Category: trends

My current Hair Color: “Bronde” and how to get it…

~ Emmie Reve ~ 3 Comments

(**Disclaimer! I’m not a hair professional, but have just done my research and worked with my own hair to get results I’m happy with. But whenever dying your own hair at home, please follow manufacturer’s directions and consult with a professional when possible or in doubt)

As you all know…I’ve been lightening and coloring my hair since late last year, in an attempt to get a lighter color that is neither brassy, or too harsh/dark for my complexion. Check out my articles on hair coloring and soap capping. And recently I’ve been rocking a hair color that I found out was called “bronde”; too light to be a solid brunette, and too dark to be a blonde. Kind of a caramel color in between two opposites. A nice neither region that I would like to reside in for the next little while. Why? It’s not as high maintenance as a light blonde, and it’s not as brassy as that rust color dark hairs get when they lift too little color. It’s just peachy. Check out this Vogue article about this hair color to get some inspiration. But for how, here are some famous “brondes”:

Jessica Alba: at the tonight show with just the perfect balance of light and dark caramels and soft, bouncy waves.
Amber Heard on GQ? As a darker blonde than she normally is, I think she’s got a lot more mystery and allure…
Beyonce is Bey-youtiful with a hair colour that compliments and warms her complexion. 

Okay, so you get the idea…how the color should look, but now how to achieve this neutral tone, middle level “bronde”color…Go to an expert hair stylist who does great hair color, or try it at home with these tips!**

For Brunettes want to go Bronde:

Step 1: Lighten enough: Believe it or not, us brunettes (black or brown hair) have to lift a level or two above middle lightness to achieve ‘bronde”. It’s not fair, but it’s just the way it is. For those doing this at home, you need to get to a level 7 lightness, at least. Check out swatches on how light a 7 level is.

Step 2. Tone/Glaze: This is so important as it adds the finishing shine and touches to a lighter hair color. Lightening dark hair always brings out warmth. And warmth is the enemy when trying to achieve a gentle tone in hair. Use a demi permanent hair dye with a low peroxide developer to add ash (blue/green) pigment to your strands. Use a lighter level than your hair is. So as a level 7, get a level 8/9 ash tone color. Toning with an dedicated hair “toner” only works for hair that has been lifted past a level 8.

A bit on the warm side, but I will be toning/glazing with a demi in the next week or so.

For blondes wanting to go darker to Bronde:

I’m not the most experienced in this matter, since I am a brunette, but here’s what I do know:

  • Use a demi-permanent hair color, since you are depositing only and not lifting levels. It’s gentler and from what I hear, shinier!
  • Stay away from ash tones. Ash upsets the darkening process by getting too dark/green too fast and then you’re stuck with it.
  • Always use a demi color one or two levels lighter than you want to achieve. So if I were a light blonde, I would do a 7 or 8 with warm/golden tones to get to caramel. Depending on the intensity of bronde you want, diluting the hair color formula with a clear gloss demi would be smart for avoiding over saturation and it looking flat and fake whenever dying darker.

Hope these tips help for all that want this hair color. I find it suits all skin tones and ages and just looks really healthy. Try it today.

**DISCLAIMER: all advice I give is based on my own personal experience with hair color. I’m not a professional hair stylist, so use my advice with a bit of caution and never hesitate to consult to a professional! Thanks!

 

Spring DIY: 4 ways to uniquely transform your T-shirts

~ Emmie Reve ~ 1 Comment

Yay. It’s spring. So…ya…but it’s still cold here in Toronto. *sigh. In anticipation of warmer days, I wanted to keep busy with a few t-shirt DIY’s to get me through the last of the cold gloomy winter, as these days summer only feels far away…but it’s coming! And a great summer basic is the T-Shirt, and knowing that distressed cut up tees are still in, why buy when I can DIY? What I love about transforming these clothings is that it’s super easy, no sewing and wearing them just has got a crafty cool, edgy vibe to them. And when I saw Forever 21 recently had a buy 1 get 1 free sale on all sale items, I wanted to take advantage. Buying really cheap sale clothes to cut up makes sense, since the sale stuff are often pretty boring, they are left over stock after all…and asking for transformation via distressing/cutting! Here are the 4 shirts/shifts that I bought from there and will be cutting up:

My “buy 1 get 1” haul from Forever 21. Let’s start cutting and distressing!
  1. Long Beige T-shirt dress with cuffed sleeves:

For this DIY, I wanted to use this shirt as a sleep shirt, long and comfy, no shorts or pants needed to lounge in around the house! But with the thick cuffed sleeves it was not that comfy, or cool looking. So first I cut out the cuffs, for an unfinished sleeve look, and then, cut vertical slits 1 cm wide in the front upper portion and got this:

I like it a lot more now. It’s airy with the slits and so comfy to sleep in. Long enough to wear without sleep pants and not be scandalous!

2. Black tank dress with lace trim:

This dress had all kinds of wrong things going on. It was a thick stiff cotton shift material, the lace trim was too long and not delicate, and the way it hung on me originally was just not flattering. After cutting it up, and doing a “bow tie” tee cut up on the the back, I liked the way it hung a lot more, and it looks more like a party dress now, don’t you think?

“Bow tie” cut up at the back consists of two horizontal cuts and then cinching the material together with another frabric. Super easy and shows off the back…

3. Plain White tee with Pink Trim

I loved the open neck line and soft material of this tee even before I DIYed it. But this tee was still a bit on the boring side, and the big side. I figured that a back weave and side weavings might make it smaller if not more interesting. If you really like this look, it’s easy to find instructions on line on how to do it. It’s actually as easy as braiding hair.

I thought the back/side view of this tee was more interesting, but I did keep the pink collar v-neck trim more visible from the front.

4. Super plain blue pocket tee:

So this t-shirt reminded me of a shirt that an artist/painter might wear in her studio. Loose, flowy, and distressed beyond recognition. But as a new tee, this  shirt wasn’t going to tell that story. So, after sandpapering holes, cutting holes and just destroying the colour of the shirt with bleach, I got a more raggedy worn-in look. Now the shirt tells the story that I might be a struggling artist and this shirt has been destroyed since I use it for art making and everything else the imagination will allow. Kind of cool…

Faded, and with tons of holes, this shirt is just asking to be replaced…but loving that worn in, and careless look.

So after 4 T-shirt transformations, I’m not sure which is my favorite look. Do you have a favorite? Just a note about why I didn’t post instructions on how to do these looks; I wanted this article to be more about being inspired to transform your own clothes in easy effortless ways, but not as a tutorial. But I learned all these techniques online via articles and youtube, so just type in “DIY shirt cut up” and you’ll find all you need to do this too! And other tutorials would probably explain it better than me anyways. Happy Spring DIY-ing!

I don’t usually write make-up reviews for cosmetic giants, but…

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

Maybelline doesn’t need my help to sell it’s make-ups. It’s as ubiquitous as all the other make-up giants; that kill the environment, use chemicals and test on animals…Maybelline is no exception. But since this is a make-up journal, I feel inclined to report about how I recently discovered the crazy over performing lipstick that is the Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink Lipstick line. It’s a semi-new release (within the last year) that has gotten me in a state of fandom over long wear make-ups for my lips…(since that’s really the only place on the face that needs it…since we eat and drink, every hour of the day)

The two best colors from the line, as mentioned by a lot a reviews: Lover (mauve), and Pioneer (classic red)

I come from a philosophy of simple is better, less is more and basically I feel natural always trumps chemicals. That’s why I have a line of gentle handmade cosmetics and perfumes called Dream E available for all. But because I work in the fashion industry as well, I know how important a well painted lip can be and how much it can pull together a fashion look from head to toe. So here I am being hypocritical about my own philosophies by liking super-stay lipsticks; since they probably have more in common with car paint enamel than the traditional wax based lipstick…what to do…

The reason I feel I have this contradiction is because ignorance is bliss. If I think about the chemical gloop that are in super-stay lip color, I would probably cringe…but I am slightly comforted by the fact that once they set, they don’t go anywhere. They become more like clothes that one wears and then takes off at night. The problem I’ve always had with traditional lipsticks were that they were movable, oily and gross, getting on food, coffee cups and clothes. I could feel them on my lips, they felt greasy, slimy. Not to mention they are made with chemical/metal colorants that could make their way into my body eventually. Too gross. But the great thing about a color stay lipstick is that it doesn’t budge, and because of that, I am assuming the chance of it getting into my belly is unlikely? (cross my fingers)

Ok now that I’ve explained my contradiction, what were the general downsides of wearing color stay lipsticks? Flat, unfashionable choice of colors, uneven wear throughout the day, 2 step application of some formulas, drying feel on the lips…the thing with the Super Stay Matte Inks is though that they don’t feel dry on, the wear is even throughout the day with NO retouching at all necessary…and they come in highly pigmented, velvety colors that you virtually paint on once carefully, and forget about it. It is that comfortable and light, that I forget I’m wearing it until I walk past a mirror and see my high fashion lips!  Just like a great eye make-up that you put on once and don’t have to worry about reapplying throughout the day, you can live the busy life you have, while having a high maintenance lip look that nobody knows you didn’t work at!

Here is the mauve color (“Lover”) on my lips. In this photo, it looks a bit muted, but in real life it’s actually deeply pigmented… almost plumy…
And here is the classic red color (“Pioneer”) on my lips. I really like the intense color and matte velvet finish…

The two colors I own from this line is a gorgeous mauve pink called “Lover”, (that started me on this epiphany of how to wear lip color from now on!) and a rich, classic red called “Pioneer” that screams fashion! I was doing a make-up look that was sans lipstick for a few years now, since I couldn’t deal with the gross feel and maintenance required of tradition lipsticks, but with this new long wear formula from Maybelline, I am a fan of colored lips once again! From reading other reviews online, the two colors I have demo-ed in this post are the two best and most popular colors from the Matte Inks line. Which one is your fave?