ambitious baking. blueberry ombre.

the most ambitious cake i ever made. 

ingredients:

2 boxes of vanilla cake mix

2 boxes of vanilla frosting

4 cups of blueberries 

eggs, water & oil (as directed on the box)

* i substitute apple sauce for oil

1. in a large bowl mix all of the ingredients together as directed on the box.

or make a cake from scratch if you have time for that. (i do not)

2. i ended up using four cups of blueberries in total - 

but simmered them on the stove in 3 different batches. 

I threw in some water & sugar cubes initially but it was probably unnecessary.

cook the berries on the stove until the you see a deep purple liquid.

3. slowly add the blueberries to the cake mix until you get your desired shade of blue.

pour into a round cake pan & bake. repeat the process for all layers adding more blueberries to each layer. cook time will increase for each batch. my top layer was very dense with blueberries.

full disclosure: 

this cake took like 4 hours to make because i was rotating cake pans (having only 2).

i was trying to have it done in time for an oscar party and probably could have cooked some layers for a little bit longer. it ended up falling over after i cut into it. but does not mean it was not AMAZING!

it was AMAZING. definitely needs some tweaking but it's a pretty simple concept.

blue hair love.

I finally took the blue hair plunge yesterday at

Sally Hershberger Salon with with master colorist Sean Gallagher!

And I am in love with it!

To get this shade of blue, it was not as simple as you might think.  Many 

test pieces were processed & variations were tested.  Manic Panic

makes a light blue color called Bad Boy Blue, but don't for a second think that

that's all you need.  

The formula was kept a secret from me, because I 

tend to overshare so my only advice is this. 

Go to a pro & definitely don't try to dilute the manic panic 

with conditioner (like many blogs say). the blue turns sea foam green.

the color looks much darker here. 

the sun light makes it look pastel.

other blue haired ladies to gather inspiration from.

ombre sponge paint.

So I ended up doing an Easter manicure after all... 

But! it was also a learning process for the new gradient technique 

with a make-up sponge that I've been seeing around the web.  

It's definitely a little trial and error... the full tutorial that I followed is from 

The Beauty Department that is also pictured at the very bottom of the post.  

Don't forget to wet your sponge and instead of using a piece of paper to blot, 

I went straight for the nail... too much paint was being removed on the paper.

It's such a fun idea & since the paint ends up being very thin, it will probably last a little longer! 

before the top coat.

Official tutorial from the Beauty Department