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Saturday 30 June 2012

A Busy Saturday

I've been piling up stuff to do the whole week, so now that Saturday finally came, I've been getting things done! I took some stuff to donate to the charity shop, bought hair dye, visited the flea market, fed a friend's cat, ate sushi, helped my other half make a kitty litter box and wrapped old shoe boxes in fancy wallpaper. And it's still only eight o'clock, plenty of time to play Diablo 3 ;P

Played around with the Heart Breaker palette! I'm looking a bit pale since I have
nothing on my lips and no blush on, didn't bother with them for only going shopping.
Please ignore my super faded fringe, that's why I went hair dye shopping ;)


Sugarpill posted this look on their Facebook page and I wanted to try it out. My eye shape is not nearly as nice, but the colour placement works very well! Also my turquoise eyeliner is a shade or two lighter, but I don't think it makes much difference. I tweaked the look a bit by adding Mochi on top of Velocity on the lower lid, I'm not too fond of blues and it looked too dark compared to the upper lid.


And this is what I wore.

Top - Gina Tricot
Belt - Only
Hotpants - Gina Tricot (the picture is too dark to show, but the pants have black lace with skulls!)
Jacket - Juunappa
Shoes - New Rock

It was raining just before I left the house, so the weather was cold and I piled on clothing. I love riding my bike, it's so easy and fast to get around the city. In winter time I'm confined to using buses and walking, summers are much easier. Also, hotpants are excellent for riding a bike!

Tomorrow is dedicated to crafts, I hope to have the time to sew a few things to wear at Lumous next week. I've being going to Lumous for years and had lots of fun every time, and it's the perfect opportunity to wear over the top outfits!

Friday 29 June 2012

How to Make a Fascinator

I came across this beautiful hat while browsing Etsy for ideas. I really liked the design and had not seen anything like it before. It's their signature fascinator and very well made, mine is a "close enough" budget piece ;P

Anyway, I decided to make my own version, since I was feeling a bit crafty. The same basics apply to all fascinators, so you can just alter the shape of the felt and make any kind of hat you like.

You need:
Felt in the colour of your choice (if you coat it with fabric, the colour doesn't matter)
A bowl, balloon or anything that has basically the same shape as your head (this will be used as a mould)
Cling film
Water soluble glue (white glue) that's transparent when dry (like Elmer's or EriKeeper for Finnish people)
A disposable cup
A brush (it will get glue on it, so use one that's not too posh)
Scissors
Fabric (enough to cover the hat base, more if you want to add rosettes or ruffles of the same fabric, I prefer stretchy fabric)
A hair comb or small hair clip (use two or more clips or combs if your hat is heavy or very large)
Hot glue and/or needle and thread
Decorations like rhinestones, sequins, lace applications, feathers, veiling, pearls, crystals, fabric flowers... the possibilities are endless! Basically anything you can glue or sew on to the fabric works.

1. Plan your hat's shape
Teardrop hats are very popular and nice, and round bases work well too. The half mask type that I chose needs a bit more work (to get it to fit) and has more surface to decorate.

Stuff you need to make the hat base. I drew my hat pattern free hand and just
tried it on to see if it fit. You can trim it later on, so feel free to leave some extra
on the edges. Notice how I used a pink skull as a mould ;P
2. Cut the shape from felt
Draw the shape on a piece of paper and cut it out so you can try it on your head and see how big the hat would be. Think of how much decorations you have; if you have tons of stuff, go ahead and make a larger hat. If you have very little decorations, a smaller hat might be a better choice since a large one might look too plain. My hat shape has a pleat drawn on the pattern, but I didn't cut it out in the end. I recommend making cuts as needed when you work the base.


Cut out the shape from the felt. I used thin felt, because I couldn't find the
thicker stuff. It worked nicely and isn't too heavy, but might not be as durable.
3. Prepare your mould
I used a pink skull so I carefully wrapped it in cling film to keep it clean. If you use a balloon or something else that's completely round, find a bowl you can sit it in and secure it with tape or by wrapping cling film over both. You don't want you mould to roll around when you are working!

4. Mix the glue with water
Mix the glue and water in a disposable cup. I used one part glue and two parts warm water. You need maybe a tablespoon's worth of glue, but you should rather make a bit too much mixture than too little, since the felt shouldn't be allowed to dry until you are done. Cover your working area so you don't make a mess while applying the glue, as it is quite runny. The felt will need about a day to dry thoroughly, so it's easiest if you can work at a spot where you can leave it sit until it's set.

I didn't make any cuts yet, since the fabric can stretch a bit when wet and it's
always better to go with as few cuts as you can, since a bumpy surface is
harder to make pretty.
5. Place the felt on the mould and add glue/water mixture
Place the felt piece so it won't fall off and brush the water/glue mixture on liberally. The felt should get thoroughly wet. You can take the felt piece off and check if there's enough water. Once the felt is wet, gently pull on it so the middle part stretches. It gives only a few millimetres (at least my felt did) but stretching makes the crown shape nicer. After stretching, check if you need to make cuts to make the felt lie against the mould. Mine needed, so I made three. You should rather make many small cuts than one large to avoid making the base angular. Don't worry if the edges don't look neat at this stage, you can cut them later on. The mixture will travel towards the lower edges and can make your felt look faded, but it will turn transparent when dry.

Felt wet with the glue/water mixture and cuts added to make the felt follow
the mould better.
6. Leave to dry and clean your equipment
Leave the felt on the mould to dry for about 24 hours. Thicker felt will take longer. Clean your brush if you want to re-use it, the glue usually comes out fine with warm water.

7. Felt is dry and has a shape!
Take your felt off the mould and trim the edges. Try it on to see if the shape is like you desired.

My felt when dry. It keeps the shape nicely!

The bottom of the felt is shiny because the glue dried against the cling film.
I just left it like that since it won't show. You can also line or paint the bottom
side if you like.

8. Decorate!
Basically from this step on you can just add whatever you like on the hat. You don't have to coat it with fabric if you like the look of the base itself. I have pictures of how to put some fabric on it, because most bases look nicer that way, and it allows for any kind of texture or pattern you desire.


I used a stretch velvet, it was easy to work with.

Use the same pattern as you did for the hat base. I you trimmed your hat on
later stages, you can cut the fabric smaller if you think you can remember
what parts were trimmed. I remade the whole eye hole, so I only cut it out
once I had glued the fabric on. I recommend this for any holes your hat
might have.

I used hot glue to attach the fabric to the felt. You should check if your fabric
can be ironed so you know if it can stand the heat. If it can't, just to be on the safe side,
you should use another type of glue. I stretched the fabric as I glued it on so there are
no cuts or pleads. Leave some fabric on the edges so you can glue it to the bottom side
to have neat edges. Cut out any holes when the glue is dry. 

Fabric cover is done! You can see that the stretching is fairly invisible in
the end. If you have a patterned fabric, be more careful with stretching it.

The bottom side, you could line the mask if you want to and the extra thickness
isn't a problem. I left it as is.

Beginning of decorating the hat. I got some fancy lace applications from eBay.

I also has a pvc kanzashi flower I made earlier, but ended up not using it.

Rhinestones are always nice!
9. Add comb or clip
Glue a clip or a comb to the bottom side of the hat. You should put the clip or comb near the edge of the hat so it's easy to put on and adjust. Keep in mind how you are likely to have your hair when wearing the hat. For more security, glue a piece of fabric to keep the side of the clip against the hat solidly.

10. Finished!
Enjoy your brand new fascinator! Do wait for all the glue to dry first, though, unless you want a more permanent head decoration piece ;)

And here's the finished thing. I'm still waiting for some black ostrich feathers to arrive, I might add them.
I feel like it needs more feathers but I didn't have more black ones at the moment!

For my hat I used sequin trim, trim with hanging beads, rhinestones in black, pink and purple, two lace applications and three bunches of feathers taken from and old hat the cats had feasted on. I might have to take the hair clips out and re-glue them, since the placing is a bit awkward, but otherwise I'm very happy with the hat! The pictures are not the greatest, having been taken at nine in the evening without touching up my makeup other than adding lipstick, but maybe I'll get better pictures later on!



Thursday 28 June 2012

Sugarpill Heart Breaker Palette

Sugarpill came out with a new palette some time ago, and I've resisted buying it since I have a ton of eyeshadows already, and wasn't sure if I would use the colours after all. Well, I gave in last week ;P I ordered the palette on Monday and it arrived six business days later. I'm bad at waiting, so speedy delivery was a very nice surprise!

Here's what was in the packet, a lovely cardboard box with the palette inside.

This palette had a turquoise cover, the other one I have has pink. Both are very pretty!

And the actual colours. For some reason they are very hard to photo true to colour,
and they look a bit different on skin.

Full face shot of the look I did with the palette. Apparently I failed at symmetric brows today ;)


Mochi on lid, 2AM in the outer crease, Velocity in center crease,
Acidberry on lower lids and on the inside crease (what do you even
call that area?) A touch of Sugarpill Taco on brow bone and inner
corners, black mascara and gel liner.

I was really pleasantly surprised with the palette, I wasn't sure if I liked the colours when I opened it, but on the lids the colours really came alive! They also work really well together, and since they are of the same brightness or close, you can use them in so many ways. Layering also works, at least with 2AM, Velocity and Mochi. And if you have grey-green eyes like me, the colours really make your eyes look a lovely blue!

Tuesday 26 June 2012

A Few WGT Pictures Still!

Since I'm having an awful day (too little sleep, the painkillers are not good for my tummy but I can't sleep because my jaw aches without them, laptop batteries running out when in the middle of doing stuff, rain starts the minute I get out of the house, was too tired to go out with coworkers and am missing out on all the fun, the apartment is a mess and I don't have the energy to do anything about it) I decided to go through some older pictures and found a few from WGT that I don't think I've shown you guys yet. Nice pictures from fun holidays always cheer me up!

These were taken at the hotel, they had such lovely dark walls and a bed the size of our bedroom. My tattoo is not yet finished in the pictures, it lacks the background. I'm wearing a hair fall made from loose synthetic fibre and a piece of elastic, I just tied purple and black hair on the elastic, backcombed it to hell and back, sat it on my boyfriend's head and cut off some hair to make it layer nicely. Now I don't have to backcomb my own hair, it takes ages to untangle afterwards!

I miss that bed! So huge and comfy.

The flowers in my hair are from Claire's, necklace and earrings are made by me.

I think the eyeshadow is Madam and Eve's from Fyrinnae. On my lips is Forever Fuchsia
tint gloss from Maybelline. My nails are painted with Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl.

Crooked photo is crooked ;P But it shows my shoes so nicely!

Then for some boobs and stiletto nails.

Sunday 24 June 2012

Polar Bears and Purple

The Midsummer celebrations continued with some video games and going to a bar to have a few drinks. I found a useful tip on a Facebook group about using Fyrinnae Polar Bear with purple and wanted to try it out right away. I had used Polar Bear before, but didn't like it that much, since it was so yellow. But with purple it really seemed to come alive!

I used:

Face
Missha Perfect Cover BB-cream number 13
Detrivore Pallor Mortis powder
Fyrinnae Temptation blush (shading under cheek bones)
Evil Shades Gossamer blush (on top of cheek bones)

Eyes
Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
Fyrinnae Polar Bear (on inner part of lids)
Sugarpill Birtday Girl (on center of lids)
Sugarpill Hysteric (outer parts of lids, on brows with Evil Shades mixing medium)
Sugarpill Tako (brow bone)
Sugarpill Poison Plum (lower lids)
Sugarpill Bulletproof (just a touch to darken the crease)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack
L'Oreal Beauty Tubes mascara

Lips
Claire's purple lipstick
MSCHIC dark purple eyeliner as lipliner
Sugarpill Hysteric padded on top of lipstick

Hysteric doesn't match my hair, I think I'll try and look for a better match :)

Sorry about the blurry pics, I took the batteries from my flash to use in Wii
controllers so we could play Raving Rabbits with four players ;P I was
wearing a black satin shirt with a black miniskirt with suspenders. My
hair still has the curls from the day before, so I just brushed the curls open
and let it hang loose.



After the super awesome Midsummer I'm trying to shrug off a cold by drinking lots of hot tea, wish me luck! Only two weeks until the northernmost goth festival in the world, Lumous, starts. It's happening in my home town so luckily I don't have to travel anywhere ;)

Saturday 23 June 2012

Midsummer Look and Outfit

To celebrate Midsummer, my other half and I decided we would just stay home and do what came to mind, since we have been on the move every weekend since WGT. So we had a friend stay over, my other half cooked an excellent meal and then we all went to the park to enjoy the sun.

My cheek is still a bit swollen because of the wisdom tooth thingie, but I just
decided to do a really colourful eye make-up so no one will notice ;P

I opted for a black dress with lace inserts on the sleeves and body jewelry
I got from Gina Tricot some time ago. It goes so nice with plain black tops!

And here's what make-up I wore!

Brows
Sugarpill Hysteric with Evil Shades mixing medium, painted on top of Sugarpill Bulletproof

Eyes
Fyrinnae Javan Rhino (on the lid)
Detrivore Brine (on the edges of Javan Rhino to give the lid depth)
Fyrinnae Cuddlefish (in the crease)
Detrivore Death Valley (above Cuddlefish)
Sugarpill Tako (on brow bone and inner corner)
Sugarpill Stormy lashes
White kohl (on waterline)
MAC Blactrack (on upper lid, the lashes kinda make it disappear)

On the lower lid there's a gradient of Javan Rhino, Death Valley and Cuddlefish topped with a touch of Sugarpill Poison Plum.

Lips
Maybelline Super Stay 10h Tint Gloss (what a mouthful!) in Timeless Plum




It was so nice to do a colourful look, I've haven't been wearing eyeshadow for a few days because I've just been at home eating painkillers so the wisdom tooth wound will heal quick. I previously thought Cuddlefish is too blue-ish for me, but with these other colours it worked perfectly! Maybe I'll try a same type of look on top of Pixie Epoxy next time, so the glitter will show better :) My hair is curled with a curling wand (and really needs some new colour, my fringe is so faded from swimming in the lake last weekend!) and tossed to one side to show my undercut.



The day was really hot and the sun was blazing, so we put lace curtains on the
balcony to keep out the worst heat. Seems to work perfectly and the kitties liked it!
Another view of the curtains, they are from my grand mother and even had little hooks fitted
so they clipped on to our cat net conveniently. Last summer we made a frame with chicken wire
and fitted it to the balcony so we can keep the door open without fear that the kitties would
fall. There's also a window sill so the cats can sit and look outside, they seem to like it.
The lantern was found in the trash when we moved in, someone had thrown it out since it's
all rusted, but I liked it a gave it a new home :)

Grilling marshmallows in the park is fun! This pic was
taken around nine PM, the sun was still up and bright!

Not the correct way to eat a marshmallow ;P

A silly smiley pic ;D




Jacket - Lip Service
Dress - H&M
Body jewelry - Gina Tricot
Earrings - Claire's
Bracelets - Glitter (and WGT since I still have the wristband ;P)
Stay-up socks - Norlyn (maybe, they are really old)
Shoes - New Rock

I wanted to wear my new boots and they were so comfy! I'm really happy with them, I might adjust the straps a bit but the insole is soft and they are very easy to walk in. The socks were old, I just happened to find them in my sock pile and since they had a hole already, I ripped them some more. I have yet to master the art of ripping thighs nicely, so I just made some holes and went with that.

I think the lighting makes my eye colour look really nice :)

Happy midsummer to everyone! Remember to work some love spells if that's what you need in your life since this is the best time of the year for that :)

Thursday 21 June 2012

New Shoes, and Make it Double!

I got my new shoes today and wanted to to show them to you! I also took pictures of another pair that my boyfriend gave me for my name day last month.

These are the name day shoes, such lovely heels! They are very high but
still kinda comfy. I'm wearing Essie Mint Candy Apple on my toe nails :)

And my gorgeous New Rock boots. I got these from the Finnish goth flea market
group on Facebook. I polished them and they look just like new, although the
seller told me they have been worn quite a lot. I have the same shoes with a different
sole and they've been my go to shoes, so I'm sure these ones will see much
use as well!

I got my last wisdom tooth taken out yesterday so I've just been at home eating mashed foods and ice lollies. I'm healing fast, which is nice, since the midsummer celebrations start tomorrow! I'm hoping to get to see a bonfire and cook something nice on the barbecue, and then just sleep lots and see some friends.

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