Category: STYLE!

An Experiment in Makeup: Part 4

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In today’s section of the experiment, we have:

  1. BETTER LIGHTING
  2. BETTER RESULTS
  3. PROMISE OF A BETTER TOMORROW, TODAY!

To quote the millenial’s Walter Cronkite, “Let’s just jump into it.”

Today’s look was inspired by this Snitchery video in which she presents a “no-makeup” look. She provides the context that the makeup looks she usually put together and shares on Instagram looks great on camera when filming, but a lot of the time it looks too caked to look good in person. In this video, she explains how she does her makeup when she’s going to be with people, hanging out at home. This is her version of “Hello, I am awake.”

I would say this version of “Hello, I am awake” is a better version of what I do when I want to say “Hello, I am awake.” The purpose of this experiment/series was to elevate my “Hello, I am awake” look, without looking too caked or taking too long, so this video felt like a good way to focus in on this overall goal!

Materials:

Notes On My Procedure:

Yesterday, I was having a blissfully quiet day at work when my coworker informed me there was a Zoom (videochat) meeting in an hour. For this meeting, we were REQUIRED TO BE ON CAMERA. My bare face (complete with breakout) and messy wet hair would not do. I decided to play around with the Bella Hadid tutorial steps, since I felt it would be the most dramatic look that would translate well on camera. I put together this look looking in my webcam! It was then that I discovered that the natural lighting of my workspace and the camera of my computer were a much better environment for makeup application. My makeup looked great, so great that I almost wanted to go to dinner that night just so it wouldn’t go to waste. Naturally, of the eight people on the videochat, only half of us were on video, so it wasn’t even necessary. Hmph.

Today’s look was put together with much better lighting than usual!

Procedure: 

  1. The base: moisturizer only. No primer!
  2. The face: apply concealer/foundation only where needed (a process called “spot concealer”). Apply where there is discoloration! To conceal under eye discoloration: Just put a few dots of concealer in the bottom outer corner of your eye. Blend out and up, towards your hairline. YOU DO NOT NEED FULL TRIANGLES UNDER YOUR EYE. After blending out and up, blend into the corner of your eye. I used step 9 from part 2 of this experiment to “spot conceal” conceal my acne. Stipple in setting powder after applying foundation (as opposed to after the entire face of makeup).
  3. The brows: Go for natural, hairlike strokes! Pencils over pomade for this look. Add a bit of clear gel to keep the hairs in place.
  4. The eyes: the footage from the video was lost, but Eleanor (Snitchery’s name IRL) explained that it was a “watered down version of her Bella Hadid” eye look. I’ll go more in depth on this process in part 5 of this experiment.
  5. The lashes: fake lashes come into play in this look! The video was sponsored by Glamnetic, so she used (and praised) their lashes. I did not use Glamnetic lashes, but I don’t have the words to say how much magnetic false lashes are a GAME CHANGER.
  6. The contour: Using your fluffiest brush, stipple bronzer along the outer part of your forehead. As opposed to going all the way into the middle of your face, go gently all the way around the perimeter of your face. With a dense brush, add some light color beneath where you typically contour (think of it as inverse contour).
  7. The cheeks: Choose a blush that’s a pinky/orange version of your skin tone. Apply from the inside going up from in to “snatch” your face like Bella Hadid, or go all the way across your face (cheek and nose) to get that “e-girl” look. I applied up from in, with a dash across my nose to give me a sun-kissed glow. 
  8. The lips: Using a demi-matte lipliner, fill in your “gaps” (the space between your lips and where you overline your lips). Moisturize your lips. Add your corresponding lip color (liquid lip was used in the video, I used pencil lipstick) in two or three dots on each lip, and then pat it out with your finger.
  9. The highlighter: Choose something that isn’t very reflective. Rather than using a pointed brush, use a fluffy brush and gently fluff in circles where your highlighter needs to go.

The Results: 

The Person The Before The After
Eleanor Barnes, aka “Snitchery” snitcherynaturalface snitcherymadeupface
Me mynaturalface mymadeupface

Analysis:

Aaron mentioned multiple times that I looked pretty today! That said, I feel like this look didn’t look all that natural. I think you could tell that I put on makeup. Despite using a lot less foundation, I still look like I put on a lot of foundation. It definitely succeeds in an “elevated” version of the “I am awake” look I was going for, but I wonder if I can go even further. This was the best my lashes have looked, and I wore them for roughly ten hours today without smudging and getting the lash applicator liner on my eyelid!

Conclusion: 

I am prepared to do more with less! I am excited to keep improving my technique. I will for sure be employing false lashes on the regular. I’m comforted that I can still repair the “uneven” skin tone I have with less product. I think I’m slowly getting better at making my lips look fuller, but while my lips looked great on camera, I feel like in person I looked like Jynx from Pokemon. Overall, I’m making great progress, but I still have a long way to go.

Coming Up Next:

While out and about with Aaron today, I stopped in at Ulta and picked out a few products… chief among them being a certain makeup brush that is necessary to pull off the Bella Hadid makeup look. Oh yes. Part 5. Let’s get snatched.

 

An Experiment in Makeup, Part 3: Unfortunate Circumstances, and a Revelation

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In my last post, my intention was to go for the Bella Hadid inspired makeup look. However, CHAOS STRUCK.

After a nice long day out, Aaron and I intended to go to a house tour and dinner before settling in for the night. Our tour was at 4:15, so we had to leave by 3:45. I thought that starting my makeup at 3:00 would be enough time!

I was wrong. At 3:38 I was just barely finishing my eyes, with no time for my lips, fake lashes, highlighter, or blow dry and style my hair (I figured a high ponytail with hoop earrings would tie the look together). Aaron insisted we leave on time, so I decided to cut my losses. Ten minutes later I had full on contour, a wave of mascara, and lipstick, with a dress and sparkly earrings. Aaron said I looked pretty, which was nice, but IT WAS ONLY HALF OF A LOOK.

To top it all off, we arrived at the development for the tour on time, only to not be allowed in because the realtor company didn’t let the security know we were coming. They didn’t even pick up the phone when the gate called the house! The audacity! I RUSHED for nothing!

That said, I decided to turn things around and take advantage of a full face of makeup. One of my other makeup experiments was testing the four looks depicted in “Why YOU should change your ENTIRE lip routine to fit YOUR face.” I wanted to test with a full face of makeup, because I felt as though having a bare face with a full lip would be incongruous and throw off my opinions of each look; there I was with a full face of makeup, and no place to go! After we got home from dinner, I assembled the materials, and got to work.

Materials:

  • Vaseline Petroleum Jelly (link to product here)
  • Sephora Bright Future Concealer in Shade 08, Palmier (link to product unavailable)
  • NARS Precision Lip Liner in Rosebud (link to product here)
  • NARS Velvet Matte Lipstick Pencil in Do Me Baby (link to product here)
  • Almay Color & Care Oil-in-Stick in Raspberry Rush (link to product here)
  • Sephora Easy on the Eyes Pallette, shade 30 (link to product unavailable)
  • Too Face Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer (link to product here)
  • Laura Mercier Smudge Brush (link to product here)
  • Sephora Rouge Gel Lip Liner (link to product unavailable)
  • Bite Beauty Outburst Longwear Lipstain in Sangria Slush (link to product here)

Note on My Procedure:

This procedure suggests a natural, moisturizing lip balm. My lip balms are often drying or too sticky, so I elected to use Vaseline petroleum jelly. In small amounts, I find it takes on color and isn’t too gummy or sticky.

Procedure:

This video contained four “looks” to sample. They will each be enumerated below:

Look 1: The “Natural” Look

  1. Apply your base, lip balm.
  2. Apply concealer into the corners of your mouth. Pat in with your finger.
  3. Fill in your cupid’s bow in a straight line with a lipliner that matches your skin tone (you can go a shade darker than your skin tone, but not lighter). Diffuse into your lip balm.
  4. Fill in the “gaps” (ie, the overlining sections of your lips with no pigment) with your lip liner.

Look 2: The “IG Baddie” Look

  1. Complete steps 1 – 3 of the “Natural” Look.
  2. Overline your lips with a slightly darker lipliner.
  3. Fill in with matching lipstick.

Look 3: The “IG Baddie” Look, Improved 

  1. Take your neutral lip liner and draw a “U” shape along the sides of your mouth, top and bottom.
  2. Apply lip balm. REALLY moisturize the lip. Go for something tinted! (for this step, rather than Vaseline Petroleum Jelly, I used the Almay Oil-in-Stick).
  3. Apply liquid lipstick in dots, then pat in with your finger (I used NARS Velvet Matte Lipstick Pencil, rather than liquid lip, see notes).
  4. With a small brush,dust a bronzer from the corners of your mouth up into the middle.

Look 4: The Vintage/Flapper Goddess

  1. Using a deep red color (with either a pencil or a brush), draw a straight line up to the top of your cupids bow, and then straight down to the bottom of your lip. Repeat on other side of your mouth, so your upper lip looks like mountains!
  2. Using that same red color, draw a straight line (following your lip line, not over lining) down your bottom lip.
  3. Fill in with a matching deep red.
  4. Bonus tip: ombré a black shadow into the corners of your mouth for a dramatic finish.

Let’s compare the before and after!

The Person The Before Look 1 Look 2 Look 3 Look 4
Eleanor Barnes, aka “Snitchery” snitcherybefore TheNaturalLook theigbaddie igbaddieimprovedsnitchery snitcheryvintagelip
Me mybefore mynatural myigbaddie myigbaddieimproved myflapperlip

Analysis:

Obviously, Snitchery’s natural lip shape is fuller than mine (she also briefly had fillers, but I believe she had them taken out at this point). She also has professional lighting on her side, along with a stronger hand at makeup. That said, I found that “drawing in” my cupid’s bow looked almost, obvious? I felt you could tell where my lip was and my cupid bow space was filled in to match. I think that the “IG baddie” look covered it best, but the vintage, flapper lip looked good too. I’m lucky that bright red tends to go with my skin tone the most!

If you click through my photos, you may notice a pattern. Are you ready for an earth shattering discovery?

My lips… ARE UNEVEN.

Yes! The left side of my lip is slightly fuller than the right. I have an angular right side, and a “poofed” left side (I say “poof” lightly because let’s be real, my lips aren’t very prominent).

Because I was at home, and Aaron was working on a project, I didn’t get his take on EACH look. What he saw of look 2, though, he liked! That’s a good as I can take it.

Conclusion:

I feel like my lips are a problem area. I will probably devote more time into finding a way to making them look more proportionate, rather than matching everyone else on Instagram! Also, I think I might benefit by looking at how people who do their makeup professionally daily look in real life, and how their lips look in person compared to what I see on Instagram. Filters are ruining what I consider realistic expectations!

Coming Up Next:

There was an additional bonus to the circumstances that led me to going for the “lips” practice instead of the “Bella Hadid” practice: Snitchery uses a flathead brush to apply bronzer and contour. She also uses a certain palette that both she and Tana (from my previous post) rave about for contouring. That said, the designer/creator of said palette has been out partying like crazy while her state is still in lockdown! Super selfish, not cool. I don’t want to give her my money. I might use this as an opportunity to find a new contour palette. The tutorial requires use of a lighter shade, and the palette I have has light shades, but they don’t have any staying power on my face. With that in mind, part 4 will be “Why YOU Should Change Your ENTIRE Makeup Routine.”

 

 

An Experiment in Makeup: Part 2

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Two months later, and it’s time to experiment! I am completing a different look with each post.

In this post, I am breaking down the makeup look as described in Tana Mongeau – trying EVERY SINGLE viral Tik Tok beauty hack blackout drunk. 

She is way more experienced at makeup than me, and also has fillers and filters at her disposal to make herself look even better. She also is four years younger than me, more money than me, and a less stressful job than me, so she doesn’t have the same aggravations that I have that make my face so sad.

Materials:

Notes on My Procedure:

There were several products that were used in the video that I did not have at my disposal. These steps were eliminated. The purpose was to test TikTok makeup tips, so an additional step was added to include a separate TikTok makeup tip. I will note where indicated. Tana filled in her brows offscreen, but I use my eyeliner to fill in my brows. It’s close to my natural color!

Procedure:

  1. Roll your face using a jade face roller.
  2. Use facial ice globes under your eyes (I skipped this step as I do not have this product).
  3. Apply Pixie Hydrating Milky Mist (I skipped this step as I do not have this product).
  4. Gua Sha stone your neck down, then gua sha your inner to outer cheek.
  5. Apply Moisturizer.
  6. Apply translucent powder all over the face, but not too much.
  7. Apply setting spray.
  8. After setting spray dries, apply primer.
  9. Apply concealer to individual pimples/correction spots (this was inspired by this Tiktok).
  10. After two minutes, apply foundation.
  11. Apply concealer in bottom corner of your eyes, then create a winged effect with your concealer at the bottom outer corner of your eye.
  12. Apply concealer in a line going up the sides of your cheek from the corner of your mouth (think “Joker” esque smile).
  13. Contour your face (in this video, Tana was testing a contour palette that she didn’t love, and then applied a powder over it to adjust for herself. With that, I just followed my instincts, using the shades Vanilla and Java in my palette, as well as this general how-to for applying contour).
  14. Fill in your brows (Tana also used her brow pencil to apply fake freckles, then used concealer to create an eyebrow ‘scar’ on her face. I skipped this step).
  15. Apply white shadow in the corner of your eyes, and then matte nude colors on your eyelid (In Naked Reloaded palette: white shadow = Bribe, matte nude colors = Blur across eyelid, Boundaries in crease. I also added a bit of Angel Fire right in the bottom center of my eyelid, to add a little shimmer just for me).
  16. Take a dark matte shadow (shade from my palette: End Game) and wing liner into your eye. Blend.
  17. Add white eyeliner in your waterline.
  18. Add mascara.
  19. Apply fake lashes (Tana’s video was sponsored by THIS lash brand, so these were the ones she used).
  20. Add lip plumper.
  21. Line your upper lip straight across your cupid’s bow.
  22. Add lip gloss and top with tinted lip glow.

Let’s compare the “before” and the “after”!

The Person The Before The After
Tana Mongeau tanamongeautiktokbefore tanamongeauafter
Me mybefore1 myafter2

Analysis:

There’s an obvious difference in MY after compared to Tana’s. That said, she has professional lighting and, as stated previously, a better hand at makeup. She was apparently drunk while filming, so the fact that she has a stronger makeup hand when inebriated compared to my bright and sunny morning hand is… disappointing? I don’t know. I do think my face looks slimmer (from contouring) and my skin tone looks more even (from concealer rand foundation). I do not think my lips look fuller, which is the intention with connecting your cupid’s bow at the top. The BIGGEST note I have is that the lashes make all the difference in the world.

I did not use the same brands of products that she used (with a few exceptions), and I don’t think that my tools would make the look better. That said, she had good things to say about the palette she used to fix her contouring, as well as the lip products she used. I might try the lip products in the future!

How does it fare in the wild, you may ask? I asked Aaron for feedback, and this was his response (with the caveat that yes, I always look pretty, and I don’t need to wear makeup for him to like me, etc.):

  1. The lip shape was throwing him off a little.
  2. I should play around to make it more natural.
  3. The white liner on the waterline is to make your eyes look bigger. Aaron said my eyes didn’t look bigger, but they did look brighter!
    Once I had practiced more…
  4. The “After” photo had Aaron saying I looked pretty all day. That’s all I need to hear.

Conclusion:

Tana Mongeau has her flaws and problematic past (some would also say problematic present), but her makeup almost always looks good. The purpose of this experiment is to elevate my every day look with something that looks more eye-catching, that falls neatly between “she is awake” and “she straight up drew a new person on her face.” I would use the lip tips in the future, as well as the concealer tip. Also… fake lashes are an absolute game changer.

Coming Up Next: 

How to look SNATCHED like Bella Hadid! I have tried working on the contouring skills mentioned in this video, and I like the results so far. I’m excited to see where this one goes!

Minimalist Wardrobe: The Purge Occurred

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Yesterday, I woke up early and went for a long walk. I came home, took a nice shower, and put on a pair of jeans and a fitted tee shirt. I did my makeup nicely and blew out my hair.

I was ready.

I turned on my “Office Ladies” podcast, and created a mountain of all of my clothes. The purge commenced.

Rather than split items into four or five categories, I kept it simple: “Keep it” or “Donate.” I did set aside a handful of tee shirts that I want to recycle into a quilt! I found multiple companies that do this for you (it seems like a craft that I should outsource. I can fix a basic hem but stitching together a full blanket is too advanced for my skills!). Prices are on a sliding scale, so we’ll see how that goes.

While sorting my clothes, I kept this color palette in my head:

minimalistcolorpalette

As you can see, no bright colors, no neon shades, and (finally) no navy. Navy makes me feel like an old woman. Some girls can rock it, but most navy clothes my size can also be found on cranky moms who are one tantrum away from a breakdown.

I eliminated a lot of clothes that were faded in fashion and color. I kept a few things that would work if I lost a few pounds, but my goal is to pare down further as I slim down more. I even donated a few higher quality items! I’m honestly not sure if any of my items would get me any kind of money at a consignment store, and to be honest, I’d rather someone shopping at Goodwill find my gently used tunics for six dollars than see it gouged out at a Fashion Planet.

A few items I bade farewell to were sentimental: a jersey I got in college as a gift from my Dad, my old college sweatshirt (with a bleach stain), and a pair of comfy pajamas were the ones I held in a hug and said thank you to before putting them in with the rest of the donation items. My “ideal” self can appreciate sentiment, so I took pictures of each one, too!

All in all, my two drawers that could barely hold my pants became two neatly condensed shelves, and I narrowed down my shirts to one drawer! I now have a whole drawer for my sports/at home bras. That’s an ideal situation when all I do is work from home and work out at the gym!

Currently, I have two garbage bags sat at the foot of my staircase to be given to Goodwill. My closet ONLY has clothes that I want to wear. Honestly, I feel pretty darn great!

2020 Style: Going Minimalist

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Fun fact about me: As a girl who doesn’t love shopping, I have a lot of clothes. A LOT of clothes. I feel like my closet is overflowing and fully stacked with outfits and shirts and sweaters that I never wear. On top of that, I hardly ever shop on my own. My mom is often generous enough to take me shopping once a year, which is typically when I restock on clothes. I’m twenty-six years old. I love my mom, but if I’m only buying pants when my mommy takes me shopping, am I really an adult?

Let’s be clear: I drink celery juice and love chicken fingers. There’s a happy medium to keeping my adult self tethered to my childlike sense of wonder and innocence. I can enjoy a pair of workout pants from my mom every once in a while, but if I’m counting on an Old Navy run with her to give my closet a refresh, without throwing out the old stuff, I’m making a mistake somewhere.

I’ve decided my happy medium will occur threefold:

  1. Determine my style.
  2. Purge my closet.
  3. Buy the essentials.

Then, I can go shopping with my mom only when absolutely necessary, and buy items that will stay with me for at least two years worth of usage. No more fast fashion!

Minimalism is praised as the environmentally and economically sound choice for fashion more often these days. Think about it: if you buy cheap quality clothes, you’ll replace them sooner rather than later, inducing an endless cycle of mottled tee shirts and leggings with pilling in the thighs (just me? Probably not. Thighs like maple syrup, thick and sweet, a thank you very much). If you spend the extra money on clothes you know you’ll wear, multiple times over, you’ll spend less money in the long run.

Financially speaking, I tend to keep in mind when buying items of the financial practice of considering each dollar on an item is a use. If I’m going to wear a pair of workout pants thirty five times, then yes! Pay $35 dollars for the yoga pants!

I was inspired to go minimalist (or at least, guided to the idea) by these two videos from Keltie O’ Connor. Both detail her tips and lifestyle as someone with a minimalist wardrobe. According to her, she can fit all her clothes into two boxes, and she owns roughly five pieces of furniture. Imagine having that kind of freedom to pack up and go at a day’s notice! All she needs is a pickup truck with one of those extendo-carts. Aaron and I needed three car trips and a rent truck to move from our last apartment to our current one. It makes you think.

In this video, she offers up five tips to get the wardrobe you want:
1.Research online of what your ideal self looks like.
2. Write your ideal self (what does she do? Who are her friends? Where does she live?)
3. Based on your ideal self: What does she wear?
4. Devise a checklist of what she has. GET SPECIFIC.
5. Clear out the closet of what she wouldn’t wear.
6. BECOME THE SELF: buy clothes only she would wear.

She stresses that step five is tough. Minimalizing your wardrobe takes time to get used to, and it’s not an overnight process! Paring down to the essentials takes time. I couldn’t agree more.

In this video, Keltie goes into the purge process: pick a date to “purge” your wardrobe. Dress for it (like your ideal self), pull everything out of your closet, divide it into piles ranging from “love it” to “donate it” to “sell it” to “recycle it.” Make it a peaceful day, play calming music, light a candle if you want! It’s a freeing feeling.

I’m excited for this new experience. I’m going to purge my clothes on Saturday, July 18.

There are quite a few good ideas scattered between these two videos, but here’s two that I’m using to inspire me:
1. Pick five to seven words to describe your ideal self.
Mine are:

  • Powerful
  • Confident
  • Feminine
  • Alluring
  • Smart
  • Comfortable
  • Cool

2. Pick a color palette of colors that go well together.
My chosen colors are:

  • Black
  • White
  • Grey
  • Burgundy
  • Green
  • Pink

The goal is to not go outside of this color palette, and I’m game: with a few exceptions. My ideal self has a killer red dress for fancy occasions. I may not wear red a whole lot, because it’s a bit too loud for me on a regular day. There’s a time and place for red. It’s fancy occasions, where Batman might show up when Bruce Wayne suddenly vanishes.

Stay tuned for my “Purge” experience!

 

Cake It till You Make It – An Experiment in Makeup: Part 1

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Two months ago, I published a post on things I wanted to accomplish during this time of lockdown. I haven’t made that much of a dent. What is it about me that has grandiose ideas but never executes them? Do I need to lower my expectations? Redefine the word? Bueller?

No, the solution is to actually execute. Which brings us to today!

Our Woman Crush Wednesday for the week is an influencer named Eleanor Barnes, but her online alias is Snitchery. I don’t remember the first time I saw her was, but she is a makeup wizard, somehow changing her face each time I see her! She is all about the aesthetic, doing full blown cosplays in her bedroom once a week (for the ‘gram, of course) and posting makeup tutorials on Youtube semi-regularly. On top of all that, she has a sick body that grabbed the attention of Queen Rihanna herself and is now a rep for Fenty, Rihanna’s fashion line. Snitchery actually fully grabbed my attention when she posted a photo in a gorgeous corset from Fenty, even though I had seen her floating around my social media-sphere for a hot minute prior to that post.

Anyway, I fell down a rabbit hole of her videos and fell in awe of her talent. She provides thorough descriptions of how she achieves certain looks, and I figured the best way to optimize this rabbit hole would be to actually try the looks myself.

This post is a step one, the pre-op consult if you will. Similar to my Glam-Girl Manifesto from last September, I’ve compiled a list of videos and the procedures detailed in them to guide me along the way.

I’m going to move forward with this post the way I would have with a Science Fair project board. I miss those. No, I wasn’t a nerd in school.

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to determine if I can establish a more polished and impressive makeup look. A routine that can be applied before work and trips to Disney is ideal, so that I still appear human but like a goddess trying to LOOK like a human.

Prediction: I will impress and horrify myself at how different I can look with different makeup looks. I will also figure out what lip style looks best for my face, as well as an eye look that does not wash me out or make my face look patchy or ashy.

Hypothesis: If you spend enough time on your face, then you will eventually find what looks best on you.

Background/Research: The majority of the looks I will be attempting on this adventure are from the aforementioned Snitchery’s Youtube tutorials. That said, I have thrown in another look to consider, courtesy of Tana Mongeau, who I would consider to be the ultimate foil to Snitchery.
Here are the videos being referenced in the execution of this experiment:
Tana Mongeau – trying EVERY SINGLE viral Tik Tok beauty hack blackout drunk. 
Snitchery – How YOU can look like Bella Hadid WITHOUT surgery
Snitchery – Why YOU should change your ENTIRE makeup routine | feat. Glamnetic
Snitchery – Why YOU should change your ENTIRE brow routine to fit YOUR face
Snitchery – The Secret To Perfect Skin… FAKE IT WITH MAKEUP
Snitchery – Why YOU should change your ENTIRE lip routine to fit YOUR face

Procedure: To accomplish this goal, I will go through each of the above videos one by one and following along. I will take before and after photos each time, as well as gain feedback from Aaron on what he thinks of each look.

In the next post, I will include my Materials (products used for each look), Data, Results, and Conclusion! In the meantime, let’s pray for my skin, who will be going from having makeup on it three times in the past three months to 6+ looks in four days.

UPDATE: This will take longer than I thought. Should’ve guessed.

 

 

Hair – A Vision Board

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To some’s dismay and others’ delight, restrictions are being loosened on society! Restaurants are opening to half-capacity, as are shopping plaza and entertainment venues. I might not even have to wait until full normalcy to get my Dave and Buster’s date! Certainly, people are becoming more relaxed in the face of the return to normalcy. I am still weary of an uptick in COVID-19 cases as thing accelerate towards this return, but I am leaning on the side of cautious optimism. I can’t help but reflect on how people spent this time over the past two months of isolation. Many baked bread, others clung to TikTok like oxygen, and a lot of people took out their antsy feelings on their hair.

Salons were one of the first things to close as a precaution during this time, and many of the protesters of these conditions complain of needing blowouts and their roots retouched.

Whatever.

via GIPHY

Others took the lack of salons as an opportunity to do that one crazy thing with their hair, figuring either they will like it or no one will see it if it’s terrible. I’m interested to see how many stylists will have tales of “I had to fix THIS box dye job” within the first month of normalcy!

Some people cut their own bangs, some people touched up their own roots for the first time, and some people cut their hair and dyed it blue… and it came out FABULOUS.

I like my hair, and I’ve only dyed it once. During my spring semester of my junior year in college, I was studying abroad when it hit me: “YOU MUST DYE YOUR HAIR RED.” I waited until I got back to the US and found a box and begged my mom to help me do it.

That was my hot girl summer. And it was glorious.

The red quickly went ombre, and then went completely as I got some lowlights done a year later, and I haven’t touched it colorwise since. I’d gotten bangs the year after (and liked it), and brought the bangs back after my wedding last year (hated it). I don’t take big risks with my hair because while I think some people can rock the dark blue, cotton candy pink, unicorn bob of their dreams, that life is NOT for me. I keep it simple and classic. Fun fact: Anna Wintour has had the same haircut for decades. I know what I want my haircut to be for the rest of my life, but I’m WAITING until the right time. Just like with my junior year dye job. It will come to me when it’s ready.

SPEAKING OF WHICH: While I did not trust myself to re-dye my hair on my own, I did decide that this year, I will add some color. I don’t think I’ll ever go full blonde because I’d have to bleach my hair to do that, and I don’t want to completely ruin my natural hair color. That said, quarantine has inspired me to come up with a few ideas:

  • Darcy Edwards from Degrassi: The Next Generation – A well-intentioned, but judgy teen played by Shenae Grimes. She went on to star in the CW reboot of 90210 in 2012, leaving her role in Degrassi to do so. I started watching the show as Darcy’s younger sister, Clare Edwards, began her freshman year at Degrassi High. I was a freshman, she was a freshman, it made sense! At any rate, a saint in the Internet ether uploaded the entire series onto YouTube. As a result, much like I did in high school, I watched Degrassi reruns for an entire weekend.

    iwatchedtvfor14hours
    Image from Reddit. Deleted scene from “The Office”. NBC.

    I forgot how much I liked Darcy’s hair. I think that when my hair grows out a bit more, I want to grow it out and color it like hers. I like the sidebangs with, yes, a bit of red.

    darcyedwards
    Images from Google, taken from screenshots of “Degrassi: The Next Generation”. CTV.
  • Chocolate Chili. This is a darker version of the color Darcy has, and it’s more like my natural color. I don’t know if “Chocolate Chili” is the actual name for it, but I saw it used as one of the descriptor/captions and I think it works. Think dark chocolate and a chili pepper.

    chocolate-chili
    Image from Pinterest. Click to View.
  • Caramel Highlights. Light brown flowing seamlessly through dark brown.

    caramelhighlights
    Image from Pinterest. Click to view.

I basically went down a Pinterest rabbit hole of dark hair with lowlights or highlights.

I don’t know how far into the future this is, but I do want to do something a little bit more dramatic with my hair. Anyone will tell you that good hair = good attitude! I’m not desperate for something new, but I feel like I’m three blowouts away from a new color. Time will tell!

 

 

Images from Gallery are from my Hair Themed Pinterest Board.