Pretty, Pretty Doll!

On my Christmas wishlist I had a doll, but since Santa sometimes forgets things, I didn't get it. That or I've been naughty! But worry not, being an emancipated modern lady, I went ahead and ordered the doll myself. It's not on sale in Finland at the time, so I got it off eBay from the States.

This is Skelita, daughter of the skeletons!

Here's a nekkid pic, just because I was so in love with
the doll being all bones!

She even has little bone boobies shaped into her ribcage.

I changed her shoes, the original ones were
boring sandals. Here she's wearing shoes from the
create-a-monster set skeleton. The shoes are painted
by me, they come white.

My doll's nose is a bit damaged, some of the paint has worn
off, but she's still pretty.

The create-a-monster skeleton's shoes, painted to be prettier! Skelita is
actually more yellow than the other skeleton. I like Skelita's colouring
better, it's more realistic and easier to photo. I might have to paint the heels
of the shoes to match!

Hints and Tips about Blogging

My blog is now one year old, so I felt like listing some things I've learned along the way about blogging.

1. Good quality pictures
For me, the first thing I look in a blog is the pictures. I like big pictures that are well lit. I usually read beauty blogs, so it's important to see for example the true colour of a nailpolish or how the eyeshadow really looks on lids. Pictures with lots of light tend to make the subject prettier, also! I have a Nikon D80 with an external flash to keep my pics looking nice, and recently ordered a new lens to be able to take better close-ups.

A picture of my nails painted by Anniina.

2. Quantity over quality
Well, I don't think blog posts are bad quality if they are short, but the point is that it's better to post often than write long texts. It's easier on the writer, an most readers are browsing blogs and don't stay on one site for very long, so everyone benefits.

3. Have a few posts stashed away
I lead a pretty hectic life sometimes, and I don't always have time to write every day. When I do have time, I try to write a post or two to keep as drafts in case there's a longer time I don't have time to blog. I prefer posting immediately after writing a text, but things like make-up reviews can wait if the product is an older one. I feel that posting often is being nice to my readers.

Bones and Lilies stamp!

4. Layout
I read a lot of goth blogs, but I hate white text on black background. Or worse, red or another dark-ish colour! It's just really hard on my eyes even thought white on black looks really good on first glance. I especially opted for a white background with black text to make the blog easy to read. I consider myself a goth and feel like my blog deals with goth things, but I'm perfectly happy doing it with a white background ;P

5. Be positive!
My life isn't always sunshine an happiness, but my blog is a place where I like to share the nice things in life. I feel it's a much nicer reading and writing experience when the text mainly deals with positive things.

Me in a second-hand Lip Service dress, picture by Sari.

New Swatches

I've soon gone through my box of new shadows to swatch, but don't worry, when my new lens arrives I'll be re-swatching old ones to get better pictures!

Here are a few purple and my favourite taupe.

Shiro Not Very Effective, Shiro Shinigami, Geek Chic The Pointy End and
Femme Fatale The Dark One

The two Shiro shadows look very similar in the jar, but their differences are clear when swatched. The jars were packed so full I had to remove the sifters to get some shadow on my brush!

Not Very Effective - A blackened purple, very dark with multicoloured glitter.

Shinigami - Dark purple with silver shimmer and microglitter.

The Pointy End - My so far favourite taupe! Medium to dark, cool and with a metallic sheen.

The Dark One - Looks lavender in the jar, but on skin the darkness shows well. A blackened, blue based purple with lavender sheen and magenta microglitter.

From top to bottom: The Dark One, The Pointy End,
Shinigami and Not Very Effective

From top to bottom: The Dark One, The Pointy End,
Shinigami and Not Very Effective

Outfit of the Day

This is my look for an 80's goth party on Saturday. Not very eighties, me and my other half were going for just a few drinks.

Dress - H&M

Pantyhose - A gift from my Mom

Belt - Second hand, GinaTricot

Bolero - Second hand

Shoes - New Rock

Top Products of 2012

I wanted to look back and see what were some of the new favourites I found during last year. Most have already been seen on the blog, but I'll compile a list anyway!

Missha Perfect Cover B.B Cream
A pale shade, perfect for my skin, and with nourishing ingredients. My skin really likes this stuff, it's moisturising enough that I don't need to use anything else in the mornings. Goes on easily and stays well. Doesn't need powder on top, but lasts longer with it.

Darling Girl Primped & Primed eyeshadow primer
I'm not totally friends with this primer yet, but it's my new favourite after Urban Decay Primer Potion suddenly stopped working. This primer needs a bit of rubbing to warm up and spread on the lid properly, and I still sometimes leave the layer too thick and it creases. Creates a nice sticky base for shadows and keeps eyeshadow creaseless for at least eight hours.

Geek Chic The Pointy End eyeshadow
I've purchased many lovely eyeshadows during the year, but this one is my favourite. It's quite hard to capture on camera, but the shade is a darkish-medium cold taupe with shimmer. Easy to wear, goes on nicely, and stays on well. Also, it's part of the Geek Chic collection Win or Die, which means it's named after The Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, a book series that I love. Arya is one of my favourite characters and the shadow in named after her sword.

Maybelline Fit Me blush in Deep Rose
This blush was actually meant for darker skintones in the Fit Me series, which was designed as an easy way to choose complimenting products. Well, I'm a rebel, so I went for the darkest blush ;P Deep Rose is a cool dark pink with golden shimmer, and works great with my pale skin. It isn't heavily pigmented and that's a thing I like, it's easier to put on just a little.

Real Techniques brushes
I ordered these brushes from iHerb when my other half was getting some vitamins. I didn't spend a long time choosing them, but totally hit the jackpot. My old powder brush was prickly and always bled black dye when I washed it. The Real Techniques brush is a total opposite: velvet soft and washes easily. It's also large enough to do my whole face quickly. The smaller pink one is a stippling brush, meant for putting on shimmer finish or foundation. I use it with BB-cream and it works like dream. Unlike normal foundation brushes, it doesn't suck the foundation in, so I need to use less product and the brush doesn't get dirty quickly. It's also great for getting light coverage instead of accidentally putting the foundation on like a mask.

Lip stains
I listed lip stains in general, because the ones I have are pretty similar to each other, and I had not tried any of these products before. I want my make-up to be hassle-free, I don't feel like wasting time touching up my lipstick when I could be out having fun or working. Thus, lip stains are perfect! On my lips they easily last eight hours or more. The only negative side is that they don't come in dramatic colours.

Sulfate free shampoo
My hair started getting dirty faster (who knows why, maybe I'm just getting old!) so I had to wash it more often, but that resulted in my scalp getting irritated. I had tried silicone-free shampoo but didn't feel much different, so I tried a sulfate free option next and that seemed to do the trick. So I'll go with sulfate free shampoos for now. They were actually pretty hard to find, these were the only two I've found so far. The downside of no sulfates is that the shampoo doesn't foam and it's harder to spread evenly to the scalp. But that's okay, not too hard.

Revlon Precision latex free eyelash glue
I recently (= under one year ago) found out I'm allergic to latex. I hadn't even thought about it even though my eyelids were a bit sore after a night out with lashes on, and my skin was a bit red after wearing a latex corset. But it was a dentist that noticed, because after she used latex gloves while working on my teeth, I had a hand print on my cheek ;) So, the penny dropped, and I went shopping for a top to wear under the latex corset and lash glue that would have no latex. I tried one glue before this one, but it didn't work at all. This one does, you just need to skip the step where you wait for the latex glue to dry tacky.

Commercial Break! / Mainostauko!

On the second of February the place you should be is Telakka, where club Bella Morte is held this time! Last year they started off in the same venue and the place was sold out, but the party was just great. This year I was supposed to be DJ'ing, but sadly a business trip took over and I'm not even in the country at the time. So now it's your turn to have fun! ;P

Helmikuun toisena päivänä Bella Morte palaa Telakalle! Viime vuonna klubi aloitti toimintansa samassa paikassa ja heti ensimmäinen tapahtuma oli myyty loppuun. Pippalot olivat upeat, kuten varmasti ovat tänäkin vuonna! Allekirjoittaneen piti olla soittamassa levyjä, mutta työmatka tuli tiellä enkä ole edes maassa bileiden aikaan, mikä on sääli. Siirränkin hauskanpitovastuun teille kaikille muille! ;P

Made by me!

The Wicked Winter party boasts no less than five DJ's, so there's bound to be music for every taste! Here's a link to the Facebook event, where all the most recent information is.

Wicked Winter tarjoilee viisi DJ'tä, joten musiikkia löytyy jokaiseen makuun! Facebook-tapahtumasta saa viimeisimmät tiedot mikäli muutoksia tulee, sinne siis!

Geek Chic Non-Euclidean Review

Geek Chic Cosmetics released a H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos' inspired collection a while ago. I'm a big Lovecraft fan (I have all his works in my bookshelf, plus some doubles with prettier covers ;P) and had been planning to order another shadow for a while. On Black Friday they had a sale and I finally did go shopping!

This is Non-Euclidean eyeshadow that's described on the page like this: "Non-Euclidean is a semi-sheer black with strong rainbow sparkle. Amazing sparkles in this." In the pictures on the page it looks very green and that was what I was expecting. I don't think I even read the description, silly me!

Non-Euclidean used for a smoky eye look.

As you can see, the shade is more like gunmetal/dark grey with lots of sparkle. Pretty, but not the shade I was expecting. I feel the base isn't dark enough, it always looks a bit grey and thus takes away from the sparkle a bit. So, note to self: always read the shade description carefully, even if it's named after something by your favourite author!

I got only a sample and plan to mix it with something else. I have many black based shadows with multicoloured glitter and this one sadly isn't among my favourites, so it must go.