Change

Well, to say I lack consistancy on this blog is an understatement. I seem to get bursts of creativity and inspiration, but then fall flat after a post or two.

When I came up with the idea to start a blog, I thought I would be the perfect fit for me! I've always loved writing, so a hobby which provides me a platform to do that would be awesome, right? But after the initial excitement wore off, I found I wasn't enjoying it as much as I'd hoped. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why. However, after some soul searching, I think I've finally figured it out.

It isn't the actually writing of a blog that's the problem, but rather the content I'm writing about. Let me explain. I decided to start a beauty blog after being a long time reader of other popular beauty blogs. Everything these girls posted about in their blogs had a magicial quality about it. It was as though they lived in a perfect fairy-tale world, and I wanted that too. The problem is, I don't live in a perfect world. At times my live may seem like a fairy-tale, but more often than not it's messy, comlicated and real.

I think I've also gone wrong with trying to create a beauty blog. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy beauty, fashion and all things girly as much as the next girl. But it's not the only thing I care about. Because of this, I found myself struggling to write posts half-heartedly so I could have new content up on my blog.

So what can you expect from me? Anything and everything. I still plan to post about things like beauty and fashion, but only when something really excites me and I'm passionate about it. Lately I've been loving the blog and youtube channel of the lovely Louise, also known as Sprinkle of Glitter. She has taken such a fantastic approach to this whole creating things for the internet thing, and that's above all to be real and try to help others whenever you can. She has totally changed my outlook on how I'm going to go about this blog (and also my youtube channel), and for that I'm so so grateful. I highly recommend checking her out if you haven't already, as she really is a breath of fresh air in this crazy internet world we live in!

Thanks for listening to my rambling. I'm really excited to begin this new chapter, and would love to have you along for the ride :)

xx Nicole

Silver and Gold

Although it's a bit early, I couldn't resist starting to decorate for the holidays. I managed to find some fantastic deals, everything featured was under $10!

White Lights: Michael's
Gold Beaded Garland: Real Canadian Superstore
Tabletop Tree: Real Canadian Superstore
Snowflake Ordamints: Real Canadian Superstore
Wooden Candle Holders: Gift from a friend

Copper Chic

Maybelline Eyestudio in Copper Chic

Over the weekend, I was browsing through the makeup section at the drugstore. I came across this gorgeous palette, and knew I had to get it. I've been on the hunt for some new autumnal eyeshadow shades for a while now, and these fit the bill perfectly!

 The palette consists of a champagne highlight, a rose gold, a truer gold and a dark bronze/plum color. Worn alone or together, these are all fantastic and very wearable shades.

This was my first time trying any of the Maybelline Eyestudio shadows, and so far I'm impressed! All four colors have great pigmantation, and from what I can tell so far wear really well. I know I'll be getting lots of wear out of this palette, especially with the holidays coming up!

Pamper Evening

Pamper Evening Essential - Leaves from Bath and Body Works

You've had a long stressfull day. Everything seemed to go wrong and you find yourself needing to unwind. How to do it? My favorite way is by treating myself to a pamper evening! What is a pamper evening you may be asking? An evening devoted to treating yourself in respect to beauty and just in general!

The first thing I love to do it run a hot bath. Make sure there's a candle or two, and you have a glass of your favorite beverage (whether that's an adult beverage or not is up to you) nearby. Now's the time to throw in some bubble bath, or a bath bomb. Something to make it smell amazing and your skin feeling silky smooth. I also generally put a face and/or hair mask on while lying in the bath as well.

My Favorite Brand for Drugstore Masks - Freeman

Once I've had a good soak and am feeling relaxed, I move on to stage two of the evening. I like to take some time to give myself a mani/pedi. Then I end the eveing in bed with cozy pajamas, a good book, and a cup of tea. By the end of the evening, I find all my worries have slipped away and my mind is clear!

Next time you're in need of some relaxation, give this a try! You won't be disappointed :)

Blonde to Brunette

I've been a blonde for the last 2.5 or so years of my life. I started with highlights, and eventually opted to dye my hair blonde all over. I'm the type of person who tend to get bored of their hair fairly quickly, so it was most definitely time for a change!

I decided to go with a medium warm brunette shade. In another month or so I'm planning to go darker, but I  didn't want too drastic of a change since I was going from a white blonde shade. That is the first big piece of advice I would give to someone going from blonde to brunette : Go with a lighter shade than you might initially think. It's going to seem darker to you after having light hair, and that way you can avoid the "OMG IT'S BLACK" freak out that too many girls go through. It's easy to darker, but to make it lighter again can be a huge hassle; not to mention super damaging to your hair!

If you're wanting to do this, I highly recommend going to see a professional as it's a lot more complicated than most people think to go from blonde to brunette. But because I know that's not always possible (or if you're the type that likes to do things for themselves) I thought I would run you through what my stylist did!**

All brunettes have some red undertones to them. Some have more than others, which is where you get the variation in shades eg. Warm vs ashy. When you bleach your hair, you're removing all these tones from your hair. So it only makes sense that when you go dark again, you would therefore need to put these tones back into the hair. So we started by adding a red shade into my hair, letting in stay in for about 30 minutes. After that it was rinsed out and shampooed, but not conditioned.

Adding red tones back into the hair

Next we added a neutral brown shade, and repeated the process. I great tip I learnt? Make sure you comb the colour through your hair! This is going to make sure it is evenly distributed and no areas have been missed.

Once the last colour had been rinsed out and she hair shampooed, a cuticle sealer was put onto my hair and I left it on for about 2 hours (while watching the Grey's season premier ;) ). This helps to lock the colour into the hair, making it last longer and preventing any fading. You basically want to leave this on your hair for as long as possible. To finish I just rinsed that out. The cuticle sealer is really conditioning, so you don't need to worry about washing or conditioning the hair after using it.

The last tip I learnt is to not wash the hair after dying it. You want to wait 48-72 hours before washing after you've initially dyed it. This gain helps to ensure the colour is really locked into your hair, preventing fading!

And that's all there is too it! I'll make sure to do an update once I've gone darker. I hope some of you found this helpful, and let me know in the comments if you have any questions :)

**I am not a professional, this is just my explaination of what my stylist did to my hair. Everyone is different, so results might not be the same on your hair!