Guest Post: Maternity Series - TGIF

H&M Mama top and shorts, H&M flower pin, Forever 21 sunglasses

This concludes our special Maternity series. Hope you enjoyed it! Your comments are welcome, as always.

Thank you again, Nancy!

Guest Post: Maternity Series - Classique

Zara cardigan (non maternity), H&M Mama top, Thyme Maternity skirt, H&M flower pin, Aldo earrings, Forever 21 sunglasses

Guest Post: Maternity Series - Trouvez la robe

Zara dress (non maternity), Thyme Maternity jeans, Flower pin gift from Violette

Guest Post: Maternity Series - Nancing The Dancing

Zara top (non maternity), Thyme Maternity pants, H&M scarf

Guest Post: Maternity Series - 5 @ 7

Zara jacket (non maternity), Mango dress (non maternity), Thyme Maternity jeans, Urban Outfitters belt, Geox shoes

Inspiration: Zooey Deschanel

What's not to like about this girl, really? Doll face, raven hair, acting talent and a lovely voice. But what strike me the most is her seemingly effortless 60s vibe she pulls off, from her clothes to her haircut to her makeup.

What do you think of Zooey's style? Here are a few of my own favorites:

 

 

 

 

 What do you think?

Guest Post: Maternity Series - Baby Shower

Mexx Maternity dress, Havaianas thongs, Aldo earrings, Bangle souvenir from Thailand

Guest Post: Maternity Series - Bohème

H&M Mama top and shorts, Forever 21 sunglasses, Aldo earrings

Ten Items: In the Office

Following the school-days tradition, fall is always the most important moment of year in terms of shopping. Whether you need all the sturdy basics or just a couple of whimsical items, building a working closet is not an easy task - make sure to consult Kendi's guide in all cases.

If you are starting from scratch, here are 10 items that you will absolutely need to cover the basics. Remember that a working closet doesn't have to be boring - sure, you need to follow certain rules, but being boring is not listed as one. Revisit the classics - opt for a high-waisted black pair of trousers instead of regular ones, choose a colored dress instead of a black one, pop in some red shoes, etc. Have fun experimenting!

1. Colorful cardigan - Dorothy Perkins - £25

2. Light structured blazer - New Look - £25

3. Funky dress - Smart Set - $45

4. Flower pin - Dorothy Perkins - £8.50

5. Elegant patterned blouse - HM - $10

6. Red shoes - Miss KG - £45

7. Pleat & high-waist skirt - Dorothy Perkins - £23

8. Colorful dress - HM - $30

9. Colored thighs - Dorothy Perkins - £8

10. High-waisted pants - House of Fraser - £42

Guest Post: Maternity Series - Oka Style

Dex top (non maternity), Thyme Maternity jeans

Guest Post: Maternity Series - Métro, Boulot, Dodo

Zara jacket (non maternity), H&M Mama top, Thyme Maternity jeans, Geox shoes, Aldo earrings, Flower pin gift from Violette

Guest Post: Maternity Series

H&M Mama top, Thyme Maternity jeans, Aldo earrings

This is my good friend Nancy.

Isn't she cute? And pregnant, you might say. (Remember the Baby shower I talked about last spring? Well yes, it was hers!) She gave birth a month ago to a beautiful and healthy little girl named Lily.

Nancy has great style and she's the proof that you can still dress like yourself while being pregnant. Nancy admits that she had a hard time finding cute maternity clothes. Her favorite place to shop for cute and inexpensive maternity clothes was H&M (Mama collection), but the selection is small. She also managed to wear non maternity clothes troughout her entire pregnancy, except of course for pants!

I asked Nancy to show you how to be a stylish pregnant mama. She will be our guest blogger at rose&violette for the next two weeks.

Welcome to rose&violette Nancy, and thank you so much for participating in this special Maternity series!

Beauty Talk: Live Clean Products

Source: live-clean.com

As promised last week, this week I share the hair products I use for my low-poo, no-cone hair routine.

What: Live Clean

Why: These products are sulfate and silicone free. The shampoos contain palm and coconut derived surfactant.

Where: In Québec, these products are available in drugstores. Pharmaprix has a great selection. Everywhere else in Canada, click here.

How much: Between 6 and 12 CA$.

Love: Exotic Nectar Argan Oil Collection

Source: live-clean.com

These products contain argan oil, like the well-known Moroccanoil line. But the difference is that Morrocanoil contains silicone and the oil treatment is about 40-50 CA$, compared to 12 CA$ for the Live Clean argan oil treatment... the choice is yours! I absolutely love the Exotic Argan Oil Collection, it smells so good!

I use:

• the restorative shampoo;
• the conditioning mask (as a conditionner);
• the leave in spray (after washing my hair, on damp hair);
• the oil treatment (same thing);
• the smooth and shine cream (on dry hair).

In fact, I love them so much I even switched to the argan oil body wash!

Did you ever try Live Clean products?

Please note: This post is not sponsored. The author bought the product herself and the review presented here reflects the author's opinion.

Yay or Nay: Fancy Fannypacks

We all had one when we were kids. Some of our parents might still even own one, or God forbid, use one from time to time (along with stone-washed jeans and white sneakers).

The last season has experienced an unforeseen and often costly comeback of the unfamous fannypack. Many high end brands have produced one - so now not only can you wear a fannypack in style, you can even pay lots of money for it. Has the dreaded bag become chic?

What's your take on that? Is an expensive fannypack still a fannypack? Would a rose smell as sweet with another name (or in this case, price tag)?

1. Adidas and Stella McCartney - $90

2. Bottega Venata - $840

3. BCBG - $58

4. Zambos & Siega - $99

5. Lacoste - $80

Personally, I am not a big fan - but I have to say, the BCBG one has caught my eye. It's more of a waist-clutch, really, but I actually really like it. I can see it being handy (well, quite the opposite) on nights out in the town!

Beauty Talk: Low-Poo, No-Cone Hair Routine

Source: health-tricks.com

As a naturally curly girl, as long as I can remember, I struggled with my hair: Hard to manage, frizzy and damaged.

I always had to put some sort of hair product to make my hair look good. If I let it air dry without any product, the result was horrifying.

But then I discovered about the no-poo, no-cone hair routine for curly hair on some blogs and websites. Basically, this hair routine eliminates shampoo and silicone. Washing the hair is done with conditionner (without silicone). I tried it, but I believe it works better for curly people with coarse hair. Mine is fine (I just happen to have a lot of it haha!). So I tried another version of it: the low-poo, no-cone hair routine.

What is the low-poo, no-cone hair routine?

***

Low-poo:

Poo means shampoo. The "bad" ingredient in shampoo is sulfate. You can often find it under "Sodium Laureth Sulfate". Sulfate strips off all the natural oils of the hair, causing hair to respond by producing more oil. The No-poo routine eliminates sulfate completely by washing the hair with conditionner: For curly people, this is often enough to eliminate dirt. But for people with fine hair, sometimes a little poo is better. For example, "Sodium Methyl-2 Sulfolaurate" is a form of low-poo.

***

No-cone:

Cone means silicone. Silicone is often used in conditionners and most hair products meant to add shine and to have sleek hair. The problem with silicone is that it doesn't dissolve in water, so it justs build up on the hair, damaging it with time. Silicone makes the hair look healthy, but really is just damaging it. You can find silicone under most names that finishes with "-cone", like "Dimethicone".

Some products contains a form of silicone that is (partially or entirely) soluble in water, which is less damaging. You can find this form of silicone under "PEG-" before the name with the "-cone". Personnally, I prefer to have no cone at all in my hair.

***

I've been doing the low-poo, no-cone routine for now over a year, and honestly, my hair never looked that good, never was that healthy and has never been this easy to take care and and to style. It's a revelation to me! That's why I wanted to share it with you.

But beware! If you decide to switch to this hair routine, you must know:

• This routine might not be suitable for you, especially if you have fine and straight hair.
• At first, your hair might look a little more greasy which can sometimes be embarrassing. But keep going, in a couple of weeks you will be able to wash your hair 2 or max 3 times a week.
• You hair might also look more damaged at first. This is because of the silicone. You might want to get a little trim.
  
• You will have to become familiar with complicated chemical names and you will have to read the list of ingredients of hair products as carefully as if you had an allergy.
• You might become frustrated on how many products contain sulfate or silicone, even salon or high brand products. It's unbelievable!

Are you doing the low-poo, no-cone hair routine? What do you think of it?

Next Beauty Talk post: my favorite products for my low-poo, no-cone hair routine.