Kingdom Of Style

Blue Monday

Some of you might have picked up in one of my posts last week, that I intended on dying some of my hair turquoise.

As you probably guessed, by my insessant moaning, that I hate my short hair. I regret, every day, cutting off my long mane. But gone it is, so I have to make the best of what I have until it grows.

So, I decided I would make it better by making it blue. Blue hair, I figured, can make everything better and what better time to have blue hair than when you are fast approaching 39. Seemed a good a time as any!

Off I headed to James Margey, a reader recommendation and a hairdresser who actually used to cut my hair about 10 years ago, to have my hair bleached and blued by their colourist Sam McCulloch.

I was honestly quite apprehensive that she'd be able to lift my naturally dark brown hair enough for the blue to take. And also the fact I some remnants of black on the ends from when I dyed it black about 2 years ago. With her expertise, she did manage to lift it. She used a 12% bleach strength on the ends and 6% on the roots. I opted to get my fringe and a section of the right had side blue and the rest remain brown.

4 hours later I had blonde hair...

Seeing myself as a blonde was weird and unnerving. I've not a fan of blonde hair at all, so to have it myself made me a bit uncomfortable. But it was good to see because I knew I had a brilliant base for the blue.

Overall, it took just over 5 hours to go from brown to blue. But I could not be happier with my peacock feather hued hair.

I was expecting my bleached hair to feel utterly horrific, but my parents legacy to me is amazing hair genes, so I have incredibly strong, resilient hair, which means the texture really changed very little. With some deep conditioning treatments it'll be right as rain.

The weirdest thing of all though, is that I think blue hair looks really natural on me. Like I was meant to have it. And who am I to argue with that?

Queen Michelle

Perfectly Elegant

I've made mention of this a few times before, but American Apparel periodically send me parcels and have done for a few years now. It seems an entirely random collection of items in each parcel and don't seemed aimed at any specific blogger - an AA pick 'n' mix if you will.

What I find that usually everything in the parcels I receive are sized for someone much tinnier than myself. Therefore 90% of the time everything goes to a charity shop.

A couple of weeks ago,  another parcel arrived but this time the contents of it didn't feel quite as random as they usually are. Everything was perfectly coloured matched, with the whole package consisting of warm, red and orange tones. It still wasn't a package picked for me as the items inside it were really nothing I would have chosen in a million years - pleated orange cullotes? I rather think not!

However, in the spirit of good humour and not being afraid to look a bit daft, I decided to try the 'outfit' that was contained within the parcel. For American Apparel it's all rather demure. There was also some nude, fishnet stockings in the parcel, but that's another story.

The pleated cullotes are accompanied by a red pussy bow blouse and orange suede clutch. This outfit feels like something you'd see on one of those shows where the contestant is dressed by their mother/boyfriend/best friend. Someone's take on 'grown up'.

I may be inching ever closer to 40, but dressing as grown up as this is entirely alien to me. I don't mean I dress like a child normally, but I dress without the expected sophistication of someone my age. This outfit is very suitable and proper for my age...and I feel every year of it!

I just can't be one of those women who suddenly become all prim and proper when the reach their late 30's/early 40's.

Instead, I shall be the one in the salon next week having a quarter of my head dyed turquoise...

Queen Michelle

Light + Bright

It was a bit of an impulse buy admittedly, but when I saw a pair of neon yellow jeans on ASOS I knew I had to have them. With neon fast becoming a bit of a regular in my warbrobe, I am enjoying finding ways to wear it and treat it almost like I would a neutral.

I am still very much enamoured of the neon yellow and animal print combination, so that was the route I took when I wore the jeans the first time. It's such a lovely and unexpected pairing and I never seem to get bored trying to find new ways to do it.

In this instance, the animal print is in the form of a pretty, scalloped hem top from Primark, which I am wearing over a sheer, palest grey dress by Complex Geometries and a nude lace body suit from American Apparel. Topped off with my Cambridge Satchel Company bag, ASOS gold cuffs and Burberry Prorsum shoes.

Whenever I layer sheer white over neon yellow, I am immediately reminded of a cool glass of freshly made lemonade for some reason. It feels summery perhaps, and even though it's in the middle of winter here, the lightness and brightness of the tones combined serve to brighten up the cloudy, dull days of winter.

Queen Michelle