Growing Out a Pixie: Part Two

For any who are interested in the different stages of growing out a pixie, here are a few pics to show how my hair has grown over the past year. If you would like to see the first 6 months check out my previous post Growing Out a Pixie Part 1. I first cut my hair in May 2013 and now that it's May 2014, I can show a year's worth of progress.

November 2013

The first 6 months was really difficult because of how awkward the growth is; I was left with super cute holes where the hair was cut around my ears, as well as a duck tail in the back. Thankfully, the second 6 months were awesome.

February 2014

By 9 months, I could even wear my hair in a ponytail! I definitely needed a few bobby pins, and still had some loose hair...but hey, it was still a ponytail.

Now that it's been a year, I got the 'itch' to do my hair again...but of course, I was NOT going to cut my hair off...so instead, I dyed it RED!!!

May 2014

There you have it!

DIY: Gel Nail Comparison

Who doesn't love getting their nails done, right? I especially LOVE a good gel manicure, but I've finally decided that I am spending way too much money...so why not do it myself???

Last week, I was at the grocery store and while I was routinely browsing the nail polishes, I came across this Nutra Nail brand. It claims to work without a light, and it is supposed to last up to 2 weeks...plus it was on sale for $5 so I bought it.

It's a simple, three step process:

Step 1: Apply the activator to the nails of ONE hand, avoiding the cuticles. BUT, this has to be done quickly so it doesn't dry before the color is applied.
Step 2: QUICKLY apply the color onto the wet activator and swap the brushes between the color and the brush cleaner. (The cleaner is just acetone that dissolves the residue from the activator and the color mixture on the brush so it doesn't harden).
Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the other hand.

My impression: LAME!! This was terrible! At first, I really liked how quickly it cured and how strong my nails felt. BUT, because I had to work so quickly, it was impossible to not get it on my cuticles which left a jagged edge. Also, my nails chipped a few hours later from simply folding laundry, and by the end of the day I had flaked it all off. I DO NOT recommend it.


Obviously from this point I realized that I needed to buckle down and buy a light. But, I still didn't want to spend a million dollars...So, I did a little research this morning regarding the best at-home gel polish manicures; (side note: during this internet browse, I came across my sister-in-law's blog and she had JUST put up a post about an Easy DIY Gel Manicure that was awesome). 

My next victim of this comparison is Sally Hansen's Salon Gel Polish. This kit was $65 and included a light, gel base coat, gel color, gel top coat, gel polish remover, and alcohol wipes.

Step 1: I "roughed" up my nails using a dremel, but a simple buffer should've been fine.
Step 2: I applied a thin layer of the gel base coat, then let it cure under the light for 60 seconds.
Step 3: I applied two layers of Calvin Klein's Crushed Rose polish and let them dry completely...(Another side note...I had NO IDEA you could use regular polish for the color until I read my sister-in-law's post!)

  

Step 4: I applied a thin layer of the gel top coat, then let it cure under the light for 2 minutes. 

Step 5: Wipe off the tacky residue on each nail using Isopropyl Alcohol.

My impression: I LOVE this! I did end up spending $65, but the fact that I can now have gel nails whenever I want, is more than worth it. Also, who knew you can use simple polish for the color??!!! AWESOME!

  

XOXO

INFLUENSTER: Product Reviews

If you don't know what influenster is it's an awesome program where you can go online and take surveys about your life and if you are selected you receive free products to review!  I received this box a few months back and I've used all the products and wanted to give you my opinion! 

Goody Hair band

First up is this athletic headband from Goody! This is  actually a really awesome head band.   It covers my ears which in awesome for winter months. AND it doesn't ITCH!! I find so many cloth head bands just really really make my head itchy! I think it has something to do with the moisture wick material they use. But overall this is just GREAT!

Goody Quickstyle

This is a product fail. I like the idea of a brush that absorbs the extra water, to help blow dry time.  First off this was just really rough on my fine thin hair.  I know that manufacturers have made brushes that are supposed to be used on wet hair, but this just doesn't feel good on my hair.  It just rips through knots and is not gentle at all! Also, I think because I have thin hair it just doesn't absorb the water like it would with thick hair. The sponge was barely damp when I finished using it. Overall, just not my cup of tea!

Sally Hansen Triple Shine

This was a nice polish formula definitely shiny.  But I wish it had been just a little more opaque so I could've wore it on it's own.  But it was beautiful layered over hard reds and berry colors and was very festive for the holiday season!

SOYJOY BANANA

This was just NASTY!! I was vegan for a while, so I've tasted some interesting things but this was just not good! I feel like it was EXTREMELY OVERLY sweet, and slightly rancid. I love banana flavor and this was far from it.  I'm hoping down the road I will try another one that will redeem the SOYJOY line because this definitely didn't do it for me!



Well that's all for my product reviews! Let me know if you've tried any of these and had similar or opposing thoughts! I'd love to hear!!

XOXO

Growing Out A Pixie: Part 1

For any who are interested in the different stages of growing out a pixie, here are a few pics to show how my hair has grown over the past 6 months.

I chopped all of my hair off in May 2013...we're talking like 17 inches worth of hair. I wanted a pixie, but got a TERRIBLE cut and spent the next week crying because I felt like a boy. My husband took me to Hawaii as a graduation gift 2 weeks after my lame-o hair cut...and I DESPERATELY missed my long locks during our time at the beach.

May 2013

Sorry friends, but no matter who you are, you are going to have a horrible hair cut by about 3 months post-pixie. You will find lovely "windows" on the sides of your head from where the hair was cut around the ears...it's Super Cute. But, there's nothing you can do about it. I just kinda went with it and flipped a few pieces out here-and-there to make the windows seem less dramatic.

August 2013

By the time 6 months had gone by, I had a perfectly normal hair cut. I didn't have to try and hide the "windows" and I could style it many different ways. There is an important side note to add though, *YOU WILL NEED TO TRIM YOUR HAIR* The back of your hair will grow a lot quicker than the rest so I suggest trimming it off or you'll be stuck with a funky-duck-tail. By 6 months, I had trimmed the back 3 times.

November 2013

Don't worry ladies! If you're depressed because you chopped all of your hair off, or if you're just starting to grow out a pixie, there is hope. The simple fact is that a bad hair cut will always grow out!! 

HOW TO FEEL MORE BEAUTIFUL!! :)

As woman we can be really hard on ourselves!  We need to love ourselves more!! Here is a video that I filmed this week for my beauty channel and I wanted to share it with you guys! 

It's a few idea and tips for how to feel more beautiful and be happier!!!

Hope you enjoy!!

XOXO

DIY: Toning Brassy Hair

Hello ladies! I got my hair colored on Saturday and love it...but parts of my hair were brassier than I would've liked. So, I decided to tone it. If you haven't toned your hair before, or don't understand the difference between hair dye and toner - I'll explain it. Whenever we bleach our hair, it strips our hair of it's natural pigmentation, but that will always leave some form of a yellow shade. Some women are blessed with a naturally pale yellow after bleaching and some are blessed with a lovely shade of dandelion yellow...not fun. So, in order to counteract the yellowing, we need violet. Now, TONER is not a purple hair dye. It's similar to dye, but it simply deposits a violet/gray tone onto the hair.

Here's what I did:

I went to Sally's Beauty Supply and bought toner (Wella - T14 - Pale Ash Blonde) and developer (Salon Care - 20 Volume); I spent less than $10.

Mix 1 part toner to 2 parts developer. The bottle of toner is 1.5 oz and the developer is 4 oz, so I mixed the entire bottle of toner with 3/4 the bottle of developer.

Apply all over the hair, and I recommend combing it through your hair to ensure that coverage is even. Grab a snack and wait.

Side note: NO JOKE! After eating this banana my tongue was LITERALLY numb for 30 min?!?! What the heck???

I kept this on for 15 min (TOPS)...next time I'll probably only do 10 min. Keep in mind that the longer you leave it on your hair, the ashier your hair will be. Have you seen the pale violet hair that seems to be all the rage lately?? They simply left the toner on a lot longer than I did.

And here are the results :)

The picture doesn't show it that well but the little whispy hairs that frame my face were seriously purple. If this happens to you, DO NOT FREAK OUT :) after 2-3 washes it will be gone and your hair will be stunning!

XOXO

Beauty Haul: ULTA 20% off

Okay so I used to be a maniac shopper from makeup.  I have toned it down a bit luckily for my wallet!! :D But I got my 20% mailer for ULTA and so I went and got just a few things!! :)

 Here is my little stash! :) just a few little things!!

First, is a cream blush by NYX! I LOVE this formula I have a few others that are seriously staples in my collection I love how they blend super easy but have great staying power or create a nice base to hold my powder blush in place all day!! This one is called "Red Cheeks" and I think it's going to be the perfect winter just-been-outside flush! ($4.79)

 I have had my eye on this for a while. Rockateur by Benefit has had a buzz around it since it released a couple months ago. When I swatched it a one store it looked kind of coral and heaven knows I don't need another coral blush.  But when I swatched it again at ULTA it came out more dusty rose and it's BEAUTIFUL!! The top layer is like sparkly crazy orange (like the swatch at the first store) but once the overlay is off it's a beautiful color it's going to become my everyday go to blush! It is beautiful!!! ($22.40)

 

This isn't anything exciting. Is the brow shaper by Sally Hansen both my husband and I use them so I needed to get a new set they work great for shaping eye brows! ($7.03)

I LOVE ME SOME DRY SHAMPOO!! I seriously would hate my hair if it weren't for dry shampoo.  This is the Rockaholic Dirty Secret dry shampoo.  For breast cancer awareness month they had this cute pink packaging and it was on sale!! Normally I wouldn't touch a $20 try shampoo but this was on sale and I ended up stealing it for $6.40

 One of my current favorite dry shampoos! This is the Batiste blonde dry shampoo. It's awesome when your hair has grown out a bit to just connect your roots to your color.  It's a beautiful golden color and gives great volume to dirty greasy hair! ($7.19)

Last but not least is a foundation.  High end foundations look beautiful but really tend to break me out for some reason I've heard so many good this so I picked up the Revlon 24 hour color stay in Fresh Beige.  I've heard the oily/combination formula is no bueno.  So even though I have oily skin I went for the dry to normal and it's BEAUTIFUL.  It looks just like skin, it's lightweight I hardly notice it on, and it's got GREAT coverage! I'm love it. They only down side is that the bottle is pour out. I really prefer pumps for sanitary purposes but I might just take the pump from another foundation and put it on this foundation because it's GREAT!($9.59)

 

That's my little shopping haul! I just my mailer for Sephora 20% so I will probably shop that soon!!! :DHEHEHEHE

what have you picked up recently that you're loving?!!

FUN Monthly Beauty Steals: Glam Bag and Little Black Bag

Little Black Bag and Glam Bag are two monthly subscription services that are all about cute, girly and fun things! 

Glam Bag by Ipsy is a $10 a month and you get a bag and  4-5 beauty products every month delivered to your door! I been a member since they started and have always loved at least half the products in my bag which are well over the $10 price point! :)

With Little Black Bag you pick an item you like, and the stylists (based on a style quiz you take) picks 1-3 items to also go in your bag.  Then you can trade items with other people till you get items you are happy with and then they ship it to you.  You can also opt out for that month free of charge if you cancel that months bag before your trading date ends.  I think they now offer different price ranges for their bags.  Meaning they have a less expensive bag to a more expensive bag.  But a lot of their stuff are designer brands and the have everything from lipstick to scarves! SO FUN!

Here are my two fun packages!!!

All the goodies!!

My little black bag ( $85.90) included:

 a NuMe set of hot tools (full size straighener, curling wand and mini straightener which retails for $180.00) 

An elastic headband with a sparkly diamond bow

and a really cute turquoise wrap bracelet!

And they threw in a hydrating shampoo as a free gift with purchase.

My Ipsy Glam Bag included:

Big Sexy Hair Weather Proof Spray

Benetint

Pop Pouty Pop Crayon

Coola Mineralized Face tinted moisturizer 

BH cosmetics eyeshadow collection sample

 I just love trying out new products! And I always look forward to my Glam Bag when it comes in the mail! It's so inexpensive and you get to try so many new things!!

I think I got a great deal on my Little Black bag items. I often skip it but I really needed a new straightener and when I saw this deal I jumped and I'm so glad that I did!

Are there any monthly subscriptions that you love? Put them down below I'd love to hear and try other subscriptions that you guys love! 

XOXO