Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Gothic Formal Hair

This post was requested by the awesome Sary from The Walrus Room asking about the hair I had in my previous post.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I bleached out some sections of my hair using specially bought hair bleach, mainly underneath the top layer of hair so most of the colour is hidden when my hair is down. I had 3 week old black dye in, so overall it took about 4 bleach applications, waiting for a day or a week in between, to get a nice, light-ish colour. (Note- You MUST wait in between bleach applications. I have a friend who's hair was fried and broke off because it was over bleached. Also, follow the packet instructions exactly. The chemicals are strong and poisonous. Oh, and if you have dyed black hair, there WILL be an orange stage. You simply have to grin and bear it I'm afraid. My undyed roots went blonde on the first application.)

My bleached hair... yes I had to go to school looking like this...
A few days later, after being a blonde baby for a few days... much to the delight of everyone at school =/, I added some Fudge colour in Blueberry Hill and some Manic Panic in Pillarbox Red to the blonde sections as I pleased. Currently I am mainly purple because it has lasted far longer than the red. (You know those long side burn type sections of hair often seen with deathhawks? Despite my lack of cool undershave, my ones are brilliant purple and look the best.)

Anyway, fast forward to last friday midday, when I was deciding what to do with my hair I decided to touch up the purple, so I mixed in some Fudge in my conditioner bottle. Unfortunately it became more concentrated that I wanted, but it worked well. So, in the shower I wore gloves and applied it as normal conditioner. Once out I scrubbed my scalp with a towel to remove the purple glow... (Just a re-cap; there is colour in the bleached parts of my hair, plus more purple on the unbleached, dyed black sections giving my hair and overall purple glow)

Anyway for the formal I simply sprayed some glitter into my hair, teased the underneath layer and finished with strong hold hair spray. Dead easy.

Please remember that I am not a hair colouring virgin. I've had heaps of experience before, and this was not my first bleaching episode either. It was the most successful though. I hope that this is inspiring and helpful to you.

xxx Lilly

Clothing and Accessories

Last night I intended to write up a post on my mum's computer but after a rather unfortunate incident that involved me dropping my mum's laptop (the same one that has her PhD notes on it!) after my boyfriend dropped a heat pack onto my chest. The computer was fine, but it was rather distressing so that didn't encourage me to use the computer for much longer. None the less I'm attempting to write here at school while researching pictures to use for my Art folio. It's a bit distracting to say the least... becuase research does include reading long articles about my favourite games and Star Wars props do take up time... =)
I also should finish my Literature novel... and prepare for my Methods SAC on Wednesday, I really should.

Anyway, I'm here finishing this post on my mum's laptop (The same one that got dropped!!!)
This post is about Goth accesories and clothes, and why you shouldn't just buy everything you see.

Melbourne is rather infamous for a particular Goth shop named Victorian Gothic, or more commonly just Vic Gothic. The shop has a bit of a reputation of being expensive. I have bought items from there before (Namely hair dye, makeup, a skirt, some boots and an out for my year 12 formal that was on friday night, plus a few other things.)

Me and two amazing girls from my Maths Methods class
So anyway, enough with the outfit. The point about the shop is their range is simply far greater than almost all of the other Goth/ dark alternatuve shops that I've been into. Most of it is branded, 'off the rack' type wear, but there is lots of jewellery, dreadlocks, hats, gloves, shoes, bags ect.
I personally tend to dress in a more minimilist way than those brands, so many of the clothes aren't to my taste, but I really do love some of the cute, pretty and spooky accessories that are sold. I much prefer to buy generic, plain black and grey clothes and spend my money on, suprisingly, accessories to enliven my outfits.

While walking home from symphony orchestra rehearsals today, in the pouring, freezing rain, I remembered to check my school backpack to see if the rain had soaked through. It hadn't, which was a relief but it did concern me that if I had brought my canvas messenger bag, my phone, brand new flute (18th birthday present) and CAS calculator (the $200 one that I need to pass Methods and I cannot afford to buy a new one) would have been ruined. In other words, things wouldn't have been to great overall.
I though of the other bags I owned and my mind crossed to my super sexy, PVC coffin shaped bag. The really brilliant thing about PVC things is that they're waterproof. Sure, it's not exactly the sort of bag I'd bring to school, but I have been in the rain before with it and things were not wet in the slightest.
Simarly, leather and plastic shoes are far more likely to be waterproof than fabric shoes. Conversley (and because I know that it's summer for all of my northen hemisphere readers) clothes and accesories that are appropriate for dry or humid weather need to be carefully chosen. Any year 12 VCE student will remember the GAT that was sat a few days ago. Inside there was a question about fashion. As part of my essay I wrote that many followers of fashion are more likely to buy clothes that are 'in' than ones that are comfortable, flattering or practical. Personally I am only too happy to dress from toe to neck, but I know that there are some who prefer to show some skin, and I feel that many Goths (including myself), who by their nature are not restricted by the 'rules' of fashion, can, and do, wear what they please.
Therefore, I have my own 'rules' that I follow. I did NOT intentionally make a set of rules to follow, but this came naturally to me as I get dressed each day.

Number one- Dress according to the weather. Today, considering my awful 8:15 am class, I dressed simply with stockings, Knee high Docs, a lace mini skirt, grey T shirt and black school hoodie. Despite my more casual clothes, I was still late, but not as much as if I had dressed up more. Walking to school was freezing. So cold that it made me want to go home and get some gloves. On the flip side, sometimes it's freezing in the morning and by lunch time it's 26*c. Melbourne doesn't get as cold as somewhere like Canada, but it is alarming how many people assume that it doesn't get cold in Australia. It really does, I swear!

Number two- Coffins aren't for school. I have more bat and skull accessories than coffins, but they're are lurking in the depths of my lair. I simply don't want to draw any more unwanted attention to myself *Edited* because, frankly I am really really shy and don't have the confidence for them at school. Out in the city it's a different story. Similarly, I will not wear any of my famourly hand ripped stocking, fishnets or anything that may seem too sexual in a school or other professional environment. At school at least, I have a somewhat 'cute, quirky innocent' reputation... =)
Number three- No hoodies with long skirts. Yes the classic casual mixed with luxurious thing. This is something understood by many. I only own one hoodie and that's my year 12 one. It's nice, warm and comfortable so it is good for days like today but it looks silly teemed with long skirts. The same with lace gloves, beaded necklaces or anything else that has an opulent flair. Hoodies are for jeans and miniskirts. That is it. XD

Anyway, completly sorry and a thousand appologies for not being able to post lately. Y'all know the sob story, and don't need to be reminded again.

*Edited again* (P.S Sary, I wanted to reply to your comment, but E.I is being a pain and not letting me post comments, but I can blog fine. x)

xxx Lilly

Friday, June 10, 2011

Complaints

 You know what sucks? Viruses.
And now, thanks to my lack of attention whilist using my laptop last night, there is a massive one sitting somewhere benethe the murky depths of my hard drive and doesn't want to move. It's really depressing because usually I am so careful about these sorts of things, and then there's just this 'once off' event and what the hell do you know... there's now a virus. So, thanks to the hacker who decided to create that to ruin my year twelve. I'm currently writing this in the middle of the school library and will probably get kicked off any time soon. (I am trying to do some school work as well, but considering that exam week is next week and the only mid- year exam I have is the GAT there's not a hell of a lot I can do. Not here in this noisey room at the least.)
And then just before we watched the particularly moving file Atonement in Literature. We're studying the book at the moment, so we got to watch the movie this morning. I've seen that movie before, but it is still pretty sad.
So yes, I'm not feeling brilliant by any means and I'm not sure what to do about it. (Note to self. Contact Dad asap to sort out virus...) which leaves me here, whining away on this pathetic desktop. I'd most definatly be on YouTube, but I didn't bring any head phones and the noise wouldn't go down too well.
Stress is something that really doesn't agree with me. Last night I hardly sleeped because my brain was just full of freaking out- type thoughts not of year 12 and it's joys but of that stupid virus. Somewhat backwards I must admit, but that is how it was. Subsequently now I am dead tired and feel ready to snap at anyone who looks at me sideways, have a raging headache and am hungry because I didn't eat breakfast and I haven't really made anything suitable for lunch. Oh yeah, working on calculus at eight in the morning really didn't help anything either.
So, as much as I'd love to say 'Enough with the complaining!' and move on to something positive and far more interesting, I really don't have anything to say. I cannot guarantee how often I'll be able to post in the coming weeks (considering my laptop is indisposed) but I'll try. I won't really be able to write here at school either because, well I just won't be here.

I realised I've never posted a photo of my flutes! My new one is the shiny one on the right.


xxx Lilly

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

My favourite products at the moment

People's opinions change all the time, but here's a list of my current favourite products and makeup items. Enjoy, and please comment with any positive or negative experiences you've had with any of them.

- Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly shampoo and conditioner.
It's not the best shampoo or conditioner around but it really works for my hair. Smells great and is cheap too which is nice.

- Sun & Swim Leave in Conditioner

I haven't used the shampoo or conditioner, but the oil based leave in conditioner has UV protection which is fantastic for my dyed hair. The scent is a bit strange in a 'chemical' sort of way but I like it. Nice price too. My hair never feels greasy after using it. This product is Australian and made for the Australian climate, which is pretty harsh to say the least... at the moment here in Melbourne it's FREEZING!!! Winter really did come early this year.

- Clean and Clear Morning Glow

This has been  a favourite of mine for a good few years now. It's super light, oil free, SPF 15+, containts illuminating mica particles, isn't expensive at all and smells very nice. It works for my skin just as well as anything else. The only problem is that nowadays it's pretty hard to find. I hope it's not discontinued... =(

-Covergirl's Amazemint in Red Riot

I'm a huge mint junkie so naturally I love this. Another old favourite of mine, the colour, sparkle, taste and smell are all fantastic. Nice and cheap and worth every cent. I wear this every single day. It's been available for a few years and I've bought three tubes in different colours. I naturally have pink/red lips so all of the colours looked pretty much invisible except this one which gave my lips a nice cherry toned touch. The Best.

-Original Source Lemon and Tea Tree Shower Gel

Super lemony (not sure if it has any skin lightening properties though) and smells fabulous. Lots of essential oils but it doesn't seem to irritate my skin. It's pretty expensive compared to other shower gels but it's worth it. I NEED to get the mint one!!! (On the website they have a product containing Australian berries. It's full of Australian type puns. Good for a laugh, but, seriously... Australians do it better.)

- Venus Embrace


Best razor ever. The blades are expensive (almost $20 for two or three!) but for me they have stayed sharp for literally 6 months. The Best.


xxx Lilly

Friday, June 3, 2011

Fage

There are not many ads that really affect me on a positive emotional level.

There is one exception that I can think of. This one is from a U.S company that isn't sold in Australia, so I've never seen it before I came across the video (on Doe Deere's blog)




Just watch it, nice and loud and enjoy.


Oh and tell me what you think of it.


xxx Lilly

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Perfume Tagging

I was tagged by Cooking Chinchillas, who tagged all of her followers. I also believe that it was she who translated it into English for us to all enjoy. Thanks!

How many Perfumes do you own right now?
Many
Elizabeth Arden Green Tea, CK Eternity, So...? Superstar, Vera Wang Princess, Dior Addict, Dior Addict Eau Fraiche, CK Truth, CK Eternity Purple Orchid, Miss Dior Cherie, Queen Nefertiti, Stich No. 60, Samakand Oil and Peace Rose oil plus a few others.

Expensive or cheap perfumesExpensive is always better but if I'm broke then cheap is ok. Some cheap ones really are fantatic.

Do you buy your perfumes yourself,or do you get Perfume gifts?
Sometimes as presents but it's expensive so not all that

Do you still remember your first perfume?If yes,which one was it?
Yes, It was a Stitch of Angel. Not overly nice but good for such a young age.

What is your current favorite perfume?
Dior Addict. It has been my favourite for years.

Which perfume you don't like to smell?
YSL Baby Doll, CK Eternity, Red Door... there are quite a few.

The ideal Spring/Summer scent?
Green Tea by Elizabeth Arden

The ideal Autumn/Winter scent?
Dior Addict.

Do you choose perfumes by yourself, or does anybody (spouse/partner) help you?
I always choose them myself. Perfume is such a personal thing.

A walking cloud of perfume or a subtle scented person?
In between. It depends on the weather and the amount of clothing.

A fairy appears and she wants you to create a perfect scent,what would it be?
A sweet oriental that was created with the blood of vampires.

Do you use all your perfumes regularly or do some bottles accumulate dust?
I try to rotate them but some I like more than others so they get used a lot more.

Do you collect perfume samples?
Not really but I have some beautiful Dior ones. I prefer to buy bigger bottles.

Yes so as you can tell I'm a huge perfume junkie. One of my dark pleasures. Oh and please do vote in my poll. Your feedback is really greatly appreciated. P.S I also tag everyone if they want to. =)
xxx Lilly