Brighter is Better!

I've been steadily creeping closer to this point with my hair for the last 8 months. And yesterday I finally took the plunge and attempted to go 'blonde'. My colour before could have, possibly, been called blonde, but it could just have easily fallen into the 'light brown' category and I decided that at least once in my life I wanted to be blonde!

And I'm loving it so far, because I've gradually lightened by hair (deciding to go a little lighter every few months) it's not a huge change, but it still feels quite weird to look in the mirror and see such light hair! Especially considering my natural colour is a very, very dark brown!

I've kept my 'roots' as dark as I felt I could so regrowth shouldn't be a complete pain. But my biggest hurdle is definitely my eyebrows as they're naturally so dark - luckily bold brows are very in so I think I can just about get away with them!

The day after dying it I popped on some make up to go out and I wound up putting on Revlon Just Bitten Lipstick and I just loved how the bright colour worked with my lighter hair. The lighter I've gone the more I've had to change up my lipstick with bold lips becoming increasily popular! 

The rest of my make up was pretty simple, Nars Kalahari duo (the lightest swept all over), a mix of Lioeli BB Cream and Mac Strobe Cream (trying to use up the strobe cream) and my beloved Lancome Oche Doree. I applied Oche Doree slightly differently today, focusing on the edges of my face and not bringing it so far onto the apples and I think I quite like it!

It seems weird to be going for such bright colours when we're in autumn but the weather here has been so beautiful that it still feels like summer - and I'm all for clinging to summer for as long as possible!

Do Tell

Since this is my last few weeks of winter for a while (yay) I've fully embraced the darker palette winter offers - including this beauty of lipstick from Benefit

What I've been loving is that if I liberally apply it (as above) I get a great darker colour that's still very wearable but adds a little extra something! It's been great for days I can't be bothered to do anything fancy with my eyes, simple eye+beautiful lipstick is always a winter in my book.

But I can just pat some on the centre and blend it out to get a much more 'natural' look for days I'm just not feeling up to braving it. 

And I couldn't resist this oh-so-cringey photo showing off the lipstick and my current favourite nail polish - OPI Navy. It's so gorgeous on, it's very nearly black but it's got just enough blue for it not to look too gothic when I'm pale skinned. Also, I thought this photo showed my eye make up quire well too. So just ignore the cringey-ness of the photo and focus on the good bits!

Bold Lips

Something about having lighter hair just seems to play down bold lips. Take the beautiful Russian Red, there's something so luxuriously retro in the opaque matte finish that I adore. But with my natural dark brown hair it's relegated to the occasional night out, as it just seems too much during the day

Now my hair's lighter Russian red just doesn't seem so 'sexy', and I feel like I can pull it off during the day. Not that I whip it out very often since New Zealand's dress code is pretty relaxed (it always makes an appearance when I head over to Sydney or Auckland though it)

I'm really torn at the moment on what to do with my hair. Although I do like the grown out look it's going to get to the point where I need to decide what to do with it. I'm currently leaning towards going a little lighter ready for the USA - something about having light hair (possibly even blonde) in California just seems right!

 The only complaint I really have with Mac's Russian Red, is that it's a bit of a pain to apply without a lip brush - and I detest needing to use a brush with lipstick. But that's really my only complaint, it's matter so lasts beautifully, and unlike a lot of mattes it feels creamy and doesn't dry out my lips

I'm so glad I went with Russian Red rather than Ruby Woo as I debated for a solid week, going to the mall in Dubai almost every day to try the two out… Having said that I can't rule our Ruby Woo somehow finding it's way into my make up bag at some point!

 Red isn't the only lipstick that I've found myself feeling more confidently wearing since I lightened my hair. Mac's Pink Nouveau is another lipstick I wore only every so often with my darker hair but now it definitely comes out at least once a week!

Pink certainly seems like an easier colour to wear than red but honestly I find this so much harder to pull off than the classic retro red. I do love it for days when I want to keep the rest of my make up super light and simple - a bold lip is just the perfect way to make it look like you've put in some effort!