colour

Baby Preparations: Going BRONDE!

With about five weeks to go until the bundle of joy will join our household, I decided to make a change in my appearance that hopefully will make both my life and D‘s life easier in terms of leaving the house. I strongly believe that everyone on this planet has a soft spot for long blonde locks and I make no exception from that rule. That said, having blonde hair – even though mine is not the lightest shade, I’m more of a 9A lover – is a pain in the ass as you need to re-do your roots every four weeks tops otherwise you just look terrible no matter what your natural hair colour is. Yes, I am well aware of the fact that today dark roots are ok, however, not grown-in dark roots but rather perfectly calculated darker roots.

My hair before the colour process

With a new baby on the way, I’ve come to the conclusion that going religiously to the salon every four weeks for root touch-ups will be impossible in the beginning at least until we get into a routine, so I decided to try the much-coveted bronde-colour melt hair colour. This is kinda the compromise between having long blonde locks, bun not really having to go to the salon quicker than six-eight weeks (for me at least). My good friend and colour-guru, Maria and I decided on 7A roots because that matches my natural colour almost perfectly and that means that if I manage to squeeze in another colour appointment until the baby comes, the colour will actually catch on nicely – note: on chemically processed blonde, darker colours tend to require more than one try for the shade to actually last.

Tools used in the process

This whole bronde trend is quite lovely in a sense that it allows blonde-lovers like myself to still have lovely light locks while also having naturally coloured roots and therefore if you are a low-maintainance kinda gal and hate going to the salon monthly for about two-three hours for you colour service this is the way to go! I must admit that at first I was very skeptical as I am a blonde-all-the-way kinda gal and I was afraid that going darker plus being hormonal will result in a catastrophe, but, to be completely honest with you, I have never left Maria’s Hair Studio sad or unsatisfied. Plus, I do love a change from time to time! Here’s what my colour-master used to get this amazing, natural, trendy colour:

Joico K-Pak Color in 7A (Dark Ash Blonde) and 7N (Dark Blonde)
Joico K-Pak Chrome in V9 (Platinum)
Joico Vero K-Pak Peroxide in 6% (this is what we usually use for my roots)
Joico Vero K-Pak Chrome Activator
Olaplex Complex

Technique

Now, do not ask me how much of each she put into the magic mix that got me this amazing colour, all I can say is that she used nothing on the tips and only blended the colouring cream for about a minute before rinsing it all out. Not really touching the tips is one of my obsessions as I try and protect them as much as possible. And no, pregnancy has not helped with my hair nor with my skin and as I’ve stated in an earlier post I am not complaining as I have not experimented the bad side of pregnancy either. The process has a bit out of the box in my opinion as she knew she did not necessarily need to colour my tips in order to get this perfect bronde shade so she used foil for this natural sun kissed-highlights effect which I must confess I had serious doubts at the beginning.

The result

I now regret all those moments of doubt as I am way beyond in love with my new hair colour and if you really want to try this or any other colour trend with minimal damage to your hair you have to visit Maria’s Hair Studio as Maria’s first concern always is for the health of your natural hair and trying to do as little damage as possible while still giving you the desired result. The reason I am writing about this is because I was simply stunned yet again at how she managed to protect my natural fine hair while still giving me the desired result that most hairstylists give you with a full-length chemical colour. She amazes me and my hair with every single visit! I hope you love the end-result as much as I do!

December 16, 2016

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New Hair!!!

I’ve got new hair!!!! Literally!!! You didn’t believe that I just drank a magic potion and woke up with Rapuntzel hair, did you? If you look back on the latest posts, you’ll realise that in Milan I had medium fine hair, while in Paris I seem to have grown long thick hair. considering that the two mini vacations were two weeks apart, that would’ve been impossible to do naturally. So… I finally did it! I got hair extensions! I’ve been thinking about this since forever, but there was always something stopping me. I’ve seen quite a few that look fake even from a considerable distance, I always thought that they were uncomfortable to care for, and the reasons for my scepticism may go on forever.

Hair after colour process. Current result!

Hair before extensions. Right before Milan!

Finally, the day before we were off on a plane to Paris, I went to my usual hair salon (Maria’s Hair Studio) for a wash and a blow-dry and I ended up with a whole new set of natural hair extensions. Now, make no mistake, I wouldn’t have let my precious, but fine strands into anyone else’s hands but my good friend Maria because I trust no one else when it comes to complicated things like hair extensions. And was I glad at the end, as not even D could spot a fake looking strand of hair, and he is a perfectionist when it comes to fake-anything!

Before the hair colour process – on the day of the application.

The process lasted almost two extra hours than what I had planned (for a wash and blow-dry) so I had to leave the professional hands of Maria without actually colouring my new hair, but because she skilfully cut them, one could say that I looked like I had a nicely done balayage. I did come back a week later, upon returning from Paris, to get my much loved ash blonde (as you can see from the featured image). But, before you judge, take a look at the Paris photos and see if the whole thing doesn’t look natural af!

Hair before all the madness – extensions, colour!

Before the colour process – I went like this to Paris!

As said before, I chose the micro-ring method because let’s be honest, I am way to low-maintenance to not wear permanent hair extensions. I think that the ones that you just put on with a hair clip are just too high-maintenance for me, and I am lazy, but I haven’t really gave them a try so far so I can’t really give you my opinion on that. I just took a leap of faith with these more permanent ones. First of all, they are natural healthy hair, from a good source (not from corpses) and my dear friend was patient enough to fill my head with 90 different strands carefully placed for a natural finish no matter if I wear my hair down or in a pony-tail.

After my usual colour treatment!

The aftermath: The first night I felt that there was something different, but by the second night I just slept like a baby, not feeling them at all. I suggest that brush your hair starting from the tips and moving upwards towards the roots and, as for washing, not much changes. The styling now takes me double the time, but taking into consideration the fact that it is natural, healthy, thick hair, the hairstyle tends to last a lot longer than it did before, on my fine hair. Overall, I love it! I have no idea why I waited and hesitated for so long to get them. Be careful though, as there are a lot of places that can offer you this service, but you can end up looking very fake. Take great care when choosing you stylist!

July 25, 2016

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I got the blues…

…no I don’t! I’m actually really happy that winter is finally over! Anyway, I did it! I rocked pale blue…at the office, no less! And even my mani matches my outfit today! I’m feeling quite proud of myself! So much so, that now, after wearing both colours of the year, I can finally say that I’ve done my fashion part for the year, right?

I did go a little bit overboard with the blue, but it felt nice to not wear any neutral color as I’ve worn neutral all winter long (black mostly). It amazes me that I have sooooo many different clothes as I never seem to actually go shopping for them (damn you, online shopping! You’ve taken the workout part out of shopping). All the stuff I’m wearing is from a few seasons ago, but who’s keeping track?

The pants are ZARA from last year’s spring collection, but they have something very (VERY!) similar this year as well. The blouse is from MANGO and yes, it’s identical to the pale pink one I’ve worn here. I do tend to buy stuff in multiple colours if I like it, and as it turns out, I do like this blouse mainly because it doesn’t need ironing. Any blouse that needs ironing goest to the trash bin as I hate that activity. The jacket is also from MANGO and I think I’ve had it for over 8 years (their premium collection), from before I met D-like I said, I’m not a fan of shopping for clothes. I have no idea where the scarf is from as I usually cut the tags off scarfs, but I do know that I’ve had it since I was 16 or 17, so it’s basically vintage if you look at my ID card.

The shoes are Sophia Webster, the Portia in turquoise. I love Sophia Webster shoes (I think I have a dozen) because they are very comfortable. Aside from having stupid skin, I also have stupid feet. While they look nice (my feet), every type of shoes (aside from workout shoes) hurts them-yes, even flip-flops! That’s mainly the reason I love Sophia Webster (and Christian Louboutin) shoes! I feel absolutely no discomfort while wearing these and they have an eleven (11!) cm heel. I can spend up to 14 hours in these ones and that’s the reason I also got them in pink (told you, multiple colours for various loved items).

The bag is FURLA and yes, apparently I have a thing for FURLA bags. Of course I have a similar jelly one in pink! The thing that caught my attention about this model is that you can fit a weekend-worth of stuff and on a busy day at work, that’s the amount of stuff I carry around. The downside about it is that it doesn’t have a shoulder strap but it does work the biceps really good (girls know exactly what I’m talking about). So it’s a win-win, I’m both trendy and staying fit while wearing this bag.

As you’ve noticed, I love cocktail rings, any time of the day. The ring featured in the photographs is from Swarovski and I got it two years ago. And no, I don’t have it in any other colour.

The shades are Ray-Ban, the classic Wayfarers, and I got them from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam (gotta love duty free shopping) about 5 years ago. At first I thought it would be really complicated to wear them because of the pattern, but I always end up wearing them all spring and summer long. They just scream vacation and poolside cocktails!

The reason I had my hair in a low bun is because of the high shoulders of the jacket. I feel like R2D2 wearing this jacket with loose waves.

This concludes the fashion post for the second colour of the year. Again, I have no idea why 2016 is so special that it deserves two colours of the year, but I’m guessing that fashionistas out there know that answer. I just need to spend more time training to be one!

April 5, 2016

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The Mad Hatter!

All things British…weather included! Packing for London, I had no idea what to expect, it is March after all… But March in London tends to be just as bipolar as March in Bucharest, it would appear. Of course, after spending a year in London, I already knew that. After about a week of intense thinking at what I should pack (I did need something trendy and fun as I was planning on doing a few fashion posts over there), an hour before I actually started packing, it hit me: A HAT!! I mean, no, I don’t usually, if ever until now, wear a hat, but hey, a hat is British, right? To prove a point, I’ve actually had (H&M) the hat you can spot in the pics for two years now and it still had the tags on on Thursday when I started packing. That alone should be an indicator of how often I venture into the hat-world, but for some reason, I thought it was time to wear it and London seemed the right place. Seemed…

As you can see, it is an oxblood felt hat, so it’s totally appropriate for the London weather. Starting from the hat, I packed almost everything I had that matched the oxblood colour theme and was clean (lingerie included-I like to match everything). Since I had only come to the oxblood theme a few hours before departing, I only had a few things clean as oxblood is one of my fave colours for autumn/winter and I tend to wear it a lot.

I had to improvise since my favorite oxblood items were unavailable, and I think that this colour works nicely with navy blue, black and red, which in my opinion, are all British looking colours.

I wore this outfit on the second day in London, because when we got there, on Friday, it was hot and sunny and a felt hat just didn’t seem appropriate. Worry not, as London weather came to its senses on Saturday- drizzle, cold, windy and all the nice things British weather has to offer. So, on that morning, I decided I was finally going to wear my hat for the first time and for an entire day (when we’re on vacation, we leave our room in the morning and come back at night). Little did I know what wearing a hat implied…on a windy day! Basically what happened was that in the first few minutes I got out of the hotel I decided that:

My head does not have the appropriate shape to wear a hat- I have no idea how those cool girls that always wear hats do that without actually losing their hat and without bumping into things (I had tunnel vision)
It was windy! I really need some tips! Does wearing a hat on a windy day implies using sticky tape to prevent the loss of the hat?

That being said, I tried wearing my hat casually and relaxed for the photos, non-casually when it was raining (one hand on top of my head) and not at all all the other times. Basically, I’d say that I spent most of my Saturday carrying it in my hand.

Overall, I’d say that wearing a hat is, like all the other cool things, a complicated matter. D kept making fun of me, telling me that being fashionable requires sacrifice, and in retrospect, I think he was right. I definitely looked like a mad person between shots, hence today’s post name.

Getting back to the fashion part of this post, I’ve paired the now infamous hat with oxfords (because…London) that have a little oxblood detail on them. These shoes are incredibly comfortable and I got them from Bagatt, for next to nothing, last autumn. I have no idea where I got the navy dress from as I’ve had it for three or four years and I think it goes nicely with my latest FURLA addition (travel exclusive from British Airways-I got it on my way to London). Because we had autumnish weather that day, my Burberry scarf, a black leather jacket and an oxblood cardigan kept me warm, alongside my black Calvin Klein tights. I always feel comfortable wearing a dress and I love the feeling of wearing a dress and a leather jacket, and right now, looking at the pics D took of me, I’m starting to like the whole hat idea (maybe I’ll do that more often if someone decides to tell me the secret of actually keeping it on my head).

Overall, the day I first wore a hat was interesting. I am not going to emphasise on London in this post as there will be a full post on that later this week. Well, this concludes my hat experience and the first of a few posts to come on London (the city closest to my heart).