All About Blonde Hair

As of summer 2013 I am officially blonde. It only took me a little over a year to get the color blonde I achieved. I have read up on so many blogs and websites. Watched so many tutorials and catch all videos. Asked hair dressers, professionals, and enthusiasts alike. And let me tell you, there is plenty of info to benefit from out there! I must say I am quite happy with my hair right now. That goes for color and the health of it. It could stand to be a little thicker but that is sacrifice for over-processing your hair. Otherwise, my hair is healthier then I ever thought it could possibly be as a blonde.

This video encompasses everything I know about blonde hair.

How to achieve the color

Avoiding Bleach

Repairing Your Hair

Smoothing the cuticle

Keeping it soft and shiny

Keeping it healthy and gorgeous

Never go to a salon again! This is how I went from a darker brown all the way to platinum blonde. Here's everything you need to know!

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Products Mentioned:
.Ion High Lift Color 305215 High Lift Natural Blonde HL/N 12.0
.Salon Care Professional 40 Volume Creme
.Garnier Nutrisse Extra Light Ash Blonde {White Chocolate} 111
.Garnier Olia Lightest Cool Blonde
.AG Sterling Silver Shampoo Mild Toning Shampoo
.Redken All Soft Conditioner
.Mane and Tail Conditioner
.Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum {or any serum for that matter}
.Paul Mitchell Forever Blonde Dramatic Repair
.Tresemme Heat Tamer Spray
.Silk Elements Heat Protection Spray

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References. Learn More!

The Natural Haven Bloom
Black Girl Long Hair
Natural Beauty Wellness
How to Get Bleach Blonde Hair At Home. Maintain Platinum Blonde Hair
Drugstore Dye Job - How to Dye your Hair Blonde At Home

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If you have any questions leave them down below.
If you have some other tips, leave those in the comments too!

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Disclaimer!!!!
Yall know I am just a normal who went from a dark color to light blonde at home, right? Obviously, I am not a professional. But don't worry! I learned all of this on my own and did all the experimenting for you so you don't mess this up- You can do it! Please watch the videos and read the blog post's I have listed here for you. If you want to take care of your hair, these are great places to start!




I know all my of beauty bloggers have some great tips. Leave them down below? 
Thank you!

take care,
Erica

Favorite Paul Mitchell Products + A Bonus

Typing that out hurt a little just because I dont have my absolute favorite hair product which is Paul Mitchell on this list. It is simply because I am out of it and at the Buy2Get1 free sale at Ulta they were having for PM products, the shelves were wiped clean of it: The Paul Mitchell Skinny Serum. However, I have been using this and it is cheaper and just as good as the Skinny Serum.

I wait until a good sale to get Paul Mitchell products. They are pricey! I went for the Skinny Serum and came out with.....not the Skinny Serum.

Express Style

Round Trip

Liquid Curl Definer 

I talked about this a month ago on Elle Sees as a guest blogger and also once here in the same blog post. So, check that out if you want more information. It is a great product for wavy or curly hair. It gives me silky, defined curls with a little scrunching. It is extremely light weight and I wouldn't believe it if you told me that you can over do this stuff. I swear the more you add, the better your hair looks. This is the cheap one at $12! I got it for free at the sale.

Forever Blonde Dramatic Repair

KerActive Blonde

I just recently went blonde {more on that later} and I have been obsessing about a) how to get that perfect blonde color and b) how to keep my hair healthy. I can't wait to tell you all about it but for now, I need to speak on this product. This is for highly lifted and bleached hair {check and check}. Professionals keep on telling me a need a keratin treatment. Keratin is a protein that is naturally in your hair. When you bleach or highly lift your hair, you are stripping your hair of protein and opening the cuticle. An opened cuticle causes split ends, fizzy hair, and is just bad all around. It was the reason I didn't want to go blonde. "This treatment helps seal the cuticle and replenishes dry depleted hair." It has a ton of good stuff in it: Safflower Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil and exclusive KerActive protein. I have only heard of a Keratin Mask in a salon so this is great to find something of this merit at Ulta. It all sounds really fancy but is it helping? Your supposed to spray it on damp hair but I couldn't resist when I first bought it and I sprayed it on my dry hair. The ends of my blonde hair felt as if I didn't put them through anything. My split ends weren't sticking up like usual and it just felt really soft and nice. I have been using it and loving it. That is a long winded explanation of this stuff. I just love it.

Curls

Twirl Around

Crunch Free Curl Definer

This is a swirl of hydrating cream and smoothing gel which is to "create soft, shiny frizz free curls that won't get crunchy or stiff." It is supposed to define, separate, and tame unruly curls and waves into perfect ringlets. Honestly, if you want any of those things Round Trip works fabulously for them. Maybe this will take some trying out a little more. I always use my Suave Mousse when I am going for curls so I need to try this without my stand by mousse. However, it does help create curls..... so does Round Trip. Round Trip is cheaper too. It feels sticky in my hands but once my hair dries, it does have a nice curl to it. It is a great product but for the $20 some dollars I think you could skip it and go for the Mousse and Round Trip. I do think that if your going for tighter ringlets, this could be something nice to use, but not necessary. I promise to get back to you in video form later down the road.


 Bonus!

Alterna
Bamboo Luminous Shine Mist

When I bought these things, the sales lady threw in one more product. That never happens to me. I guess it's when you spend a ton of money. $40 on hair products is a lot for me! I was really thankful I got a freebie. It's a spray that you spray on your finished dry hair for it to look polished and shiny. I like it! It adds a great finishing touch and it says it will eliminate frizz and fly-aways. It's a really nice finishing spray, however it isn't totally necessary. It smells very herbal, if your into that kind of organic scent.

What's you favorite product from Paul Mitchell?

What about your favorite hair product in general?

xoxo
Erica

Mind Body Beauty for Elle See's // Favorite Curly Hair Products

Eeeek! I am really exited to have my blog post on Elle See's, right now. That's right! I am a guest blogger over there for the day! Elle is seriously amazing. If you haven't checked out her blog and love beauty blogs, what are you waiting for? I really mean that- When she announced she was looking for guest blogger's, I was all over it. I feel humbled - haha! Elle, I can't thank you enough!

Elle's Blog
 Here's my blog post

Ok so when I get out of the shower, I do not towel dry my hair {thank you to Elle for that tip} I dry my body, then wrap a towel around my shoulders after I wring my hair out of it's excess water. As soon as I do that, I use John Frieda's Frizz Ease Serum. I also really love Paul Mitchell's Skinny Serum, but Frizz-Ease is targeted towards extra frizzy hair/curly hair. Works like a charm to really tame any frizz you might have. It starts the foundation for sleek, soft hair.

Directly after that, I take a good amount of Miss Jessie's Quick Curl's Curl Cream. I got this in my Birchbox awhile back and at first, I hated it. It made my hair so sticky! It's because I wasn't using it right. The trick is to use it while your hair is really, really wet. Don't waste any time letting your hair dry. I use a tablespoon amount {or 2} and scrunch it through my wet hair. This is when waves start to turn into curls. The curl cream is sticky, but don't let that throw you off. If you apply it to wet hair, your hair won't feel gross once it dries. Did I say apply it to wet hair yet? (:

Big Sexy Hair Root Pump is my next step. I may or may not use this. It's really 50/50. I do think that the mousse's I use after really help to give my hair volume, but if I am feeling I want a little more lift, I apply this directly to my roots and scrunch my hair upwards. I don't like to use this in my hair when I am not blow drying it. It makes for some serious product build up and does nothing for my hair if I do not blow dry.

Paul Mitchell's Round Trip is my favorite of this bunch. When my hair wasn't bleached blonde, it worked even better than it does today. It gives me really pretty, defined spiral's. It isn't sticky like Miss Jessie's Quick Curl's Curl Cream either. It's pretty awesome. I actually use a bunch of this stuff. I don't think there is any limit. The more, the better. Again, I scrunch it through my hair.

John Frieda Luxurious Volume Thickening Mousse. Anything that says thickening on it, I am sold. This mousse really helps to hold to curls in place and also builds a ton of volume. I use 1-2 palm fulls of it and start at the roots. Really work it in! Then start working it down my hair shaft in a scrunching motion.

Suave Mousse Extra Hold: I have been using this forever. Since the 8th grade for this hair style. Even though this hair style has changed dramatically over the years, I never do my hair like this without this mousse. I use 1-2 palm fulls and scrunch it through my hair.

Now I blow dry my hair upside down. But I don't blow dry all the way. I do it until it is 3/4 of the way dry. If you saw me at this point, you would think I did this all on vain. Then another half hour or so passes, and you see that my hair has actually gotten more voluminous and it dries to really nice tousled curls.

Here's some examples:

2nd or 3rd day hair:

Let me know if your inclined to try this out! I love it because it is easy, fast and fuss free. In the summer, I don't want to mess with hot irons only for my hair to get damp/wet or just fall from the humidity and heat. I never have to worry about my hair becoming flat or looking awful mid-day. I can even take it into a few days without washing it. After a while, you wont have to work as hard for tighter curls. It's the beginning of the summer {the start of when I do this hair style} and by the end of the summer, by curls will be even more defined. After months of styling my hair like this my hair starts to know what it is supposed to do, and will look better the each time I do it. I swear you can train your hair.

Thank you so much Elle for letting me take over for a blog post! Elle See's is one of my favorites yah no!
xoxo
Erica

New Stuff from Target and 5+Below

Before I start showing you the things I bought, I wanted to tell you guys about poll on the side bar of my blog for a give away! Guys, please help me out and vote! It would mean a lot to me (: I already have a few things bought for it, but I am wondering 1) if you would be interested in a Pinterest challenge giveaway + 2) What kind of things you would like to receive from a give away. So please be sure to go over to the side bar and cast your vote! Thank you (: Other than that, let's get started

Target has some pretty amazing candles that I wasn't aware of. Red Velvet Cake, Lemon Meringue, Sweet Spun Sugar {cotton candy} Lily Gardenia (will be my next purchase!) and Sugar Blossom. I love florals for spring and summer so naturally Sugar Blossom is a must have for me! It smells like a floral sweet tart. Floral candles always remind me of perfumes, and this one reminds me of a body splash you would find at Victoria's Secret.

Safe Haven was on sale for like $5 at Target! So far, it is an easy read and I am going through it pretty quick and that can only mean that I like it! I was thinking of picking another one up for my give-away...what do you think?

from 5 + Below....

I bought 2 nail polishes. 
Both from Wet n Wild. 
From 2 different lines. 

Sugar Coat's brush reminds me of Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure Line- it's flat and goes to a point. The polish also reminds me of that line, it's really nice, doesn't bubble up, and after 2 coats is covered. This is more of a sheer polish {not super sheer} it reminds me of jelly nails in that respect. I hear so much about this particular color I couldn't pass. It reminds me a lot of Kim-Pletely In Love from the Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kollection, without the shimmer in it and Sugar Coat is more opaque than Kim-Pletely In Love.

Sparked I had to buy because it reminds me of my absolute favorite {well, one of my absolute favorite's!} glitter nail polishes...Essie's A Cut Above but Sparked doesn't have bigger glitters in it like A Cut Above. They are all tiny. I love it anyway. 

Wet n Wild Lipsticks

Are a little bit drying, but they are really pigmented. I bought Dollhouse Pink {reminds me of Narcissus from NYX} and Pink Sugar {clearly a nude}

On to something I was exited about but am not liking. I am sticking to my traditional sock bun. I mean, it seems legit. It's mesh and scratchy and seems like it would hold on to your hair really well. It just didn't work. It was hard to get all my hair around it because it's really tight. And once I do, my hair doesn't cover all of the donut up anyways. So if your hair is thin, it won't work. If your hair is thick, it wont work. It's a lose-lose. I feel like I am always reporting back with some dumb crap I have tried recently. Ima try and tell you all about some good stuff from now on (: hopefully!

Watch the video:
On top of everything here, I speak on a couple more favorites and purchases. Hope you like it (:

Side Note:

I announced on Twitter that I bought a DSLR Camera (Canon t3i 18mp) on QVC complete with 2 different lens for a steal! This is the exact one I bought so be ready for some pretty amazing content!...I hope, anyway! haha! If you know anything about DSLR's please let me know what you know with any links you have or any help. I am a total newbie and need all the help I can get

One More Thing:
Off the subject but have any of you seen End of Watch? Really good movies sometimes stick with me and this one is sad but really good. A slow start {me and Phil were like "ok wtf is this dumb shit?"} but towards the end everything starts making a lot of sense. If your into gangster and cop movies {my favorite} you just might love this on. Maybe ill open up a movie blog....nah!

k!

thanks for reading 

and don't forget to vote in the sidebar for what you want in the giveaway! I need your help! 

Thank you 

Erica

♥Wal-Mart Shopping Trip♥

Hey!

I have been doing some shopping here and there for the past couple weeks! I seriously love shopping! Shopping for clothes, makeup, books, & pointless things I probably don't need. I love shopping online. I love fake shopping online. Putting stuff in my cart and not buying it...yah no, just in case! I even love grocery shopping! I am the 1 that does the grocery shopping. Looking at different ads, calculating it all out, & finding inspiration from foodie blogs is my specialty! (: I think it would be fun to do a grocery shopping haul & maybe I will one day, but for now let me show you what I got at Wal-Mart!

1. Suave Mousse
I cannot tell you how many times I have re-purchased this. I have been using it on my hair since the 8th grade! First off, it smells amazing and you + other people could smell it throughout the day. It creates volume when added to the roots. I have wavy hair and what I have always used it for was for the days I wanted my hair to hold my natural curls and waves and didn't feel like straightening it or using a curling iron. I scrunch this into my hair, while my damp head of hair is flipped upside down (this and a couple other great curling products) and blow dry. The wetter the hair, the better to control frizz and give you natural curls. It's not going to make your hair look wet, or crunchy if you know what I mean. It is such a staple, I don't think I have ever even mentioned it here!

2. Hard Candy Matte Polish (Matte-ly in love):

I have wanted this for weeks! I have seen a nail blog or 2 put it over shimmery polishes, glitter polishes, & duo-chromes and have really wanted to give it a go. Right now I am wearing it over Blue It! from Sally Hansen. It's so pretty! If your on my main page & have a chance to scroll down, then you already know there will be at NOTW or 2 feat. Matte-ly in Love! As you can see I have been a little obsessive with nail polishes and nail art!

3. Hard Candy "Glow Away" Bronzer and Highlighting Duo:
It doesn't look like you get very much of either colors, but I have been looking for a nice bronze highlight. We will see if it works out. The bronze color has an orange undertone which I happen to like because I am pretty light. Orange undertones make me look more natural for the most part. Some other bronzers make me look muddy if it's too deep or leaning too much toward a brown undertone. For reference, I have cool undertones in my skin so that could be why too.

4. Dog Harness
I can't say this is really exiting (unless you are a proud new owner of your baby puppy!) but Stella needed another one badly. She chewed hers up and now the buckle will come off when she pulls hard enough on her old one. We were at the park and she was barking and pulling away to go see some other doggie's, and she got off of her leash because her old harness was busted. I was afraid she was gunna run over and either bark/bite/be mean/jump and play. You never know with her! She's wound up! When she got to the other doggie's, she stopped dead in her tracks, not barking or anything. She just wanted to sniff & sniff them! Good dog! She usually loves other doggies & kitties! It's people she is weary of! Smart puppy! LOL

I am positive I will mention these things even more in depth (besides the dog harness!) after I have used them to give you a proper review! I heart Wal-Mart.

Have you bought anything good from Wal-Mart or Hand Candy Lately?

Thank you for reading!

xoxo
Erica

Pictures From the Week

actually from the last couple of weeks.

small DG Haul

Sunset sky in Ohio

Flowers from our 3rd anniversary

Thank you babe!

Clouds from an evening sky in Ohio

Fishtail Braid! Finally learned how to do it! would you like a tutorial?

Wal-Mart Haul: Puppy clothes on sale for $2! and Nail Strengthener from Sally Hansen on sale for $1. Don't waste your money on the nail strengthener.

Come follow me on twitter @MeetMissJackson! I tweet most of my pictures, giveaways, and other thoughts (:

till next time

xoxo

Erica