Showing posts with label hootd. Show all posts

MAY

Change is as good as a holiday, right?




Remember way back when, when hope was high and life worth leaving? When I dreamed that love would never die? And God would be forgiving?
March 2015 guys, March 2015. Remember when I said I’d fallen in love? It never died. When it comes to chocolate brown hair, my HEART WILL GO ON AND OOOoooOOOooON. I didn't let go, unlike Rose #Jack5ever

 



So come May, my gorgeous friend @hairbyprue helped me take the plunge. 



And the cut. it was a tad Kylie J but I loved it, and still do! Going brunette was a little tricky considering how light my balyage and blonde were, but Prue did an amazing job getting the colour down. We went short because I basically said “cut off the dead hair” not realising HOW dead my hair actually was. 




In the end, I had a colour, cut and vibe that was very much needed for #kickass2016.

Tweet tweet xx

The Little Red Blogger: The Interview, Part Two!

If you haven’t checked out The Little Red Blogger then what on earth are you doing with your life?

whatta babe!


My gorgeous gal-pal is not only one of my biggest inspirations in life, but in style and fashion too. WATCH THIS SPACE. She’ll have her own label and more followers than Bec Judd in the next two years, just watch!
She did a little interview with me late last year which you can check out here, and I recently got to turn the tables on her

so nice, you see her twice x

Sparrow: When and why did you start blogging?
The Little Red Blogger: I started at the beginning of the year, mostly because I have an unhealthy obsession with clothes and fashion and pretty things and needed an outlet. I'm studying full time so am on a student budget so wanted to share my experience of being a broke-ass fashionista with people. I know there's more of us out there!

Sparrow: Where do you draw inspo from? Life? Work?
TLRB: All of the above. I'm so inspired by people on the streets for fashion. People watching is one of my favourite past-times. I love seeing how people dress and how they put outfits together. I blog about everything though, and usually whatever is in my heart at the time (how hooey does that sound?!) but if I'm on struggle street I'll write about it, if I cook a mean dinner I'll write about it, if I'm having a bad hair day I'll write about it. Blogging is a great outlet for that!

Sparrow: Your top three designers?
TLRB: Oh my gahd how does one choose? There's so many! I'm going to cheat and give you six. Top three Aussie designers are Toni Matecevski, Dion Lee and a tie between Ellery and Josh Goot and top three international are Jean Paul Gautier, Alexander McQueen and Yohji Yomamoto. Ok, that's actually seven but that was a tough question…

Alexander McQueen 2015
Dion Lee 2015
Ellery 2015
Jean Paul Gautier 2015
Josh Goot 2015
Yohji Yomamoto
Toni Matecevski

Sparrow: Haha, revenge is sweet! So what do you love most about fashion?
TLRB: I love that it can be interpreted in so many ways. There no right or wrong, there's no rules. What you wear can literally change your entire mood, and I love that! Rachel Zoe once said “Style is a way of saying who you are without having to speak”, and I find that to be so true.



Sparrow: I agree, absolutely. So then, what do you think about mainstream, fast fashion chains finishing at size sixteen? Do you think it limits women and their style choices?
TLRB: Absolutely it does. I think times are definitely changing though and there are more and more brands waking up to the fact that the average Aussie babe doesn't always fall into the sample size category and a lot of brands are starting to realise that they're missing out on a huge market there. There are some great brands like Basque and Bib (available at Myer) that to do beautiful and fashion forward pieces for curvy girls. Online stores like Asos are great too because they show the clothes on a body so it makes buying online without trying it on a little less scary.

Sparrow: On that note, you’re petite and lovely – is shopping ever frustrating for you? Pants too long, nightmare jeans?
TLRB: Always! I'm barely 5'3" so everything I buy is too long. Even midi skirts are maxi's on me. Luckily I'm pretty handy on a sewing machine! But I have learned to always try before I buy and even if I absolutely LOVE the piece, if it doesn't fit and look flattering then I'll leave it behind. And then cry. Or console myself with a new pair of shoes.. Even though I'm quite petite I'm also pear shaped so I have trouble finding jeans that fit my thighs and waist which can be super frustrating. I've found Forever New jeans are the best for that.











Sparrow: Heels – how do you make them work?
TLRB: Oh man I would sleep in heels if I could. I love them! I always put gel cushions in my heels, no matter the occasion so I can last in them all day or night. It makes a world of difference! I think pointed toe heel with a pair of jeans and a tee is SO sexy, but I can't go past a statement heel. Anything in a crazy colour, crazy embellishments, straps, buckles, whatever. If I could have a closet full of Sophia Webster and Nicholas Kirkwood heels I would be one happy lady!

Sophia Webster
Nicholas Kirkwood











Sparrow: You’re currently studying at fashion school – what’s that like?
TLRB: Intense to say the least. I think the biggest misconception people have about fashion school is that "It's just fashion, it must be easy." It's not. Really, really, not. The contact hours are pretty standard, twenty one hours a week in second year, but the homework expectation is about the same amount of non-contact hours. While you work and intern and try and have some sort of life on the side. Yup. Sure. Easy. They make it tough because the industry is tough and competition is fierce so they want you to be prepared. I really love it though. I love being constantly challenged and being able to be creative and being able to do something I'm passionate about. I feel very lucky for that. Even if I am a walking zombie for lack of sleep all the time. Coffee becomes your best friend at fashion school.

 Sparrow: End game, where do you see career in fashion heading? Owning your own brand? CEO of Chanel? Chief editor of Vogue?
TLRB: All of the above of course. I'm basically Grace Coddington. (It's all in the hair, ha.) In all seriousness the end game is to have a career making beautiful things, whatever that entails. I've always thought the best thing in the world would be to be walking down the street somewhere and see a girl wearing one of my designs. I couldn't think of a better feeling. I love painting and drawing too so would happily do that for a living if someone will pay me for it!

Sparrow: How important do you think beauty is to fashion? Do runway shows need hair and make-up for looks to work?
TLRB: Oh it's so important! Your beauty look is the icing on the cake. Even if it's simple and you wear it the same every day (like yours truly because I'm so lazy) it finishes off your look and, like fashion, makeup and a good blow-dry can literally change your entire mood! For runway fashion the beauty look gets just about as much love and time and research as the fashion itself. It completely changes the look and feel of a show. And a lot of the time the beauty look of a runway show is the first thing to become mainstream because it's easy and much more economical to recreate. Hello Chanel smoky eyes and black headbands!


 Sparrow: What’s your favourite make-up brand? Or do you mix and match?TLRB: I mix and match and tend to try new brands especially for foundation. Australis is definitley my go-to brand for bronzer and powder but for liquid foundation I love Nars and MAC. And for lippy it's usually Revlon, MAC or Sportsgirl.

 Sparrow: Ok, you did it to me, so it’s payback time – I’m ditching you on one of the nicer desert islands and because I’m nice you can take a whooping FIVE products with you. And a copy of Elle magazine.
TLRB: Haha thanks, you babe! Ok I would take my Lucas Paw Paw ointment because I can't live without it, Sukin Eye Treatment, Olay moisturizer with SPF 30+ (so important for us pasty white redheads!), my favourite perfume Hot Couture by Givenchy and.. my phone? I know it's not a beauty product but I'm going to need a way to blog about how you abandoned me on a desert island.

Sparrow: Good luck getting bars out there! Speaking of, does YouTube ever factor into your styling or beauty routines? Do you have a favourite YouTuber?
TLRB: In all honestly I never go on YouTube. Ridiculous, I know! The few times I have though I've found its very easy to find some incredible beauty bloggers and I find it a great platform for that. I have noticed there a very few fashion bloggers on there. Maybe I need to change that? Still waiting for a BeautyByASparrow YouTube, just quietly…
not everyone can make me ugly laugh like this

Sparrow: Ok, ok! Point taken haha! (and yes you should missy!)
 What’s the best thing about Melbourne?
TLRB: Where do I start? The coffee, the shopping, the architecture, the people, the fashion. There's always something to do, always a new store to find, always new designers popping up and good coffee on every corner. What more do you need?


Sparrow: What’s your favourite beauty treat? A mani-pedi? A face mask?
TLRB: I love a good mani-pedi but you can't go past a good facial. Especially when they throw in a face and scalp massage. Heaven.

 Sparrow: Finally, what’s your go-to beauty look for a night out?
TLRB: Usually it's a smokey eye with browns and golds and a peachy-nude lip and I'll throw some messy waves in my hair. Although if I'm pressed for time it'll be liquid eyeliner and a red lip, a lá Amy Winehouse. You know, without the beehive hair and druggy boyfriend…

I feel you girl, I feel you. Thank you so much, my lovely little red blogger, and I can’t wait to see your next big move in the fashion game!
Pleeeeeaaaaasssee head on over and subscribe to her blog, and follow her on Instagram @thelittleredblogger <3

Until next time little birds,
Tweet tweet xx

Meet Kristyn!

EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND LOOK AT MY INCREDIBLE FRIEND.


Seriously how pretty is she?!!

If you don't have a friend like Kristyn in your life then I feel very sorry for you. This gorgeous girl and I met through work and we've been buds ever since, and aside from my lovely PT, she's my go-to for fitness and health. She's actually a sponsored athlete for Protein King, because that's how awesome this girl is!

So naturally, when you have an amazingly exquisite gal pal with all that fitness and health knowledge, you want to pick her brain, and luckily enough Kristyn let me do just that! I honestly believe that when you feel good on the inside, it'll show on the outside, and Kristyn is a beautiful example of that. 

Without further ado, here we GO!

Kristyn is bae <3



Sparrow: What is your pre-workout skin routine? (Make-up off, make-up on? Moisturizer or bare face?)
Kristyn: I generally go to the gym after my day has already ended so I just go with whatever make up I have left on. I’m not going to purposefully take it off but if I go early in the morning before I have work or uni, I’ll just put some tinted moisturizer on. I don’t want to scare people away!


S: What do you do post-workout, beauty and skin wise?
K: I take my make up off and wash my face as soon as I get home, especially if it’s been an incredibly sweaty session (ew, gross right?).

S: What’s the one beauty/skin trend that you hate most at the gym?K: Honestly, there’s nothing. I just let people be. If someone wants to get all fancied up for the gym, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it at all, it might make them feel more comfortable.
S: How do you think your awesome, super fit lifestyle has impacted your beauty and skin routines?
 K: My skin tends to look a bit more healthy and “glowy” if that’s even a word. Now that I’m a bit more self confident than I used to be, I love a good bright red lippy.
dat glow and red lip tho!

S: What’s your go-to make-up look for a night out?
K: Standard smokey eye (even though I’m terrible at it) and a bold lip.
(I heartily disagree, look at that gorgeous mug!)

S: What’s the one thing you wish people would stop doing at the gym?
K: Judging others! Nothing makes me more angry than seeing a group of guys or girls laughing or snickering about someone working out behind their back. 

S: I’m a rad beauty blogger who can name mascaras by packaging, but I’m almost clueless at the gym. What are the two things you’d recommend to the average girl/blogger? K: Number one, don’t be scared of lifting heavy weights and secondly, if you’re not sure how to do something – ASK! Too many people injure themselves trying to do something incorrectly!
S: What are your favourite three beauty products?
K: My MAC Rebel lippy, NARS Sheer Matte foundation and my Australis bronzer!
(a girl after my own heart, ALL THE LOVE to Australis!)

S: What are you three favourite fitness/gym products? K: Anything Nike. Literally anything. I want it all. Quest Protein bars are the bomb.com and my pre workout.
S: You have a big date tonight with your crush of three weeks. What’s one thing that always boosts your confidence before a big night out?
K: A good hair day! If my hair looks good, I feel good. My hair is scary thin so on the rare occasion that it actually does what I want, it makes me feel amazing.
 
Yeah like that!


And finally, this little sparrow HAD to ask:
Do you even lift bro?

To which the ever-lovely and brilliant Kristyn replied;
I like lifting dat pizza slice to my mouth.

Amen to that sister!



Much love and thanks to Kristyn for letting me bombard her with questions! Check out her articles and videos at http://www.proteinking.com.au
See more of her gorgeous face, fitness advice and fitspo on Instagram!

Until next time my little birds,
Tweet tweet xx

Grow baby, grow!


Hello my little birds!
So I've started a process that I want to blog about and share with you, simply because in my own research and YouTubing I haven't found a clear, billboard like, HUGE sign saying "YES THIS WORKS" or "NO IT DOESN'T". I've only really found "SORT-OFs" and "FOR ME, YES". 

It's called the Inversion Method and I'll admit, when I first read about it I was a little sceptical, and scared. Oil? In my hair? But oil make grease? Greasy hair bad? How...? Then I watched this little clip on YouTube by Evin Yalcin and heard that you actually don't have to use oil, but you can rely on your hair's natural oils instead. I find my hair can get quite greasy on its own, so the idea of putting more oil in there isn't very appealing. 
Essentially you flip your hair upside down, looking down, and give yourself a scalp massage for four minutes. At first I was a bit half-hearted, I mean, standing with your head almost between your legs rubbing your head isn't a daily activity, you know? But then I remembered something about myself -
I LIKE MASSAGES. 

So even if this method doesn't end up working for me, I'm getting a lovely mini-massage each night, and I'm ok with that! 


The reason I want to grow my hair out is two fold. For starters, at the moment it doesn't feel entirely healthy - my ends are splitting, I know I've done too much in terms of colour and bleach to it this year already, and it's just a bit of a hot mess to deal with.
Also, I'll admit, I haven't totally gotten over my love, my obsession... the chocolate brown hair.
I mean the gloss, the depth, the shine, how healthy it looks.... ah!
I already know, however, that I can't do another thing to my hair colour-wise until it's healthy again, and I was considering lobbing it all off, but that won't really repair any of the damage I've done. Also, I don't want short hair! As much as I adore a bob/lob, I know they don't really work for me. I'd feel silly chopping it all off since I've been growing it since August last year. 

 
On the left is my hair circa 2013, when it was still mostly blonde and the longest I can remember it being. On the right is my lob from August 2014. I did love my lob, and at the time it was exactly the style I needed, but it's taken a long time to grow out.

I've been looking up home remedies and other solutions for growing long, beautiful hair, and I've discovered three main themes.

1) OILS & PRODUCTS
2) FOOD
3) WATER

OILS & PRODUCTS
Obviously everything you put on your hair will affect it, its growth, and its strength and condition. I've spoken in the past about using John Frieda products to protect my colour, but I haven't been taking good enough care of my scalp. That's right folks, dandruff. Ick, I know, but it has to be said, and it's one of the main downsides to colouring your hair - a dry, flaky scalp will often ensue. Whilst various shampoos, including caffeine and coconut milk shampoos, are suggested for stimulating growth, I feel I need to get my dandruff situation under control first. Which leads us to oils! Aside from the inversion method, all of my favourite YouTubers rave about coconut oil and its benefits for your hair. Recently Kayley Melissa spoke about using coconut oil as a scalp treatment for conditioner, and said that it was far more effective than any other shampoo she'd used. Other top rated oils include Argon Moroccan oil, jojoba oil, rosemary oil, olive oil, and other essential oils too.

FOOD
You are what you eat, and to get healthy, beautiful hair, as well as healthy, beautiful skin and internal organs (woo! internal organs!), a diet full of rich, nutritious foods and proteins is highly recommended. Eggs, avocado, fish, fresh fruits, and vegetables, are all vital to growing strong hair. I'll admit, my diet is in desperate need of an overhaul (one too many coffees and cakes I'm afraid), so I've already been moving to these changes anyway for my own health. Now as an added bonus, I'll have beautiful hair to boot! A lot of beauty bloggers and YouTubers also recommend taking a multivitamin or hair supplement to boost growth, but I want to try adjusting my diet first before I start adding in any sort of extra pills or potions.

WATER
Water. Water, water, water. Seriously. The human body can't do jack without it. It's important for fostering hair growth as well as cell renewal and all those other lovely things our bodies do for us to you know, keep us alive. The human body is 70% water! It's so important to hydrate, and being exposed to fake air and heavy indoor heating has really taken its toll on not just my hair, but my skin and general health as well. A good tip I find is to keep a bottle of water with/near me at all times. Even just watching TV, working, or blogging, if I have water near me, I'll drink it without even thinking about it. Before you know it you'll have downed your 8 glasses (or 2 litres) without even realising!
Tea is also a good way to get water into your system, and a great idea for winter time when drinking cold water is super unappealing.

So here we are - I've been using the Inversion Method for three days now (it's Monday), so I'll be back on the blog this Saturday to give you my results. An inch to four inches in a week? My hopes aren't high, little birds, but I am a bit of an optimist. Make sure you're following beautybyasparrow on Instagram for updates and inspo!

Until next time,
Tweet twee xx

Back to Basics (and a bit of balyage too)

I bit the bullet and went into my hair dressers last week. The re-growth situation was out of control and Mumma Sparrow let slip at her appointment that I was considering chocolate brown and my hairdresser suggested I come in straight away for a consult before making any major colour changes.

And boy am I glad I did!

I always try to arrive early for my hairdressing appointments, just to make sure I’ve given my stylists all the time I can to get my hair right. I’m also one of those people who prefers to be super early for something than running late, and usually I need to take my hair out of its bun/pony tail/braid and brush it out before my appointment starts.

The colour wheel I'm sticking with
Baby Sparrow - natural colour!
I sat in the chair (same one as last time I think?) and got a good look at all the colours available in the Nak soft colour range. Re-growth is a real pain for anyone, but I’ve reached my point over the last few months where as much as I love my blonde, and I love being a light, almost platinum blonde, I can't deal with REGROWTH. OH MY GOD. NO. Over it, so, so over it. I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching (oh that sounds really douchey, I’m sorry) the last few months and it’s lead me to wanting to be as honest with myself as I can and, funny as it sounds, I want to get back to something like my natural colour, something I haven’t seen in, oh, about five years?




This time around a different team member took my appointment and I’ve got to say, he’s brilliant. All of the team are, and no matter who does my colour it always comes out looking superb, but the end result was so, so perfect, I couldn’t be happier. The base/root colour was a mix of 6.7 and 7.7 with 10 Vol, worked down and painted by hand. The light, almost white blonde my gorgeous girl Prue perfected during the pink period was left alone, and became the ombré tips to the darker shade.




The other wonderful thing about ditching the blonde foils and highlights is the time is cut in half! Anyone who’s ever had their hair colour treated or lightened to blonde will tell you that about three magazine’s worth of time is taken up with waiting, waiting… waiting…
This time around I was sitting only for about half an hour, forty minutes, before I was taken up to wash.

While my colour was being done my hairdresser and I had a good chat about life, relationships, and of course, hair. I was a little concerned about my colour, simply because I’ve done a lot to my hair over the last six months, but he reassured me that going darker would look great, but also wouldn’t do any more damage. I’d mentioned earlier on the blog that I’ve got very, very thick hair, and that has been my saving grace throughout all my colour changes. Whilst he had noticed some breakage, my stylist reassured me that my hair was ok, and would recover. He also talked about how porous some hair can be, and that I’m lucky mine isn’t too much so. The big problem with taking your hair down from a bleach-blonde shade to anything remotely darker is that your hair can turn green. Depending on how porous the hair is, what shades of blonde are involved, what type of dye, what amount of Vol is in the hair – it can all lead to a big, green-ish, unhealthy mess. Luckily when you’re working with an experienced colourist using good quality products, those disasters can be easily avoided!
Blonde hair mid. Jan 2015
Pink hair Feb 2015














As you can see in the above photos, although my hair looked pretty, the texture was quite dry and damaged near the ends, so it was really important to stop bleaching and colour treating my hair for a little while.


Let me tell you guys, it’s hard to feel attractive when your head is piled up with dye and you’re wearing what is essentially a high quality garbage bag.




Once the dye was washed out, my hair was thinned a tiny bit on the right side of my head (the heavier side of my part), as to the left of my part, my hair is that tiny bit thinner, and so much easier to handle! Having the two evened out has helped A LOT in the last two weeks alone. Then my hair was blow dried, and given a slight wave/curl, and voila! Done!




It’s actually quite a subtle change – I wasn’t greeted with the shocked gasps and screams that came with my first attempt at balyage, nor the squeals of going to back to blonde, but a lot of people do love it (including yours truly) and I couldn’t be happier, honestly. This colour is going to be so much easier to maintain, so much easier to style, and it’s got the right hint of blonde to be going along with. Stepping down to a darker shade for Autumn/Winter is also pretty exciting, and I feel a lot more confident going along with this season’s trends now that I have the hair to pull them off.

 




Until next time my little birds,

Tweet tweet xx
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