Thursday 30 April 2015

IW Blanche JSK

Hello! This week I'm showing you the IW dress as it finally came! It blew my Hellocon budget with the price of $150 = 145€ and it got stuck in customs so I had to pay 24% tax which was 35€, so the total cost was 180€... My most expensive dress so far. But oh so pretty! And it fits well, plus I've been meaning to get more classic items and this totally fits that bill. The name of the dress is Blanche, and this is the long version.







Here's the unboxing and review video!

I've made other endeavors to classic lolita as well, but more of that later :)

Thursday 23 April 2015

Nail art tutorial

Hello, this weeks video is a bit different one: a nail art tutorial! Many of you commented about my nails and asked for tutorials, so I made one :D I show how to do the black and white version, but show the pink and white version as well to show you that this can work well with both gothic and sweet lolita. ^^



I went to see Avengers: Age of Ultron yesterday and it was awesome! We had to buy tickets beforehand because it was the first show, and somehow (even though I had already went and bought the ticket), I maganed to forget the whole movie. I had just taken a shower, had food and a movie in front of me when my friend texted me that she's headed to the theatre. I stared good solid five minutes at my phone before I realized what she was talking about; then I had to really be fast, I threw on some clothes and ran to my car. I managed to be barely on time looking very much like a hobo with my damp hair and mismatched clothes, but I made it in time and the movie was (again) AWESOME so I have no regrets :D I did feel like a fool for forgetting it in the first place, but oh well ^^'

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Sister

This Sunday I went to visit my sister because it was her birthday. ^^



My sister and I are very different. For example she loves pink, fragrant things and red wine; none of which I enjoy :D Still, we do have things in common: we love the minions from Despicable Me (and will go to see the movie about minions when it comes out!), and I adore her cats. <3 I was worried that if I gave her a big gift it may be a bit off, so I got her a bunch of smaller things ^^ She also has glasses (though she sometimes wears contacts) so I got her a pretty cleaning cloth, some light reading and a book about wines (since the gift is from me, books are to be expected xD) and a bottle of wine. I know absolutely nothing about wines so I got it purely because the label looked cool: I hope it's good! 

We live about an hour drive away from each other and I feel bad that we don't see more often. We may have our differences but I still my big sister very much. <3 Happy birthday!

Tuesday 14 April 2015

DIY: Pleated skirt with a zipper

Hello! This weeks video is a requested tutorial: a pleated skirt with a zipper. Not so long time ago I complained about zippers, but with pleats, they're essential. So when I saw this fabric, I knew that this would work really well for this project. Step by step instructions are in the video :)




Friday 10 April 2015

Just books :)

I haven't talked about books for a while :D I have a small story, so bare with me. Recently I bought a huge pile of books at once (I think 12 books?) for reasons. I put them in a bag and it was really full. I then put the bag on the foot area of the backseat of my car. I drove to my destination, and when I got there, I got out of my car and opened the backseat door. Now, while I was driving, the book on top of the pile had come out of the bag and on to the bench. So when I opened the door, it fell from the bench - in to a puddle of icy water. MY NEW BOOK. IN TO WATER. Not to mention it was indeed dirty, sandy car park puddle. So now the pages are all crinkly and some still have a bit of sand in them. And it was the book I wan most exited to get... Robin Hobb's & Megan Lindholm's (who are the same person, but two pen names) Inheritence, which has two cats on the cover and was the last missing book. It was to complete my Hobb collection and it's ruined... It wasn't expensive so I could just get a new one but since it's still readable it would feel awfully wasteful to do so. So, I kept it as it is and tried to get it as straight as I can, but it's still wobbly. Oh well. At least it now has a story to it :D I already read the Hobb novels and loved them, and read the first Lindholm novel and it broke my heart. Lavender <3



As for what other books I got? I've read a lot of Terry Pratchett books (Dodger and Amazing Maurice and educated rodents being my favourites) but never really delved into Discworld. I felt I had to rectify that, and decided to start from the Death novels. So I got them all, convinced I'd like them and so far, I have. His choise of words and style of writing is so compelling and entertaining. I bet that I could read a 1000 page analysis about rocks if he wrote it. Plus the hard covers looks amazing! Too bad some were out of print so I only got four. The slightly banged up paperback is from a second and book store, I have to research where it belong in the Discworld timeline but it was 3€ so I got it ^^ I'm so sad he's gone now, there won't be any new books from him...



I have the first book, Lies of Locke Lamora in Finnish and had hoped to continue reading them in Finnish but since the apparently won't be translated, I had to change language and got the second and third books in Englsh. I mean I prefer to read fantasy in English, but I hate changing language in the middle, especially in fantasy; a lot of the places and herbs and other "made up words" are translated (like quidditch is "huispaus" in Finnish) and I dislike having them change in the middle of a story. So I like to stick to a language I've started with, but alas, it was impossible. And again since I had the first one in Finnish it felt wasteful to get it again in English.


Here's a random pile of Stephen Fry and Roman emperors :D Rest are books about samurais, North Korea and China. Asian countries intrigue me so I have quite a few books about them. I also studied Japanese for quite a long time, but I have to admit that I've forgotten a lot of Kanjis since I don't use them anymore. I keep my Japanese book with my cooking, sewing, art books and Western comics in the living room so they're not in the photos.



Stephen King is still one of my favourite authors despite some of his newest books being so-so (especially with endings). I'm halfway throurgh Revival and had to stop, because it didn't intrest me. Way too much talk about God (one character is a priest), Bible and sermons until it starts talking about heroin and old American musicians. I don't know if they're real or imaginary since I have no idea abut past American music. But, the Kennedy time travel book was recommended by three people with similar book taste so I'll give it a shot :) I also got some classics, It and Pet cemetery. That and Misery, Doctor sleep and Salem's Lot are my favourites.



I've wanted to read Wheel of Time but since it's so long, it's kind of intimidating to begin but when I saw this prequel I had to get it. We'll see it I like his writing style :) The first one of the Demon Wars trilogy is at work, I read it during lunch and coffee breaks (we only have one person on a break at a time so I always read a book while I eat) and I have to say I like it so far. As for the Pullman books, I've always loved them so when I saw this all-in-one it was MINE :D The movie was super awful, but I've come to accept that it's how it goes. The only book that was better as a film that I can think of was Stardust, though I also love Neil Gaiman's work and plan on getting them on my shelf (Coraline is on it's way).



I'm a big fan on Harry Potter books. First movies are good for nostalgia, but the last ones I had to make myself watch. But the books <3 I have them at my parent's place but thy're in Finnish (and the cover art is awful) and I'd want them in English (because of what I said earlier about translated names and places). However getting them all in hard covers with the cover art I want would be quite expensive and since I already have them in another language, it would (again) feel a bit wasteful. So I made a compromise - I would buy them second hand, only for 5€ per book and with whatever cover art or format is available. It won't look as pretty on the shelf but I'll still have them. I found these three at my usual store, and now I'll have to remember what parts I already have ^^'



My last new-ish purchases are sci-fi. I've read some sci-fi and liked most of what I've read, so I want to read more of it :) I'm not so into post apocalyptic scenarios or "space pew pew stuff" (description by a friend and it's perfect) but love alternative realities (I've read the first two of 13th reality by James Dashner and loved them a lot) and alien-human societies and interactions. There are a lot of sub genres that I'm still unfamiliar with but plan to fix it.



Anyway, I also mentioned I got a new, small book case but didn't show it yet, so here it is! It has most of my non-fiction, detective and murder stories and biographies. The bottom shelf has mostly books I'm not in a hurry to read and few of my boyfriend's books, plus the huge dragon story book that didn't fit anywhere else ^^'



So this is what the Wall of Books looks like at the moment. I keep my jewelry boxes on the small one, and on top of the big ones are some of our board games, art supplies and more books :D Behind the doors are my boyfriends books, photo albums and stuff like that so no photo ~


Here are my Kera magazines and some paperbacks. Fantasy in Finnish and English, and the small size means they stand up well between board games and the stopper.. My sister gave me that book end and from the weight of it I would guess it's a door stopper(?) but it works perfectly! In the side it says "The dearest ones of time, the strongest friends of the soul... Books". I love my sister <3 


Robin Hobb, my all time favourite writer. I can't wait for the second and third book of the Fitz and the Fool trilogy, the first one was so good and Fool brakes my heart! No spoilers but Bee is awesome and I love Molly and I was pleasantly surprised. I hope the next one comes out soon <3

The second shelf has my Big Name Books, such as Tolkien, Pullman, Lovecraft, Pratchett and Eddings. I don't know if Scott Lycnh is a Big Name yet but he is for me, so his books are here as well.


First shelf has my dragon fantasy, Stravaganza, Salvatore and Martin. The Random Books are here as well, as well as the Haven't Read Yet.

Second shelf has my Death Gate Cycle and other Weis & Hickman books (Mathew from the Rose of the Prophet <3). Bartimaeus trilogy is still very high on my favourites list and I got the first Redwall novel for nostalgia.


Top shelf is Potters and sci-fi, bottoms is horror. It has mostly King and books from his son, but I have some others as well. And yes those are VHS tapes, and yes we still watch them.

The book case in our living room has mostly games on it xD Some movies, decorative items and the bottom shelf has a box full of house things and papers.

Here I keep my cook books (since I'm allergic to a ton of things, I can't eat ready food), sewing, drawing, Japanese and Kanji learning books plus some comics.

Wow that was a wall of text... I just love my books and reorganize them and plan what to read next and what to buy, where to expand ^^ I just keep running out of room! And we're running out of wall space so I probably can't get a new book case unless we get rid of something else... Luckily I now have a good storage of unread books so I'll try to control the "must have" urge!

And to wrap it up, here's something that I found beautifully true. Have a nice day. 



Tuesday 7 April 2015

Bodyline skull dress L580

Hello! This weeks video is an unboxing and review for a Bodyline dress. It's one of the newest ones and the "name" is L580, and to be honest, I was positively surprised. I was expecting it to be too high waisted and short so that I would have to make it into a skirt, but it actually fits quite well. True, the waist is a bit high and it doesn't quite cover my knees, but I'll still keep it as it is. Except I'll remove the tummy bow :D



The print is quite good, and the main reason I bought the dress. (The print has a bit of lavender that I'm okay with, but the pink is a stretch. Luckily there's not much of it, mostly on the "sailor moon" bits ^^')



The dress is not lined but has a good, sturdy zipper and the fabric feels nice. I like a bit thicker fabrics and this seems like it won't wrinkle to easily, which is always a plus. Here it's a bit rumpled up since I just took it out of the package.



The back has looots of shirring! I bought the size 2L to get extra length on the dress, and the shirring isn't stretched the least with my ~92cm bust and ~68cm waist. It still fits well, I just have a lot un-stretched shirring as you can see in the video. :)


I've never understood pintucks on printed fabric. I mean they look gorgeous on a solid color, but on a print they just make the print look odd... But the center of the diamonds is perfectly in the center of the bodice, so good job on that. :)




Here is a quick snap I took when I wore the dress to a friends house. The lighting is bad but gives you an idea what the dress looks like on me. :) I coorded it with blue since the print has blue stripes on it. I adore blue + gray outfits, and this dress is perfect for it. <3



Monday 6 April 2015

Anime and board games

I had five (!!) days off due to Easter, and even though I don't care one bit about the holiday, I was more than happy to take the time off. I made things around the house that needed doing, read a good book and made two videos for you guys :D So hopefully I can keep up with weekly videos!

On Sunday I had friends over and we watched anime and played board games. I play with my boyfriend a lot but sometimes it is fun to play with more people, and sometimes we arrange play evenings with coworkers. I really love my job.<3

Anyway the gathering was also a good excuse to bake! I've been trying to bake less since I've gained a bit weight (and since my boyfriend isn't so keen on sweet things I usually end up eating almost everything myself), but I have to bake for friends, don't I? ^^ So I made chocolate muffins, tuna pastries and popcorn with coconut oil - that way they're a lot less greasy but don't taste like coconut, fear not. Also cookies were essential.