Makeup Of The Day: Peacock Blue

I am still revelling in the ability to wear elaborate make-up to university. 

I haven't been wearing it as much as I like because I have been ill, and if I am coughing and sneezing I do not have a steady enough hand to apply my usual make-up, plus I am liable to poke myself in the eye, and my eyes are already watering and my face is all puffy. I am not going to try and cake myself in make-up to hide it, because it will make it worse. 

Selfies by HouseCat

I have been playing with making my makeup a bit more colourful to match my hair, and this look incorporate both blocks of dramatic, dark colour and my usual swirlies. As you can see by the top two pictures, I am trying to wear my glasses in my makeup photographs because that is both how I usually look (I need my glasses to see what I am doing at university), and because I think it is interesting to see how my makeup and glasses work together. As my glasses are quite swirly and dramatic themselves, my makeup has to be quite strong to still be the main visual element. 

Gloss black lipstick is currently something I really like doing, but sadly it is not something that lasts very well for clubbing, and certainly not eating out. It ends up matte very rapidly at college, but at least it remains black. 

Goth Meets Lolita: Outfit Of The Day

This is just a quick and belated outfit-of-the-day post. I wore this outfit just over a week ago, for some shopping, and I wanted to post it up here as an example of my day-to-day summer style. As I work at a school (for now, I will be leaving soon for university) and it is currently the summer holiday, I don't have to wear work-clothes 5 days a week so am taking the opportunity to dress more in my own style. 

Stripes. Photograph by Raven

This outfit is a mixture of Gothic Lolita and regular Goth. I wouldn't call it truly Gothic Lolita because it has elements that stray from the parameters of Lolita. The boots I am wearing are certainly more Goth than Gothic Lolita, and I am using my natural hair in all its unnaturally dyed turquoise colourfulness, and despite it being in a style not really suitable for Lolita (not to mention my roots are showing!). As such, I think of this as something just beyond the borders of Gothic Lolita. Also, I usually wear glasses. When I am photographed without them, it is usually so my make-up is visible. 

Outfit rundown: ☠ Bat Necklace: eBay, secondhand. ☠ Blouse and JSK: ☠ Bodyline set from the "separates" section. ☠ Gloves: Claire's Accessories. ☠ Charcoal and black striped tights: Poundland (yes, really). ☠ Boots: H&M. ☠ Bat backpack: gifted. 

Bat-bag. Photograph by Raven

I am totally in love with the bat-backpack. It was a gift given to me as a leaving present in the sweetest of circumstances, and I love it for what it represents as well as it being a cute heart with bat-wings and a wonderful embodiment of my "perky-Goth" personality. Since I got it, I have taken it out nearly every day that I have been out. Very rarely do I cry when given something, but I was so touched that I did cry this time! Oftentimes it is far more than just having a thing that is important, it is having something that is an embodiment and token of something much greater than the object itself. I know that I touched someone else's life, and that person has touched mine, and we have both made each other's lives better, even though I will probably not see them again after September, but I will never forget them. 

Purple, Black & Green: Outfit Of The Day

I often feel that posting "Outfit Of The Day" blogs is a bit like cheating for this blog - it is fine if you are a fashion blogger who is primarily a style blogger, but that isn't really what my blog is about. During the hiatus I did not have much time to invest in writing extended articles, and my longer written posts can take several days to write. My usual method is to word-vomit as much as I can at my keyboard to get my ideas out of my head, then edit that into an organised, coherent and reasonable article. As I like to give myself time to think and reflect and "digest" between the first phase and the editing phase, this is often done over a few days. Outfit posts are quite simple: they are a couple of selfie collages made in ::PicMonkey::, an outfit run-down and a little bit about what I think from an aesthetic point of view.

Selfies by the HouseCat

Outfit rundown:
☽ Sunglasses: eBay - I'm not sure who makes them, but several Chinese ebay shops sell them.
☽ Bolero Jacket: DarkStar - bought in shop at FarFetched in Inverness
☽ Blouse: ZanZea - Christmas/Winter Solstice present from Raven
☽ Underbust corset: eBay
☽ Velvet Overskirt: bought secondhand on eBay
☽ Skirt: Marks & Spencer's, bought secondhand on eBay. I have two of this skirt, both secondhand.
☽ Pentagram Bag: DarkStar. I actually can't remember where this is from, I think it was a present from Suzy-Bugs.

Selfies by the HouseCat. Colours more purple and less bruise-like in real life.

I have actually acquired quite a collection of unusual sunglasses, mostly round ones. I'm a real fan of round sunglasses, so these rhombus-lensed glasses in round frames were an interesting addition. My friend ::Ms. Sheridan:: got a pair, and I shamelessly copied her by getting a pair too. 

The make-up for this outfit was metallic purple in a colour that matched my jacket - I used two different cameras for the face pictures and full-length selfies, and the lighting is also different, so it is hard to tell, but if you use the idea that it is the same colour wall behind me in both sets, you should get the idea that they are the same purple! I also used a water-colour brush (dedicated to make-up use) and some metallic purples and metallic black eyeshadow to draw the swirl on my cheek, and then metallic silver eyeliner (same as a I used on my eyelids) to draw the crescent moon. My green hair has faded to turquoise. I am taking a break from dyeing and bleaching it for the while, but will probably do something interesting with it at the start of summer break. 

In the next few weeks I hope to upload more in-depth posts - probably one about things that made me realise I am Goth (a 'how I became a Goth' post, in some ways), and a few other wordier ones. 

Wintery Work Wear

This is the most Gothic I have so far been at work...

Ok, I don't really like doing outfit posts, but I'm too sick to do anything that requires much more thinking and effort. I'm not a fashion blogger, and I'd rather write about architecture, or music, or books than clothes, but this sort of post is fairly easy to put together, doesn't require research and fact-checking (I just don't have the concentration for that, today), and doesn't require me to stand outside in late November in Scotland taking pictures of buildings when I've got the 'flu. I am also bored out of my skull because most of the stuff I'd rather do right now is either impractical or in one way or another too strenuous. I'm supposed to be recuperating! I got into work yesterday, and was fine, tried to go back into work today, got about an hour into it, and got sent home sick again. I am not amused! I would much rather be at work. As you can see, I get really whiny when sick because I hate not doing anything!

Anyway, without too much further ado, an outfit post. This is what I wore into work this morning, well from the chest up (the rest of me is in bed; I took these on my laptop, hence the lack of quality.). As you can see, my outfits are getting a tad more alternative in terms of Gothic, anachronistic and Neo-Victorian influences. It is now common knowledge that I am Goth amongst the rest of the staff at work, and they don't seem particularly bothered. I actually have had some rather interesting conversations with one colleague about '80s Goth, Post-Punk, Darkwave, etc. because it turns out we share some tastes in music. I get light-hearted ribbing, but nothing malicious. 

Today's outfit, well at least the top section.

All that said, I don't want to dress Goth for work, and I still want to be work-appropriate in my outfit choices. I am also trying to think outside of only practicality in terms of my dress at work, because now it is cold I tend to be wearing black office trousers, lots of socks, blouses and vests hidden under thick jumpers, and as part of my job is outside, often hiking boots (mostly because of the grass, leaves, mud, etc. and slippery slopes) and then other shoes for indoors - this is warm and toasty and practical, but it is also a very bland look. My coworkers are turning up in skirts and dresses and I'm feeling a little left out, so I'm trialling wearing layers rather than thick jumpers, and skirts (with layers underneath) rather than always trousers. 

If I am going to wear skirts to work, I will need to buy a few more work-appropriate ones; I have a Marks & Spencer's velvet pencil skirt (bought cheap in a charity shop) that goes well with this jacket, and a relatively plain black A-line skirt with a gathered section at the bottom, but I think it might be a tad too fancy for work, and then the rest of my skirts are far too fancy for work. I felt the suit-type outfits I was wearing initially were more suited to an office than a school, and were overly formal, but I tend to err towards formality at the best of times. 

I'd like to smile, but my lips are too sore.

This outfit is all from mainstream stores (originally; I tend to shop in charity shops or from e-Bay). The blouse was bought for £1.99 in a charity shop (bargain!) and is actually quite detailed and frilly, almost to a Lolita-esque extent (I'm actually thinking of wearing it in some Aristo outfits), so I've hidden some of the fanciness under a tie-neck jumper with white scrolling, almost foliate embroidery, which  is originally from Marks & Spencer and which I bought on eBay at 99p! (Definite bargain!). The velvet jacket is Laura Ashley, and was gifted to me by Raven's mother (who is a very stylish lady indeed.) and I love the sleeves on it, and the gathers and puff at the shoulders. I have a lot of garments that have huge Gothic potential that were originally either Marks & Spencer or Laura Ashley, and I think from Autumn/Winter collections. I think I would buy a few new things from them if I had that sort of money, but for now I will glee over my second-hand bargains.

If I can't have a different expression, I'll at least have a different angle.

I'm not wearing any make-up in these pictures because a) I tend to wear very little makeup to work anyway; I feel too much makeup looks unprofessional and b) because of the skin infection, especially around my lips (I think even in these washed-out pictures some of the redness around my mouth is visible, and it is clear my lips are a bit swollen, and this is after considerable healing.) I'm quite glad that these pictures are grainy and washed-out because it hides the fact that I'm dead pale with a red nose, horrible skin, peeling on my lips and a runny nose. Hurrah for terrible onboard cameras! 

As you can see, I have dyed my hair black; this was a bad idea as I spent a week with a really itchy scalp, sore eyes, blisters on my ears and neck, and generally came to the conclusion that I am STILL allergic to black hair-dye, and that this is never going to change. I guess I will either have to suffer, or revert back to plum and burgundy, which don't seem to have much of an effect on me. That said, I still think I look best with black hair, and I do have some nice wigs. 

That's all from me being a prim and proper schoolmarm! Have a nice day, everyone, and I hope you are all feeling better than me.  

Vanity, Vignettes and my Glasses

Black Lips

This still isn't a fashion blog, I'm just proud of today's make-up.

I'm not usually a fan of black lipstick, but I was talking to my adopted little sister today, and she's been a bit down, and so I gave her the option of picking out my lipstick colour, and she chose black. I don't think that black lipstick is inherently 'babybat', I think that it's just often done badly. All it takes to do it properly is for it to be worn with even foundation, lined carefully and for a good quality lipstick with even coverage and good level of opacity and a reasonable finish to be used. Mostly a case of avoiding the nasty Halloween stuff. Personally, I think that that the contrast is often too harsh for everyday use, and is best for photo-shoots  and clubbing.

*Ponders*

I'm wearing what is currently my favourite wig (the red wavy one Raven bought me), but I'm thinking of getting a few more wigs, mostly in black. I started getting an itchy scalp after dying my hair black, an issue that I think may have had something to do with me switching to a cheaper brand, but the problem didn't go away when switching back to my original brand. I changed colours (to a variety of purples) and for a while I had no reaction to the purple, but on touching up the roots recently I had a scratchy scalp for two days afterwards. I'm worried about developing a more severe allergic reaction. Previously I have tried henna and indigo, but never managed a colour much darker than my naturally rather dark brown hair. I'm thinking of keeping my natural hair cut reasonably short and just wearing a variety of wigs. I'd get to have more variety in hair-styles, too, as I could match my wig to whatever outfit I have planned for the day, instead of trying to match outfits to a static hair style. 

"You're all going to die down here"

I generally need my glasses to work the computer, and heck, happen to rather like my glasses, with their swirly frames, but in order to get a good view of my eye-makeup, they had they had to come off. As you can see in the picture above, I added silver to the inner corners of my eyes, and wore white eyeliner in the lower waterline. You might be able to make out the sparkles in the glittery eye-liner drawn over my regular eyeliner. Sparkles are also something that I don't usually wear. 

I am plotting... 

I pencilled my brows in for a tad more definition, but didn't expand or alter their shape. I'm quite happy with how they've grown recently. Previously they were a bit too thin for me not to pencil them in daily, but I think now they are reasonably wide and noticeable. I am not wearing contacts; dark grey is my natural eye-colour and this is heightened by the effects I added in Photobooth/iPhoto (yep, more internal camera pictures! Raven was working all day and I am awful at taking selfies with my point and shoot camera, and even worse at taking them with the fancy Canon.) so it looks like they are almost black. 

...the perfect crime! 

I'm not actually terribly grumpy; I was finding it hard to get a good picture on Photobooth, and it left me with a frustrated expression! Must remember to smile in photographs... It looks like I'm plotting to do terrible, terrible things to people. Don't worry, the only thing I was plotting to do terrible things to was the laptop if it kept making my wig look unnecessarily shiny. Anyway, I need to cook dinner (and spend less time browsing the internet looking for baby-things for my future niece! I finally get to be someone's mad aunt! Hurrah! That's one of my life-ambitions fulfilled.) and suchlike, so I shall be off. Hopefully you're not all too bored of my vanity! I shall be back with more interesting posts as soon as my writer's block clears up. In the meanwhile all suggestion and questions are welcome at the Domesticated Goth ::Facebook Page::, where I am also going to pick (out of a hat, literally) one of the first 100 people to like the page and send them an artistic prize!

Spectacles

The last full-length was quite 'heavy', so I thought I should follow it up with a lighter tone of blog entry, hence why I'm writing this short fashion post. 

My eyesight is such that I need glasses to read, use the computer, sew, etc. Prolonged activity of such nature without them results in me having a stonking headache and thus being an irritable mare. 

While I was at the Cafe with with my friend the other day, I took the opportunity to play around with the macro function on my little digital camera, and having what I think in camera jargon is called a limited depth of field - having only a small bit of the image sharp at any one time. I'm rather the newbie at this whole photography lark, so being educated on the matter is appreciated. 

For a long time I wore classic styles in silver frames, grumpy that my glasses never quite matched my tastes. Back in 2010 I came across these while my friend was going for an eye-test. I loved them so much that for my next eye appointment I changed opticians, and went to Specsavers, where I got two pairs of these. I see a couple of people out and about with the same glasses, as while distinctive, they are from a popular high-street opticians. As such, they're not really alternative, but I still love them. I think the style was called "Bumble" if anyone is interested. 

I do think that picking glasses that match the sort of clothes one wears daily is a neglected but important aspect of accessorising well. I see a lot of people who have picked their glasses for their work clothes but clashing with their personal wardrobes, or vice versa, which is something I wanted to avoid and I have the added issue of switching between Goth subtypes as well as the drastic difference between my work wardrobe and my personal wardrobe. I tried to pick glasses that were modern enough to go with my less Romantic goth styles, normal enough to match with my work outfits, and yet ornate enough to not be too out of place when I am all decked out in ruffles and frills. These seemed like an ideal solution.