Hair care 101

Dream hair by Hawko!!! 

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Although I love that gorgeous, healthy and soft feeling that I get from my hairdresser every time I visit for a dye, I have to admit that I am breaking one of the cardinal rules that every hair care person would tell you to stick by.

I wash the sh*t out of my hair!!

I have thick hair, (personally I think I have waaay too much hair!) and I am in constant fear that it feels and more annoyingly, looks oily. So every morning before I head out I wash my hair even if it doesn't feel dirty I still wash it.

I sometimes wash it twice a day if I am going out on the town that night. GASP! I know, its bad but I am determined to change my ways... I promise!!

I have done a little online research and here are a few things I've learnt so far:

"It is critical to not wash your hair everyday. Washing can severely damage and dry out your strands, especially if you use any sort of chemical treatment. You need to train your hair so you no longer have to shampoo, condition and style every day."  Says Caitlin from Ciao Beautiful.

"You can train your hair to release less oil on your non-wash days. Hair contains natural oils that quickly replenish when washed out. Which means, the more you wash the quicker the hair/scalp responds to producing more natural oils. When you slow down the process of washing, hair reduces the amount of oil being produced, resulting in less greasy hair. But this training takes time."

How much time can it take to train my locks? Apparently it can the 4 - 6 weeks!!! Sounds like forever but it's for the best in the long run right?

Nearly every blog that I read on this topic swore by using dry shampoo in between their washes whilst training their hair. One of my good friends told me about dry shampoo probably about a year ago and I guess I never clicked that it could work for me too! (Silly me)

My main problem is at my roots (which kind of seems obvious since this is where the oil is produced duh!), because my hair is thick I feel more self conscious at the roots and especially at the front of my hair.

Cosmo has this to say about our "new best friend":

"Dry shampoo is  busy girl's miracle product - not only will lit let you go an extra day without washing your hair, it also gives you tons of sexy volume and it makes your strands smell awesome." 


I haven't used a dry shampoo before so this week I am on the hunt for my first to test it out. I'll give some feedback once I've tried it and let you know how I go!

Have you ever used dry shampoo? What's your favourite, or do you have any tips and tricks for "training your locks" ? Let me know!

Denim is my best friend

Besides my real life living and breathing best friends, I have to say in terms of my wardrobe, denim is by far my best friend!

I love denim, its my go-to staple and I would honestly say that I probably wear it too much but I love it and you can't mess with love! ;)

My latest denim purchase was this little beauty:

Purchased in store at Dotti  (can also be purchased online) for $79.95! I love it! It looks super cute with my Witchery coated black jeans which can be purchased here online and this gorgeous pastel spliced scarf from Sportsgirl.

I love how no matter the season, denim is always in style. This little jacket will do me well throughout the rest of winter and even into spring worn over cute sundresses like in the picture above.

Another denim trend that I am loving and have noticed is making a comeback in a big way is the denim shirt or  more commonly known as the chambray shirt. 

Dead set, I was in my mum's wardrobe a few weeks ago helping her sort out an outfit and she had an original one of these shirts hanging in there from the 90's!!! I told her definitely not to throw it out yet since its totally back in fashion! Its amazing what trends come back in style! 

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I have my eye on these options for this cute trend! 

Studded collar chambray shirt from Sportsgirl

Washed chambray shirt from Dotti

Denim shirt from Cotton On

And the best thing about these chambray shirts is that they pretty much go with anything in your wardrobe! Teamed with skinny jeans, coloured jeans, black tights, shorts, over dresses, it works in every way! I love it!

What is your favourite way to wear denim? I'm still yet to find the perfect pair of denim shorts! If you know of some let me know! I am dying to find some before Summer!!

Catchya soon friends! :) x

One lucky girl!

This week I am feeling SO lucky and very blessed!

I was in class earlier this week talking to a friend about what she plans to do once she graduates from our graphic design degree next year. She told me that she has a few things in mind but doesn't feel that confident about getting work in the industry as a friend of hers graduated last year and has spent the entirety of this year searching for a job in our field and has been unsuccessful!

This got me freaked out. My biggest fear is going though all of this study time and money spent at uni to come out with a degree (bonus) and not be able to get a job (horrible)!

I raced home and thought about some stuff. My dream after I graduate would be to work with a magazine. I have always wanted to do this for as long as I can remember. My little sister and I used to play at home and make up our own magazines and cut out stuff from Barbie mags, or Girlfriend magazine and make our own versions! (Remember this Jess???) But I have always had the thought that getting a job in a magazine is out of reach because it is very competitive to get in to.

Anyhow, I hopped onto my laptop and googled how to apply for work experience with Cosmopolitan Magazine. I figure work experience is the best way to find out how exactly everything works in a real life situation and would give me the best insight into this field that I feel I would love on a real life job basis.

(current August issue)

I sent off a cover letter and my resume (which by the way lists absolutely no work history to do with magazines or graphic design) and hoped for the best.

I thought it was the biggest long shot ever but hey, if you don't try you'll never know!

And guess what? I got a reply email back the very next day and was offered a week of work experience  with the Editorial team at Cosmo in October!!!!!!

I am beyond excited and can't believe how lucky I am to get this opportunity! I always thought getting work experience at Cosmo (or any popular female magazine for that matter) would be next to impossible!!

I can't wait, I am so stoked! This is such a big dream of mine, I get an up-close glimpse at my dream job! How cool is that?!!

One thing (on top of a million things racing in my head right now) that came to mind is that I need to do some major shopping before October to get some office appropriate/currently trendy outfits in order for the week at the office!!!! lol I've been told the dress code is "smart casual".

What do you think I should wear? Do you follow Cosmo mag on Instagram? They show some of the employees outfits that they wear to the office on Fridays! Check it out!

I am so excited!

The Shire, yay or nay?

If you haven't been living under a rock over the last 24 hours the chances of you having heard about the new show The Shire on Channel Ten are pretty high.

Did you tune in?

If you were in fact living under a rock recently, here is what you missed:

The Shire: A bunch of youngish adults living in the Sutherland Shire in Sydney NSW being filmed (and badly scripted) during their everyday lives, much like the shows Jersey Shore and Geordie Shore. To top of the intelligent conversations and "dramality" were big fake boobs, fake tans and lots of talks about botox?

Sounds like fun, right???

For me, I am a lover of reality TV shows like KUWTK, Kendra, The Hills etc etc so naturally I was keen to tune in to see what all the fuss was about. It aired last night on Ten and was definitely interesting to say the least.

Twitter went NUTS during the show! There was so much trash talk about the show, and I don't think I read one positive comment. Kind of sad, really.

Some residents of The Shire are angry and embarrassed, and some people are trying to look at the show and its publicity in a positive light in terms of tourism for the area.

I have to admit, not all of the story lines were that bad. I mean, don't get me wrong, the majority of the show was horribly scripted and made most of the cast look so stupid and self-obsessed, but the short little snippets of Gabby talking about her break-up and potential "get-back-together" with her ex Mitch was much like stuff you'd see on The Hills (or Days of Our Lives, I guess?) and weren't over the top in regards to plastic surgery and bad tans.

What did you think of it?

A tonne of people tuned in last night, will you be watching next week? As sad as this will be to admit, I'll probably tune in next week if not just to tweet comments all the way through and see what other outrageous crap they come up with! lol

Style: The blouse

When I manage to find a style of clothing, a colour or cut that suits me I tend to stick with it and become addicted. I end up filling my wardrobe with these items and I think that's cool.

Sometimes its hard to find a piece of clothing or a particular style that really suits you or your body so when you do get it right its like "Jackpot!" and you hang onto it as long as you can!

For me during this year I have been highly addicted to a common trend throughout the season, and that is the classic blouse.

I love all blouses, they come in all different styles but still have that same tailored look, which can be both feminine and a bit masculine in a kitschy way too.

I love a good blouse! They are perfect under blazers for darting around town, or to wear out clubbing or to dinner. I'm totally obsessed!

Here are some cute looks that I whipped up in Polyvore that I am lusting over right now:

1. Pink and Orange + blazer love, blouse by Witchery.

2. Coloured skinnies with prints, blouse by Mulberry.com.

3. Fur and Tan, louse by otteny.com .

There are just so many out there, too many to love!!

Stay happy friends, catchya soon! x

Celeb hair love

I had a visit to my hairdresser this week, nothing drastic - just the usual trim, re-dye and fix up the "balayage" look that I've got going on at the moment, and it got me thinking about hairstyles and what type of hair I want.

You see, I'm such a sucker when it comes to my hair. I'm the girl that loves every funky, cool style but is too scared to do anything!!!! For years I just had highlighted long, blonde hair. Every hairdresser visit would be the same, blonde foils in any type of blonde, but it had to be blonde and only a tiny snippet off the ends please!!!

Earlier this year as a birthday gift, my mum paid for me to get my hair dyed by a lovely hairdresser on the coast and I finally took the plunge and did something different and went a bit darker with the balayage look that I love.

Its been the same ever since.

I've been doing some research and here are some styles that I love and some ideas of what I would do if I wasn't chicken shit all the time:

1.  The longish bob. Ahhh I love this look! So cute and sleek but still kind of long enough to be worn up or differently and still sexy in the way long hair can be. Katy Perry does this look so well, even with blue hair! This girl can pull off any hair look, seriously. I love her!

(Source)

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2. The Ashlee Simpson; either way.
I love Ashlee's most recent hair styles, she takes big risks with her hair and these two are awesome! I wish I could pull off that red colour! OMG! And I love the cute cropped blonde do as well, I think her cute pixie kind-of-face carries this hair cut (not something I could pull off but I still love it all the same).

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3. The Emma Stone. Another chick that can rock red or blonde, but her blonde is to "dye" for (hehe pun intended!) in these pics! I would LOVE to rock this colour blonde, oh and the cute bangs (side fringe)!!

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My next hair appointment is in 8 weeks (6th September to be exact! lol) so maybe by then I'll have the guts to do something a little different?! I'm thinking that by that time the weather will be warming up and it'll be time to go a bit lighter and blonder again for summer! Ah, the possibilities!! :)

Catchya soon friends! x

A hunk a hunk of blazer love!

Since I am currently trying not to spend my monies lately ("trying" being the operative word here!!!) I have been virtually shopping and window shopping in stead waiting to find something really really special before I lash out and buy an item! I think this way the more research I do, by the time I buy the item I'll know that I really love it and it wasn't just an impulse purchase!

This season I am totally digging blazers! They are so on trend, come in all shapes and colours and can make an outfit look so professional, classy, dressy yet casual if dressed down too! Every other winter I have been purchasing cardi's as my warm staples but I think these blazers kick my cardi's sweet little butts!!

Even my fav celeb's are rocking the blazers! Love the Dash girlies! Who doesn't? :)
(image source from here)

Here are a few cuties I found browsing online today:

1. Portmans crop blazer. LOVE this. Was so close to buying it the other day, but waited (I'm such a good girl! lol) It also comes in black. Cute for spring-ish weather I think.

2. Wish blazer from The Iconic. I love this entire look, love that white blouse too!

3. Portmans black blazer. I have a similar blazer to this one! black is the perfect colour to go with anything, like this outfit with cute peach skinnies! My friend has these and they are so cute!

And because I felt like brightening today up since this winter weather is pretty gloomy, I decided to wear my blue blazer to uni /town today! I love love love it! It's by Sheike (one of my all time fav stores!) 

Stay happy friends! x

Eating clean

This week I am feeling a little under the weather... AGAIN!!

I don't know what it is about this winter but this is the THIRD time I've been sick! Thats totally not normal right??

Anyway, despite feeling a little lousy and getting back into uni study, I am determined to stick to my "eating clean" plan as I mentioned here.

I tried a new recipe from the Clean and Lean book and it was delish!

I adapted the recipe a little according to what I could get at the supermarket and what I like etc (can you believe it that on a tuesday there were no spring onions in Woolies??! I mean I live in a decent sized city, this is something we get used to in the bush, not the city!)

Any-who, the recipe is called the Chicken and cashew stir fry and its a winner in my books.

Before I started cooking a lot I used to whip up quick stir fry's using frozen veg mix, some chicken thighs and chuck on a heap of Master-foods marinade for flavour because it was an easy meal and it was impossible to stuff it up! This recipe has no sauce or marinade as such in it but is so full of flavour it doesn't need it! I'd never go back to my old ways of making stir fry now that I've tried this.

Instead of shallots I just used half a brown onion and I added in green beans and only one chilli because I thought it would be quite spicy but I think it actually could have done with the extra chilli, I couldn't really taste a "hot" sensation, it was a good spice.

I definitely recommend this! Drop me a comment if you want the full recipe!

Clean eating = yum!

Is it spring already??

I don't know about you but lately, (since I got back to the "almost city" in stead of the spending my days in "the bush" aka my home town!) I have noticed that more and more retail stores are flogging the idea that "Spring is on the horizon" or "Spring is just around the corner".

I'm sitting here in my woollie pjs and have the heater cranked thinking, what the hell? Am I in the wrong hemisphere right now or am I right when I say, it's freakin' winter ya'll!!!!!!

As much as when the stores try and get their next season fashions out like super dooper early ticks me off, I have to admit that I am the sucker that gets roped in and loves to buy that pretty, sleeveless blouse waaay before its time to show my bare arms again!

With this in mind, here are some trends that I am totally digging by Witchery right now. These guys are the number one culprits for the "Spring is on the horizon" campaign, but pftt if their stuff is this cute I'll keep browsing and dreaming of spending my pennies (one I save some *damn uni budget*) in their store!!

Neon is so cute right now! This year I have become very very obsessed with yellow! I have never in my life been able to wear yellow, or at least I thought I couldn't. I'm sure there are tonnes of girlies out there like me, and unfortunately due to my very fair and pale skin, sometimes when I wear yellow on my top half (as in close to my face) I look sick. And I don't mean "sick" in a good way. BUT, since new shades and tones of yellow have popped up, and more accessories are coming out everywhere, I can revel in this awesome colour too!! 

Loving these cute skinnies by Witchery!! Not sold on the leather tee though? I'd more likely wear a white shirt with this outfit like the model. Cute either way!

I also love this silk boyfriend tee. I have seen it in person and its beautiful. This is so me. I'd probably wear it with some skinny denim jeans (as I'm a bit of a sucker for jeans) but with this tube skirt could dress it up too! Love love.

Check all of these cuties out at witchery.com.au 

And just because i have been DYING to buy a new pair of TB's lately, here are some I've been craving but sadly can't afford right now:

These beauties are called Mansell and would look so sweet in Spring/Summer! Not completely sold on the white but if I had the dollars I'd buy them anyway! Hint of yellow again! Love them!

Okay enough shop dreaming, "Being Lara Bingle" is about to start on channel ten. Haha, (TV obsessed), my aunt thinks I need to get a life, I just think I am addicted.

Ciao peeps!

So behind the times.... tweet tweet

Its official. I finally made it on Twitter!!!

Im so behind the times. I've been um-ing and ah-ing about whether to jump on the band wagon for AGES especially since I'm already on FB and Instagram, but now that I'm on it, I'm loving it!

I'm still working out what to do and for the most part of setting it up and testing it out I looked like this:

HAHAHA Isn't that hideous?! lol (I've also been playing with my mac photo booth as you can see!)

Any-who - tweet me! Or whatever they say?!!

I'm @misselle_tweets

Catcha later bloggers!!! ;)

Cutting the CRAP

Its an all new term at uni starting next monday and that means a few new things around here.

One. New subjects to study, new classes, new assignments and new people to meet.

Two. New "kick-start" into a healthier lifestyle.

I'm cutting the crap from my life and by crap I mean CRAP - Caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol and processed foods.

Some of you may have heard of the "Clean and Lean" diet or eating plan. Well its kind of new to me but I am diving right into it and enriching myself with new, healthy knowledge on how to change my life and become a healthier and better version of myself.

Clean and Lean is a book written by James Duigan and you can purchase it here.

Ever since I started reading through this book it got me thinking more consciously about what stuff I have been putting into my body and the damage some of the junk could actually be causing. Of course, for me some of the "changes" mentioned in the book that need to be made are pretty drastic and I am going to attempt to attack this in the most sensible and realistic way possible but most importantly, I am going to try and stick to it for a long time.

This "diet" isn't really a diet, its about a lifestyle change and its an exciting one!

Have any of you attempted the 14 day kickstart program by James? I am thinking its time to tackle this one and see if I can get results and ultimately a healthier and leaner body!

I'll be updating more info soon, stay tuned, or join me! Grab a copy of the book from a store, online or from your local library and we can cut the "crap" together!

I hate goodbyes

My little sister dropped me off at the Townsville airport yesterday and started to cry when she had to say goodbye. This of course, set me off too. Tears were a'rollin' down my cheeks.

I hate goodbyes.

I hate that my family and I can't all live in the same post code and town where all of our dreams can come true and all of our ambitions can be met.

I hate that my little sister is a million miles away in another state, sometimes on a different time and definitely in different weather (it was warm and sunny up there just like Summer!!).

I phoned my mum once I checked my bags in at the airport and after I had a little cry to myself in the ladies toilets. I said to mum, "Life is so cruel". She said to me, "It's not always life that's cruel, we make our own decisions and thats why we cant all be together".

She has a point.

Sometimes I find myself blaming the universe or God or something else for sad things happening, friends moving away, sad goodbyes or bad karma but really is it our own fault? Is it just that we have made certain choices in our lives that make us sad and make our lives the way they are? I mean, if my little sister hadn't had moved away with her boyfriend for work and I hadn't moved away for university we would all still be together in the same small town, doing the same old things. But we wouldn't be achieving what we want out of life. I guess you must take the good with the bad.

Either way, I hate goodbyes and I miss my sister.

Come home Jess?? (I know you won't but it can't hurt to ask right?? Heheh) x