Saturday 31 January 2015

Inspirations post

Originally posted on February 14th 2011, this remains one of my personal favourite posts and one of my most popular.

Today I want to talk about some of the people who inspire my "look".
There are a lot of people who inspire how I dress and do my make-up, I like people who look interesting and different, I find monotony boring and if that makes me a ~special snowflake~ then so be it, it makes me happy.
 I actually have quite a hard time with things like the badmakeup LJ comm because I often scroll through and think "Oh but I really like that." 


Siouxsie Sioux.
Siouxsie once said that she came up with her trade mark eye make-up to scare people... It doesn't scare me, I think it's beautiful, it just happens to be very hard to do (I've been trying for years and not managed yet).


Tori Amos, the reason I dyed my hair :)


Lily Savage, my first Drag Crush :)
I was so obsessed with her as child.


Mana, one of the first people I saw wearing Gothic Lolita. I fell in love with the clothes, but I also fell in love with his make up and his amazing hair.
The first time I ever back-combed my hair I was trying to emulate one of his hairstyles.


Amelia Arsenic
Just...Awesomeness...


Dame Edna.
Another one of my early Drag Crushes... I want me a pair of those glasses!

***

Today I've been making a blouse. It's almost finished (I still need to trim off the loose threads and I'm thinking about putting some lace around the collar and cuffs)


***

Day 18: The perfect animal.


A Black Panther

Friday 30 January 2015

How I Self Tighten My Corsets

While we're on the subject of corsets, I found this really neat video that explains almost the way that I do mine.
I don't tie a bow at the bottom though, I just tie a hitch knot so as not to cause unnecessary bulk.

Last few pictures from Ireland

Just a small round up of my last few photos from my trip to Ireland



Temple Bar is very pretty and very interesting, but very expensive.


Food in the Guinness Storehouse.



We found a fabulous bar on the outer edge of Temple Bar called The Porter House

Mars Bar Cheese Cake in St Killians


We ended up in The Porter House again the following night



Some Snaps from The Jameseon Distillery 


Food and drink in a pub I forgot the name of

Muffins in the airport.

Thursday 29 January 2015

Wednesday 28 January 2015

Kiss Me Organics, Organic Matcha Review

Legal Disclaimer: These nail wraps were sent to me free for the purposes of this review. All thoughts provided are my own honest opinions.
Over the last week I have been trying out Kiss Me Organics's culinary grade, organic matcha tea powder.

This is a powdered version of green tea. I have had, and enjoyed green tea before but the green tea I have had previously was from a tea bag so I was eager to try out the powdered version.

It doesn't lie about being green!
First of all this is MUCH stronger than green tea teabags, and it is very green! Kiss Me Organics also very kindly sent me a PDF full off recipes for using the matcha, some of which I tried out and have photographed later in the review, and some of which I didn't get around to trying out before making my review but will likely try out at a later date.

The first thing I did was try a regular(ish) brew and added one teaspoon of matcha to a giant mug of boiling water. I soon discovered that this was super strong and had to add a spoon full of sugar to make it palatable for me, although I figure this is down to personal taste so YMMV.

Male Tears, now healthy and green and stuff!

The next thing I tried out was a matcha latte, for this drink I only used half a teaspoon, although the recipe calls for a full one, I personally found this much nicer and didn't have to add any sugar. The taste was still sharp but much more pleasant and it was much easier for me to drink and enjoy (and I certainly did, I have made a few lattes since!).

Next I tried a Mint Matcha Milkshake.
This was the recipe I had the least success with, I am not sure if this is down to be substituting soya milk and soya ice cream for the dairy it calls for in the PDF but I had trouble getting the matcha to dissolve properly. It still tasted really good though, so I will not be defeated, I am likely to give this another go at some point.

The next recipe I tried was something I spotted in the PDF and instantly became curious about. Matcha butter, a sweet butter good for toast, teacakes, crumpets and other sweet things made by blending together matcha, honey, cinnamon and a little salt.
While it was possibly not the most appetising looking of spreads it was very delicious and a clear favourite of the things I tried and I have eaten it on my toast every morning this week!

Next up matcha shots, I was a little suspect of shots with no alcohol in them, but I persevered... FOR SCIENCE!
On the left is an almond milk and match shot, pretty nice, I might actually have preferred this as a long drink rather than a shot as I only got to experience a brief taste of it, and on the right a matcha power boosting shot which is a mix of matcha, orange and carrot juice and wheatgrass powder, fancy and I suspect pretty healthy, but I preferred the almond one.

The final recipe I tried was a matcha madras curry, the original recpie calls for chicken, but I am a vegetarian so instead I added some chunks of fried potato.
I have to admit the idea of tea in my curry didn't seem too appealing, but when mixed in with the other herbs and spices in a madras it took on a very pleasant background sharpness that was very delicious, I actually wished I had made twice as much!

Pros
  • Makes supermarket green tea look somewhat pathetic in comparison.
  • Surprisingly versatile.
  • Very easy to use, just stir it in and you're good to go!
  • Deliciously sharp flavour.
  • Adds an impressive bright green colour to almost everything you add it too!
Cons

  • You may find you need to adjust measures as it may be a little too strong or too weak depending on preference.


This is probably one of my favourite things I have ever been sent to review, it was truly delicious and I am looking forward to trying out all of the other recipes I didn't yet get a chance to have a good at.
You can buy your own packet here.

The Jameson's Distillery

The last place we visited before getting on the bus back to the airport was the Jameson Distillery
Miow!

The Jameson Distillery Tour shows you the history of the Jameson's Whiskey Distillery

And explains how Jameson's in made




Near the end of the tour there are some samples that compare Jameson's triple distilled whiskey to Jack Daniels (which is only distilled once) and Johnny Walker Black Label (twice), Jameson's is nice and everything but I still prefer Scotch.

Tuesday 27 January 2015

Droghda

Last of all we visited Droghda
The narrow streets of Droghda seem to cause much road rage

There are two St Peter's Churches in Droghda

One Church of Ireland one and one Catholic Church

St Peter's Church of Ireland church stands on the site of a previous wooden church that was burned down by Oliver Cromwell whilst it was full of people who had sought sanctuary.

I never really liked Oliver Cromwell to start with, as I think that the English Civil war was an incredible waste of blood,

And he banned Christmas and sausages and I happen to be a fan of both Christmas and sausages.

But learning about the atrocities he committed in Ireland made me really quite angry that there are still people who think he was somehow great and revolutionary.

He was neither, he was just very able to take advantage of situations in my opinion.


Inside the Catholic St Peter's church there is a piece of the true cross, although it is a very small piece, sort of more like holy sawdust.

There is also a shrine containing the mummified head of St Oliver Plunkett.



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