04: Honey/Olive Oil Mask for Dry Skin

Ingredients:
1 tsp Honey (preferably organic)
.5 tsp Olive Oil (preferably extra virgin)
.5 tsp Milk
Sugar

(Measurements are not exact)

Steps:
1) put the honey in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for approx. 5 seconds, until its liquidy.
2) add the olive oil and milk, mix.
3) add sugar until its grainy and exfoliator-like, mix.
4) scrub onto face, leave on for 15 minutes, and rinse off.

Woo :)

Response to: "YOU'RE KILLING YOUR HAIR WITH DYE!!!!ONE111!!!" -comments

My hair is bleached, so that I can get colour on, (I'm Asian, I have black hair, its life.)

I re-dye my hair, or at least touch it up every 3-4 days, at most, and I've gotten A LOT of crap from people saying that I'm going to kill my hair, so here is my answer.

FIRST OF ALL. Manic Panic is a deep conditioner and reconstructer with colour in it, that is meant to stain the hair. So using Manic Panic every few days is actually very good for you hair. As with my Shine Moist Henna dye, same thing, it is a conditioner with colour, and so are most demi-permanent bright coloured dyes. (Like Special Effects.)

Next, the damaging part to your hair is bleaching. Bleaching is using peroxide to remove the colour from your hair to get black hair blonde, etc. Bleaching is almost always necessary for bright colour in hair, even if you have light blonde hair, because it open the pores of the hair, and allows the colour to go in deeper. But I don;t bleach my hair to white, as a lot of people think you need to, my hair is actually a dark blonde-slightly orange colour.

Also, despite the fact that yes, I do bleach my hair, I don't do it every time I dye my hair, in fact, I've only had bleach on my hair twice. Once for the initial colouring, and once to do my bangs, never bleach over bleach.

AND MORE. I take freaking good care of my hair, probably more than most people think. I would not stress my hair out this badly if I didn't want to take care of it.

I'm not trying to say that bleaching and dying your hair is the best thing you can do, but what I'm trying to say is that people are freaking ignorant and should shut up before telling me something about my haircare. Not saying I'm a professional or anything, but I wouldn't be doing this to my hair if I didn't know the effects and how to deal with it.

03: Dying Hair with Manic Panic

For my 15th birthday, I got purple highlights in my hair (they were truly highlights-placement wise), so I had thin highlights bleached out, with a purple dye on it, I hated the dye that my stylist used, and will probably not be going back to the same hairdresser for additional reasons, but that's one of them.

I decided to use Manic Panic UltraViolet and Fuschia Shock the first time. Then I also added After Midnight Blue, and now I also have Red Passion, Vampire Red, and a mixture of a few of those colours with Cotton Candy Pink. My orange hair is the only non-Manic Panic, I use the Shine Moist Henna Wax Colour Treatment in H701-12 (Orange Red). I also used it mixed with Red Passion for my red bangs.

Products Needed/Recommended:

-Manic Panic dye of choice.

-Disposable gloves.

-Tint brush.

-Live Clean Organics Invigorating Shampoo (best IMO to wash out dye) or a sulphate-free shampoo.

-L'oreal EverPure Moisture Deep Restorative Masque (best IMO to nourish bleached hair, and help colour last.) or any good conditioner/hair masque.

So, step by step, the best way to use Manic Panic, in my opinion.

1) Wash hair with a cheap, low quality shampoo if you have one. Don't use conditioner. (This will strip the colour, and the oils from your hair, and open the cuticle, allowing for more colour penetration. Oil blocks the colour from being absorbed as much.)

2) Blow dry your hair. (Will open the cuticle further.)

3) Section hair into where you want each colour, if you're using multiple colours.

4) Wearing gloves, using a tint brush, apply the dye to your hair, keep adding more until the hair is SATURATED. Alternately, you can also use your hands, by rubbing the dye into locks of hair. (I don't always wear gloves, unless I'm touching hair with dye on it, or using my hands to apply.)

5) Cover with a plastic bag/shower cap/cling wrap/aluminium foil, if desired, and blast hair with a blowdryer on hot. (Heat will allow the colour to absorb deeper and be more vibrant.)

6) Wait for however long, as little as 15 mins, as long as however. Blasting with a blowdryer if you want periodically. (I don't do more than an hour or two, there's only so much your hair can absorb.)

7) Rinse in warm-ish water until marjority of the colour comes out, then shampoo with a sulphate-free shampoo to get the excess dye out. (I shampoo until the water and suds are clear, then there's no dye on my towels, pillowcases, etc.)

8) Rinse hair with a 1:1 mixture of white vinegar and water. (Vinegar helps colour last longer, and hair be more shiny.)

9) Apply conditioner or hair masque if you can. Leave on for however long. (Moisture seals in the colour and nourishes the bleached hair.)

10) Rinse, then towel dry gently and do whatever else you want to your hair. :)

Tips:

-Rubbing alcohol gets most dyes off skin and counter tops.

-Use foils for isolated pieces or around your face (I use foils for my bangs and longer pieces beside my face).

-For the "freshly dyed" look often, touch up the colour slightly, every few days. You don't have to SATURATE or leave it on for two hours, but a little dye for half an hour won't hurt anyone.

-You can add the dye to your conditioner to refresh the colour if you're only using one colour (one colour highlights in black hair, or all your hair is one colour) I don't do this because I use 6+ colours...

-Wash your hair as little as possible, try just using conditioner in between. I only shampoo my hair about once or twice a week.

-Try mixing colours to get a unique shade (but don't mix in developer into manic panic or different brands unless you know they work together) .

-By dying different layers different colours, when they wash out, they all blend together and you get the mixed look that I had, super easy if you want a more interesting look than just one stripe of colour or bands that most people have :P

-Towel dry your hair by wrapping it in a paper towel and squeezing, this is much gentler on your hair than shaking it in a towel, and will save your towels in case you didn't get all the dye out. 

GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN.

02: Hair Bleaching

*NOTE: DO NOT attempt bleaching your hair without parental consent. Also, bleach is dangerous stuff, don't do this if you are not willing to accept the responsibility if your hair comes out badly, bleaching at home is a easy way to save money, but also ruin your hair for as long as it will take to grow out.

So, I bleached my hair myself, I wanted to bleach out my bangs, but my mom wasn't too sure, so I bleached out the bottom layer of my bangs and the long pieces at the side.

I used 40 volume developer and bleach powder (I bought them in homemade packages, cheaper, pretty sketchy, but it all worked out, so its cool).

When it comes to choosing a volume for your developer decide how hardcore you are, I have really dark hair, and wanted it to go light blond, FAST, so I used 40 volume, and probably wouldn't go higher (I don't think anywhere that sells 50, would sell a teenager 50 vol. anyway :P). You can get lighter colours with 30 volume too, but it will take longer and be more gradual.

*40 volume vs. 30 volume isn't going to change the amount of damage, 40 will damage faster, but 30 can do the same amount :P

I mixed ratio 1:1 , then added more developer until I got a creamy paste, sectioned off my hair, and applied the bleach to my hair from the ends to the roots.

I definitely recommend using foils, it makes it so much easier, and protects the rest of your hair/skin from getting bleached. (other hair: will beach, skin: will burn!).

After about 30 minutes, my hair was a dark blond with an orange tone, but since I was dyeing my hair red, I figured it'd be good enough, so I washed my hair, and blow-dried it, then got to dying.

Tips:

-Use a PLASTIC bowl, not metal, it will react with the bleach, and you don't want that. Even better, buy a mixing bowl, anywhere that sells bleach powder/developer should also sell bowls and brushes for dying.
-The bleach WILL expand when it starts working, so be careful, putting bleach over bleached hair can make it extremely dry and damaged, and very likely to break off.
-Don't try to use the bleach once its started expanding (it will look foamy) in the bowl, it might work a little, but not much, I tried :P
-Don't attempt this if you're not confident already with dying your hair, bleach is dangerous stuff, and you can really wreck your hair if you don't know what you're doing.
-Wash the bleach out AWAY from your eyes, if that wasn't obvious.
-I don't like to wear gloves when I dye my hair, but with bleaching, gloves are a MUST, you don't want to get the bleach on your hands as it will wreck your skin.
-Check your hair once you sit to let the bleach develop, every 5-10 minutes, 40 vol. starts working VERY quickly, my hair was already a mid-brown after about 2 minutes.
-Don't bleach your hair lighter than you need to, colours will show up brighter, the lighter your hair, but for deep reds, fuschias, and dark blues, a mid-blond shade should be fine.

01: Organic Honey for Skin.

One thing I'll probably post a lot about is alternative skincare, because I'm into that.

My new favourite thing to use on my face is organic unpasteurized honey. 

Honey is a natural antibacterial, cleanser, moisturizer and soother. So it makes it good for almost anyone's skin, especially people like me who have combination skin (part of my face is very dry, the other oily and acne-prone). 

I simply slather it all over my face and leave it on for at least 10 minutes (you can leave it on for as long as you want, but after about 30 mins, there's no point). And after rinsing my skin feels nourished, soothed, and my acne feels reduced. Also, the pain is reduced, yeah, my pimples hurt before I cover my face with honey... 

I also mix honey, sugar, and my cleanser (L'Oreal Go 360 Clean Sensitive Skin formula) and scrub it all over my face for clean, soft skin after. 

Also. Honey smells good. :)

About Me.

My name is Alexis Emily Chin, I'm a Torontonian, (from Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and VERY proud of it. :)
I'm Chinese-Jamaican by background, so I have a lot of beauty tips and tricks for the Asian girls out there. :D

I'm 15, in grade 10, and I'm a makeup artist, working to be an actuary "when I grow up".

I made this blog so that I could talk about all the things I want to, and give advice on seriously, ANYTHING. I'll probably be writing mostly about hair, makeup, and related products, because I get a shit ton of questions about it, and I get tired of writing it tons of time, so I can put it here, and just link them. But expect a lot of really random posts about completely unrelated stuffs?

If you want to find me anywhere else:
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pikalexis
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alexis-Emily-Chin/111077788495
youtube: http://youtube.com/lexemily and http://www.youtube.com/blackhairgreenlips
tumblr: http://www.alexisemilychin.tumblr.com

If you have questions about something or want me to write about something, email me at alexisemilychin@gmail.com

Generic First Post

I'm new to this whole "blog" thing, but I wanted to make a place where I could post my advice and tips on stuff.

So yeah. I have a lot to say. :)