pull the twists apart, to make the twist a bit bigger and looser.

Pull the twist up to lay on top of the rolled section, pinning in place as you set it down.

The final result is so fancy and sophisticated. Ironically enough, it was Michele’s (the model) wedding anniversary on the day of this shoot, so she was completely decked to the ...