Lipstick and Study Notes

photo courtesy of www.thebodyshop.com I love this stuff because it is a foam and I, well, love foams. Is that weird? When I was younger I wanted to eat foam. That's weird, right? ANYWAY.  I use this cleanser in the morning and at night after I have removed my makeup for a thorough cleanse of the face. It leaves my face feeling really clean and is easy to use. 2. VITAMIN E HYDRATING TONER, the body shop (£9.50/€12/$22, available here/here/here) photo courtesy of www.thebodyshop.com Next I use this hydrating toner to remove any last impurities, remove any remnants of the foam, and restore my skin's ph balance. I use this in the morning and at night and apply it with a cotton pad. It's vitamin E infused and hydrates my skin where needed. 3. OCEAN SALT FACE AND BODY CLEANSER, LUSH (£13.25/€12.95/$21.95 AVAILABLE HERE/HERE/HERE) photo courtesy of www.lush.com I use this scrub 1-2 times for my face and body. I love multipurpose products since I never use products enough and never seem to finish them off. Lush is one of my all time favorite brands, as their products smell amazing, work really well, and are all extremely environmentally friendly and cruelty free. This scrub consists of big scrubby chunks mixed with a really soft cream and I use it in the bath or shower. It leaves my face feeling thoroughly clean and super soft! (P.S. while making this post I found out that the UK lush website has a little video with every one of their products and I am obsessed. I've been watching bath bomb videos for ten minutes. Help me.) 4. VITAMIN E SINK IN MOISTURE MASK, THE BODY SHOP (£10/€19/$24, AVAILABLE HERE/HERE/HERE) I mentioned this mask in my july favourites, and I truly do love it. I use this one 1-2 times a week as well, usually on the same day I use my scrub. It's from the same Vitamin E line as my toner, and it really does feel very hydrating. My skin feels fresh an happy in the morning! Like I said, I am in dire need of some creams as they are pretty much the most important part of a skincare routine, but I'm quite happy with my little set up so far. Lots of Love! Rowan

Hello Everyone!

Recently a LOT has been going on in my personal life (hence the fact that I've been MIA from my blog for a while-sorry about that), and after a ton of drama, stress and BS, I decided I wanted a change. Since I'm not really in a position where I can have a change of scenery or do anything drastic, I decided to get what every girl wants to get when she's feeling down: a makeover!

I became obsessed with long bobs a little while ago, and when I saw Kylie Jenner (one of my style icons) chop her luscious locks off, I figured it meant we have some unspoken connection when it comes to style. Long bobs have also become a real trend this spring/summer, and I love it because it looks great and having long thick hair in the summers is absolute HELL!

Kylie's awesome new hair

I was actually planning getting my hair cut by my own hairdresser when I go back home for the summer, but with all the shizz I was dealing with I figured this was the perfect time for a fresh start- beginning with a fresh new coupe.

Since I didn't know any hairdressers here in Vegas, I looked at some reviews online and chose a salon that seemed good but not too pricey (my haircut was $50). Choosing a hairsalon through google was obviously a very scary and risky move, but luckily I got an appointment with Adrienne at Scandals Salon and Spa, who was an absolute sweetheart and did an amazing job.

Before

After the first cut

I was quite scared of cutting off my hair since I've never really cut it any shorter than shoulder length,  so I actually didn't cut it quite as short as I wanted at first. However, when I decided that I still like my face without my long locks, I went back and Adrienne cut off another two inches. Bless her heart for it too- she didn't even charge me for my second cut!

Above shoulder length!

After my hair was cut to the perfect length, I bought a L'Oreal Feria Wild Ombre kit at Walmart for about $11, and my friend Audrey helped me out with the coloring. Sadly though, the color wasn't quite light enough, and even after putting the dye in twice, you can still only see a slight color change when I stand in direct light (kind of like a fashionable vampire. But without the dying).

The final result

So now I'm wondering, should I just leave my hair alone for now and not ruin it again by putting more bleach in it, or should I just buy a lighter ombré kit and try it again? Suggestions are very welcomed!

What do you guys think of my new do? Do you think long Ombré bob's are the new spring/summer trend? As always, let me know in the comments!

Hugs and Kisses!

P.S. I promise I'll try really hard to be a bit better at updating my blog. Pinky promise!

Hello Everyone!

Happy new year! 2013 has honestly been my craziest year so far, and I really feel like 2014 is going to kick some butt. I hope you all feel just as positive about the new year as I do and that you make 2014 your best year yet!

That being said, let's get back to the more important things in life- like makeup. Everyone knows I love a good lippy, and your makeup look isn't finished without one. I have a lot of lipsticks ranging from high ends to drugstore bought, but I've made a selection of my eight favorite/most used lipsticks at the moment. I've even sorted them into different color categories for you- I'm organized like that.

Reds

top: Russian Red, Bottom: Ruby Woo

left: MAC "Ruby Woo" right: MAC "Russian Red"

MAC "Ruby Woo"

MAC "Russian Red"

 Pinks

Left to right: MAC "Candy Yum Yum", Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter "Sorbet", MAC "Pink Nouveau", MAC "Pink Plaid"

Left to right: MAC "Candy Yum Yum", Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter "Sorbet", MAC "Pink Nouveau", MAC "Pink Plaid"

MAC "Candy Yum Yum"

Revlon "Sorbet"

MAC "Pink Plaid"

MAC "Pink Nouveau"

Bronzes

Left: Clinique "Think Bronze", Right: Victoria's Secret "True"

Clinique "Think Bronze"

Victoria's Secret "True"

Hello Everybody!

A while back I went on a little mid-summer shopping spree, and one of the goodies I picked up that day was hair chalk by Pieces. I'd been wanting to try out hair chalk for a while, because I love changing up my hairstyle but I hate doing permanent damage to my hair. I also love being able to do something crazy with my hair for one night without having to deal with the consequences. Therefore, hair chalk seemed like a perfect solution. It wasn't quite as popular in Amsterdam as it was in the US, and it was kind of a hassle to find, so you can imagine my enthusiasm when I finally did! I picked up a seagreen color and Joyce chose a nice bright pink, and we were itching to try them out that very same day.

Here's a little part of our haul that day, including pink and green the hair chalk

 I volunteered to go first and was really excited, but we soon discovered that we were in for a quite the disappointment. The chalk was dry and really hard to actually get onto the hair. Fingers and clothes got covered in green and after we were done my hair felt and dry and knotted and was similar to a green stack of hay. The color wasn't at all what I'd pictured it when I purchased the chalk and all in all it was a complete failure. In fact, the second I got home I jumped in the shower and washed it all out!






I would not recommend this particular brand of hair chalk, but I can't speak for hair chalk in general. I am completely willing to try a different kind or brand on a different occasion. Also, everyone is different and so is everyone's hair. My hair is thick and naturally pretty dry and frizzy , so it could very well be that your hair reacts completely different to this chalk and that it looks great on you. Finally, it could also be that I chose the wrong color and that other colors 'pop' a bit better (especially on dark hair).



However, someone who did seem to enjoy this experimental burst of color was the kitty cat that was visiting us that summer! (don't worry, no harm was done while making this cat beautiful. He actually quite enjoyed being fabulous for a little while ;) )



What do you think? Yay or nay? Have you ever tried (different) hair chalk? 

Hugs and Kisses!

Hello Everybody!


I am so sorry about not posting anything in over a week but I have been terribly busy with school (whats new, eh?). But here I am, 12:08 AM, tick-tacking away just for you!


Today's post is about one of my favorite things: hair! I realize that may have sounded a bit odd, but what girl doesn't love a bit of hair renewal? Lord knows this girl does. Over the past years I've had my fair share of cute, glamorous or downright disastrous hairstyles. I like to think of my hair as one of my best features: it's thick, long and you can do pretty much anything with it. This is why I prefer going to the hairdressers to get a cut or dye-job, in stead of trying to let my parents do it for me, or worse- do it myself. Yes, this may cost a little (a lot) more money than grabbing the scissors from the kitchen drawer and hoping for the best, but I'd rather go through  life a little poorer with a good head-a-hair than looking like poor Cynthia from Rugrats. However, for the last year I have mistreated my hair terribly, leading to dead-ends and fifty shades of hair color -shudder-.

Here's a quick recap: about a year ago I decided I needed to get purple dip-dye, so I let my hairdresser bleach the bottom  of my hair and dye it a lovely shade of violet.
It looked quite nice but sadly enough the purple didn't stay very long and within a few weeks I went from purple to magenta to mauve and ended up with the top half of my hair a dark brown and the bottom half bleached blond.


There was no nice overlay and the color contrast was far too heavy so after a while I decided to go back to my brunette ways and bought a permanent brown color to dye it back. This looked nice but after a few months I got bored with it and -being the Kardashian obsessed wacko I am- decided to go full on black. Like I said, I have really thick hair so one packing was not nearly enough, so I ended up having streaks of brown in between my black locks. I tried putting another layer of black on about a week after the first coloring but this only seemed to make the color difference worse. It was supposed to be washable dye but that was an obvious lie because no matter what I tried (head and shoulders mixed with baking soda isn't something I'd usually wash my hair with), I kept having streaks of black. Now after a while of washing and trying to get all the dye out of my hair and to go back to my natural hair color, my hair ended up being a mix of four different colors: dark brown (natural), blond (on the bottom), chocolate brown and black. It looked absolutely horrendous and I've been fed up with it for months, but I didn't want to cut it all off because I've finally managed to grow my hair out.

This is what my hair looked like: a mess of colors and dead ends. (It's straightened by the way)

As you may know I am quite obsessed with British Youtubers and Bloggers, and at the moment I'm quite into Sprinkle of Glitter and Zoella. After watching a lot of their videos I decided I was in love with Zoe's hair and wanted to go ombre. After weeks of doubting if it would end up looking okay I finally got up the courage to call my best friend and beg her to do my hair for me. I went out and bought L'oreal's Wild Ombre Préférence and went over to her house yesterday afternoon. I'd watched lots of DIY videos in advance just so I had a slight clue of what the heck we were supposed to do, but I have to say Joyce (the best friend) was quite the professional in the whole matter.

It took quite a while, starting with dividing the dye over my hair (I have a lot of hair) and waiting 30 minutes (the box said 25-45 minutes but we chose 30 just to be safe), but the worst part was rinsing out the dye, putting in the shampoo, rinsing out the shampoo, brushing my wet and horribly tangled hair and finally blow-drying it. Even though I think the dye could have stayed in a little bit longer for a slightly bigger effect, I'm still very happy with the result. My hair finally looks healthy again, and not to mention super gorgina -and yes, that is a word-. I think the brush to apply the dye has made the color go lighter very gradually rather than going from dark to light in a matter of mm, which makes the look very subtle but nonetheless really pretty. Also, the dye turned out a beautiful honey to caramel color, which fits my dark roots perfectly. As I said, I'm really pleased with the result and think ombré is definitely the way to go! I would totally recommend L'oreal's Wild Ombre Préférence because it's super easy to apply and comes out great.


What do you guys think? Do you love the ombre-look or do you think this style is so last summer? Let me know in the comments!


Hugs and Kisses!

Hello Everybody!

Remember earlier today when I said I was going to stay inside all day? Well, that was a lie, because if there's one thing I love more than lounging on the couch in my sweats eating ice cream and watching 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', it's nail polish. Essie nail polish, to be specific. And there just so happens to be a store a few blocks away from my house that sells said nail polish, so you understand I couldn't not go. I like to treat myself to one of their beautiful polishes every once in a while, when I need something to cheer me up, when I feel like I deserve a reward for my hard work or when I haven't gotten one in a while and I start getting Essie-withdrawal-symptoms.

So into the rain I went, walked five meters and returned, went back into the house, waited for the storm to calm and walked back out. Round two was a lot more successful and I actually made it to the store this time. When it comes to Essie, I usually buy the first color that catches my eye, because I know I'll never be able to choose once I start browsing. Essie isn't exactly your cheapest nail polish brand so it's not like I can buy every color I want- and Lord knows I want them all- but it's pretty hard to go wrong. Every color I've bought so far still makes my heart beat a little faster as soon as I put it on. The color I went for this time is 'Lilacism', a beautiful pastel lilac -as the name suggest- color that I've been wanting for ages, and since it's supposed to be spring, I thought it would be the perfect buy. While I was in the shop I saw the L'Oreal mascara's were fifty percent (!) off so I simply had to get one of those, and I also bought a new eyeliner brush, eyeshadow primer and some brush cleaner. Oh dear, I think I may have a problem.

Here's Lilacism- so gorgeous!

I absolutely love this look!

Here are the other things I just had to buy

Something I really love about painting your nails (besides the fact that it makes you look and feel ten times better) is the endless possibilities- Am I keeping my nails long, or shall I go for short? Round or square? Lots of patterns or simple and plane? Glossy or matte? I usually get my inspiration from social media networks such as instagram and Tumblr and love to share my own ideas with the world. Here are a few of my favorite nail designs I've done myself:

Aztec prints are definitely my new obsession, especially when combined with this cute purple with a matte topcoat!

I adore this half plane/half glitter look

This has got to be my all time favorite nail design. I bought the gems from Claires and simply glued them on with a pair of tweezers!

Simple yet sophisticated

This simple matte pink look is made with Essie's 'Cascade Cool' and a drugstore matte topcoat

What do you guys think? What are your favvy nail looks? Would you like to see some tutorial type posts? Let me know!


Hugs and Kisses!