Creating A "Pretty Little Liars" Inspired Hairstyle

Experimenting with new hair styles has me convinced that I need to try them more often.  Every time I switch it up a little, I get lots of nice feedback from co-workers who are used to my same-old look everyday. It's so easy to get stuck in that rut of never trying something different because it's easier to just go on auto-pilot in the mornings and style your hair the couple of ways you always do.  That's why I'm glad someone's taken all of the guesswork out of creating these styles so they're easy enough for the average non-hair pro to achieve.

Today's style is something ideal for a date night or other special occassion.  It's not too fussy, totally easy to do (it took me way less time than the first hairstyle I tried) and it's overall just a nice, soft, voluminous look.


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I followed the tutorial above by the lovely It's Judy Time and I absolutely loved the results.  The only difference is that I curled my hair instead of keeping it straight.  I created this style on third day hair, so having a little curl gave me extra volume to work with and also really brought out my newly touched-up ombre color.

The thing I love most about this style is the volume it offers at the crown. It really sets it apart from an everyday style, but it's not so fancy that you can't wear it to work, Iike I am today. You also have the option to middle or side-part this style, but I chose a middle part since that's more my day-to-day look. It might be fun to try a side part with the front pieces for a night out.

All you'll need to recreate this look is a teasing comb, some bobby pins, a brush and if you want curls like me, a curling iron and some hairspray.

Here's how it turned out:

What do you think of this style?  Check out It's Judy Time's video above for a step-by-step tutorial of how to achieve this look---weather your hair is straight or wavy!  I promise this one is super easy and quick---and best of all, I can totally see it working on hair that's been at the beach all day and is full of texture---so it's perfect for summer, which is just around the corner (even though in some parts of the country it doesn't feel like it quite yet!) Wishing you all a great week!

This is a sponsored post via BlogHer.

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!