Geek Meet - Keeping it in the family

Aiya!!! Enchanted left me with VERY little time to work on my Geek Meet outfit. Ages ago I decided on a Lord of the Rings Elven theme and after Enchanted, I only have the accessories....

I botched up the bodice so in the end I decided to make a skirt. I FINALLY got my 'Ultimate Ruffler' and good god, you don't call it the ultimate ruffler for no reason - it's a BEAST!

At least 5 needles were lost to this monster...

My skirt the night before O___O

I finally finished just after noon on the day of the meet - thank god the meet was in the afternoon ^^'

Geek Meet inspiration:
I couldn't really decide which Elf I wanted to be. Arwen's necklace I felt was the most iconic and recognisable accessory so I knew I definitely wanted to have that in the co-ord. However, I wanted to create an ethereal feel with floaty whites and creams so in the end I decided to 'keep it in the family' and incorporate aspects of Arwen, Elrond and Galadriel.
The idea is was 'if Galadriel wore Lolita, what could it look like?'. It had to be floaty and have lots of soft ruffles! The lilac accents are inspired by Arwen  and the hairstyle is like Elrond's. Sadly I didn't take a proper photo of the back of my hair :<

The oddest thing was having my forehead out (I actually have a three-head) but I searched and searched but Elves just don't have fringes!

The meet itself was very nice and chilled starting with photos which were VERY chilly , food at Trinity Kitchen and then card games and alcoholic beverages at FAB! 

Rivendell Elves - Keeping it in the Family Co-ord

Hairpieces: New Look and eBay

Necklace: eBay

Top: Primark
Shawl: Handmade

Skirt: Handmade
Shoes: eBay

I hope I succeeded!

Enchanted

Saturday 5th April crept up FAR too quickly, I finished my headpiece the night before I left ^^' Myfanwy and I stayed over at Sophie's in Cambridge, it was fun having a wifing weekend! Sophie's mum even taughht us how to make dumplings, Sophie was on expert mode (of course!) and Myfanwy's looked lie Cornish Pasties haha xD 

Mine were somewhere in between.

Obligatory train selfie

 

We stopped by at Kensington Palace to take some pretty photos and then went on to get some lunch in Wasabi where things didn't turn out so pretty...

Wasabi was pretty busy so the only seats we could get were by the window and the people outside insisted on taking photos of us while we were eating even when we shook our heads and signaled 'no'. RUDE! If we were London attractions we would be charging!
When it comes to photos in Lolita, if you ask me, I am more than happy to let you take a photograph but one very, very rude and unpleasant man told us we have no choice because we're in public.

Leeds at Enchanted!
I love my comm <3

With Hitomi (Grimoire) and Minori

Now, I would never usually order a salad but I am SO glad that I got this, this salmon salad was amazing! Thank you Suki!

FINALLY able to have my Platform 9 3/4 photo! :D

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And to end the night...

So sexy wig cap photo! Goodnight Cambridge!

*** Enchanted Co-ord ***

Headpiece: Handmade

Blouse: Primark
JSK: Metamorphose
Wrist cuffs: Chess Story

Bag: Taobao
Socks: Primark
Shoes: eBay

Shooting or Selfies?

Yeah ok, I jumped on the selfie bandwagon too.

Natalie and I took a bundle on Sophie's phone while having a photoshoot day. Here's a couple

 

Here are a small selection of the lovely photos taken of Natalie, Myfanwy, Charlotte, Sophie and myself.

 

A very chilled and fun day - I've missed taking/ editing photos. SLR, I feel like my mojo is back!

Peng Peng

FINALLY finished my penguin bedding project. I was super excited to begin with and I wish the enthusiasm stayed with me but about three weeks in and I was getting bored. Thank god I don't get bored of everything this quickly.

I'm actually really pleased with my final designs so here they are for sharing ^^

Enjoy the penguins! 'Sophisticated Penguins' is my favourite. What about yours?

Thoughts on the Start of 2014

If there is anything I'd like to say about this year is that it sure is moving quickly!

First things first, Caitlin came back to see us! We went 'Owl Spotting' and it sadly rained lots that day but on our adventures, we did find a Princess!

I also tried to make a post for the EGL wardrobe thread which didn't happen...I missed the deadline. Better luck next year ^^'

In February I learnt that the 2nd is 'National Twin Tails Day' in Japan. I love how that's a thing!

This month also saw the birth of the 'Best Girl Dream Factory' and the birth of Best Girl Pageant 2014 at LAC. This will be the legacy I leave behind for Huddersfield's Anime & Asian Film Society ;)

I spent that weekend at my cousin's in London and investigated some food markets.

Here's my roundup of the weekend.

Other perks of February include going ice-skating (and being really, really bad at it) and getting a placement with a bridal designer!

Goodbye 2013

So I know it's VERY late now and the last post was from November so I'm going to end my 2013 with a roundup of the last couple of months.
November included Thought Bubble in Leeds. This year I didn't buy much and didn't spend much time in the actual con compared to previous years. (I jointly bought a commission of Sophie and I and a Sailor Moon sketch.)



A beautiful group photo of my amazing comm - Thanks for another great year of frills Leeds!


Sophie and I after our wifely date to Yo!Sushi


My Panda inspired co-ord

Bow - handmade
Blouse - Anna House
JSK - Metamorphose
Cardigan - Primark
Belt - Wondertropolis
Tights - M&S
Shoes - Dreamy Bows

December

Jane introduced me to the 'Kitten Train'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS47v1j29ec

Jinnipa and I went to The Deep! (I love The Deep and it's moon jellyfish!)



I had a lovely family Christmas which involved lots of Mah Jong (of course) and LOTS of food! The only letdown to my year was the Meta lucky pack being sold out. I was too slow :(
I saw the new year in nicely snuggled up with David though so I'm happy ^^

So that's a very brief round up of the end of 2013. 2013 was a very good year for me and it was hard, but I picked out the best bits of my year.

The Best of 2013
1# Seafoam Green - I will NEVER forget!
2# The beginning of mine, Sophie and Grace's wifing adventures! I even learnt how to make a dress :D
3# The Deep - I went to The Deep for the first time with David in May
4# The discovery of Little Tokyo and the Yu-Gi-Oh! drinking game (tipsy chicken nuggets are the best!)
5# Q-Con! I'm met some amazing new frilly friends! Hopefully see you all again soon!
6# David and I went to London! It was a VERY beesee week but we saw a lot of things and it was just nice to spend the week adventuring together ^^
7# Frock On! A fabulously frilly weekend! Leeds comm is best comm - I love you all!
8# The making of my 'Best Girl Collective' and getting back into anime
9# Pumpkin carving! 
10# Seeing the new year in all snuggled up with the Little Asian ^^

I'm a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie Woooorld!

For my new project I decided to look at obsession. I'm not sure if it'll be commercial and suitable BUT...I wanted to look at a 'weird' obsession. 

Hello again, 'Barbie epidemic'!

(l-r: Venusangelic, Dakota Rose, Wang JiaYun, Anastasiya Shpagina, Valeria Lukyanova.)

There is something fascinating about this obsession with making oneself look like a perfect doll. It's a very striking look but it can't be a good influence and is probably dangerous in extreme cases. AND Photoshop MUST be involved! 

Soo...to get a feel as part of research I thought I'd try to make myself look doll-like...

Ok, so the angle isn't exactly the same but you get the idea

So dolls have flawless skin and I wanted to go for a paler colour (like a porcelain doll). However...I don't own foundation so I mixed a few blobs of concealer with moisturiser ^^'

While not perfect, it blended very smoothly. Next I applied concealer, especially under my eyes.

Using a bronzer I contoured my nose and defined my cheekbones. 

I darkened my eyebrows and then drew a cat eye using an eyeliner pencil. I then applied white eyeliner on my waterline, going slightly over to exaggerate the whites.

I WAS going to apply false lashes but failed to make them stay put ^^'

The results were fairly doll-like but not half as doll-like as Wang Jia Yun, Dakota Rose,  Anastasiya Shpagina and Valeria Lukyanova.

Next stop, Photoshop! I added circle lenses and then darkened the eyeliner. 

I then airbrushed my skin to create that flawless canvas. I then used the liquify function to alter the shape of my face.

The results are shocking!

After this I believe Photoshop can do EVERYTHING! I wonder how many of the 'dolls' have heavily shopped their photos...

I urge you all to have a go at this transformation- it's actually really fun ^^