It's all the glory that I bare

Sooo my nail art kick is back with full force after I fiiiinally received my package of nail art bits and bobs off eBay (thanks Canada Post, luv ya too!). I bought some teeny tiny beads and some half pearls, but most imporantly a pack of 500 fake nails for like 5 bucks including shipping! They're blank because I like to create my own designs, and with 500 nails who knows what kind of crazy shiz I'll come up with. They came in 10 different sizes all labelled by numbers. I found which sizes fit best for each finger and marked the little baggies so I know my size for all the future nail designs to come (seriously guys, I'm so pumped the ideas are makin my head spin)!!
I knew before I bought these that I'd have to find a way to keep them in place while I paint them and stuff, so I brainstormed and ended up using double sided tape on a box... primative, yet very functional (doubles as a nail art supplies box too)!

I'm starting out with a simple 2D design, but don't worry the crazy will come! Started with a grey base...
Then did nude coloured half moons. I cut and filed them in a claw shape before painting the tips black, and that's it!

Part of me wants to start bookmarking some nail art tumblrs, but really I always prefer to think up ideas for myself overwise I just feel like I'm copying... yet on the other hand, I'm also really lazy so any extra effort can and will be avoided.
Anyways, do you guys wanna see my new shoes (wow, smooth transition)?? I bought them from the small town thift store I mentioned a few posts back, and HOLY CRAP my heart stopped when I saw them. They are basically me, in shoe form:

Crushed velvet, clunky heel, black, stretchy ankle boot. They are the new centerpeice for my chunky black boot shrine (not literally, I don't have one... or do I? ...No I don't. Guys, I'm really tired).

Ohhhhh and one more thing: I'M A BLONDE

Hahaha look at me all decieving, making you think this post was about nails and shoes. No way dudes, it's about something waaaay more deep and thought-provoking. I mean, look at my hair!!1~*$*(!@~

Lol, look at me I'm awesome at posing. So yeah, I got this done as a dontputitoffanylongerjustdoitalready Birthday gift to myself (mine was on the 14th, I'm 22 now babes). Not much else to say but I love it I love it I was born to be blonde, and I love it.

Like I said, I'm tired, so I'm going to bed now. Goodnight.

I've had enough, this is my prayer

Oh hey y'all, guess what... I got green hair

If you're following me on twitter you'd have seen it already! I've been dying (hehe) to do it for months, and kept putting it off for days and days. I had to give myself a firm pep talk and listen to Hair a few time before busting out the dye. I'm pretty proud of doing it myself, and I love how it turned out with leaving the tips blonde. I used Manic Panic's "Electric Lizard" with a bit of "Atomic Turquoise" and some white toner I bought in Camden last year.

I was going for mermaid-y, My Little Pony vibes, but what I got a bit more Garbage Pail Kids. Yet OBVIOUSLY it's supposed to be an authentic 1977 punk look, but most people are just too stupid to get it!
Some of my hair inspiration: Nicki Minaj in the "Massive Attack" video, an editorial from I Love Fake magazine, and (obvi) Enid from Ghost World.

ALSO my nail game is at an all-time high with these freaking amaaaazing fake nails. My friend bought them for me from Forever 21. I don't buy clothes from there but I just couldn't say no to these 3D nails.

Kind of just a LOOK AT ME post but that's kind of all that's new with me at the moment. How's everyone's summer going? Unless it hasn't started yet, in which case how do liiiiive??

As long as I'm your hooker

(prepare yourself for Born This Way lyric titles for a verrrry long time, k)

I know summer is the time when most of us fashion bloggers try to lay off the black and try to incorporate some c o l o u r into our wardrobes, but to be honest I have no intention of giving up my black ensembles for hot weather. Lately I noticed I've been wearing a lot of all black outfits which are ultra simple, and just having fun with my hair and nails.
Don't I look like I'm having fun?

Example: a week and a half ago came the return of the claw nails! I found some ultra long glue-on nails from the drugstore and filed them into shape. For the first day I just wore them as is:

Then I did a half moon design with white and this amazing seafoam green. Then used a glitter nail art brush around the half moon, and later added a few gems and pearls on just my ring finger and pinkie... just for fun. I was hugely impressed with how long these nails stayed on actually, it was a whole week before one came off!

I call them my mermaid nails ^o^, I'm kind of fascinated with mermaids atm (anyone seen Pirates 4? Wondering if it's worth the suffering just to see my gorgeous Gemma Ward as a mermaid...).

Next I had a little fun with my hair... make that A LOT of fun. That's right dudes, I went for the beehive.


This massive bouffant is courtesy of my good friend Ms. Hilton. I found these jank-ass Paris Hilton hairpieces on sale for $5 at Sally's Beauty Supply, and knew they'd be perfect to use for the beehive I'd been dreaming of. Hair DIY, wut wut!!

It's supposed to be be like a headband with hair attached, so it's like a half wig with combs underneath that help it stay put on your head. I backcombed some of the hairpiece before I used it, just to get that extra massive pouf (oh yes!). All I did was section of the front of my hair, backcomb it a little, place the hairpiece along the part, then pull the front section of hair over the hairpieces and pin it in place at the nape of the neck. Basically like this youtube video.
I actually like how you can see the blonde underneath, although really that's just because I was pinning my hair back blindly. And there you have it!

p.s.- Although I did go out with this hair, I didn't actually wear these stripper boots. I just felt like wearing them for the pictures!

It's been a long time but now I'm back in town

OH HI Gagaloo in Harpers Bazaar, graphic made by me

So I'm done school for now, and have a few weeks before summer classes start! I'm really excited for this summer because the last two I spent travelling, and I'm actually looking forward to have a REAL summer with my friends doing summery things (how many times can I use the word summer in one sentance, apparently that's my goal to find out). I've got a long list of things I want to do, like keep a garden in my backyard, try out a million new recipes, and maybe do a few photoshoots. Obviously, summer plans wouldn't be complete without a MASSIVE list of DIYs, ammirite?? All unknown sources (sorry!) except for the one in the middle, from Kristabel's blog

You didn't think my love of black just ends with warmer weather did you? I am dedicated to my dark side, and it looks like I'm craving a lot of drapey and interesting details for some future projects. I want to made a lattered t-shirt body con dress, kind of like the one in the top left corner, sheer skirts with interesting hemlines, lace-up details, drapey poncho-type shirts, grey jersey pencil skirt with lots of room for scrunching, and maybe even a mexican rug jacket to look stylish in any outdoorsy activities (camping?). Can't wait to get started, let the summer of domesticity COMMENCE!

Your earrings bamboo, your long nails too

The weather in Winnipeg is a little wierd right now: it's not exactly spring with all the snow still heaped on the sidewalks, but it's definately not winter any more with a few warm(ish) days and lots of sunshine. This has made getting dressed especially boring... I'm sick of sweaters, but can't exactly break out the floral mini dressed just yet. So I've been chanelling my creativity onto my nails instead, and I mentioned a few posts back how eager I was to try some 3D nail designs.

I bought a few things at the dollar store that I figured might come in handy. All you really need is nail glue, tweezers, and some stuff to stick on your nails! The 3D nail QUEEN Selina of Flying Saucer has some great tips on her blog, go check them out!
Let me just say that it was really hard trying to come up with some interesting ideas that actually matched my clothing style, and not all sUpEr KaWaIi~~. NOT to say that I don't love all that super girly, tacky, Japanese street style inspired stuff... I just know that it doesn't really suit me any more.
With that in mind, these two ideas I tried out ARE extremely out of my style bracket... but I just couldn't resist!
I'm not sure how I thought of this or why I did it, but since I don't have any nail art beads I guess I just really wanted to try using sprinkles!

Yes spinkles. As in, on a cupcake. Kind of reminiscent of the A Million Little Pieces book cover, no?

I started out with the lovely lilac Revlon shade I used when I had the claw nails (remember that??)

Then I put a clear polish over top and dropped the sprinkles on top, around the cuticles. Then I used about 3 more coats of clear polish on top... still, that didn't stop water from getting in the cracks and making it all run and fall apart... but hey, the 6 hours I had them on was fun while it lasted!

This next style I started out last night, and finished today. I first used two coats of this very 80s looking powdered pink shade I found in my mom's stash. Then I used 2 more coats on top of this milky topcoat I had, to make it more of a nude, creamy pink. I would have preffered it to look less pink than this, but whatevs... I didn't feel like going out and buying a new colour.

Then I took the pearl stickers from the dollar store and some crystals I bought at a craft store and just glued them on. Even though they're still not "me", I still quite like them!

What do you think, 3D nails still a bit too tacky for you? Or if you have any ideas that would be better suited for a 90's pseudo-goth like myself, then let me know!

I just walk up out the door, all the girls will applaud

Let's play "guess that thing, really close up!"... I'll tell you right now you're not going to get it, because it's just too wierd and wonderful to be true. Months ago, on a Value Village %50 off day, Andrew came running over to me at the till with THIS in hand: a strange, ostrich feathery, light purple boa. It was $1, so I bought it hoping I'd figure out some way to DIY it into something quasi-wearable. On closer inspection, I realized it's actually made of Mongolian lamb fur. Creepy, yet still so alluring....
I thought about it for ages before I came up with something to do with this furry thing, then I decided to make it into an insane, purple, shaggy clutch!
First get an old or secondhand clutch/bag that needs some sprucin'. This grey one has seen better days...
You'll also need some scrap facric that at least kind of matches the colour of the boa. Also some scissors and a glue gun.
The fabric is to cover the clutch so that if you see any gaps between the fur and the bag, the fabric it's covered in kind of makes it all blend in... although mine doesn't really match at all, so you just get a glimpse of floral! Lay out the fabric and cut it around the bag, giving it a good extra inch or more all the way around.
I gave more fabric on the sides so I could cover the folds of the clutch (when it expands).

Glue gun the edges then press on the fabric, making sure there are no bubbles and it's smooth all over.


Next I cut the boa into 4 equal pieces. Then basically you just glue gun them on! A tip is to seperate the fur and put A LOT of glue down the parted area, then put the bag on top of the piece so it stays flat and neat.
See how the fur is parted on that piece on the left?

Then use glue down some fur on the bag on parts that look a bit bald, so you get an even fur-ball effect. Then, you're done!

I know this DIY isn't that practicle, and you're thinking either a) "Where do I find purple Mongolian Lamb fur??" or b) "Why would I want to carry around a thing like that...", but really I wanted to post this because it's just a bit of fun. I think we can all do with a bit of insanity once and a while, and toting something like this all around town is sure to make somebody smile :)

Put on my cape and hit the sky, heroine

Sometimes I get so overly excited when I'm thrifting, I end up buying things that, in hindsight, I would never wear. Enter this Grandma sweater, bought almost two months ago.

Now, it's not so much the design on the sweater that I came to have second thoughts about. Rather, when I brought it home I realized it had the BIGGEST HOLE EVER under the arm on one side. How could I have missed this?? Must have been in on of those aforementioned thrifting highs, where my brain can't function normally and logical thought just never enters into the equation.
As I'm usually too lazy to go back and return something thrifted, DIY was the only solution. Well, some may not classify this as a DIY... I basically just ripped the shit out of it.

I cut a huge section off the front to make it asymmetrical, then I just snipped out holes all over and pulled the yarn to shred it as much as I could. I might go at it a bit more, as I'm looking at these pictures now and thinking it doesn't look as messed up as it could...

I also thrifted the PERFECT SHOES last week that would go flawlessly with this outfit. Ok y'all, you ready?... Are you sitting down?...

I beleive in fate, and these shoes are proof that it exists. I saw them first at a Goodwill downtown while shopping with Raez, but they were like a size 6, or something ridiculously small that would never fit my size 10 canoe-feet. But their clunky, schoolgirl-type charm left an impression on me, and then weeks later, while thrifting with Andrew at Value Village, I saw the exact SAME SHOES... IN MY SIZE! What are the chances, how often do you find doubles when shopping secondhand?? If that's not fate, my friends, then I don't know what is.

I knew they were the same shoes because how could I forget a pair of chunky MJ's with purple fur lining. I MEAN!!



When I saw them I thought of that Get Him to the Greek scene... if I ever get a heart attack I can just stoke the bottom of my shoes.