Vibrant Pink Ombre for Short Hair

Been a while. I'll skip the obligatory apology about being busy if you'll forgive my neglect of the blog :) Deal? Deal.

 

So...I have pink hair now. I think the last post was about going Copper or lightening the red I had for most of last year. I have been continuing to work on removing the red, slowly and as healthy as I could. I have basically been growing my roots out (turns out, my natural color is pretty nice and super shiny, WHO KNEW!!) and slowly lightening my ends. I've been rocking a pretty balayage look for a few months, ended up cutting a lot of the red out and was left with not my favorite haircut ever if I'm honest.

I just know it needs to be done, so I'm dealing with it. In the meantime, because I don't want to further damage my ends by any more bleaching, lifting or color removing...I decided semi permanent colors without developer would be a fun thing to appease my antsyness and also the healthier option for my hair.

I used to have fun colored streaks in my hair (aqua streak, cobalt blue streak, fuschia streak) and when I did I really loved the Ion Color Brilliance Brights line. I used Fuschia (their spelling) and had great results. Since then they've also added a Neon selection to their line so I decided to leave my natural roots alone and do the blonde bits a mix of the Hottie Pink and Fuschia.

I eventually want it to fade to a more pastel rosy pink but thought I'd go bright at first just for fun. I really love it! These colors are so user friendly, very affordable and pretty much goof proof. Fuschia is very pigmented and still the most impressive of all the colors I've tried. Hottie Pink is a lot more subtle but goes nicely with the Fuschia for more dimension. I think Rose and Flamingo are next on my list!

Prom/Formal Hair and Makeup

 

The prom season is upon us! My favorite little prom test subject has graduated but this year she happened to have a formal banquet the same night as prom so we got her very glammed up.

This look could work for a variety of different events, she even made the hairstyle last until the next day for 2 bridal showers she had to attend. It's classy and fun and most importantly, very easy to do.

I started with her hair. I took a 1 inch curling wand and curled her entire head. After I removed each curl from the wand I kept it wrapped and bobby pinned it to her head for it to cool. Once her whole head was in pins we started on the makeup.

We didn't want anything to dramatic or "sexy", her event was at a religious school and "modesty" was requested. This girl has lashes for days and we thought we'd do a lighter smoky eye and focus on those lashes. I used:

• Estee Lauder matte primer
• CoverGirl 3in1 Foundation
• Maybelline Fit Me Concealer (great dupe for the NARS creamy concealer)
• Rimmel Stay Matte powder on T zone
• NYC Sunny Bronzer
• Tarte Amazonian Clay blush in Exposed
• BECCA highlighter in Moonstone 
• NYX Eyebrow pencil in Taupe
• MAC paint pot in Bare Study
• Urban Decay Naked and Naked 2 palettes on eyes
• Urban Decay Perversion mascara on top lashes
• CoverGirl Clump Crusher mascara on bottom lashes
• L'Oreal Pencil Perfect eyeliner in Carbon Black (not great for a precise line, but great for smoking out)
• NYX lip liner in Nude
• Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Precious
• Urban Decay setting spray

Then we moved onto the hair. I took all the pins out and was left with a stunning head of perfect curls. I finger brushed most of the curls loose and used Beyond the Zone texturizing powder at her roots for volume. Girl loves big hair and I was happy to oblige her :)

I then used a teasing brush for extra volume at the crown. I pulled all of her hair to one side, leaving a small section out which I fishtail braided. I worked that over to the side and began pinning sections of curls. I basically just pinned each curl to her head about half way down the length so that she had some volume but it still looked loose and "sexy messy". I finished it with John Frieda Luxurious Volume hairspray. It's very fine but SUPER STRONG HOLD without getting crispy. Kept her hair in place for 2 days but still looked soft. She has a ton of hair so this ended up being a gorgeous style on her.

Drugstore Products to get rid of Red Hair Color

Alright, the red is now almost 100% gone. As you know from my previous post on Copper hair, I used the Revlon Frost & Glow to lighten some of the red out and got a nice tolerable copper. Then someone commented on my "orange" hair and I was over it. I'm fickle like that. So I did some online research and found a couple of things to try to lift as much of the red out as I could. Started here:

I've been red on the underneath before so I know there's really no getting rid of red. You can alter it by bleaching or cover it but it's basically there until you grow it out. I didn't want to keep bleaching it because I don't really want to be blonde again. At least not around my face, I wouldn't mind blonder ends but I definitely want a more balayage look with darker roots.

So...I went to Target, grabbed a box of Color Oops, a box of L'Oreal Superior Preference 9 1/2A (Lightest Ash Blonde) and 6A (Light Ash Brown). I know to counteract the red, you need an ash. My hair pulls ash really easily so I was nervous, but it was also a deep level 6 red and had been dyed a good solid 6 months with that color.

I kept seeing people using Color Oops. Over and over I saw good results, less damage and you could dye over it the same day. But the complaints of the smell, oh goodness. I mistakenly thought these girls must be super sensitive. I've smelled all kinds of chemical hair products, I used to work in a salon for cripessakes. How bad could it be?

Oh, good lord. It's the worst thing I've ever smelled. It's literally like a foul perm, rotten eggs and cow manure mixed together with a dash of pure sulfur on top. No exaggeration. It's god awful. And it also didn't feel like it was doing anything. You basically apply it, put a plastic cap on, stay away from drafts or cold air and let it marinate. Then you rinse, and rinse and rinse and rinse. The instructions say what it does is basically shrink the color molecules and then you rinse the color away. So the longer you rinse, the more color you remove. It suggested to rinse, wash and then rinse for 20 minutes, wash and then rinse for another 10 minutes. Talk about a sore neck.

But it did work. A lot. It did remove the red but not as much as I'd hoped for. So I dried it and applied the L'Oreal 9 1/2A. I know you can't lift color with color, but I hoped that the ash would tone down the warmer bits without adding any more color to my hair. I didn't want to go dark brown to get rid of this red. Followed the directions, rinsed, dried and was left with this. Not ideal, but workable. Totally wrong for my coloring though.

So I left it alone for a few days and then went over it again with the L'Oreal 6A. The box said light ash brown so I was expecting darker hair. I've used L'Oreal before and always liked the results but it tends to go about a level darker than the box says on me. So I was prepared for that but pleasantly surprised with the results. A legitimate level 6 ashy dark blonde/really light brown with some warmer lowlights from the red remnants and some lighter pieces from the previously highlighted bits.

Overall I'm very pleased. The base color is honestly almost identical to my natural color. For now, I'd like to let my roots grow a good 2-3 inches and then go for something like this:

image courtesy of pinterest.com, hair by misteranhcotran.com

Simple Micellar Cleansing Water

I've been wanting to try a cleansing water since I started watching Pixiwoo videos on YouTube. Sam is always using Bioderma Crealine H2O. It just looked interesting, she used it to remove makeup, to touch up accidents (mascara transfer or liquid eyeliner splats) and it looked like it just effortlessly did the job. So when I saw this little bottle of magic at Target, I just knew I had to try it out. My skin has just gotten more and more sensitive the older I get and I just can't stand using super "chemical" products on it. It freaks out. The more gentle the products are that I use in my skincare regime, the happier my skin is.

I'll be honest up front when I say that this does clean, but not 100% clean. I still see makeup residue on my Clarisonic after I use this even though the cotton pad is clean. So, this is good for removing makeup but I would still wash your face after using this if you, like me, break out from sleeping in any traces of makeup whatsoever.

It's very gentle, feels very nice on your skin. Literally feels like water. There's no oily residue or anything leftover. It has good ingredients and I like using this a lot more than a greasy or creamy makeup remover, it just *feels* better on my skin.

I wear long wearing makeup like Double Wear and waterproof mascara and long lasting eyeliners and this had no problem getting almost all of that off my face. I found larger cotton pads that are more oblong shaped and those are great for this product. One little pad is not going to work to remove standard daily makeup.

I do recommend this and would definitely repurchase it as a first step of my nightly cleansing. I also like it for cleaning up accidents like Sam does with her Bioderma. A little dab of this on a Qtip will remove the reddest of red lipstick smudges or the blackest of black eyeliner/mascara oopsies.

Copper Hair - At Home Highlighting with Revlon Frost & Glow Kit

Hi! It's been a while, I know...I kind of got into a routine and just haven't been changing much or trying many new things.

As you know, I've been dark red since about September of last year. While I still love being a faux redhead, I did start to get a little bored of the shade and felt it was a little too rich for spring. So...I busted out the tried and true Revlon Frost & Glow kit and gave myself a little at home highlight. I only did my crown section following the pattern on the cap and left the underneath solid deep red.

I love the results, it left me with a much more copper tone all over and very even and vibrant results. I've been using purple shampoo a few times a week to keep it copper and not the color ORANGE...that's a very fine line and one I don't want to cross.

I'm sure this is the start of eventually ending up blonder all over, because blonde is an addiction and once I start I just want MORE AND MORE AND MORE until I hate it and go dark again, but for now I really do love this color and don't feel the need to immediately change it.

I've done several other posts on Frost & Glow by Revlon, I'm a serious, long time supporter. I have one post with detailed step by step instructions here if you are interested: Frost & Glow Tutorial

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Before for Reference: