Red and Black Week Day 4~ Skirt and Tie

 Today I actually managed to pull together an outfit with some red in it. Actually, I first looked for another pair of pants to show off, but apparently I've misplaced them, so I'm having a big pant-hunt later. My house just eats things when I look away... Today was my last day of school, so there was a little more reason to dress nicely instead of in a T-shirt and jeans like I've been doing these past couple of days. Exams... *shudders* So I decided to wear one of my ties.

I have a little bit of red lipstick on as well.
Though it doesn't show up very well here.

I curled my hair because it's not something I do very often, and I really liked the result. What I really want to do is learn how to do proper pin curls, but I haven't had the time or patience. I think I might begin curling my hair a little more often though. The red in this outfit is actually hidden in the tie. There are little red diamonds in the pattern.

I also painted my nails for the event after I got home. I had a new sparkly red nail polish to try and I think it was a good buy. It looks even better in person. Of course, I already managed to chip one of them on my fridge...

As for today's movie, I chose Red Riding Hood. We bought it on sale on a whim, and I haven't watched it yet, so I'll withhold judgement until I've seen it. Now to grab some popcorn and get started. If it's not great, I've always got old Star Trek episodes ;)

All Dressed Up with Nowhere to Go

Well, except school that is. I just woke up with this inexplicable urge to get really dressed up today, no occasion necessary. Of course, it would be nice to have such an occasion, but I'll make due with classes. And the shallow want of compliments from my wonderful friends. I've only worn this jacket once so I thought it was time to dig it out of my closet and pair it with my favorite (and only)  poofy dress.  I don't go over the top a lot because let's face it, the more goth you look, the more attention you're going to get, positive and negative. I've always been a reserved person, and I don't really appreciate a lot of said attention, but over the years I've grown a thick skin and come to appreciate compliments even more when they're given.  So on occasion, I put on a brave face and wear something really fun because you shouldn't let people's opinions stop you from wearing what you like.

I have no idea why I don't wear this jacket more.

 If you're wondering if my hair looks a little floofier than normal that's because I crimped it yesterday, and now have this lovely texture left over to work with. I love how malleable my normally pin straight and uncooperative hair became after I crimped it so you can expect to see my hair like this more often.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but I have a small pustule just on the edge of my nose piercing. When it first popped up I fell into complete despair because my mom told me when I got my piercing that if it became infected I would be paying for antibiotics, and trust me when I say I don't have that kind of money. I did some research though and to my utter relief it turned out it was hypertrophic scarring. Which made perfect sense because I had snagged my piercing and yanked it really hard (and very painfully) a few day prior. The trauma would have been enough to cause it, and it's fairly common from what I can tell. I kept cleaning with sea salt like normal and started putting diluted tea tree oil on it at night and it's already receded a lot. Another week and I expect it to be gone completely.

Let's see... My new Docs showed up and I've begun the oh so fun process of breaking them in. (With only a few blisters as casualties) I've also started reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld series which is a bit daunting considering the 30+ books, but I've decided that if I were a "hero" Rincewind would probably be me and I've formed a severe attatchment to Death, who has a wonderful habit of talking in SMALL CAPS and is absolutely hilarious. The books are so full of satire I couldn't possibly put them down if I tried.

And finally, take a look at my nails! My mom got me these for Christmas and you can't even tell that they're stickers. They're fantastic, now even my fingernails have fishnets.

Nail Designs for Halloween

It's finally October everyone! The countdown to Halloween has begun! I'm busy putting together my Grell costume and already planning out some spooky cute recipes to bake. Halloween Horror Nights is coming up fast and all of the stores have put out their decorations.

I love painting my fingernails so much. It's just so much fun to be able to coordinate one more thing with my outfit for the day. (Unfortunately, I have to give them a break once in a while... If I had my way my nails would probably never see the light of day again.) I normally paint them to match all of my outfits for the week, but with October here I'm looking to get in the spirit of Halloween a bit early.

I get bored of my go-to black or dark red and want to do something a little more creative with my nails. Here, I've gathered up a bunch of unique designs I'd love to try. The title says nail designs for Halloween, but really these are going to be put to everyday use in my case ^^

Instead of converse, you could make these corset strings.

I'm not normally one for skulls....but these are just adorable

These are really in the Halloween spirit.

Because I really need to indulge my tendency for Joker related things...

Bats! I'm such a sucker for bats.

Nails...in your nails?

The Nightmare Before Christmas inspired.

Aw <3

These are a bit complicated O.o

If you're prone to biting your nails these might not be the best choice...
They look delicious ^^

Those are the ones I've found so far, but I bet more ideas will pop up soon. Now where to start...

30 Day Clothing Challenge~Day 6: A Pair of Pants That Aren't Jeans

 Prepare yourself for a personal post!

This one was difficult. I don't really own very many pants that aren't jeans. Since I'm sure the plain black ones I wear to our band recitals/concerts probably won't interest you I'm going to have to re-post my only other option. These were up for Sophistique Noir's Red and Black Week, but oh well.

I did reattach the straps though. It only took me about a half hour to figure out how they wrapped through the other straps, but it's all good ^^

Well, that's it for day six of the challenge, but this post seems rather empty doesn't it? Maybe I should jut ramble on until I feel like I've filled it sufficiently? No, I won't do that to you guys. I have a hodgepodge of little updates for you though. Let's see...I gave myself a bloody manicure. I don't know if there's even anyone out there on the interwebz who hasn't seen this, especially since the delightful Lady of the Manners has mentioned it, but I'll put up a pic just in case. This is kind of my go-to when I'm not in the mood for crazy designs or my typical black. It's adorable in a macabre way.

Also, I ordered my Grell wig for the cosplay my friends and I are doing for Halloween. I'm Grell, and my two friends are Mey-Rin and Ciel. I think her little sister is going to be Finnian. Alas, we don't have a Sebastian at the moment, but I'm hoping one will turn up ;)

Unlikely...

I recently bought and re-watched Se7en, which is a wonderful psychological thriller/horror movie starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. (It's funny because I tend to avoid Brad Pitt yet he's in two of my favorite movies. Interview With a Vampire and this one.) If you haven't see it, give it a shot. Someone is out to send a message and he's patterning his killings after the seven deadly sins.

Finally, I discovered this wonderful creation via Tumblr. If you like Robert Smith and cats I advise you click on that right now.

30 Day Clothing Challenge~ Day 2: Your Favorite Shirt.

This one puzzled me. Favorite T-shirt? Or can dressy shirts be used too? But then where do you draw the line between a 'shirt' and a top'? Because although I can't really explain it some things are 'shirts' to me and others are 'tops'. Suffice to say, I thought way too hard about this and ended up going with a t-shirt anyway. I think the lack of brain activity caused by summer is starting to get to me.

I got this at last year's Halloween Horror Nights. It's kind of my go-to casual shirt on those days I don't feel like getting all dolled up. Plus, it's great for starting conversations with people. I get all sorts of comments from people that have either been there or are planning on going. Of course, the downside is that I get a little *ahem* overeager when speaking about HHN which tends to get some weird looks thrown my way.

The back of the shirt has the eight houses.

Anyway, I'm off to do my nails. I'm thinking some kind of fishnet design like this. What do you think?

Red and Black Week Day 1~ Nails and Fanart

 Sophistique Noir's Red and Black week is finally here! I'm afraid I don't have enough summer appropriate red clothes and accessories to post an outfit every day...but I'll figure something out. I'm not going anywhere today, just lazing about drawing and watching movies, so I'll start the outfit posts tomorrow. However I did paint my nails in celebration of the event.

After this week I'm going to have to give my poor nails a rest. They've been bombarded by nail polish lately and aren't too happy. I'm thinking about just cutting them and starting over.

I've been watching Hellsing Ultimate with my friend lately (Again. It's so bizarre and unrealistic...but vampires, Dracula, and Nazi zombies? I think yes.) and felt inspired to do some fanart. I saw it this morning and went *gasp* that's black and red! I can post something else! So here are some pictures of Alucard :3

I wasted so many red and black sharpies on those...

Well that's all for now! I'll be back tomorrow with an outfit I've planned. I hope everyone else is enjoying Red and Black Week as much as I am :)

Gothic Nail Care

 Ok, so Gothic nail care isn't much different from normal nail care. Granted, most people don't file their nails into points and seem strangely adverse to black nail polish, but there are some nice general rules for keeping your nails healthy.

My nails are particularly prone to peeling when they're unhappy so I try to follow all of these basic guidelines to keep them from turning cringe-worthy.

•  First of all, STOP BITING THEM. I've never had that problem so I can't relate to how difficult it is to break that habit, but really, please try. Pretty please? Try chewing gum or something else to release your stress and you'll have one more thing to spend goth maintenance time on ;) SO STOP BITING OR I WILL COME AND MAKE YOU DAMMIT.

•  Don't use nail polish too often. I know, I know. The thought makes me groan too, but have the white parts of your nail every turned a sickly yellow color after wearing nail polish for a long time? It's not necessarily damaging, but it looks horrendous for a few weeks as the discolored nail grows out. Darker colors tend to make this occur faster so try giving your nails a break every couple of weeks.

•  Use a top coat to protect the tips of your nails. Your nails bump into so many things during the day. You'd be surprised at how much of the top coat can be gone by the time your day's over. A little extra protection never hurt anyone.

• This one will sound a little silly. Try not to use your nails. It's harder than it sounds! But if you consciously try to use your fingers more than the actual nails then they'll last much longer. I'm at the point where I ask whoever is closest to me to do things that I can't manage without my nails. You really learn to adapt. For example, my long nails prevent me from picking up flat things like coins from surfaces. I used to chase the stupid things around until I realized I could just slide them off the table. *facepalm*

• Water, soap, and nail polish remover quickly dry out your nails. Occasionally apply some hand lotion to your nails and rub it in to moisturize. Especially do this after using polish remover. That stuff, while useful, is evil.

•  Nail hardener has actually been proven to make nails less flexible, which means they're easier to break. I wouldn't really advise using it unless you have to.

• Sometimes you just have to face the fact that your nails look like crap. That means its time to cut them and start over. It pains me every time but sometimes it's necessary.

•  As a rule of thumb its advised for the white part of the nail to be no more than half the length of the nail bed. Feel free to ignore that, just know that you'll need to get creative when it comes to practical things.

And perhaps this is a bit too long.

A last piece of advice. Sharp nails are much more delicate then 'normal' nails. I break mine constantly. Which is usually followed by a curse, quick temper tantrum, and small sulk before I just accept that one of my babies is gone and move on.

I don't think there's any possible way to have all of my pointy nails perfect for more than a day. (I broke one on the fridge yesterday and since I always keep my thumbs short for practicality only six of my ten fingernails are long now. It looks pretty funny. Once, i broke FOUR playing spoons.) 

I learned lot of the helpful information here on this website. It's much more in-depth than this quick explanation and full of helpful tips for taking care of your nails

Short, long, pointy, square, round, it doesn't matter. Just take the time to look after your poor nails once in a while. It'll be worth your time :)