107; Hark, an Outfit!

Dress: Nollie via PacSun ☯ Jacket + tights: JCPenny ☯ Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

Holy hell!

So I don't have much to note about this, except that I really adore this skater dress. And my shoes. And putting choker necklaces around my ankles.

Yeah I don't know. I gotta go get fed and prep for clubbing tonight. It's been a while since I hit a gay club, and I'm kind of excited since the last visit was a complete funkill. Gotta go figure out what I'm wearing! ♥

Hey, if you didn't catch my last post, head here for the new blog identity overhaul coming soon!

103; Spirituality

 The City top: c/o Crash & Burn Apparel • Maxi dress: c/o SheInside • Shoes: Arizona Jean Co. via JCPenny • Tikka: Uma • Vintage Vishnu necklace: birthday gift via Etsy • Poison earrings & Azaria Diamond Necklace: c/o Vanessa Mooney

I had been without internet for about a week and a half -- rather, I should say I have been without wifi functioning on the router. It was uh, quite the headache. Alas, I am back. (With a cold. Awesome.)

I am so fascinated with this top that my friends at Crash & Burn Apparel sent me; it just hangs so beautifully and the cut of it is so quirky. I have actually worn this specific outfit a LOT since they sent this top to me a couple of months ago, and I've also styled it with other pieces, and it kills me to refrain from just doing like, two or three style posts in a row with it -- but I will practice my self-discipline. That isn't to say that you won't see this top on the blog ever again. FAR from it.

This outfit is kind of...spiritual? I'm wearing a lot of personally spiritual items like the tikka, the evil eye bracelet, the vintage Vishnu necklace, the Om Mani Padme Hum thumb ring, plus the Azaria Diamond necklace from Vanessa Mooney is very Eastern styled. Later after these photos were taken, I found a man renting out a cart at the mall selling stuff from Nepal, and Kathryn and I spoke with him for something like two hours about Hinduism. I bought myself a Tibetan prayer box pendant, which you will see pretty soon. He was a pretty awesome guy!

I have to say, I'm gonna miss wearing this tikka -- because I've cut my hair today! I have two other outfits to get posted here so I guess you'll have to wait and see what it looks like once I've taken photos of myself with my new do. (Unless you're buddies with me on Facebook, then the surprise has already been spoiled for you.)

I also need to point out my eye makeup -- Urban Decay's Evidence (blue) and Deeper (brown) blended with some eyeshadows from Mark whose names I don't know. LOOOVE.


Now I'm gonna go reheat my frozen Indian dinner and put Netflix on. This cold sucks.

102; Glamabilly

Jacket + skirt: c/o ROMWE ☯ Shirt: thrifted vintage ☯ Bra: The Cultlabel ☯ Demonia Creepers: eBay ☯ Tights: DIY destroyed JCPenny

(Psst, Geek USA's free shipping code is still valid for the next week! Check it out!)

Something about this reminds me of the 1950s rockabilly scene, but super glam... So I guess Stray Cats + Madonna. Perhaps it is aided by the old English architecture of New England, so I get this potent mental picture of 1950s Liverpool, with brooding teens in leather jackets and pompadour hairstyles loitering around rotting brick buildings near the shore. Any Beatles fans in the house? Anyone? Anyone?

This, but '80s. (source)
Nevermind that this may very well be Germany but WHATEVER.

But I suppose a french braid isn't a proper substitute for a pompadour.

I have an increasing interest in this sort of style. I kind of have a secret desire to bring this all together in an outfit someday: plaid button up, leather jacket, skinny jeans, creepers, wayfairers, pomp. It will be attempted, surely.

Some inspo on the matter until I get this assembled; I originally saved this to my "future haircut" folder. It seems like this is the obvious next step for my hair when I get tired of it.

 (source: tumblr)

I'll just be over here, sighing longingly, dreaming of this perfect life.

95; Hotel Yorba

Dress c/o SheInside ☯ Flannel + Velvet boots: Arizona Jean Co. via JCPenny ☯ Trucker Cap: Billabong via PacSun ☯ Azaria Diamond Necklace c/o Vanessa Mooney ♥ ☯ Crescent necklace: Waloosi's Emporium ☯ Hamsa bottle + Hindu prayer ring: The Magic Parlor, Salem MA ☯ Coffin nail earrings: Black Water Siren ☯ Coin belt: thrifted back in Arizona

This outfit is so bizarre, but so fun. I imagine this is the outfit of a girl who wears her boyfriend's (or manlier girlfriend's? Hey she could be a lesbian too) stuff. Similar yet different compared to the last time I wore this dress, huh? I mentioned in that post how it's difficult (in the sense that it's a healthy challenge) to try to wear a maxi dress...because I am one to take multiple crazy pieces and put them togther into something semi-coherent, but having one whole entity feels too boring for me. I actually came up with a whole second outfit that carries a whole different vibe by just ditching the hat and changing the over shirt! (Same shoes, too, though only mainly for the colour...my JC Stevies or my cowboy booties would work just as well.) Suddenly I'm finding alternatives very easily and it feels very rewarding to be able to reuse pieces as such -- mainly because I can't afford to revamp my wardrobe every year with the rushing swarms of trends. I am bone broke, people!

So it means so much to me when I get the occasional email from a company offering to send me an item or two. I pour a lot of energy, money, and time into this little spot on the Information Superhighway and without income except peer responses. Company collaborations are the only "income" I ever see!

Thus I want to talk about how freaking amazing the people at Vanessa Mooney were to send me their jewelry. I typically pass up jewelry for clothes when shopping because that's how my brain is wired, and since their stuff arrived, I have been constantly wearing their jewels. (I am wearing the Poison Earrings as I type this, legit!) This is one of my faaavourite necklaces of theirs. I keep seeing beautiful teasers of their upcoming collection on Instagram and I just throw my phone down every time and whine like a banshee, because the wait is PAINFUL. (Dudes, I keep seeing a coffin ring with a pentagram. I am going to agonise if it's not part of their next collection. Because it is literally perfect.)

I leave you with a wonderful song.

73; Bewitched (featuring ramblings)

Velvet overshirt: Thrifted • Bralette: Pins and Needles (Urban Outfitters) • Biker shorts: DIY • Stripped tights: Romwe • Docs: Ebay • Coyote vertebrae necklace: DIY • Amethyst necklace: SOULMATES (coming soon)

As I type this, I actually have blueish-now-turning-a-little-greenish-hair (trimmed and without roots!) so it's weird to see myself blonde again. But you'll see that soon enough.

Does anyone here remember this cat? Maybe from this shoot? (Oh my god, looking that far back into my blog gives me crazy nostalgia; I feel like I'm looking at a photo of myself from YEARS ago. What is with that? What's summer like, again?) Yup, it's Gypsy again! She was apparently trying to say, "Oh hey guys, you obviously came outside to love me and pay attention to me, right?" Which is cool, I always love having felines in my photos. If only I could incorporate my cat Jasmine, but she can't sit still for the life of her.

So, does the fact that I wore this velvet shirt for two outfits in a row suggest how obsessed I've been in wearing it?

Ugh, I have no idea what else I can contribute to this post. Erm, I made those biker shorts in two minutes.

Oh, well, I suppose I can supplement with some insight as to why I've turned into the most unaccomplishing creature you've ever set your eyes on: I have been ridiculously overwhelmed with so many things lately, and I've fallen behind on a LOT of things I planned to do (translation: SOULMATES). Even while this current winter has been, without a doubt, FAR more bearable than the last, I still have been affected by its cold atmosphere, its common depression/complacency/stress (though not a constant thing for me, but fairly frequent) and the difficulties it brings to a person who works five days a week and has to embark on a 20-25 minute walk to said workplace, and the same amount of time back home. Might not sound like much, but when you walk that far only to stand for five to eight hours straight, having to wake up at five in the morning for three of those shifts (and some days, standing at the drive-thru window cashier, having the window open every few minutes to assault you with 30 degree breezes) the only way to put it is this: it SUUUUUCKS. This is not me looking for pity -- I'm just trying to summarise what's been draining me physically and emotionally, and painting you readers a small picture of what goes on outside of the blog, the outfits, the promised jewelry making, et cetera...which has everything to do with the outfits themselves, I feel. 99% of my errands are done on foot, walking around for hours in the cold, so by time I get home, I pretty much avoid doing any work like making jewelry or designing graphics for the shop.

If it makes you readers feel better, I finished a necklace this afternoon, and ordered some custom stickers for jewelry box designing. I would have ordered the stickers like, a month and a half ago, but Kathryn suggested it might not be the best idea, since I'll be pouring $15 into 25 stickers that I'll be stuck with if my shop goes nowhere. Good point, really. That money could buy the cat her expensive but necessary high-protein canned food, y'know?

So my plan was to print out the logo and turn it into a stencil to paint onto the jewelry boxes -- and I did an extremely embarrassing job. On two boxes. Thus, I caved and ordered the stickers. Even if I don't make a lot of money through this, I'm not going to cut corners and make a sloppy job of it.

I think that's the other thing that's been keeping me from churning out jewelry at the pace I'd been wanting: the fear of failing at the whole scheme. So upon launch, the inventory will be VERY small; I can't really risk spending tons of money on jewelry and other supplies if it doesn't sell. But...we'll see what happens! And I'll do my best to network so that that fear doesn't become a reality.

...Man, I really did not plan on typing this much. Er, sorry guys.