BEAUTY: Natural Instincts Malaysian Cherry

After (sorta) recently jumping back on the hair dye wagon, I've done some semi-permanent experimenting with Natural Instincts hair dye. I'm not totally ready to go back to the permanent dye game just yet, so I'm sticking with what appears to be the only drugstore options for those, like me, that are afraid of hair color commitment. I'm trying to avoid the long term grow-out phase that is inherent with permanent dyes, but the dismal selection of semi-permanent options is making the case for permanent color a pretty strong one. 

I'm all about red hair, high maintenance as it may be, and while there are a handful of red and reddish shades in the Natural Instincts family, very few (sometimes NONE) are sold in most of my local stores. What's up, Natural Instincts? Got a beef with (outrageously fake) redheads? It sure seems that way, but luckily these wilder shades can be found online. I purchased Malaysian Cherry (shade 20R) from drugstore.com after first letting my Raspberry Creme (which I loved!) fade out. You can see that color here, here and here if you want. 

Malaysian Cherry is much darker than Raspberry Creme, but I had a hard time finding reliable pictures of either color online when choosing dyes, so I'm making this post for others who are struggling the way I've struggled: being slightly unsure about the exact hue of a hair dye shade. This one's for us, guys.

Natural Instincts Malaysian Cherry in the Box:

Kinda brown, right? But it has CHERRY in the name so I persevered, knowing they would not call something brown "cherry". For example, if someone gave you a BROWN pie and called it a cherry pie would you eat it? NO! Okay, I might because I am so awkward with confrontation and they went to all that trouble just to make me a pie. Have a heart! 

Malaysian Cherry on My Hair:

Right after I dyed it and dried it. That phrase makes it sound like I did something really demeaning to my hair or, like, slept with it and never called it again. Dyed it and dried it, guys!

After two washings. So, like, a solid week. :)

So, it's a bit more red than the box but generally the same shade. I'd call it "Cherry Cola" if I was the kind of person who was paid to name beauty products after familiar food items.

Also, I always feel like somewhat of a geek/creep/neighborhood weirdo when I take large closeups of my hair or face to put on the internet. That's, like, a totally weird thing to do, right? I was SO close to wearing a pair of fake joke teeth just to break the tension while snapping these pictures, but couldn't find any of my fake teeth thought better of that because I'm not insane. So, to make us all a little more comfortable, please retroactively imagine these on my face while you scroll through. 

Ahhh, much better.

xoxo,
Michelle

BEAUTY: Gold Eye Makeup Tutorial

Lately I've really been fixating on gold eye makeup! I just recently purchased my first NYX products, which included a gold eyeliner, so I thought it was a good time to try out a super gold eye look. I took some inspiration from the good ol' internet and went to town with my most golden shades. Here's a peek at how to recreate my gold eye makeup look:

Inspiration

sources: 1  //  2  //  3

Gold Eye Makeup Tutorial

First, do all of your makeup except your eyes. I used this stuff:

Boots No. 7 Shine Free Primer  //  NYX Concealer in a Jar  //  Benefit Watts Up Highlighter  //  Lancome Lip Gloss  //  Maybelline BB Cream  //  Airspun Face Powder  //  Wet n Wild Blush  //  ELF Makeup Brushes  //  Wet n Wild Bronzer 

That was a lot of products just to create a blank slate! Eh. I would NOT be doing this if I weren't sharing this tutorial. I can live with my under eye circles, but the internet may not be able to and I'm considerate like that.

For the gold eyes themselves, I used these products:

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Half Baked & Sellout  //  Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion  //  Wet n Wild Liquid Eyeliner in Black  //  Benefit They're Real! Mascara  //  Sephora Eyeshadow Brush  //  Target Crease Brush  //  Sephora Smudge Brush  //  Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eyeliner in Black  //  NYX Eyeliner in 24 Karat  // Japonesque Eyelash Curler

Start by covering the entire eyelid in the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion.

Next, use the eyeshadow brush to pat Half Baked all over the eyelid up to the crease.

Then use the crease brush to apply Sellout in and above the crease, blending out and up.

This gives us a golden glow all over the eyes:

Next, take the NYX eyeliner and line along your bottom lashes.

Then apply Half Baked over the NYX eyeliner with the smudge brush.

Top off the look with a cat eye, using the Wet n Wild liquid eyeliner.

And use the Rimmel eyeliner to line your waterline (bottom inner lid).

Curl your lashes and apply mascara to top and bottom lashes.

The Finished Look:

xoxo,
Michelle

OBSESSED: Hologram

It seems like hologram clothing and accessories are EVERYWHERE lately and I can't seem to get enough. It reminds me of something I would have been (read: totally was) into when I was in, like, sixth grade. I love seeing it on runways because I think hologram fabric is inherently cheap and kiddish looking, but somehow designers make it look much more expensive. I guess they don't just make it look more expensive, but also make it actually more expensive - BUT - there are plenty of less expensive versions available in stores and online, which I've featured below, along with one seriously cool DIY project. Shine on, you crazy hologram. 

Runway Inspiration

Blumarine Fall 2012 RTW  //  source

Hugo Boss SS 2013  //  source 

Jonathan Saunders Spring 2013 RTW  //  source

DIY Hologram Clutch!

Sources: 1  //  2  //  3  //  4  //  5  //  6  //  7  //  8  //  9  //  10

Do you like the hologram trend or is it just a little too ridiculous for you? Is all of this hologram talk making anyone else think of Tupac?

xoxo,
Michelle

DIY: Fun With Fake Flowers

Okay, it's officially May today, so I am totally justified in the overwhelming amount of fake flowers that I've been showering myself with lately. I've been cutting and crafting all kinds of artificial blooms in an attempt to wear them somewhere on my bod at all times. Necklaces, hair accessories, crowns, rings, clothing...none of it is safe from my glue gun. I'm actually contemplating how to best get a daisy to lay flat on my cell phone case. I'll report back with findings!

This obsession came on hard and fast and now I've got bags of blooms just waiting to make it on my chopping block (AKA wire cutters and a paper plate). On my first attempt at taming these (fake) wild beauties I took some snaps to share:

SUPPLIES I USED

Fake Flowers  //  Wire Cutters  //  Glue Gun  //  Headband  //  Hair Clip

Not Shown: Felt  //  Chain  //  Jump Rings  //  Clasp

WHAT I MADE

So, for any project you first need to clip off the actual flowers from the stems. I put my wire cutters (scissors might work too) as close to the flower as I could and snipped. 

It looks like this on the back:

Okay? Okay. First up, the SUPER simple hair clip, wherein I just hot glued a flower to a hair clip and am now trying to pass this off as "crafty." Also, my glue gun is disgusting on such a deep level than I'm always ashamed to show it here, but somehow still can't replace it. It's like a scrapbook of all the projects I've made! Or at least that's what I say to feel less gross about still having feather bits from junior high stuck to it.

Glue and press! CRAFTY!

This picture is blurry because I'm a free spirit who is hard to capture in one shot. I'm definitely NOT the kind of lame person who has two versions of Scattergories at the ready at all times! Ignore the multiple Scattergories boxes stacked next to my couch in the background, please.

ANYWAY, next I made a flower necklace with these purple daisy-esque flowers.

I cut a smile-shaped piece of stiff felt and arranged the flowers until I liked how it looked.

Then I trimmed the excess felt so it would be hidden.

To make it a necklace, I poked a jump ring through each end behind the flowers and then added a chain and clasp.

The back looked like this before I added the chain.

Final product. It's like a chest garden, minus the need to grow chest hair.

The final flower project was a highly unnecessary flower crown which will likely never see the world outside my apartment unless I am feeling extra ridiculous, which is ALWAYS a possibility.

First, I laid out some snipped flowers to get an idea of how many I needed and how they would lay out.

For your pleasure, an even closer shot of my horrifying glue gun. There's even an old toothpick stuck on it! Next, I glued them all down, starting in the middle and working my way out. It's a good idea to somehow mark where your ears will be on the headband to keep the flowers above ear level.

The finished crown...officially royal!

The back view.

Bow down to the Flower Queen.

Some Tips:

+ Some fake flowers have no real plastic backing and when you cut them from the stem they might fall apart. Most do have them, but you can check how sturdy the flowers are by popping them off the stem in the store. Or not, if you're less of a jerk than me. I always put them back on!

+ Dollar stores usually have fake flowers, so those are cheap and easy. Sometimes they are also ugly, too. Do some hunting at craft stores (some are SO EXPENSIVE) and find the flowers that are the best value, meaning most blooms in the bundle and lowest price. They also have cheap end-cap displays at Michael's with small bunches for around $1.00. 

+ Always, always, always: use coupons. They always have them on the Michael's website and Joann's mails/emails them out endlessly. Just Google it. 

+ I had less success with good value at Joann's than at Michael's, but that might have been due to my specific flower preferences. 

I'm in the midst of a pretty severe fake flower addiction. I'm working on all kinds of fun necklaces and headbands (a little more wearable than the one featured here) for my Etsy shop and I keep picking up a few bunches on every craft store trip. They are just so fun and easy to work with! Plus, now I get to feel like a living, walking garden pretty much every day, which would be hard to do otherwise.

Would you wear flowers? Or have I just invented a new subculture of Crazy Flower Ladies? Tell me your favorite flowers so I can add more beautiful fakes to my growing collection!

xoxo,
Michelle