Experiments in Ouji: Leakey's Bookshop

This is more content from last year that I should have uploaded then, but didn't have time to do. It's a fashion post, and I guess analysing my outfits probably won't be of interest to everyone, but I'm trying to chart my journey as I improve at Lolita, Ouji, Aristo and other Japanese street fashions, which are a bit more structured and have a degree of expected polish that I'm not quite achieving yet. 

[Last year] My friend Luna hosted a meet up for the local Lolita community as part of her birthday celebrations, and I thought I would try wearing Ouji. For those who don't already know, Ouji is the more 'masculine' twin to Lolita fashion, with the name Ouji-Kei meaning 'Prince-Style'. I find this a little more comfortable and practical to wear than Lolita as it doesn't involve skirts with lots of petticoats. I'm wearing

☠ a cheap wig from eBay*

☠ 'Blood Moon' pendant from Alchemy Gothic (second-hand)

☠ Punk Rave jabot

☠ Punk Rave waistcoat 

☠ Bat lapel pin I bought second-hand

☠ Spin-doctor blouse

☠ Fair trade velvet wrist-warmers from 'FarFetched' in Inverness

☠ Red & black lace gloves (can't remember where I got them)

☠ Alchemy Gothic bracelet, can't remember the name of the bloody thorns set. 

☠ Belt from a charity shop 

☠ Vintage Marks & Spencer's trousers

☠ Boots from a charity shop.

☠ Nemesis now dragon cane. 

*bought cheap so I didn't feel bad messing it up with my first attempt at wig styling.

Not a vampire, not a library!
First set of photographs, taken by my Lolita friends.

There are two sets of photos, one set taken on the day, but which suffered from poor lighting as the book-shop is deliberately a bit dingy to make it less glaring for shoppers, and the second set taken a little bit later, when I was re-working the outfit. I asked permission from the chap who runs the shop if I could have photographs taken on the upper gallery, where there's usually fewer shoppers, and is a quiet and aesthetic part of the shop. Please check ::here:: for a pos tshowing the interior of Leakey's as a whole, and ::here:: for the Leakey's FaceBook page.

I changed which jabot I wore between the two sets of photographs - I liked the volume of the large Punk Rave one I wore in the second set better than the smaller hand-made one I wore in the first set. 

Second set of photographs of me at Leakey's

I definitely like where I am heading with the clothes, but I think it is my hair and make-up that is letting me down. One thing I have struggled with quite a bit for Ouji is my hair and make-up. It's quite a different style to that which I'm used to, and I can't use my 'natural' hair for Ouji because the bright green hair and purple fringe doesn't suit the aesthetic. I tried wearing a short-haired wig. The wig was a bit cheap, because I wanted to have a go at styling it, and I haven't styled a wig like that before, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money only to ruin it. If you look between the two sets of photographs, you'll see that for the second time I wore it, the wig started to slip off the back of my head - my natural hair is long and voluminous, and it was too much hair for the wig, and my natural hair was pushing it off. I didn't realise this until after the photographs were taken, sadly. I have two short term options: re-dye and re-cut my natural hair into something more ouji-friendly, or get better wigs, and get someone who knows what they are doing to style them for me. The long term option is to learn to style wigs better myself, which I intend to do, but as I don't wear wigs very often, I probably won't get regular practice. 

I think this shoes the problems with the wig best

I asked for some advice on an Ouji forum, on hair and make-up - and the other criticism (and a valid and constructive one) is that my eye-makeup could have been better blended; I agree - I did it in a bit of a rush, and it's quite different to what I would normally do, so I should have taken more care and blended it better. I also think the contouring I did the first time around was something I should have done again the second time around. The wig in the photo-above is very much awkwardly sat on my head, with the bulk of my natural hair sitting under it awkwardly. I'm getting my hair cut a lot shorter in summer, anyway so perhaps my wigs will sit better on my head then. 

I like how the outfit turned out. The blouse with the gathers midway down the sleeves and slight puff at the shoulders sits nicely with the waistcoat - I'm quite happy to have found a combination of cuts like that, where the waistcoat is just narrow enough at the shoulders to let the puff of the sleeves stand above them. I'm not completely sure how much I like that specific jabot with that blouse, as the jabot really requires a collared shirt to look best, and the blouse I was wearing actually has a neck-bow under the jabot instead of a collar; I left the bow undone to avoid bulk under the jabot and tucked it into the shirt, which was a bit awkward, even if not outwardly visible. The waist-coat originally had crosses on it, but I don't feel right wearing crosses as just a fashion statement, so I took all the cross  charms off the chains and replaced them with bat-charms and skull beads ands suchlike. The boots didn't originally have trim on them, I just got two types of upholstery trim and glued them to the turn-downs at the top of the boots.

The cane is from Nemesis Now, and is a lovely dragon - he has one red eye because I chipped the handle and the eye was damaged, so I put a little glass gem in the damaged eye. It's pretty, but it's not the best support because the handle is brittle, and I think if I had to lean on it too heavily, it might crack or break. I have anterior ankle impingement, partly caused by my hypermobile ankles, and partly caused by my over-wearing of very high heels (and falling off them, partially because I'm dyspraxic and thus really clumsy...), so often if I'm walking around a lot, I'll have a cane because my ankles can really hurt sometimes - effectively my shin bones and ankle bones are pinching. I've been told to wear completely flat shoes (hence the boots) and I've got physio exercises to do at home, but I'd like to save up some money to get physiotherapy privately and regularly. Anterior ankle impingement apparently can get worse to the point where you get bone-spurs or a kind of arthritis, and I don't want that! I'm probably being a little too paranoid about making it worse, but I'd rather be paranoid and overly careful than get careless and make them significantly worse.

One thing that was mentioned on Closet of Frills was that straight legged trousers is more Aristocrat than Ouji, and that puffy shorts are more suited to Ouji - in summer, when the weather is warmer I will definitely be wearing such shorts! 

Highland Lolitas Velocity Café Meet

Back on July 19th, the Highland Lolita community had a meet-up at the Velocity Café which is a bicycle-themed cafe attached to a bicycle workshop. They also are active participents in the cyclist community here and run things like bicycle repair classes! I would have loved to turn up to the meet on my vintage-style bicycle, but it is currently in pieces because I was working on cleaning it up, replacing worn parts, and making it a bit special in the decoration department (plus, I would probably wear Ouji to go cycling rather than Lolita).

Left to right: Danielle, Keara, Emily , Amity Lee and I. Note my un-kawaii \m/
Photo kindly taken by Velocity waitress.

I forgot that the bus service to where I live is drastically reduced on a Sunday, so ended up having to call a taxi and was a bit late to the meet. I hate being late to meets! It was, however, my own silly fault for forgetting about the different bus timetable on a Sunday. We all had our snacks - some of us had tea and cake, but I had juice and some houmous with lovely crusty delicious bread - it tasted hand-made, and it was really, really good bread. We sat around chatting and eating for a while. One of the advantages about being such a small group is that we can have a whole-group social conversation when we meet up, rather than either ending up confined to only those we are sat with, or doing a lot of milling around. 

After our meet-up at the Velocity cafe, we walked down the hill and took outfit pictures in the alcove of the rear entrance of the Eastgate mall. It was outdoors with plants and such, a relatively plain wall, and most of all, secluded from the wind. This summer in Scotland has been mostly dreich through to plain rainy, and the weather has been most things other than sunny and still!

Full length photo by Danielle.

My outfit was another black and white outfit, but this time I was aiming for something distinctly more Gothic, rather than the more classic outfit I aimed for with the outfit I wore to the Botanic Gardens. I actually wore this outfit again yesterday, repreiving it for a shopping trip into Inverness with Raven and visit to the Blend Tea-House (my favourite place for tea in Inverness, and also does amazing bagels!). We had a lot of fun with our outfit photos, and also took a group circle-of-shoes photograph, and lots of selfies with each other. The wind was a bit blowy, and my wig rapidly got straggly; it isn't the best quality and has a tendency to tangle itself up rather rapidly. 

Keara in a yellow and pink Sweet-Lolita co-ordinate.

I took some photos of the other Lolitas. I really like Keara's amazing make-up and while I am not usually a fan of things pastel and cute, I really liked her entire outfit. Amity Lee's outfit was also really adorable, and her multicolour wigs are always so cool. 

 Amity Lee looking amazing in Sweet-Lolita

We took some selfies with each other, and generally used the moment as a photo opportunity. Lolita is a very elaborate fashion, and it takes a certain amount of effort to put together a nice outfit. Most of the other Lolitas are more experienced than I am, and better at putting together a nice co-ord (or co-ordinate; a co-ordianated outfit where everything matches together) than I am. Sweet is certainly the most popular style in our community, but Danielle wore a lovely old-school Country Lolita co-ord, and I am always the one in Gothic!

Danielle wearing Country-Lolita

As well as individual photographs, we took some selfies together! 

Danielle and I. Best vampiric look. Photo by Danielle

A few random strangers wanted their pictures taken with us, both when we were taking outfit-pictures in the alcove before the footbridge, and generally when we were in the mall! I do wonder about what happens to all these pictures - they must be out there on the internet somewhere! A lot of little girls especially think that we're just fabulous. I have notived that sweet Lolitas get asked if they're princesses a lot, and I get asked if I am a witch! (I am a good witch, of course! :P). What would probably either frighten or confuse the children that ask if I answered honestly with anything that wasn't something along the lines of "no, this isn't fancy dress, I just like wearing clothes like this" is that technically, yes, I am actually a witch too, but my appearance is completely unrelated. Neo-Paganism, Wicca and modern Witchcraft are such alien things to most people that I don't want to bring it up, lest my Gothic appearance confuse them, or frighten them by correlating with negative stereotypes. 

Amity Lee and I, photo by Amity

We decided to go into the mall itself because the weather looked inclement, and because we could get ice-cream! We went to Mackay's which is Scottish ice-cream chain. 

Afterwards we all split up and went our separate ways home. I took a bus with Amity Lee, and then tried walking from the bus-stop to my house... the path is very uneven, and I was wearing heels I can only just walk in on flat, even ground. I sadly fell and turned my ankle badly, but I was near a friend's house, so I managed to get them to give me a lift back to my apartment, and they helped me up to my door and into the house. I wasn't too scuffed up, but I laddered my tights. It was quite sore, though. 

Here I am before the wind ruined my wig. I'm less keen on the straight fringe than I used to be; I'm starting to think it doesn't really suit my face-shape. The lipstick was a colour I really liked, and stayed remarkably well despite eating and drinking while wearing it. 

Outfit Run-Down:

☠ Canotier: Alice & The Pirates ☠ Wig: bought on eBay, not sure of manufacturer ☠ Blouse: Bodyline ☠ Neck-bow: hand-made by me ☠ Gloves: secondhand on eBay ☠ Jacket: Putumayo ☠ Dress: Bodyline ☠ Tights: from the Hallowe'en shop last year ☠ Shoes: Demonia ☠ Bag: gifted, not sure of supplier or manufacturer. 

Androgynous Aristocrat

It would, if you went by how I dressed in most of my blog posts, be an easy assumption to make that I am always very "feminine" by the traditional gendering of fashion. While I always love frills, I don't always go for skirts, corsets, long hair, and usual staples. I am actually quite fond of a more "tomboyish" or "androgynous" version of Romantic Goth fashion.  I love brocade trousers, waistcoats 'vests' to my American readers), frock-coats, pirate boots and ruffled shirts - the branch of Romantic Goth fashion that is derived from historical male fashion. It was not a very big step from that point to become interested in the fashion worn by the more Gothic-looking Visual Kei bands, Aristocrat fashion, and Ouji; the same aesthetic inspirations coming through in Japanese alternative cultures. There is a great overlap between Romantic Goth fashion and the Gothic Japanese street-fashions, and as I am someone that basically likes things that are frilly, anachronistically inspired and Gothic, I draw from both and mix and match. 

Selfies by HouseCat

I quite like looking somewhat androgynous. Since my late teens I have been quite curvy, which is not the most androgynous-looking shape, but I try and choose cuts and underwear that will to some degree make it less immediately apparent. I like playing with that androgyny because I don't actually see gender (the psycho-social aspect) as part of my identity. I have no particular dysphoria about my sex; I just see it as utterly irrelevant to who I am as a person, and not really part of my identity as a person on any fundamental level. but the rest of the world does not work like that; for as long as I can remember, I have had others try and define me and their expectations of me according to my sex and gender. This is one way I like play with, and try subverting those societal categories. 

Selfies by HouseCat

Being heavily made-up is probably a strange choice when deliberately aiming for androgynous, but the appearance I am seeking is something akin to more everyday, casual version of the styles worn by members of bands like Versailles Philharmonic Quintet, Moi-Dix-Mois, or Blood, and a little bit of Dave Vanian, Peter Murphy, David Bowie and maybe a small hint of Sharon Needles. I love seeing make-up on Goths and Gothic types of all sexes and genders. I think I end up looking more like an older teenage boy than a woman in her late 20's! I have a relatively angular face, which is useful in that regard. Any advice on make-up techniques like contouring to try and achieve this sort of look would be greatly appreciated.

Selfies By HouseCat

I wish I could post a full-body photograph of this outfit. I am wearing a long pirate-style coat by Dark Star which originally belonged to Raven, but as he began to bulk out more, it no longer fitted him, so I ended up with it and had it tailored to fit me a bit better. I had black brocade trousers on, and knee-high pirate boots. That is not my real hair, of course (that is still turquoise for now); it is a wig that was originally Raven's but I end up borrowing it far more than he ever wears it! I will try and get more photographs of me in Ouji and Aristocrat and whatever the Western equivalent in Romantic Goth fashion would be called. 

Casually Romantic Goth

After 7 of my fanciest outfits, I thought I would share some of what I look like on just an ordinary weekend.

As readers may know, I love fancy things - whether that is clothes, architecture, artwork or really anything - but that does not mean I think everything should be as fancy as possible all the time. Firstly, I feel that if I wore my fanciest clothes everyday, that they would start to loose their specialness to me; with time becoming ordinary, and secondly, it just would not be practical, and my nice things would get ruined as I snag lace, get ruffles mucky and long coats and hems get trapped in doors. There are already so many jackets I have waiting to have buttons sewn back on because I've managed to catch them on something! 

That said, I do not want to abandon my personal aesthetic completely, and so a lot of my casual outfits are still a bit more fancy than more mainstream casual clothes, but they include cuffs that are less likely to get snagged, often trousers rather than skirts. Accessories, my unnatural hair colours (whether dyed or wigs) and choices in fabric all help to keep things within the aesthetic I prefer. 

One outfit photo, and three trying to show the make-up!

This is a summer outfit I wore to a friend's 50th birthday party. It was a summer's day, a casual garden party, and they are not Goth, so I didn't go for one of my more elaborate outfits, and instead went for just a weekend's summer outfit - my casual is still fancy enough for a mainstream garden party!

I picked floaty top that sits somewhere between hippie and Goth in its semi-sheer fabric and Medieval fantasy inspiration, a plain maxi skirt, and a belt to add interest and pull the top in at the waist, as it is quite loose. It was Gothic, but without overt morbid symbols - no skulls, no zombies, no coffins - just plain black crystal stud earrings, a silver bracelet of studs-as-beads, and a black metal laser-cut effect foliate necklace from eBay. It is hard to make out on the photographs, but I painted my nails an iridescent lavender-grey, with black tips. I wore make-up that was pretty natural-looking for my face and lips, but dramatic around the eyes, and while it's hard to make out, I had green eyeshadow to match my hair, and little leafy scrolls in the corners to match my necklace. The sleeves end short of my wrists, so even with their long drapes, they rarely get caught in anything. The lace detail around the square neckline (I love square necklines!) and the design of the sleeves make this a top that is fancy enough for my tastes, without being oodles of brocade and velvet and suchlike. 

This picture is dark! Details more visible if you click to enlarge.

The above outfit was just what I would wear on any Saturday. I have brocade trousers (I think the brocade is actually visible on this photo, for a change!) a lace-up crop top, and a cardigan with lace panels. What you can't see is that I'm wearing it with New Rock boots, because my mirror isn't long enough to show boots. This was quite a bit later in summer (you can see my hair has grown out a bit and faded) and the weather was a bit cooler, but it was still warm enough to warrant a thin cardigan and a light blouse. The blouse, hard as it is to see, is of a synthetic satin with deliberate crumples, and laces up the front with ribbons - a design that is quite Gothic even if the top was originally from a mainstream shop, and bought in a charity shop years ago. The cardigan has ties at the neck, which are not visible in any of these photographs, and the lace panels give a square neckline effect without actually having that much neck and upper chest uncovered if it gets cold enough for me to want to do the whole thing up (it didn't, so it is just tied at the neck here). I saw no need to bother with make-up, and just wore a studded cuff on one wrist, and a skull bead on some black ribbon on the other, along with my usual rings.

The brocade of the trousers, lace on the cardigan, and materials of the blouse, along with the New Rock Boots, all combine to make it an outfit a bit fancier and the studded cuff, boots and green hair, as well as the all-black outfit, keep the outfit firmly in the Goth aesthetic. The outfit is pretty practical, with comfortable boots, trousers, and a top that has little to catch on things and is warm once buttoned up. 

I like that I look a bit androgynous in this outfit. 

This outfit has taken a bit of inspiration from Japanese Goth and Visual Kei fashion and is a step up in fanciness. Again, it is based around trousers for practicality's sake. I'm wearing slim-fit black jeans from H&M with rather ornate embroidery down the sides. (I really need to get a good photo of them!), my favourite blouse that I have ever owned (and which thus turns up in a lot of my outfit photos) and is from Zanzea, and more accessories than in the other outfits. I remember that I wore boots, but I can't actually remember which pair! I'd guess probably my army boots, as I love them and wear them as much as I can due to them being very, very comfortable!

I am wearing lace fingerless gloves, which something I almost constantly do if it is not too hot out! I actually feel weird going out without some kind of gloves on. Around my hips is a belt with mesh and  lace over-skirt style panels from Gothic Lolita and Punk, and instead of my real hair, which was actually at a pretty similar length, I went with the black and red wig as it is much easier to style into that Visual Kei style with individual locks of hair coming to points, and volume at the back. The crescent moon earrings were a gift from Raven and bought for me in Wales. 

Again, I am wearing very minimal make-up, just some concealer, tinted lip-balm (to actually make my lips less pink) and a bit of shimmery eye-shadow in a natural colour. The minimal make-up was more to enhance my natural features than to do anything artistic like I would normally do - quite a different ethos than I normally have when it comes to make-up!

Altogether, this outfit is more androgynous than my usual outfits, which are often what would be traditionally regarded as feminine. Personally, I think clothes are for whomever they fit, and dislike the gendering of clothes. 

Finally, a very fancy outfit, and quite an old set of photos that people who read this blog will have seen before. This is about how fancy my "just going out" outfits get; this one was for lunch with friends.

When I write this blog, I tend to showcase my fanciest outfits because they often feel the nicest, the most special, but I sometimes feel like I'm unwittingly contributing to a sense that Goths need to be at their fanciest at all times, or perhaps that I am fancy all the time - neither of which are true. 

Birthday Party!

It was my birthday recently, but I'm not saying how recently, or how old I am.

It's irrelevant how old I am; we creatures of the night don't age! :P

Anyway, as there is no such thing as being too old to have fun and because we always want an excuse to be fancy, I had a dark fantasy themed birthday party that ended up leaning to a theme of "vampires". It was not so much a dressing up party as an excuse to wear our fanciest clothes with a little bit of a nod to the theme through accessories and makeup. 

J. giving his approval.

It was a small gathering; there was Shaun who isn't in any of the photos because he took them, Raven (of course) who looking somewhere between an anachronistic gentleman and a vampire (no surprises there!), J. who came as in post-apocalyptic fashion, with deconstructed trousers, goggles and a mask, Suzy_Bugs, who wore a long medieval-inspired dress with spider-web jewellery and a glittery, witchy mini-hat (but is shy about a photograph of herself in a dress being displayed publicly), M. who is usually a sweet Lolita and brought elements of that aesthetic to an outfit with a broken doll theme, K. who came with masquerade mask and claok and Brian who also came in elegant aristocratic finery. 

Coffin cake by Raven

Raven made me a coffin birthday cake, presents and cards were exchanged, copious amounts of biscuits, Gothic cupcakes and crisps were consumed, much chatting was done and a good time was had by all. I didn't want a large party as I am not socially comfortable in a large group, and I am not the sort to go out for a birthday drinking session, so I was very happy with a tea-and-biscuits gathering of good friends in my apartment, and a lot of fancy outfits. I appreciate any excuse for corsetry - not that I need an excuse!

My party wasn't actually held on the day of my birthday as Raven was working that day, and it didn't seem right to organise a party that my partner couldn't attend. On the evening of my actual birthday, Raven took me out for dinner to a nice restaurant, which was very sweet and generous of him. 

We might be a bunch of theoretically grown-up (mostly) Goths who really ought to know better, but we had too much fun being very silly! If you are how old you feel you are, on some occasions I am about 12! And Raven, who is supposed to be older and more sensible than me is the one making bunny-rabbit ears behind my head in the first photograph. It was nice to have an opportunity for everyone to put on their finery, too, as there are not many such opportunities in the local area - I really must get about organising more tea-parties and meet ups!

Raven and I being vampiric.
That corset does wonders for my bust!

Raven put a lot of effort into getting everything ready, especially the food and the coffin cake. His efforts were much appreciated. I had a wonderful time and I hope my guests enjoyed themselves as much as I did.

All photographs were taken by Shaun - many thanks to him for bringing his camera! Small photographs are thumbnails; clicking on them will let you view them in a scrolling gallery. 

Terrible Vanity (And Advice Request)

What is vainer than a post (nearly) entirely of selfies? 

I do actually have a reason for posting all of these selfies. As many of you know I am foraying into the world of Gothic Lolita fashion. One part I am struggling with is learning how to accessorise my hair and wigs. I've tried bows and clips before, and mini-hats, but I haven't as yet got the hang of wearing those in a way that really works and doesn't look tacky. One thing I have got quite fond of, and seem to be able to do quite well (I hope!?), is decorate my hair with fabric flowers.

These flowers are a mix of ones I've picked up in charity shops, and ones from Claire's Accessories and H&M. The two black roses I use to keep the front of my wig from sweeping and drooping in-front of my face are from H&M - they were very cheap compared to Claire's Accessories, which I think charges over-the-odds for fabric flowers by comparison. One of my big fabric black roses (the one I was wearing as a corsage on my dress... I think) was from Poundland. As far as accessories go, these ones are pretty darn cheap, which is appealing to me as I am on quite a small budget.

Lolita fashion is known for having quite elaborate hair decorations these days, and as this is not something I have done before as a part of Goth fashion, I am struggling. I've posted one of these selfies up to the Lolita Fashion Mentoring community on FaceBook, but I feel like it might be useful for me to open it up to a wider audience. Please provide feedback as to what could be done better, and what works as it is. I am finding it hard to judge what is too much ornament, enough ornament, or not enough ornament for the style. Compared to some other Lolitas, I feel underdone. I don't want to wear as many decorations as an OTT Sweet Lolita, because that's just not the style I am aiming for. 

The wig itself is from Lockshop, but I bought it secondhand from my friend Laura Sheridan (check out her awesome photography ::here::). It's the same colour red as my other previously-curly and now straightened red wig. It only looks like pale wine here because of the awful lighting in my bathroom as it was too dingy in the hall to take photos in the mirror I usually use. The wig has had the fringe trimmed, but otherwise I am not really wanting to style it further because I don't want to ruin the curls, which is what lead me to straightening my other red wig out entirely. 

 

Outfit Rundown: Wig: Lockshop, via Laura Sheridan. ♛ Hair Flowers: Claire's Accessories, H&M & thrifted 

♛

Blouse: Tesco (other Lolitas may want to note that F+F is the abbreviation for both Fan + Friend and the Florence + Fred range at Tesco!) 

♛

 JSK: Baby, The Stars Shine Bright ♛ Gloves: Claire's Accessoires ♛ Roses bracelet: H&M ♛ Bangle bracelet: thrifted.

I am looking for any suggestions and advice on better and alternative ways to style the wig and flowers, and for any good online tutorials for Lolita hair/wig decorations, especially those for Gothic Lolita style. Thank-you in advance for contributions. 

Black Friday Outfit

I'm not American and don't really understand what "Black Friday" is, except something to do with post-Thanksgiving sales. Apparently the shops are very busy and in some places, people go a bit mad, waiting outside shops before they open, and tussling over bargains. Beyond that, I know very little. Bane at Goth It Yourself is running a blogging event (and looking VERY stylish indeed) over ::here:: in a velvet and lace outfit. 

This is my all black outfit! I'm not wearing it today, as I'm at work and it's raining. It's my second ever full Lolita co-ordinate. I wore it into town to meet with my friend M. (A sweet Lolita) and as I was going to go shopping and wander around, I decided to go with an A-line skirt with not too much pouf as I have poor spacial awareness at the best of times and I was not being entirely used to wearing a petticoat yet, and thus its added bulk, so I didn't want to knock into things with it. I also feel that A-line skirts look more mature and suit me better as I am not as young as I used to be. I know the jacket sleeves are a bit short on me (one of the disadvantages of being tall through being long-limbed). I am contemplating sewing a wide lace trim to make them seem longer.

Outfit rundown: ⚜ Head-bow - Claire's (with gold skull painted black by me) ⚜ Hair flowers - H&M and Poundland ⚜ Wig - Stargazer, "Pulp" in plume ⚜ Lace blouse - K-Star  (at Camden Market) ⚜ Jacket - Criminal Damage (at St. Nick's market, Bristol) ⚜ Skirt - Miss Posh (secondhand on eBay) ⚜ Over-the-knee Socks - offbrand ⚜ Velvet ruffle shoes - D.E. Shoes, Inverness ⚜ Lace gloves - Accessorize

Makeup Tutorial: Date Night

I figure ivory is a good counterpoint to black... 

This was going to a bit earlier in the month, on Valentine's day, to be precise, but it wasn't ready. This is a makeup tutorial recreating the makeup design I wore to the dinner date with Raven that we had to celebrate three years of us being together, earlier on this month! As I wore a ruffled satin blouse and floor-length skirt, and my curly black wig, I wanted something to break up pillar of black effect, so opted for ivory lace gloves and pearls, and thus consequently, ivory eye-makeup. 

Photographs by SuzyBugs
My hand looks awkward because my thumb nail is actually bandaged.

I didn't get chance to photograph my makeup on the actual night, but decided that it definitely needed a step-by-step so recreated it a bit later. You might notice that it is decidedly similar to my last makeup tutorial, and this would be right, but this is my preferred style - asymmetric with swirls only on one side. Many thanks to SuzyBugs for photographing me (and I'm not even a spider!).

On to the tutorial itself!

Neatly plucked eyebrow and moisturised and primed skin.

Preparation
As always, it is important to start by preparing your face. First of all, wash your face, then carefully pluck your eyebrows and any extraneous facial hair (I find that this is less uncomfortable after I've washed). Moisturise your skin. Once this is done, apply a good toner. After that, a good primer is essential - go for a very lightly coloured translucent primer. Once the primer has dried, apply concealer. If you don't wait, the concealer is thinned by the primer and does not conceal very well. The three brown moles on my cheek don't conceal very well as they are slightly raised, so I don't bother, personally I think leaving them gives me character as most of the time I am not aiming for a doll-like look. 

Foundation
I used a very light amount of foundation, thickest over my nose and on my face either side of my nose, where I tend to be the pinkest. I then set the foundation with a porcelain-coloured powder, and a light dusting of matte white on my cheekbones, forehead and nose as a highlight. My nose has a tendency towards pinkness and I work to counteract this.

I use Rimmel Kohl pencil; these are my favourite.

Kohl
Starting in the middle, under my lower lashes, and working towards the outer corners I drew in my eyeliner with a soft kohl pencil. I used soft kohl because it goes on quite dark and can be blended outwards with a brush for a smokey effect. I did indeed blend it outwards with a brush, and added a light amount of black eye-shadow as a powder to set it afterwards. I did not do anything to my upper eyelids as working in off-whites and white means that I need to add anything black afterwards to avoid the white getting mucky.

White on the waterline makes my eye look larger.

White Waterline
I added white to the lower waterline to help give me the illusion of larger eyes. This is done carefully with a white eye pencil. I also add just a little bit to the inner corner of my eye, where it meets my nose, to help give me the illusion of a slightly narrower nose or slightly further apart eyes (depending on which way you see it), and to contrast nicely with the black eyeliner I applied later.

Cream eyeshadow near the inner corner, white towards the outer.

Eyeshadow
This is was relatively simple and I only used two colours - a matte creamy off-white and white with a very slight amount of shimmer. Before I got that far, I primed my eyelids, as I wanted a dense colour that would last. You can get special eye-makeup primers, but I use my regular primer with no issues. I used an eye-shadow sponge (the kind with the nice long handle, like a brush) and started with the cream colour, working from the inside corner of my eyelid to the middle, and patting it on rather than sweeping in order to keep it dense, then I used the white eye-shadow from the outer corner inwards to the middle and carefully blended them, trying not make them patchy in the process. I then took a small fluffy brush and added a dusting of the cream eyeshadow out along my brow bone and out to my temples. At this point it is done symmetrically, but once I decide which side the swirls will go on, I add slightly more to that side in order to give a nice contrasting creamy base for the black swirls.

Eyeliner
I use a dip eyeliner with a fine brush tip to first of all line my upper lid, then draw narrow 'cat-eye' tails at each outer corner. The eye-lining is decidedly wider towards the outer corner. I draw a very narrow line on my lower lids, coming down slightly as I approach the inner corner in order to add to the illusion of larger eyes. 

Still needs more swirls...

Swirls
At this point I pick which side will have swirls, add a touch more cream eyeshadow, and draw the swirls on. The brush tip is what allows for the calligraphy-like variation in line thickness and clean swirls. My skin is not as smooth as it once was, and I do sometimes have to go back and touch up any patchy sections. One thing I have to make sure of in the preparation stage is that there are no fine, almost invisible hairs on my temples, because if eye-liner gets on them, they become instantly very visible! Swirls are tricky, but it just takes practice. Doing them with either a gel or liquid eyeliner and brush or a brush-tipped eyeliner makes them so much easier. I tend to go for finer, more intricate swirls, but Adora BatBrat often does good examples of what can be done with bolder strokes. 

I added a couple more swirls in...

Mascara
Mascara is the last step. As you may have seen in the photos above, I am lucky enough to have fairly long and curly lashes anyway, so do not curl them, but if you want to, you can.

As before, yes, I do have naturally grey eyes, and they are not contact lenses. If you look at all my photographs you will see that I do indeed have grey eyes, but in this set the lighting makes them seem slightly darker than normal. 

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!

Clothes, Make-Up and Me Being Vain

I've realised I've not actually put many pictures of me up here, and apart from the one on the "About" page, there is only one of me being wearing the braided wig in an outfit that does not really typify my style (even if I think it is one of the better photographs that have been taken of me). Anyway, to remedy this, I am posting a few pictures of me taken on my laptop's webcam. Yes, they are suitably badly lit and grainy! These are pretty much my favourite things in my wardrobe at the moment. Not really that many self-made items in this outfit. Oh well, I shall have post some future ones that contain a lot more of my makes and mods.

I love wearing frills! 

Not that flattering when it comes to my face, but outfit visible.

Lots of lace!

Manuscript inspired make-up... 

Here is another photograph of the make-up, a bit closer, to try and show the silver detailing. 

A better view of the make-up

The makeup started of as abstract swirls, and then became more elaborate foliate designs. It is only one the one side. Unfortunately the poor quality images do not really do the makeup justice - each leaf is actually silver detailing on black, to the point where it is almost silver outlined in black, done in silver eye-liner over black eye-liner, with the black brushed on and the silver drawn. It isn't one of my best designs, but I quite liked how the silver worked over the black. For good designs and how-to on foliate/swirl makeup designs, checkout the tutorials of Adora Batbrat on YouTube. 

Where the clothes are from: 

Brocade frock-coat is from H&R and bought in Camden market. It laces up at the back. The buttons that came with this coat, and a military jacket by the same company keep falling off because they are poorly made and have burrs on the back that sever the thread keeping them attached - I am forever sewing the buttons back on and at some point will simply buy replacement buttons, but as buttons are getting expensive and both jackets require an awful lot (buttons at the cuffs as well) that will be sometime in the future. That said, the jacket is really gorgeous - the material is nicer than some later editions of this jacket that I have seen, as they seem to change the material once in a while. The lacing at the back means I can adjust the coat to my corseted and non-corseted figure, and the sweeping cut of the back is wonderful.  

Leather corset is from Leatherotics. I love the buckles and halter-neck. I wear this corset as much as possible! It is my favourite corset. It becomes part of Romantic/Aristo outfits and part of mostly-leather "Stompy Goth" outfits and is very comfortable for an under-bust corset. I have worn this corset an awful lot, and it has shown a few signs of wear, but nothing I could not mend simply and easily and with little impact. It has been quite resilient considering the amount I wear it. I like the fact there are almost "cups" to the top of this corset, as I do not like straight-across under-bust corsets as I think the harsh horizontal unflattering to many figures including mine. 

Black waistcoat with ornate buttons and chains is one of my own designs. It started off life as a rather business like waistcoat a size or two too small for me, and I altered it into something that is almost a cropped waistcoat (it has a high waist, at least) that deliberately does not close at the front, and instead has chains between ornate buttons. 

White frilly shirt is Gothic, Lolita and Punk, Camden Market. While I love how it looks, it shrinks every time I wash it, but not to a point where I can't stretch it back. It isn't exactly the same cut as when I bought it though, but this is not terribly noticeable when worn under a corset, waistcoat and jacket! I have learnt that it is better to wear plain white shirts (blouses) with jabots and detachable cuffs, especially as even cheap white shirts tend to retain their shape fairly well. 

The wig was a present from Raven. I have no idea where it is from, but I know it needs some routine maintenance at the moment, mostly dealing with ends frizzed by wearing it and some locks near the front that I accidentally overheated while trying to re-curl. Heat and synthetic wigs do not agree! In the words of the meme comedy community: Learn From My Fail!

I love mixing and matching from various historical periods, but things I like trying to incorporate into my looks include buckles, chains and ornate buttons in silvery metals, brocades and damasks, black lace and white lace, corseting, details and layering. Quite a few blogs already include outfit posts, and I am not sure if doing these myself would be of any benefit, but welcome reader feedback on this. I do not want to be the bloggery equivalent of one of those people who endlessly uploads photographs to social media, and this is not primarily a fashion blog, so even if I do post future "outfit posts" this will probably be an occasional thing.

This is also generally the style in which I dress everyday. Right now I am wearing a medieval-inspired dress that laces up at the bodice with a long velvet waist-coat-type-thingy (costumers and renaissance faire types can probably elucidate me on the name) that does up with frog-clasps, black stockings and black slippers, so slightly less layered than above, but still distinctly Gothic and definitely leaning to the Romantic and fancier ends of Goth. I only dress down for occasions where I do not want to cause trouble by my appearance, or for work, especially the conservation work, where I'd ruin fancy clothes rather quickly. I dress like this even when I do not intend to leave the house, and do so partly because I enjoy getting dressed into all these layers of anachronistic finery and adorning myself with make-up, accessories, wigs and jewellery.