Sophistique Noir Theme~ Sweaters

Sweaters! I love sweaters. They're just so comfortable. I own several cardigans, but didn't have a sweater until a week ago where I picked up an adorable cat one at Target. Someone in my textiles class stole my phone yesterday (And my faith in humanity has dropped even further than normal) so it was difficult finding a picture of it. Luckily, I was wearing the sweater while doing a school project so some silly pictures remain.

If I were practicing for real I'd probably need some sheet music XD

The cats think they're Batman and I'm wearing a scarecrow mask. Contradiction?
School projects are fun on occasion as you can see.

I also have pictures of the sweater dress I bought the same day. Thankfully, I'm paranoid and normally email photos I think I'll need for something (Ex. a blog post) to myself right away. I really like the pattern and I can rock it with a leather jacket which is always a plus.

I really liked my hair that day. It made me forget that I need a haircut.

And well, I can't leave without showing you guys the Cecil costume I put together yesterday for Halloween. Luckily, I was wearing a sweater vest so I can sneak it in and it still fits the theme.

My mom's closet is the only place with a full length mirror.
Can you tell we haven't been here long?

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Halloween Masterpost

I had so many plans for Halloween posts that failed to materialize. We had a bit of trouble getting wifi set up in our new house and I've only just got it back. Let me tell you, you don't realize how much you use the internet until you're completely deprived of it for a couple weeks. Homework was a nightmare.


Instead of all the fun, creative things I had planned to write I'm going to do one big (Really big) Halloween roundup and save those ideas for next year. Let's see how long I can go before I bore you to a premature death. So, to start off, how about some books that will get you in the Halloween spirit? Many may be rereads, but they'll always be great.

    


Of course, then you've got movies. Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without a few scary (or hilariously cheesy) movies. There's a little for everyone here.


    

       

          

Us Goths really listen to 'spooky' music all year round, but having a specific Halloween playlist is always fun. Here are some of the things I have on mine.


Everyday is Halloween- Ministry

Monsters in Tinsel Town- Astrovamps

Filistata- Stolen Babies

Don't Fear the Reaper- Blue Oyster Cult

Moundshroud- Cinema Strange

Mommy's little monsters- Creature Feature (Though you might as well just play all of their songs)

Dragula- Rob Zombie

Dead Man's Autochop- Specimen

Day of the Dead- Voltaire (I was very tempted to put Brainz)

Here are some quick and fun crafts to spice up your house.

• Little ghosts 
• Mummy jars 
• Skeleton wreath
• Spiderweb frames
• Adorable balloon bats

And of course, here are some of my favorite posts so far dealing with Halloween.

• Sary Walrus found a video that involves pumpkin carving with Elvira.
• Meagan Kyla wore this adorable jack-o-lantern outfit
• Ariadne Blackmoore has a great automaton makeup tutorial
• The HouseCat speaks out against 'Goth' Halloween costumes
• Mary Rose linked to a bunch of awesome Halloween makeup tutorials

If you've made it this far down, I visited a haunted corn maze last weekend and it was fantastic. They put a lot of effort into it. We got lost several times only to be chased back by some horror (The chainsaws...*shudders*) and I was suitably terrifed. Not to mention it was only $8. Let me tell you, I always recommend haunted corn mazes. Go out searching!

What is everyone dressing up as? I'm going as Cecil from Welcome to Nightvale. My headcannon is more or less the popular one with included third eye and tentacle tattoos. I'm planning an actual cosplay for April so I figured this would get me halfway there. Pictures to come in a few days.

Sophistique Noir Challlenge~ Tights

Well I love tights. I really do. It's really a shame I don't own too many pairs. I have black and red fishnets, and normal black tights. Then I've got a pair of skull covered thigh highs with bows. ...And that's about it! My most used tights though, are any regular pair that I've taken scissors to and gone crazy. I think ripped tights are a great way to make an outfit interesting when you're dressing casually.

A plain hoodie and skirt....

And then bam! Tights ^^

Of course, I'd love to add to my tights collection. Here are some of my favorites that I've bookmarked on my computer, ready to be bought.

I'm going to make these once I get more plain black tights.

Finally, I promised you guys a few better pictures of my Halloween costume. Here you go! I have my bow tie this time. Unfortunately, the skull beads to attach to my glasses broke so I had to do without.

With my jacket.

Which I lost later...

All in all, a pretty successful Grell I think.

There was a pumpkin carving contest at the Halloween thing I went to yesterday. We only had 15 minutes and this is what my friend and I came up with. He has a goatee (though you can't see it) and bat wings ^^

Sorry this post was so short! Or rather, there's an extreme lack of text and I haven't edited it for grammar at all, but I've got to get an essay done before I go to bed and I don't have time to do more. I'll make sure to have something better for you next time ^^

Happy Halloween!

My trick or treating plans blew up in my face so I'm tagging along with my friend to a party her church's youth group is having. Not the most fun thing I could be doing but hey, I get to dress up, there's candy and games, and well, I've been before and the pastor's son is really hot so... ;)

I'll get full pics later when I have more time. And by that I mean real ones. This was a costume test run from yesterday and I didn't even put my hair under the wig... They'll probably go up with the Sophistique Noir challenge I'm doing tomorrow. But behold...Grell!

Yup, I'm a dork. I want to perfect this eventually and get a longer red coat and the real shoes, but this will definitely do for now. I also need to start my Lady Loki and Harley Quinn costumes since there are a few cons coming up. I think I'll start with Harley. She's a lot easier. I'm caught between the Arkham City version with a corset, pants, and pigtails, or a more classic version with a dress or bodysuit with the cowl. We'll see.

I'll leave you with a cartoon and song in the Halloween Spirit.  Until tomorrow!

Spooky Computer Games~ Round 2

Well I've received the latest variation of the plague from my peers at school so it seems I'm stuck home for a while. I'm a little disappointed because I was getting together with some friends to have a Halloween themed movie night. We were going to watch Beetlejuice, Alien, and the VHS I found the other day of Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School. That movie was my childhood...

Anyway! Since I'm bedridden I've been on my computer a whole lot and have been looking around for more 'spooky' games to pass the time with. So in the spirit of Halloween let me present...

1) Slender

If anyone reading this has never heard about Slenderman I advise you look him up. He started out as an entry in a photo-editing contest and has evolved into an insanely popular meme on the internet with his own detailed mythos. The goal of this game is simple. Find all of the notes hidden around this dark forest without Slenderman catching you. If you look at him for too long you'll go insane and lose. If he catches you you'll obviously lose. Basically, you need to always be going in the opposite direction as him, but he has a bad habit of spawning nearby. Not to mention, every time you find a note he hunts you more relentlessly. The game is mostly open, yet strangely claustrophobic at the same time. (Wait till you get to the indoor note) and the eerie atmosphere and sound of your own heartbeat induces some pretty major paranoia.

Is the Slenderman himself in this scary? No, the graphic are pretty bad, but the overall design of the game has managed to freak me out on several occasions. (He normally sneaks up on me. Not to mention sometimes you only see his foot sticking out from behind a tree...) There's also a replica called Slenderman's Shadow or something like that. The graphics are better and the enclosed maps(Sanatorium and Hospice are the two I know) are creepier even if it's a copycat game ^^

You can play Slender here.

2) Amnesia: The Dark Descent

 Alright, so this one isn't free unless you pirate it or receive it from a friend, but I love it and it's terrifying so it's going on the list. It has a long, complicated storyline that I'm not going to bother to explain, but here are the basics. Being in darkness too long, witnessing unsettling events, or staring at monsters will make you lose your sanity. You cannot fight the monsters in this so you have to hide or run away. You can hide in wardrobes or barricade doors, but monsters can often break through them. And speaking of doors, some of them are push and some are pull so imagine running from a monster and guessing wrong. FYI, you can't play this on a laptop, it's impossible because of the controls.

You can buy it here

3) Death's Embrace Escape

A straightforward escape game. You click around the laboratory trying to find a cure for your infection and an escape route. There's a jump scare on a constant loop. I advise wearing headphones for the...full experience ^^

Here you go.

4) 1916- Der Unbekannte Kreig

You're alone in the trenches of WWI. Navigating the trenches is difficult enough, and then the dinosaurs arrive. Yep, a pack of raptors has broken through the frontline and now they're after you. Grab what you can and head for the nearest ladder. The battlefield will save you from the dinosaurs, but at what cost?

  
The download is here.

5) SCP: Containment Breach

This is also a lot like Slender. The graphics are worse, but it's much harder. The creature you're trying to escape from can't move if you're looking directly at it. The problem is, you have to run away from it and it can teleport basically anywhere. You also have a blink meter and the monster can move extremely fast as soon as you finally blink. The game is really hard. I don't normally get very far.

 On a final note, I need to go get some pumpkins! Those crayon pumpkins I posted about earlier are probably on the to-do list, but I saw these on Tumblr and fell in love. I guess I have another project!

Halloween Baking

Well at this point everyone is probably getting into the Halloween Spirit! (If not drowning in it...) What better way to celebrate than baking a few spooky goodies? I love baking and I try to do something different every weekend, which means lots of opportunities for Halloween treats. I browsed the interwebz for a while and came up with some ideas! Not all of them are treats, there are a few ideas for appetizers in here too.

Bats! I love bats!

I'm not sure how to go about accomplishing this, but I'm going to find out.

Now this is just adorable.

I showed these to my mom and she grimaced. I think they look lovely! ^^

Classic pumpkin bars may look a little boring, but they're delicious.

I guess I had better get started! ^^

On a final note.

Doctor Who.

Someone please get me another box of tissues because the emotional impact this show has had on me is reaching its breaking point.

I don't think I've ever watched a show that's made me feel so much. (And no, it's not because it's every sci-fi nerd's dream nor because I've fallen in love with the magnificence that is David Tennant.) This show just has a way of grabbing on to your heart strings and yanking. I love everything. The settings, the stories, the characters...even the Daleks! And frankly, they are pretty much unlovable. If you haven't started this show you need to. I suggest starting with the 9th or 10th doctor. You can always go back to the classical era once you've caught up. But it's worth it.

Personally, I'm going to be devastated when I see Tennant's last episode, (I have 5 left...) but I've heard really good things about Matt Smith so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Plus... bowties are cool ^^