More hair photos...

Thanks for looking. I hope you have a great weekend!

New hair color and a couple "EOTDs"

After being blonde for 20-something years (with short periods of red and brown in between), I decided to go back to brunette last October. After four months of it, I decided I was ready for a change. Thank you to everyone for your input on my blog poll about what hair color you thought I looked best in. I took your feelings (as well of those of my husband and children) into consideration when making my decision. See the results below...but first, here's what I did on my eyes today. The first set of photos is when I was brunette this morning and the second set is after I had my hair done.

(1) I did simple eyes today. I really wanted to show off my new favorite neutral color. It's "Natural Beauty." I applied it on my lids and crease and highlighted with a discontinued limited edition color, Cashmere Mittens on the inner 1/3 of my lid and brow bone. I used Marcasite gel liner on my upper and lower lash lines.









(2) For my second look of the day, I used "Soul" on my lid and crease. I highlighted my brow bone and blended out the inner corner with Moondance (my favorite highlight shade). I used Chocolate Mousse gel liner on my upper and lower lash lines. If you've never tried Moondance, you should. There's nothing else like it. Photos never due this color the justice it deserves.







Now on to the hair color before/after...

Before: I took this first photo this morning before I left for the salon. By this time, the color had faded quite a bit since I colored it in early January. At this point (if I were to stay brunette), I would have colored it again already to it's normally deeper shade of brown (see last brunette photo), but I wanted to have as much of the color washed out as possible before my appointment. The other two photos were taken within the past week. I just added them for comparison since the lighting was a bit different in each.










After: These photos were taken after I came home and rewashed/styled my hair after my appointment (I never really like the way my hair turns out when they blow it out in the salon). Due to the lighting conditions I was forced to work with, my hair turned out a bit darker in these photos than in real life. C'est la vie. Check out the details of my color below the photos.


So here are the photos...




In this photo, you can see the darker hair peaking out underneath.




Since I hadn't had a haircut in the four months I was coloring my hair myself, my ends were quite sad and tattered. I asked her to cut the length off to a point where it would be healthy and to raise my layers up as well. She took about 2 1/2 inches off the bottom and the same off my layers. It looks even shorter when it's curled, but I still love it. No amount of long dead hair looks as good as healthy hair.




Details: I had my stylist put in "partial" highlights (draw an imaginary line from ear to ear across the top of your head and this is the area she highlighted) using bleach only--no color. By doing a partial highlight, it leaves about 3/4 of the hair in the back with my natural brown hair and just the top layer over it is highlighted (too wordy--bad grammar?). This is the same effect I had when my hair was very blonde. I prefer this look over having my entire head with streaky highlights. In real life, the underneath portion of my hair would never see the light of day so highlights there would just be unnatural looking. On a related note, my husband and I both noticed that my skin looks much warmer with my new hair color. I wore the exact same foundation in all of the before/after photos but I look considerably more pale with darker hair. I also look a bit pale in the photo with my very very blonde hair. I think I found a happy medium.


And just a reminder of what my hair looked like before I went brunette:



Thank you so much for going through my hair color journey with me.

The hair color saga continues . . .

I wanted to share some photos with you showing how my hair color has transformed over the past two months...

Before

(I was born with brown hair but have been wearing it blonde for about 25 yrs)

Day after professional color (mid-October)

Here are a couple of pictures of me around the week or two prior to coloring at home. You can really see how much my professional hair color faded in a little less than 2 months (it's to be expected when you color over bleached hair). The blonde is really coming through in the longest sections in front and the top is starting to look orange-y.

Clairol Natural Instincts - Suede (light brown)

Suede is their lightest "neutral" brown. I didn't want to go too ash and but I also didn't want quite as much warmth as I had with my professional color (it faded pretty quickly, but that's to be expected when you color over bleached hair) so I chose a neutral brown. I'm very pleased with how even the color took and how rich it is. I'm curious to see how the color fades and how soon I'll need to refresh it.

By the way, after using a $2 in-store coupon and cashing in an online rebate, the color only cost me $3.99. For the results I achieved, I think I'll be sticking with at-home color for a while (my stylist charged me $100 for 3-color foils, cut and blow dry).

Me today, 2 days after I colored it at home.

Thank you for reading my post!

New hair color and a FOTD

My 43rd birthday is coming up in a little over a week and it's time for me to get a new driver's license photo (it's been over 5 years). My dark roots were in desperate need of a touch up so I had to make a decision. . .stay blond or do something different. I was tired of being a slave to my dark roots so I decided to go back to my natural color.

Nearly the entire back of my hair was already my natural color. It was just partially hidden by a layer of heavy blond highlights. My hairstylist matched my natural color (foiling with 3 different shades) and this is the result. He went a little bit darker to start with since it will fade due to the fact that it's color over highlighted hair.

My FOTD:

I used Spark elemental lustre on my lid
Tapestry opulent lustre in the crease and outer corner
Fiona pure eyes lustre to highlight
I smudged Chocolate Mousse indelible liner on my upper lash line
Dolly gothic lolita rouge brightens my cheeks and
Rosebud provides a soft wash of color on my lips

*All makeup used is by Aromaleigh

More hair photos. . .

This is what it looked like fresh home from the salon

Day 2 after I washed and styled it myself

Before