Fuchsia Hair

So it should come as no surprise that I got sick of my brunette/blue hair pretty quickly. I really loved the blue but wanted something more drastic. I debated back and forth whether I wanted to go completely blue which is something I've always wanted to do or if I should try fuchsia which I figured would be a little less upkeep.

I settled on going fuchsia and decided to stick with Manic Panic as my blue lasted much longer than expected and barely lost any intensity over time.

So again, I started with colored brunette with blue streaks and about 2 inches of regrowth. I decided to bleach my whole head and go all out and wasn't too worried about the damage because I hadn't lightened my hair in over 6 months.

I went with L'Oreal's Quick Blue bleach with a 30 volume cream developer. I opted not to go with a 40 volume to reduce damage and because I didn't need it completely blonde for fuchsia like I would if I went with blue.

I bleached over the blue streaks which didn't get rid of them, it just lightened them a bit. I let it all process for about 20 minutes before rinsing.

Sorry for the bad picture, but this was the end result. A brassy hot mess, which was really just fine. Since I was going with a red based color, the brassyness wouldn't affect it much whereas if I'd gone blue, I'd have had to have nearly bleached to white or risk the color pulling green (which has happened to me in the past...).

I let it all dry then got started on the color. Anyone who's ever used Manic Panic knows that stuff stains like none other. I would have gone with their Fuschia Shock but it wasn't available at the store I went to. Instead I bought Purple Haze and Hot Hot Pink and mixed it in even parts. I slapped it on and let it process for a little over an hour.

And this is the end result! Next time I think I'll mix the colors 2/3 pink with 1/3 purple but overall I love it!

We'll see how long this color lasts! 

Xoxoxoxo

Lime Crime Wicked Review

I'm on the Wicked bandwagon guys! I drank the kool-aid and had to give it a go. I've never bought Lime Crime products before but was slowly falling in love with the gorgeous matte burgundy shade I'd been seeing on several beauty blogs and Youtube videos. A little digging and it turned out they were all Lime Crime's Matte Velvetines in Wicked.  

The normal retail price is $20 but I actually ended up buying it off of the Urban Outfitter website during a sale with 20% off which I was pretty pleased with. It has been sold out on the LC website for weeks so I was glad to be able to buy it elsewhere as I was hoping to try it out for holiday parties. 

When it finally came, the color was everything I'd hoped for. It's a gorgeous deep burgundy red that's very wearable and not TOO dark to come off as overly vampy. Pair it with an understated eye and your look is instantly glamified. 

The website describes it as being a matte burgundy-red and claims to be a "ground-breaking formula that goes on liquid and dries completely matte. Claims to be touch-proof, transfer-proof, long-wearing and utterly addictive."

The Pros: 

Once again, the color. It's a perfect fall/winter shade. Wear it every day with a simple eye look or glam it up by pairing it with a smoked out eye. 

It sets pretty quickly from liquid to matte and isn't too drying for your lips. 

Paired with a lip liner, is pretty long-lasting. 

The Cons: 

It's really not THAT long-wearing, especially if any liquid touches your lips after it's on. I played around with it a bit and had some trouble keeping it on my lips especially near the inner center where I got the dramatic color/no color when it rubbed off a bit between my lips. I fixed that by wearing it over a lip liner and once completely dried, wouldn't transfer, but if I took even a sip of water it would start moving around and transferring to the bottle or anything my lips touched. What worked best for me was applying it over lip liner and blotting it a tad with some tissue to make sure any excess formula was removed.  

The feeling on the lips isn't the greatest, it isn't especially drying but sort of feels like it is. It gives the grainy-don't try to move much feeling.

(wore this to Thanksgiving dinner, showing off the eye look I went with too!)

Overall I do really love the color and that alone is enough for me to continue wearing it, but it's a pretty difficult formula to get the hang of and feel comfortable in. I think if I were to wear it on a regular basis I'd get used to it, but I know I'd always be concerned about it transferring or smudging off my lips if I made any slip ups. 

I'd say comparing it to some other long-wearing formulas I've tried, I like the Make Up For Ever Aqua Rouge stains (which I made matte by blotting) more for staying power but would choose Lime Crime over the Sephora Luster Matte Long-Wear Lip Colors as it's got a better applicator making it less messy and easier to control. 

Final thoughts, is it worth buying?

Yes-ish. The color is to die for, but the Sephora lip colors mentioned above would definitely be a comparable less costly dupe if you don't mind working with the clunky applicator.

And our lovely little family all ready for Thanksgiving dinner! 

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

XOXOXO

Blue Hair Don't Care

So no huge surprise, but my plain brunette hair didn't last too long. I colored my hair from ginger/auburn to as close to my natural shade as I could back in August to get ready for my baby. I knew I wouldn't have time to upkeep the red any longer and I can't stand it when my roots get out of control. 

After being back to brunette for a few months and finally getting a handle on being a mom, I started getting restless with my hair color (surprise surprise). I decided on the color pretty impulsively. I was in the shower one afternoon and just thought, "hey, blue would be fun!" and ran out the next day to get the color. 

I've had my hair nearly every color of the rainbow at some point or another, but the only shade I was never successful with was blue. I attempted it back in my early 20's but hadn't lightened my hair enough an it turned patchy green due to all the brassiness still left over from the bleach job. I hadn't attempted it since, but finally felt confident that I could do it right. As fun as an all over blue would be, and believe me I'd totally do it if I had the time to upkeep it, I knew I needed to do something a little more subtle. 

Normally I'd have gone with Jerome Russell's Punky Colour hair dye as I've loved it in past dye jobs, but the store I went to only carried Manic Panic. I'll admit I've never actually used Manic Panic on myself before and after finishing the amount I have leftover I honestly will probably switch back to Punky Colour. It came out gorgeous, but these pictures are from just 2 washes later and the vibrancy has already faded quite a bit. Punky Colour always went a good full month for me before fading. 

I bleached 3 panels diagonally on the right (heavier) side of my head an 2 panels on the left. I made sure none of the panels went quite up to the roots and left a good 2-3 inches untouched at my part to cut down on the need to re-bleach since it'll just keep up as peekaboo pieces. Next time I'll make sure to add heat when the blue is processing to bump up the longevity but all in all I was really pleased with the initial results. The color was GORGEOUS, just wish it lasted a little longer. 

I'm super excited to have finally been able to get the blue in my hair I've always wanted and will definitely keep up with it for a while. I love it!

XOXOXOXO

Easy "Flip" Curl for Medium Length Hair - Tutorial

Medium length hair can be difficult to work with. It's not too long to really just let go without work, yet too short to offer the simplicity of a quick up do or ponytail. 

It takes a bit of creativity to rock medium length hair, but can be super cute on all face shapes. 

I'm in the middle of growing my hair out after having to take off about 5 inches after my wedding. the ends of my hair were trashed due to previous bleaching, and had to go if I wanted any hope of actually growing out long, healthy looking hair. 

The worst stage of growing my hair out has always been when the hair at the nape of my neck is longer than the front and gets the mushroom shape caused by layers. To avoid that, I decided to cut it in to a slightly angled bob so the front is always longer than the neck, and only added very subtle layers just to remove some of the weight at the ends. 

My hair is extremely thick, and when it's damaged it poofs out like crazy, so I can't go without some layers when it's shorter. It's not an issue when long, as the weight of the hair counteracts the poof. 

Since my haircut, I've toyed around with several styles to add some variety to my daily look. My issue is I never have time to do my hair in the morning, and prefer styles that I can sleep on that still look good on day 2 and even 3. 

In this video, I use a large barrel curling iron to smooth out the majority of my hair, while adding soft loose "flip" curls in the front to frame my face. The flip usually lasts to day 2 and by day 3, I just have a smooth, straight bob. Overall, it only takes me about 15 minutes total to style this look so it's quick, cute, and long-lasting!

 

If you liked this video, please "like" it on Youtube and subscribe to my channel and blog so you don't miss out on future styles! I plan on doing a few more hair looks that are simple, cute and stylish. 

XOXOXO

Decorating My Wedding

 

 

 

Surprise surprise, I'm going with a retro look for my wedding. I'm trying to make sure I get the vintage pieces I like without going over the top or overkilling the theme. I want everything to be simple and beautiful, elegant but still casual enough for everyone to have a great time.

 

 

My lovely ladies :) I wasn't very interested in making my girls wear the same dresses. All I really care about is that the dresses are red, short, and that the girls feel beautiful in them! I decided to go with Alfred Sung dresses, so my bridesmaids could choose the style of dress they're most comfy in while staying the same color and relatively same look. Above are the styles they chose. My maid of honor to the far left, then my sisters and Steve's sisters to the right. Very cute if I say so myself! Can't wait to see it all in person!!

 

They will all be in black shoes with subtle jewelry. Not sure what I want to do for them for flowers yet... more to come on that!

 

 

I've always said I wanted "Reservoir Dogs" for the guys in my wedding and thankfully Steve was on board! All the guys will be wearing plain black suits with thin black ties. Steve will get a red boutonniere and the rest of the guys will get white.

 

 

Since I decided to go with paper flowers, I've been skimming through Pinterest for ideas on what to do for centerpieces. I originally planned to do real flowers, under water in vases with candles floating on top. Once I said farewell to doing real flowers, I thought I could do little vases full of paper flowers, but that sounded a little too plain. Then I found the above arrangement and fell in love! Especially because it's using the style of flowers I already figured I'd go with :) I want to do little flower wreaths around a vase and may or may not put a candle inside... we'll see, they'd have to be taller vases to make sure nothing starts on fire... Bleh, so much to consider!

 

These are the colors/styles I'll be using.

 

I'm still not 100% set up on what I want to do with my hair, but I really do like the above picture. I like that it's simple, classic and could be taken down if I felt like it later in to the night. I'm doing a few trials to see if I'd be able to pull it off myself, otherwise I'll look in to tracking down a stylist for the big day.

 

And lastly, make up. Nothing too surprising there, I want to go with a subtle, simple wing liner look with bold red lips. Subtle blush and maybe a little contouring for the pictures.

 

That's what I have so far! For all the stress planning a wedding causes, the styling of it really is the fun part. I want the look to be classic, creative and unique, without breaking the bank!!!

 

If anyone has any decorating tricks, tips or DIY's, please comment below! I'm very open to suggestions and will appreciate anything ideas :)

 

XOXOXO

 

Engagement, Shoes, Foundation... Life Update!

OK!!!!! So finally back as promised with an update on all the crazy $*&^ that's been going on in my life in the last month. I have a hard time believing that it's all happened in just a month, but that's life!

 

Firstly, as my banner kind of makes obvious, I'm engaged! Steve proposed 3.8.13 and life's been absolutely nuts since! The proposal itself wasn't much of a surprise - we both knew it was gonna happen it was just a matter of getting the $$$ to make it happen. We went and picked out my ring the night he proposed and here it is!

 

 

I'm beyond in love with it! As you also probably noticed from the banner, we've set the date for 9.14.13, leaving us just barely 6 months to get the whole shebang put together. That was my choice. I'm a spazz about planning, stress and $$$, and had no desire whatsoever to stress about planning a wedding for a year or more.

 

Be that as it may, the time obviously also put us at a disadvantage to all those brides who DO plan years in advance, so I had to haul ass to find a ceremony/reception site in that short amount of time. So that's the majority of what I've been up to : )

 

Since last week, we've got the ceremony and reception site booked, my dress picked out and plans for decorations underway!  I refuse to spend a billion dollars on this whole wedding thing, so I've been working with my family and friends to cut corners and DIY as much as possible to save cash and make the day more unique.

 

The main DIY I'm doing is all paper flowers. I wouldn't recommend it to ANYONE with little patience or imagination, but to anyone out there who wants to save (a LOT) of money and make their wedding more creative, try it out! Pretty much all my free time off work I've been spending on figuring out what kind of flowers I was going to do, testing different paper types and finally, getting down to business on making them.

 

 

These are what I've come up with so far. Our wedding colors are red/white/black so I kept that theme with the flowers. I'm doing some fancy roses and SUPER easy swirly roses and will use those to make boutonnieres, bouquets, centerpieces, and anything else that requires a flower. Now, that's a LOT of flowers. Hence the working on them now.

 

My theme for wedding preparations is to do a little every day, buy what I can when I can and don't have a billion things to do the weeks following up to the day. Obviously no matter what it'll still be hectic as hell but this way I'm getting at least some of my stuff out of the way and not worrying about everything all at once.

 

I'll maybe do a post later with more info on what the style for everything is going to look like, but my MAIN thing was I had to have red shoes. I've always wanted red shoes for my wedding, and I found this beautiful pair on Amazon for a crazy good deal. They're a bit tall, but surprisingly comfy, I just need to break them in.  

 

 

I also know I'll be doing my own makeup, so I decided to splurge and invest in a fancy foundation. I tried out Lancôme's Teint Idole Ultra 24H Makeup. I tried the lightest shade they had, I believe it was in Ivory, and thought it looked fine in the store, but unfortunately it oxidized a ton when I actually tried it and I had to take it back. Thank god for Macy's awesome return policies :)

 

 

After that fail, I got a sample from the Estee Lauder counter and tried it out, and I THINK I fell in love. I'm still not 100% sure about the shade, but it's definitely better than the Lancôme one. I think it may be a bit yellow undertone for me, I'm more pink, but I'm pretty sure with my powder/concealer combo that it'll look fine. If not, try try again!

 

 

 

I got it in 1C1 Cool Bone. Crossing my fingers, I'm going to do a face comparison to that and my every day fave, Revlon's Nearly Naked in Ivory and I'll return it if it's way off.

 

I know this is kind of a random, tossed together post, but that's about what my life is right now. I'll hopefully be posting some wedding day makeup tutorials/ideas and more in general.

 

XOXOXO

Look of the Day!

So it's my day off work and I basically spent it watching movies and getting cute! Hurray for free days!!!

I look like a school teacher with the glasses on :D

Pink Hair Tutorial

I felt like adding some color to my hair over the weekend, so I went with hot pink!
I didn't want a ton of color, but enough to add a little fun.

I chose to use Jerome Russell's semi permanent dye in "Flamingo Pink". I bought it from Ulta for cheap! I used to use that brand a ton, when I went super red and tangerine orange. It lasts a long time and a little goes a LONG way!



Enjoy!