Kawaii Rooms

I've got super hooked on watching people's room tours lately. I really want to decorate and have nicer rooms for myself, but we're just in such a small flat with such a huge amount of stuff it's not really feasible at the moment.

When we do move though, Kev said I could decorate however I like :)

Crinolines and Cage Skirts

I've long wanted one, and I found this article on Mimi Matthews's blog fascinating.

Chilli and Eggs

Not the prettiest of meals, but it was delicious

Safe Spaces

Over the last few days in the UK there has been lot of debate on if we should have women only carriages on trains.

Now a lot of people have, understandably said that it would be better to just punish the people causing the problems all ready, and I agree, but I feel like that is a huge over simplification.

In the UK, we currently have a society that often doesn't take women's complaints about the behaviour of men often aren't taken seriously (and before anybody whines, I am not trying to say all men are trouble makers), and while I do think this can and should change it's not something that can or will change over night, a lot of people's attitudes need to change, and so I fully support the idea of safe spaces on public transport because of this.

Looks like I'll be getting a second crop of beans

Broad Bean Pasta

Nomnomnom

Kawaii International Update!

Sorry about the potato quality, had to film this on an ipad!

NHK Air times for the episode are:

Welcome to the Kawaii Universe! Population: YOU

[UTC]

August 29, Sat.

4:10/11:10/16:10/22:10

BST

5:10/12:10/17:10/23:10

[JST]

August 29, Sat. 13:10/20:10

August 30, Sun. 01:10/07:10

HP: http://www.nhk.or.jp/kawaii-i/

Alexander McQueen - Voss

Forever one of my favourites

Giant Chicken

Saw this guy at the park a few days back :)

Lolita and Dolly Kei Inspiration

Follow Alexandria's board Dolly Kei on Pinterest.

Originally this was just a purely Dolly Kei board, but now it's mostly Lolita. I keep collecting inspiring bits and pieces on it :)

Chilli Update

Only one flower remaining!

15 German Words

I was challenged by Ramona of Just Keep Brains to pronounce these 15 German words, and I really enjoyed it.

If you're not a native English speaker, let me know 15 words of your language and I'll see if I can say them!

For A Commision

Lilac bridal satin and cream lace for a commision I'm working on :)

Sugarnoor

Super awesome interview I found with Sugarnoor, I've been following her style for a pretty long time now, I remember some of her first posts on EGL and I'm so glad to see her getting a bit of attention these days, and I really admire the way she doesn't let the haters get to her.

Sounddrown

I've been sleeping quite poorly lately, lots of stress dreams, although I'm not sure what triggered them, I found this site that plays the sounds of waves, and fire, and coffee shops http://soundrown.com/

What I've Been Playing: The Witcher

Thoughts on the first Witcher game

Corset Repairs

Finished off repairing my striped underbust and adding new trim :)

My Basil and Tomatoes are Flowering

In Which I Attempt To Learn German

So how is my pronunciation?

Feminism and Me

I don't hate men (except the crappy ones, but I hate crappy people regardless of gender), and no I don't want to use a different word because you don't like or understand the word Feminist. I have no time for bigotry, racism, homophobia etc masquerading as Feminism because when you start kicking people out of a movement based on equality because they don't tick your boxes YOU'RE MISSING THE FUCKING POINT.

I don't consider myself to be a Radfem, because I don't think that wanting to walk down a street without random guys yelling sexual things at me should be seen as radical, it should be seen as basic fucking manners.

Completly Repaired Corset :)

Judy Garland Hair Tests For The Wizard of Oz

Found on Imgur

Found on the new wallpaper at Think Tank

I Really Like The Look

Of Kawaii Pateen's new sister channel :)

The Vanderbilt Costume Ball

Mrs. Henry T. Sloane (neé Jessie Robbins and later Mrs. Perry Belmont)

A few weeks back a friend of mine posted this article on Facebook about the Vanderblit Costume Ball, the social event of the year in New York in 1883.

I had seen a few of the photos around before (particularity of Miss Kate Fearing Strong and her cat hat), but I didn't really know anything about the ball itself.

It's pretty interesting stuff!

Bean Saving

Dried beans from this years crop so I don't have to buy new seeds next year :)

Corset Flossing

Der Fantastish Hut!

Seriously though, I need that hat

Darkling Tag

Finally got a chance to do this :)

A Victorian Herb Garden

So far this year my best plants on my balcony garden have been the herbs, so thinking ahead to next year I'm considering picking up a few more.

Now I myself being strange and unusual have been considering picking up a few herbs you don't see too often, and I found The Victorian Nursery who stock various varieties of plants favoured in the Victorian Era.

I'm thinking of getting a couple of packets of seeds for next year, probably Angelica (BBC food says that the leaves go nicely in salads as well as the crystallised stems in cakes), Bergamot (not to be confused with the oranges) which apparently makes nice tea, mouthwash and is good on pizza and Chamomile for tea and desserts.

Chillis, chillis everywhere!

Strawberry Jam

Ist sie ihre Frau?

Kev booked our hotel for M'era Luna next year at the weekend (I know, I know, but he has problems with his back and I snore if I sleep on the ground), and so I decided tp start brushing up on my German so I don't end up asking someone for the recipie instead of the bill again.

I'm using the Duolingo app, and although I got the answer wrong, I was pretty pleased to see this sentence crop up in it. Nice to have some unexpected LGBT+ visability :)

Edwardian Supersize Me

I think this one is from the previous series

Lavender Shoots!

"Une touriste a Paris", Number #75 August 2006

"Une touriste a Paris", Numéro #75 August 2006

 I'm quite inspired by this shoot I found on reddit a few days ago, I really love the use of shadows.

As A Feminist...

as a Feminist I'm pretty sick of seeing this thing

As a feminist, I am not ok with spreading misinformation and skewed data.

As a feminist, I care about men too, however

As a feminist I realise the balance is unfairly tipped in their favour, this isn't to say that men don't have problems.

As a feminist I will happily support men's campaigns against the problems they face, but

As a feminist, I am not their mother, I will not hold their hand and do it for them.

Drawing with Thread

Kawaii International August

Since there's a photo of me on the site now, I guess it's a good time to mention I will be on the August episode of Kawaii International talking about setting up my bussiness and how my design process works :) 

Batjam and the Berry Blouse

Everything hand made apart from the shoes and socks :)

The Supersizers Go... - Victorian (Full Documentary)

I watched this when it first broadcast, but I was reminded of it a few days ago in a Steampunk group on Facebook.

It's still pretty interesting, bit frowny at some of the corsetry wimping though.

Mary Vetsera's Suicide Notes

I found this very interesting news piece on the suicide notes of Mary Vetsera, the mistress of Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria.

It's nice that there are finally some answers as to what happened, but it's very sad that she wasn't buried with him like she asked.

Berry Blouse

Potato quality photo, sorry!

I'll hopefully get a better photo tomorrow :) 

Pretty convinced I am secretly Azure

Ahava Active Dead Sea Minerals Review

Legal Disclaimer: The gift set was sent to me free for the purposes of this review. All thoughts provided are my own honest opinions.

Just over month ago I was send a small gift set from Ahava Active Dead Sea Minerals via Blogs Release

According to their site, 

"Avaha Dead Sea Laboratories was founded to study the powerful rejuvenating minerals found in the Dead Sea.  Since then AHAVA has grown to become the definitive Dead Sea mineral beauty expert."

Which certainly sounds impressive.

Cute gift bag.

The gift set consists of a 100ml bottle of Dead Sea Osmoter Body Concentrate and 100ml tube of Deadsea Water mineral body lotion, and they come in a really cute pink bag that I'm probably going to end up re-using as a make up bag or something similar.

I had planned on doing this as a video review but I have been having some trouble with my video camera (which is part of why I haven't managed to do Schnauzevoll's Darkling tag either), so I'm very sorry for the poor quality before picture here. Anyway, around the time I took this photo I was having terrible trouble with my skin. You can probably make out that it was kind of blotchy in the picture.

Apparently the Osmoter can improve texture and tone and improve skin's hydration within four weeks, so I hoped that it would help mine.

Dead Sea Osmoter Body Concentrate

Both the Osmoter and the Lotion say body rather than face on them, however it's kind of hard to show changes on my body skin, so since they also say that they're approved for sensitive skin and are parabin free I also used them on my face as well as body.

Osmoter

The Osmoter is formulated with Brown Alge, Tahitian Monoi Oil, Moroccan Argon Oil and mild fruit acids. It does have a bit of a slightly salty, slightly fruity scent to it which is pretty nice.

One thing I will say is that the first couple of times I used it it felt a little strange on my skin, and I was a little bit worried that I was going to have an allergic reaction or something, but it turned out just fine, and after the first couple of applications it didn't feel weird again.

Mineral Body Lotion (top) and Osmoter (bottom)

The body lotion claims to increase skins moisture level and provide all day comfort. It smells pretty much the same as most good quality body lotions, and while it is very nice and I have enjoyed using it, I don't really see a huge amount of difference between it and most of the other body lotions I already own.

Again I'm really sorry about the difference in quality between the two photos, but here is how I looked after almost a month of Ahava products, my skin is looking a lot better, way more evened out and I have a nice healthy looking glow.

As for things you can't see, well my skin feels a lot softer, I did wonder if this was psychosomatic, but my fiancé  also commented on it a couple of days ago, and he doesn't really pay too much attention to my beauty routine usually.

Overall I have very much enjoyed using both products, and there's a lot left so I will go on enjoying them. I'm just a bit sad I wasn't able to video review them.

If you're interested in trying them for yourself, check out Ahava's ebay store.

Vivienne Westwood talks eco friendly fashion

Today Strawberry Jam, Tomorrow the World.

sext: rain drums against the window as u stare helplessly at my bra clasp

— Sexts from the Void (@voidsexts) September 22, 2013

Sorry I am way too easily amused by this twitter account. 

Gingerbread Spiced Gooseberry Jam

Trying a bit of an experiment, if it works out I'll post the recpie :)

Lookbook

Do you follow me on Lookbook? I used to use it a few years back, but stopped, I recently got into using it again and I'm looking for new people to follow :)

NOLA LOLITAS: Cuteness in Numbers

An awesome documentary I found about the New Orleans Lolita community.