One thing I hope to achieve now that I am in the home-stretch of my final semester, is to take more outdoor photos, or at least photos inside while I still have natural lighting and not the giant blinding flash. These photos were taken very late last Thursday, after work, class, and a little over an hour of BSing with friends in the library. So, I welcome Louie in these pics, because he is just so cute and awesome and he was able to make me smile still after such a long day.

I am also happy to share these awesome earrings with you guys that the lovely people at Anjolee sent over. They offer beautiful  diamond stud earrings that can be custom-made to order! As you can see, I picked a classic pair of four-prong blue diamond stud earrings. Typically I don't wear a ton of earrings, because I wear my hair down a lot but I am a fan of simple earrings like these. Diamond studs are a great way to add a little sparkle to any outfit, a little subtle shine to complement a statement necklace like the one I am wearing. Don't get me wrong, I love my hoops and feather earrings, but I felt classic-cool with a swanky pair of simple stud earrings. If you are a fan of this style of earrings, I would recommend checking Anjolee out, mine are sturdy and yet they don't make my ears sore at all. I know this, because I fell asleep with them in and there they were in the morning, still intact and my lobes didn't notice a thing.

As you can see, this is how most of my nights end. Me trying to get Louie to snuggle with me and instead he just goes crazy. I can't complain though, he is such a little sweetheart and I can't ever stay mad at this face. He seriously knows how to work the puppy eyes on me. This is the face that is going to make me bundle up and brace the wind and snow to take him for a walk. It may be cold, but Louie is happy and I get some exercise so it's win/win in the end :)

This post has been long overdue, but to be fair I really had to wait  for  a few days where it wasn't 90 degrees out so that I could actually test this product and give a fair review! A little while back, Misikko contacted me to do a product review for them on one of their styling products. If you have been a reader of this blog for awhile, you will know how much hair is a topic I like to mention at least once per month. I severely damaged my hair last summer when I attempted to put a bright purple color in my then already dyed black hair. Since then, I had to have my hair chemically stripped, had a light reddish color put over the bleach, and had a good few inches hacked off. There still are quite a few damaged bits in there and I have to carefully trim them out every 8-12 weeks. I never flat iron or curl my hair, and I almost never blow-dry it, except for those bangs.  

Misikko is a company that offers salon blow dryers,  Flat irons, and Chi Hair dryers, and  I was very hesitant at first to review a hair dryer because of all the damage it does to my hair. However, when I do go for trims, my stylist does dry my hair with a Chi hair dryer and my hair always has sleek, shiny results so I decided to take a chance on it, to see if I could achieve the same results. My current hair dryer is a result of a 2am impulse buy at a convenience store years ago so I figured an upgrade might be in order.  My package from Misikko arrived and it was as if the transition from never using a hair dryer to actually testing one out was known. There were all kinds of lovely goodies wrapped up with my Hanna dryer to make the transition go smoothly and to butter me up.

All kinds of goodies were included in my Misikko package, from shine shield to hand sanitizer, with a sleep mask and a stuffed monkey for good measure. I have had the pleasure of trying Paul Mitchell hair products at the salon so I was happy to have some at home to tide me over in between visits.

As I mentioned above, I never actually dry my hair, only the bangs but I wanted to give the product a real, honest review. So I decided to bite the bullet and try it. I did the safest thing I could think of and let my hair air-dry about 70% of the way, just like my stylist did when I went for a trim, and then I finished off with the Hana hair dryer while brushing it with my boar bristle round brush and I was happy to say that my hair turned out very smooth and sleek. The only bummer is that it has been so hot outside, that I end up throwing it up in a bun and don't get to really enjoy my smooth hair but that is summer for you! 

I would recommend Misikko's products based on this review of the Hana dryer, & also the shine serum. The only thing I am slightly bummed about is that there is not a retractable cord, but it did come with a nice cloth bag to store in so I have been using that to avoid having the cord tangled up.  You can purchase Misikko products here, and I just noticed that they offer free shipping for purchases over $50 if you would like to try a product yourself.