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24.8.11

Fashion Reading: I Love Your Style



I Love Your Style by Amanda Brooks

This is a new kind of post here on rose&violette. I was shopping at Urban Outfitters and I was sad because I found everything to be so expensive (for something with the same quality you can find at Forever 21 for a third of the price or less).So I wandered around in the books section, which I never did. And BANG! Illumination: I need to start collecting fashion, style and beauty books.

The first book I bought is I Love Your Style by Amanda Brooks. The book illustrates different styles (classic, high fashion, minimalist, etc.) and how to achieve them. There are a lot of pictures of women from now and then. I haven't read all the book yet, but I really like how it is written: It feels like Amanda Brooks is talking with you. It's easy to read (even if English is my second language) and I feel like I will refer to this book to from time to time. Style is forever, no?

And you, did you read this book? What do you think about it? Do you have any suggestions of fashion, style and beauty books?

22.8.11

Violette: Going Long (Repost)

Hi! I've been so busy last week and last weekend that I didn't have any time to take outfit pictures. But I found this outfit post from last summer and I still wear this dress, so I decided to repost it.

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robe maxi - h&m - maxi dress
sandales - spring (old) - sandals
bague - ardène (old) - ring

Here it is! My first and new maxi dress! It's like a very, very long t-shirt. I thought that if I get tired of it, I could just take the hem up to the knee (hi, mom! haha) and it would be a nice little summer dress. But for now, I like it. It's different from what I'm used to wear. I also like the black and blue together, a mix I wouldn't wear before.

***

La voici! Ma première et nouvelle robe maxi! C'est comme un très, très long t-shirt. J'ai pensé que si jamais je n'aimais plus le look de la robe longue, je pourrais toujours la faire racourcir au-dessus du genou (bonjour maman! haha) et ce serait une jolie petite robe d'été. Mais pour le moment, je l'aime. C'est différent de ce que j'ai l'habitude de porter. J'aime aussi le bleu et le noir ensemble, un mélange que je n'aurais pas porté il y a quelques années.

17.8.11

Violette: I Want (Black Ballerina Edition)

If you are anything like me, as much as I love fancy shoes and everything, I always end up wearing my trusted black ballerinas for comfort. But sadly, ballerinas have a very short life span. Every season, I must try to find a new pair and the problem is, I'm picky. Oh-so-picky.

My ballerina must have:
  • a somewhat pointy toe (to elongate the leg)
  • a slight heel (if you never experienced the difference between flat and 0.5-1" heel... try it you'll be amazed by the comfort)
  • a simple design (the ballerina must not be the focal point of my outfit).
If it can be in real leather, it's a plus (to me, leather is more comfortable because it can breathe).

So, I always have a hard time finding new ballerinas. Here are a few models currently on my "to-try" list.


1. Aldo, 75 CA$
2. No Angel via Globo, 14,98 CA$ (on sale)
3. Asos, 44,26 CA$
4. Spring, 49,99 CA$

But still, I would prefer something even more plain than these ones. Any suggestions for me?

And what about you? Do you wear ballerinas? Are you as picky as I am?

16.8.11

Inspiration: Clémence Poésy

I really, really love her effortless, minimalist but polished style. I also love her hair. And I'm jealous that she played in Harry Potter, but we're getting out of subject.

What do you think of Clémence Poésy's style?


Source: bigbangpang.blogspot.com


Source: toppayingideas.com


Source: twigandbone.blogspot.com


Source: norandom.com


Source: perditabradshaw.blogspot.com


Source: aufeminin.com


source: madame.lefigaro.fr

15.8.11

Violette: Hair Evolution (2011 Edition)

If you are following rose&violette for long enough, this post might be familiar. In fact, I published this post last year in August. It's still relevant because I'm still growing out my hair and August 2011 marks the third year of it. I enjoy looking at these old (and not necessary flattering... ugh!) pictures of myself to see how much my hair has grown. Sometimes I feel my hair isn't growing fast enough but seeing these pictures is encouraging! I would love my hair to really go past my shoulders while being curly (remember that curly hair shrinks!). Will I reach my goal? We'll see next year for the comparison.

And in case you are wondering, this time I'm not planning to change my haircolor anytime soon. (But I might change my mind haha!)

Here's a recent picture of my hair (August, 2011).

(You can see the whole outfit post here)

The picture doesn't really do justice to the lenght of my hair, but now my curly hair goes a little bit past my shoulders. The "problem" is, the more it grows, the more it curls like ringlets, so the more it shrinks haha! But I wouldn't trade my curly hair for straight hair, even if I sometimes say so. Being curly is part of who I am.

P.S. The post on my hair products is coming up soon!

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Originally published in August, 2010


Like I promised before, let's take a look at my hair evolution for the last two years. You may think my actual hair is not very long, but I've been growing it for two years, along with coming back to a more natural color.

Let's start. (Please excuse the quality of the pictures!)

This is me in May 2008. I was so bored with my hair, I let my hairdressed convinced me to go platinum and get the cut long at the front, short behind (very trendy at that moment). It wasn't that yellow for real. It was pretty, I liked it a lot, I could go curly (as you know I'm naturally curly) or straight (very cool with bangs).


***

Comme je l'ai déjà promis auparavant, regardons ensemble l'évolution de mes cheveux depuis les deux dernières années. Peut-être trouvez-vous que mes cheveux ne sont pas très longs, mais je les fais allonger depuis deux ans, tout en essayant de retourner à une couleur un peu plus naturelle.

Commençons! (Veuillez excuser la qualité des photos.)

Me voici en mai 2008. J'avais envie d'un changement. Ma coiffeuse m'a convaincue d'aller platine avec la fameuse coupe "concave" (longue en avant, courte à l'arrière, très populaire à l'époque). Ce n'était pas si jaune en réalité. C'était très joli, j'aimais beaucoup, je pouvais laisser mes cheveux frisés (comme vous savez, mes cheveux frisent naturellement) ou encore les lisser (pour un look assez mode, avec une frange/toupet).




But platinum is very hard to maintain. You have to go to the salon every four weeks maximum (and my natural color is dark blonde/light brown). In August 2008, I was tired of that. I went to see a different hairdresser than my usual one, and she conviced me to stay platinum, but with another cut. Oh god! I never expected to go THAT short. But it looked awesome straight. Curly, that was another story. It looked like a mom's cut. It took me less than a week to want to grow my hair. I've been growing it since that day.

***

Mais platine est une couleur qui demande beaucoup d'entretien. Il faut aller au salon à toutes les quatre semaines maximum (et ma couleur naturelle est seulement blond foncé/châtain clair!). En août 2008, j'en avais marre. Je suis allée voir une coiffeuse différente, et celle-ci m'a convaincue de rester platine, mais avec une autre coupe. Mon dieu! Je n'ai jamais pensé avoir les cheveux SI courts. Mais c'était vraiment très beau lisse. Frisé, c'était une toute autre histoire. Ça avait l'air d'une coupe de cheveux de «matante». Ça m'a pris moins d'une semaine pour vouloir faire allonger les cheveux. Et je les fais allonger depuis ce jour.




At the end of August 2008, I was really tired of platinum and its maintenance. I also wanted a more natural color. So I went blonde. And as you can see, I was forced to wear my hair straight because of the cut.

***

À la fin août, je n'en pouvais plus du platine et de l'entretien que ça demandait. Je voulais aussi avoir une couleur plus naturelle. Donc j'ai teint mes cheveux en blond. Comme vous voyez sur la photo, je devais porter mes cheveux droits à cause de la coupe.





The month after, when I wanted to dye my roots, I had a problem: the roots turned orange and the rest of the hair was blonde. I HATE orange or yellow hair. I decided to dye my hair a little darker (as was a 8, I went for a 7, if you are familiar with the numbers associated with hair color). It didn't look very good. My hair went much darker than I expected, and with a kind of green highlight that wasn't pretty at all. AND on top of that, my hair sort of died... it all looked so much damaged after that change of color, it was like raw straw. I wasn't pleased. (Remember my goal of growing my hair...!)

***

Le mois suivant, quand j'ai voulu teindre ma repousse, j'ai eu un problème: la repousse était devenue orangée et le reste de mes cheveux étaient blonds. Je DÉTESTE les cheveux oranges ou jaunes. J'ai décidé de teindre mes cheveux un peu plus foncés (comme j'étais un 8, j'ai opté pour un 7, si vous êtes familiers avec les chiffres associés aux couleurs de cheveux). Ce n'était pas très joli. Mes cheveux étaient beaucoup plus foncés que ce à quoi je m'attendais, et ils avaient une sorte de reflet vert qui n'était vraiment pas joli. ET par-dessus tout ça, j'ai comme «tué» mes cheveux... ils paraissaient tellement endommagés après ce changement de couleur, ils étaient comme de la paille rêche. Je n'étais pas contente. (Rappelez-vous mon but de faire allonger mes cheveux...!)



So I returned to the salon. The girl explained to me that I did "burn" my hair. She couldn't dye my hair lighter than it was because of that. Because I didn't want to go brown, she dyed it deep purple. I DON'T have a picture of that because I hated it. One month later, I was back at the salon and, in spite of returning blonde, I had my hair dyed brown. It was supposed to be a 5, but it just looked almost black. A lot of people told me it was cute, but I hated it. I felt disguised.
***

Je suis donc retournée au salon. La coiffeuse m'a expliqué que j'avais bel et bien «brûlé» mes cheveux avec les teintures multiples. Elle ne pouvait pas ramener mes cheveux au blond puisqu'ils étaient beacuoup trop endommagés et risquaient de «tomber» (QUOI?!!). Parce que je ne voulais pas avoir les cheveux bruns, elle m'a teint les cheveux prune foncée. Je N'AI PAS de photo de cette couleur parce que je la détestais. Un mois plus tard, j'étais de retour au salon et, comme je ne pouvais toujours pas revenir blonde, elle a teint mes cheveux en brun. C'était supposé être un 5, mais ça paraissait pratiquement noir. Plein de gens m'ont dit que ça m'allait bien, que ça me donnait du «teint», mais j'ai détesté. Je me sentais déguisée.


Then, in December 2008, I returned to my usual hairdresser and she accepted to do some highlights in my hair. We would gradually go blonder, even though there would be some ackward orange/yellow stades. This picture is from January 2009, I had returned one time to the salon to get more highlights. And my hairdresser told me to skip the straightening if I could, to help my hair return to a healthy state. I tried, but it was bizarre because my hair wouldn't curl anymore, as if it was too damaged.

***

Et puis, en décembre 2008, je suis retournée voir ma coiffeuse habituelle et elle a accepté de faire des mèches dans mes cheveux. On retournerait graduellement blond, même si je devais accepter le fait qu'il y aurait quelques étapes orangées ou jaunâtres. Cette photo date de janvier 2009, j'étais retournée au salon une fois de plus pour plus de mèches. Et ma coiffeuse m'avait dit d'essayer le moins possible de lisser mes cheveux au fer plat pour les aider à revenir en santé. J'ai essayé, mais c'était bizarre parce que mes cheveux ne frisaient presque plus, comme s'ils étaient trop endommagés.


And this is what I've done since then. I've been going to the salon every three months to get highlights, sometimes all blonde highlights, sometimes blonde plus my natural color highlights. I also cut the ends every three months. This is me last November.
***

Et c'est ce que je fais depuis ce temps. Je vais au salon à tous les trois mois pour mes mèches. Parfois uniquement des mèches blondes, parfois des mèches blondes plus des mèches de ma couleur naturelle. Je fais aussi couper les pointes (mini pointes!) à tous les trois mois. La photo a été prise en novembre dernier.




And this me at this moment. When curly, my hair touches my shoulders (so they are in fact longer than that if straightened). I want to grow it more! The problem I have is that curly hair is very fragile, plus the highlighting process makes it weak. But it gradually grows. I read a lot on curly hair in the past months, I'm now using products without sulfate or silicone, and I hardly straighten my hair (except for bangs or fringe). I think I'll do a post about the products I use and how to treat curly hair, it was like a revelation to me so I want to share with you.

***

Et me voici donc en ce moment. Lorsqu'ils sont frisés, mes cheveux touchent mes épaules (donc ils sont en fait plus longs que ça lorsqu'ils sont droits). Je veux encore les faire allonger! Le problème est que les cheveux frisés sont très fragiles, et les mèches (décolorées) les rendent encore plus fragiles. Mais ils allongent tranquillement. J'ai beaucoup lu sur les cheveux frisés dernièrement, et j'utilise maintenant des produits sans sulfate ou silicone, et je ne défrise mes cheveux que rarement (sauf pour une frange ou toupet). Je pense que je vais faire un billet sur les produits que j'utilise et sur comment entretenir les cheveux frisés, c'était une sorte de révélation pour moi, donc je voudrais la partager avec vous.



I'll soon go to the salon to get highlights plus a little cut, I'll probably have blonde + natural color highlights, I think I'm getting a little too blonde. I also may get bangs. I'm in need for a change, but I'm kind of scared to change my haircolor (NO WAY I'm getting my hair cut). It just took me so much time to get to this color. I'm thinking about the ombre trend, but I'm not sure it will look that good on curly hair. My hair is mostly curly at the ends.

What do you think? Any ideas for a slight change? Or should I keep it as it is? And do you have any hair stories you would like to share?

***

Je vais bientôt aller au salon pour les mèches plus une petite coupe (pointes), je ferai probablement faire des mèches blondes + des mèches de ma couleur naturelle, je pense que je deviens un peu trop blonde. Je vais peut-être aussi me faire couper la frange ou encore un toupet. Je sens que j'ai besoin d'un changement, mais j'ai un peu peur de changer ma couleur (il est hors de question que je fasse couper mes cheveux!). Ça m' a pris tellement de temps pour retourner à une couleur un peu plus naturelle. La tendance dégradée («ombre hair») me tente, mais j'ai peur que ce ne soit pas très beau dans les cheveux frisés (surtout que les miens frisent au niveau des pointes).

Qu'en pensez-vous? Des idées pour un changement subtil? Ou devrais-je conserver mes cheveux tel qu'ils sont? Et avez-vous des histoires de cheveux que vous avez le goût de partager?

10.8.11

Rose: I Want

Ahhh, the fall collection. Always a favorite of mine. I don't know why I've always been more of a fall person - I love the colors, the fabrics, the smells, the light. My usual shopping September shopping spree is coming soon and I honestly can't wait to get my hands on some of these pieces (of course, not being employed at the moment means I can't afford all these items, but I have a feeling number 2, 5, 9, 10 and 13 will soon be mine).



1. Necklace - HM - 5
2. Maryjanes - Etam - 35
3. Straight leg jeans - Naf Naf - 49
4. Striped long sleeved shirt - Naf Naf - 29
5. Black sweater with bow - Naf Naf - 35
6. Long wrapped cardigan - Dorothy Perkins - £38
7. Elbow-patch cardigan - HM - 15
8. Cream dress - HM - 30
9. Bag - Eram - 40
10. Ballerinas - Delia's - $19
11. Wrapped cardigan - HM - 25
12. Riding boots - HM - 60
13. Sleeveless wrapped cardigan - HM - €40

9.8.11

Rose: Pattern Mixing


Dress: Smart Set
Cardigan: Primark
Sandals: Yellow
Necklace: HM

Hello everyone! Rose here filling in while Violette is getting better. Take care, girl, will you?

And I couldn't be more happy to take part of the newest EBEW challenge, pattern mixing - I got this lovely dress through the mail today, a kind exportation from Violette (I actually ordered her to do it, but I swear she was willing).


Everybody, Everywear | Pattern Mixing

8.8.11

Hello there.

Oh, hi. Remember me?

Sorry for being MIA for so long. Well, not only did I hurt my back, but I've also cought a virus. Unknown. I've been to the doctor and there isn't anything do to about it. He wouldn't even give me a few days off from work but I do feel like total crap. So I'll take the time I need to get better while working full time and I'll come back on the blog. As I said last week, you really need to feel relatively good about yourself to take outfit pictures.

But don't worry, I won't leave you without anything to read. I'll try to do some I want or Yay or Nay posts, repost some of our favorite posts, or link up to other great blogs. And maybe Rose will fill in for some outfit posts!

Anyway, thank you for your patience, I promise I'll be right back very soon.

- Violette xx

4.8.11

Ten Items: Summer Heat

Since a large part of America has been suffering from a month-long heatwave, which temperatures skyrocketing as high as 45C, I thought it would be timely to present some items that are ideal for this kind of weather. There are basic and simple rules to help you get through the heat, like wearing breathable fabrics like cotton in comfortable, loose pieces (that leather bag and denim jeans will have to wait 'til the fall, ladies). Here's what we found to help you get through the summer without sacrificing your style:





1. Maxi dress - Dorothy Perkins - £15
2. Hat - Aldo - $20
3. Skirt - Dorothy Perkins - £20
4. Blouse - Oasis - £11
5. Espadrille sandals - Topshop - $50
6. Tote - Mollie & Fred - £12
7. Cami - Old Navy - $20
8. Dress - ModCloth - $70
9. Espadrille flats - Dorothy Perkins - £15
10. Hair band - Buckle - $5

3.8.11

Violette: I Want

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday. I've been sick: I hurt my back on Monday. So I didn't go to work, neither did I take outfit pictures for the last two days.

I also have no pictures from Osheaga, it was way too hot to take beautiful outfit pictures, I was all sweaty and red. (Did I tell you how much I hate the heat?! Grrr.) But I'll try to recreate my outfit as soon as I feel better. There is this thing about style blogging, you need to feel relatively good about yourself to take outfit pictures!

I thought it was too early to post this, but as I don't have anything else prepared, and I don't want to leave you all week without any new post, there you go!

I went at H&M last week and I really loved the new items for fall. I had to force myself not to buy anything because summer is still going on strong here in Montreal. Anyway, here are my favorite items:


1. H&M dress, 39,95 CA$
2. H&M coat, 69,95 CA$
3. H&M bangle, 14,95 CA$
4. H&M shoes, 59,95 CA$
5. H&M dress, 29,95 CA$
6. H&M skirt, 34,95 CA$
7. H&M top, 29,95 CA$


What do you think of H&M's fall 2011 collection?

1.8.11

Violette: La Jupe-Culotte




H&M top and belt, T.I.L. Darling shorts, Le Château shoes

These shorts look like a skirt (well, they do on me). It reminds me of something I wore when I was younger (I hope it will not betray my age...!). In French we called it "jupe-culotte", which means, litterally, skirt-short. I guess that's what you call skort in English? Well, anyway. Our jupe-culottes were like a skirt in the front, but like shorts in the back. Rethinking about it... my only question is.... why?! haha!