How I dip-dyed my hair yo

Here I'll show you how my hair went from this:

           

to this!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1. The colour you want to dip dye

Brands I'd recommend are La Riche Directions and Manic Panic. Manic Panic lasts a lot longer that La Riche.

Choose a colour that you suits your lifestyle: for example, if you're going to school the next day, it might be a good idea to do something a bit toned down, like red.

You can buy the hair dye from eBay and Amazon from as little as £3. You can also get it at some hairdressers, but it might be cheaper online. 

   2. Hair bleach

This is very important if you have any colour hair that is not light blonde. If you try and put colour on dark blonde, brown or black hair, it will do zilch, and you'll be sad :( 

The bleach just makes your hair like a blank canvas, and make the colour as vibrant as possible. I used Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL in Absolute Platinum: this really lightens your hair a lot. 

But be warned! Schwarzkopf only works on"virgin" hair, i.e hair that has never been died. If you try and put it on dyed hair, it will go as orange as an....orange. OK?

If you have died your hair, then go for a bleaching kit, such as L'Oreal Perfect Blonde Highlighting kit.

So yeah, your hair needs to be the colour of custard or lighter for the colour to show up. 

  3. Tin Foil

You need this to wrap your hair in this when the dye/bleach is on. It just makes the colour stronger coz it's keeping in the heat. 

  4. a Paintbrush or similar

You need this to paint the colour on, because it's really hard to just mush it in with your fingers.

  5. PATIENCE

You really need lots and lots of patience. It's better to leave the dye on a bit longer than not enough. Get some movies and chocolate at the ready. 

OKAY, once you've gathered all this stuff, you are ready to rumble. 

 Here is how I did my hair

note: This may not work on all hair types etc, so please don't take my word for it. Just use your common sense and it'll all be dandy.

STEP ONE: COMMENCE BLYEACHING

• Mix up whatever bleach you are using. Cut up squares of tin foil, approx 30cm squared. Get a smallish section of your hair (about 1/6 of your whole hair) and squeeze your bleach over it, with the tin foil behind it. Once your sure you've covered this whole bit, fold the tin foil around it. Only apply bleach up to where you want your colour to go. Mine was quite high, almost up to my ear, but adjust to whatever yo want!
• Repeat the tin foil process with the rest of your hair, until all of it is wrapped in foil (except the top bit of your hair).
• Right, now you wait. I left mine for about 35 minutes, because it was a very strong formula and I didn't want to frazzle my hair. If you are using a weaker formula, or have dark hair, then anything from 45 minutes to an hour should do it. To see if its done, look at a little strand, wipe away the bleach, and see what colour it is. Remember it will be lighter when it's dry.
• Okaaaay, now its time to wash it out. Take off all the tin foil, and look at your hair. It should be a nice light yellow colour, NOT orange. If it's orange, maybe leave the bleach on a little longer.
• Using a shower head, wash all of the bleach off. DEEP CONDITION with good quality conditioner. This helps your hair look less like straw. Let your hair dry naturally, and voila! You now have a perfect blank canvas to put some snazziness onto.

STEP TWO: LE COLOUR

• To put the colour on, you do exactly the same as you did to apply the bleach, but using a paintbrush You can afford to leave it on for longer to achieve a STRONGER colour. Make sure you cover your hair with dye evenly to avoid streakiness (something I should of done when I did mine). I left the lilac in for an hour, and the colour was fairly bright.
• Right, wash it out, and let it dry NATURALLY. Now go out and show everyone your new jazzzzzy hair :)))
• Whenever you wash your hair, be careful. I just shampoo the top bit of my hair, which happens to be the only bit that gets greasy. A good thing to do, to keep your colour bright, is to make a mixture of hair dye and conditioner, about a ratio of 1:5. Leave this for 5-10 minutes to maintain the colour.

I hope this helps anyone who wants to experiment with their hair, and remember, this is what works for my hair, so it may not work for yours!

Maddy x

sunday's child

Dress- Primark

Sunglasses- Primark

Hamsa necklace- River Island

Strawberry necklace- Claire's

Toms (espadrilles) - republic

x

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❀ Outfit of the day ❀

Dress- H&M

Necklace- Topshop

Watch- Casio

Hamsa hand bracelet- River Island

Thankyou to my friend Libby for taking this picture.
Excuse my extremely messy room in the background :O
Have a nice evening lovelies!
Maddy x

Au Revoir

Jumper- H&M

Shorts- Given to me by a friend

Tights- American Apparel

Levi jacket- Vintage

I wasn't really inspired by anything for this look, I just sort of put it together.

Chanel/Marc Jacobs/Topsop Unique

Chanel Spring 2012 Couture collection

I like this collection because all of it is blue. Blue is a nice colour, so why not use it for a whole show?

My faaaavourite out of these has to be the one on the far left: it's sequiny, navy and fabulous. However, I prefer the massive hair on the models in the photos on the right: it reminds me of those little toy trolls with tufty pink hair. Below is so blue stuff that is slightly more wearable than a sequinned Chanel jumpsuit.

Marc Jacobs 2013 Resort collection

                       This is an amazing collection. It focuses in on the whole botanic trend, but makes everything more cartoony. Some of the prints even look a bit Russian. I like the hair and makeup because suits the whole mood of the clothes, and the wooden wedges are cool, even though they're a bit impractical. Below is inspired by these outfits:

Topshop Unique Spring 2012

This collection was all about ancient Egypt, hieroglyphs, and gold. My favourite is the the far right: I really like the two beaded Beetles on the vest, and the skirt looks cool with the gold printing on it. I also like the middle right: In the skirt, you can just about see some cats around the hem. 

Below is inspired by Topshop unique:

velvet skirt

Velvet skirt- Ark

T-shirt- Zara

x

lilac love

Recently, I have grown a small obsession with the colour lilac. There is something about it that makes me feel all summery and princess-y, and my collection of lilac coloured clothes/accessories/cosmetics is ever growing. My next venture is to dip-dye my hair lilac, but I'm not sure my school would approve...

above are some of my favourite lilac things from high-street + high-end (sigh), my favourite being the metallic cambridge satchel. If only I had £112.....

Have a nice day lovelies!

Maddy x

a sunny afternoon

These photos are from a couple of weeks ago, but I had an opportunity to use a decent camera, and a nice setting, rather than my awful webcam and messy room.

These photos are shot in some woods right near my house, and the trees looked especially pretty in the long-awaited sun (here in the UK the weather is completely unpredictable...).

So, my dress is from Topshop (it's actually my sisters but shhh), my galaxy leggings, which are frankly copies of the black milk ones, are also from Topshop, and my shoes are just red Vans. 

Hope you all have a lovely day!

Maddy x

 Ignore my cheesy grin^

gingers clearly have souls

just a quick mood-board sort of post, celebrating the amazingness of red/orange hair, beautifully modelled by florence welch, lily cole, and vivienne westwood, incidentally three of my favourite people ever. enjoy and goodnight lovelies x

 

 

 

dreamy dresses❀

(from top) printed vest dress, £91, and chiffon and lace dress, £111, both the kooples. daffodil dress, £270, antipodium. beaded organza gown, £4930, valentino. tulle skirt dress, £110, dress up at topshop. peach wedges, £153, the kooples. leather slippers, £40, topshop.

I have always dreamed of the perfect dress, and here are some of my favourite pastel ones this season. These kind of dresses remind me of french breakfasts, ballet dancers, and pale, delicate flowers you only find in summertime. here are also some pretty shoes to match. 

Hawaiian prints: trendy or tacky?

(Anticlockwise from top left) Topshop, £34; Maarten van der Horst for Topshop, £140; Stella McCartney, £570; Zoe Karssen, £95.

Hawaiian prints are making a comeback this summer. Whether its a modest palm tree jumper (above left, by Zoe Karssen) or printed all over some shorts (top left, Topshop), the tropical print is everywhere. But how far is too far when it comes to following trends?
The trend is set to hit both designers and the high street hard, so where should you look for a subtle Hawaiian piece, to give a nod to the trend, but to also not look garish and tacky?
Above are my four favourite pieces from high-end and high-street. The blazer by Maarten van der Horst, for Topshop, (top right) is one of my favourites. It combines a beautiful palette of muted colours with just the right amount unusual-nesss, and the result is lovely, but with a slightly scary £140 price-tag. If you're like me, and have to ask for stuff like this for birthdays etc, then I have seen some convincing copies in much cheaper shops like Primark and New Look. Another good place to look is ebay: there are many designer cast-offs up for grabs.
I thoroughly believe that Hawaiian prints can be trendy, providing you never, ever invest in a Hawaiian three piece suit. Ever.