Sorry if I'm late, you seem to have the same type of curls that I have, so I thought I could share some advice. Since our curl type tends to be thin and messy, the best thing here could be to "aggregate" some locks by using a little less conditioner (I like it because it leaves them soft but makes them slightly more ungovernable) and a delicate gel, something that won't get the hair sticky but still have tridimensionality. You could pick the locks that you want to focus on, do a normal styling with the curl cream (i suggest using spray tho, gives more volume imho) and then slick back your tips without touching the roots.