Juniors Annabelle Messer and Megan LeBlanc, along with sophomore Mackenzie Beckworth continue the blog series, “Girl Talk”, covering issues spotlighting the triumphs and struggles from the female perspective. Check out their first blog article in the series read BLOG: Girl Talk–Sadies or the most recent, BLOG: Girl Talk-Do you really want to go on a Valentine’s date?

Whether you are a guy or girl, time is needed to prepare for formal events. People want to look the best they can for whatever comes their way. Night of the Stars is coming up, March 30, and students across the campus have begun asking their dates and preparing for the night.

The theme of this year is “A Night at the Oscars” and continues to be held at Wolf Lakes Park. Students will walk down a red carpet and view recreated films formed by each class. While other schools may dance at their formal or prom, FCS does not. Instead, students dress up and enjoy a fancy meal at an event designed to mirror that of a formal award show. This night also is a time for students to feel special and feel good in their own skin.

Girls usually take more time to get ready for this night than boys. Many aspects make up how a girl appears including her hair, makeup, dress, shoes, and so much more. As girls begin to book their hair appointments and pick out their dresses, they want to make this night special and a memorable high school experience.

FC students have begun asking their dates. Freshman Max Hinton asked his friend and classmate Isabella Hutcheson. Annabelle Messer interviews Hinton as he explains what he is looking forward to for formal in the following podcast.

This Girl Talk Megan LeBlanc and I will be testing out different preparations girls do to prepare for formal or any fancy event such as whitening our teeth, self tanning, face masks, hair masks, painting our nails and anything that prepares us girls for an event. 

Senior Macie Thompson describes what she does to get ready for formal and why she is excited for this year.

“To get ready for formal I first buy my dress so that I can color coordinate everything,” Thompson said. “Then, I buy the accessories like my shoes, jewelry, etc. After I have done all that in preparation for the day of formal, I don’t wear makeup in the morning or throughout the day until I put it on for the evening! I start with my makeup and then I move onto my hair and after I have done my hair, I touch up my make up once more then put on my dress and shoes and head out. This usually takes me about an hour and a half to two hours depending on if I’m being sluggish or not.”

While some girls like to get their hair dyed a different color, do a hair mask, or change the length, they want their hair looking flawless. An affordable way to make your hair moisturized is making a homemade hair mask. Megan and I demonstrate how to blend the ingredients and use a homemade hair mask with only three ingredients.

This mask includes honey, coconut oil, and olive oil. These ingredients help replenish moisture and lock in the nutrients for your hair to grow longer, faster. Add the desire amount of each ingredient. Leave the mask in for about 15-30 minutes and you are golden.

Everyone struggles with acne at one point or another. No one likes pimples or  blemishes on their face during a memorable night. You do not want to have to worry about your blemish showing and having to excuse yourself multiple times during the night to rush to the lady’s room and to cover or powder your spot. This is why face masks are go to for the night or even week before formal.

There are so many varieties of face masks to choose from. Different masks hold different properties and can help your needs for your face. We chose a coffee, “Cup O’Coffee” facemask from Lush. This face mask exfoliates, cleanses, and boosting your skin with a kick of caffeine.

Everyone enjoys a smile with pearly whites. Whitening your teeth is an essential to prepare for formal. White teeth boosts our confidence and you can not help but smile more. Megan and I used the Crest whitening strips. These strips are easy to use and super handy to have on hand. They are on the more expensive side but I personally think they are worth it. Crest whitening strip do not take long to make a difference.

Their are a bunch of different methods that you can use to make your teeth how you want them. Such as, charcoal, whitening trays, and multiple home remedies and hacks.

Danielle Foster, ’20, explains why she likes to whiten her teeth and what method she uses.

“To whiten my teeth I use teeth bleaching trays,” Foster said. “I get them from my grandpa because he is a dentist so he gives them to me to use. I like whitening my teeth because I feel like it makes me more confident in my smile and for pictures smiling is a big part of formal, it just overall makes your smile prettier.”

As many girls enjoy pampering and treating themselves to getting their nails done at a salon, it can also be done at home. A salon can be the more expensive and time consuming route but can also be a fun activity to do with friends before formal. There are so many salons in the Fresno area that conveniently accept walk ins, if you do it last minute. But there is no problem painting your nails at home. It can be cheaper and you are able to take control on what you want to do.

Another popular preparation girls like to do is tanning for formal. There are different options to get the desired skin tone you are looking for. You can either get a spray tan or do self tanner. Spray tans cost more only because someone takes the time to do it for you or a machine does the work. A self tanner costs less because you are the one applying the tan yourself. Megan and I will be testing out a self tanner alongside junior Kayla Vanderlinden and see how the outcome turns out.

Junior Kayla Vanderlinden shares why she likes to be tan for formal and what she does to do so. 

“I love to get a fake tan,” Vanderlinden said. “I’m super white and it makes me look better in my dress. I prefer spray tans the most because it’s not like a lotion, but it’s not super expensive either. It works really well. It also makes my skin super flawless and glowy with no streaks.”

As you can see a lot of preparation can go into getting ready for formal or any fancy event. You either do the bear minimum or go all out. There are multiple routes you can take for each step we did. You can choose the more expensive or the less expensive. Do not feel like you have to do the most preparations or the best products to feel pretty, just do whatever is comfortable for you. All you ladies out there are beautiful just the way you are. But, it can be fun getting dressed up and pampered once in a while. 

The following video features Girl Talk hosts, Megan Leblanc, ’20, and Annabelle Messer, ’20, prepare for formal.

Girl Talk- Formal Preparations from The Feather Online on Vimeo.

Annabelle Messer can be reached via email and Twitter.

For more Girl Talks check out BLOG: Girl Talk-Lies Society Tells or BLOG: Girl Talk–Sadies.