I’m wearing a Madewell Boyfriend Shirt, Gap Mesh Sleeve Sweater, Victoria’s Secret Most Love Yoga Leggings, and Pink and Pepper Riding boots. My Earrings are Kate Spade and my Necklace is from H&M.

This is my favorite photo of the entire set.

On My Face: Nars Sheer Glow, Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer, Nars Blush, Lancome Color Design Eyeshadows, Benefit Watts Up, YSl Babydoll Mascara, Pixi Tinted Brilliance Balm.

Nails: Lancome Vernis In Love

Hair just washed and air dried.

The Lancome Polishes are some of my absolute favorite polishes. I have 3 of them and can promise that you should be looking forward to a review coming soon.

Normally I’d be upset when my shoes started to get scuffed but I’m actually loving the way these are aging.

I hadn’t realized how long this shirt was before, so I’m actually really happy with it. I know it looks a bit short in this pictures but that’s just the way I’m twisted.

It’s starting to get really cold outside, so I’ll be taking most of my outfit photos inside now. Hope you like this door and it’s little glad air freshener that somehow got randomly hung there. Seriously I don’t even know how that happened. I’ll probably do photos in front of the tree after I put it up.

I know I’ve mentioned Emi-Jay hair ties a lot. I kinda can’t help it, I’m absolutely obsessed with them. I’ve tried the ones from Sephora, Twistbands and even ones that my dollar store was selling that looked similar.

None of them have come close. None. I don’t know why these are better, they just are. I’m certain the other companies making them use similar, if not the exact same materials, but Emi-Jay just seems to do it better. They’re about the same price as Twistbands and the Sephora ones too.

Of course it could be the Hippie in me, that’s mostly hidden by all my consumerism. Because Emi-Jay give money to Operations Smile, Be The Match, Step Up Women’s Network, and Project Knapsack. Any one of these charities would have been an admirable choice, but these girls chose to donate 20% of their procedes to split between them all.

Oh yeah, I said girls. Emi-Jay was started by two 8th graders in the Jay part of Emi-Jay, Julianne’s Kitchen. The Emi part of course stands for Emily. They got tired of no damage hair ties that still damaged their hair, and decided there was a better solution, so they found it. And they managed to make a successful business out of it, one that has Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Katie Holmes and Kim Kardashian as loyal clientele.

Another thing that I adore is the variety that they come in, printed, beaded and now bows. Bonus they totally have headbands. I haven’t tried them yet, but I am absolutely desperate to. I adore that they’re made with the same size band as the hair ties. Twistband uses a thinner band for their headbands, I have some that I got from Birchbox and I hate them. The thinner twistband actually causes dents.

Everytime I get my hair done, my hairdresser always comments on the fact that I don’t have split ends or breakage, despite the fact that I constantly am throwing my hair up in a messy bun. I don’t use heat on my hair often so that will cover the split ends, but I completely attribute the lack of breakage to the fact that I only use Emi-Jay hair ties.

 You might also recall that I said I’d do a DIY post on how to make your self one. So here that post is. There are actually some other tutorials on how to do this if you search the internet, but I tried to make this as uncomplicated as possible.

You will need stretchy Headbands, Faux Flowers in different colors and sizes if you wish, a Lo-temp Hot Glue Gun and Glue Gun Sticks. Pictured here is my furry assistant Howl.

 First thing you’ll need to do is pull all the flower tops off of your flowers. This was Howl’s favorite part.

 Then put a dab of hot glue about a on the headband and stick on your first flower. if you’re using large flowers then I recommend putting each dab of Hot Glue about an inch to half inch apart. For smaller flowers then I would play around until you can’t see headband.

 And here’s the finished result. I’m pretty in love with it, but having made it and worn it for an entire day, I have some bits of extra advice. First make sure your elastic band fits your head well. Mine felt small so I cut two of them apart, measured my head and sewed them together. Secondly, a couple of my flowers fell off because I didn’t use enough hot glue, do not be afraid to really stick them on there with plenty of glue.

I absolutely adored making this and I plan to make another one with some smaller flowers very soon. I’m thinking of maybe using velvet ribbon and some daisies for a very 90′s vibe.

Bonus Note: In some of the above pictures you can see bits of plaid, those are my pajama’s which are from Victoria’s Secret. You guys should know by now I adore VS pj’s, they’re my all time favorite.

 So since I can’t wait, I’ll talk about my hair first. my bangs had not been cut for months and they were driving me absolutely, completely crazy. So I made an appointment at Tanya’s Image and Wellness Salon in Crestview Hills, KY. I’m absolutely in love with the result.

 Once I made my appointment I had to decide what I wanted. I looked for days at pictures of celebrities and at pictures of how I had my hair before. But none of them were really what I wanted. Finally about 2 days before my appointment when I was starting to worry that I’d walk in there and not know what I want, I sat down and said who do I have the most hair envy over?

 The answer of course was FleurDeForce. Every single time I see her I’m jealous of her hair, even when she’s got it tossed up in a ponytail headed to the gym, it looks amazing. The picture I took in of Fleur’s hair was one that she posted on instagram after she had gotten her hair done at the Aveda Salon in London.

 Which is actually a bit funny, because according to her bio my stylist, Christie Toffan, graduated from the Aveda Fredric Institute. I must say I completely adored her, and if you’re in the area I fully recommend going to see her. I drove an hour to get there and it’s definitely worth it. I will be going back.

 

 Now that we’ve all cooed over that adorableness, lets get into the outfit. Here’s the overview:

 For my top I wore a lace tank that you can see better here, with a grey cardigan that kinda reminds me of the cardigans that ballerina’s wear. Sorry it’s been ages and I don’t remember where I bought it. My necklace is from Jewelmint and it’s the Lovers Locket. It’s one of my favorites, I’ve always loved Lockets and it’s Rose Gold.

 Here’s a close up:

For my makeup I’m wearing Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua in B10, with Nars Deep Throat, Makeup Forever Setting Powder (Gift from my bestie T, and as usual she was right I adore it) Chanel Mascara, Benefit’s Highbeam and Boi-ing concealer in no. 2. 

My Pants are Peach Skinnies I got from H&M awhile ago on sale. I adore these pants, the only issue is that they stain easily, and I’m terribly clutzy.

and finally, we have my Chelsea Boots that my absolutely amazing husband gave me for our wedding anniversary.  He ordered them from Asos, and if you’ll notice they’re the ones I mentioned wanting before. I’m completely in love with them and wore them all day today. Right from the moment I put them on they were extremely comfortable. I’d say they’re probably my favorite boots I own.

I think we’ll end things today with another adorable picture of Howl.  He’s just so cute.

She used all Chi products on my hair right down to the Flat Iron, except for the Paul Mitchell skinny serum. I’ve never used Chi before, but if I get back into straightening my hair everyday again, I will. I loved the way the products made my hair feel.

I got a new phone since mine bit the dust. It’s an iPhone 4S  and I’ve had it for a day. I haven’t really formed a judgement on it yet, but its good so far. I haven’t had any issues with it and have managed to get all my music on it, so I’m happy. I haven’t picked a case for it yet, but I’ll probably go with something from Kate Spade. I do like everything to be cohesive and all of my other electronics are housed in Kate Spade cases.

So I recently went to see a Dermotologist and through trail and big error, we discovered that I’m allergic to all the antibiotics that they prescribe for acne. So he gave me a topical solution, but it doesn’t seem to be doing any better than my Emc2 stuff was doing. So I’m thinking about consulting an esthetician to look into Murad products when I run out of my Liz Earle stuff. I love my Liz Earle stuff but with the conversion rate and shipping from overseas its just really expensive. Murad is expensive too but it’s available at Sephora so it’s a lot more accessible. Which I like because if I run out of something unexpectedly then it’s much easier to pop into sephora than it is to order from the UK.

I know I’ve slacked this week on my blog, but I will be back tomorrow with Stylish Sunday and hopefully back on my game next week. This week was just a bit tough for me.

In return I try and take very good care of my hair. I’m very picky about what I use on my hair, and since I’m currently absolutely in love with what I’m using, I thought I’d show you guys.

I’m currently using the Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special Shampoo and Conditioner every time I wash my hair. Normally I mix it up, but I adore these together so much. It has Tea Tree Oil, Peppermint and Lavender as the promoted ingredients, and on the front of the bottle it says that they’re an invigorating cleanser and conditioner respectively. They were $6 and $7 for 300ml at my local JCP salon respectively and honestly I’ve paid that for drugstore shampoos that I haven’t loved. These however leave my hair feeling fresh and squeaky clean but still soft and bouncy at the same time. I adore them. Also it may just be me, but I’ve used this line before and it really seemed to help my hair grow, and I’m thankfully having the same result this time. I’m going to guess that its because its invigorating, and it really has made my hair healthier. The last time I went for a bang trim, I asked if my ends needed a trim as well and my stylist told me I didn’t because I had no split ends. Which was awesome because it had been over 2 months since my last trim when she said this.

The Tea Tree Hair and Scalp Treatment is a new addition to my routine, new enough that I don’t feel comfortable doing an all out review, but I like it so far. I bought this because I’m currently trying to grow my hair out super long and this along with the rest of the line is meant to be invigorating. I’ve read a bunch of different places that if you want to speed up hair growth you need to stimulate your scalp and keep it healthy. Since this needs to be massaged into your scalp I figure it might help. That’s not actually its purpose but since the shampoo and conditioner seem to help then I figure this extra step might.

Plus as an extra bonus, the Tea Tree line is carbon neutral. That’s not something I obsess about, and honestly didnt even know until after I bought it, but it is nice to know. Because I’m not all vapid and shallow, I totally care about the earth and stuff. I mean, like, just sign me up for the Pismo Beach Disaster Relief League already!

Then finally is the Paul Mitchell Super Skinny serum. I’ve actually used this on and off for years, ever since the first time my bestie T. flat ironed my hair for the first time. I adore this and it’s the only heat protectant type thing I’ve ever used that doesn’t make my hair either weird or greasy. Yes that includes the Treseme heat protectant that’s beloved by every Beauty Guru and her Flat Iron. My hair just doesn’t react well to anything else. You may have noticed that this is a tiny bottle. I don’t actually use heat on my hair very often so I don’t need much of this. I’ve had this tiny bottle for nearly a year now, and i use one full pump everytime I use heat on my hair. Mostly I just blow dry my bangs and let the rest of my hair air dry. My hair is naturally wavy sometimes, other times its pretty damn straight. I only blow dry my hair if I plan to leave it down and I only straighten or curl it if I’m going out or doing something special.

Next time I get my bangs trimmed I plan on picking up the Lemon Sage Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner, which is part of the Tea Tree range of products, to try out. Just to have a different scent, or maybe some added volume some days. I think it’d be great for spring/summer when I tend to do messier more voluminous styles. I’m also going to see if I can find a texturizing spray or maybe try one of the texturizing balms to help with my messy, beachy summer hair.  What are your favorite Volumizing or Texturizing products Readers? Are there any out there I should avoid?

Side note: for those that caught the reference: Yes, that is a Clueless Reference, I make them often. Or if you did not catch the reference: No, I’m not that stupid, yes I know Pismo Beach never had a disaster, its a Clueless reference.

You see I used to have long swishy hair with side swept bangs. I could flat iron it in the morning and it would look exactly the same 2 days later. If I curled it I had that awesome Victoria Secret Hair. I mostly had the same hair cut for years, sometimes I would do blunt bangs instead of side swept but it was mostly the same. Then one day I went to the place where I normally went to get my hair trimmed just to get an inch or 2 taken off because of heat damage and all that. My usual lady wasn’t there, she had quit or something, so someone else cut my hair. You see where this is going don’t you? Yep, she screwed it up, cut it uneven and to fix it she decided to take 6 more inches off to repair it. I decided I was okay with that because like I said, I’ve always had great hair so I thought this would change nothing.

I was wrong, since then I found a hairdresser I love again and I’ve mostly kept my hair at shoulder length but I’ve never been happy with it. It never seems to lay right, or curl right and I spend way more time fussing with it now than I used too. When it was long it took forever to style but then it would stay like that until I washed it. Now I have to take forever styling it everyday or it looks like awful.

So I suffered from major hair envy, I’d look at all these actresses that had short, great hair and be jealous and each time I’d go to the hair dresser I’d get a different style cut than the last time. I’ve had my hair cut like Emma Stone’s and Alyson Hannigan recently.  But it never works out the way I plan it too.

Then last night while looking at Zoe’s blog and watching old youtube video’s of hers, I realized I missed my long hair. Like a lot. Then I realized why my short hair is so unruly. I’ve had hair dressers tell me that I have Thick, Fine hair with natural wave. Now I know that sounds contradicting but what that means is I have thin hair strands but a lot of it, with a wavy texture. When it’s long it’s heavier so it lays better. When it’s short the waves twist around each other and get tangled and I get cow licks because there isn’t as much weight pulling it down. So I’m growing it back out.

So I had my husband help me measure how much I have to grow out my hair before it’s roughly Zoe’s length. 10 inches. This sort of feel’s like it’s going to take forever, but I’m going to talk with my hairdresser about the best way to do it, and just go for it. I’m super impatient and I’ve caught myself tugging at the ends in frustration. Then I realized that this is actually a habit, that I probably developed the first time my hair was cut off.

So I’ll keep you updated maybe do pictures or something. I actually thought about getting a white tee and marking the inches off with a sharpie and taking a once a month picture for a monthly hair update post.

So do you suffer from hair envy? Do you think I’m crazy for trying to grow my hair back out? Lemme know if the comments below.