Having the same hairstyle for years can become a bit dull, which is why seeking out new accessories is such a great opportunity to diversify one’s style and experiment with new looks. A barrette might sound like too simple of a solution, but it can be quite effective and eye-catching. From ruby and pearl-embellished barrettes to classic metal clips, there’s a myriad of options out there to explore.

How to Style Barrettes

With the wide variety of materials, designs, and styles barrettes come in, it’s easy to style them in different ways. Layering multiple pieces can have a greater effect for an eye-catching evening hairstyle. A length of ribbon decorated with jeweled barrettes can create a stunning headband. Here are 5 amazing barrette choices that never disappoint:

Faux-Pearl Hair Clip

Pearls are dainty, sophisticated, and always in style. A hair clip like this will draw the right kind of attention, especially as a contrast to darker hair tones. Charming and elegant, pearl barrettes can be used to dress up a hairstyle for a formal occassion or as a casual accessory during the day. 

Velvet Bow Barrette

A velvet bow can be unassuming and very charming. As they come in many colors and sizes, they can create a great contrast to any hair color and help create a variety of styles. Small bows can be clipped on either side to add some flare, whereas a bigger bow can be used to hold back locks of hair.

Crystal-Embellished Slogan Barrettes

Crystals can certainly add a bit of sparkle and liven up any hairdo. Many barrettes can be found carrying different slogans. This gives us a creative and stylish way to communicate our mood. In many cases, such barrettes can be personalized, depending on the supplier.

Metal Hair Clips

A larger metal clip with a geometrical shape is always a classic. It can go well with casual and more formal occasions and always deliver on appeal and functionality. 

Crystal Hair Slide

Sparkling crystal clips are always a lovely touch. They’re commonly used in weddings, other formal occasions, and in more casual instances. The crystals provide a demure sparkle that simply elevates any style.

After having starred in movies like Joker and Her, Joaquin Phoenix has become nothing less than a household name. While his family has surely made their way into the world of glamour that is Hollywood, they have had a long life of suffering.

Joaquin Rafael Phoenix is an actor, environmentalist, producer, and animal rights activist. New York Times ranked him 12th on the list of 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century. He’s a social activist who has donated to several charities and human rights organizations.

Joaquin Phoenix is an exceptional actor in his own right. A critically-acclaimed actor, Phoenix has acted in a range of films, building quite an impressive resume along the way. He even rose to international stardom and won an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and a second Golden Globe Award thanks to his performance as the title character in Joker.

Other notable works include Freddy Quell in The Master and Theodore Twombly in Her, amongst many others. And who can ever forget him in the role of Commodus in Gladiator?

When he was just eight years old, Joaquin Phoenix made his debut as a child artist in an episode of TV series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. His first major role was in the ABC Afterschool Special Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia, in which he starred alongside his brother, River.

During the years 1985 to 1989, he went by Leaf Phoenix before changing it back to his birth name. Throughout the last couple of decades, he has acted in over 30 films and has appeared in around eight television shows.

While hitchhiking in California, Arlyn met Phoenix’s father. In 1969, they got married. After joining a religious cult, the couple went on to travel across South America and the Caribbean, eventually settling in Puerto Rico where Joaquin was born.

On October 28th, 1974, Joaquin Rafael Bottom was born in the Ro Piedras neighborhood of San Juan. The third of five children, Joaquin was born to American parents originally from the mainland of the United States.

As we mentioned, Joaquin is the third of five children with River and Rain preceding him, and Liberty and Summer coming after — all of whom have worked in the entertainment industry. He also has a half-sister named Jodean, from his father’s previous relationship.

His father, John Lee Bottom, was born in California although he was of English, German, and French heritage. Arlyn, Joaquin’s mother, was born in New York City to Ashkenazi Jewish parents of Hungarian and Russian descent.

Unlike his brother, River Jude Phoenix was born in Oregon, United States. He was an activist, guitarist, and actor. As the eldest sibling to Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer, River Phoenix grew up in a nomadic household.

Although he lacked formal education, he had an innate ability to play the guitar. River started his career in acting through television advertisements when he was only 10 years old.

River rose to prominence after starring in Rob Reiner’s successful coming-of-age movie Stand by Me when he was only 14 years old. Phoenix starred in Peter Weir’s The Mosquito Coast in 1986, playing the son of Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren’s characters. Phoenix was taken aback by the movie’s mixed reviews as he felt more confident in his performance than he did in Stand by Me.

Two years later, Phoenix was featured in the teen comedy-drama, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon. However, his work was underwhelming for a while.

River won the National Board of Review Award as Best Supporting Actor at 18 for his performance in Sidney Lumet’s Running on Empty. In addition to that, he was also nominated for a Golden Globe as well as an Academy Award — in which he was the sixth-youngest Academy Award nominee in that category.

River won Best Actor awards from the Venice Film Festival, the National Society of Film Critics, and the Independent Spirit Awards for his performance in My Own Private Idaho. His reputation as an edgy male lead was cemented as a result of the film’s success.

River was an extremely talented actor in his own right. While the whole world recognized his merits and lauded him for his career in acting, his family was never truly able to grasp the depth of his success. Although River bought his family a ranch around Gainesville, Florida — plus a property in Costa Rica — they never really acknowledged his accomplishments.

It didn’t change the fact that his family was so far away from the entertainment industry at the time that they were not aware of how big of a star River actually was.

John Lee Bottom and Arlyn Phoenix became involved with the Children of God, a religious cult, soon after their second child was born. They began traveling throughout South America and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean as Christian missionaries, where the next two children were born.

They couldn’t have known how much the cult’s teachings would damage their young children at the time. While River and Rain were also members of the cult, the rest of the siblings were not.

Arlyn Phoenix became disillusioned and lost all interest in the cult when the leader of the Children of God started preaching that women should seduce men in order to recruit them — referred to as “flirty fishing.” She was absolutely disgusted and the family wanted out. They had no choice but to flee.

The family was hidden on a freighter bound for the United States after first settling into a home beyond the Venezuelan commune. The Phoenix family was brought back into the United States in 1978 on a toy-laden freighter, which dropped them off in Englewood, Florida.

Although they’re known as the Phoenix family today, this was not their name from the start. In fact, their father’s last name was actually Bottom.

After leaving behind the horrible world of the religious cult and moving to the United States, they decided to undergo a name change. They changed their name to Phoenix, after the mythical bird that emerges from its own ashes to symbolize rebirth.

As an adult, Joaquin has spent a lot of time and effort to help the homeless people of the United States. He has participated in many food drives for homeless people as well. While everyone appreciates his efforts and contributions, very few know the reason that motivates him.

The actor himself was homeless for a significant amount of time in his youth right after they escaped from the cult, and moved to the USA. They used to sleep inside their family car, which they parked in a friend’s driveway.

One of the many reasons that all of the Phoenix siblings are extremely humble even to this day is due to their extremely tragic childhood. No one should ever have to endure such hardships, but that was unfortunately not in their control.

After moving to the United States, the family had to lead a life of extreme poverty for quite a few years, before any of the children had transitioned into acting.

After being homeless for an extended period of time, John and Arlyn were finally able to rent an apartment. However, the owner had a very strict policy of “no kids allowed.” This made things rather difficult considering that they had five children to care for.

The manager of the building took pity on them, though, and allowed them to live there on one condition — whenever the actual landlord came to visit, the children had to hide.

When the Phoenix family were still traveling, the family didn’t have any sort of income, as the cult they belonged to didn’t pay their members. This meant that they were never wealthy. Money became incredibly tight and the children were forced to work as street performers to make ends meet.

Joaquin and his siblings used to sing on street corners for spare change. The family would starve if River wasn’t able to bring home enough money from a day’s work.

Children of God had many strange beliefs and rituals. One of the most awfully intrusive rituals was the fact that they encouraged inappropriate intimacy between family members and children almost as young as three years old.

River Phoenix was the victim of one such practice. When River famously revealed the incident that took place when he was only four years old, he proceeded by saying that he had blocked it out ever since.

All of this childhood trauma had left a lasting impact on River’s mental health. He ended up developing a few unhealthy and dangerous coping mechanisms — the most prominent one being substance abuse.

His relationship with illicit substances began at a very early age, on the set of his first movie, Stand By Me. From there, it was a downhill slope for the actor.

Joaquin and Rain Phoenix not only witnessed their brother’s downward spiral caused by addiction, but they were also both present when he overdosed in 1993. River was at a club with his siblings and some other friends from Hollywood when he realized what was happening.

Joaquin was just 19 when he made the terrifying 911 call that failed to save the life of his 23-year-old brother. Rain was sitting on River’s chest during the call, attempting to stop him from seizing in hopes that they could save his life.

Witnessing the untimely passing away of her brother was extremely hard on Rain. Being the two oldest siblings of the bunch, they were very close to each other and had a very strong bond. Rain and River had formed rock band Aleka’s Attic when they were teenagers.

They had eventually signed a big record contract with Island and released their debut album in the early 1990s. Rain spent years mixing the album after the demise of her brother, planning to release it for charity.

Rain had wanted to donate all the earnings from the album to various charities as a way to pay tribute to her brother, River. However, the rest of the members of the band and artists involved in the project were not so keen on that idea.

They wanted their share of the earnings and were completely against the proceeds going to charity. So, Rain never released the album.

After witnessing the tragic loss of his elder brother and failing to save his life, Joaquin was deeply disturbed. The unwanted attention from the media had also taken a huge toll on the whole Phoenix family, and they all decided to step away from the limelight.

Joaquin actually took a brief hiatus from his career and stayed away from the public eye between the years 1993 to 1995.

In 2005, the actor Joaquin Phoenix was cast opposite Reese Witherspoon for the movie, Walk the Line. Fans had expected this role to be the most promising one of his professional life.

Phoenix had to pull out all the stops, and hone in on his skills in order to channel the troubled but legendary singer Johnny Cash — who fought substance abuse throughout his life. However, the storyline may have hit a bit too close to home, and Joaquin was rumored to have had a mental breakdown on set.

After Walk the Line wrapped, Joaquin realized that he had developed an unhealthy addiction to drinking. He acknowledged the fact that this habit was impacting his life significantly.

In April of 2005, he entered a recovery hospital, as he was unhappy with the way he was living his life and needed the courage to deal with the disease. He started attending Anonymous Help meetings during his stay in rehab.

Joaquin was driving in the Hollywood Hills in January of 2006 when he ran off the track. Phoenix was wounded and disoriented after his car rolled off the mountain. Werner Herzog, the renowned director, was in the car behind him and immediately jumped into action.

According to Herzog, he assisted Phoenix in escaping the rubble and stopped him from smoking near loose gasoline. It’s safe to say that the director saved the actor’s life.

While one may think that after years of having a career in front of the cameras, Joaquin would have nerves of steel while filming. Surprisingly, though, that’s not the case. Despite his extensive experience in the film industry, he still gets anxious and nauseous the day before the shoot begins for a movie.

He has also talked about how he suffers from extreme anxiety yet he relishes that feeling of fear. Why? According to the actor, that feeling helps him be better at what he does.

In 2008, the actor Joaquin shocked everyone when he announced that he was retiring from his career as an actor, as he wanted to now embark on a journey to become an established rap artist.

With the release of I’m Still Here, however — a mockumentary by Casey Affleck — it was revealed that the career change was just a ruse Joaquin had pulled off to stay in character during filming.

Being a celebrity surrounded by fame, fans, and endless media coverage may appear to be a glamorous existence, but appearances can be deceiving. Joaquin has spoken out about the risks of being in the spotlight, as well as how isolating an acting career can be.

This recurrent feeling of devoting all of his time to his work only to be discarded once it’s all said and done occurs so often for Phoenix that he describes the whole process as feeling very lonely.

Just like every great actor, Joaquin too believes in submerging himself into the role he’s supposed to play on screen. With that being said, it should come as no surprise that he’s actually a method actor and, in fact, is known for going to extreme lengths to play a character.

He has lost weight, taken up “rapping,” and carried a sword everywhere for a role. Playing a maniacal failed stand-up comedian in Joker has, of course, naturally led to some similar methods

Joaquin Phoenix is one of the finest method actors praised by critics. For his mockumentary, I’m Still Here, he pretended to have a mental breakdown in public to get people’s reaction.

He also stayed in character on the Late Show With David Letterman. For the film, Mary Magdalene, he starved himself to play the role of Jesus. He also lost 52 pounds to play the role of the Joker.

As someone who’s constantly focused on making himself a better actor, it’s understandable that he scrutinizes his own work. However, fans may be shocked to learn that Joaquin his his own worst critic.

While the whole world is a huge fan of his works, he always manages to find flaws in his work, and that’s what helps him strive to become a better actor with each role.

It’s almost as if tragedy doesn’t want to leave the Phoenix siblings alone. After being together for almost two decades, the youngest sister of all the Phoenix siblings, Summer, ended up separating from her husband.

Her ex-husband was none other than the director of Joaquin’s mockumentary, Casey Affleck. While the two were married for almost two decades, the pair ended up separating in 2017 following allegations of harassment against Casey.

After years of traumatic experiences, it should come as no surprise that Joaquin Phoenix has had more than his own share of mental health issues. Between struggling with depression, and experiencing intense feelings of loneliness, fear, and anxiety — as well as going to rehab for addiction — the actor has certainly been through a lot.

What’s important, though, is that he managed to overcome all his struggles as well as excel in his career.

In 2020, he starred in a short film called Guardians of Life in which he played the role of a surgeon. Phoenix, who is also a vegan activist, produced a documentary film entitled Gunda. The film presents the daily life of a pig, two cows, and a one-legged chicken. Aside from that, the 46-year-old also has three upcoming films that he’s working on.

He’ll be playing a role in Mike Mills’ next film, C’mon C’mon. He’ll also be portraying Napoleon Bonaparte in Kitbag by Ridley Scott. He’s even set to star in Disappointment Blvd, Ari Aster’s new film.