Bridal shoot boho + classic

One thing that is almost as fun as being part of a wedding is putting together a shoot. There are a handful of photographers that I've worked with but my favorite is my very own mom. She is so skilled and talented from taking beautiful headshots of an aspiring model to capturing the intimate details of a beautiful wedding. She can take something simple and make it's true beauty stand out in a photo. 

 Our next shoot is in collaboration for some spring fashion trends with Random Boutiques, an eclectic boutique that travels via a vintage airstream with it's very own dressing room to try on your hearts delight. Randoms boutique, which is owned and operated by Stacy Rodriguez here in coastal north county, she works with local vendors to bring not just fashion, but beauty and lifestyle trends through her mobile events. It's so great to see small businesses, the heart of America, banding together to create opportunity with each other!

  Here I wanted to portray the bohemian trend that is so big this year along with that we are also seeing classic styles coming back. Champagne and rust inspired shadow with a nude lip. Hair jewelry featuring her something blue. On the left is a boho fishtail but keeping the rest of her look with a throw bad to mid century styles. A tease at the crown, winged liner (stila's smudge pot gel liner) and a rich blood red matte lip from Lancôme, topped off with more hair accents. I love that brides are opting for a statement piece instead of a veil. For a while we saw a lot of brides keeping their something blue as part of their bouquet (mine was the ribbon on my couture garter) I love seeing it in hair! 

2014 hair trends

So I may love to blog and craft but my number one favorite thing to write about and my personal expertise falls in the beauty industry. I am a hairstylist and makeup artist by trade and have been the beauty industry for over a decade. 

Now that I've made myself sound old, I want readers to dust their winter hairs off since spring is right around the corner and keep your heads up for some fall trends you can ask your hairstylist or colorist about. 

This year is what I call the year of the sun. Warm tones are the trend this year. We saw a bit of it at the end of last year in darker hues, but by nature it is the most natural look because the sun will always naturally hilight hair in a warm tone. Here are some shade variations besides the big trend that the beauty gurus are calling BRONDE! 

While you can't go wrong with a beautiful cool ash hilight....it's not what's on the celeb list this year. At best you'll see honey, caramel, walnut, apricot and chocolate tones....think dessert!

BRONDE

BROWN SUGAR

Apricot

COPPER

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL

DARK CHOCOLATE

Now hopefully I've successfully made you all hungry!....keep this in mind. These colors are great examples of controlled warmth. A true colorist can find ways to achieve these looks without having to use a lightner. Try asking your stylist for subtle tones and ask them if they think using a "high lift" hilight can achieve the look you want. Whether you are incorporating it with an all over color, you'll want to include "lowlights" into your color to break up and create a transition between the lighter and darker color. This will give is a more natural look. Remember a lowlight doesn't necessarily mean dark, it means any shade that is darker than your all over level of color. It could even be slightly one shade darker to create a real catch in the eye. Same goes for a "highlight". It doesn't mean blonde, it means any shade that's generally lighter than what you currently have. The closer together the shades, the more natural your color will look. If you want more contrast go brighter and darker. 

This year I encourage you "honeys" to not be afraid of being "brassy".

If you are afraid of the maintenance or don't want to commit to an all over color, ask your stylist for a demi permanent shade close to your own. This will fade naturally, it will only blend grey as it is not permanent. But you won't have a hard re growth line to stare at everytime you look in the mirror. Still too much? Try a gloss. It's applied and processed just like a color except it adds shine, seals your cuticle and gives your natural color a very subtle pop. 

Either way,  I encourage everyone to try something new this year. Whether it be orange red lipstick, that looks good on nearly every skin tone, go BRONDE, or cut all your split ends off and try a LOB! That's a Long Bob...incase you were wondering if I just make up words baba. 2014 is supposed to be a very good year.......if you are in the North San Diego area come stop by and get a consultation by myself! Email me dandyfox@hotmail.com for any questions or if you just want to say hi! 

Mixed tape

Well today was interesting. I came across a lot of old CDs. So old and having bounced around over the last 15 years I doubt they play. But they are one of the only of concrete things that I own pre- fire. It reminds me of change. So much has changed, yet many things are steadfast. I am also listening to my music selection from my wedding which was very good and original, might I add. In 2007 I was graduating Beauty school, living it up with friends, falling in love with my now husband, and just learning how to balance life. Now 7 years later, I am still the stubborn girl I was but I'm a little harder. I am now facing a crossroad in life. Over the last two years I've been disabled by pain from degenerative back problems, which has been quoted the "mixed" blessing in itself. It has taught me how to let go. As much as our thoughts and actions affect and plant and water the seeds of our destiny, it's the faith of letting go that makes the deepest roots take. As many times as I've been brought to my knees, confused, been lucky, and very lost....I have never settled. And I have never pretended that what I do have is something that it's not. It is the most liberating feeling in the world. I trust in a greater existence to shape our path, even though I will continue to speak to my mountains and will speak of nothing but my belief in a big plan ahead of us. I have no agenda. Accept to pick up my mat, and walk. 

Prints + Color

As I sit here with my snoring heater Memphis, I am contemplating a shoot that I am working on design + styling. I am using some of my favorite local vendors to add to the mix and capture it to bring it to the public eye and our readers, and just like a wedding, it has me excited, stressed at moments, unsure, and feeling genius all at once. 

 Over the last couple of years weddings and showers have had the same color palette that has now by 2014 become almost expected. While being forever pretty the pastel + metallic wedding mesh has officially become....meh. 

 This wedding season I'm hoping to focus in color. Our world is full of color and to simply only chose blush and mint (which of course were my colors) peach, cream, champagne and silver & gold. I really miss the rest of the rainbow. I've sent over some floral ideas to my favorite florist, Bethany at My Splendid Sentiments to help my rustic table pop. I don't want to share too much as I'm working on everything from backdrop elements to favor hugging napkin design. 2014 is definetly the shifting year in design, you will still see a lot of pastel +metallic weddings, but expect to see some color + prints and patterns and some different ideas coming to the table. 2014 is going to be a bold year. Congrats to all the 2014 brides, which happens to include a very dear friend if mine  who is lucky to have family ( as I did) that just happen to have event and design talent. Can't wait to share her day after the styled shoot is finished. Now I can get ready to focus on making some room for some organizational skills in the very long process it's been to makeover our bedroom! Stay tuned! 

Rustic winter wedding inspiration

So it's been a while, but I thought I'd kick off my holiday posting with some bridal inspiration.  I have been inspired since my own wedding and I have always felt a pull towards the creativity and element of design that goes into a wedding. I think that this inspiration board speaks for itself, but this is a great way for winter brides to keep the winter elements soft for her wedding without giving into the expectation of an elaborate winter wedding where guests leave covered in holiday glitter. Enjoy! My favorite part are the favors, baileys diy hot chocolates for guests and blankets while they sit for the ceremony.

These will keep guests warm n cozy while watching you exchange vows.

A blush dress allows for a bit to pop in your centerpieces.

Delicious eggnog, recipe can be found on marthastewartliving.com

Nothing adds romance like sparkle. 

Happy winter wonderland!

Favor

I have always been interested in party favors as you know I have a particular obsession with weddings. 

 They are a way of saying thanks for coming. I smile in thinking about ours, we wanted our guests to have activities to so if dancing wasn't their thing or they wanted a break. On each place setting we put a hilarious mad lib that we'd written and had a rock candy lollipop on each napkin. The mad libs were returned at the end of the night into a box and my husband and I made a book of them and read them afterwards. We had a family emergency in between our wedding day and the first day of our honeymoon that was terrifying and we were so exhausted with worry and being broke from our wedding it was nice to read the mad libs and just crack up at the things people wrote. We also had an amazing characature artist and people were pretty much in line for him all night, he was amazing and the characatures really made people laugh. 

Again a favor. Something that is done in thanks and it ends up making us smile. 

I tend to read a lot of inspirational books, especially in this year when I've wanted to give up, we've faces my spinal fusion surgery, my loss of income, my husbands loss of income for the five months that I happened to be off, I faced other health issues, a miscarriage, everything we tried to do to make our lives better just kept getting beaten down by something that we had no control over. For a while I was broken, my husband was, and it was hard just trying to keep each other from giving up. We've shared more tears this year than all the others combined. 

I am a spiritual person so I believe in something called none other than favor and the power of words.  If you talk to a quantum physist, even scientifically they would agree. Your emotions and mental thought process, what you speak out does create a mass that affects the energy around you. I have to constantly say that I have favor and truly picture the things that I think are positive and focus on them.

I have never written a post like this, it is always about crafting, beauty, wedding ideas and such. I have been down in this holiday season because we can't really afford Christmas this year....but as I was reading this morning I realized something.  I have been praying, hoping and asking  for years for us to be able to go to New York to visit my husbands family as his father has been battling illness since we've been together. Before my surgery a very special client who I've always perceived as blessed, have us that gift. He and his wife are such positively nice people. Always smiling. He too recently spoke to me of tough times as we were discussing surgery. And I realized how many hard things they have been through. Everybody has their Achilles heel or their demons or their struggles that they think they can't handle either. This morning I just realized that by daily asking for favor with those who are a part of my life from my parents to my insurance agent to the person on tech support at AT&T. I actually recieved this huge gift of something I've been asking for. And I never stopped to put the words thank you out there. Of course I have thanked my client and his wife multiple times but I didn't thank god and the universe for bringing something to me that I put out there. I was too busy focused on how we will be trying to have fun with friends on pennies when I just have to try and focus on the fact that we even get to be there. Luck comes is so many forms. Whether to you or it be from a higher being, a friend, an enemy, the universe or God. 

My goal for 2014 along with all my crafting, wedding and beauty love is to just focus on what's supposed to be right for you and your family and to enjoy and cherish even the smallest things that bring you happiness this holiday season. Mine will be seeing snow, which reminds me I need to stock up on heat pads for my healing back. Titanium gets cold, but it's really really strong. ;) 

Inspirational photo shoot with Raquel Ames Photography

So today started oit like any other day. Except its sunday which makes it football day. Which is quite a fabulous day when the chargers game is away or local and not blacked out! Not that it mattered today.

Anyways i was asked by Raquel of Raquel Ames Photography to help fluff some waves and helpnwith makeup touch ups and lighting spots and all of a sudden im the one in front of the camera! We had talked for weeks and i guess i was wearing the right outfit! 

I did put on some motorcycle boots i bought for our trip to NY cause God knows i have nothin but flip flops and tank tops. It was a nice change. But we had been talking because i am getting back into writing music and singing which was my first love. I gave it up long ago because as silly and loud as i am i actuallu hate all eyes on me. So with my time off ive had a lot of inspirational moments and time to reflect, so all of a sudden i have several songs to put on a demo. So we may end up using these as they were very spur of the moment. 

   Anyways the shoot was inspired by me offering to do a few test shots for REA Photography and she just kept snspping away, ......so as i ice my back, heres a preview of our fun day. 

Xo

The dandy fox

Vest, Liquid Leggings, cream tank :Forever 21

Blue Studded Boots: Amazon.com

Hair band: Urban Outfitters

Natural beauty on a budget

So I've been bored and playing with my Urban Decays Naked 2 Palette and have been doing a more modern and thinner winged liner for a softer look, always with Stilas Stay All Day Waterproof liquid liner. urban Decays palettes are a great investment for the budget girl.  The shadows last a while because the company produces very pigmented colors. Beautiful and vegan friendly as well. Making sure these fingers dont get rusty as im not wearing makeup suring this recovery! One thing about doing makeup is that every face is different, just like hair. Every eye shape need its shadow placement to cater to it. And whenever in doubt about your shadow. Take a larger shadow brush, dip it in your face powder and blend baby! Never walk out with panda shadow!!  

 Everybody can pull something new and fun off, but you have to stay in your clients comfort zones. I personally need a lot of coverage because i so have acne and hyper pigmentation, but  i prefer natural and what i call "bridal colors" i always stay within two shades of my natural lip color, or if I'm feeling bold i willkeep my  eyeshadow neutral and rock a link or orange red that flatters my olive skin. 

For this look i used a softer brush to apply  Pistol to my crease generously. I then used Verve on my inner to middle lid and used Suspect on my outer lid and blended that into the beginning of my crease where i had applied Pistol. I then lightly dotted Bootycall on my inner eye to make my eyes pop, then i used Foxy on my brow bone and blended slightly down so prevent panda look. How much you blend is up to how dramatic you like your look. I then used a thin flat wide brush, you can also use white eyeliner, and applied Verve to my lower waterline to make my eyes pop more because they are naturally almond shaped. I then finished with my    Trusty Stila's  all day liner and i start from my inside eye and then follow through and keep me brush angled close to my face and wing. If you mess up just keep some q tips on hand with eye makeup remover.You'll  get it! Every eye is different and unique! Try it and leave some comments or pictures of your looks! 

Xo

The Dandy Fox 

Short + sweet

Why did they ever cancel Sex and the City? Watching movie 1 with mom up late...and wondering if Smirnoff Sorbet is actually as tasty as the bottle looks.

Dandy fox's Autumn 2013 Wishlust

Dandy fox's Autumn 2013 Wishlust by chewybumbum featuring a loop scarf

Leon Harper loose fitting top
$310 - donnaida.com

Loose fitting top
cichic.com

Mackage leather motorcycle jacket
theoutnet.com

VILA baggy pocket pants
$46 - vila.com

Free People laced booties
freepeople.com

Proenza schouler pouch
forwardforward.com

Birthstone pendant necklace
etsy.com

Forever 21 bib necklace
forever21.com

Victoria Beckham metal glasses
boutique1.com

Lucky Brand loop scarf
luckybrand.com

Free People oversized beanie hat
freepeople.com

Bobbi Brown Cosmetics lip blush
barneys.com

NARS Cosmetics lip liner
barneys.com

Spinal surgery update

So i have to update since I've been M.I.A. for a loooong time. Unable to do what i usually do. 

For those of you not close to my life, it became a very tight and enclosed place for me. I changed mentally because of my physical frustration of struggling with pain that would never go away, being on medications with side effects that cause you to to short fuse and act irrationally. Losing my mid 20s to my body failing me. 

The hardest was my marriage, being unable to even spoon with my own husband in bed, crushed ever part of my heart being a woman and still a newlywed. 

But, The hardest is that no one, and i mean this to the deepest core, no one understands until that happens to them. 

Being in my mid 20s and not being able to do things with my friends like go to dinner and have drinks at the bar, no more trips, the medical bills put pressure on me to work a year past when my doctors were telling me to stop working. 

I literally had to start collapsing and vomit from pain and be in the hospital every month for me to realize that i had to let go. When i did that a lot things  started to change. By taking the pressure off myself as much as i could i could it allowed me to relax and focus on having even just a little more comfort even if it was just for a moment. But still life had its little ways of reminding me that it could be worse. I wasn't dying and in my worst days somehow people who were in a worse physical situation than me would end up in my path. 

It gave me a whole new set of eyes for our permanently handicapped brothers and sisters, this taught  me compassion, and relinquishing control to the greater hands that made me. 

When my husbands work status got to granting us excellent insurance benefits a year and a half ago thats when my real treatment started. So i had the flicker of hope. 

I failed everything you could thing of. When i failed my injection stages and was put in a 5th percentile at my age, i started preparing myself mentally for spinal surgery. Not the biggest type out there, but a pretty heavy surgery. Think of scoliosis surgery as a cake (even though its anything but) and think of mine as a big cupcake of the same type of cake. 

Once my surgery got the go it was scary but man was i ready, so was my family, even though we were all scared. My condition was affecting my total overall ability to walk, put my marriage on pause, affected my bowels. It was awful. Getting wheeled into the OR room "a beautiful day was playing" and as i took deep breathes and already thanked God and my body that i was going to be healed the last thing i remember, staring into the table lamp breathing in and out and tasting the fog ofmedication starting,     everything went white.  

So now its today and I'm writing while doing my little home therapy exercises so i  thought id finally share my state of the art procedure i had done because 22 days post op i can literally feel my life pouring back into my body. 

First of all, All surgeons should look into becoming Mazor Rennaissance certified. Its about as star trek as you can get in surgery. 

 Im already getting ready to toss my walker completely and i had three procedures is one surgery because of this system, bone grafting, laminectomy, my disc removed, a cage put into replace it filled with the bone graft, all my arthritis, and stenosis cleaned right of my bone and then ha  rods and screws put into my spine to secure all that 22 days ago, and i stopped using the walker at home two weeks ago.  It allowed my pedicle screws to be placed in a way that will allow room for my fused vertebras to be kind to my girl parts if and when we ever decide to have babies since you lose your range of motion in that fused area. And it even minimizes my need to wear a stupid brace all the time! The things it allows for heart patients and babies needs for being in the NICU is amazing.... It could be my age, but i know cartwheels, camping, rock climbing to the top in doing hair and being anywhere i want to be doing whatever i want is in my future. Ill be able to sit through dinner, sit through a movie, walk at a flea market. Ill be able to hug my husband as tight as i need to, ill be able to cry and laugh without hurting myself. I can snuggled my dog in bed.  have to take a bunch of meds every four hours or 3 times a day just to do my version of functioning which was being at home, doing nothing, without crying.   

Waiting for surgery prep

George wants to party

Baby girl always knows her mama

Best friend/pain pump party

My bffs flowere

Home nurse giving mom n lar a lesson on how to do my dressing, that arrow is where i had a drain. 

My first walk that was witnessed by stace and augie, i think stacy just wanted my shorts hahahaha

iPad batteriesfinally  dying are terrible when you cant go anywhere!  And down below finally rocking my cane a week after being discharged and rocking one of Randoms Boutique's cali tee woop woot! Stay tuned...Physical therapy is up next!