LBC: Your Usual Lolita Make Up

Goodmorning my lovely ones! I'm sorry about my quietness as of late. I promise to be back soon. I've had a very busy time, with my mom getting married, LARP'ing and P&P roleplay nights, meet-ups galore, and getting back to my studies. This month has been the longest month ever, but hey, October is upon us, which means Halloween, and plenty of new Lolita themes to talk about!

But first: A belated Lolita Blog Carnival post.

This week's theme is one I went back and forth about whether or not I should participate in. My camera sucks, and it probably is gonna suck for a while still, until I get the cash moneys to buy a new one. But then I thought "Well, why not? It's fun! Let me show the world my usual Lolita make up!"

There you go! Me sans make up, before the transformation. Are you guys the "put clothes on first" or "put clothes on after make up" types? I tend to be the first, because I'm kind of paranoid about getting make up on my dress while pulling it over my head.

Here you've got my make up arsenal! 

(I love my pretty pink "Doctor's make up kit" of brushes. They were about 5 dollars on ebay, and are soft like baby kittens.) 

Of course I always put on my circle lenses first (I use "Barbie Girl" circle lenses from Jihoshop), and put on some nice smelling moisturizer. Then I start out with concealer, on my problem spots. I swear by Rimmel London's "Hide the Blemish" concealer. It's easy to use, gives good coverage and also doubles as my highlighter. For foundation I usually use Maybelline's liquid "Dream satin" foundation. I find that it's simply very easy to manage, and blends in with my skin quickly. I finish the "canvas layer" of my make up with the powder from Maybelline's "Dream" series too, which I put on using the big brush. Using a brush instead of the sponge gives a nicer, lighter coverage, I find.

A closer look at the next important stuff. The blush is one I bought in Wallmart back when I was in the US. I don't remember the brand, but there's a "CG" on the lid. It's a nice, kind of peachy pink. I use plenty, all the way from behind my eye along the bottom of my cheekbone. After that, I use 5 different shades of pink for my eye. I start out with a shimmery layer of light pink all over my eyelid (the one you see in the Rimmel London box), move on to a slightly darker shade of pink all over my double eyelid, and gradually shade towards the outer corner of my eye with the dark one in the Rimmel box. Then I use the two shades of brown in my "Body Shop" eyeshadow box at the outer corner of my upper and lower eyelid, blend, and finish up with a light shade of pink shimmer below and across my entire eyelid once more. I find that using a bit of pink shimmer below my eye gives a dreamy effect. In the end, I use the white eyeshadow on my "Rimmel" palette or a more stark white I've got, to highlight the inner corner of my eye, and along a third of my lower lash line.

That's when I move on to my falsies. This is my (almost entirely used up) arsenal of extremely false-looking false eyelashes. They're very nice quality, and also a cheap ebay find. They cost about a dollar, but are very sturdy and lovely. I find that most pairs I can use two or three times, (if I have the patience to clean them). They're my go-to lashes.
I finish up with eyeliner, a pretty bubblegum pink lipstick by "Coolcos", and a coat or two of Rimmel's "Scandaleyes" mascara. I'm looking for a better choice of mascara, though. One that gives more volume and seperates the lashes. What would you recommend?

 And this is the finished look! I'm very fond of it, myself. It really has become my "usual" Lolita make up, as it matches most of my outfits. If you want a better picture, I used the same make up in my photoshoot this summer.

Want more make up inspiration? Check out the posts below!

Breidholt

Little Coffee Shop

Masquerade Doll

Photoshoot: Memory of a Broken Dollhouse

The other afternoon my photographer once again pulled me out of the pleasantly cool confinements of my house to do a photoshoot with me. In full Lolita. During the hottest danish summer I can remember.

Of course I went for it, threw on layer upon layer, grabbed my parasol and my fan and went for it.

The funny thing is, I actually felt pleasantly cool under my handheld shade and selfmade breeze! He was the melty one!

I picked out my absolute favorite pictures of the batch to show you guys. These are the result of a fun afternoon in an abandoned warehouse. I'm very happy with how they turned out, and I hope you guys will like them almost as much!

Coordinate:

Dress: BtSSB
Bonnet: BtSSB
Shoes: Bodyline
Everything else is offbrand!

LBC: Disney Coordinate

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival challenge got a shot of disney magic, and of course I decided to ride the wave till the end and base it around Elsa from disney's "Frozen".
I decided to give it more of an Elsa "feel", though, to avoid going into cosplay territory. 

Hopefully that'll also make it a little more bearable for the ones of you out there who've long since had enough of the good "Frozen" stuff

As the base, I chose Angelic Pretty's Twins Etoile bustier JSK. I wanted something shiny, with a corset-like effect to emulate the silhouette of Elsa's dress. I also really liked the swans on the dress, and I decided to pull it forth a bit more with a feather corsage in her hair. For those of you who don't know, "The Snow Queen" is a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale, and he also wrote "The Ugly Duckling". I think Elsa's transformation into the strong, confident lady is reminescent of the ducklings transformation into a swan, so I wanted to use that a little bit. To keep the sass and maturity of the older disney princess, I chose a pair of transparent thigh high socks and see-through heels.
Finding the type of shoes I wanted was a nightmare, as I wanted something that had a bit of an icy look. I think the lace on those shoes give me that, but I know I'm tiptoeing the line of what is and isn't OK in Lolita fashion. Bear with me here.
I chose a cute lace capelet to resemble Elsa's cape in the movie, and to make sure we've got our shoulders covered
(As if it makes a difference with this one, haha), and of course some snowflake jewellery, because we cannot conjure real ice magic.
Last but not least, I chose a wig for this one. I chose a white wig with blue highlights, because I wanted to take a sharp turn away from cosplay territory, weird as that may sound. Since the wig matches the outfit but isn't blonde and plaited, I think it works.

What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Tired of "Letting it Go"? Let me know in the comments!

Wanna see more disney-fied outfits? Check out the blogs below!

A Heart's Sound

Lolita Glamour
Simple as Vanilla Ice-Cream

Alice in Lolitaland

McDuff's Auditorium

Whimsical Adventures of Me

Coming up: A review of "Kamikaze Girls", the book! So stay tuned!

LBC: A Casual Coordinate for a Quiet Day

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival was all about assembling a Lolita outfit for a casual, quiet day. I went even further, and decided to try and create an outfit that would be appropriate for the type of quiet day where you don't even want to leave the house! Therefore, this outfit even features slippers!

I know that once in a while I haven't worn Lolita for a while, but there's no meet-up going on and I'm not going anywhere, but I still want to dress up for myself. On those days, I tend to go all the way, anyway, but to challenge myself I still threw in a little bit of laziness in this outfit.

 For that reason, I made sure that the outfit above features both casual, lazy elements and still some detail to make it feel like a treat to the wearer.
The fuzzy slippers are a little bit of both, I think! They're a luxurious type of cliché, I think, and carry connotations of spoiling yourself. The same goes for the beret- It's fancy, but an easy way out, and you can easily dress it up with a few clip-on bows. If the hat gets too warm, throw on a fluffy headbow instead.

The skirt has minimal poof, because I know I don't want to deal with a giant petticoat when going about my day in the house. I can knock stuff over when I'm out. I don't want to do it at home, haha! The t-shirt is comfortable and casual, and can be concealed a bit with a cozy knit bolero.
I chose the cherryblossom necklace and ring as a hint to the cherries on the crewsocks, and because it's finally spring!

So, there you go! An easy coordinate for a day of lounging about the house, baking or reading by the window in the cool spring breeze.
Because why should you forego Lolita, just because you're not going anywhere?

Thank you to LBC for convincing me that I should dress up in Lolita today! I was kind of sad because the meet-up this afternoon was cancelled, but why should that ruin my Lolita day?

Forgotten what casual looks like in the sea of OTT? Check out some links below!

Elegant Poupée

Whimsical Adventures of Me
Beyond Kawaii
Helado de Cereza
Make Lovely
Edible Rainbows
Sleeping Sweets
New Vogue Children

LBC: The Most Challenging Substyles, and How To Pull Them Off

For this week's Lolita Blog Carnival, the topic is to really challenge ourselves and make some really difficult stuff work out in Lolita's favor.
And why go the easy route? I've been working hard on this styleguide for a couple of days, and so I choose YOU:
Sweet Punk Lolita! 

We barely ever see punk Lolita done with sweet elements. It's usually your typical gothy, mainstream-punky substyle of Lolita, but I really like the idea of sweet Lolita being combined with some more kickass elements. Because why do you have to be gloomy to be tough? And this comes from a big admirer of the dark beauty that goth represents, mind you!

So how do I think you can balance sweet with rough'n'tough in a way that won't clash, or seem unbalanced? In my opinion, it's not enough to just throw on a leather jacket and call it a day.
Let me give you a couple of pointers, before I present my idea of a sweet punk outfit to you.

1: Think about what look you're going for!
What image do you want to convey with your outfit? A cute biker? A punk-style magical girl from one of your favorite mangas or comics? Do you wanna go more "torn fishnet" or more "leather", or a combination of the two?

2: Balance your elements!
You want to have an equal amount of punk and cute in your outfit. If you're gonna go for torn fishnet socks, choose some cute dolly shoes. If you wanna wear skull bracelets, try to incorporate some bows too. 

3: Follow the rules!
(or guidelines. Whatever you prefer to call them)
I know, I know, punk wants to be a rebellious style, but if you want to combine it with your Lolita and still be able to call it that, keep the guidelines in mind! This is especially important when you attempt something as experimental as punk Lolita. Punk is all about everything that Lolita is not- The torn, things falling apart at the seams, the rough and being "Ready to Fight for Freedom"! Lolita is pretty much the polar opposite. You can see how combining the two is walking on a thin line, but following the quidelines should help, if you also keep in mind to balance your elements. 
At least keep your ankles covered, keep the full, knee-length skirt, cover your shoulders and wear something on your head, until you're sure you know exactly what you're doing.


So, let me present to you my ideas for how you could put together an outfit..

For my very basic outfit above, I chose a Lolita biker as my style inspiration. I chose this particular JSK because of it's typical pastel elements, but it also has a bright color, the vibrant pink, that I could play up with the jacket. I wanted the jacket to really stand out as a focal point. I chose a pair of elegant fishnet tights and practical boots, but to keep it from straying too far into non-Lolita territory, I seperated the two with a pair of typical kneehigh socks. Also, to balance out the pink with a bit of blue.

Hairband by Babydoll. 

For hair accessories, I'd pick a spiky headband, with some cute pink touches, like the one above, positioned in front of a pair of fluffy, playful twin buns! A playful hairstyle would be important for this hairstyle, in my opinion. You could add a couple of bright pink bows to the buns, too.

From pinterest.

By Nile Perch and Swimmer

To spice up the jacket, I would add a couple of cute pins. Since punk is all about rebelling and standing up for what you believe in, I'd probably pick buttons who supported women's rights or animal rights, but you can also go another route and just choose cute buttons with cupcakes or other sweet things to your liking!

Necklace by Bandai.

To go further into the "Girl Power!" territory, I'd put in some girlpower elements like Magical Girl accessories. I love the magical girl concept, even if I don't watch a lot of animés myself.

They were a great part of my childhood, and I still refer back to these memories when I feel lacking in the confidence department. I chose a relatively simple silver pendant, as I felt it suited the colorscheme of the coordinate the best. I'm debating whether or not it would look good with a pink leather collar too. What do you think? I'd wear multiple bracelets with this coord. A mix of pearls, bows and leather bracelets.

To wrap this up, I want to show you guys a gorgeous leather jacket I found, that I think would look amazing with a vibrant sweet punk Lolita coordinate!

This UNIF jacket, which I found on "Dolls Kill"! I think it's absolutely gorgeous, with just the right amount of crazy pastel madness that has been to typical of Angelic Pretty over the last couple of years. Grab it before OTT goes out of style completely! I know I want to, if the price didn't make my wallet groan in pain.. 

That was it for this week, folks! I hope I inspired some of you guys to explore your more hardcore, girly side.

Want to receive some more advice on hard-to-pull-off Lolita looks? Check out the blogs below!

Breidholt
Lemon Tree
Sparkling Girl

Daily Fuckery
Fire Extinguisher
Sleeping Sweets
Alice in Lolitaland
Hello Batty

LBC: Coordinates for a Themed Vacation!

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival theme was one that I found quite difficult- "A Themed Vacation"?! I've never heard of such a thing before! Themed parties, yes, but a vacation with a theme!?
I don't know if I quite caught the idea of it all, but I felt suddenly inspired as I sat there, grumbling to myself about what this "themed vacation"-deal might be all about.

The outfit below was the result!

I decided to name this outfit "Lolita with a Seoul"- My theme was modern korean fashion! This is what I thought a Lolita might wear while shopping in Hongdae, if she wanted to wear Lolita, but in an appropriate and fashionable way!  From what I've seen, most korean fashion tends to be very romantic and girly. Bows, lace, elegant shoes and pearls and cute fedoras tend to be very popular. This mixes very well with Lolita. I wanted to play up the lace part even more, and chose a pair of shoes that are neutral, and has a bit of a dolly look too. Long necklaces are popular in korean fashion, and I chose an oldfashioned pendant to incorporate an oldfashioned flair. A nudge towards Lolitas victorian roots, and pulls the lacey elements in the same direction. 

Now I'm looking forward to seeing, how the other girls understood this week's "assignment", and if I'm totally off-target.. I had fun, no matter what!

Photoshoot: Urban Maiden

This weekend I had the great joy of once again modelling for the talented photographer mr. Christian Møllnitz of Imagen Photography, and this time I got to do it in my frills!

It was cold, it was wet and it was quite the adventure crossing the dark waters (an empty, muddy lot) to get to the abandoned silos, but I had a blast as always and we got some stunning photos out of it!
Personally, I love the contrast of sweet and elegant classic Lolita in an urban setting with the graffiti and concrete walls.

OK, on to the photos I picked out especially for you!

Coord Rundown:
JSK and Bonnet: Infanta
Blouse: HMHM
Coat: HMHM
Socks: Secret Shop
Shoes: Offbrand
Parasol: Alice and the Pirates
Accessories: Offbrand