I was musing on my definition of magic as I got ready with my color magic practice (matching my bottom eyeliner to my arctic fox aquamarine hair) earlier so figured I could try to document as much as I can in 10 minutes.
I think that real life magic is best described as our god-given free will to create change in our lives and in the world.
And for me, color magic is maybe my best example of magic within my control.
A crap ton of anxiety-producing scenarios are not within my control. My ability to match my bottom eyeliner to my hair color and feel like an adorable badass on the regular? 100% within my control.
monday 4:31pm
My 86-year-old neighbor just knocked on my door, mainly to give Lincoln the rest of the treats at the bottom of her treat bag, but this visit she also reached out to pet my hair and told me she really likes it. “You know, it seems so many people these days are all trying to look like each other. Me? I like a little variety.” And then with a wink, she was off and rolling her walker down the hallway.
A couple Tuesdays ago when I was in Florida after helping my sister decorate her nursery and put on a joint baby shower, we went to brunch before our flights back home, and the waitress told me she loved how my eyeliner matches my hair, and said, “I just think you’re so adorable!”
Then later on that same Tuesday after attending a LaBlast dance fitness class with my sister-in-law, we went out for dinner + drinks at The Celt. When I returned from using the restroom, some guy had taken my seat. He stood to let me slide back in, then asked if he could sit back down and join us for a spell.
We both said fine by us, and then he proceeded to ask us if we had any blow, and assure us that he’s 100% NOT addicted, because weed is actually way more addictive, weed’s just easier to kick, once you don’t have weed for like 3 days then you don’t even want it anymore, but he hasn’t had blow since halloween (so 10 days at that point) and he’s not addicted, he’d just like to happen to learn that we had some blow, ya know? (We did not.)
He also kept saying how he only sat down in the first place because he saw her sitting alone there, he was most definitely NOT trying to sleep with her, although why shouldn’t he be trying to sleep with her or with both of us, seeing as we’re both very attractive women?
As he stood to leave us, he shook my hand and asked me my name for the third time. After I told him he repeated it back to me, “Danielle. You are a hot motherfucker.” And then he walked away.
I looked back to my SIL and picked up my beer. “I’ll motherfuckin’ cheers to that!!”
going blue (daba dee daba dye) with arctic fox aquamarine hair color
- One day before you want to dye your hair, shampoo it but DON’T condition after, and don’t put any product in it, just let it air dry.
- On the day of dyeing, put on an old t-shirt you don’t mind getting dye on (I’m adding layers of additional color to this tye-dye shirt I made with my family in middle school), and, if you don’t want your hands to be stained for days like mine were, wear gloves.
- Like when I went pink, my thought was to “paint by color” and put arctic fox’s blue jean baby on my darker roots, then aquamarine everywhere I have lighter blonde. The blue jean baby didn’t really take though, so I’ll just do aquamarine next time. Make sure to rub 1-square-inch sections of hair between your fingers so you work the dye into every strand.
- Let sit for half an hour to 45 minutes or so, then rinse in cool water and rinse and rinse again until the water runs clear down your shower drain. Arctic fox acts like a conditioner, so once the dye is completely rinsed out, you can then let dry and wear til your next wash day. I try not to wash for 5-7 days as my wash day practice these days.
