Wednesday, November 9, 2011

TMS: Manic Panic Hair & FOTD

When Phyrra asked for followers to send in submissions to be featured, I jumped at the chance--I mean, it's PHYRRA, Goddess of all that is cool and beautiful in the Beauty Blog world. I learned about how to *really* dye your hair--she's the one who introduced me to Manic Panic. And while I'm still an incredible noob when it comes to makeup, I'm learning.

A bit of a background--I'm the oldest of 3 girls. So I was I"the groundbreaker" and the "example" for all of life's milestones--from shaving my legs (13) to ears pierced (13) to makeup (15), and coloring my hair (college). My sisters, naturally, got to do these things at FAR far earlier stages. Who, me, bitter? Nah. I'm just making up for lost time ;) (And FWIW I got my first tattoo and nose pierced at 38).

So I've been dying my hair a *long* time--the only times I refrained were when I was pregnant. But earlier this year I just accepted defeat. My hair was more salt than pepper (thanks to kids and meds), thinning (thanks to meds and hormones) and looking just....so......MOMISH. If my hair had gone to the silver that I had in some curls around my face, it would have been cool, but no. Mousey, plain, and meh.

It was time for a little panic. Manic Panic, that is.

After lots of thinking, looking at Phyrra's tutorials, reading as much as I could on the MP website, I finally decided: I would bleach my hair down using MP's Amplified Flash Lightning, then use a combo of Amplified Cotton Candy (light pink) and Amplified Purple Haze (dark rich purple). Amplified in MP terms means it's a stronger formula and meant to last longer.

My 16yo daughter wanted to do the ends of her hair to match her homecoming dress, which her father helped her do, in MP Ultraviolet (Purple/blue). However even after following directions, it didnt seem to hold as well. It's not a perfect science, dying your  hair, but she's "over it now" at least for the time being.

My husband is *awesome*. He not only cuts my hair, he colors it too, and I trust him completely. It's "just" hair. We knew if this went wrong, we could always use a backup box of store color to rescue my hair.

Bleaching it down was interesting--and smelly (it aggrevated my chemical sensitivities, so I was exhausted afterwards). I think in the future I would use two packets to get it even lighter, since we don't think we got enough all over. It's lighter at the top than at the bottom. But even though some came out brassy, I actually liked it. So now I know I can bleach one day, dye the next.

Here's the "after bleach":



I washed my hair twice to get all the bleach out using a clarifying shampoo, and left it damp, per the directions. This is where things went wrong, because the color just wouldn't stay, even after 5+ hours of leaving it in. With Manic Panic, it has lots of great conditioners and you can actually leave it overnight. You can't overdo the haircolor since it's semi-permanent and more of a stain than a hair dye (this is coming from Cindy in customer service who ROCKS).

When I rinsed out the Manic Panic, this is what stayed on:


Um, yeah. EPIC FAIL. At this point I was sooooo tired I submitted my stuff to Phyrra and called it a night. No makeup, hair half-assed, I fell asleep on Halloween at 9:30 pm. Sad.

I woke up the next day, rather anxious. While I can put these pictures up here as a tutorial of what NOT to do, to put that picture up on Phyrra just would NOT DO. NO F'ING WAY.

After a nice chat with the aforementioned Cindy at Manic Panic (I really cannot say enough nice things about her, she was THAT AWESOME) she advised I do the hair color on dry hair instead of wet.  She also suggested I try a vinegar rinse--undiluted vinegar spritzed into my hair (which was crunchy after several hours), then rinse with lukewarm water, then spritz diluted vinegar (half/half with water), comb thru, and rinse again. The vinegar helps seal the dye (I use it when washing batik fabrics).

It also made me, and the bathroom, smell like a giant Easter Egg Dyeing factory.

BUT IT WORKED. Behold......the NEW and IMPROVED hair color, plus the makeup I used for my photo shoot:














Hair: Manic Panic Amplified Flash Lightning (40)
MP Amplified Cotton Candy
MP Amp. Purple Haze
Oscar Blandi Protein Mist Restyling Spray in Jasmine

Face: Reviva Labs Rosewater Facial Spray
TooFaced Primed & Poreless Foundation
Physician’s Formula Mineral Wear—Creamy Natural
Maybelline Concealer—Buff
Laura Geller Blush & Brighten—Sunswept

Eyes: Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Ransom, Woodstock, Perversion
Meow Cosmetics Eye Shadow Super Shine
Meow Cosmetics Eye Shadows in Eerie, Jersey Devil, Poltergeist, Vivisection 
(I loved these samples so much I wound up purchasing full sizes)
Maybelline The Falsies Mascara in Brownish Black

Lips: Hard Candy Visibly Wet lip pencil in Jezebel *LOVE this!*
Kat von D Painted Love lipstick in Hellbent
(Closeup photos of lips were *after* I kissed hubby--some came off LOL)

Titanium Nosering by BodyCandy.com

Brushes by EcoTools & The Body Shop
Lash curler by Urban Decay--Revolution
Eyeglasses: Juicy Couture

*Disclosure--all products used were purchased by me*

10 comments:

  1. Very cool, on both the makeup and the hair! Choreboy, bless his heart, would likely dye my hair if I'd let him... but that ain't happening in my neck o'the woods.

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  2. Oooh wow, it turned out so well the second time! I could never pull of these colors, but you rock this :D I also love the matching eye make-up you did ^^

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  3. LOL Amanda....and thanks ;)

    Jane, thank you! I want to go darker pink next time but this purple is so awesome IRL. I'm slowly learning the makeup stuff, so thanks :) I blended too much, the Meow colors are soo gorgeous.

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  4. Thanks Sarabel--the Purple Haze is a FANTASTIC color, I highly recommend it! Very rich & royal :)

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  5. the glasses suit you great, i like that picture the best:-)

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  6. Very cool! Also, you are so cute, you have such a beautiful smile! :D

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    1. Thank you so much :) Your sweet words are greatly appreciated!! xoxo

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  7. I came across this and I realize it was a long time ago that you posted but I wanted to share some advice beyond the vinegar tip (which I love to do as well, because it keeps the color more vibrant). The issue I think you had with leaving it in damp wasn't that your hair was wet. I have very dark hair naturally, almost black and always have to bleach to get good coloration in my hair. However, you used a clarifying shampoo and rinsed the hair twice. I have found that Manic Panic works better on dirty hair. It also works well when you still have some bleach in there. Like, when you rinse the bleach (no shampoo) and then allow to dry and then color your hair. When you cleaned your hair and washed it, there isn't anything for the dye to hold on to. In that case, you would have wanted to leave it in your hair for at least overnight - preferrably 8 hours plus and you would have had better results. I find that the colors come out more vibrant (especially with lighter colors like cotton candy) on dry hair. If you do use clean hair to dye with, spritzing with a bit of salt water first seems to help some to hold the color there. Either way, the second take looks much better and I love your pictures :) I agree with others that you have a lovely smile. I just figured I would throw what I learned out there... maybe it will help someone else when they find your blog :)

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    1. Hey Willa, THANK YOU for your awesome comment and suggestions!!! I ALWAYS ALWAYS welcome anything that can help me or my readers now or in the future!!!

      My hair has been through some drastic changes since this (I shaved my head for charity!) so I'm considering skipping the bleach altogether (the front of my hair is mostly white now, and since that's what I can see, it works for me! LOL)

      I will most certainly refer to this when I am ready to color my hair--which may be very soon ;)

      Thanks so much! STAY AWESOME!!

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