Red & Black outfit nr.6

I have my doubts about the clothes that I wore today because it kind of looks like a teenage outfit...nothing wrong with that, except I'm 28! Perhaps I should have picked a plain black skirt instead. Hmmm...mistakes happen I guess. :) I'm curious to hear your opinions!

- T-shirt: no idea what brand, but it only cost me 10 euros! I love owls...evil ones included, haha.
- Skirt: C&A
- Tights: don't remember...
- Shoes: Fidji
- Silver bracelet: bought somehwere in a tiny shop in Amsterdam

 

Thanks a lot VictorianKitty, for inventing the Red & Black week! It was lots of fun and I discovered many interesting blogs because of participating. I hope there will be more initiatives like this in the future!

Red & Black outfit nr.5

Today I was supposed to go to the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie with my boyfriend, but he felt rather sick so we decided to stay home. Quite a disappointment for the both of us, but the movie can wait... I did dress up in Pirates-inspired attire this morning though, while at the same time honoring the Red & Black Week. We managed to take some pictures outside:

- Red shirt with anchor and roses print: Rock Steady
- Skirt: Vive Maira
- Boots: Dr.Martens
- Red scarf: bought in Morocco a few months ago (it's actually a turban!)
- Jacket: H&M
- Nails: red nail polish from Hema

Red & Black outfit nr.4

Participating in the Red&Black Week made me realize that I really don't have many red things in my closet. Oh well, I managed to find something and put together an outfit anyway... Nothing special, but it feels good enough for a day spent mostly at home. I do have to put on some red lipstick though, judging from this unflattering picture! :)

- T-shirt: bought it at a The Cure concert (that event was a dream come true!)
- Skirt: Didi (a gift from my mom)
- Belt: Poizen Industries
- Lace leggings: V&D
- Shoes: Fidji
- Bracelets: no idea

Red & Black outfit nr.3 (festival outfit)

Not having much time today, this will be a short post! This picture was taken at the Summer Darkness festival in Utrecht (the Netherlands) last year, where I wore a black and red outfit:

Corset: Burleska
Petticoat: unknown (bought it at the festival a couple of years earlier)
Shrug: Succubus Clothing
Cameo necklace: made by myself
Black beaded bracelet: Bijjoux Brigitte 

Red & Black outfit nr.2

 

This is another outfit for Sophistique's Red & Black Week that I wore last week. It was a great opportunity for me to wear my new red shoes! Since I have a really unconvenient shoe size (EU 43/ UK9/ US11) it took me ages to find shoes in this color. I was actually looking for a darker shade of red, but settled for these ones in the end.

Top: Queen of Darkness

Skirt: made it myself (from a really simple pattern, with an elastic waistband)

Lipstick: Catrice Ultimate Colour  170 After Work Wine. I bought this lipstick after I saw how great it looked on a friend. It's a bit too dark for me to wear it daily, but great when going out. 

Lace trimmed leggings: V&D

Necklace: Alchemy Gothic 'Sacred Heart pendant'

Red & Black outfit nr.1

Today Sophistique Noir's 'Red & Black Week' has started and I'd like to contribute with an outfit post. Since I had to be at work today and wear a light blue / white uniform, there was not a chance for me to dress up nicely or even remotely 'dark'.  Therefore I took pictures of an outfit that I wore last week.
Red and black is actually my favorite color combination, so I had a great time looking for a nice combination of clothing and accessories. Here is what I came up with... A comfortable outfit with attitude, at least that's how it felt to me!

- Red t-shirt: H&M
- Skirt: C&A
- Belt: Poizen Industries
- Dr. Martens with red roses
- Necklace: made by my boyfriend's mom from an old zipper (She even makes steampunk jewelry, how cool is that?!)
- Silver bracelet with black onyx: bought somewhere in Amsterdam

And for something totally different: all red and black lovers should really see the movie 'Sleepy Hollow' by Tim Burton. (Though I expect many of you already have...) Throughout the movie, red and black keep appearing as leading colors.

Long hair video

It's been oh so quite on my blog lately... But I have to say it's a good sign! My thesis is coming along and soon I'll be finished at last. Which means I'll have a lot more time to update my blog and even make some positive changes to the lay-out. I have many plans for improvement! Also, I will have more time to spend on my sewing projects.
I won't be updating my blog for a while until I've graduated, but from June 5-10 I'll post my daily outfits since I'm participating in the Red & Black Week of Sophistique Noir. A great initiative!
For now, I have a short video to post which shows the length of my hair....still growing until I reach waist length! Another movie will be added a year from now, so one can clearly see the difference. I might also have a trim and a dye-job soon (adding black streaks), so this is a nice caption of the state of my hair at the moment:

Absence

I haven't been updating my blog for a couple of weeks now, which I really regret. It's a necessity however now that I'm working on finishing my MA thesis. There's still lots of work to do and so little time... I'm still reading  blogs though and enjoying it immensely! More frequent updates will follow in Summer.
Today I got a present from my boyfriend that I didn't want to withold: I saw a beautiful satin dress at one of the 'Koninginnedag' (celebration of the Queen's birthday in the Netherlands) stalls of a gothic/alternative shop that I  visit fruequently.  Its original price was 80 euros, but now they sold it for 10 euros only! Thanks to my boyfriend I am now the owner of a wonderfully versatile dress... Although it's from one of the 'main' gothic fashion labels in the Netherlands ('Laughing Vampire'), it could pass for an ordinary cocktail dress as well. It's perfect for a family dinner during Christmas, but would look wonderful to a gothic/fantasy festival as well when combined with the right accessories. The dress is a bit tight, but I'm working on losing some weight anyway (already lost 3 kilos!). Here's a quick picture:

Two hour skirt

The fastest way to make a new skirt in a very short time is to cut up an old one that fits you well enough but that is too worn down to be of any use anymore. Lay down the separate parts of the skirt on a piece of fabric you really like and cut out the same shape. Stitch it and add an elastic waistband...finished! You can re-use the pieces of the old skirt any time for making new skirts with other fabrics.
This is not a skirt to make a big impression with, but if you've used a beautiful fabric it will be a nice daily asset in your wardrobe.

 

An evening at the Body Shop

I've just returned from a late night visit to The Body Shop. Every customer with a 'vip card' could stop by after 6 PM and get a 10% discount on top of the 10% discount they already receive with their card on regular days. There were free drinks, lots of candy and everyone received an appealing goodie-bag. I had waited especially for this evening to buy the skin products I needed, which is the wonderful Tea Tree line against oily skin. Works miracles for me! If I spent more than 20 euros, my vip card was used enough times to choose a free product worth 15 euros! All this meant that I ended up buying my skin products with amazing discount ánd getting an amazing amount of wonderful free products:

One the left: the Tea Trea products  
On the right: Monoi body balm,  miniature Love Etc..bodybutter, showercream and body lotion, heart-shaped soap with strawberry scent, Nutriganics test package (all for free!)

 

Earlier in the afternoon I had already received another free product at 'Kruidvat': a 0,5 liter bottle of Wella shampoo worth 5 euros. 

What a fruitful day!

One year of hair growth

This month it's been a year since I let my hair grow and below you can see the result. Not bah, eh? I guess I do really need a trim now, after staying away from the salon for a year. The ends of my hair are pretty dry and although it's hardly noticeable, I don't think it's a good idea to just leave it like this. I'm also thinking of getting side-swept bangs. I used to have straight bangs for quite some time, but they tend to make my face look very narrow. Side-swept bangs will make my face look less 'boring', but at the same time avoid the disadvantage of the straight bangs.

  

2010, with straight bangs:

                                                                             2011:

Then, I'm curious to hear your opinions on the color of my hair! I now have the lower layer of my hair dyed black, but it's not always very well visible because I have so much hair in my natural color covering it. Do you tink I should add some black streaks, perhaps? I've actually found an example of what I mean, after a long search. Avril Lavigne's old hair-style comes closest to what it would look like:

 

I would leave some blonde streaks at the bottom though, because when I'm wearing black (which is 90% of the time) my hair doesn't stand out anymore against the background. 

Some other examples, which show what it would look like with bangs:

[I couldn't find the second picture in better quality]

 

What I would also like a lot is to have some bleached streaks near the face, like this:

(I would leave the rest of my hair in my natural hair color, more like the second pic)

 

 What do you think would look best? I need some advice here! :)

Long hair care

If I ever want to succeed growing my hair really long (for me that would be 'classic length', reaching my buttocks - or perhaps just waist length) I'll need to keep it in perfect condition. Considering I tend to dye my hair once in a while (mainly black streaks), conditioner and hair masks are an absolute necessity. Of course I can't speak for anyone else here, but the products that work really well for me in keeping my hair healthy are:

- Jumping Juniper shampoo bar by Lush: this solid shampoo might appear a bit weird at first when you're used to washing your hair with liquid shampoo, but works great! You just rub the bar against your wet hair and it starts to foam considerably. I'm especially fond of this shampoo because it really combats oily hair; I can go by with one extra day of not washing my hair now, which is a great time-saver! Lush has shampoo bars in many variants, so there's always one that will fit your requirements. Another positing thing about the bars is that they last really long. Plus one doesn't have to throw away all those shampoo bottles all the time, so it's better for the environment too. I'm hooked now and don't feel the need to try anything else soon!

- Rainforest moisture mask, Brasilian nut moisture mask and Poppy seed oil reviving mask, all by The Body Shop. All three of these are great for giving your hair that extra treat every week! I don't really notice much of a difference between them, but I have only started using them for a couple of weeks now. They smell wonderful and leave your hair really soft. I'm usually very happy with products from The Body shop and its hair masks are no exception. Definately worth the money!

- Gliss Kur oil nutritive wonder-serum for long hair. This stuff is some kind of  leave-in conditioner and it protects the hair from damage. Personally I use it only to combat frizz and to add moisture to the ends of my hair.

- Guhl vochtbalans. A great spray to give a little extra moisture to your hair. It leaves my hair softer and healthier looking, at least for the day.  Also great in summer after a day at the beach!

-  Andrélon perfecte puntjes. This creamy liquid is to be rubbed on the ends of your hair. I have to say it really works miracles for me. My ends are pretty dry and damaged at the moment, since I haven't visited a hair salon in more than a year. This prevents my hair from getting even more damaged, so I'm using it every day. Even though it's a creamy substance, it doesn't make my hair much heavier.

I'm thinking of getting a small trim soon, just for healthy ends. I also have many ideas about dying my hair again or getting side-swept bangs, but I need to make up my mind about what to choose first. I might post some of the options on my blog soon.

...and a new longsleeve!

Yesterday I finished another project I've been working on. Actually it only took me two evenings to make this top, so it's very easy for beginners as well! The (German) pattern can be ordered at Farbenmix. The original design doesn't have wide sleeves and one is supposed to apply a rubber band at the wrist part, so the sleeves will have a gathered look. I prefered to make them look a little bit more special and medieval-looking though. It's not that hard to just adapt a pattern a little bit and make it something that really suits your personal taste. I'm with the way the top turned out, especially since it fits me perfectly. (No, unfortunately that is not so common as one might expect, at least not in my experience ;) ).
I think I'm going to make many more shirts with the same pattern and simply use different fabrics!

I made a new cardigan!

I finally finished my latest sewing project, which consisted of making a warm cardigan. The design wasn't all that difficult, but getting the pattern on the fabric correspond with the sleeves and everything wasn't as easy as I had hoped. Fortunately I'm taking sewing classes, so my teacher was able to help me out there. I must say I'm quite happy with the result - the cardigan is extremely warm, comfortable to wear, it has a special crinkle at the back which accentuates the waist (not well visible in the picture unfortunately) and I love the grey color that gradually fades into black. There are a few negative points as well, which I guess was to be expected from a relative newbie: the sleeves are a bit too wide (the other girls at sewing class thought they would be too small for me and advised me to make them bigger, so I adapted them...it turned out to be wrong :( ) and at some places the ribbon that I used to finish the edges of the garment has started to fray, which I should have prevented. A good lesson for next time!

Cool new collection

The Dutch clothing company 'SPS' has some fabulous new items in its new Spring collection! I love the femininity of this brand, which often uses lots of lace and luxurious fabrics such as velvet and silk. Usually I only buy clothes here during sales, because it's quite expensive. Even though I can't buy anything there at all this year, I love looking at the pictures... Sometimes the best romantic clothes with a dark twist can be found in the places where you least expect it. One doesn't always have to search for the well-known brands in alternative (online) stores; if you know where to look, 'ordinary' shops can provide wonderful special items just as well. I even found a fabulous corset top once at the H&M!
The current SPS collection uses a lot of black and white: