Beauty: Purple hair 2018

By this stage in the game, it should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that I'm a big fan of changing up my hair. I've had accidentally green hair thanks to Lime Crime's Charcoal dye, neon orange-red with Lime Crime's Leeloo dye, outright buzzed my hair off when I got sick of the bleach blonde, had purple-pink pigtails, tried Manic Panic's Electric Lizard Green (with bangs!), rocked faded turquoise and minty-green strands, channeled multiple Sailor Moon characters with both pastel pink and bright turquoise, gone bright blonde, and even rocked the ombre thing way back when, so changing my hair is a common occurrence. These days, I've been trying to avoid bleaching all the way up to my scalp because it's just not a fun or enjoyable situation. Have you ever bleached your roots? It's tingly stinging weirdness that feels very much like the chemical burn it is, so if I don't have to go to my scalp to rock the colors I love, I won't. Also, I'm lazy, guys. Do you know how much work it is to try to maintain platinum blonde when your natural hair color is a dark brown? Hair grows, a lot, and you've got to stay on top of your touch-ups or you're going to have a very visible situation in no time. 

So, lately, I've been making the best of my bleached ends and faded ombre to throw darker colors over top. I've been alternating between different shades of purples and pinks, whether it's Lime Crime's Pony or Special Effects Wildflower, they all play well together after a little fading. There's less upkeep, too, as these shades seem to stick around more on my hair than the pastel tones, though there's also the much better quality of water in Washington compared to Vegas to consider here. Antho helped, which, naturally, stained his hands a bit.  

I've really enjoyed rocking the purple shades! While I know that purple will no longer be the color of the year going into 2019 (it's coral), it's still a favorite of mine. I'll keep rocking it when it feels right!

Thanks for popping in!

💘

XOXO,

NAU

Art: Tie-dye photoshoot in Valley of Fire

Happy day-after-Valentine's day, guys!

Sorry, single friends, if our cheese is a little disgusting to you right now. I understand, I really do, but it's also a cheesy romantic time of year and we're a couple of sappy bastards so I couldn't help myself but to at least have some nod to romance here. And, not to sound too vain, but I think we look kind of cute in these photos. 

Here's something else to look at so as to ease your urge to vomit.  Our campsite out here at Arch Rock campground in Valley of Fire state park was quite photogenic and we found what was the perfect spot for us. The lighting was good for much of the morning and we were visited by an array of cute creatures over the hours. 

While we had spent the night previous relaxing and enjoying each other's company and a fire-cooked meal away from the city, once the sun rose and I had an adequate amount of caffeine and spontaneous cuteness in my system it was time for us to get to work. Luckily for us, the work involved here is modelling some of our finished tie-dye creations among the beautiful landscape. While in the past we've opted to keep our photoshoots on the simpler side so as not to draw too much focus away from the shirts, we realised that this approach is also a bit boring and doesn't convey much about our personalities or the kind of vibe we want our clothes to have. Since we're going to go camping anyway, why not bring along some of our stuff and snag some shots when the lighting is good? We were still able to enjoy most of our morning and the photoshoot didn't take so long as to keep us occupied longer than we would have been comfortable with. We were back in the city and the comfort of our own home by mid-afternoon, and that's even with the stop we made along the way... there will be a separate post on that, though, as it was too hair-raising for me to want to include among the outtakes from the photoshoot. The ones that we used for the listings are all up and visible on our Etsy shop, along with the items being modelled themselves!  

Lips by Lime Crime.

More photos below!

My experience with Lime Crime Unicorn Hair in Leeloo

Another Lime Crime post! 

I'm rather smitten with them, to be honest. So far I've had pretty good luck with all the different products I've tried from them, and I've made a point of it to seek out different formulas and try things I might not otherwise to get a better idea as a whole. I was impressed enough with their velvetines formula and found myself oogling their shade selection of Unicorn Hair dyes long enough that some of them went on sale and I finally jumped! I was really pleased with the results of Leeloo in my hair. I'd been using various dyes from Sallys Beauty Supply to get an orange-pink shade but figured I'd give the Unicorn Hair a shot and since my hair already had warm tones in it they should play well together. The worst thing a fashion hair dye like this will typically do is stain your hair a color you don't necessarily want or simply not take at all, but I knew going into it that reddish-orange should play nice and if it didn't take I'd chalk it up as a lesson learned and whine a bit. I purchased Charcoal (and more velvetines, because love) at the same time as a backup or experiment shade, and I'll have a post on that soon, too. 

As much as I love Manic Panic and have used a wide selection of their hair dye over the years (like the time I went pink in 2015, then turned that faded pink to turquoise, and that faded to a seafoam shade, and I tried electric lizard for glowing green hair, or that brief but beautiful time I had lavender hair) I've had some duds, so even established brands can sometimes have an off formula. Leeloo, in my experience, worked great! Definitely no dud here! The color was super bright and intense, reminiscent of blood orange. I left it in my hair for about an hour and forty minutes before rinsing until it ran mostly clear. It definitely took a lot of scrubbing and there was so much color run off in the shower! That happens with tie-dye, though, so I wasn't terribly concerned. I took cold showers for the first couple weeks and stretched out the time between showers when possible with dry shampoo. It stayed pretty vivid for the better part of a month, and faded to some pretty shades of peachy-orange-blonde along the way. It didn't stain my towels or pillow cases, which is nice.

When the dye was soaking, we carved (and I painted) pumpkins!

About 10-12 days later after a couple washings.

About 15 days later and another couple washes.

After that point I started using warmer water and washing like regular as I grew more eager to test out charcoal! Overall I was very happy with the performance of Leeloo and still have roughly 1/3rd to 1/2 the container left and may dabble with it again soon as the weather starts to melt into spring again.

💙💚💜💛💖

Overall I was super happy with how this hair dye performed! It was extremely bright and vivid the first couple of weeks and faded into a gorgeous peachy-pinky-orange blonde that I really enjoyed. 5 out of 5 happy hearts.

Hope you enjoyed this post!

XOXO,

NAU

Makeup: Lime Crime Cashmere Velvetine Matte Liquid Lipstick review and swatches

One of my all time favorite things in life probably, like, ever is to come home and find a package waiting for me. It doesn't matter whether it's something as mundane as ordering vitamins from Vitacost or a scarf that your friend overseas was kind enough to send to you (thank you so much, Sam!!), there's something undeniably delightful about coming home (where the cute fluffy pets and boyfriend are) to find a mysterious box (or envelope/bubblemailer) with your name on it. In this case, Lime Crime goes discreet and mails your beauty booty in a simple white box. Don't let the plain exterior fool you, though, as upon lifting the lid you're greeted by the pretty blue lid with unicorns and floral loveliness. It's all pastel and pretty, with sky blue tones on the lid complimented by the soft pink paper encasing your goods. The insert is lovely, too. 

In this order I got three shades: cashmere, pink velvet, and beet it. This was my first ever order from Lime Crime and Cashmere was a free gift with purchase as a limited promotional offer, so I found it easier to justify paying 30-some-odd of my hard earned bucks for lipstick when I got three instead of two. I always try to keep an eye out for sales so I can stretch my beauty investments further, especially when purchasing from brands that cost a pretty penny. I know for some people $15-20 for a single lipstick is a laughably small consideration, but I live in the real world where I've got rent, bills, and shit to take care of so I try to put some thought into where my money goes. Lime Crime is vegan and cruelty free, which is fantastic. 

From top to bottom:

Cashmere (greige)

Pink Velvet (true pink)

Beet It (deep berry pink)

described by Lime Crime:

"Long lasting matte liquid lipstick in a deep berry-pink hue.

What it does: Makes your lips feel luxurious and velvety, like a rose. Lasts all day with minimal touch-ups, even through meals.

What it won't do: Bleed or transfer. Dry out properly moisturized lips. Ruin the perfect kiss.

TIPS: Apply lip balm 15 minutes prior; pat off excessive oils with a tissue. Apply Velvetines directly to lips (use a lip brush to refine edges). Remove at the end of the day with waterproof makeup remover or oil."

Review and photos continue after the cut!