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

After:

Before for Reference:

Refinishing Tables

Why do I do this to myself? I swear. So...last summer I decided that our coffee table and end tables were going to go from a dark cherry stain to black. All of our other furniture is black and it made sense at the time.

Cut to about 3 days after I was done and I was totally regretting it. The black just showed EVERY single thing. I had to clean the tables at least once a day and even then they still looked grubby. I swear if you set anything on them, even a phone it would leave a mark.

I could have just put a satin poly on them to get rid of the glossiness but to be honest I was over the black table tops. Completely.

This weekend I decided that they needed to be changed. It worked out because my poor husband got sick and K and I were relegated to being outside as much as possible to avoid getting whatever grody bug he had :( No bueno.

So I started by stripping the paint off of the coffee table. I applied the stripper, waited about 30 minutes, scraped as much as I could, applied, waited and scraped again. Then I wiped with a wet rag and let it dry overnight. This required more time than I was willing to spend. I'm impatient. So the end tables just got sanded down, no stripping involved.

This is the table the morning after it was stripped. Still some white primer hanging around.

I then took 80 grit sandpaper and an orbital sander and sanded until I got to the bare wood. I rounded off the edges for a "rustic/worn" look. I then used 120 grit to finish sanding for a smooth finish.

Once that was done, I took a rag and removed all of the dust until I had a bare, clean surface.

I applied Minwax Pre Stain Wood Conditioner to make sure I had an even application of the stain. It absorbed in about 5 minutes. I wiped off any excess.

The next step was applying stain. I couldn't decide between 2, so I decided to use both. I wanted an aged, non golden or red finish that looked like it had always been there. I chose to start with Minwax Weathered Oak. I applied one coat of this, let it sit about 10 minutes, wiped off the excess and let it dry 2 hours. Weathered Oak gives a weathered, worn look to the wood. It tones down any warm tones and gives a grey appearance to any really light peices as you can see in the bottom right corner. It's a really neat effect but a bit too light on it's own for me personally.

I then applied one coat of Minwax Provincial, which is gorgeous but scary. It looked so dark! But I let that sit also about 10 minutes and then wiped off the excess. It was still pretty warm for me. But after it dried a bit, surpise, it was perfect! I let that dry another 2 hours, applied another coat, wiped and let it dry 3 more hours.

 

Then came the poly. I chose the Minwax Wipe On Poly in the Satin finish. I didn't want anything even remotely glossy and the wipe on gives a really neat effect. It's also very simple and goof free. This is the tables after one coat of poly. It was dusk so the porch light gives more of a golden look than what they really are.

I applied one coat, let it dry 2 hours and then applied another coat. I let them sit overnight and then brought them back in the house. We didn't use the tables for 24 hours but oh man, are they pretty. This is a really accurate picture of the end result color.

I just LOVE the end result with the rustic tops and black bottoms. The overall look almost everything else in our house and now I think our antique dresser needs this same finish! The bottoms of the tables are still Behr Black Suede.

Apple Cider Vinegar as a Toner

I read about this on a beauty blog a while ago and thought it sounded like something I needed to try. I've been trying to be nicer to my skin in my 30's and feel like the things I used in my 20's are WAY too harsh on my skin now. Things that used to work now irritate my skin into break-outs yelling at me to KNOCK IT OFF.

I've started using Dr. Bronners Hemp Rose pure castile soap as a daily face wash with great results. It's so gentle and organic and really works wonders cleansing and removing makeup.



photo courtesy of amazon.com

With that in mind, I thought it was probably silly to use nice organic cleansers and then top it off with harsh chemical toners. So...I made a batch of ACV toner.

The theory is that ACV is already a natural antiseptic and helps regulate the PH balance in your skin which is what contributes to breakouts. It's got malic and lactic acids which are supposed to exfoliate and soften your skin. The natural acids in ACV help clear your skin and improve overall complexion.

I got regular old Walmart brand ACV for 96 cents and cleaned out a small travel size Clinique toner bottle. I mixed 1 part water with 1 part ACV and apply with a cotton ball. There are differing opinions on the dilution of the ACV, some say 1:8 some say 1:4, I opted for 1:1 to start with and adjust from there if needed. There are also thoughts that organic ACV with "mother" in it is better, I don't neccesarily agree so I went the cheap route.

It does smell like vinegar. Obviously. However, this smell fades upon application and is not noticeable. If it bothers you, try only using it at night. I plan to make a new batch once a week so it doesn't go wonky and with the current dilution my little 96 cent bottle should last quite a while.

So far, I can already tell a noticeable difference in my overall complexion and it's started clearing up any existing spots on my face. It does not make my face sting or feel "tight" which is always a telltale sign of overdrying for me. It just makes my face feel really clean and healthy! I will definitely report back with any updates after more extended use.

So, for 96 cents you have an awesome gentle toner for your face. Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you!

Clean away!!!!

DIY Highlighting with Foils

Happy Monday! This weekend was time to touch up my roots. I think I've mentioned this before, but I do my own hair. I used to always go to the salon but over the last year have started doing it myself. Mostly because I change my hair A LOT and paying someone $120 each time got to be too much. Even though they do a more professional job than me, I can afford it more if I do the changes myself. Plus, I really like doing it. It's fun, it's easy and I like the results.

This is not an instructional tutorial, simply how I did MY hair as a novice at home. Anyway, usually I use the cap and hook method but found that I kept getting the same general peices so I was getting breakage and some areas weren't getting enough color and were showing darker when I put my hair in a pony tail...So. I adventured into the land of foils.

I know the basic idea from YEARS of getting my hair done in salons. I watched a few YouTube tutorials from pro's and got the jist. I went to Sally's and got the foils, I already had the bleach, developer, bowl and brush at home. I used 30 vol developer. I did 15 foils on each side and 15 foils down the top of my head for a total of 45 foils all together. I left the bottom half alone, because I don't like to bleach that section. It's my natural color. As you can tell...once I got them in, I was a little nervous (and make-up free, eek)!!!!

I admit, my husband had to help me with the top 5 foils from my crown back, but other than that, it was pretty simple. Next time I think the foils will be a little more organized, I should have gone from back to front so I could see, front to back made them kind of unorganized, but they worked all the same. The outcome is what I really wanted and it cost me about $8 to get it. I did do a deep conditioning treatment afterwards and have to say, got no breakage. I think I'm in love.

Please note that the photo below makes it look like I have a streak on each side, I don't. It's a shadow. My right side is all blonde like my roots, my left side is 3/4 blonde and 1/4 fuschia/purple streak.

I also touched up my streak of color this weekend with ION Fuschia and a mix of Fuschia and Teal to get the purple and am loving the fuschia/purple combo. It's so VIBRANT. I only touched it up because I wanted it closer to my roots instead of 1/2 way down like I had it before. I'm obsessed with this streak and this line does not fade. It keeps the vibrancy really well.