sugarcane in the easy morning

   LIM is going positively great- I mean they give us free pizza on Fridays and my best friend there, Sam, came in the other day wearing glitter costume boots. What's not to love? This week, I ended up in a blog class- how fitting (what I'm so funny oh my god) and on the last day, we took a trip down to Tudor City park and overpass where we partnered up and took outfit photos of us. My lovely friend, Ashley, is responsible for these works of art.

♥Betty Boop skirt: stolen from Vivi

♥Crop top: H&M

Things I ♥: Adore Hair Dye

"baby blue", "pink rose", "violet gem", "ruby red"

*completely un-sponsored (but hey Adore, if you want to give me free dye, that'd be cool too)*
   Currently, the only dye I ever use is Adore. Though the color selection is not nearly as expansive as brands such as Manic Panic, I'm huge on long lasting colors and this dye is perfect (this may not apply to others since my hair creates basically no oils, so I only wash my hair once a week). I've only used around five colors (if you don't count mixing) on myself but have dyed other's hair with other shades ("Orange Blaze", "Purple Rage", "Hot Pink", etc) and not only do the colors come out about as bright as Manic Panic and Crazy Color but will last around 3X longer- it's wonderful. Also, being a broke, unemployed, teenager, price is a pretty big turning point for me. This shit is $5 (half as much as Arctic Fox, Manic Panic, etc). $5. And, about one and a half bottles will cover my entire head- have you seen how much hair I have??

♥Ruby Red/Truly Red

I've never seen either of these reds alone but have mixed around a half a bottle of "Truly Red" with around a quarter of "Ruby Red" to create a more Ash Costello deep shade like what she's got now instead of the orangey color she had earlier. Overall, the color came out well and I was happy with it for about a week until I took a shower and it slightly faded (OK I did wash it with shampoo and warm water by accident)

 and that was the downfall of all my red hair dreams. The problem with this color on hair is that red not only clashes with about EVERYTHING but also turns a gross brass-y color and is quick to fade due to the pigments. :(((((

♥Violet Gem

My next color was this lovely shade! I had to Color Oops and bleach over this one and I was really impressed on how it took to one of my infamous bleach jobs. It was slightly patchy due to a not so well done mixing with a dash of "Pink Rose" but I was super crazy happy with this one- I'm actually thinking of going back to this color once my current one fades out. 

(right) my hair after 3 weeks, (left) 2 weeks

this color I took A+ care of; once a week washing, no shampoo, putting my hair under the bathtub spout (coldest water possible). This one really didn't want to come out- I had to scrub with Ajax, wash religiously with Head and Shoulders, and even resort to a bleach bath for it to be dyed over.

♥Pink Rose/Baby Blue

These two I used for the same hair "phase" 

I've never done blue hair before so this one was pretty exciting- since I wanted this one to be a bit more pastel, I have been washing it with shampoo and regular temperature water. I've had it for two weeks now and the blue has turned teal in some spots and kind of mint colored (I'm so excited over that) whereas the pink has gotten a little less bright but still has barely faded.

(right) just done, (left) 2 weeks

The thing that I absolutely love about Adore is that not only do their colors last forever, but once they do fade, instead of murky tones and greys, I've experienced and seen only nice pastels. Overall, Adore is lovely.

How To: Change Hair Color With Minimal Bleaching

   I haven't made a beauty post in forever- mainly because I kind of have lost interest in the whole "beauty blogger" gig but this is pretty relevant I guess so I'm just going to proceed on.
   There's no doubt about it. My hair is damaged. Mainly from having an obsession with hair straightening that started off in 7th grade and has gone downhill from there but also partly from dyeing and bleaching my hair since the 5th grade. I had black hair for quite awhile which was a great lifesaver because it requires no bleach and also I barely ever had to re-dye it. Overall, a great decision and four month break. I of course got bored and basically destroyed all hair I had with excessive Ajax and baking soda treatments when the most efficient (and least damaging) thing was Color Oops. I then had an unfortunate incident with trying to go blonde and bleaching my hair three times in one day (REALLY bad idea) just to go back to black. Later on, I color oopsed one half of my hair and went Ash Costello using Adore Truly Red and Kaleidocolors bleach (it was an absolutely disgusting color and consistency- it also didn't work awesome and is about the same price as Clairol which is A+)

I basically had a constant soundtrack of "Death Of The Party" playing where ever I went

It overall didn't kill my hair but definitely wasn't great for it. The red faded quickly though (I also couldn't wear any color aside from black with it) so I ended up color oops-ing the rest of my hair and also bleaching to go to a purplish-pink (using Adore Violet Gem mixed with a bit of Adore Pink Rose).

I've always wanted to do a half and half and Harper (the scene queen who dyes my hair) was leaving for camp soon so I took the opportunity and went half blue half pink because it reminded me of cotton candy. That is currently the hair I have on my head!!

Though one of my biggest problems with hair dye is fading incredibly fast (ex: my purple hair earlier in the year) but to get the blue in and the purple on one side out, this was quite the opposite. I tried about everything- Vitamin C (crush up tablets, mix them up with Head and Shoulders, put on hair and let soak), Over-washing with hot water and Head and Shoulders shampoo, and the worst of all, baking soda (NEVER do it- this treatment does just about the same damage as bleaching and by then it's just worth it to resort to bleach). It wasn't coming out. The purple had faded to kind of an orange tinted purple shade but it definitely wasn't enough to dye blue over and at that point, I was way too over excited for this color and didn't want to wait and do more treatments over the next month (if your hair is completely fried, just keep washing with Head and Shoulders and hot water and you'll be good in a few weeks) and I have a little bit of life left in my hair so I resorted to the bleach bath. 

NOTE: a bleach bath is really the last resort- you don't want to do it unless you really can't wait like me or it REALLY isn't coming out (this mainly applies to darker blues) 

A bleach bath isn't nearly as scary as it sounds- yes it will damage your hair because that's what bleach does but won't hurt it as much as a regular bleach process will. Basically, what you do is take any shampoo you've got (I recommend Head and Shoulders) and mix it with about a packet of bleach (I've got short hair but a TON of it and one worked just fine on me) and developer (really doesn't matter what volume- I used 40 because I'm an idiot and that's all I had)- there's no real ratio. Whatever feels right I guess. Then, apply to hair as you would with regular bleach. I mainly focused on the side I wanted to do blue but since I had some mixture left over and wanted to go a lighter pink, I put a bit of it on the other side too. 

Even though I used to bleach my hair and used to have blonde bits all the time when I was younger, my locks are basically done with me at this point, their big "fuck you" to me is to never get to a decent blonde. This was surprisingly the only time in months I've gotten a good blonde!! This picture was taken because Sam thought the horrible bleach job on the pink side of my head was really funny but look how actually blonde it is!!

Since I was really worried about horrible damage on my hair (I'd bleached it fully a couple weeks before), I used two Not Your Mother's Intensive Hair Renewal Treatment packets I'd gotten from Ricky's the day before. Though my hair didn't feel better than before I'd done the bleach, it definitely wasn't as disgusting and unbearable to touch as last time. After letting my hair dry (no heat!!), Harper applied Adore Pink Rose on one side and Adore Baby Blue on the other. The final product was this cute thing:

I'm super duper happy to finally have half and half hair and feel like the emo Melanie Martinez. I'm real excited for it to start to fade and look a little more pastel-y- I've had it for a little over a week now and have taken around three showers using room temperature water and the blue has turned slightly teal which is pretty cool. Overall, I'm #livin #lovin life and my mom is questioning wether or not she wants to be seen in public with me. 

A Talk On Front Porch Step

   If you don't feel like reading the entire statement I've got prepared, this sentence sums it all up: Warped needs to get their shit together. Let's take this back a couple months. In January, the band's single member, Jake McElfresh was accused of sexual harassment of multiple underage girls through text and in person confrontations. Screenshots of messages got out and all hell broke loose- there was a pretty obvious divide: the ignorant Front Porch Step fans that were excited to see their favorite band at Warped and those actually concerned for victims of McElfresh's actions and future young girls he could possibly harm. Even if McElfresh had learned his lesson and wouldn't repeat this, those who manipulate and harm anyone should NOT be given opportunities to thrive within this industry. There was a petition started against Front Porch Step playing the tour and though it did not reach it's ultimate goal, conversation was sparked and founder, Kevin Lyman, said he was dealing with it- around two days later, the band was dropped from Pure Noise and Allison Weiss, who had planned to tour the UK with McElfresh, made a statement saying she had left the tour. Though radical and great procedures were being made, there continued to be no statement from Lyman. In the end, a statement on Lyman's twitter was made that FPS would not be attending. However, on July 1, In Nashville, our favorite band was due to play. Needless to say, I along with thousands of others, were furious. How dare Lyman allow this to happen? Especially after calling him off? Thankfully, there was countless backlash against McElfresh on multiple member's of tour's twitters telling him to not stick around or else "you want to find out what half the people on this tour want to do to you" and to see Man Overboard at the same time instead. Dan "Soupy" Campbell even cancelled his performance in the acoustic basement due to play after FPS. There were even discussions at band tents on the issues of allowing a sexual abuser play a major music festival. Although most of the right publicity for the performance was displayed, there was inevitably going to be comments from fans supporting him. Most supporters claimed there was no evidence against McElfresh's actions along with saying they'd see him at Warped. Luckily, this was a complete one time thing, FPS played twenty minutes and then left. On a music website, it was said that this performance was a part of a rehabilitation process and that supervisors were there, Warped Tour also did not pay him. Lyman reported, "Since no one has filed a charge, for me it’s time to move on. He’s not on the whole tour, this is one piece of a puzzle of trying to bring people back that have made mistakes in their lives. He could be going to jail, and if there had been charges against him I assure you he wouldn’t have been here." Though this statement is riddled with many different controversial things (such as why is performing in front of fans !!the people he's hurt!! part of his therapy) the line that sticks out the most to me is "this is one piece of a puzzle of trying to bring people back that have made mistakes in their lives." zoom in a little more on one single word: MISTAKES. What Jake McElfresh did is NOT a mistake. Forgetting to lock the door behind you before you leave the house is a mistake. Sexual harassing multiple underage girls is a crime. Jake McElfresh did not make a mistake. He committed a crime. To sum up this large hunk of writing, I am livid Warped and Kevin Lyman allowed Front Porch Step to play this year's Nashville date and I believe the incident has sparked some great conversation on how to make music festivals like this more safe and how to avoid things like this. Overall, this entire situation is a wake up call towards Warped Tour. If something like this happens again, I can guarantee I will not be attending the festival next year. 

Research:
♥Kevin Lyman Explains Why Front Porch Step Played Today's Warped Tour: 'This Was a One-Time Supervised Part of a Rehabilitation Process'
♥Musicians React to Front Porch Step Playing Warped Tour
♥Everything We Know About The Sexual Harassment Allegations Front Porch Step
♥Front Porch Step Speaks Out In Lengthy Statement "You deserve to hear my side of the story"

i'll get a heart tattoo

lots and lots and lots has happened. wow. I just have so many cute pictures and moments that i want to share that i've just decided to compile them all here.

I went to see my grandma last Friday. Most of my family on my mom's side is located outside Center City Philadelphia in cute towns that look so homey and wholesome and different from New Jersey. We visited the cake shop I used to go to when I was a really little kid and get petite fours with my name on them.

I took my little sister, Rachel, to see Heffron Drive at Webster Hall the other night. I'm not a big fan of the band (Rach loved Big Time Rush and we kind of have an inside joke about Kendall Shmidt).

The opening act, Janet Devlin, was actually gorgeous- very folk (a mandolin!!) and had a really haunting voice- maybe only good music that night.

Pretty close to Kendall himself. The show was completely acoustic which I found pretty cool- I wish I actually liked them. The crowd however, was disgusting. There were constant choruses of "take off your shirt" and other (more sexualizing) comments.

yours truly and Janet Devlin. 

(me waiting on the curb after the show)

I've been watching quite a lot of Almost Famous it's one of those movies that doesn't really get old for me. This overall "Tiny Dancer" scene really got me last time. I don't know why. 

the 4th of july was a thing. the gang lit sparklers and slept in a tent. a lot of fall out boy was played. 

very uneventful post, kind of just a collection of things I want to remember I guess.