Last year's Best Actress winner Sandra Bullock dazzled last night in a strapless Vera Wang gown with a slim, rectangular "U" shape at the center of the bustline, a corseted bodice with a cinched waist and ribbing details at the hips, and a slinky train. The gown's scarlet color was itself a welcome change from the black, champagne and cream dresses Bullock donned during last year's awards season and set the bar for her charming appearance on stage, when she delivered one of the funniest, most endearing speeches as the presenter for the Best Actor award.
Celebrity hairstylist David Babaii, working for Couture Colour created the textured feel of Bullock's youthful updo. After shampooing and conditioning hair, towel drying tresses, Babaii applied the Couture Color Pequi Oil Treatment, a frizz-taming, moisturizing, antioxidant-rich treatment derived from the pequi fruit found in the Amazon rain forest. To ensure that the product was evenly distributed, Babaii ran a wide tooth comb through Bullock's damp hair, then dried her mane using a round brush. Once he'd finished blowing out Bullock's hair, Babaii smoothed an additional pea-sized amount of the Pequi Oil Treatment to her hair, brushing it to the back of the head.
Next, Babaii used the IT&LY Hairfashion Digital Styling Iron and twisted half-inch sections of hair around its barrel. But rather than opting for tight curls or Shirley Temple-like coils, Babaii focused on giving Bullock's hair texture through haphazard, imprecise, natural-looking waves. He hence chose half-inch sections at random, rather than relying on a system that would create identically curled strands. Once he'd twisted strands, he pressed the flat iron atop each coiled section, flattening the curves a bit and allowing the heat to set the look. He then allowed each section to release naturally upon cooling.
Once he'd roughened up the front half of the head a bit, giving it a wavy but imprecise and lived-in texture, Babaii added a smidgen of Pequi Oil to his hands, rubbing it between his palms and then finger combing the hair, avoiding brushes and other styling tools so as to achieve the desired sophisticated but free-spirited, not-too-sleek effect.
Babaii then gathered all the hair into a low ponytail, securing it at the nape of the neck with an elastic band and wrapping the hair around the band, securing it with bobby pins. Any loose strands were allowed to flow freely, completing the Bohemian but Parisian chic look.
