Shot of Amazing

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Schooled in Style

Schooled in Style by autumn-elizabeth-stisher featuring coffee mugs

Topshop purple dress
topshop.com

Monki white cardigan
$69 - monki.com

Chloé flat shoes
boutique1.com

Warehouse satchel handbag
$60 - warehouse.co.uk

Vintage eyeglass
shopzerouv.com

Butter London nail polish
beauty.com

Coffee mug
$8.99 - chapters.indigo.ca

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Wildflowers

Wildflowers by autumn-elizabeth-stisher featuring photo wall art

Sunflower dress
$29 - runway-webstore.com

Toast oxford flat
$240 - toast.co.uk

Forever 21 foldable backpack
forever21.com

Wet Seal rhinestone bangle
wetseal.com

Forever 21 iphone hard case
forever21.com

Chanel black round sunglasses
$365 - liberty.co.uk

Bourjois moisturizing lipstick
$27 - thehut.com

OPI acrylic nail polish
$20 - johnlewis.com

Photo wall art
greatbigcanvas.com

Boys and Being Self-Conscious as Depicted in a YouTube Comment

I read this comment on YouTube today by a guy who was obviously very self-conscious about himself. He asked something like "I'm overweight, but I've been told that I have a nice face and I'm funny and stuff, but girls don't like me because of my weight. How do I get girls to like me otherwise? How do I lose weight? blah blah something else I can't remember" (I can't actually find the comment, even though I could have sworn I commented back to him, and I even tried to find the comment by going through videos I watched today, so this is not exact wording. I had to paraphrase. However, the actual comment was pretty sweet. )

This comment struck me as odd for 3 reasons:

This guy was actually being sincere and self-conscious (at least I think so)
Body shaming is a thing among both genders
The comment back to him

So most of the time, we think of being self-conscious is a womanly trait. We think of women looking at their bodies and being hyper-aware of every dimple and every freckle anywhere on their bodies. We are told during school "girls are very self-conscious, especially during puberty," which, I mean, is mostly true. But we are practically berated to believe that women are the only ones who are self-conscious about their bodies. However, guys feel self-conscious about all the things we feel self-conscious about as well, but they are told to swallow it up because it's not the manly thing to do to feel feelings about your body. I mean, man you're practically a woman if you look in the mirror and feel bad about your stomach or your thighs. Man up, be a man about the situation and stop looking at your body. Man. However, I think that mentality is kind of ridiculous. It's manly not to think about feelings, so in the rare case that they do, he's sensitive to us womanfolk, and that self-consciousness makes us feel tingly inside like he's just shared some deep secret. But if he's too self-conscious, he's unattractive because he's considered a pussy by today's standards, and who wants to date a self-conscious pussy? So when a guy reaches out on a social media site actually being sincere about his feelings of being self-conscious, it's surprising because we're not used to it. We're only used to teenage girls whining about how ugly they are because it's what they're taught to do, and men are taught to bottle it up.
Then there was the body shaming part of it. It isn't just women being the victims of body shaming, men can be subject to it too. Body shaming, for those of you who don't know, is the putting down of one particular body type. For a long time, bigger, curvier women were the victims of this. In the media, stick figure thin was considered the height of beauty for a long time, and if you had curves, you were considered fat. Now it seems the pendulum has swung, and now women that are stick thin are getting flack for being so skinny, it's ugly.We most often see body shaming in women's world. However, it can happen to men as well. Women judge men. They have to be 6'2. They have to have nice abs. They have to have a good butt. We see men in magazines, and we want to get a piece of that. We shame other men in the process of that. We don't want bigger men, or men with beards, or men with long hair, we want what we see in magazines (with the exceptions of course. I'm not here to cause conflict, just stating what I see). Men are body shamed as equally as women, and it wasn't until I saw this comment that I actually understood that men feel as though they can't get a mate unless their like the models in the magazines as well.
And then there was one comment left by a woman, I'm guessing, It was something about eating clean and exercising and losing weight, then women will want you, something. I find eating clean and exercising a good method to lose weight, but the sole purpose of losing weight shouldn't be to find a mate. It should be for you to feel good about yourself (call me cheesy, but whatever). I thought to myself, that if this were a girl writing this comment there would be people on their keyboards saying that she didn't need to lose weight for any man to come into her life. So that's what I did (or at least I thought I did, it seems my comment has gotten lost in cyberspace). I commented something like "personality is key, and I know people who like bigger guys blah blah blah." I mean, we have to support the guys like people support the girls, right?!
So this comment actually got to me, and I don't really know why. I just wrote an entire blogpost about how on this one comment from this one guy I don't even know. Is this what writers do? Wow, great conclusion.

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Sunday, February 16, 2014

Top Tips: How to Dye Your Hair at Home

I've been dying my hair at home since seventh grade, when I first started experimenting with color. Lately I've been very happy with my dark red hair color. These are my tips that I accumulated over the years, followed by the routine I do when I dye my hair any color! Disclaimer: not a hairstylist, just what I do when I dye my hair!

TIPS:

Don't wash your hair for a couple of days before. Let it get greasy. It will help the color adhere better to the strands. Try not to use any product during those days.
If you have product in your hair, rinse it out. You don't want your product to get in the way of your color. However, don't wash your hair with shampoo or put conditioner in. I rinse mine out the night before, so my hair has plenty of time to dry completely and so I don't have to do it all in one day.
I would recommend not buying box dye. Some of it has ammonia in it, and it's harsher on your hair than the professional colors. (Plus when you buy at a beauty supply store, you can talk to the workers to make sure you have exactly what you need!) I've noticed a change in the health of my hair since switching to a professional color.
Wear old clothes. You don't want to dye your favorite sweatshirt. I have a t-shirt just for dying my hair.
If you're worried about getting dye all over your face or neck, put some Vaseline on your forehead and neck. It will keep the dye off of your skin, so when you wipe off the Vaseline, the dye will wipe off with it.
It's a messy process, so make sure you have permission before doing it. Also, put down an old towel or something before doing it.
If you do get dye on your skin, makeup wipes or rubbing alcohol do remove it.
If this is your first time dying your hair a certain color (or at all) don't be surprised if your hair doesn't hold on to the color for the length of time you want. Your hair may not be porous enough, you may be using the wrong shampoos/ conditioners for your hair, or it may be a hard color to keep. For example, the first time I dyed my hair red, the intensity only lasted for about 4 weeks, but now I can go about 6-8. (Lighter colors tend to wash out quicker, so if you are doing a pastel color, just know that it will wash out quicker than if you dye your hair black)

Routine:

I get my stuff together! I mix 2 ounces of this Ion Color Brilliance Permanent hair color with 2 ounces of 10 volume developer.
Then I section off my hair as if I were going to straighten or curl it. I make sure not to get too big sections because I could make a mistake and not get a section.
Then I get smaller sections within the section I’m working with. They’re usually about half an inch in width.
Then I start apply my color. I get a small amount and work it into my roots, then work it down the length of my hair. I take care to get every strand. Then I brush through that section with a paddle brush to make sure I get every strand.
Then I put my hair into a bun, and put a plastic bag around it so that it wouldn’t get everywhere.