Baking sandcastles

Some time ago a dear friend of mine gave me a fantastic Bundt castle cake pan! I picked it myself when we went shopping for my 'having helped with the wedding' present. I already baked a cake in it two weeks ago, but then I didn't use enough dough. This time I got it right, but the structure of the cake is a bit weak, causing it to crack. Next time I know how to make this thing work perfectly, but for now I'm enjoying my second imperfect attempt...

My friend's wedding took place last September and I had the honor of being her witness. It was a lovely sunny day and both the ceremony and celebration took place at the beach. This is what I wore, trying to look both appropriate and like my normal self at the same time:

 

Purple dress: bought in Paris

Black mesh hat: bought in Paris

Clutch bag: don't remember

Shoes: Calandschoen, Amsterdam

Mystic Girlz

Yesterday my boyfriend bought me this awesome/hilarious Steffilove gothic doll!! It was for sale at Kruidvat, a well-known discount drugstore in the Netherlands. I just had to have one!
It's a nice to see they've made a doll that's not the average, sweet, 'perfect', pink-loving Barbie doll. Babybats will be delighted, I'm sure. And look at the packaging! It's all bats and roses. My doll is wearing a lace corset (nope, not a steel boned one ;)), a tule skirt, armwarmers, stripy leg warmers, a choker and a small hat. She even has tattoos. The doll comes with a small pet, which in this case is a creepy/cute looking bear.

I think this is a wonderful way of introducing kids to different subcultures and of counterbalancing the 'perfect Barbie' image that young girls are always confronted with.
Keep in mind that this doll is made to be played with by kids and is not made of high quality material. If you want buy a truly gorgeous doll just for decoration, take a loot at Bleeding Edge dolls for instance:

The Woman in Black outfit

Yesterday I went to see The Woman in Black with my friend Joyce. A review of the movie will follow later, but for now I only have time to post a picture of the outfit that I wore:

Top: Esprit

Skirt: H&M

Stockings: V&D

Shoes: Van Haren

Bracelet: NOOSA Amsterdam

Necklace: gift from my mother-in-law

Make-up: Morgana Cryptoria

And now for something entirely different... I want to show a picture of the lovely teapot that my mother bought for me at a flee market a couple of weeks ago:

Shopping for shoes

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend and afterwards we decided to do some shopping. She was looking for a book and I had a discount coupon for shoes. Eventually we ended up in a different store (Van Haren), because this turned out to be the only place where they had affordable shoes in my size (43). I've never been able to find nice shoes with a victorian look before, but this time I finally succeeded! I also bought myself some black ballerina shoes. Two pairs of shoes for 45 euros is really not a lot of money...so I hope they won't break apart right away. We'll see. :)

Morgana Cryptoria: 'Fallen Leaves Gloss' and 'Revenant Gloss'

I couldn't resist and tested the other two Morgana Cryptoria glosses already! 'Fallen Leaves' is a warm, copper/oranje colored gloss and can be combined with almost anything. 'Revenant' is a very dark gloss, especially when several layers are applied. Both are beautiful, but the packaging is not really convenient for me. I spill some gloss every time that I open it. Anyway, these are the wonderful shades:

Fallen Leaves Gloss (flash):

 Revenant Gloss (no flash):

Morgana Cryptoria: 'Glowing Gargoyle Gloss'

 Today was a good day. I finally managed to find work that I like, even though it's freelance and only for a couple of months. I have to seek interesting historical images for a book that will probably be published somewhere around October. My first 'real' job, hurray!
And then there was the mail... A while back had I ordered some eyeshadow and lip products at Morgana Cryptoria, an online store for exceptional make-up with a dark edge.  Today my package arrived and I'm thrilled about what's inside!  For now, I will only review the Glowing Gargoyle gloss. More will follow this week!
Glowing Gargoyle is a truly extraordinary color. I'm familiar with the green-brown-redish shade from several eyeshadows that I like, but I've never seen it as a lip product before! Because of the uncommon color, the gloss may not be wearable for just any occasion (it can even appear quite dark, when you use a lot), but it's not downright shocking either. It's definately an eyecatcher though!
The texture of the product is moisturizing and glossy...just perfect, if you're asking me. Unfortunately the package had been upside down in my mailbox, so the gloss is smeared against the top of the pacakge, but I think this will sink to the bottom within a couple of hours.  This is why it looks a bit messy in the picture:

My order from Morgana Cryptoria:

 Glowing Gargoyle gloss:

Went to the hairdresser this morning...

..and I have bangs again! I'm really happy with the result too. The girl that cut my hair said I can have my bangs cut for free every once in a while, so that's perfect.
Before going to the hair salon, I had told myself that I only wanted about 2 centimeters cut from the length of my hair. The hairdresser was okay with that, but did ask me if I wanted to grow out my layers. Having no layers makes it easier to grow your hair long, since the ends are thicker and better protected. Therefore I am trying to get a straight hemline. In the past this has also worked best for me. The hairdresser showed me in the mirror that my ends were really not in such a good condition and I had to agree with her. I could either let the layers grow out gradually - which was fine to her as well - or have a bigger chop and already get rid of most of them. Despite dreading the loss of length, the second option appealed to me more. Fortunately I don't regret it now...my hair actually looks extremely healthy now. I'm still not rid of all the layers, but I'm going to have that taken care of during my next trim.
Yesterday I made some 'before' pictures:

 

 And a lady that walked by asked my boyfriend and me if we wanted a picture of the two of us :)

  

 And this is today, after my haircut:

Apart from the layers- problem, I also still have some faded black dye in my hair. Although I really loved the blonde-black combination, I noticed that the dyed parts are in a horrible condition and therefore I won't dye my hair anymore. The dyed parts are extremely dry and always tangled. It's going to take a long time before this too will have grown out, but I'm patient. The dye is visible in this close-up:

And two final pictures, to show the improvement (color differences are due to flash):

Hair last month:

Hair today:

 

In search of the perfect gothic summercoat

I will not deny it: I have many coats. Too many, perhaps? My friends certainly seem to think so! Still I never manage to find the right coat or jacket to match my outfit. I've been wondering how this is possible and my conclusion is that I have too many great looking, eye-catching coats, but too few practical ones that simply go with anything. Therefore my quest for the perfect gothic summercoat! For my particular situation that is...:)
First, let me show you an example of a summer coat that I bought at the Summer Darkness festival in Utrecht in 2009. I absolutely love the thing, but for many occasions it's just not that wearable. Plus it's not always comfortable to wear a longer coat in summer.
(Coat by Necessary Evil)

 

So what kinds of summer coats do goths wear? Well, this is a very personal thing of course, but leather jackets, studded jackets, velvet jackets and victorianesque coats are certainly popular. It's a pity that so many goth brands are offering a wide range of winter coats, but only a very small collection of summer coats. I live in a country where summers can be rainy and dreadful, but heatwaves are no exception either. The only thing certain is that it's never predictable. And therefore a good coat is a necessity! Another complaint is that many webshops for gothic clothing never indicate whether a coat is meant to be worn in summer or winter, or 'in between'. It's just not always visible from the picture.

Since I have a couple of longer coats already, I've decided to go for a jacket. This will also look better on the shorter skirts, because long coats can make them seem to disappear, which will certainly raise an eyebrow or two. Then, I want something that fits my romantic victorian style, since that's what I'm wearing most of the time. I do however like the more feminine type of leather jacket a lot too. After all, the odd but charming contradiction between lace skirts and a leather jacket is simply to die for. Finally, the jacket must be wearable when I'm down dressing (e.g. when I'm with my family or to an official occasion), but it also has to match my darker outfits. So I've made a selection of jackets that could possibly live up to my wishes:

- Jacket by Didi clothing (regular brand). This one is actually my dream-jacket, but on the website my size is sold out. :/ I'm going to check the actual shop next week though to find out if they still have it there:

 

- This one is by Queen of Darkness. I really love the fabric, but I have no idea whether it's a winter or a summer jacket. Also, it might not be short enough for what I have in mind:

 - Jacket by '13 cats'. I love the shape of this one! But there is fur attached...not quite good in summer. The fabric looks really thin though. So what's going on here?

 

- A really nice jacket from Large.nl (no idea what brand), but rather expensive so it might be outside my budget.

- A military style jacket by Necessary Evil. I love the shape of it! Really feminine, but with an edge. I wonder if this might be the one?

 

- Jacket by Queen of Darkness. I love it!! It really looks like a jacket that's meant to be worn outside. The only downside is that it has skull buttons. Cool enough, but not suitable for just any occasion I'm afraid... 

  

- Vintage style jacket from Large.nl (again, no clue about the brand). This one looks pretty cool, but will it really fit my romantic outfits?  Maybe leather would be better. I'm just not sure about this one.

- Jacket by Vixxsin. I think the material must be really comfortable, but the jacket is a bit longer than I'm looking for. And is it really a summer jacket?

 

- Jacket by Hell Bunny. I love the victorian appearance of this one!!  The pretties jacket of all. But is the fabric suitable for warmer weather? And again, it's long...

 Well, I guess my quest isn't over yet. Perhaps I should have a look in the regular shops as well. At least I can try things on there! The downside however is that most regular brands only sell fair colored summer jackets. Pfff, it's not easy finding the perfect item of clothing...

Gray outfit

Still inspired by yesterday's gray theme, I felt like wearing gray today!

Gray shirt: Vive Maria
Skirt: Hema
Stockings with flower pattern: V&D
Necklace: Claire's

I bought everything during the January sales with huge discounts...just feels so much better. :p

Sophistiqué Noir: gray

I always love to read the monthly theme posts organized by VictorianKitty of Sophistiqué Noir and I've decided to join in this month. The theme is 'gray', but I found out a bit late, so I haven't had the opportunity to really put an outfit together or write something interesting on the theme. I did however feel it was the right moment to test a gray nail polish that I hadn't worn before. It's from the 'Vampire's Love' line by Essence and I bought it a couple of months ago. The entire make-up collection was sold out in a day (at least in the drug stores in my city), so I was lucky to get hold of this one. Normally I never wear gray nail polish, at least not the light shades. At first it felt a bit ackward to see this color on my nails, but I like it a lot! It goes with anything really and it most likely won't provoke anyone when you're in a professional environment. And of course, it goes well with black (doesn't everything? :)). The nail polish has a faint shimmer, but it's very subtle. I can't really see why this color would be so 'vampiric' though...it's not my first association at all. But I guess that's just a way of selling your products, now that Twilight has made vampires a big hit. (Personally, I don't like the series at all, being a huge Anne Rice fan. But I can see the attraction.) All that aside, it's a nice, wearable nail polish for a very decent price.

(Don't pay too much attention to they way I've applied the nail polish...I have no patience when letting it dry, so it always ends up looking a bit messy!)