icyabstract makeup

Hair Makeover at Headlines Hairdressing!

icyabstract — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:40:57 SGT

I have been whining about my mop for a good long while, with very good reason too, and finally I managed to find time to let an expert whip something better out of it.

I had been approached by Headlines Hairdressing towards the end of last year but unfortunately I was in my confinement period and had a bigger (yet smaller in size) worry than the state my hair was in.

After what has seemed like a long while of adapting to life and eventually fretting about self maintanence, I swung by the salon and let them work their professional magic on my, affectionately nicknamed, mop.

Incase you haven't seen enough of the sorry out-grown stage, here it is for the last time!

My appointed hair stylist is Jerry, who has a great idea about what a good and suitable hairstyle is all about.

All hair stylist have gone through training so, what do I mean by that?

Well, in my own terms I do love the bright and bolds. I don't deny that they are beautiful, unique (or used to be), and definitely bring out a vibrant / striking change. Though the basis of a good hair stylist, I feel, is one who is able to properly recommend a hairstyle and color that enhances your features or is able to best adapt and recommend a style to fit your lifestyle or any other concerns.

With that said, the goal of this 'makeover' is to refresh my hair and suit the whole fuss-free aspect that I require right now, hence don't expect something overly whacky or a bold splash of bleach / color with this one.

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Here is the pre-snip analysis where Jerry examined my hair and had a quick chat about what I wanted or needed my hair to be like.

What we have derived post-analysis is:

I wanted to chop my hair down - I wanted a shorter do so it is easier to manage and also because baby kept tugging on my long hair. That coupled with post-pregnancy hairfall is quite a nightmare.
I wanted a fuss-free hairstyle - short hair sometimes require more effort in styling and managing and I didn't have time for that.
I needed a refreshed look and coat of color - my outgrown hair color and faded tones gave my hair a brassy and unhealthy look so I was seeking to refresh that.

Basically, I wanted it short, fuss-free yet still looking good with minimal maintenance. That was the gist of it, so this happened!

While I could write an essay about what happened, I figured that I would let pictures do the talking first and elaborate after for those interested to know.

Let's begin!

Hair layering and trimming in progress.

Now, on to fixing that overgrown brassiness.

So, after that series of photos, here's a step by step rundown of what Jerry did to my hair if you are interested!

My hair was first chopped and then layered at a strategic length such that it minimizes the 'curling all over the place' effect that short hair brings.
Jerry kept the layers long so it doesn't get too unmanageable, yet short enough to give the hair some volume.
He then proceeded to add 3 different shades / tones to my hair
The first thing he did was to add some highlights, a great way of giving the hair lift without having to bleach the entire head or bleach very extensively.
Next he used a darker ash-black/brown shade on the crown of my head as my post-pregnancy hairfall has thinned that area a little so the darker shade gives the illusion of volume (and highlights prevent it from being 'flat').
Lastly he mixed a subtlely lighter ash-black/brown for the bottom portions so the whole look doesn't seem too heavy or flat.

What happens after? Well, we wait....

p.s. if you notice the base of my scalp, the ash-brown/black shade that Jerry used has a blue-tone and if you have bleached-blond hair, this would be a gorgeous ash-blue. Sounds intriguing!

Now, while it sounds like a lot of steps and procedures above, you may look at the final result and go... All that for this?

Yet, like the no-makeup makeup look, it is easy to throw on bright splashes and tone (skill is still required, yes) but making something look completely natural and put together while appearing like no effort was done is sometimes quite a tricky and long procedure.

So what is the final outcome after close to 3 hours in Headlines Hairdressing?

Here's the final look!

Under in-door lighting the shade looks like an almost-black yet under sunlight or certain other lightings, you would be able to see the brownish tone and shades of ash.

While the highlights on the crown are of a more golden tone, the highlights towards the bottom are an ashier shade.

Hope you do not mind the spam of self shots but here is how it looks in daylight!

The ashy highlights at the bottom are most obvious in these shots:

Having short hair was never a preferred option of mine yet due to the ease of it now (post-preg hair fall & baby's pulling habits), I took the plunge to chop my locks off.

Though I am glad to say that somehow Jerry had worked his magic and made me accept and even like the shorter do that I currently have.

Unlike the short styles I have had before, I feel this honestly compliments my face and is extremely fuss-free. I could spam you with more photos of my hair but I think you will see them in due time with LOTDs and also swatch images.

In all, I think having an expert opinion on cut / color and style does make a huge difference and I am glad for this long-term sponsorship from Headlines Hairdressing! You will hear a little more of them here and there over the course of the year and I think my hair is quite glad for all this attention after that long period of neglect.

❧

If you would like to refresh your hairstyle and have no idea what you would like, leave your hair in the hands of Jerry, I assure you he will not disappoint!

A little trivia, Headlines Hairdressing are best known for their hair perming, straightening and treatment services though I have not tried those yet to offer an insight.

HEADLINES HAIRDRESSING
18 Cross Street, #01-15
China Square Central.

Operating Hours:
Monday - Friday 10.30am - 8.30pm
Saturday 10.30am - 7pm
Sunday & Public Holidays 10.30am - 5pm

Jerry is personally off on Thursdays.

Do call +65 6221 6866 to book an appointment as their schedule can be quite packed!

Also, check out their Facebook Page for more of their 'works'!

Quote 'SARA' at the salon for a 15% discount!
*not applicable for promotions

I don't want to go on forever but yes I do love the refreshed look.

Thanks for reading and do share your thoughts, short hair on me – yay, nay?

Disclosure:
Services provided are courtesy of Headlines Hairdressing for review / sharing purposes.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

Rambly Hello Again + Hair 'Rescue' Haul

icyabstract — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:32:58 SGT

It seems that my blog is at a bit of a stand-still right now, major apologies for that. Just as I had anticipated, work swarmed me the minute I scanned my finger print and stepped through the office's glass doors. Not that I was expecting anything different, we're talking about catching up on 4 months of work (and a wrapped up campaign) here!

Of course I had help while I was gone and a colleague did a good job of handling things while I was not around but that calm and collect period where I spent the afternoons doing nothing but singing nursery rhymes and changing diapers have long gone. It's now a whirl and flurry of activities starting from 9am all the way till 6pm or even later these days as I have some freelance projects on hand too.

All in all, pardon my neglect on this space.

Amidst this I actually tried drafting some entries here and there but I think the distractions of work on hand and the rushed state of mind made it incredibly difficult for me to word anything well and proper hence I gave up thinking about blogging as a whole and dedicated myself to work so I can clear the backlog over there. Though in that process, I was piling the one over here. Oops.

Nonetheless despite the quiet on my blog, life still went on in terms of makeup hauling, using and all that so let me try to give all that a mention one step at a time! Again, you can follow me on instagram for more instant and up-to-date happenings with me (@icyabstract).

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Starting off, here's a little life saver that I picked up during the last week of my maternity leave. Trust me, I am kicking myself for not having picked it up sooner.

During my leave since I was home most of the time, I did not bother with washing my hair much.

For hygiene reasons I still do once my hair is at an unbearable state, which is normally 4 days in. Though for the rest of the days if I need to head out for a quick run of errands or if I am just too darn disgusted with the state of my hair, yet cannot muster up the time to wash it, I turn to the wonders of Dry Shampoo.

Thus, despite the slightly higher price point, I succumbed to Oscar Blandi's Volumizing Dry Shampoo.

This is available in 2 sizes and while the smaller one would be a bit handier to maneuver around with use, I picked up the larger one for the ease of having more lying around. After all, if I were to start using it religiously, who knows, I may go through it quite fast.

Though I can't comment on how long (or short) a canister of this would last but given my experience with aerosol dry shampoos as a whole, they do stick around for awhile!

Here's a shot of it along with my former love, Klorane's Dry Shampoo.

True to what it claims, the Oscar Blandi dry shampoo is a very fine and invisible mist on the hair, carrying a very soft and faint scent. I don't pay attention to how it smells and it does not stick around once on so I can't explain what it smells like.

Nothing intrusive, that is.

Probably a very unnecessary shot but I wanted to do something like this at least once. ha!

Well long rambly haul aside, I guess I just want to say that I am glad I finally got my hands on this 'can' of awesome.

While I am thankful that my hair doesn't get immensely greasy these days (as opposed to when I first got out of the daily washing routine), it can start to look flat due to the then length and heaviness.

I wanted to spare you the look of greasy roots though I know a comparison would be quite fancy to look at but instead here is shot of 3rd day hair with nothing but a spritz and ruffle of Oscar Blandi just before I head out.

Why do we need shampoo again?

Okay, I'm kidding.

It would be quite gross if shampoo did not exist but I am sure you get my point. While it looks like there are white bits on my hair in the image above, I assure you it is merely the 'reflection' off my hair. The mist does not impart any white at all - hurray to those with dark hair.

This was a great help in my long haired days, which are now over but more about my new hair soon!

Thanks for reading this ramble!

p.s. Yes I have changed the body font of my blog, incase you are wondering why it seems to be different. I wanted to spice things up yet don't have the time for a revamp so this was most appropriate! I am also a little obsessed with this font right now.

Event: A Look at Beauty Asia 2013

icyabstract — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:32:14 SGT

Beauty Asia 2013 is currently underway (from the 25th - 27th February) and I had the opportunity to drop by with Mag (of makeupstash) yesterday and make a quick round!

For the uninformed, Beauty Asia is an annual beauty trade show. In fact, it is one of the most established trade shows in the region and caters to the beauty, spa and health industry. The exhibitors present are usually distributors whole-selling products at a 'trade-rate' to trade professionals or new brands seeking local acquisition.

For more information about Beauty Asia' and its exhibitors, do visit their website!

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This year's show, which marks its 17th apperance in Singapore, was held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre over at Marina Bay Sands.

Since the interior is rather typical of an exhibition with simple booths and such, I will skip the overall venue shot and go straight to some highlights and snippets that I took from the show.

Of course our very first stop once we entered the Halls would be... Hakuhodo, no less.

While the initial buzz of Hakuhodo's attendance at the fair created some stirrings and excitement online, we later learnt that the brushes while available to see and touch, were not for sale. Apparently the brand's purpose to partake in this trade show is to source for a local distributor to bring the brand to our shores (ahem anyone listening? Heh).

I would admit it is a slight bummer but yet this means more saved here! Though I cannot say that with conviction because my physical encounter with the brushes has got me setting my sights on some!

Kokutan Series (not all)

S100 Series (not all)

Face brushes from the J series? I can't be too sure.

Itacho brushes from Japanese Traditions Series

The Kinoko brushes – how adorable are they!

After this little 'look-see' session at the booth, I think I have ignited a lemming for the G5553 (2mm) Round / Angled and Maple Kinoko Brush White (Large). I mean... how can you resist the Kinokos? They look so soft, fluffy and pet-able!

Until a local distributor picks up the brand, you can currently acquire Hakuhodo brushes via their USA website – HakuhodoUSA.

It actually isn't bad to order there either considering their shipping is relatively efficient and quite affordable (sans tracking). Though of course, there is nothing like being able to (hopefully, eventually) shop for them in person and get them straight away!

Another stop at the show to give a brief mention about would be this interesting Rubber peel-off mask.

The samples they had out looked a little like dough, coupled with their zip-lock packaging, I almost assumed this store carried an ingestible beauty supplement.

While I can't speak for its usage, Mag and I gave it a shot on the back of our hands and walked about half the show mindful of not letting this drip on ourselves and our bags.

While I was terribly intrigued with how it sounds and looks (flubber, anyone?), after sampling it on the back of my hand, I can't say it left much of an impression on me.

Or rather the only one it did was the immensely long drying time which sadly would not work well in my schedules.

I did not read into the science of it but based on how it felt alone... I couldn't detect how it had helped my skin. Oh well.

Moving on, the rest of the fair covered aspects from hair products to hair equipment, skincare products to skincare machinery, false eyelashes to eyelash extensions (read Charlene's experience with lash extensions at Beauty Asia), makeup products and of course not forgetting nail polish, nail art and nail supplies!

Phew, now that is one long sentence! Those who are really particular about English, please forgive me there.

Check out this mind-blowing Nail Art!

Sha-Nail Nail Stickers – See their Facebook album here

SUR INC's polishes

SUR INC 'Print' Manicure Sets

NfuOh polishes!

Odyssey Nail Polishes (from Odyssey Nail Systems)

Cuccio Colour Nail Polishes

China Glaze for S$3!

Star Lash Lashes! Just cause it was easier viewing them this way!

A whole wall of Star Lash Lashes!

That would be all the pictures I managed to snap, with my camera, at the show because most of the time it was too hectic jostling with the crowd in tiny spots and of course being too distracted with the multitude of brands available. Unmentioned here, there was also Zoya, Orly, Deborah Lippmann, OPI, Nail Tek and lots more!

While I do my nails solely for the fun of it (nothing professional), I couldn't help but feel both, in awe and tempted to purchase whole-sale packs of nail buffers, cuticle sticks, files and such. Though of course reason got the better of me.

Why would I need 20 (or more) blocks of nail buffers?!

❧

Eitherways, I walked away from the fair with a seemingly humble haul and certainly a great experience. More about my haul in another entry!

I am thankful for the invite to event and of course glad to head out, after so long, and have a little fun with great company – thanks Mag!

I know that I am hardly ever this efficient with my entries these days but I had a little help with baby and decided to take this time to snap up a batch of products and churn this out too! Who knows when I would be able to have spare time on the computer again so I figured to throw this up before it gets too passé!

Next challenge: The haul entry! Heh

Thanks for reading!

Hair Makeover! No More Gold-Yellow Disastor

icyabstract — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:43:47 SGT

I was invited down to Komachi Hair Cult for a hair makeover and a part of me felt excited, since this is the first time a salon had contacted me, and another part of me a little apprehensive and embarrassed of the state my hair was in.

The hair designers (as they are called) are renown in the industry and have notable work experiences and clients under their belt. (Here's a page of their Hair Designers).

So imagine me... with my faded golden hair, not forgetting the grown out black portions along with my overgrown and out of shape layers. I think my hair was pretty much a train wreck and could have made the Hair Designers recoil in shock...

But hey, that's when we need to seek expert opinion about how to salvage our hair, yes?

❧

Tucked away on the second story of International Building, a quiet corner of Orchard, the store looks fairly simple from the front. Not overly flashy and I like the privacy it provides.

Where people wouldn't walking by staring at you with your hair in all sorts of awkward positions while you get your cut / color.

I took the typical salon chair instead of the arty full length one because I needed somewhere to put my camera and phone.

So here's a before shot of the mess that you all are no strangers to.

My usual trip to the salon would be me telling the stylist I want a trim, layers, or in some cases, saving pictures of hairstyles I want and showing them to her. While I do love my go-to stylist to bits, she's great at cutting hair to what I want but it's a nice change when someone decides a style for you, based on you.

Such as in this case, the Hair Designer would come over and take a look to see what you need and hear your preferences if any. In my case, it was simply, "not too short".

After that, I was whisked away to get my hair shampoo-ed along with a very (and I mean very) relaxing head and neck massage. Once that was done, the cutting begins!

I left my hair's fate in the hands of Logan Guo, Creative Director at Komachi Hair Cult.

After lots of snip, snip, snipping, he was done with the look he had for me. Along the way, he explained the style he was giving me. Such as leveling my hair because I had way too many layers going on and since my hair is facing mildly dry days, having a thinner 'end' would not be flattering.

Instead Logan gave me a new parting, to help 'frame' my face. I also mentioned that I was trying to grow my bangs out so he helped me with a cut that would make the 'transition easier', as opposed to my previous all-over-the-place hair.

He also balanced and leveled my hair so it appeared to have more weight and seemed healthier. Not forgetting some strategic layers to further help frame the face.

Though it didn't stop there! This is only half of the work done. To bring out the full potential of this haircut, of course we have to get rid of that dreadful color.

Again, before anything, I told Logan I didn't want black hair and thankfully he agreed that for my complexion, black hair wouldn't be the best option.

Instead he opted for.... well, I'll just leave the pictures here and disclose the color at the end!

When coloring your hair at Komachi, they will bring out a robe for you to slip on.

It makes it easier to prevent the dye from getting on your clothes and you can move to and fro the shampoo station with ease too.

Could it be that they couldn't stand my color so much that they are both working together to mask it?

Heh, well no, this is quite a norm in salons.

My hair was left wrapped up for about 15 minutes before they checked on it and touched-up accordingly.

You can sort of see the color here and it isn't some bright-hot shade because according to Logan, red was a little out of style (based on hair trends) and he wanted to pick something that would make me appear fairer and brighten my complexion.

A total of 25 minutes of hair dye and a wash later.......

Here's the final look that I took within the salon. The picture on the right is with Logan Guo, the mastermind behind this hair revamp.

My hair looks so shiny and blown-dry / styled in a way that it almost looks like a wig. Most importantly, my hair looks healthy!

Logan mentioned that while my hair will still fade over time because I had it bleached before, the hairdye he used is suppose to prevent it from fading too fast. It also amps up the shine factor for healthier looking hair.

While the shots above seem a bit awkward because I'm awkward when made to pose, I took more shots of my hair to showcase how it looks! And of course better shots at home with my SLR, to showcase the color.

The color is a green-toned ash brown which does flash a little copper under light but generally it's a mousey dark brown shade.

Logan chose a darker shade in any case of fading it would slowly ease through the browns before reaching the gold (if ever). Though it's unlikely it would fade to that same shade of gold with how dark this color is.

Ignore the unintentional brother photobomb.

Though I was never one for dark colors, I'm actually loving the mousey-ness of this and I like how this means I can start wearing all sorts of lip shades without a care now. No more worrying that bright red would clash with my orange-gold hair.

Side-note but I also really like how this style looks tied-up.

So... what do you think of my new hair? It's definitely a whole lot easier to mantain!

Big thanks to Komachi Hair Cult for this makeover. If you are interested, you can hop on over to check out their services and rates. It's not cheap but during my time there I saw a good number of customers getting their hair done.

I think if you want to invest in a good hair consultation / cut, there's no harm in dropping by and giving it a shot. You may be given a style you had never thought to try but end up liking!

Komachi Hair Cult
360 Orchard Road #02-03/04
International Building (next to ANZ Bank)

Tel:
65-63399432
65-68363391

Thanks for reading! While I could fast forward to the result, I wanted to keep it informative for those who were interested in the salon.

Disclosure:
Session was hosted by Komachi Hair Cult, special thanks for their hospitality.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

Hair: Red Red Chinese New Year!

icyabstract — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:17:36 SGT

As I have (discretely?) mentioned on twitter, I am no longer a tamarin monkey! Incase you're wondering what a tamarin monkey is, click here.

I have finally fixed that hairdye job gone wrong but not without much deliberation. I could cut to the chase but that wouldn't be fun and as you know I like rambling so I feel I need to share my internal conflict.

I was torn between finding a way to keep the lightness and go ash or go over that entire color with something else, namely red. The best choice would be going to a salon and telling them what I wanted but the inflated rates and the fact that the salons I frequent were booked out left me with no other choice but another round of home DIY-ing.

I researched loads on how to go ash with off-the-shelf hairdye without ending up with a funky color but in the end, I figured it's too dangerous to experiment again so.... red it is!

I went back to a brand that I have used and trust, Revlon. Though I've not tried their Luminista range so this was a first. Instead of doing a Bright Auburn color, like I had before, I opted to go Red.

Since I had some gold undertones in my hair, I was afraid that the Bright Auburn might end up emphasizing that.

So here's the end result:

Another thing when I was lightening my hair the previous time is that not all the strands ended up being the same lightened shade. Hence, I seem to have various shades of red across my hair, which I kind of like because... it's interesting?

The 'front' and top part of my hair remains a uniformed red while the bottom parts lean towards a more auburn shade with some strands looking like highlights.

The above shots were taken under the muted sunlight we had earlier today.

Indoors, the red kind of tends to look a little brown-ish at times and a little more deep-ruby at others.

(iphone camera)

It's been awhile since I had used a red dye so I totally forgot how scary it looks washed off. The entire toilet floor looked a deep crimson red and some even got on the walls. It sort of reminded me of my college project but thankfully it all rinsed off and nothing stained (except my towel).

In all, I still like Revlon's dye even though it's a major pain to rinse off but they give sufficient product (enough for me and some for my boyfriend!) and their conditioner smells and feels amazing on.

I'm also glad my hair isn't as dry as hay after all this though it's still best in indulge in some hair masks after the CNY madness has blown over. Speaking of which, I was telling my mom about how I need not wear red for visitings, I'll just let my hair do the talking!

Thanks for reading!

Hair: Going waaaay too light

icyabstract — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:22:14 SGT

For the first time in my DIY hair color attempts, I actually washed off the color and went "OH... MY.... GOD..." and that's not a very positive "OMG" either.

I only have myself to blame for being adventurous but the color I used was the other Palty hairdye pictured below, the one on the right.

From my experience with Palty hairdyes, the end result is always somewhat subtle. With that in mind I got ambitious and decided to go ahead with a bleaching shade because I thought, what could happen right? At the very most it would lighten my hair a little but still have it at a caramel brown perhaps?

Like beautiful Natalie Portman here:

but no..... apparently this time arounod the model's hair pictured on the boxdye was pretty darn true to what it would turn out to be.

So here's my hair right now.

Yes... it's gone waaay lighter then I had imagined and the bleach content was stronger then I thought, I left it on for about 20-30 minutes before rinsing.

One reason why I went "OMG" was because of the prevalant gold and yellow tones which I really dislike. Under sunlight it's quite alright, ranging from a strawberry blonde to an auburn but in dimmer lighting or, even worst, ambient lighting it's just.... off.

Under sunlight - strawberry blonde

Under sunlight - auburn-ish

and the dreadful indoors

I'm quite conflicted because while I kinda like how it looks sometimes, it's still leaning 'too orange/yellow/gold' for my liking most of the time. It's a major pet peeve when I see an overly saturated hair color so... I'm sort of commiting that crime myself now.

What's more Chinese New Year is coming... I'm thinking to either re-color it or find a way to tone the brassiness down. Like I said, I'm conflicted and I'm rambling now... I will have to do something this weekend and I'm leaning towards recoloring but who knows.

Oh my poor, poor abused hair.

Moral of the story, yes Palty's blonde/more bleach based shades is pretty close to what the model on the box has. It still boils down to how your hair takes color but my hair was on the darker spectrum before this (not black) and it has lightened loads so.... yeap.

Now... what do you think? How bad is it? Be brutally honest, I can take it!

Thanks for reading (my woes and rant on here and twitter).

Hair files: Not Violet, Yet Not Quite Ash.

icyabstract — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:15:48 SGT

I will confess. I didn't post up a photo of this new color job prior to my trip because I didn't manage to snap a photo in time.

According to the 'which hair color should I do' poll I did sometime back, majority chose the option Jewelry Ash.

I was quite intrigued by the color as well so I gave it a shot. Thankfully I did some research beforehand to know that Jewelry Ash doesn't make your hair look as fancy as on the box so I wasn't too disappointed and it was within the range of what I expected.

It lightened my hair a little, hardly noticeable, and at least it's a rather interesting shade, to make up for the 'deception'!

Looking a little reddish at times

And at times a little ashy

It gets pretty light under the sun (d'oh!) and from angles the edges almost seem like a mousey dirty blonde. Yes I might be consoling myself here, but it's not a bad color, I'd say.

If you're looking for a medium brown boxdye with varying tones, this will be interesting. But don't be fooled by the pretty model's hair color on the box. I think your hair has to be blonde beforehand to achieve that color.

Thanks for reading!

Hair Poll: To Go Lighter or Ash-ier?

icyabstract — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 22:02:03 SGT

It's been awhile since I last colored my hair & my roots are all growing out so I wanted to touch it up before my Hong Kong trip (in 6 days! Woots~).

My initial plan was to go lighter so with that I went down to Watsons to pick up a box dye that would fit it. While shopping for box dyes, I guess I got distracted and on-a-whim got attracted to/purchased a random color.

Cue boxdyes that I purchased:

Left: Jewelry Ash
Right: Gold Brown

From my experience Palty isn't exactly the most 'you get what you see on the box' sort of hairdye, relating to this experience of mine. But granted that Palty box dyes don't contain much product and for my hair length at that point, I probably needed 3 boxes....

Point being! I did some research after and Jewelry Ash obviously doesn't appear as ashy/violet as it does on the box and Gold Brown doesn't lighten that much... but still,

Which color do you think I should go for?
Try my luck with achieving the ash violet, or go lighter as planned

Hair Poll: To Go Lighter or Ash-ier?

Jewelry Ash (45)

56%

Gold Brown (36)

44%

Total votes: 81

HELLO BANGKOK! (& BANGS)

icyabstract — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 01:10:45 SGT

Going to keep this short and sweet because I have to head to the airport in about 5 hours and I should catch some sleep as well to prepare myself for a full day of shopping ahead!

As the title says,
I'm going to Bangkok!
from 31st July (in a couple of hours) to 04th August

This would be my second time to Bangkok but the last time I went was when I was 12, so I guess that didn't count!

I can't wait for all that food, shopping, heat and all that thai goodness. With this being the second trip abroad with the boyfriend we have a better idea what to do, how to plan and boyfriend even designed an itinerary booklet for us.

Bangkok aside, I woke up one morning and decided to get bangs so.....
this happened

Bangs. Yay, nay? (not that I can change anything now! haha)

Thanks for reading!

Short Hair, Failed Hair Coloring and Update

icyabstract — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:21:45 SGT

At long last, the 'official' post with pictures of how my short hair looks though some might be a little disappointed as while its short, it's not that short either.

I've been considering getting a shorter cut for a long time and the humid weather these days was probably what eventually made me do it. But now before I show you my short hair, I wanted to add that I had colored it as well though that turned out to be a bit of a fail.

I picked up this Revlon colorsilk hairdye. I've always used the Bright Auburn one and thought to go a little lighter.

Of course I don't expect a box dye to lighten my hair to that state, but I thought it would at least make my hair noticebly lighter then anything I had before.

It did lighten my hair some but it didn't do all that much... I'm wondering did they reformulate it or did my hair just get resistant to hairdye after I colored it a darker brown that one time.

Either ways

My new hairstyle/color!

*cue photo spam of myself*

The 'lightness' of it is only evident under pretty strong sunlight.

And here's how the back looks

It's really not all that different from the front but I don't mind that. It sort of seems like a way for me to ease into having short hair. I'm thinking to go even shorter, because I had wanted it shorter but the stylist was insistent on not cutting it that short saying I'll probably not like it. Which might be true, but if I'm going short, might as well go (almost) all the way right?

Not a pixie crop or anything! Just... a little shorter, just below the chin perhaps?

❧

Anyway, now for the slightly lenghier no picture bit, a quick update on what's going on with me.

I haven't mentioned this on my blog but thing is I've left my day job, or 9-5 job. I did it for a couple of reasons, one being to completely focus on getting my driving over and done with. Somehow I just couldn't manage doing driving and working at the same time, kudos to those who were able to! While it means I'm technically 'unemployed' now, I'm not bumming at home but trying to still earn an income with freelancing design jobs (*ahem* hence anyone if have jobs... lol) as I'll need to find some way to pay for my driving lessons.

The benefit of freelancing I would say is working at your own time. I find it's a lot easier for me to work at night (or the wee hours of the morning) so I guess my 'working hours' now would be from 9pm - 6am.

All in all, yes I'm technically free from squeezing in the train everyday, waking up at 7am, sitting in the office for over 6 hours but I'm not free from work. Though that's life and work isn't that bad when you actually like what you do.

Okay I think I'm done rambling here. I will try to update my blog more frequently and finally make some more youtube videos. It's been over 3 months since my last one, oops.

So.... should I keep my hair at this length, grow it out or go for it and cut it even shorter?