I hope everyone is having a good week, whether that means a less-stressful work week, or enjoying your freedom as the semester is over (unfortunately I’m one of those stuck inside an office!), and that you’re preparing for some form of fun-filled weekend. I know you’re probably like “Mackenzie… it’s Wednesday.” But, it’s almost Memorial Day Weekend, which means everyone who has a boss that doesn’t hate them is getting out early Friday so the rest of the week is going to fly by! I’m heading down to Atlantic City, so I’ll hopefully have some good stories and pictures posted next week. Ever since becoming a full-time working “adult”, I now fully appreciate the weekends and try to cram as many fun events in as humanly possible.

So as I rack my brain thinking about what I’ll wear this weekend and hoping the weather gets sunny and hot again, it has me thinking about my outfit choices for the past few days and last week at work. I’ve been wearing a LOT of pastels. So I found it funny enough that it didn’t fade out come the fall, as most trends and fads do, but in fact stuck around here and became even more influential, as pastel and ombre began to combine..

Along with pastels and their long-lasting popularity is the ombre trend. I contemplated ombre-ing my hair toward the end of last Summer, however I thought to myself “watch, I’ll spend $200 to get my hair ombre-ed or dip-dyed, only for everyone else to start dyeing their hair back to normal, or going back to typical highlights.” Instead, more and more of my friends seem to be jumping into the ombre fountain and trying it out to more extreme levels.

On a level from subtle to crazy, check out the images below of the different ombre-dyes that I’ve seen and been loving!

One of my friends, Amanda, creator of blog, Build a Balance, who currently lives in Chicago, has subtly changed her hair, so she has dirty-blonde/ashy blonde roots, and her hair gradually lightens to a natural-looking light blonde. This color graduation is great for anyone who is either nervous to pick an extreme color, or who, like myself, has a full-time office job that might not be so keen on crazy, colorful hair. One perk of this, is that you can always use a semi-dye or hair chalk to throw in some color on the nights and weekends!

Another one of my good friends Alyssa, who is naturally blonde but has taken a liking to red hair decided to ombre her hair from a deep auburn red, all the way to tips of a super-light strawberry blonde. She chose a daring dark red color to begin at her roots, and slowly but intensely turn into this light blonde at the bottom. Her hair looks best when tousled lightly, or curled so you can really see the transition. Unfortunately she decided to de-activate her Facebook and make it difficult to get pictures. Thus, I included in the collage below an image that looks identical to her hair color and style.

*These photos were not taken by me, only collaged together by me*

The final version I’ve seen, which I mentioned a bit earlier in terms of semi-dye or hair chalking, is the color dip-dye. I’ve noticed many take their natural (or base) hair color, and dip and twirl it in color, so that she begins with blonde roots and ends with vibrant teal hair, or for brunettes, they begin with a warm chocolate, and end up with fuchsia streaks and tips. This technique is most definitely not for beginners or the meek, and I recommend you either get it done at a salon, or have a pro bleach (dark hair) the parts you want dyed and apply from the ends up. The most vibrant color should be on the tips, and as you work your way up it should begin to blend into your natural color.

Stay tuned for the next few posts as I review my May Ipsy Bag, my first Julep Maven package and more!

xoxo

Mackenzie