The Bustle

I made a bustle! I've had a bustle skirt for some time, but used it with an ingenious invention that included a pillow and some ribbon. I finally wanted to have a decent bustle to wear under the skirt, because I made plans to get a new top to wear with it. The bustle skirt silhouette is a bit tricky to achieve, because in addition to the right skirt and a bustle you need a corset and a top that fits over the corset and the skirt. Since the bustle and skirt sit at the natural waist and then flare out, most tops are too long and narrow to fit over the skirt.

But on to the bustle! I didn't take progress pictures because the tutorial I used had great pictures and it used a fabric other than black, making it a lot easier to see what's going on in each picture. I would have had black bias tape on black cotton with black thread, so not much to see there ;P

This is the tutorial I followed. I wanted my bustle to be easy to pack (already looking forward to the Victorian Picnic at WGT!) so I chose to make it with an open back and ribbons to tie bones to the wanted position. It's a bit fiddly to try and get the arch of each bone to match, but not too hard.

Side

The bustle can be worn over my pillow solution for extra poofiness. Here it's on its own. Over jeans ;P But you can see the silhouette nicely!

Back

And here's how the skirt looks with the bustle. I think the shape is great! The bustle also feels lighter and because it's so long, it gives much better support and shape to the skirt than the simple pillow that sits very high and just lets the skirt fall over it. I didn't bother with a corset, so the top bunches a bit and the waist is not as slim as the silhouette requires, but nice enough.

Sadly my grey background is too short (and the train is so long I couldn't fit with it to my normal full body shot spot ;D) to take full body pictures with, so you can't see the train. But once I take the time to go to Ikea once again for another curtain to sew to the current grey curtain, I promise a full body shot!

Fascinator - Made by me

Ruffle - Made by me

Top and skirt - Fan + Friend

Bustles are fun! I call the skirt my ass skirt so naturally the bustle
is an ass extension. Or maybe an ass enhancer?

I'm so excited for the new top, Tiina from Rogue is sewing it for me and will make it fit on top of a corset. The Fan + Friend top I wear in these pictures is nice, it can be adjusted with lacing in the back, but it leaves some extra fabric to hang behind my shoulders. A top made with the measurements taken with a corset on will work perfectly, and Tiina is making a little tail to the top so it's a genuine Victorian solution to tops not fitting on top of huge ass skirts.

Red Demoness

One of the photoshoot looks I've been thinking of is a demoness character with a red dress and long black hair. I bought a Chinese eBay gown for this purpose and it arrived yesterday so I tried out the look. The pictures didn't quite turn out like I hoped, but I think the gown looks nice and the wig works well with it. I'm thinking a tiara might work well with this look, or then I'll make the horns into a headdress with flowers and lace. It's so hard to choose what to do!

Horns - Customized
Wig - Insomnium Wigs
Necklace - H&M
Dress - eBay
Lenses - Pinkie Paradise

I had trouble with the horns slipping, I need to fix them to a headband! The lenses look great, but I didn't really see anything through them when in direct light. In normal indoor lighting they were okay but not really comfortable because they make vision quite hazy.

I was an idiot and forgot to take close-up pictures of the make-up. It's basically a smoky eye with Sugarpill Bulletproof (matte black), black gel liner on brows, huge Red Cherry falsies, Sugarpill Love+ for blush (matte red) and Nyx soft matte lip cream in Copenhagen on the lips with a touch of red lipstick on top to give it shine.

What do you think? A tiara or a flowery headdress, which would work better?

Stripe Make-Up

Here's a few close-ups of the make-up I did for taking pictures with the stripy jacket. I wanted a smoky eye with some colour and short brows. And I just couldn't resist the dark purple lippie!

Products used:

Sugarpill Bulletproof (matte black)
Femme Fatale Eternal Trance (metallic dark green/teal)
Inglot gel liner in purple (for brows)
Sugarpill Tako (matte white, for highlights on the inner corners and brow bones)
Red Cherry false lashes
Fyrinnae Liquid Matte Lipstick in Desire

The false lashes work very well for my hooded eyes. Long lashes open up the eyes and give a nice liner look too. I think I should have primed the lids with a black jumbo eye pencil to get the black to look deeper, but I'll try that next time. When I blend out the edges of the black it tends to go a bit sheer.

The camera makes the black fade! I just need to pile on more the next time I do smoky eye for a shoot ;D

Photoshoot Workshop Pin-Up Photos

Here's a few more photos from the workshop I attended! I'm so proud I challenged myself and tried out some pin-up poses, it was super hard but I like the results. Special thanks to Salla for coaching me on how to pose, I could not have done it without you :)

Photos and editing: Markku Rintala

I'm wearing a dress my other half got me for Christmas, heels from Bianco and some clip-in hair extensions.

Striped Stripey Stripes

I'm writing this post wrapped in my black and white striped blanket that my other half gave to me. He knows what I like! Black and white stripes are one of my favourite patterns: simple, elegant and stunning. I like Artifice Clothing a lot, and when they listed a black and white striped shrug on their Etsy shop, I just had to get it! It arrived early this month and I've been meaning to take pictures with it but always been too busy. But today my other half and I installed the grey Ikea curtain we got to work as a background for photos. I wanted to try it out and remembered the shrug, so here are some shots of it! I naturally paired it with a stripy corset ;P

Shrug - Artifice Clothing

Top - Lip Service

Corset - DeadlyGirlz

Necklace - H&M

Earrings - Second hand

Hair piece - Hair from Hell

I really love the effect the grey curtain gives! It works with both black and white outfits and the shadows blend out which looks kinda cool. It's now attached to hang on top of a doorway so the curtain can just be pulled down when needed and is neatly rolled on top of the doorway when not in use. I've been needing a neutral background on a spot I don't have to prepare to take pictures at. When I use the black wallpaper as background, I have to lift one of the big speakers we have to get it out of the way. It's not something I enjoy, especially if I'm an idiot and put a corset on before prepping the shooting area!

Snowy Crafts

I've been having a craft Saturday! Yesterday when I finished work, I went straight to shop for some lace and decorations for the Snow Queen outfit. I had a white overbust corset, but wanted to decorate it and make a skirt to go with it.

So this is what I started with:

A plain white ready-made overbust corset that's a little bit too small for me.

I bought two lace appliques with sequins and pearls on them, two meters of elaborate lace trimming and a meter and a half of trim with sequins and pearls on. For the skirt I got some white elastic and white satin ribbon.

Trying on the lace and appliques. I got two large mirrored appliques so I could fill a large area
in the front of the corset easily.

Sewing on the lace and appliques was much more time consuming than I thought. I spent around two and a half hours on it and then decided to glue the rest of the decorations on ;P I think sewing the large appliques was a good choice, they now conform easily to the corset's shape and are very secure. The glued-on pieces are much smaller so they don't get pulled around that much.

After sewing I cut pieces of the sequined trim and glued them to the front and sides of the corset. I wanted the decorations to be in a hourglass like formation to emphasize the corset's form. I then took some rhinestones I had in my stash and glued some on the corset for added bling.

Bling bling!

Today I've been sewing little sleeves (are they even sleeves? A bunch of fabric on an elastic that goes on your arm) decorated with the sequined trim, a long tulle skirt and a bustle made of tulle. I still need a headpiece, shoes and underwear, but I'm very happy with the progress. I've never decorated a corset before but I think I'll make a black one too when there's time. While decorating takes a lot of time, I think I can get great results with a reasonable amount of materials (=money). This corset has something around 30 euros of decorations on it, and there's still a lot of trim left over.

I'm still pondering on how to attach the bustle, I think the ribbon takes away from the
corset too much. I might just sew it on the corset in the end. But this is generally
how the corset looks now!

 It looks like I'm preparing for a wedding with the piles of white tulle laying around the study ;D White is a great colour to work with because the selection of trims is very good. The downside is that when you stick yourself with a needle, the bloodstains will show on the fabric! I just elegantly glued the rhinestones on top of little bloodstains, no one will notice ;P

Watercolour Look

Inpired by the Snow Queen look I did earlier, I dug up my Sparkle Baby palette by Sugarpill. It has gorgeous pastel shades, but I've been having a phase of using only dark colours and taupes lately, so the beautiful palette has been sadly neglected.

This look uses all of the shadows in the palette: CandyCrush blue in the inner corners, Frostine lavender on the lid, Kitten Parade peach blended into Frostine and outer edges of the shadow, and Hotsy Totsy hot pink in the crease. I just added black liner and mascara to bring out my eyes a bit more, and the look was done. Light and easy!

Teenage Daydream

Today I ran into Tinde at a local sushi buffet, and she told me she had seen a lovely pair of boots at a flea market nearby in my size. Because it wasn't too busy at the office, I extended my lunch hour and walked to the flea market. That's where these babies were waiting for me!

They are Libby 16 Plate boots with Victim heel by Fantasy Shoes (who make shoes for Pennangalan). There's slight wear, like some oxidization on the plates, but there are no scuffs on the sides of the soles and the heels are only a little worn. They fit me just right and all of the straps are intact. And the price? 20 euros!

The reason for the title of the post, teenage daydream, is that I've been lusting after these boots since I was a teen. The price is just so high (180 euros and shipping on top) that I've been waiting for a second hand pair to come by. Waiting for something like 12 years that is ;P So thank you so much Tinde for pointing these out for me, I'm so happy <3 They will look gorgeous with the scale mail corset I'm working on!

Slinky Chinese Gown

I first saw this dress at a Facebook flea market, but was too slow to buy it. The lady selling it was super nice and told me she got the gown off eBay and pointed me to the seller. I've been meaning to try out some super cheap Chinese gown that might work for photoshoots. My problem was that often the pictures are not of the actual garment, so it's hard to know what you will eventually get.

Just to compare, you can see the sellers pictures here. The dress that arrived has roughly the same cut but without the padded shoulders, but it's make of very thin, stretchy, soft fabric, not a stiff fabric like the gown in the pictures.

I kinda expected this, and luckily I was looking for a cheap photoshoot gown, because I don't think I'd ever wear the dress outside, the fabric looks too cheap and it wants to fall off my shoulders constantly, which is kind of a problem since the low cut neckline allows for no bra ;D But it's nice enough to take photos with, so just what I wanted and I think the 15 euros or so is a good price for a long gown that looks okay in pictures.

There's a small train in the back and a slit in the front. I paired the gown with a shaggy faux fur jacket. It's supposed to be pink, but looks more beige. It's a nice colour on photos but not something I would normally wear. For the shoes I probably should have gone for regular heels, not ankle boots, so my legs would look longer. The belt helps to keep the gown in place.

My hair looks a bit tangled, I just got back from my pole dancing class and just put on some lipstick and liner to try out how the dress looks on camera ;D I had a long break in the dance lessons when I was first ill and then lazy/busy, but now I've been going regularly. Makes my muscles super sore after a long time of no dancing, but it's oddly rewarding!

How do you like the gown? Of the whole outfit the jacket and the necklace are the only things I bought new, and they were on discount (I think the 7,50 euro jacket is a great find!). Everything else is second hand!

Snow Queen Make-Up, First Try

Here's a few close-ups of the Snow Queen make-up I did! This is the first version, I'll do at least one more when I finish the outfit for the shoot. I think I did well on the eyes aside from the lashes, the mint coloured strip they have is too bright and takes attention away from the eyeshadow. I think the silver brows are cool and I like the lips too, but darker lips or lip liner at least might give the look some more oomph.

Products used

Sugarpill Lumi (a shimmery white with a blue sheen) and Tiara (silver, also on brows)
Antoinette's Revolution Marie (pale blue)
Fyrinnae Digital Faerie (bright metallic blue)
Fyrinnae Debonair (medium purple)
Grimas Tip Cream (glitter gel, on brows)
Lumene lipstick in pale blue (with Tiara padded on top)
Mac Fluidline gel liner in Blacktrack
IsaDora Volume & Curl mascara in black
Stargazer white liquid eyeliner
Red Cherry Mint Treat lashes

I like how the eyeshadow matches with the necklace!

I did the white dots with the pointed end of a teasing comb. I would have used a
nail dotting tool if I could have found mine.

Too bright lashes! The strip also hides my liner making the eyes less well defined.

All of my eyes shut shots care out blurry, but I think you can see the shadow placement in this one :)

And the lips. There's a sheer blue lipstick as a base and Tiara eyeshadow padded on top for coverage and shimmer.

What do you think? Would darker lips work better?

Playing Snow Queen

I've been full of photoshoot ideas lately (and busy working on my scale mail corset too) and one of the characters I'd like to do a shoot as is a classic snow queen. I'm still working on a skirt, decorating the corset and making a little tiara, but I wanted to try out the grey wig I styled yesterday. It was also a good idea to try some make-up ideas I had just to see how well they work on the camera. I say yes for the silver lips but a definite no for the false lashes, they just don't work!

I decided to have some fun with Photoshop and did some edits to the pics, I hope you like them!

Corset - Second hand

Blue jewellery - eBay, a set of Indian bridal jewellery

Silver choker - GinaTricot

Wig - eBay

Tulle thingie - Ikea (it's a curtain ;P)

I'm very pleased with the wig, this was my first time styling one. It's a simple up-do but I'm proud that I got it to stay up ;D The Ikea curtain will become a skirt, it was actually cheaper to buy a packed of curtains than go to the fabric store. I love tulle, it looks so nice in pictures!