Going Bald?

Knock on wood.

I've already noticed this for the past two years that a lot of my hair has been falling out, whether it's when I wash it or brush it. Every time I run my hand through my hair while washing it, i t comes out all over my fingers -shudders- It hasn't been like this in the previous years.

I know that it's natural for a lot of hair to fall out daily, hundreds or thousands (I don't remember,) but usually that's when you don't notice it right? I feel like I'm losing those hundreds/thousands PLUS another hundreds/thousands that I do notice.

When I was little, I've always a lot of thick hair. I used to not be able to wrap my two fingers around all of it when I hold it into a pony, but now it only fits into 1/3 of my fingers wrapped around. Er, yeah my hand grew bigger over the years, so that explains why, but ever year the pony tail seems to be getting smaller and smaller T__T;; It might be due to dying my hair too much -__- But I feel as if my natural hair color is too dark for me D: So I'm not willing to let it grow out like that.

But yeah. Just ranting.

July Nail Polish Haul

I bought a few polishes here and there throughout the month, mostly China Glaze or Orly. I only had about 5 China Glaze polishes prior to this.. so I'm excited to let the collection grow :) But of the one creme that I have been using (Empowerment) I found that the formula is thick and streaky, so I hope it's just that one polish.

Anyways, onto the haul!! I know it's not like a lot compared to other people's hauls, but it feels like a lot since I got a bunch at once every time instead of one or two here and there. Plus I think I scored a pretty good deal.

Orly: Glitz $1.99 | Skinny Dip $2.50 | After Party $2.50 | Sinful Colors: Winterberry $0.99

China Glaze: Ruby Pumps | Electrify $3.29 | Glittering Garland $0.99 | For Audrey $4.99 | Polarize $1.65

Jordana Pink Hearts $1.99

Close ups:

Most of these are from Sally's clearance sales where red tags were an additional 50% off, which was why most of them were so cheap! I bought For Audrey and Electrify before the sale, so I didn't get the deal, but I'm still happy. Finally got my hands on the famous For Audrey lol. I actually have it on right now...and it applied way better than Empowerment :o So I guess I got a dud or something. 

Winterberry is supposedly a polish from winter 2011 and it's hard to find now, but they started popping up in recent display boards. I took advantage of the $0.99 sale.. but now there's the whole plagiarism scandal :(

Lastly, Pink Hearts isn't really all that great. You have to really dig around for the hearts and I just didn't put that much of an effort to try to get it. It works great if you want sparse glitters that can be built up, because it's really easy not to get any hearts, so it'll work well if you want to layer it on top of any color. I applied two coats on each nail and I was only able to get one heart lol...so that says something. I'll do a more thorough post after I actually get hearts out.

To end the post, here's tonight's dinner :) I went out to a restaurant called Thaitation. I'd give them a 3/5 because the service was just really slow. Phone quality photos..

Curry puffs! It was basically like.. the outer layer and potato inside... so more or less deep fried potatoes lol. 

Seafood Volcano; It came out on fire!! It's the fire time food was served that way for me lol. And inside was scallops, jumbo shrimp, squid, salmon w/peppers, beans, & basil in a curry sauce. Even though the portion was sort of small (but enough for one person), at least the place didn't skimp on the seafood...because a lot of places just throw in a lot of veggies and a few pieces of seafood.

Crispy Pad Thai. I was expecting the flatter noodles that it's normally mad out of :( I took a bite and didn't want anymore :x It wasn't nasty, but just not my thing.

For dessert, we went to a froyo place called Zinga. 

The flavors were very rich, but the texture was just a tad bit too melty/soft. I prefer my froyo to be more solid.  

Orly After Party

Orly After Party is part of the Summer 2012 Feel the Vibe collection. It's a very dark color for the summer... so not something I'd wear again until the winter.

Not sure why my thumb looks so weird lol. I used two coats.

The combination of the micro glitters drew me in when I found it at Sally's, so I had to get it! While I think it looks exactly like it does on the nail and the bottle, when it's on it just feels darker.. indoors it's basically black from afar, but you can see the color a bit more up close. It's a very fitting color for the winter and gives it that extra boost from just plain black.

Review: L'Oreal Preference Lightest Cool Ash Blonde Mega Blonde

So since my friend wanted to dye her hair, I decided to do mine too, especially with all the unevenness and it bothered me how I have to many inches of black hair at my roots. I dyed it two weeks ago on the 7th.

 Before

After

I went to Sally's in the morning to pick up the dye. I was almost tempted to buy Palty, but they tend to always turn out the same for me (color-wise) no matter which color I actually use and never seemed as brown/blonde as the box. For some reason, I feel like my hair is always orangey. In the end, I went to Sally's next door to find a dye.

I heard nice things about their Mega Reds like a year or two ago and read similar things about the Mega line in general, so I decided to give that a shot. I was expecting something from their Mega Browns series, but they were all too dark to my liking, so I opted for a blonde dye. I know my hair is too dark to actually get blonde out of a blonde dye anyways, so I wasn't expecting much but some lightening. They promise, "Lifts up to 4 levels, no pre-lightening required."

I bought my dye in MB8 Lightest Cool Ash Brown. I was debating between MB8 and another shade (Lightest Cool Beige Blonde?) but I opted for MB8 because it was blue based...and (unless I'm wrong,) if you have orange undertones, you should be using a blue based dye to neutralize the undertones. Mega Blondes also require you to buy their Mega Blondes Cream Developer (30 volume) so if you buy their dye, then make sure to get the matching developer too. I'm not sure if other 30 volume developers would work for it, but I wouldn't risk it if you're just trying to save like a dollar or two by getting another one or even if you have a developer that works really well for you. They say "Use only with Mega Blondes Developer" and they don't do that for the Mega Browns or Mega Reds, so I don't think it's really like a market scheme.

I finally got a Sally's Beauty Club card... If you have it then you get discounted prices for their items. It's only $5 for one year and you get a $5 off coupon for your next purchase (no minimum) so it basically cancels out. It's also $5 to renew it and when you do it online you get a $5 coupon again, soo.. it's worth it if you know you're going to come to Sally's again within the year or even if you're making a big purchase. I already saved $3 on the spot, so $5 well spent :)

L'Oreal Preference Mega Blondes MB8 Lightest Cool Ash Brown ($5.69) + Developer ($3.69)

Mixing bowl ($2.29) + brush ($1.59)

Ion Effective Care Treatment ($0.99)

So you're going to need a bowl for this, you can probably use any, but I'm not going to use the ones I eat with lol... and if you know you'll be dying your hair again, it's reusable and makes application way easier than the bottle applicator.

First I dumped all the developer into the bowl and then put in the dye. I mixed it for about 2 minutes or so, and you can tell if it's not mixed well because you'll see the yellow dye, so make sure to mix until all the color is even. Then my friend helped me apply it all over starting from the bottom most layer and leaving about an inch or two to do my roots later on. If you put it on your roots and scalp in the beginning and without waiting then it's going to turn out wayyyy lighter than the rest of your head!

I waited about 30-40 minutes before applying to my roots. After that was done, instead of just sitting there doing nothing for the next 20 minutes, I helped my friend apply her dye. She used L'Oreal Preference in Light Brown... she had virgin black hair and indoors after dying it, you can't really see a difference, but in the sun, it has a hint of brown, so if you have naturally dark hair, it's good if you want a subtle change that can only be seen in the sun..otherwise, you'll be lucky if you look a shade lighter indoors.

The process of applying her dye took longer than expected and at that point it's been well over half an hour since I applied the dye at my roots and I began to worry that my roots are going to become way lighter. Finally after I finished applying her dye, I went to go wash it off. The instructions on the bottle of dye said to use shampoo, so I did, otherwise normally I'd just skip it and go straight to conditioner. I used the the Ion Effective Care Treatment for my conditioner and it worked really nicely through my hair. All my hair was lumped together after shampooing, and I could really feel a big difference while applying the conditioner. I kept it on for a few minutes and washed it off.

I finished applying the rest of the dye onto my friend's roots and by then my hair was beginning to dry and all I saw was like super light roots and dark hair everywhere else D: But once it dried up everything looked more even...waaaaayy more even, especially on the top! Here are photos in different lights/angles...

To be honest I don't even know what color my hair is anymore... it looks like a orangey/reddish brown to me, but when I ask others they said it's like a light orange color.. and in photos it looks red at times, orange at times, and light brown at times. But I think it's probably just a light orange.

Other pics:

I don't think the roots are that uneven, so it might just be the angle that the pic was taken in.

 Orange-y... this is probably how my hair really is.

And light brown looking lol

Conclusion?
Cost: ★★★★★
It costs about $10, so it's not that bad..and everything was enough to cover my whole head, considering my hair is thick and long, that's really good. I was initially worried about whether it'd be enough even though I know American brands usually have a good amount, but my hair is long, so it did cross my mind.

Color: ★★★☆☆
Uhh... I don't think I'm even close to blonde, but I'm sure it'll work for someone who has lighter hair lol.

Coverage: ★★★★☆
My hair is pretty even now :) There are some parts that are lighter than some but that was because it was like black in the first place and compared to my lighter hair color elsewhere, there's no way everything can magically become the same shade.

Application: ★★★★☆
My friend applied it, but I would assume it wasn't that hard lol. It was a bit drippy and wet, so just watch out for that, but other than that just brush it onto the hair.

Overall: ★★★★☆
I liked it and I'm happy with my results. Like I said, I wasn't expecting to turn out blonde (okay, maybe just a little but not the shade that they intend it to be) and I didn't, so I can't comment on whether it'll work out or not, but if you're looking to lighten your hair, then give this a shot. I don't think most of my hair was really lightened that much, but on my roots there's definitely a change.

Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition Spectrum

I picked up SH Spectrum for $1.87 (75% off) during CVS's massive sales on their beauty items, but unfortunately this time there weren't that many polishes marked down.  It's really pretty in the bottles and same goes for once it's applied as well!

After applying the first coat, I was disappointed and worried about how sheer it was, but it got better with each coat. In my pics, I used four coats to get it opaque like that...you can still see my nail lines, but I'm not going to apply 10+ coats lol.

Triple Hair Killer

After complaining about Prettia in my last post, I've dyed my hair again on Saturday :) I think it looks much better now and more even. I'll have a post more about it later on. So Sunday I went to Six Flags for the first time this year :D I went with the boyfriend and a bunch of friends. We all went to the water park = chlorine. And when we got home it was already almost 1:00AM ): And my hair was gross so I had to wash it and since it was late and I had to get up early for my first day of work, I had to blow dry it.

So hair dying + chlorine + blow dry = hair killer :'( My hair feels so dry right now.. so hopefully it'll soften up over time. Right now it's a bit hard to wash cuz it sorta gets into chunks.. so yeah. But conditioner makes it much better. Anyways, just a short post, so until next time! :)

Review: Prettia Custard Brown

Soo if you have seen my past posts, I have bought two boxes of Prettia, one back in January and the other in March. Not sure if that's really the color, but that's what I'm making it out to be :x

 (Ignore the Opal Hair Treatment)

I don't really have proper before after photos.. but I'll try my best with photos that I already have :D They're photos RIGHT before I dyed it.. they're from back in October and November.

So the first one is when I dyed my hair back in January. January 11 to be precise.

Before:

I used Palty Natural Brown & Palty Bleach Root for my roots.

After:

(Pretty sure these are afters..no way my roots can be so brown after a few months lol)

Looks like it has nice coverage huh...

But look again x__x If I lift my hair then it's still black -__-

I thought I just applied it wrong or something.. since mine didn't get as foamy as the one in the official tutorial video.. so I gave it another chance and bought it again for next time.

The second time, I did it right before prom. The before pictures are from about two weeks before I dyed it.

Before:

After:

Conclusion?

Cost: ★★☆☆☆

It's about $16 a box, which is a bit pricey for a box of dye.. and even though most people say one box is enough, I find that I end up running out.. then again my hair is long, so it might be enough for someone with slightly shorter hair, but not me.

Color: ★★★☆☆

Err.. I don't have the box anymore, but I know that I didn't achieve the color on the box. But I'd say it worked well with blending in with the rest of my hair. There's very, very subtle difference in the color of my hair. I can't even see the difference myself.

Coverage: ★☆☆☆☆

Prettia is known to give even coverage and not spotty like traditional hair dye, but not for me. My hair is so spotty. It fails to even get my roots lightened. It's normally an issue where the roots is too light compared to the rest of the hair, but not here because it doesn't even lighten most of it. If I lift my hair up, it's still black. The second time, it feels like I didn't even dye my hair at all.

Application: ★★★★☆

It was foamy, so it's pretty easy to apply. It doesn't get as foamy as the video look though.

Overall: ★☆☆☆☆

I would not be repurchasing Prettia. I don't think I'm applying it wrong. I do exactly as the video says and it's sort of simple, so you can't really go wrong. I thought the first time I messed it up, but after the second time, it's just a waste of money. It doesn't dye my hair well, so I've wasted over $30 for nothing -__- It seems to work well on other people, but not me.

Essie Braziliant

Today I have a swatch of Essie Braziliant. It was released for the Summer 2011 collection, and I got it in Canada earlier this year. 

In direct sunlight:

----

Bottle closeups:

Braziliant is a very bright color and perfect for the summer. It's orange, but has pink shimmers. In a way it comes off as a very bright coral color. It dries darker than the bottle and slightly less shimmery. It was relatively easy to apply, but got slightly lumpy towards the end. One coat is pretty opaque, but you'll need two coats to cover everything. I used two coats, and topped it with Essie Good to Go. The dry time between each coat was quick. :)

My nails get into such bad shape every time I do my nails ): So I've been holding back since graduation and finally gave in again T__T; I was planning on only doing nails for Independence Day, but gave in and did mine with Braziliant.