fulfilling some requests.

liv of it's a beautiful life had asked to see a close up of the vintage gold necklace i've worn in some previous posts, so i am (finally) obliging.


i have no idea where this necklace came from. i only know that it's been part of our (myself and my sister's) jewelry collection for as long as i can remember.



kelsey of the anthology managed to snag a vintage expo 86 tee last month which reminded me of the two i have kicking around in my own closet. they aren't the same style as kelsey's, but i did promise to share some photos:


the red version is a youth size. the blue one is still in its package, yes, though barely. after all these years of being tossed into the back of many wardrobes and closets, it's really fighting its way out of the bag. i doubt i will ever wear it.



this last item is by no means a request. i just wanted to share this failed attempt at capturing a stunningly orange sun from last week. i'm kind of liking how the photo turned out. happy mistakes!


here's to hoping the sun makes a full return soon!

red lips and irony.

last week, i came across this photo of mary-kate on fashion canvas (a good source for bits of daily inspiration) and was instantly reminded that i own a tube of red lipstick that gets way too little use.

remembering the concealer tip from this xsparkage tutorial, i proceeded to paint my lips red, but the finishing touches were really the "ironic" glasses from asos.





wearing: vintage men's shirt with an assortment of jewelry (more deets below).



clockwise from top left:
- spitfire sunglasses
- forever21 ring
- sterling silver "pisces" ring my friend gave me in highschool
- silver ring my grandfather made for my sister when she was a toddler (i wear it on my pinky)
- h&m necklace (hacked; large oval plate removed)
- vintage shell necklace
- vintage sterling silver ring

my day.

i got a bit obsessed with playing with the settings on my camera, so here's a little photo documentation of how i spent the last day of july...

a heaping bowl of chinese herbal medicine to get rid of that nagging cough...


...with some haw flakes to get rid of that bitter taste.

i also went a bit crazy at the library last week...


knocked off "hickory dickory dock" a few nights ago, and i've got a couple more chapters to go with "peril at end house." i doubt these will be finished by their initial due date!

(that strip of outdoor beauty in the above image is from a failed photo of a new headband i was sporting that day. i will try to take better photos of me wearing it soonish.)

thanks for all your lovely comments on my makeup! (i hope to return them all by the end of this week!) most of what i've learned is from gurus like xteeener on youtube. there is a serious treasure trove of awesome tutorials on youtube! god bless the internet!

magic's in the makeup.

i'm really far behind on posts 'cause i've been battling a cold on and off for half of july. this past week i've just been coughing so bad, i've really not enough energy to do much posting. (i'll return comments over the next few days; promise! i'm behind on reading blogs too...)

anywho, just a quick post with some eye makeup i did for the no doubt concert a couple weekends back. the main colours i used were honey, fishnet, and graffiti from an urban decay deluxe shadow palette.


(i should make a bigger effort to photograph makeup before going out - not after sweating through a concert and sitting in the back seat of a drop top at night with my hair whipping my face.)



source: google images
well, the concert was awesome, of course. no doubt was just as amazing and energetic as i would've expected them to be if i'd the chance to see them 10 years ago. (gwen stefani is as stunning as ever.)


source: google images
colours enhanced in photoshop - this picture just makes me laugh!

truth: i've loved no doubt since "don't speak" (i still remember the first time i heard it and it was only a tiny clip from their video on tv), but i found out about the tour dates via paramore (which practically made me shit my pants) and i am, presently, a bigger paramore than no doubt fan. so, with a twinge of guilt, i will admit that i was more excited to see paramore than no doubt, but of course, no doubt just blew my mind.

i've already seen paramore live, and while i think they perform like seasoned veterans even though they are only in their early 20s (actually, zac farro, the drummer is still just 19, i believe), i was a tad disappointed that they didn't mix up their live act a bit more. honestly, a lot of it sounded like their live album, which really bummed me out. but, hayley williams is just a little fire ball of energy - in some ways, she reminds me of gwen stefani. (the concert performance of "stand and deliver" with both gwen and hayley on vocals was too awesome for words.)

not to be forgotten, i did find bedouin soundclash rather fun. i only knew one song and they really got crapped on in terms of stage setup and lighting, but they still delivered.

okay, so this wasn't as small a post as i thought it'd be. i ramble too much.

ps - i've read some reviews of this no doubt tour and i do not appreciate those out there who've been labelling paramore fans as twilight teenies, because
a) i am not a teeny; i'm in my mid-twenties, thanks
b) i don't even like twilight (i have recently borrowed the first book though, so we shall see if i may be converted), which brings me to
c) i couldn't possibly be a fan of paramore because of twilight. i've loved paramore since '06, which was years before paramore and twilight had anything to do with one another.
/mini rant.

pps - happy bc day! hooray for long weekends!