Ombre Hair: Here, There & Everywhere

Ombre hair has been such a huge trend for the past year. It's fresh, low-maintenance and oh-so-pretty.  I unintentionally sort of have an ombre look happening when I grow my hair out.  I typically dye my hair only every 4-5 months or so. So I let my natural mousy-brown roots grow out until they are a few inches long and then I get highlights all over again.

I'm contemplating going for a more ombre look at my next appointment.  My stylist added a few blonder pieces in the front underneath part of my hair at my last appointment to "test the waters" and so far I've enjoyed the subtle change. My new camera makes my hair look a bit lighter than it is, but you get the general idea. The issue with me is that my natural brown color is mousy---so I do like to have the highlights right at the top to sort of disguise that and blend it out. I could have my stylist dye my actual roots a little bit of a warmer shade of brown...but I don't know if I want to do that. We shall see.

Here are some of my favorite ombre looks. Is is me---or does this trend really look best on brunettes? I like it on blonde girls too, but for some reason the look is even more gorgeous on brunette hair, IMO.

All images are from Google, JustJared and Hills Freak.

Rachel Bilson---she has been rocking this look for a couple of years now---I would definitely say she was one of the earliest adopters of this trend.

 Audrina Patridge---not a full-on ombre look, but subtle

Lauren Conrad---loving her shorter hair here too!

Victoria's Secret model Lily Aldridge---gorgeous!

Sarah Jessica Parker---remember the ombre hair she had in the "American in Paris" episodes---that was years ago and I really think Carrie Bradshaw was the first to sport this trend.

Hilary Duff

Jessica Biel---I must admit I was taken aback when I saw these photos---she just looks so stunning and I think her hair is one of the best ombre looks in the bunch. 

What do you think of this hair trend? Do you think it will continue to be a trend or will it be old news by 2011?  Which celebrity do YOU think has the best ombre hair?

Do you think I should try to go a little more ombre?  Let me know in the comments below :)

xoxo,

Veronika

Gorgeous AnnaLynne McCord & Heidi's Plastic Surgery

I read a lot of celebrity blogs like Just Jared, WWTDD, Perez etc. I love seeing what all of the celebrities are up to...and particularly what they are wearing and their hair and makeup.

I was on Just Jared the other day and saw these gorgeous pics of 90210 actress AnnaLynne McCord.

I immediately fell in love with her makeup (click to enlarge, all images courtesy of Just Jared):

I think she looks young, fresh, glowing and perfectly made up, without looking overdone. The look has actually inspired me to want to try black liner just on top, and not line the bottom of my eyes as well (which I haven't done in a long time.) I love the rosy, glowing cheeks, perfectly pink pout and lush lashes. She just looks really gorgeous and is a great example of how to enhance your features without masking them.

I always love to share gorgeous celebrity makeup looks with you all for inspiration. What do you think of her look? I also love her wild volumized curls. I can see this hairstyle not being popular with everyone, but I absolutely love it!

In other news, Heidi Montag, who recently underwent 10 plastic surgeries (in one surgical session) revealed her new look at an event:


I think these photos speak for themselves. I don't like to make negative comments about other people's appearance, but it does make me sad that she felt so insecure with herself that she decided to change her face completely, right down to pinning her ears back. I think she wants that "Playboy Bunny" look, but I preferred her as a California girl who had a more natural look. By the way, I realize her surgery is "old news" but these photos are from a recent apperance and her face must have settled more by now, giving us a more accurate view of her results (though, it can take up to a year to all settle.)

I remember some of the first "Hills" episodes where Heidi and Lauren lived together, and she was just so cute then. I admired her looks and style back then, but I could also sense she was insecure.
When she had her first rhinoplasty and breast augmentation, I thought "good for her, she's tweaking two features she's a little bit insecure about." I never would have imagined that just 3 years later she would have 10 more cosmetic procedures done. She made a lot of comments in her interviews that she had her chin done because people on blogs were always commenting on how huge it was, and circling it in photos. It makes me feel sad that she let people influence her to that extent.

Sound-off in the comments below! Do you LOVE AnnaLynne's look as much as I do? Do you think Heidi went too far?

Here are a few more shots of AnnaLynne from WWTDD:

xoxo,

Veronika.

New Year, New Look?

This post is difficult to write for me, because I always pride myself on trying to maintain my apperance to the best of my abilities, and I realized that an area where I totally failed is my hair.

Yes, that's right, I'm admitting it. A couple of posts ago, a few commenters mentioned that my hair was looking a little "bottom heavy" (I had never heard that expression before, but I knew what they meant.) One of them commented "maybe it's time for a change." Well, they were right, it is.

Typically, I take criticisms with a grain of salt, but this one really got to me because as much as I wanted to deny it, I knew it was true.

For the last few months, every time I've blown out my hair, I've noticed that my ends are pouffy, frizzy, frazzled. I have more split ends than I can count. My hair, despite all of my efforts just ends up "hanging there." It's long, it's heavy, it's blah. Sure, I wanted long hair, but the price I'm paying for it just doesn't seem worth it.

Now, before I delve further into this, I want to relay to my lovely readers that this isn't at all my hairdresser's fault. He is brilliant but I limit him when it comes to cutting because I am so afraid to lose my length that I've spent over three years growing (my hair is like the slowest growing hair ever.) My micro-trims just aren't cutting it anymore, no pun intended.

I still want to have long hair, but I need to do something...more layers, a little more of my ends snipped off, the front pieces cut shorter...I need SOMETHING that is going to get my hair out of this rut.

I'm going too wait until after my vacation to make the cut. I just feel like since I'll be exposing my hair to so much sun and salt water etc, that it probably isn't the best idea to do it before I leave for vacation.

So I have almost a month to find pictures of haircuts and styles I like.

Here are a few I like right now:

I love the way her hair is styled and how the front layers are shorter. I've tried side bangs before and they just don't work for me, but these just look like face-framing layers.

No matter how many times or which hairdresser I've ever been too, none can seem to cut my hair exactly like Carrie's (above), minus the bangs. I absolutely love how bouncy and shapely her hair looks.
I love Jennifer Garner's hair in this pic. It just looks really full and bouncy. I like the way it's parted too.Cheryl Cole is definitely one of my favorite hair inspirations. It looks like she's got a bunch of layers through her hair and some shorter face-framing layers. Like I said before, I grew my face framing layers out so long, that they don't really frame anymore, they just hang. Ugh.


Here's another one of Cheryl. I just like how full and bouncy her hair is and how much volume she has. I also like it when you can tell where layers start and end. I feel like my hair just all blends together into one big curtain right now.


No hair post is complete without a picture of VS model Alessandra Ambrosio. I love her soft curls here. You can tell she's got some pretty layers through her hair.


This look is a little more polished, but I like how much volume she has and how smooth her hair looks. I'd want to keep mine a bit longer than that though.

Sigh. Blake Lively. I love this pic from her Marie Claire photo shoot. Her hair just looks perfect and voluminous and has texture to it. Maybe I just don't have enough texture going on or I need to try different products. I would love it if I could make my hair look like this. Love.

Ladies, if you have any suggestions for me, I'm open. If you have any styles you think would suit me, please post a link in the comments below (nothing short though, I don't want to go into shock!)

My hair is definitely my security blanket...but it might be time to let go and just have an actual style to my hair. I also want to start styling it wavy again, I miss that sometimes.

I always feel bad because people tell me how much they like my hair...but trust me, it doesn't always look great! I've gotten lazy in maintaining it, and its lost its shape, luster and volume.

Thanks for listening to my rant. All thoughts and opinions welcome (unless they involve a serious chop!)

xoxo,

Veronika.