February 8, 2018 – Dad Plaid (OOTD #222)

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This is some rad plaid.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be_dbAAng8C/

I got this plaid, dad-like jacket from a local vintage shop back home in Lexington, and it’s been in fairly heavy rotation ever since. Or, at least, heavier ratio than I would have expected when I first purchased it – I figured I’d wear it every once in a while, but it’s really grown on me. It’s super easy to style because its pattern makes it look fancy without the need for me to layer a ton of stuff on top of it.

This particular outfit was borne out of another one of my “oh-no-I-just-woke-up-and-it’s-ten-minutes-before-my-exam-begins-and-the-building-is-a-fifteen-minute-walk-away” moments.

Those moments occur much more than I would like.

Anyway, in moments like this, pieces like the plaid dad jacket come in handy.

Like I said, its bombastic pattern makes it super easy to style, so I’m able to throw an outfit together around it really quickly in order to make it out the door on time. Since the plaid pattern is so loud, everything else has to be very simple and plain, and I don’t have to think too hard about what to pair with it. A plain sweater, plain pants, and plain shoes, and I can go.

You’ll also notice that this outfit, like yesterday’s, follows my basic everyday outfit formula – jacket, sweater/shirt, skinny pants (in this case leggings), and an accessory. It’s formulaic, but the formula works.

And when you’re faced with the decision to either be late to your exam or opt for a formulaic outfit (and very little makeup, you might also notice), you take the formula.

Also, can we just talk about this background? I’m in the art room again (my typical Thursday photographer friend was out of town), and I have no idea what this installation is. It was brand new when I got in there, so I assume some class is using it, but for what? I don’t know, but I figured it’d make for an interesting composition.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: vintage (thrifted)

Sweater: Aeropostale

February 7, 2018 – Formula One (OOTD # 221)

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Here’s something I just noticed – when in doubt, I just throw a jacket on.

Recently, it seems like hardly a day goes by when I don’t wear some kind of jacket with my outfit. I mean, just look at the most recent blog posts here and here  – jackets everywhere.

I’ve discussed this a little before on this website, way back in the summer, but this is my go-to outfit formula. A jacket, skinny pants, some kind of blouse or sweater, and ankle boots – when I don’t have any clever ideas about what to wear, this is what I tend to go with. It’s safe, but it works, and it looks good.

This outfit is a little more unique with the yellow rain boots and the My Chemical Romance shirt. I like to have something unexpected to pair with even my formulaic outfits, you know? And a pop punk band t-shirt is practically the definition of “unexpected” here at the very very Catholic Notre Dame.

That’s another thing I’ve discussed on this blog – the fact that everyone at Notre Dame dresses in the same kind of rich, preppy way. There’s not much variety in the kinds of style you see people wearing around campus, not like my high school had. For one, I never see anyone trying to come in wearing gang signs, which happened a few times at my high school.

On a more serious note, there is a striking lack of diversity in fashion tastes here. Everyone looks nice, but pretty uninteresting, you know? There’s a lot of skinny jeans, crewcut sweaters, boots – you know, basic style. There’s also a ridiculous amount of bookstore-bought (overpriced) Notre Dame regalia.

I feel almost self-conscious wearing something like a My Chemical Romance t-shirt here because “emo” fashion – or any kind of goth-leaning, hipster-leaning, boho-leaning, or other more niche fashions –  seems to be such a foreign concept. I can’t imagine what people thought of me earlier this year when I dressed like a high-fashion dementor. Probably that I was a dementor.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jeans: Hollister

T-shirt: Hot Topic

Jacket: Banana Republic

February 6, 2018 – The Little Things (OOTD #220)

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I love the way my shirt collar just barely peeks above the top of my sweater here; it’s a nice detail.

It’s just noticeable enough to make a difference in my outfit – that little touch of asymmetrical balance takes an outfit that’s pretty unexciting by itself and gives it more dimension.

I think the stripes also really help to elevate things, adding some pattern into an all-solid outfit. And then the way that the stripes run against the lines of my knit sweater…I don’t know guys, I’m just proud of myself on this one.

What I’m not so proud of is the way that I nearly wiped out in the solid 12 inches of snow  on the ground before I took these pictures. I got my friend to stand on the sidewalk with the camera, and I was just going to hop really quickly into the snow bank, get my shots, and then hop back out again.

What happened instead was that my foot got stuck in the strap of my backpack that I had tossed on the ground nearing that instead of a quick, clean jump into the snow, I ended up hopping around wildly, kicking up snow and flailing my arms in an attempt to regain my balance. Of course, this happened nearby a fairly busy sidewalk right outside of the dining hall at lunchtime so there would plenty of people who got to witness my blunder.

I kind of laughed it off, but I’m still kind of embarrassed. What is it that they say? She is beauty, she is grace…she’s about to fall on her stupid face? 

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Shirt: Abercrombie

Sweater: unknown (gift)

Pants: The LOFT

Boots: LL Bean

REVIEW: Clairol Color Crave Semi-Permanent Hair Color in Orchid

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To read part one of my Clairol Color Crave review, click here!

Welp, I’ve gone and done it – I’ve dyed my hair purple.

My best friend has declared that I look like a high school band kid, but she usually has some complaint to make whenever I change my hair. I think if it were up to her, I would have maintained the platinum blonde hair, but with the texture of my non-bleach-damaged hair forever. Wouldn’t that be nice.

The reality is that I can’t be spending hundreds of dollars a month to have my hair chemically altered every month, so I have to make do with what I have. What I had was a short, slowly-growing-out brunette pixie cut that left me feeling a bit unsatisfied with how average it was. What I wanted was something practical and affordable that could change up my hair a little and remedy my sense of monotony.

That’s where Clairol comes in. In my latest Influenster VoxBox, I was sent their Semi-Permeant Hair Color in Orchid. While I hadn’t necessarily been thinking of dyeing my hair purple beforehand, I decided to go for it when the opportunity arose.

I have a lot of experience (well, not A LOT – not as much as some people, but more I think than the average 19 year-old) with various hair dyes. I started by getting my first set of highlights way back in sixth grade, before progressing to all-over color my freshman year of high school, then bleach blonde by junior year, then a semi-permanent grey and finally a brunette pixie cut just this year. My hair’s been every shade of brown under the sun, as well as jet black, blonde, platinum, grey, orange (on accident), and now, purple.

The first thing I noticed when I openeed the box was that there was nothing to mix – just the tube of dye. I don’t know if I’ve ever had any hair color products were no mixing was needed, so that was neat. In addition, the kit came with two pairs of protective gloves and a small brush.

As application goes, it was as easy as it gets – just squeeze the purple goop out of the tube, apply, and then rinse out. I guess it also helps that my hair is shorter now that it’s ever been, so I had no worries about making sure I got all my hair covered. I ended up using the whole bottle, though I probably didn’t really need to, with hair as short as mine. If you have long hair, I’d definitely buy two.

The directions said to leave the product in for 20 minutes, or 30 for a bolder look. Given the darkness of my hair (the root growth that is), I opted for 30 minutes.

To be honest, I probably could have left in in for shorter. The color didn’t really show up in my dark hair, and it showed up too dark in my bleached hair. Not that I really expected it to make much of a difference in my dark hair, because so little ever does, but I was hopeful for a little bit of a purple tinge.

(Me after applying and rinsing out for the first time)

That brings me to my biggest complaint about this product – it didn’t really come out as the same color on the box, at least for me. I think that’s partially due to the fact that part of my hair is bleached, which explains just how vibrant it came out, but even so, I don’t even think the color I got is even close to the color on the box. The girl on the box has a medium-tone red purple, while I what I got was a very dark (almost black!) blue purple.

On the plus side, I don’t mind a blue purple – it’s just not really what’s advertised here. If you have bleached hair and you use this product, I would definitely suggest leaving it in for much shorter than 30 minutes, maybe even 15, if you’re aiming for the orchid shade on the box. Another plus is that after three washes (one week approximately), this stuff is still just as vibrant as it was when I first put it in. It’s a semi-permanent dye, which means it should wash out in a few weeks, but I’m surprised it hasn’t at least started to fade for me.

Summary:

Pros:

  • Vibrant color payoff
  • Easy application
  • No mixing required
  • No fading (within first week)

Cons:

  • Color is more blue-toned than what box shows
  • Color comes out much darker on bleached hair
  • Color doesn’t show up at all on my dark hair

In the end, I like my purple hair. It’s not quite the medium lavender I was hoping for, but regardless, I’m happy with what I got. It’s more exciting than the brunette I had before, and that’s all I was really looking to get out of it. I would definitely recommend it for the easy application and vibrant color payoff, but I would just be careful with how long you leave it on in lightened hair, and don’t expect to get the same color as the girl on the box unless your hair is naturally her hair color to begin with. As for lasting power, it’s only my first week with this color, but it hasn’t yet faded, which seems to be a good sign.

Have you tried the Clairol Color Crave Semi-Permenant Collection? Or any other kind of semi-permanent dye? Let me know your thoughts below!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Saturday Musings + Coffee – I’m A Potato

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It’s rare that I have a day where I am as useless as this.

It started out very well, actually. I got up at 8AM, did some really good work for my job in the athletics communications department at school, and cleaned up my desk. I thought I was going to have a really productive day.

Then, I made a fatal mistake – I decided to go back to bed for a short “nap.” That short nap turned into a few hours, and I was in bed until 1:30.

Okay, not the worst, right? I could still salvage the day by focusing and getting some good work done in the remaining hours.

I didn’t, of course.

I did go for a run, write a blog, and write a bit in my planner, but it’s 6:30 now, and that’s all I’ve done. I have been about as hardworking today as a potato, and I am very much not proud of myself. I’m hoping I can turn things around a bit this evening and actually do some reading for my peace studies and history class, some laundry, and maybe my sketchbook assignments for drawing.

Or I could just go to bed early and pray that maybe tomorrow a wave of productivity hits me. Or if not a wave of productivity, at least some anxiety that class starts again tomorrow to force me to actually get some work done.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

February 4, 2018 – Fly Eagles Fly (OOTD #219)

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I never thought it would happen, but here we are – the Philadelphia Eagles have won their first Super Bowl!

I admit, I wasn’t following them very closely at the beginning of the season (I was more preoccupied with Notre Dame’s football performance), but by Thanksgiving, I was watching every game. It helps that by Thanksgiving, Notre Dame was pretty much out of the consideration for the playoffs so…I was able to focus more of my energy onto the Eagles.

Still, I never expected them to make it so far. I’ve seen them come close a couple of times, especially  when I was a younger kid, but every time, I’ve been disappointed. I remember a particularly heartbreaking playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals when I was about nine, causing me to question if, like my father, I could perhaps wait 50 years and never see them win to the Super Bowl.

But now that’s all changed – it’s 2018, Year of the Dog, and the underdog Eagles of just won Super Bowl 52, hopefully the first of many!

I watched the Super Bowl in the lounge of my dorm, which was a little less than ideal – it was noisy and crowded, the food wasn’t nearly as good as what my mother makes for football parties, and my family wasn’t there with me. I don’t know, I don’t get homesick much, but I would have really liked to have been at home with the people who fostered my love for the Eagles when the Super Bowl win finally happened.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: Hollister

Leggings: Forever21

Jersey: NFL (thrifted)

February 3, 2018 – Rose Gold (OOTD #218)

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I don’t believe I’ve ever shown my dorm room on here.

Well…tada! Here it is: plain white walls, some command hooks, a radiator, and that’s all.

No, of course, my room is significantly more decorated than that – we’ve got four people living in here together. This white wall is probably the emptiest and cleanest part of the entire quad.

These shots were done in the middle of middle of the night with my phone set up against a bean bag, much like I did with these shots in an empty art room when I was unable to find anyone to do pictures for me one day.

Why did I feel the need to do these pictures at such an odd hour? It all has to do with that little faint hint of pink color in my hair. That’s the result of the Clairol Color Crave Hair Makeup that was sent to me by Influenster to review.

So it was late at night on Friday, and I had the room to myself. After I finished my homework for the evening (well…my homework’s really never finished – I just eventually give up on it or pass out from exhaustion), I decided to get to work testing my product and writing my review.

I fixed my hair all nice and pretty, did my makeup, and took some selfies for my review. And then I thought – why stop there? Might as well get some OOTD photos out of this too. It’s not often that I take the time to make up my face, so when I do, I need photographic evidence to prove it actually happened, you know?

By now, it was pretty late at night – too late to reasonably ask someone to do my pictures for me. But thankfully, there was this beautifully plain white wall in my room, so I set up my phone camera and my Apple watch’s remote photo-taking features, and I had at it.

So that’s the story of the outfit I wore and photographed in the middle of the night just so that the makeup and hair look I had put together didn’t go to waste. Was it more effort than it was worth? …maybe. But at least I got a funny story to write about in this blog post.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Shirt: Vintage (thrifted)

Jacket: Vintage (thrifted)

Pants: The LOFT

February 2, 2018 – Ducking Around (OOTD #217)

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I call this my duck sweater because it’s fluffy and yellow like a duckling.

It also sheds all over the place like a baby bird, which is a bit of a downside.

I have a lot of nicknames for certain articles of clothing in my wardrobe – there’s my Sherlock Holmes jacket, my dragon slayer shirt, my Southern soccer mom jacket, just to name a few. I have a pretty sentimental connection to my clothes (I’m just waiting for the day when I make it onto one of those hoarding television shows), so I guess it makes sense that I would start nicknaming them like stuffed animals.

Anyway, in this outfit, I paired my duck sweater with my yellow rainbows, which made for particularly duck-like results. I don’t know, maybe it’s something in the way there’s a high contrast between the dark of my jacket and pants and the brightness of the yellow tones.

I suppose the duck-centric thinking I’m doing might also be due to the fact that the dorm I’m standing near, Howard Hall, has the mascot of a duck. It’s admittedly pretty lame in comparison to some of the other hall mascots, like the Keenan Knights, but it’s also not as bad as the PDubb Purple Weasels (seriously – purple weasels.)

I’ll leave you with this – a super cute photo of me looking behind myself to try to see if anyone’s walking by who would ruin my pictures.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one!

Jacket: thrifted

Leggings: The LOFT

Sweater: Forever21

February 1, 2018 – For The Love of February (OOTD #216)

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Did you know? February is actually my favorite month.

I know a lot of people aren’t a fan of it – it’s normally pretty grey, cold, and in some parts, snowy. There’s also not really much to get excited for, save for maybe Valentine’s Day, which, as holidays go, is about as applicable to me as as Hanukkah. It’s nice to observe from a cultural standpoint, but I don’t necessarily participate in the festivities, you know?

I think it has to do with the way that February has always been a month that’s heavy in snow days – not that I get any of those now now that I’m in the Chicago area, where several feet of snow is just an average Tuesday.  I wonder what it would take for Notre Dame to cancel classes for the weather? I feel like even in the event of a blizzard, they’d have us trudging through the ice and winds unless Mary herself descended from the heavens and told Father Jenkins to let us stay in.

I heard a horror story once of some time in the early 2000’s when, upon students’ return from winter break, the windchill was 40 below on campus. If that happens while I’m here, I think I may have to reconsider the winter’s status as my favorite season.

As for February though, I feel like no one else tends to really favor (or even like) it, so it’s in need of some love. Plus, by proclaiming it as my favorite month, I get to tell people about the time my junior year of high school that I only went to school for one week the entire month of February because Kentucky didn’t know how to handle #snowpocalypse2016.

Notre Dame’s excessive snowfall hasn’t yet hampered my love of the stuff, though. It helps that I swear it actually makes things feel warmer here. And when it’s 0 degrees Fahrenheit when you wake up for your 9:30AM, you take anything you can that’ll act as a buffer to the horrific winds.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

jacket: vintage (thrifted)

jeans: American Eagle

top: Forever21

Clairol Color Crave Hair Makeup in Rose Gold Review

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Hair makeup? Is that what the big beauty brands are trying to cash in for as the next big hair trend?

These were the words I thought to myself when I opened my first Influenster VoxBox with products from Clairol’s new Color Crave series. I’ve lived through plenty of hair trends – the Kool-Aid dip dye color, ombré, pastel hues – but this whole hair makeup thing is new to me. Maybe it’s existed for a while, and I’m just too behind to know about it?

Or, alternatively, maybe it’s just an old product that’s been given a snazzy new name like “hair makeup” to try to appeal to a new crowd. That’s the mystery I intended to solve with my review of the Color Crave Hair Makeup – is this really something new, or is it just something old in new packaging?

A little background on my hair before I get much farther – I have naturally dark, thick, pin-straight Asian hair that had been bleached to obscurity before, just within the last month, being chopped off into a short pixie. My hair’s definitely beginning to get healthier, perhaps due to the ample amount of root growth I have, but the lighter brown bits are definitely more on the dry side.

After opening up the box, I was presented with a small 1.5 oz tube that resembled a bottle of lotion. Pop off the cap, and there’s a little sponge applicator that reminded me a lof of the old Maybelline Age Rewind Eraser foundation applicators. It’s kind of cute, but nothing special.

The directions on the side of the box say to shake the tube, press the sponge applicator until the color begins to appear, rub onto the desired portions of hair, and then blow dry to “lock in” the color, and so that’s what I did. Minus the blow dry part – I actually don’t have a blow dryer in my dorm, and I was a little to embarrassed to stick my head under the hand dryer. Instead, I let the product air dry (which it definitely needed, as this product is 100% a liquid, with all of the wet, runny properties of liquid) into my strands.

Here were the results (with no styling) immediately after applying:

What the directions don’t say is just how messy this product is. Don’t expect to be able to apply this in white clothing and get away unscathed. In the case of my color, Rose Gold, I found my issue wasn’t so much the color rubbing off into my hands or my clothes, but the glitter. This is a picture of my hands just after application:

Speaking of glitter, this is definitely a shimmery product. In a way though, I found that that worked to its advantage. In the dark portions of my hair, the pinkish color didn’t much show up (not that I expected it to – nothing ever shows up in my pitch black hair) but the shimmer really did.

As for the color payoff on my bleached ends, I was pleasantly surprised. The pink really was very visible, which is more than I can say of any hair chalk or other wash-out temporary color I’ve used in my entire life. And it doesn’t take much product to get it to show up either – one swipe with the sponge applicator rubbed in a little with my fingers, and I got the color seen here.

On a more negative note, though, due to the liquid-y paint-like consistency of this product, I found that it dried strangely in my hair, leaving it stiff and product-y. I wasn’t really able to leave my hair unstyled after application – I had to twist it into braids in order to hide the stiffness of my hair. That did make for some very pretty peek-a-boo color, and some festival-inspired boho glitter braids, but not really something I could personally see myself wearing every day.

Summary:

Pros:

  • Good color payoff, especially on lighter hair
  • Glitter shows up even on dark hair
  • Easy application
  • Lasts all day
  • Washes out after one use

Cons:

  • VERY messy
  • VERY glittery
  • Leaves hair stiff and product-y
  • Glitter rubs off even after it’s dried

In the end, I have to admit I had a lot of fun with the Clairol Color Crave Hair Makeup. It wasn’t anything revolutionary, but it also wasn’t just a repackaged version of the hair chalk I played with in sixth grade – this really is something new. It’s messy, too glittery, and impractical for everyday wear, but I can definitely see it being with a try for a music festival or a summer concert, where you’re looking for something fun to try with your hair without being permanent. Don’t expect it to work very well on black hair, don’t expect it to stay very long, and don’t expect miracles, and you should be able to have a little fun with this product, and that I think is the way it’s supposed to be used anyway.

Have you tried the Clairol Color Crave Hair Makeup? Or any other kind of hair makeup? Leave me a comment below and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. All opinions are my own.