Natural is the new black, brown, red and pink

♫ Sabaton – Saboteurs

O-hai, I talked something about natural light in my previous post, it had something to do with having enough of that (as well as time to take photos and post) in order to present something else that is natural nowadays.

My hair! Okay, it's not natural in many senses – however, the colour is mostly my own now! I dyed my hair (dark brown) last over a year ago, and at some point I decided to try – and try hard – to let my own natural hair colour take over. I suppose the only reason for this is my laziness since I never bother to dye the roots regularly anyway. I also wondered whether my natural colour would be the one which would suit me best. I'm not yet sure about that.

I took those photos in the ambient light of my apartment, near the window, without a flash or any other artificial light. I edited the photos a bit in Camera Raw to make them look as accurate as my real hair colour might be. It's a dull brown, yeah, but it becomes less dull the longer it grows. Actually, it looks like the old dyed part began somewhere above my eyebrows in these photos, but that's not true, my hair has grown much more during these 15+ months. And I've learnt that it's kinda darker than I expected. When I still used to dye my hair red, the overgrown roots always looked horrifying in contrast with (faded) red – it was light and seemed only grey. It no longer seemed that bad when I started dyeing my hair brown instead. And nowadays, well... Whether I'm fine with it or not depends on the light. I die inside every time I look in the mirror in the hall of our office – the ceiling is low, and with a fluorescent tube right close above my head, my hair looks light and grey and absolutely horrendous. In the office toilets, on the other hand, I'm comfortable with my reflection.

Since my hair isn't particularly special anymore, I've started using my bright eyeshadows again – for some time I wore mostly brown, which didn't stand out much. I'm not sure how long I can put up with the hair though, but I've thought of using some direct dye next, hoping it will fade away rather than grow out. So long!

I'm not dead yet, but have a look at my bones

♫ Heavy Metal Perse – Aamunkoiton huilumies

I... don't even know what to say about my blogging habits anymore. I guess I can say I've been quite busy – I have not only been working overtime quite a lot, but I've also been trying to spend the little free time doing something nice with the nearest and dearest, or at least by taking care of myself by exercising (or sleeping).

This time I decided to show three tops which I bought from Restyle a while ago. I really liked the prints and decided to give these cheap T-shirts a try.

All the tops are size XS, which was the smallest available, and although they do have a size guide on the website, I kind of wished a top which is said to be "very stretchy and will fit to your waist perfectly" would indeed be more bodycon. However, it turns out I'm something like super small by their standards, and the tops are a bit loose – quite nice still, anyway.

This is a fangirl top. :) Anyway, there's a bigger problem than the tops not being tight-fitting. They all have a deep, deep plunging neckline! It's rare that I actually mind this – most of the time I don't, maybe because I don't have a cleavage to show anyway. However, these tops really do make me want to wear another top or shirt underneath, or otherwise I would be showing my underwear. And seriously, I don't think I can do that at work. I thought I was buying casual shirts which I could wear to work with a knit, but these tops are not so simple garments.

I had the highest expectations for this one since it was the only one with sleeves – I thought I could wear it at work on its own, but pssssh, the V-neckline is the worst – way too deep for my bust (or the lack thereof).

It's quite a pity since I really do like the prints in real life as well, not only in the photos on the website. But they do need something underneath, and it's not simple and easy either, an under-top may look sloppy or unintentional.

I wish I could pick up my blogging pace. Summer time should give me a bit more natural light and more possibilities to take good photos. That should help me to make a post about hair in the future. So long!

Back to school

♫ Medusa's Child – Holy Land

It only took me two years since I got my bachelor's degree to return to school. Okay, to be precise – as from today, I'm only taking an extra course in university, on photojournalism. So I'm not studying for a degree, but nevertheless, I love saying "I'm going to school", just because calling university "school" pisses some university students off. :>

I wore this top with a simple black denim miniskirt. I wouldn't have bought this shirt if it hadn't been bloody cheap, but it's fairly nice... It's not lacy, it's made of, hmm, smooth tricot or something with a pattern like that.

I also realized I really truly hate taking photos of myself. I've stated this a billion times in my blog, I suppose, but I cannot understand how it can be so difficult. I don't think I'm the worst photographer either! I might be the most critical though...

I considered purchasing this shirt in grey brownish color, but then I chickened out... Lately, I've been more and more interested in trying colors that might actually suit me well, rather than colors that please my eyes. (And I wasn't sure if that  grey brownish hue would have looked good on me, so I decided black always does... Yeah right.) I'm not sure I'll start purchasing colorful clothes any time soon though. However, I've considered letting my natural hair color grow out... We'll see how that goes! My hair is ugly brownish grey, and I'm doubtful as to whether it can possibly look good on me. Okay, I haven't really thought of staying like that for good – but I would rather dye my hair with a color close to my natural one in the future. I have a strong feeling a semi-natural-looking color would compliment my skin tone and eye color most – especially once I've let it fade, I'm not efficient at maintaining complicated hair colors!

What do you think, can a dull greyish hair color actually look good on someone? Do you generally think people look good/bad/better/worse with their natural color?

One hundred

One hundred blog posts down, can-never-know-how-many to go! Quite a lazy pace for a blog started at the very end of 2010, but well, I don't think I have to make excuses...

And one of the reasons why I don't update so often is the fact that I prefer to have some photos for the posts, but don't always have something interesting to show. And even though I love photography, I really hate taking photos of myself, it's so troublesome and difficult... Setting up a tripod and playing with the timer and all. :/ Either way, I did bother to take some photos of yesterday's outfit.

But I don't bother to put enough effort in these photos to make my wallpaper pattern match or something. :> Anyway, I had absolutely nothing to do, but I did leave the apartment dressed like this, something a bit peculiar of me. It was a nice, sunny day, but it wasn't too warm, and wearing that grey sweater was quite a good choice! It kept me warm enough but didn't leave me suffocating! The red skirt is actually a tube dress, buttoned up at the front, and most of the time I wear it without a shirt to hide it (though often with some top underneath). However, I have contradictory feelings about it... Even though it's short and can expose a lot of skin, it's not very elegant for such occasions that might call for a tiny dress. In my opinion, it's not particularly feminine, more girlish.

The shoes are nice canvas heels which are quite comfortable to wear! The only "problem" is that they're too big for me and cannot be tied tight enough. Insoles make the situation better though, I can actually walk without the shoes turning and twisting in my feet.

I also wore my hair in a very unusual way, a half braid, the bottom half open. Anything besides two braids (or pigtails) or a ponytail is exceptional for me, I'm not too good at making hairdos and I don't think my head is cut out for it either. :/

Perhaps this will do for my semiannual outfit post, let's see when we'll have another. :D So long!

Painting it brown

♫ Dreamtale – The Awakening

A while ago I rummaged through my wardrobe, picking out clothes I hadn't worn lately and probably wouldn't in the future either. It hadn't actually been so long since the last time I had done the same, so I didn't find so many unnecessary pieces this time.

While some clothes ended up in the "get rid of these NOW" pile immediately, there were some pieces with different flaws which I still wanted to save one way or another. This ex-black-and-white striped shirt was one of them. As much as I would like to wear white, or black-and-white, I'm not good at keeping white as white as it should. It's a bit embarrassing to admit this because I've had to study housekeeping and such (cleaning, laundry and that kind of stuff too, on a professional level) so much in the past that washing clothes should be a piece of cake to me. :x This shirt, for example, had turned yellowish in a very dirty way merely by staying in my closet, unused for a few years.

Thus, I decided to try to dye it – a procedure I had already used to save a b'n'w striped T-shirt some years ago. I tried to turn it red and black, but it turned out pink instead. The hue wasn't too bad – at that time, when I was more into pink. This time I really had trouble deciding on the color though! I haven't felt comfortable wearing red or pink lately to contrast my mostly black wardrobe (I've even worn my pink eyeshadow quite a little lately! But it's not the problem, only such clothes are) and I didn't want to try those colors on the shirt. I'm not much into wearing orange, yellow, green or purple, even though I like every color in some context. Then I thought of blue, ocean blue. I turned the city upside down hunting for such textile dye. Eventually I found some, but the selection in the store was quite wide and I began to reconsider. I thought of all things which have inspired me lately, and dressing up in neutral tones, or muted tones, has been the thing. I thought of pirates and steampunk and such, and then picked up terracotta brown instead.

I didn't use all the dye because it would have been enough to dye 600g of fabric and the shirt only weighed 200g, and I was afraid of the result being too unpredictable. But I'm not even sure what I really wanted of it. This is how it turned out:

I figured I would try to redye it gray if I didn't like the outcome, but I'm not sure yet. I'm not disappointed, I have to wear it a bit to see if it was a good choice or not. What do you think, is the terracotta brown hue ugly or maybe nice and warm?

Socks to be me // Monthly theme post

Woah, Sophistiqué Noir threw a very interesting blogging challenge this time, and I barely even had the time to do anything! In the past I may have put quite a lot of effort into these theme posts, this time I took a few photos quickly as I have to concentrate on another design project again. And that's too bad, since the theme, hosiery, is quite close to my heart!

Since I only wear pants when exercising, I have quite a collection of hosiery. I don't wear fancy stuff daily because I'm good at ripping delicate stockings and tights, not to mention that I just bought several pairs of thick and warm tights for the winter... Instead, summer months are a real golden age to me since I get to wear short skirts and provocative stockings. That's probably the cornerstone of my style to begin with!

Because I really don't have so much time to spend on this post, I'm only showing off a few of my most favourite pieces or ways to wear hosiery. And they will be accompanied by some lyrics by Emilie Autumn, who is certainly quite a stocking idol for me (yet still I have never mimed her style...).

 I admit it; I'm not a very decent girl. My absolute number #1 trademark and cornerstone of my style in summertime is wearing certain overknee socks and a garter belt, with a short skirt so that they show. (Some evidence shows that I've been doing this ever since I was seventeen.) Although I own many socks and a few garter belts, I have certain favourite ones to be paired like this. It's comfortable for me, and good-looking. It's cool enough, yet covers the bruises I have. :D And I know; it looks either damn good or damn tasteless. I'm all for the first option. I may pair them with such casual clothes that I may not look particularly slutty. However, I know I can highlight the best part of my body by wearing those, a short skirt and high heels. Then my legs seem long, and people ignore all the flaws I have.

Very long socks with round holes all the way up! These are funny and quite eye-catching as well. (It was damn difficult to stand on my shoulders and take a photo though.)

Last but not least, some simple socks with vertical stripes. Long ago I was one of those who liked stockings with horizontal stripes, then I got a feeling they make my legs seem shorter. And well, not longer at least for sure. Vertical stripes are classy and quite easy to pair with some different patterns.

May today become the day

♫ Winter's Verge – Old Man's Wish

...the first day of the rest of my life, nothing more fancy this time. I'm sorry I've been silent here, I cannot even say I've been busy, just lazy. And my actual posting ideas have been lacking a bit of this and that, so if you were looking for some interesting content... keep waiting. :D

I'm only updating to whore out myself some interesting bits of my style. And to try out some new ways to arrange photos in my entries, let's see if I can make these look good or even different to begin with. The process to renew and constantly improve my blog layout is, well, never-ending.

I thought about creating one of these funny reflected image collages, but then I ended up taking the easy route! This, because I have been photoshopping enough today and I'm going to work tomorrow! In order to gain an extra day off...

Anyway, the outfits! First, the one on the left – I had been looking for such a skirt for ages! I wanted to find a skirt with an underbust waistline, but it didn't turn out easy at all. Eventually I put up a message on a gothic flea market on Facebook, and much later one kind person offered their old skirt to me. The skirt had originally been the size L, but the previous owner had made it smaller to fit the size XS. Perfect! I had wanted one such skirt because I figured it would flatter my figure, the long back which doesn't always need to seem as long as it is. Last Sunday we went to see some dance performances (it was International Dance Day!) and I wore that skirt with a *gasp* red shirt. The shirt is not new, but I haven't been wearing much color lately.

And on the right I'm showing off my outfit of the day, what I wore to work today. I have a shirt and a skirt, not a dress, but I like those extremely simple and comfortable clothes quite a lot and feel good wearing them. The shoes I'm wearing in both photos are pure love as well, I just recently got a chance to start wearing them again after the winter. These photos don't flatter the shoes unfortunately, the heels don't even seem as high as they are.

By the way, someone could teach me to pose. I didn't know whether I should have laughed or cried when I transferred the photos from my camera. Uh-oh, one day at work my colleague jokingly introduced me to some guy (possibly a photographer) as "our graphic designer with a model's body" (this, because they were both men and shorter than me when I was wearing those shoes). (And in fact I don't have a real model's body either.) I just cannot seem to pose for photos without either standing too still or seeming to be overdoing it. :D And I assure you, I picked out the least ridiculous ones.

I've also purchased a new piece of ear jewellery. It's a dragon tailbone wrapping around the whole ear. It's quite funny, though it's shaped in such a way that you have to get a different piece for the left and the right ear. I only got one because my other ear has several piercings. Too bad I tend to wear my hair somehow covering that ear most of the time! :D Yet I guess that piece is for special occasions and special hairdos. I feel a bit bad for not choosing the octopus tentacle piece though! It would have been pirate credible, but I thought it didn't look as nice as the dragonbone. :x I feel I'm a bad pirate. So long!

P.S: I couldn't provide any interesting content to go with the topic, which is Sentenced's song. But then I figured Evil Masquerade's song "A Great Day to Die" would do here! Unfortunately, I couldn't find it on Youtube. I'm not sure I'm going to die today either, I would need to hurry up anyway, only less than half an hour left of this day.

Let the record show

♫ Altaria – Ravenwing

Beware, my dear readers, I will shower you with photos I took of Emilie Autumn's show on Friday. I'll let the photos talk about the actual show and what happened in it, and I won't go into set list details or anything. It was nice to have a better camera on a gig for once, though it was still difficult to take photos; I had to raise my hands up high quite often; thus, the strange cropping in most photos. That's not exactly the right position for a photographer and works particularly badly in darkness. My arms were still bloody sore after the workout, which probably added to the trembling and resulted in many blurry photos after all. But still better than what my compact camera or cell phone would have managed!

I'm quite a cynical EA fan, I'm afraid – or at least a friend said so, and I'm not sure what to say about the concert... Oh well. I think Emilie is a true musical and lyrical genius. However, I cannot swallow the whole concept of what Emilie Autumn represents, and what being a wayward Victorian girl really is all about. But I cannot deny it; she's made quite a successful product of herself.

I saw her and the Bloody Crumpets live in 2009, and I must say... Friday's show was pretty much a déjà vu. Of course it wasn't identical; she had new songs to perform after all, but most of the elements that contributed to the visual part of the show were something I really had seen before. A huge illuminated canvas, a Venetian beak, a wheelchair, tea spitting, Rat Game... Trademarks or worn patterns? I think she's fallen into a rut. Especially with her mind-blowing release pace, she really hadn't renewed the show enough. I know the line between trademarks and, well, let's say those worn patterns is very fine. I also understand very well that her fans are looking forward to certain things – such as the infamous Rat Game – and it's fine, it's fun. However, trademarks can be incorporated into the show in new and creative ways. I mean, come on – three years since the last show, and I felt like I had already seen it.

I'm not saying I didn't like it. It was entertaining, and I liked hearing her new songs although I generally prefer hearing familiar songs played live. However, I didn't get to see anything new, and considering how big part of her show is based on visual aesthetics, I do think it's a pity. This is something I would be preaching to our clients (as I'm working in an advertising agency) – if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.

But I will leave that issue for now. Onto the photos, with a bit of my club outfit at the very end! Enjoy. All photos are naturally © yours truly.

Captain Maggot came crowd-surfing at one point. I would have liked to take photos only, but I actually had to participate as otherwise I would have got a pirate boot in my face. :|

"Ratty ratty..."

The Rat Game

"Is it the hair?"

My outfit bonus: I had trouble deciding what to wear. I thought Emilie's concert would be about the best opportunity for me to put on the freakiest pieces of my wardrobe – I had been planning something like this ever since I heard of the concert last year. I had thought I could wear something light and nice, it would be April after all! However, the extreme late frost ruined my plans. I still considered putting on some hotpants, but in the end I didn't; the first pair I considered turned out to have approximately six holes in the crotch while the other pair just made me feel too... indecent. Seriously, I wouldn't have thought I could feel like that about pants. I considered stripey black and white thighs, I considered mismatched socks... And eventually got a feeling I've grown out of all that stuff. :/ And thus, I ended up with this;

The outfit is pretty much the definition of "lazy". Or "comfortable". I opted for my dearest pinstripe corset – because it is comfortable while my other corsets can truly hurt. I opted for such shoes which don't have the highest heels – just because the club was at the opposite end of the city center and I knew the roads would be slippery, and it'd be the most amusing way back home at night wearing something else. And I would have liked to try doing something nice to my hair, such as Victory rolls, but uh-oh... Too sore arms, couldn't have held them up long enough to complete a complicated hairdo. (And they hurt like hell still.)

So long!

P.S: That club is the worst concert venue I know, seriously. I've always hated it. The architecture is horrible, there are huge pillars very close to the stage and although we were standing pretty much in the middle, we couldn't see everything! The pillars are actually blocking most people's view in most directions. D'oh. They might not be so troublesome in the first row, but everywhere else, yeah. And I've seen quite many bands live there. Even Emilie made fun of this feature, introducing one pole close to the stage after introducing the Bloody Crumpets.

We come in peace, kind of

Iron Sky is out! The movie premiere was on April 4th, and I went to see it with a bunch of friends. Yeah, we had all been looking forward to it. In the summer of 2009 I and one of those friends were listening to a presentation given by the filmmakers, introducing their plans, and back then we wouldn't probably have believed that in less than three years we would actually be queuing to a movie hall to see it.

So why exactly have I been so interested in a sci-fi comedy to begin with? That's exceptional of me, I'm not exactly a sci-fi geek (it's enjoyable in small portions) and I'm certainly not into comedies that much! But well, the movie is hailing from my hometown. Although the production doesn't seem that "Finnish", being a co-production with Germany and Australia, while the film is in English and German, it's been interesting to take peeks at what some people I know have been working on. Had I been more daring (=talented, or had I had more self-confidence), I could have applied for a trainee post in the graphics department of the production as well.

I'm going to say a few things now, but don't worry – there will be no spoilers.

I thought the movie was somehow surprisingly fast-paced. Some say the actual plot – a Nazi community on the dark side of the Moon, a refugee camp after World War II, intent on returning to Earth – was dealt with too lightly, as if they hadn't made the most out of the actual idea. I can understand what they mean very well, but somehow that didn't bother me. It was entertaining, not deep and thought-provoking. Perhaps logic failed here and there – but if one is not looking for a coherent sci-fi film but remembers this one is a comedy piece, I would expect them to like it, at least a bit. I really liked the style of humor in the movie – I'm very picky after all, easily condemning entertainment to be too naive, stupid or what not. I'm not the easiest person to genuinely amuse.

Visually the movie was stunning, the Moon Nazi base was simply awesome. And if you're into uniforms, male or female, you might want to watch it just to be inspired by Klaus Adler or Renate Richter's attire.

How about my own outfit? I guess someone in the social media encouraged everyone to really dress up for the premiere, so I decided to...do it? Alright well, my outfit was a very strange mix of casual and formal, sloppy and elegant, put together after a long and exhausting day at work. I didn't have much time either.

I recently bought a black satin waist corset, second-hand, because I had thought I needed one – partly because I've never owned a simple black corset, and partly because my pinstripe one is slowly coming to the end of its road – or at least the bones are so twisted already... I paired it with a narrow skirt (wouldn't exactly call that a pencil skirt though), suspenders and lace gloves + a grey T-shirt. :| Okay well, I wouldn't have accepted just any T-shirt, but what I wanted was a shirt with some other colour but black. I realized I really don't have many options. Seriously. That's not particularly uniform-like, not even close to being formal, but my most formal button-up shirt with some uniform-inspired details is, well... Well, I've been laundry-fighting it for quite a while. I'm not sure if I can save that piece anymore. :/ Might need a few new button-up shirts, at the moment I have none that I could wear.

Otherwise I'm exhausted; the movie ended quite late, I had work on the following day, and what a long day it turned out to be! I had such an extreme workout right after work – so extreme that my muscles are probably crying blood now more than ever before (do bruises actually count as "muscles crying blood"? I have several in my legs). After the workout which almost killed me I had promised to see a cover band play Iron Maiden. The band started over an hour late, which meant my day was very long, and I was so exhausted. Now I've probably paid back a part of my sleep debt, but well, no rest for the wicked: It's Emilie Autumn time tonight! Today I'm actually intent on taking my SLR camera to the club, so I hope I can provide you with some good quality concert photos later! So long and happy Easter!