Outfits Lately & Updated Hair

I realize not all of my readers subscribe to my Facebook page, so I'm posting some of my outfits from the last few weeks (some I haven't posted on FB either).

First, I'll show you my newly colored and cut hair. I didn't have any color applied on the roots this time (I am not coloring my roots during pregnancy) but my roots are perfect now anyway for the subtle ombre I do anyway so there is no need to color them darker.  I had a few (maybe 10 or so) teeny tiny highlights added in to some of my ends and had over an inch or so cut off. It feels so much better!

(it looks a little lighted in this pic than in person, IMO)

Lululemon tights; Target sweat shirt

Zara wool coat; J.Crew scarf; Marc by Marc Jacobs bag

The night I met John and Sherry from Young House Love!

Banana Republic Coat and Sweater; Lululemon tights; Nine West boots

Banana Republic Coat and Sweater; Lululemon tights; Hunter boots; 

Forever 21 infinity scarf

My hair before I cut and colored it and my new iPhone case by Tin Tree Gifts on Etsy

New necklace from Forever 21 (in person it looks totally J.Crew but cost about 1/10th of the price!)

Banana Republic blouse; Express pants

Banana Republic trench, Zara dress

Forever 21 top; GAP always skinny jeans; Tory Burch Reva flats; LV Neverfull GM

Thanks for reading!

Saturday Snaps: Hair Cut & Color

This morning, I headed to Michael Kemper salon to meet my new hair stylist, Chuck, who came highly recommended by my best friend Candice.

I was a little nervous at first, but I felt comfortable right away and he really took the time to go over what I wanted.  I asked him to keep me a brunette, give me a bit of a very subtle ombre look and also to not start any of my blonde highlights in my roots.

We decided to dye all of my roots with a demi-permanent color that's very close to my natura color (but slightly darker) and then drag that color though some pieces that were too blonde left over from previous dying. 

Here I am when I first got there.

After the brown color was applied throughout all of my roots, Chuck used the same technique seasoned ombre pros use---he teased my hair and applied the blonde color only to the part left outside of the teased part. It looks a little scary, but it's awesome:

...and then your hair ends up looking like this:

But then, you leave the salon, like this:

(note the smile)

I am so thrilled to finally have my roots all one color and then lighter shades sweeping throughout the rest of my hair. Eventually, I think I'll be brave enough to do even more ombre throughout my ends, but for now, I am so thrilled with how it turned out. I atually really love how rich the brown looks. It's all soft and blended too, which is awesome.

I also had it trimmed, here's the back:

So glad I finally took the plunge and had my hair colored and cut! I'll take some pictures with my DSLR tomorrow.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend :)

Going "Subtle" Ombre- What's Next for My Hair?

This is going to be a completely overly-analytical and borderline-OCD post about my hair...so bear with me.


I mentioned recently on my Facebook page that I haven't gotten my hair colored or cut since February (yikes!)  The truth is, I needed a break. I wanted to just let my hair grow out a bit and get some of my natural color flowing back through. 


I was also ready for a change. I realized that I tend to like my hair most as it grows out (with some darker roots showing) and that lately, I had always been unhappy with the placement of my highlights and only liked them again when they grew out and I added more lowlights.  In fact, the last three times I had my hair colored, I had to go back every time either to have more lowlights added or to have my color toned.


Some of you might remember what my hair looked like (before I had it fixed) the last time I had it colored (in February). Let's just be perfectly honest and say it was not good. I'm still not sure what happened, but the highlights just lifted really oddly on me and the placement was incorrect.

After this happened, I had some lowlights added in to give a more blended look and haven't touched my hair since. Honestly, I was scared. I went from having color that had always looked natural and blended, to this.  It looked better after it was fixed but as my hair grew out and the colors toned down, there were times I thought I should just stop coloring it alltogether because I finally liked how it looked again.


Then, I discovered Johnny Ramirez's blog by seeing his amazing hair colors all over Pinterest and I realized that I wanted someone to try a new technique on my hair to achieve the look I love---which is basically a "softened" version of ombre.  Because visuals are important, here are some hair looks I absolutely LOVE---I feel like these looks are blended, NOT high contrast and overall the look I'm going for (obviously my hair is not naturally as dark as some of these examples---but I am referring to overall color placement, tonal qualities and color contrast)

color/photo- Johnny Ramirez

Though I do like some of the next photos, these are examples of what I consider "too solid" or "too high contrast" for me, personally:

 

 

Those colors are by the amazing Johnny Ramirez---and it's not that I don't like them because they look great---it's just that level of contrast (high) and the lightness (very blonde) is not the look I'm craving.  I like the softer more blended blondes and caramels in the previous photos more for me---and Johnny is amazing at doing ombre on brunettes---but I didn't want to travel, so I found someone local who I think will be able to give me the look I'm striving for.

In terms of a cut, I always tell my stylist that I want "Victoria's Secret Model Hair"---lots of volume, bounce, long layers and a pretty shape that falls nicely when blown-out. 

I will show you ladies how it turns out tomorrow, wish me luck!