A Happy Chance

This dress.  Can I just tell you how much I love it?  It's pink, has polka dots and ladybugs on it.  When I first got it from Bonne Chance Collections it was actually a wonderful surprise.  I love surprises, mostly because I'm a really hard person to catch off guard.  I feel like I should have been a detective or something because I notice everything.  It's a really annoying and at times an exhausting habit, but it's just one of those things I can't turn off.  So if I ever get the opportunity to divulge into the unknown (ummm Modcloth Stylish Surprises anyone?) I'm always one to participate.

Flock Together: Sweet as Pie

It's that time again!  I'm blogging over at Flock Together today so make sure to check out how I style this gorgeous pie dress.  Who doesn't want to wear a dress with pies all over it?  Unless you think it will make you too hungry (and it probably will entice your appetite a little).

Make sure to check out the full post HERE!
xoxo
Ashley

Review: Special Effects Hair Dye

I get a lot of emails on my hair.  Most of them are compliments (thank you!) but some of them are about what brand and color I use.  I have a lot of experience dying my hair but let me tell you right here that I'm not a professional.  I'm just very meticulous and patient enough to handle this task on my own.  With that being said, my brand of choice is Special Effects.

Special Effects is a wonderful line.  They have every color in the rainbow (and then some) and the color lasts much longer than any other brand I've ever used.  It's relatively inexpensive and really easy to use.  Can there be too much of a good thing?  Maybe.  These colors are so concentrated that they tend too last longer than you'd think.

When I first dyed my hair with Special Effects this year, I decided to go with their Atomic Pink hue.  It was wonderful.  My hair was already processed to a light brown so I didn't even need to bleach it beforehand.  Little did I know that it would take forever to fade!  Now this is actually a positive, but when you're trying to change your color it can be a little tricky.  After a few vitamin C masques it faded enough to continue with my next adventure: purple.

This time I was a little smarter.  I used their Deep Purple hue, but heavily diluted it with conditioner and the Special Effects toner/mixer.  Since I had to bleach my roots (it was getting nasty) I made sure to get the perfect lighter color so I wouldn't end up with really dark hair.  It came out perfect!  The pink is still in full effect but only on my ends.  I actually love the ombre effect I created.

Here is my hair three weeks later, the purple has faded but pink is here to stay!  I'll be touching it up with the Deep Purple very soon.

If you're going to dye your hair with the Special Effects line, here are a few tips:

- Make sure you are ready to live with the color for awhile.  It will hang around!

- It's best to have bleached or processed hair beforehand.  If your hair is naturally dark, don't expect to get any results from the dye alone.

- The more time you leave the dye in, the longer it will last.  When I apply the color I'll usually leave it in for at least 4 hours.  Yes it's time consuming, but it's worth having a vibrant color that lasts.

- Your new color may stain your clothes/pillow case/towels etc.  This usually only happens when I change colors, but I still sleep on black pillows and use only black towels.  Somewhat of a lifestyle change but totally worth it!

- Have fun!  I like to mix colors to create my own.  Last time I freshened up I mixed Deep Purple with Cupcake Pink.  It's my new favorite!

If you have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email.  I'm pretty partial to my pinky purple hair so I don't think I'll be changing it anytime soon.  You never know though, I tend to be an impulsive person!

xoxo

Ashley

Fancy Free

Summer is coming faster than I'd like to believe.  I'm used to always being cold (seriously, I wear a cardigan everywhere) so having bare arms out in the open makes me feel a little self conscious.  It's been months since I've indulged in my yoga workouts and the lack of sun salutations has gotten the best of me.  Although I did get back on the yoga train a few days ago and it was quite embarrassing.  Thankfully, I was doing yoga from home so the only ones snickering at my awful flexibility was my two dogs.

A Little Different

The hound sleuth dress has made its return!  I actually wear this dress a lot in real life but know I can't actually feature it on a weekly basis.  If you read my first post when I featured it, you'll know that it has a very special place in my closet.  I'm excited to show you how I now style it for the warmer months (and boy are they coming!).