Life Update

I'm having a huge writer's block at the minute, so I thought I'd take a step back from my normal posts and give you all a quick update.

I'm even struggling to write this. I really need to sit down and plan ahead. I have returned to studying so I've been a bit busy this last week and I kind of let my blog fall behind a little. But now that I've returned to a good routine, I'll be able to organise and plan a lot better. So watch this space for bigger and better blog posts. There will be all the normal makeup posts, DIY posts, and fashion posts, but I'm thinking about including the odd student post. Posts about how to organise yourself for study,  healthy eating for students or people on a budget, and a whole bunch more DIY aimed at students or budget living. 

If you have any requests for posts you'd like to see, let me know! I am definitely keen to hear any feedback or comments. I would love to hear from my readers! 

I'm going to talk a little bit about where I see my blog going as well. Right now, my blog is a hobby. It's something I enjoy doing in my downtime. It will always be a hobby of mine. I never want to stop posting and sharing my ideas with you guys. At it's very core, it is always going to be a fashion and beauty blog, but I do want to take it on a branch of architectural and interior design blogging too as this is my life goal and what I aspire to be when I grow up. 

Throughout my course, blog posts will be once or twice a week, depending on workloads from my lecturers. In my course breaks and holidays, I will try to increase this to approximately 3 or 4 times a week. 

Now with my YouTube, which I hope you've all checked out and subscribed too (I'll leave the link below (:), I will stick to my one video a week in my course time. This may increase to twice a week, depending on how much footage I've got building up. A lot of that is going to be pre filmed, aside from the odd video, just because I do want to focus on my studies. Although, when I say pre filmed, it will have been filmed the week or two prior to being uploaded. 

Any requests for videos you'd like to see, please let me know! Ideas for videos are harder for me to think of because the whole 'talking to a camera' thing is still kinda new to me. 

Now to connect these two hobbies together, my main blog posts and that week's video may be connected to each other. For example I might do a blog post about a brand, and then that week's video might be a makeup look using that brand. That kind of stuff. Ya know how it is.

Aside from all of my hobbies and studying, I've been working on getting healthier. I've started yoga and pilates, and do about and hour to an hour and a half of exercise a day. So there might even be blog posts and videos on my getting healthy. If you're interested of course. 

So that's all thats new to my life at the moment. Study and getting healthy being the main changes.

I'm looking forward to this year and what it will bring. I'm also looking forward to being super organised. I've been watching a ton of videos about decorating planners and diaries. If you wanna see how I've decorated and organised mine, let me know in the comments below, or even on my Facebook page.

I hope that you guys now understand the recent sporadic posting. I will get it under control.

Thanks for your support guys. 

Shannen xx

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCjNKymrFCLKvcEZ4rqupZQw

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Twitter: _kaleidocolours

Blog: http://kaleidocolours.blogspot.co.nz

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For business inquiries: xkaleidoscopecolours@gmail.com 

LookBook #2: Kimonos

Welcome to my second lookbook! Today we have an insight into how I personally style my kimonos. My entire collection (all 4 of them) comes from JayJays. I will also write down where I got the rest of my outfit from as well.

I hope this helps/encourages you to embrace the kimono!

Look #1: Winter

Top: JayJays

Jeans: JayJays

Boots: Kmart

 Look #2: Spring

Dress: JayJays

Sandals: Lippy

 Look #3: Autumn

Dress: JayJays

Boots: Kmart

 Look #4: Summer

Top: JayJays

Shorts: JayJays

Sandals: Lippy

Yes, I know I own a lot of JayJays. I can't help it. They have awesome stuff.

Let me know how you liked this cookbook. Personally, this is way better than my first one, which you can see here: http://kaleidocolours.blogspot.co.nz/2014/06/daisies-are-new-black.html

But that's what happens when you get more confident and comfortable, isn't it?

Shannen xx

All photos taken on a Canon 600D

18-55mm lens used

Photos taken by Blake <3 

Ankle Boots: Flattering ways to wear them

 With ankle boots, there is basically two standard, universally flattering ways to wear them. 

The first way is to wear them with anything that sits above the knee. This is because the ankle boot tends to cut you off at the skinniest part of your ankle. To counter act this, you need to show the other skinniest part of your leg which is your knee. This lengthens the leg, and doesn't cut you off, making you look short. 

The second way is more for winter time, or for people who prefer to wear jeans. The same idea applies, so as the boot cuts you off at your skinniest, you need to show a bit of flesh above the boot to give the illusion of a lengthened leg. To do this, all you need to do is roll your jeans up, leaving no more than an inch between the top of your boot and the bottom of the roll.  This achieves the same goal as counter balancing. It lengthens the leg and we avoid looking like we have short legs. 

With boots, never pull your jeans over the top unless they are flared or a boot cut. If you wear skinny jeans with boots, roll them, or bunch them up so they are sitting just on top of the boot. We are giving the illusion of a lengthened leg.

I've included photos of five different types of boots to give an idea of how they can be worn. I have included a pair of heeled boots, two different style of ankle boots with a cut out, a short riding boot style and a pair of combat/military boots.

Heeled Boots

Tassle Boots with Cut-out

JC Coltrane style Boots

Short Riding Style Boots

Doc Martens

Of course with any style, your personal style works best. This is just simply a guideline. A lot of these boots can still look great all bunched up and grunge-y looking. or really neat and tidy rolls. It really doesn't matter as long as you are happy with how it looks. 

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Shannen xx

Photos taken on a Canon 600D

18-55mm lens used

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How I Clean My Makeup Brushes

Before I get started, there is about a 75% chance that I'm also going to film a video of how I clean my makeup brushes. I'm not entirely sure how well I explain in this post, so it might be easier explained if I film it too. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

So, first up, you are going to need olive oil, washing up liquid, a plate and all your brushes that you are cleaning. The olive oil is to keep your brushes soft, the washing up liquid is to disinfect and clean, and the plate is to mix it all together.

Grab your first brush and swirl it around for about 30 seconds on the plate, mixing the oil and washing up liquid together. You should see the product coming off the brush. Eventually the liquid on the plate will turn an ugly brown colour. As I was also cleaning a lip brush and eyeliner brush in this lot, mine went reddish. Red from the lipstick, and slightly darker because of the black from the eyeliner. 

Repeat this till all the brushes are saturated in oil and washing up liquid. Once you have done this, plate the plate in the sink, lined up so when the tap is turned on, the water hits the middle of the plate.  With warm water running, you're basically going to copy the same process above, except with water. Swirl the brushes around the plate until the water runs clear. This can take a while with some brushes, like my bronzer brushes I was swirling for a few minutes. 

Again, repeat this until all the brushes are done. I always squeeze any excess water out of the brushes and then lay them on the sides, so the bristles are hanging in the sink. Mainly because they drain into the sink, but also this keeps the handles safe from getting too wet and being destroyed.

I also have a beauty blender to clean when i do all my other brushes, so I'm going to quickly explain how I do this.

Firstly, I soak my beauty blender. Once fully soaked in warm water, I rub a bar of soap all over it, massaging the soap in and lathering it up. I then rinse it out and repeat. I do this about 3 or four times, making sure I lather up heaps and rub it in and around and rinse thoroughly. 

I leave them out drying overnight, so always do this the night before you want to use them.

I hope this helps, and I explained it clearly. Don't be afraid to leave any questions or comments!

Shannen xx

Photos taken on a Canon 600D

18-55mm lens used

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCjNKymrFCLKvcEZ4rqupZQw

Instagram: _kaleidoscopecolours

Twitter: _kaleidocolours

Blog: http://kaleidocolours.blogspot.co.nz

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kaleidocoloursx

For business inquiries: xkaleidoscopecolours@gmail.com