Monthly Faves: June

I have been away from my blog for a little while now. I don't have a good excuse, just the usual ones: work, being sick,...life...

Anyway, I'm back on the last day of June to share my June favorites with you!

NARS Eye Shadow Single in Nepal
This is such an easy color to wear. I've been lazy this month, so I usually whack on some of this eye shadow and some mascara, and that's the extent of my eye makeup. Nepal is a pretty pink with a bronze tone to it - great for summer! Purchased at Sephora.ca

Benefit Benetint
Again, I've been very lazy this month. I put this on under my foundation to create the look of a natural flush on my cheeks. I can't be bothered with powder or cream blush at the moment...just give me a stain and I am good to go! I put a few streaks of this on and blend it in with a stippling brush. I am super excited to get my hands on the new shades of Benetint - Posietint (yes, I know it's been out for awhile, I just haven't bought it yet) and Cha Cha Tint. Purchased at Shoppers Drug Mart

BioSilk Silk Therapy for Hair
When my hair was longer and really damaged, I was using this every night on my damp, post-shower hair. Now that my hair is still short, I find I'm still using it! This oil helps give my hair a healthy shine and keeps it more manageable. It feels softer, and less brittle (even though I don't use heat on my hair!). Purchased at Wal-Mart

Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk Shampoo
I don't know what it is this month, but I have been obsessed with coconut! The scent, the flavour...I just can't get enough. This shampoo smells divine - good enough to eat! It lathers very well and leaves my hair completely clean (no residue) and my scalp nice and moisturized. Purchased at Wal-Mart and Pharma Plus

L'Oreal Paris Studio Mineral FX Control Cream
Now that I've got a shorter 'do, I have an actual need for styling products. I picked this up because it's cheap. I've been using it at least 2 or 3 times a week to give my short pixie cut some definition. It doesn't leave my hair crunchy - it's got just enough hold to control hair but without making it wind-proof :) Purchased at Pharma Plus

Clinique Perfectly Real Makeup in Shade #1
Now that I've used the last of my Clinique Almost Makeup, I've moved on to using their Perfectly Real Makeup instead. I have to say, I'm impressed! The foundation provides light coverage, which is perfect for the summer. The foundation has not reacted with my skin, and it doesn't oxidize or make me oily at all. The drawback is the size of the bottle/amount of product for the price. While $30 doesn't make it the most expensive foundation I've ever bought, it certainly makes it pricey to re-purchase. Purchased at Sears.ca

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat
I absolutely LOVE this top coat. I does a great job of instantly drying my nail polish after I've given myself a manicure or pedicure. Will I buy it again? Absolutely! Purchased at Pharma Plus

Cover Girl LashBlast Volume Mascara
Ok - so if you're a follower of my blog you know I'm a fan of Cover Girl's LashBlast Fusion mascara. I had tried this version first, and didn't like it, so tried Fusion instead and fell in love with this. I was in Wal-Mart earlier in the month and was going to pick up another tube of Fusion when I saw that the Volume formula is actually a dollar cheaper. So, I bought the Volume formula instead. Honestly, I don't notice a big difference in the two formulas. Until the price of Fusion is the same as Volume, I'll be buying the Volume formula because it's cheaper. Purchased at Wal-Mart

GOSH Velvet Touch Lipstick in #86 Kitch
My go-to lip color for the month has been this GOSH lipstick. I really didn't know what to expect from this color since I really did not like Darling...but Kitch is a whole other story! This shade is a pretty nude/berry color. It's a shade or two darker than my natural lip color, which is why I have been using it this month. It's not often that I completely finish a lipstick before it expires (goes bad), but I can see this lipstick being one that I do manage to finish! Purchased at Shoppers Drug Mart

Here's a swatch of some of the products I have mentioned above:



Left: GOSH Velvet Touch Lipstick in Kitch
Middle: NARS Eye Shadow Single in Nepal (for whatever reason, it looks very gold in this swatch!)
Right: Benefit Benetint

What are your June favorites? Do you share any with me?

I will be back bright an early tomorrow morning with my First Annual Blog Birthday Giveaway! All of the details about how to enter and what the prizes are will be posted tomorrow!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

As I promised earlier today, I am doing a special post about my new hair cut and style!

I could not resist, as the change I have made to my hair-do is so drastic.

I will start off by saying that I have lots of extremely soft, very fine hair. Those things make it extremely damage-prone, hard to style with barrettes or accessories, and it does not deal with heat very well. My hair also gets oily very easily and does not hold volume very well when it gets longer.

About a year ago, I decided that I would take a break from my normal chunky layered bob, and would grow my hair out. This is what it ended up looking like, up until about 3 PM this afternoon:



It doesn't look too bad - but what you don't see in this photo is all of the split end damage I had, how dried out it was, as well as the fact that my hair tangled very badly whether it was dry or wet. I cannot tell you how much hair I have lost in the past month because of me pulling out knots when I comb my hair. My hair became a constant source of frustration for me and I could not wait to get a serious hair cut to get rid of the problem.

So I got a pixie cut!

Here is a shot of the front and back:





I have had a cut like this before, but this is by far the best job any stylist has done with my hair in quite some time. I love it! I am thrilled to bits that I have a hairstyle that I can either keep low key, or style to make it look more 'fancy'. The cut also helped get rid of a lot of fading dye; there's very little left. The stylist actually commented that now with the dye remnants in my hair, it looks like I have highlights!

I got a bit of a styling lesson and a product recommendation before I left the salon, and I have my next appointment booked so I can keep this cut looking ship-shape!

I am soooooo beyond happy with the results of my hair cut.

Have a wonderful Friday night, all!

To Dye For

I have been dying my hair since I was 12. It all started with innocent highlights, but before long I was dying my whole head of hair a new color. I’ve been a blonde, a red-head, and a brunette - I have never dyed my hair black, though.

In its natural state, my hair is fine and soft, and it’s a dirty blonde color with natural golden highlights. Right now, it’s auburn - from a box.

About four months ago, my hair was a dark chocolate brown - again, from a box. I thought the dark color made my skin look flawless and it made my blue eyes pop. After awhile, I began to realize that the color actually made me look pasty and slightly sickly. So, I decided to lighten my hair and picked a dye shade that I thought would just bring me closer to my natural color. That ended up being a bit of a whoops. I wrote about it in my hair horror story posting.

As the weeks went by, I began to like the red tint to my locks - so I decided to dye my hair that same color again. I bought the Garnier Nutrisse Cream color in Shade 643 Roasted Coffee (light copper golden brown).

I love it! I think that it looks great. I also dyed my eyebrows to help the dye look more ‘natural’.

Here’s a before and after shot of my roots:


Before


After

Here’s a before and after of my hair:


Before


After

I don’t ever want to be a super intense orange red-head. I really like the look of auburn hair because it makes my completion look more warm and not as pasty, and the red/orange color is opposite of blue so it does a better job of making my blue eyes stand out.

Now if I can only make up my mind on how I want to have my hair styled, I will be a happy girl.

You can learn more about the Garnier Nutrisse Cream hair dye by visiting their web page here.

The Horror: Hair Ordeals I Want to Forget

When I decided to create this post yesterday, I didn't think about adding pictures. Nothing quite gets the point across about a bad haircut/dye-job like photographic evidence. But, I've decided against it - I am not very comfortable posting many pictures of myself for all to see on the interweb. So, I am just going to stick to stories and hope that my descriptions do the bad hair justice.

The Poodle Perm

The Poodle Perm is a result of my grandmother thinking my cousin and I needed new hair-dos. When I and my cousin (we are the same age...4 months apart) would go to my grandmother's house for Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter she use to take it upon herself to book us both into her favorite salon to get new hair cuts/styles. Usually, I ended up with super short hair, and my cousin got to keep her long hair and only got a trim. One year, when I was 8, my grandmother decided she wanted both my cousin and I to have a perm. I have super straight, fine and soft hair; my cousin has thick, naturally wavy hair. So, you can already see how this is going to work out better for one of us than the other. When I went to the appointment, my hair was all one length, and just hit the top of my shoulders. My cousin on the other hand had hair that was halfway down her back. Being a happy kid, I was really excited to get my hair permed - I was hoping that it would look great and I would love my new hair.

The entire process was torture. The chemicals used for perms stink, and burn your scalp. I already have super sensitive skin, so this was especially unpleasant for me. When the stylist removed the rollers from my hair, styled it, and then showed me my new hair in the mirror, I was unhappy. I had loads of tight curls. My hair was now just at my chin, and extremely poofy. To me, it looked like I was a show poodle that had just had its ear fur styled for a dog show. I hated it. I was so excited as it grew out and the curls lost their staying power. My cousin's hair, on the other hand, looked awesome.

Do I look Like a Guy?

For about the past 4 years of my life, I had been keeping my hair very short. Short hair looks better on me, and gives my hair volume. The first time I went to get it cut short, I went from having hair past the tops of my shoulders to 1-inch of hair. The change was drastic.

I walked out of the salon feeling great. My hair was styled, it looked good, and I loved the fact that it was an 'easy' to manage hairstyle that I would not have to fuss over.

Then I washed my hair. All of the styling product was gone, and I was left with a hair cut that - without any styling or product - in my mind, made me look very butch.

It took me a few days and a few experiments with the curling iron/flat iron/hair dryer before I was able to manage my hair and make it look decent. If I ever get a cut like that again, I will be asking for a styling lesson before I leave the salon!

Hi, My Name is Anne of Green Gables

This is my most recent hair folie...so recent, it was Sunday! Back a few months ago, I dyed my hair a deep chocolate brown. I had done it a few shades lighter before, liked the results, and decided I wanted to go darker. For awhile, I was happy. Then I realized the dark shade made my pale skin look just that - pale and pasty. Not a good look!

So this weekend I picked up a box of dye that is more like my natural color - a dirty blonde with copper and gold highlights.

I have been dying my hair since I was 12, and have NEVER had a scary/bad outcome. Until Sunday.

I asked my mom to help me apply the dye, and we covered my hair with the product. I was about 10 minutes in to my 'wait' time when my mom said 'Oh my God. Go look at your hair!' - so I immediately got up and went to the nearest mirror. The dye had turned a bright copper color. I began to worry. But, I tried to remember that the color the dye turns on your hair doesn't always equal the color your hair will be. So, I finished out my 35 minute wait and rinsed the dye out of my hair, and applied the conditioner. When I got out of the shower, I towel-dried my hair and looked in the bathroom mirror. I flipped out. My roots had gone a scary, coppery orange. I went downstairs to show my mom, who could only look at me and say 'hopefully it won't look like that when it dries'.

Well, it kinda does. I have red hair now. Not brown-red, just red. I look like I have naturally ginger hair. I have gotten use to it these past few days, but it was quite a shock to see what happened. I still can't believe that it went from being very dark brown to this light red color.


I hate my hair at the best of times, and have done almost everything to it. I don't think I will ever be truly happy with it. I have debated shaving it all off :)

I hope my stories have entertained you. Have a great rest of your week!