New Year = new look = new color. Excuse me, a new color? Yes, my hair color. My hairdresser always mentions 2 things about coloring hair:
A professional will almost always produce better results
A natural color can be hard to achieve at home
Strangely, she always forgets to mention that a regular coloring by a prefessional can be expensive. I am sure that what she means with a professional is actually she, herself. Almost means almost (nearly) and a natural color means a fake natural color that is almost as natural as a natural color.
Despite the fact that I quite fun of my hairdresser (have I mentioned that she can tell you some very interesting stories while she cuts off all of your dead hair?) I think it is easier and cheaper to color my hair at home. As long as I follow the hair coloring instructions, there is not a lot room for mistakes to be made. Well, not after my first experience in hair coloring anyway, when my hair turned orange. I am Dutch and orange is the national colour of The Netherlands, so I don’t mean to be unpatriotic or anything. I just don’t want to find myself walking around with orange colored hairs on my head.
No more orange-mistakes for me!
There are some important hair coloring instructions that I always follow and I hope that you will find them useful as well.
What to do before coloring:
Choose a color that is compatible with your skin tones. If you have warm skin tones, you should consider gold or auburn tones and stay away from ash tones (seriously!).
Check the color on the box carefully (not the model’s hair color). There is a guideline on the side that will give some indication of the resulting color.
Read the coloring instructions at least two times. Always do the strand test. That is very important.
Always wear the gloves. They are added to the kit for your protection.
What to do during coloring:
Know what area you want to color. If you are touching up the roots, be sure that this is the area that you target.
Use a timer to keep track of the time. It is very easy to forget when you are pimping up your Facebook’s profile or posting an article on your blogs.
What to do after coloring:
Rinse your hair thoroughly. The instructions always say to rinse until the water runs clear so, follow it!
Condition your hair with the product provided. Your hair is going to be very vulnerable to damage and needs all the help it can get at this point.
Do not perm or straighten your hair for several weeks after coloring (unless you really want to damage your own hair!)
If your hair turns orange (or blue!), do not rush out, do not choose another hair color and do not repeat the process instantly. Instead, go to your hairdresser and let her/him correct the color with the least amount of damage.
Color your hair. Color your look. Color your year. Color your life!
Actually, you don’t chase it but somehow you can catch it. When you have caught it then you can’t get rid of it easily. Before you know, you wake up in a very cranky mood (if and when you can get some sleep at all). Your body chills due to low fever. Your throat hurts and so does your head. You don’t have the energy to even get out of bed. You can hardly breathe out of your nose.
Wait a minute, what’s wrong? You have a cold like I do!
Yesterday I felt a lot worse and I swear to God I thought I was seeing stars, in daylight! I was also coughing and sneezing the whole time, and feeling extremely tired. Imagine that you just have run a marathon for the first time, the whole 42 km, then you’ld be as tired as you possibly could. But in this case, you get the same tiredness without running any marathon! And you get watery eyes without feeling sad or crying!
From what I have learned that there are over 200 viruses that cause colds (I suppose that you can buil a small army out of them!). The rhinovirus is the most common cold virus, but remembers that there are more than 200 viruses that cause colds. And because there are so many, there is no vaccination or shot available to prevent you from getting colds. But there are some “feel-better” tips to ease your cold symptoms:
Heat your body up! Hot drinks soothe coughs and throats. It also clears mucus. So do like I do, drink a lot of tea and eat a lot of soup.
Get steamy: A steamy shower helps stuffy noses (take a shower even you don’t have a cold!). Other alternative is running a humidifier (if you have got one) to relieve your sore throat and itchy eyes. Humidifiers make room air moist, which in this case will loosen mucus.
Blow your nose: Blowing your nose is the best way to get rid of mucus (blow it anyway when you are in public places, as long as you do it properly and charmingly!).
Get enough rest. Take a nap or go to bed earlier than you normally do for a few nights.
Relax yourself: Do not freak out when you realize that your brain does not function properly! Instead, try to relax and use the time to read, listen to music, or watch a DVD.
Always practice healthy habits: Your immune system will be ready to fight colds if you eat healthy food, get plenty of sleep and do exercise regularly to keep your body fit.
Like some of you I love smokey eyes too. They have been a big style for quite awhile and I think that this trend is here to stay. They say that the key to the perfect smokey eye is proper blending.
So, I always make sure that colors are blended together flawlessly. It’s also very important to pair light base colors with rich dark colors.
What You Need:
Eye primer (you don’t need it, but it’s great for keeping shadow in place)
2 Shadows: One light, one darker
Eyeliner
Makeup brushes
Mascara
What to do:
Prep the lid and keep eyelids oil-free. This is to keep keep your eyeshadow from melting into your eyelid crease as the day goes on. Start with applying an eyeshadow base. I prefer to dab at bit on lids before shadow application.
Apply eyeliner. If you are going for a typical black, brown or gray smoky eye, apply liner in one of those colors above the upper lash line, drawing line thicker in the middle of eye. And If yua are going for a jewel-toned eye, line eyes with a purple, blue or deep green liner.
Blend in color on bottom lashes for color on the bottom (this is a key smokey eye look!) you will want a lighter eyeliner. And “smudge” it perfectly. You can also apply a bit of shadow to get full smudge effect.
Apply light base color again, remember that the key to a smokey eye is pairing a lighter base with the darker hue. I prefer a nice cream shade for my base. Sweep a light, shimmery shadow over the lids to your browbone.
Blend in darker color, but keep dark color below the crease. Now that you have the base and eyeliner on, it’s time to get the smoky effect. You need a darker eyeshadow shade. Using an eyeshadow brush blend in color starting at your lash line, blending up. Make sure to blend color into the lash line so the eye liner disappears. Stop deep color at crease.
Always doublecheck your work and make sure that eyes match and blend color with a Q-tip if it’s necessary.
And finish it with several coats of volumizing mascara. I love L’Oreal Paris Volume Shocking Mascara.
Reason is a very inadequate term with which to comprehend the forms of man’s cultural life in all their richness and variety. But all these forms are symbolic forms. Hence, instead of defining man as an animal rationale, we should define him as an animal symbolicum. By so doing we can designate his specific difference and we can understand the new way open to man-the way to civilization. — Cassirer
