Object of desire

I am in love with this skirt from Large Popmerchandising (apologies for the blurry pictures!):

Front:

Back:

I wonder if I can make something like this myself. It looks quite complicated though....

Vive Maria summer collection

One of my favourite clothing brands is definately the German 'Vive Maria'. It's not very affordable for my budget , but the clothing is of superb quality. I have skirts and tops that are more than five years old and they still don't look worn! I also love the dark romantic aspect of many items of clothing from this brand. This is my pick of favourites from the 2012 summer collection:

Noosa bracelets

Last november I got a fabulous present from a good friend: a Noosa bracelet. It's a single or double leather bracelet onto which you can attach different 'chunks'. The chunks all have a specific symbolic meaning and are made of natural materials such as bone, pumpkin and stone. They are inspired by different areas in the world. Another attractive aspect about the chunks is that they come in different colors and therefore you can make the bracelet seem different every day and adapt the colors to the clothes you're wearing. One chunk costs between 7 and 19 euros, depending on the kind of material it's made of. The bracelets are 20 - 30 euros and also come in different colors. Besides bracelets, Noosa sells belts, sandals and scarfs, also meant to be decorated with chunks.
I particularly like the South American themed chunks, but this is a personal thing (I studied archaeology and specialized in this region). I also really like the European ones, for obvious reasons. The black and silver chunks are great for complementing a gothic outfit. You can adapt these bracelets to any style you like really.

My bracelet:

 My other chunks:

Noosa belt:

Noosa scarf:

Different bracelets:

Double bracelet:

Noosa sandals:

Thrift event

Last weekend I went to a thrift event for the first time. My boyfriend's mom is an experienced thrifter and knows just where to find the best stuff. This event was for clothing only and it was pretty well organized. No big piles of clothes, but every item on a clothes hanger. And there were fitting rooms as well. As a late birthday present, I was allowed to pick out clothing for a total of 60 euros, but I ended up finding much more. Of course I intended to pay for this myself, but then my boyfriend's mom told me that everything was a present! I'm still a bit overwhelmed...such a great gift!
Some items were only a couple of euros, the more expensive looking ones about ten. I mainly found tops and skirts, but also two pair of jeans to wear at my job.
Since I brought a gigantic bag full of clothing, I've only picked a few pieces to photograph:

Two more pictures!

I received two more pictures of my recent Victorian photoshoot! One from each photographer. I love how they are so different!

Photograph: Henk van Rijssen

Photograph: Stephanie Braaksma

Dark Sunshine Award

I've been nominated by Aristocratic Elegance for the Dark Sunshine Award! How cool!

Rules:
Post the award picture with a backlink to the person who nominated you.
Answer the ten questions posed to you.
Pass on the award to 10 or more bloggers.

Questions:
Favorite color: Red
Favorite animal: I used to be obessed with cats, but since my mom has a dog (which is practically mine too), I really appreciate that animal as well. I can't choose anymore. :) But I also love llamas! 
Favorite number: 2 and 8 (both numbers seem to pop up everywhere in my life)
Favorite non-alcoholic drink: fresh orange juice mixed with strawberries
Facebook or Twitter: Facebook
My passion: Archaeology, cultural heritage, travelling, sewing, writing, reading, movies...lots of things!
Getting or giving presents: Giving! I love to hunt for things that have a personal meaning to people and wrap them up beautifully. 
Favorite pattern: lace
Favorite day of the week: Monday (I never see my boyfriend during the weekend since I'm at my family's then, so Monday is always a happy day for us)
Favorite flower: piony rose (cliché, but so very beautiful)


Nominees (I tried to nominate blogs that haven't been nominated before.)


Beauty and Metal (My friend's blog. Has awesome dark make-up reviews!)
o.O (Kakuidori has great EOTD posts. Love to follow her blog!)
Cemetery Dreams (An archaeologist, like me! Also great low-budget inspiration.)
Long Haired at Heart (Not a gothic blog in itself, but really interesting if you want to grow very long hair.)
GumPlum (This girl sure knows how to apply make-up in a stunning way!)
SpOOkyuniversity (Very inspiring outfit posts!)
Written before dawn (Beautiful dark fashion and interesting sewing projects)
Abby's Fairytale (A wide range of interesting topics)


I don't have enough time right now to nominate more blogs (most ones I follow have been nominated already), but I might add some others later! 

Outfit post: flowers

This is an outfit post by request, inspired by Sophitiqué Noir's monthly theme post! I'm wearing one of the skirts today that I photographed for April's flower theme. I have to say I'm not completely happy with the way I put the outfit together (I didn't have much inspiration this morning!), but it's passable I presume. I added the broad belt to the victorian top to make the look a bit tougher. It also nicely accentuates the waist! Almost like a waist cincher.

Blouse: thrifted

Skirt: King Louie

Belt: V&D

Green necklace: Alchemy Gothic

Yesterday's photoshoot: behind the scenes

Yesterday I spent many hours posing for a Victorian photoshoot. It was a lot of fun, but I was incredibly tired afterwards. It takes up so much energy to concentrate on your body and facial expression all the time. The photoshoot was held in Katwijk, at the beach and dunes. Although it wasn't particularly cold outside, the strong wind chilled us to the bone! I do believe the results will be nice though, from what I've seen on the cameras of the two (amateur) photographers. It will probably take weeks before I'll have more results, because of image retouching. But I can show you some behind-the-scenes photographs that my boyfriend took:

Joyce (from Beauty & Metal) and her boyfriend (both standing on the left) came to watch. I think I kind of look like

 a ghost here, haha.

 My boyfriend, while holding the reflection screen for us, made a picture of people cycling and walking by. They either stared wide-eyed or took pictures. :) Some people asked questions (silly ones, but they 

meant well).

First impression of Victorian photoshoot

Photograph: Henk van Rijssen

Sophistiqué Noir monthly theme post: flowers

For lack of time, I'm not doing an outfit post for this theme or showing you what hairdos can be made using flowers (would have loved to do that!), but I'm only showing you a photograph of the clothes I have that have flowers on them. I really like flowers, but I always pair these items with something less sweet, like combat boots or lavish gothic jewellery.

From left to right:

-Purple skirt: Vive Maria

-Dress with tiny flowers: Vive Maria

-Dress with flowers: King Louie (I'm going to wear this one for Easter)

-Skirt with flowers and baroque print: King Louie

- Skirt in Spanish style: from the market place

- Skirt with English roses: King Louie

I also have a picture to share from a photoshoot that I did last year:

(Photograph: Inge Fienieg)