Playing with your hair color and cuts-Dee's Hair Evolution

I feel like as woman we always want what we can't have. If we're tall, we want to be short. If we're short, we want to be tall. If our hair is curly, we want straight hair. If we have straight hair, we want curly hair. You know what I'm talking about. We all do it. 

As I've gotten older I've learned to accept things about myself that I can't change like the size of my thighs, my Italian schnoz, or my thin hair. But I've also learned something really important as well. Have fun with your look. Try different colors you haven't tried. Whether that be nail polish, eye shadow, mascara, blush, lipstick, clothes, shoes, purses or even hair color. The point is..HAVE FUN!

For the longest time I kept my hair long and straight. I hated it curly. By the time I got to college I realized my look was getting old. I wanted to try new things. I wanted to try new hair tools and new colors. I was sick of looking the same all the time. I'm an artist as most of you know so I constantly like to be inspired by new things and new looks. 

Dee's Hair Evolution

The first time I ever colored my hair it got botched. I was a freshman in college on my first Christmas break and I did one of those at home highlighting kits and it came out awful. The color was brassy, streaky and I was pretty disappointed. I decided to leave it alone for awhile. By the time summer came around I decided to do an all over color to my natural color and it came out redder than I had hoped. Then I decided to leave it alone again. Eventually it faded and grew out and I left it alone for a long time.

By the time my first semester of Sophomore year of college ended I decided again at Christmas break to dye my hair a darker brown. I wanted something slightly different but not too drastic. 

The result came out nice!

Once again I left my hair alone for a long time as my hair began to grow out.Come Junior year of college I was ready for a more drastic change. I thought "Hmm..why not go a tad darker." I liked how the darker brown had looked on me so I figured I could pull off something a smidge darker. 

Black hair days!

Black hair was definitely one of the worst looks I tried but I'm glad I did. I wanted something different and this is what I got. It was very hard to pull off a natural looking face with black hair and I felt like I constantly needed a full face of makeup otherwise I'd look super washed out. This was still a fun look none the less and I kept this going for about a year.

By the time I was over my black hair I went back to brown. 

WARNING: Black hair color is hard to strip out of hair and the process took a good 4-5 hours before my hair was back to brown. 

Soon I graduated from college and was ready for a more grown up look. Many people stuck with long hair all of college and by the time I left I needed to leave some old looks behind as well. My hair had gotten so long and so drab that I wanted to do something drastic. The whole "Posh Bob" trend was so intriguing to me that I sat on chopping my hair off for months. Finally one day I went into a salon on whim and told them to cut it off.

I really loved it!

I'm so glad I chopped my hair. Not only was it completely freeing but it was so fun to play with a new style. I highlighted it, put pink in it, cut it shorter, left it curly and had so much fun with this look.

Highlights

Little bit of pink at the ends

I kept my hair short for about 2 years. I varied different lengths of it throughout those two years and even tried to grow it back in about 2 or 3 times but every time I did I'd get a really awkward length.

What really got me wanting longer hair was when I saw the new "Ombre'" trend that was becoming popular in early 2010. What also sealed it for me was all these pretty wavy looks that were being seen everywhere. Soon I found myself missing my long curly hair and wanting to move on to something new. 

It took another 2 years of growing my hair out to get it to where I wanted it. While it grew I continued to play with it's color. I dyed it dark brown and put some black low lights in it and then by Summer of 2011 I finally got it long enough to get some really pretty high lights in it.

I forgot how much I missed my hair long and naturally curly.

At this point in my life I really have accepted the natural curliness of my hair. I have really grown to love it when I leave it alone. I've also really learned to love a natural face of makeup as well. Maybe this is apart of growing up and learning to love and accept yourself but either way I've embraced what I look like naturally.

Bye bye dark brown hair!

HELLO OMBRE!

What I hope to get across to all you wonderful ladies is to HAVE FUN with your looks. I'm not suggesting you change yourself in any way by posting this but reminding you to have fun with what's out there. Once you try it once you'll realize nothing is permanent (unless your getting a tattoo..ha ha). Trying new things will open you up to a world of possibilities and it will rejuvenate you.

Most importantly, please remember...don't do it for anyone else but YOU!

Thanks for reading! :)

Which bridesmaid do' should I do? POLL

I'm the maid of honor in one of my closest friends weddings next month and I wanted to take a poll of which hairdo I should do for my friends special day!

We are wearing black, strapless, a-line dresses with a little bit of a sweetheart top and bright red heels.

Here are the looks I found that I really like. Her theme is a classy 50's/60's Hollywood vibe.

See the looks below I found and let me know which you think would be best!


Thanks for your help my beautiful Beauty Blog readers! :)

What is your favorite do'??

Number ONE

Number TWO

                                                         

Number THREE

                                                        

Number FOUR

Number FIVE

Number SIX

 

Number SEVEN

Fimo nail art TRIALS

I finally got my FIMO nail pieces in the mail recently. I received my little wheel of different colored bows and a day later received a wheel of colorful fruit pieces. I was so excited to try them that I ran around the house collecting my nail stuff to do a manicure almost immediately. I'm a goofball when it comes to beauty products obviously.

I decided on starting with the bows. I painted my nails white and then took nail glue to my nail and tried with my fingers (bad idea) to place the bows on where I had put the glue. I HIGHLY suggest using tweezers. It's much easier to place these tiny pieces on your nails and saves the glue from getting all over the place. Sorry for the bad picture but this is what it looked like.

 My first mistake was not using tweezers and my second mistake was not making sure the little pieces were lying flat on my nails. Trying to put my hair up in a pony tail was quite an experience with these suckers on there sticking up.

Basically, my whole first attempt at creating this look was a huge FAIL but I figured out what you need to do in order to get these pieces to stay on and lie FLAT on your nail.


1.) After applying your base coat and nail polish color, use your tweezers to place your fimos on your nail while your nail polish is still wet. No nail glue is necessary.


2.) Place as many pieces down as quick as you can. I used another nail tool to help press the pieces into my drying nail polish so they lied flat.


3.) After pressing them down with a tool, I used a really good base coat on top and applied 2 or 3 layers of it. 

The result...

HOW FUN IS THIS MANICURE!? 

Although this whole look did take me awhile to achieve, the manicure last me about a week. I was determined on my second attempt to make sure I did it right and I had a good hour of free time to spend on it so it became my art project for the weekend.

Hope I was able to share some good tips if you are looking to create a fun summer manicure. 

Feel free to contact me with any questions regarding this look. I'd be happy to help!

Thanks for reading!

My FAVORITE Summer essentials

Spring and Summer in Chicago are my favorite seasons of the year. I love the clothes, love the weather, the bright colors and all the fun things that go on. But my most favorite thing about Summer is that I don't have to wear as much makeup or use as many products because I'm lucky enough to tan easy and I almost never straighten my hair. The pool water or lake water does wonders for my natural curls.

I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite beauty products that I'll use this summer and why I love them so much!

1.) I really love Organix Moroccan Argan Oil lotion ($8.00) that I found at Walgreens a few weeks ago. This lotion is made of all natural ingredients and smells amazing. It's a really great lotion for after you've been out in the sun all day and it really helps with some areas of dry skin I have. My skin seems to suck this up like water and I love that it smells like summer. For those of you who haven't learned about the benefits of Argan oil, I must share some facts with you because this stuff is pretty awesome.

When it comes to beauty, argan oil itself helps heal scars, helps prevent inflammation, protects against the sun and contains properties that are disinfectant. It contains a lot of vitamin E which helps prevent aging by preventing free radicals cause by pollution from penetrating your skin causing it to age quicker. It also helps prevent wrinkles! This also has benefits to your health as well. If you want to read more about it check out this article I found- Argan Oil Health Benefits. All in all, this oil is amazing for you internally and externally.

 2.) Want your lips to taste and smell like lemon sorbet and still have your lips protected from the summer sun? BUY THIS! For those of you who read one of my first blogs, you know I love EOS lip balm. And I've tried almost every flavor at this point. I just recently bought this Lemon Drop EOS Lip Balm ($3.39)and I'm in love with it. This lip balm contains UVA/UVB protection, contains Shea butter, has an SPF of 15, is gluten free, Phthalate-free and all natural flavoring. It glides on smooth and unlike a lot of the SPF lip balms I've tried this one does not leave any white residue on your lips.

3.) More Expensive Waterproof Mascara

DiorShow Waterproof Mascara ($25.00 @ Sephora or department stores)- I really love this mascara because you can build it up without causing spider eyes (where it builds up and looks chunky on the eyelashes). It gives great volume and really makes your eyes pop. It comes in black, blue and brown.

Less Expensive Waterproof Mascara

Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies Waterproof Mascara. ($7.49 @ Walgreens or $6.99 @ Ulta)

This mascara gives instant volume and separation. It also doesn't clump up at all and is easy to build upon. Clearly I like any of mascaras with lots of volumizing properties to gives my eyes the pop they need without wearing a ton of eye makeup.

4.) My favorite nail polish this summer is Essie- Turquoise and Cacaos Nail polish ($8.00 at Ulta)

It's a beautiful turquoise color which looks almost the exact same color as a Tiffany's box. It compliments all skin tones that I've seen in on, including fair skin, olive skin and darker skin.

5.) My favorite lip glosses for summer contain a little glitter in them so if you don't like glitter these may not be for you. Since I don't wear much face makeup during the summer I at least like a little sparkle on my lips.
 

I really like "Smile"  Dazzkeglass by MAC  ($19.50) It's a pale coral lip gloss with pink and gold pieces of glitter in it. I like MAC's lipglosses cause they all smell like vanilla and I love anything vanilla flavored or scented. It's a very smooth gloss and not very sticky like some of the other brands out there.

 

My other favorite lip gloss of all time is Chanel Glozzimer in "Pailetties" ($29.50) - This lip gloss is like putting velvet on your lips. You only need to apply it once or twice to get this pinky lip full of pink and blue glitters. This lip gloss is stunning on. It's long lasting and moisturizing and I like that you don't even need a lipstick color under it for it to stand out.

Thanks for reading!! HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE! :)