Wonder & Whimsy in Ice Blue {review}

Howdy y'alls! 

Today I received in the mail a fun package from Wonder and Whimsy. 

Inside the package, two lovely hand-made things - A hair stick, and matching pair of earrings!

Both, in a gorgeous ice blue shade. 

I know since I just emphasized "ice blue" you're expecting to see photos of the actual accessories right now in the beginning of this post. But, as always, (if you've seen any of my other reviews, you've probably already noticed this tidbit) I love seeing how different shops do their packaging and when I get to see some that have theirs done really cute, I like to mention that in the review too. It may seem a trivial detail, but I think it adds charm to the whole package! 

As you can see, Wonder and Whimsy did an adorable job on the packaging here. 

The lovely earrings. They are very sturdy and I love the weight. They're heavy enough to feel like they're not going anywhere, but light enough for one to wear them comfortably. 

I just adore the colors! Silver and light blue go together so well in my opinion. 

(Apologies for the poor lighting here.)

And now, the beautiful hair stick. This is my favorite piece of the two. 

The flower is a delicate iced glass fixture, and the wood feels sturdy and well constructed.

Just as with the earrings, I love the colors! Especially the icy blue, almost translucent quality of the flower petals. So feminine and lovely! 

When skimming over the Wonder and Whimsy Etsy store page, I'll admit this piece was one of the first to catch my eye. Maybe because I've always been drawn to blue hues!

  My hair is really long and thick so I appreciate a solid hair stick with a good sizable length, to fit all my hair in. This stick met my hopes in that area, and it wears like a dream!

I look forward to wearing this adorable stick places. Hair sticks are a HUGE part of my 'hair wardrobe' so to speak, and putting my hair up in a bun or top knot with a hair stick is my default/go-to style that can be done in literally about 20 seconds. It's one of the most practical ways for me to style my hair and also by far the easiest way to hold on to a measure of elegant-ness while also trying to be practical and not having your hair flopping about in your face all day!

For you girls with longer, thicker tresses, if you haven't tried hair sticks to put your hair with, I definitely recommend them! And Jenny, of Wonder and Whimsy can definitely make you something beautiful if you're looking to get one!

Even my mom, who has shoulder-length hair, admired this stick.  I put her hair up in a little twist bun, stuck this stick in, and it contrasted beautifully with her blond waves. I think I will have to be sharing it with her now since she likes it and wants to wear it out also!

The bottom line: Jenny makes gorgeous, well-crafted accessories. I don't know if I'd pay 28 dollars for a hair stick, or ANY hair thing really, (I'm such a cheapskate with my money!) BUT if you had a little extra cash (I don't, haha! Hence why I must be thrifty!) or didn't mind paying that sum, Wonder and Whimsy's hair sticks look to be worth the cost and I definitely recommend them!  

You can check out the shop by clicking here. Jenny has a TON of other hair sticks to look at as well as a myriad of earrings and other jewelry items!

Also, if you do that, you will probably want to take a peek at Jenny's blog, where you can read "behind the scenes" posts on how Jenny makes her items, and what else she's up to in her life! 

Thank you Jenny for providing these lovely pieces to review today! I enjoyed getting to do this review and I hope all y'all enjoyed it, too.

Speaking of y'all, what did you think? What's your favorite color to wear in jewelry and hair accessories?

Have a blessed day,

Note: I was provided this item from Wonder and Whimsy in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

How to Get Natural Highlights {FabHealthFriday}

 {Howdy y'all!}

Guess what! As dictated by the title, I'm starting another column here on Apassionata, one specifically for health, herbalism, fitness and natural home remedies. And, as also dictated by the title, it will be posted every (hopefully at least!) Friday!

In today's FabHealthFriday kick-off post, we're going to talk about how to get beautiful, natural highlights in your gorgeous tresses.

Who doesn't love a little contrast in their hair?

I have never, ever dyed my hair, and believe that all women (and men, too, for that matter) have no business doing so. I believe God created all His creatures unique, and beautiful, everyone in his/her own, special way. Even just in the topic of hair, this applies so much. Look at all the different kinds of hair people have! My hair is straight and long, while my best friend's is super curly and shorter. Some people have naturally thick hair, while others complain their's is far too thin.

But whether you have a headful of raven black curls, a mop of fiery red kinks, or straight, coffee-colored tresses, you really should be thankful for the hair that you were born with. I have witnessed too many a lovely young woman dye the life out of their already-beautiful hair. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look nice, and that is indeed in our nature as women to want to do so, but it's a whole other thing when you become discontent with your hair and want to alter it drastically because of that.

Besides, when you chemically dye your hair, you're actually weakening and destroying your lovely tresses. The chemicals in most hair dyes are extremely harsh and can cause a good deal of stress on your locks.

Maybe, however, you have noticed slight, natural highlights of another color in your hair, and you happen to really like those natural highlights. You would like to bring them out, draw attention to them, enhance them.

Or, perhaps you don't exactly have any noticeable highlights and you'd like to naturally add in some.

The following was taken from "Happy Hair at Last", a great hair article on BulkHerbStore.com. (love that site!)

"Do you want to have red highlights? I did last spring! You can get beautiful red highlights by using Calendula Flowers, Red Rooibos Tea, Red Rose Petals and/or Hibiscus Flowers as a final hair rinse. I simply used a quart jar and put approximately 3-4 teaspoons of the dried herb of choice (you can use just one of the herbs or all four herbs) into the jar and poured boiling water over the herbs. I let it steep for 10-15 minutes, and then strained the herbs out and let the tea cool.

After I shampooed and conditioned my hair, I poured the cooled tea over my hair, catching the tea in a bowl under my head so that I could pour it over my hair several times. I did not rinse my hair after that, but rather let my hair air dry with the tea still in it. You can rinse the tea out of your hair, but if you don’t the highlights will show up more quickly. This is an all-natural way of achieving highlights, so don’t expect the highlights to show up right away. Sometimes it can take a month or two to start seeing the color.

I am going blonde this summer and for blond highlights, I am using Chamomile Flowers (whole or powder will work), Calendula Flowers, and Lemon (peel or juice will work). I had dark highlights last fall and used Rosemary, Nettle Leaf, Black Tea, Lavender, Black Walnut Hull Powder, Cinnamon, and Coffee to get that color. Follow the above red highlight rinse instructions, substituting the blond herbs for blond highlights, or the dark herbs for dark highlights."

I have been using red rooibos tea as a rinse for my hair, the last several weeks. I have natural, auburn/burnt orange highlights in my hair, and I have always loved them. When I came across this article, I was thrilled to discover a chance to naturally bring out and enhance my highlights. I would highly suggest using this article above if you would like to enhance your pre-existing highlights or even get some entirely new ones.

And, besides the tea rinse being a good source for adding and enhancing that natural contrast in your mane, it's ALSO incredibly great for your hair's health in general. Ever since I started using the red rooibos tea as rinse after my shower, my hair has felt healthier and softer. Of course nobody in their right mind would turn away the possibility and chance of having silkier, more vibrant looking hair, no?

Do you have highlights? Have you ever tried enhancing them naturally? I'd love to hear about it!

Blessings,