Pastel Raindrops ♪

The not so voluntary hiatus of PR ♪

2011-11-26T01:21:00.000+01:00

HEY! I'M ALIVE!

It may not look like I really am but indeed, blood is still flowing, brain still working and the heart is still beating so I take I must be alive.

Then, why is it there are no more updates coming here?

In short:

I'm in the middle of the biggest technical disaster I've yet to face. Or so it feels for me.

In long:

Yes, I though I've overcome this after my last technical crisis, that I solved the problems if only temporary. No, I didn't think it would get any worse and I was hoping to have everything completely fixed soon.

That did not happen, obviously. My tower computer still isn't repaired and I have no clue when I'll get it back. It's very much necessary for me, though, because I have very, very important files saved on there that I would've needed after I had to reboot my laptop 2 times in a row.

I got my programs running for a short time, was happy I could work with them again, had so many pictures ready and nice entries planned out in my mind until - CRACK!

I literally broke my laptop in two. Not even in a stupid accident. I merely wanted to open it like I always did when I heard that horrible cracking sound and everything was blocked. Apparently the screws that kept the hinge in place and working broke out of the plastic frame and my monitor got lose. Trust me, I've seen many laptops over the past years and never did I see a similar damage. So, we sent it off to get it fixed and I'm hoping to get it back soon. Whenever that 'soon' will be.

Meanwhile I'm sitting in front of an itty, bitty netbook that's incredibly slow but at least it's working somehow. Still, I don't have anything I'd need to make a proper blogpost and it's very annoying to work with this tiny thing so I'm rather staying offline these days. Which isn't so bad anyway, as work is pretty stressful right now.

This is only meant to be a little update for all of you to know what I've been up to lately and why I'm not updating at all. Trust me, I'd love to but I simply can't the way things are right now.

I'm very optimistic, though and I know things will get a better again soon. Including a little Pre-Christmas treat for me I'll go to pick up on Monday that's going to make things a lot nicer for me and this blog.

I hope you guys are all well and good during these last days of November and I really hope to be back 100% soon. Please wait for me and I'll do my very best.

P.S. Now I at least have this netbook I could also continue working on the giveaway list with everyone's names on to pick out one lucky person. It's not finished yet but I'm working hard on it to announce the winner soon so stay tuned!

Until next time,

Mio~

The Spiderman is having me for Dinner tonight ♪

2011-11-02T00:24:00.002+01:00

The spook is over, the creeps went home!

Hopefully you all made it safely through this years Halloween night and could all crab lots and lots of candy ♥

I for myself spent a lovely night with a friend of mine, watching a movie, drinking a bit and eating way too much pizza. It was a quiet yet funny night since there's not so much you can do on a Monday Halloween night in this hole called Bremen.

However, I could still take some pictures of my dress up for Halloween and certainly I'm not here to keep them back from you ♪

Bones Dress - Lazy Oaf; Skirt - milklim; Shoes - Demonia; OTKs - gift from London; Accessories - Kreepsville666, Monki, CCK, Chocomint

I always do love me some eccentric, almost disproportionate lashes - this time I used a pair of Dolly Wink one for upper lashes and cut up an old, unloved pair of Claire's lashes for the lower part. Nothing I'd wear in bright daylight for a regular day to work but Halloween has always been a completely different thing anyway.

And there goes this years scary daydream again and all that's left is a bunch of candy and sore tummies.

Though I'm sure it won't be the last time for me to go all crazy like this so the parting isn't too deep.

Now quickly onto another subject: Pastel Raindrops ♪ Giveaway!
I just wanted to thank everyone who took part in this to make it such a blast! Seriously, I was simply overwhelmed by all the entries I got for this and surely it'll take me a while to write everybody's name down in my not-so-little list. I'll do my best, though, so I can announce the lucky winner as soon as possible.

Until next time my lovelies ♥
Mio~

Hello Mister? We need more blood! ♪

2011-10-26T02:53:00.000+02:00

Blood. Blood, blood, blood. Blood.

I can't deny it, I am very fascinated with blood. Not real blood though as it turns my tummy round like a record.

The less I can't stand the real deal, the more I like to play with the fake one and one of the things I liked for the longest time now is playing around with special effects make-ups. Just trying out new things, turning simply ingredients into realistic wounds, moldy skin and bruises or other things can be quite nice. It's nothing that pays off but comes in quite handy when Halloween gets near and you're still missing that final touch-up.

So, how would you like to make your very own open flesh-wound?

I promise you, it's simple as can be and you can scare the living shit out of your friends or strangers on the streets ♥

All the things you'll need for this:

For the base:

♥ Liquid latex (you can get that in art supplies stores, Halloween sections, stores specialised on theatrical make-up and costumes or online)

♥ Either some acrylic paint in colours of your skin tone to mix it or some foundation. But you can go with only foundation as well, you'll need it later anyway.

♥ An old brush that's ready to be ruined!

For the make-up:

♥ Some theatrical/face paint

♥ Eye shadows (best are non-shimmery ones!)

♥ Fake blood

♥ Make-up sponges, an eye shadow brush and tissues

Start with mixing some liquid latex with either acrylic paint or some foundation together until the colour is even but don't worry if it starts to clump a little bit.

Then you can go over to start putting on the first layer of the latex on your skin. Just dab it it on with your brush in the shape you want to have and let it dry. No need to be extra careful, the rougher the texture becomes, the better!

Make sure your skin is completely clean and oil-free before you do this! Also, don't apply the liquid latex too close to your eyes or mouth, especially if you're not used to work with this material yet. It can make bad damages and even if everything goes well, it still stings a lot in the eyes because of the vapours coming from the latex.

If you want to extra depth to make it look like a deep wound you can take some leftovers from the drying latex and just roll it up or make some bigger clumps and chunks out of it. It's very easy to do that when the latex got too sticky to apply but isn't dried completely yet.

You can also rip some tissues in thin layers, roll them up and coat them with some latex, works just as fine!

Then you just stick your freshly made rolls on top of your first latex layer and again shape it the way you want it. You can really go wild with this, the shapes to make are barely endless. Just keep in mind how an actual wound might look to keep it realistic!

Once you're done with that, coat your rolls in some more latex so nothing can fall off and it looks a little bit smoother all in all and wait for it to dry up.

Another neat-o thing is to take some more latex and to paint a thin layer of it somewhere on your skin. Wait for it to dry, carefully peel it off and voilà: some loose skin that was just ripped off!

Now you only need to place it on you 'wound', fixing it with some more latex. And make sure the side that was facing you skin is now on the top because this will show-off the natural texture of your own skin!

Now comes the fun part!

Wait for everything to dry up and start with covering everything in foundation with your sponge to match your skin tone. If needed, put on some more layers of it so every bit of latex is well covered up.

Then it's time to grab your theatrical paint in a nice, bright red colour to make the base of your bloody wound.

Just roughly cover all the places you want to be blood red for the first step. For this I recommend using a sponge or perhaps a softer brush to work your way into all corners or holes.

Take a darker red next to start shading the wound to give it some more shape and detail. I recommend to stay inside of your wound-edges as a guideline but you can also play around a little bit.

Up next is the colour black to add more depth inside of the wound. Personally, I like to keep the middle of it still a little lighter, though. Just put the black all around the inside of your latex edges and blend your way to middle. That'll also mix it nicely with the red for a nicer colour.

Now just keep on adding more colour or touching up the places you already painted until you're satisfied with the look. Here I added some more red on the outer edge, smudged the colour a bit and coloured the piece of 'skin' with black and reds. To create a more rougher texture you can use a stiff-bristled brush or a bigger sponge.

If you want to you can now paint some more around the wound just to have a more complete composition. For this, take a sponge and just blend a little amount of paint into your skin. To the same as for the wound: first some light red, then some darker red and lastly some more shading with a bit of black. You can even add some purple or green to make some bruises along with the smeared blood. Or add some more dark red colour with a brush to make effusions or blood splatters? Just be a little creative, everything's allowed as long as nobody gets hurt!

And now the last step?

You guessed it! Fake blood!

The one I used here is particularly nice because it dries up pretty realistic after some time and gets darker and slightly crusty.

But just do as you please here! Maybe add some to the inside of your wound, some around it, maybe some smeared, dripping and smudged? However you do it, I bet it'll look extra gross and scary with this ♥

Now Zombie, you're ready to scare all you neighbors, friends, family, strangers and possible even yourself! While it was pretty easy to do, you got to admit! And once you're tired of all the fear and terror you spread you can simply peel your wound off again - and possibly even use it over and over and over again!

All you'd need for that is some spirit gum/mastix glue to stick it back onto your skin ♥

I hope you could maybe make some use out of this tutorial and I didn't gross you out too much with it. But after all, it's all just paint an latex and I promise my hand is doing just fine ♪

And don't forget, less than a week until Halloween's finally here!

But until it's time for that you all be nice little zombies, monsters and ghosts, will you? ♥

Much love~

Mio ♥

Ready for the Monster Mash? ♪

2011-10-19T01:25:00.000+02:00

Greetings my little Bony Buddies, Maniac Monsters and Undying Undead. I take you are all ready for a little bit of a spooky showing featuring some eerie things perfect for Halloween, so if I may I'd like to take you on a little trip. If you're brave enough for it, that is ♪

Less than two weeks and it's Halloween once again! My favorite holiday is just around the corner ♥

Actually, it still isn't common to celebrate it in Germany but it has gained a lot of popularity within the past years and I myself am 100% ready for it! I've been eagerly collecting creepy goods for my outfit and though I should share them with you. Perhaps I found the thing you're still missing for yours?

While I was in Hannover with some friends a while ago I found these glow-in-the-dark skeleton earrings at Accessorize that I found just perfect for me. They are just so delightfully awful and kitschy, I couldn't walk past them.

All eyes on me? No, not quite.

I found these kreepy babies at Kreepsville666, a neat-o shop I detected some time ago. Cranky things for the average mall goth but as well suitable for a sweet, yet spooky, Halloween outfit. Or well, just any other outfit because I like eye balls. And nine eyes are much better than just two anyway.

However, I must admit the ring runs quite big even though I ordered a small one. It's easy to fix with some layers of Pattex or glue, though.

And now onto two awesome things from and old new favorite brand of mine ♥

LAZY OAF!

Bones, bones, bones - these lazy bones!

Hell, I don't regret one cent I've spent on these because they are bat shit crazily adorable. Honestly, they are.

The crop top is even on sale right now and the dress was just the absolute must-have for me and for this years Halloween. Though I've worn it a couple of times now as well, collecting one or two weird looks ♥

So, that would be my personal recommendation for Halloween, I guess and I hope you enjoyed at least some of the things I showed you ♥

Perhaps I'll even have another Halloween related post for year in the next two weeks, who knows? How about a little tutorial for open flesh wounds? Halloween themed outfits and looks? Or even some crafting tutorials? Feel free to comment on what you'd like to read and I'll see what I can do - after all, I have enough eyes for that now ♪

Knife, Fork, Scissors, Flames, have no Place in Children's Games ♪

2011-10-16T21:24:00.001+02:00

Or so the saying goes.

Some of you might've read this on twitter or the PR♪ Facebook page, I've been on a little hiatus due to technical issues. In fact, I still sort of am experiencing them but as for at least the next two weeks I found a way to skip them and go on as regular.

What happened in the meantime? I've worked many hours in my new job, which I like a lot, spent some funny days with friends and for right now - I'm being sick. Yes, I fetched a cold once again and it just won't let me go even though I'm being a good girl by drinking nasty teas, sleeping a lot and feeding myself with healthy cough drops and soups. And while I though I got better yesterday I've just spent a horrible night coughing my head off and ruining my throat.

But before all of the things I've mentioned above took place I've been a little bit crafty and made some lovely things which I'm dying to show you today ♥

I take you've most like seen these tie-dye ankle socks in another post before, huh? They were the beginning of another series of too much dye and too little fabric, here all completed on a pair of Monki socks ♪

Oh! Speaking of Monki - Have you already heard the great news coming from the fantastic woods of Monki land? They've recently opened an Online Store! At last!

Well, sadly it's not opened world-wide yet but I'm very sure they'll open up to more countries very soon ♥

What used to be a tube top from H&M is now a a colourful pencil skirt. Dyed and reconstructed of course! ♥

This Popples jumper is actually a project I've started very well 2 or 3 years ago! I just never got around to get all the material together in one piece. Made from a regular sweater, some old children's pajamas, way too much lace, bits of rickrack trim and some shiny appliques.

Poor Dolly has to continue living as a brooch ♪ But at least she still looks pretty, right?

Glitter, pastels, polkadots and puffy lines - ARE YOU READY, RIOT SISTERRRS?!

This vest is all my pride and joy! I've worked on and off on it over a couple of weeks and I don't think it'll ever be finished. I just take it as an ever evolving project of mine. And all work on this is made by my own two hands, of course. Dyed it like I dyed my shorts a while back, then hand painted it and lastly added lots of cute&kitschy detail to it. If there'd be one piece of clothing to represent me it would probably be this vest.

Most of the pins, brooches and buttons on it are from the flea market. Right after I 'finished' the vest I found myself lacking pins to spill all over it and what do I find the next day? Two hands full of glorious brooches and buttons for a total of 10 cents. I kid you not and I myself had to ask for the price twice because I refused to believe my ears.

Another recommendation from me:

3D Liners! And let me tell you, they are THE SHIT! I used them for all the lines on my vest ♪

I think I paid 2-2,50€ per pen and they come in a wide range of colours and effects. The white one for an instant glows in the dark and there are also glittery ones. Along with Mimi I got them from the art supplies store but you should most likely find them online as well.

They're also pretty easy to use:

You apply them like a window colour pen and let it dry for 6 or more hours. So far the colours will look very weird but prepare yourself for the next step: 'Puffing' it up by using heat. Personally I prefer using a blow-dryer but you can as well use a flat iron or even put your things in the oven (as long as the surface you used is heat resistant, that is).

Once you're done you should have puffy, smooth lines with a velvet-y feel to them ♥

And that'd be it for this day! Actually there are some other's things I've finished but I don't flood you with so many things today.

On another sidenote: don't forget to enter my Giveaway if you haven't already ♥

To be honest I'm still very surprised by the amount of entries it got so far and the deadline only ends in two weeks from now!

But please make sure to post your name, your e-mail address and the direct link to your blogpost!

I've seen many people forgetting about that and I don't want to exclude anyone because of things like this so better check twice if you're unsure about anything and feel free to leave another comment to complete all your information for me ♥

I guess that's it for now ♪

I hope you have some lovely autumn days, my dears!

Mio~

I'm drowning in Opium ♪

2011-09-24T01:56:00.000+02:00

I seldom wear a perfume but whenever I do I can't seem to get enough of it. Is there really anything that could enrobe somebody better and with more intent than a well chosen scent can? Oh even if there was, I wouldn't care. To me, there still isn't a more loyal companion than my favorite fragrance.

And though I don't know if my Opium really had something to do with it or whether is was the sunny weather, today was rather fine. Maybe one of the finest days I had all this week?

Perhaps I should drown myself in Opium more often, Yves Saint Laurent would surely approve.

Enough with this little study trip to perfumes and dreams. Actually I wanted to show you some of my most recent, as in I-found-most-of-this-moths-ago, flea market jewellery finds. Yes, yet another Shopping Update, sort of. I'm so full of creativity these days!

Today, I've walked over to our jeweller with my mom and as always we've stayed for such a long time, chatting about this and that. We also came to the topic how every person seems to have on piece of jewellery they love above anything and on the barely even wear. Our jeweller himself likes big necklaces and big rings, my mother brooches and earrings and big, big necklaces but can't really stand rings and I for myself have an obsession for big rings and big pendants.

But what I certainly inherited from my mother is the fact that, even if I may not wear it often or perhaps not at all, I do have a faible for every beautiful piece. And in case you don't know or wonder, my mother collects old jewellery of almost any kind and any time, which is why I couldn't ever say no to a beautiful gem.

Well now, Starting of which what I ever so love: Rings!

Among all the other more or less eccentric silver rings, some with my favorite gemstones: moonstone, amber, onyx, falcon's eye, aventurine, pyrite, opal and amethyst. No, you can never have enough rings. Never, ever. I'll never stop loving them, wearing them or collecting them. And oddly enough, you can find so many precious rings at flea markets for super cheap, it's almost a joke. Take the gold one for an instant: I've paid 1,50€ for it and it's not even a fake. Show me one other place where one could find a ring like that for so cheap. Flea market, I'll always love you ♥

Carnelian and Coral ♥

These two Acme brooches featuring the infamous Marilyn Monroe piece by Andy Warhol were a souvenir we found at an antique market in Düsseldorf and the earring is actually an older piece from my mother's jewellery case ♥

No, my ears can be as sensitive to silver as they please but I won't stop wearing these! Aren't they like, the most perfect earrings ever? For what more could a cat lover like me ask? ♪

I have no idea why but for the past year, or perhaps a little longer, amethyst is calling me like mad and I can't refuse it. These are also the two pendants I wear most of the time at the moment.

Two kitschy brooches and a (too) tiny but very lovely crystal pendant. I can't wait until all the leaves turn yellow and red here, that's going to be the day I'll start wearing my leaf ♪

I really LOVE the upper bracelet because its pattern is so interesting! And the lowest is one of my all-time favorite bracelets as well. Such a charming face carved into the onyx ♥

Now, I'd like to know: is there a certain piece of jewellery you can't stand to wear at all or one you absolutely must carry around with you? Or what is you favorite piece of jewellery in general?

I must admit, I feel almost naked if I don't wear at least a little ring or a nice necklace when I go out. It's kind of weird but to me it's these little details that make everything round. You can wear the plainest shirt you have, a pretty gem will always make it complete somehow.

With this I leave you into the weekend! I hope I didn't write too much, why do I even rant like this?

Anyhow, take care && much love~

Mio ♥

Goodbye, summer ♪

2011-09-21T00:58:00.000+02:00

I was just catching some last bits of sunshine before I waved my goodbye to the summer. Now it's officially autumn and I'm welcoming it with mixed feelings. On the one hand I'm a little bit sad the days are getting shorter again and that there will be even less sun now than we actually had. This summer was a really cold, grey and rainy one but even they were quite few, out sunny days did push my mood a lot and inspired me to go out in more colourful clothes again. On the other hand, though, I'm already looking forward to the dark afternoons I will spend in cold rooms, wearing big jumpers and having lots of tea. In fact, I had my first pot of tea today - and no, I am not sick (as my dad assumed this morning).

I don't know about you but I can't really say I have a favorite season or a season I can't stand at all. To me, all seasons have their good and their bad sides, while even the bad ones can be good and vice versa.

Nothing's certain yet, but I have the feel that this autumn and winter will be quite dark in colour, with a teaspoon full of melancholy and a hint of gloom. Nothing bad at all, if you ask me. So, in order to greed the new season and to bid my farewell to last passed one I've taken some pictures - in a new, spooky dress from H&M. It's surely going to be one of my favorites for the rest of this year. Just look at the soft, transparent fabric and the cut and you'll know why.

As for my life, I hope the new season will bring some more positive changes for me. One positive change was already made, I got a job at H&M starting in October and hopefully it'll help me out of my listlessness and lethargy. Who knows what time may bring? I'll just do what I always did, keeping trust in my kismet and doing my best. We'll see ♥

See you around next time!

Much love~

Mio ♥

Kitsch, keep me from falling asleep! ♪

2011-09-16T03:54:00.000+02:00

As you read this I've hopefully landed in dreamland finally. Maybe I'll search through our kitchen for matches to place under my eyelids so it keeps them from closing shut. There's another thing, though, which keeps my mind wide awake! CANDIED GOODS! PASTELS! KITSCH! All the good things that found their way into my closet in the past days, weeks and months (oh, and another thing that wakes me more than it's good for me is the Bloggers Wardrobe voting that is still going on for almost exactly 12 hours, so until 3pm - UTC+1. So if you didn't already do so you can still help me out with your vote, I haven't fully given up yet ♥)

Anyway! Yes, did you guess it? It's time for a Shopping update! And it's going to be a big one this time, so let's get into it before I DO fall asleep on my desk!

Let's start off with the magical things I got from my shopping service right before the Japan Expo took place. I know, you could already see them worn but it's time for some closer views ♪

I'm not gonna lie, to me this is the most perfect dress ever! Spank! did a wonderful job on this ♥

I'd take it over an Angelic Pretty one anytime if I had to. Just look at its shape, it's pattern, it really screams 'WEAR ME' and I happily obey. I'm really surprised this dress didn't sell out yet in all the time since it was first released! Too bad it's not like that with the tights that came in the same pattern but right now I'm working on some shoes to go with it ♥

I know, I know, I already have the first on of these two shirts in another colourway but to my excuse I got both of them for bloody cheap in an auction on mbok. And that cat is really delightful and Banana Fish still has the prettiest shirts ♥ Now if only they'd still exist~

So that was in my little parcel from the Shopping Service and I very well made a little dream come true with this dress as I wouldn't have expected to ever own it and every time I saw it featured in a magazine I died a little inside.

This track jacket was a lucky flea market find and now that I get to think about it I should've just taken the pants to it as well, only to make a shitload of bows out of it. Those 2€ would've been a perfect investment. Still, I just have a thing for tacky jackets, they bring back good old memories ♥

Not a flea market but an etsy find was this skirt that I got really cheap, too! And now that I shortened it a little it's the perfect skirt for me right now ♥

These two rings were another little dream-to-come-true. A few years ago 6%DOKIDOKI brought out their first version of these but in a different colour and I absolutely loved them - and never ever got them. Now they released these in colours that are even more perfect and luckily Electric Alice happened to carry some of them. Sadly they went away as quickly as they got there, so I'm more than just happy I finally own them ♪

I also got this lovely 2-way clip from Milky Way back in May or June? Honestly, that shop is THE shit and I demand you to check it at once. The owner of it makes the most adorable accessories and right now she sells a bunch of Halloween related things including fuzzy little bats! And if anythings sold out you can still try to contact her and see if anything comes back in stock soon ♥

You've also have seen this shirt before but here you go with a closer view on it ♪

It's from Gina Tricot and a new favorite of mine, I'm positive on that! One look on the shimmery print and you can tell why ♥

After some try and miss I even managed to grab a pair of the Angelic Pretty Toy Fantasy over-knees! I almost believed I'd never get them but then AP re-stocked on them and I was lucky enough to get a pair. And I must say, Toy Fantasy really went up to my favorite prints in no time. Maybe one day I can wear a dress with it myself ♥

And now lastly for today:

KORILAKKUMA TIME ♥

I've first saw them at a store in Dusseldorf, two years ago but decided not to buy them -which I regretted later on. Then I found a girl that was selling these on egl_comm_sales and caught them at last! Perfectly in time for the cold winter, too! Now if only I could have a Korilakkuma Kigurumi as well but I already have my Marie one and two of these would simply take away too much space in my closet. Maybe one fine day when I have an entire floor for a dressing room, haha ♥

I hope you like the kitschy stuff from here and that you'll excuse me now but I have a rendezvous with Monsieur le Lit ♪

Bonne nuit!

Mio ♥

Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation ♪

2011-09-08T02:14:00.000+02:00

Haven't had a review in a bit, huh?

Today it's going to be a short make-up review, specifically one about Foundation!

A few months ago I stumbled across Illamasqua products and heard and read a lot about their Rich Liquid Foundation. They sell a wide range of different colours and nuances from literally white to really, really dark, which made me quite curious. In the past few years I've had more than enough trouble finding a good make-up for my skin and my skin tone. Unlike some of you may think I have very troublesome skin and no day passes with at least one blemish to cover up. It's been like this for as long as I got into puberty and it lasts until today and makes me feel very uncomfortable. Though it has gotten slightly better since I've tried a new skin cream but I don't think it'll keep me away from the dermatologist.

However, because of that my skin needs a lot of coverage and because it's very light I need something that is very light as well. Searching for both of that in regular drugstores never gave me much of luck. Everything's too dark and/or has the wrong undertones.

Last year I got a TV coverstick from Kryolan and used it until this summer. I know, these are initially for theatrical make-up purposes but I got it recommended by a friend and it did quite good work. Except for the fact it didn't last long and my skin felt greasy and shiny after a few hours, obviously. Not what anybody would want on their face.

After thinking a little bit back and forth I decided to get the Rich Liquid Foundation in SF 105 which is the second lightest tone available.

The transaction went very, very smooth and I had absolutely no problems with my order which came in the mail about a week later, neatly packed in a little black box and lots of black shredded paper, along with their Spring/Summer catalogue.

I don't know about you but I already find the entire packaging exciting enough - but you all know, I'm a sucker for that. Illamasqua's entire concept is freakishly fantastic, anyhow.

Of course I immediately tried it out and started using it and to my surprise the foundation was lighter than I thought! Actually, I didn't really expected that because you never know how true to colour things like that make up. Which is also why I always prefer to directly try things out at a counter or even with the assistance of somebody who know more about this than I do. But as I don't know any place that sells Illamasqua products in my fishy little town I couldn't go for that and just pressed my luck.

This is the pure foundation swatched on my hand and I think you can tell the difference quite well? I tried to get the colours as true as possible, I don't know how well that worked. But the skin on my hands has very well the same tone as the skin on my face as I don't tan at all, ever (I merely burn).

Compared to my skin tone the foundation still is very light and if I'd use it on my face I'd probably look even sicklier than I normally do. So, in order to avoid scaring all my neighbors, friends and parents I've mixed it with a bit of H&M foundation that I still had and - voilà! It matched up quite well!

It's still not perfect, though in my opinion. My skin has some yellow undertones, at least that's what the kind lady from the MAC counter said, and the other foundation I've had doesn't. But it all ends up with the MAC mineralize powder in the shade 'light' I use, so it's alright!

Now I'm using this foundation mix for about 2 months or perhaps a little longer and I am quite content. At least it's a lot better than what I've used before and the fact I need to mix it doesn't bother me too much. It's very easy to apply, blends well and it feels very soft and has a nice smell. The only thing that bothers me, again, is that it doesn't stay on as long as I like it to. In the few hot summer days we've had it quickly started to feel a little greasy as well and I felt as if my make-up would drip off my face. But I must also say that this may be caused me my combination skin as well or even by the other foundation I use along with this one. However, I feel like it isn't the perfect match for me again because of that. Also, even though it's said to have very good coverage it doesn't cover up as much as I'd like and need it to, so that's another minus as well.

Overall I'm not disappointed with this product, though. Other than the two things I've last stated it still works pretty well for me and the other products I use along with it. And it's at least a thousand times better than anything I've used before! Also, it's pretty abundant and in the time I've used it it barely shows up in the bottle .

To me the hunt for the perfect foundation sadly didn't end with this, and if you have some suggestions I'm happy to hear them, but it's a nice change and certainly a good product to use while still hunting.

Oh! And before I forget about this - Along with 149 other cool peeps I've made it in the last round of the Bloggers Wardrobe project which is a voting on Facebook. If you have a minute to spare, please give me your vote and I'd be forever thankful ♥

It's really just that this is such a huge opportunity to me and it's a great chance I wouldn't want to miss. I'd probably go crazy of joy if I'd be one of the last ten bloggers to take part in this, so if you'd like to lend me a hand with this I'd happily take it. And voting is pretty easy, too: Just hit the 'like' button of the Bloggers Wardrobe fan page and then head over to my entry over here and 'like' the picture as well. Compared to all the others my last chances are very little but I'm not giving up yet ♥

Lastly, I must say that I'm amazed my all the entries I've already got for my giveaway. Thank you all so much for taking part in it! ♥ I would've never imagined to see so many people there, so I'm very, very happy!

Now then, my bed is awaiting me and the rain is already here to sing me a lullaby ♪

Much love, my lovelies!

Mio~

♥

Pastel Raindrops ♪ Giveaway!

2011-09-04T16:10:00.000+02:00

THANK YOU FOR MORE THAN 1000 FOLLOWERS!

You all have absolutely no idea how happy you've made me! When I started this blog roughly one and a half years ago I wouldn't have dared to think I could ever have so many readers. You give me so much so it's about time I give a little something back to you as well ♥

What's in for one lovely winner this time?

Let's see! ♥

All these pretty goods, I'd ay ♪

A pair of hand painted sneakers like these, made in the winner's size of course ♥

This handmade 2-way bow you can either wear as brooch or as a haiclip ♪

Lovely goodies from Cute Can Kill! A shooting star necklace, rainbow ring and a button ♥

Cute Rilakkuma earphones ♪

A lip ring, a Mighty Harajuku button from Haru and a Spank button ♥

Eyemazing Harajuku Doll lashes #501 designed by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu! ♪

A brand new pair of circle lenses from Eyecandy Lens ♥ (This is of course only and example)

The lenses are kindly sponsored by Eyecandy Lens and the lucky winner can pick a pair of their choice from their lovely range of circle lenses. They will then be directly sent from Eyecandy Lens ♥

Now, what do you have to do in order to participate in this Giveaway?

♥ You need to be a public reader (Google Friends Connect) of this blog
♥ Write about this giveaway in your own blog, including the first picture and link back to this entry

♥ Post a comment under this entry including your name, your e-mail adress and the link to your blog entry

Piece of cake, isn't it? ♥

This Giveaway will end on:
October 31st 2011 / Midnight German time (UTC + 1:00)

Of course it's also open world wide! Wherever you live, I'll safely send you the prizes ♥
The winner will be chosen by a random number generator (random.org)
Once I picked the winner I'll directly mail them so please make sure to check your mails and answer me if you won! In case the winner doesn't answer within 72 hours I'll pick someone new.

If you still have any questions or are unsure about anything feel free to send me a mail! ♥

I hope you all like the prizes I've made and chosen this time and enjoy this Giveaway!
Once again, thank you all so much for reading this blog, for every single comment and every lovely mail. You, my dear readers, are simply the best! ♥

She will be your living end ♪

2011-08-31T23:34:00.000+02:00

There I go again, this time with a less colourful outfit and something more casual.
You say 'colourblocking'? I say 'why not'? Even though I didn't do it on purpose.

To be honest, I'm rather happy I can blog again because I was almost afraid I wouldn't be able to in the next time because of, once again, technical issues. Seems like something sneaked through my firewall and took a bite off some of my programs, including editing programs, and after a long struggle between trial and error I had to reboot my laptop. Now everything works again, though. At last! For some moments I felt really stranded in this entire situation, including some minor and major anger attacks. I hate it when things don't work like they're supposed to be.

Last month, while Mimi was still over in Bremen, we took a little trip to the waterfront and I wore out my fancy Betty Barclay blazer. I'm not sure but I don't think I've ever shown you a picture of it being worn or did I?

Blazer - Betty Barclay; Shoes - Vagabond; Skirt, Shirt, Hair bow - Monki; Jewellery - Flea market; Bag - Berlin

Hell, words fail to describe how much I love this blazer. I wish I had more things in this shade of deep violet blue in my closet. Black clothes start to pile up, so do the pastels but I pretty much don't have anything in a dark blue or green. Maybe I should change this for the upcoming fall/winter.

It's also about time again to do a little Shopping Update because I didn't do one in a while. Then I can also give you a better view on the wedges I'm wearing here and on a bunch of other things.
There's also going to be a big, big surprise coming of for all my readers this week! Those who follow my tweets probably already know a little about my plan but all the others shall find out this weekend so make sure to check back ♥

And now I wish you all a lovely day or night, whatever goes for you!
Take care, lovelies! ♥
Mio~

Silence is my boyfriend ♪

2011-08-22T16:11:00.000+02:00

I don't have much time as I'm ready for take-off, literally ♥

A few things still wait to be packed, some things to be arranged and then in less than two hours I'll be checking in for my flight to Munich. Nothing overly exciting but a TV production I prepared myself for in the past few weeks is waiting for me and I'm waiting for the recording.

Since there's still some time left, though, I'm taking it to show you another outfit from last month when I visited Hamburg with Mimi and Roya.

Shirt - Gina Tricot; Shorts - fleamarket; Tights, Socks, Bows - offbrand; Sneakers - used Reebok; Accessory - from Flau &; Cute Can Kill

I absolutely love this shirt! It's from Gina Tricot and I already got it back in May or so but I'm wearing it all the time right now.

Now, I really need to head back to packing so I'll have everything ready in time. So you back on Wednesday, I hope! ♥

Much love~

Mio ♥

Welcome in my Kitsch Kingdom ♪

2011-08-19T18:49:00.001+02:00

It feels like I haven't posted anything in years! Sorry for the little time-out but we're kind of busy with renovating right now and in the meantime some other good and bad things happened. I try my best to keep posting frequently nonetheless, we'll see how well that goes.

I've been debating with myself to whether or not split this post up into two but I guess it wouldn't make too much of a difference, it would only confuse things instead. Just prepare yourself to find a very picture heavy entry this time!

In fact I was going to post this much, much earlier but you know, life and such. So here I am now with an updated 'tour' through my room. Unlike last time, where I made a video about it, I'm bringing you some pictures of everything. A whole lot of things have changed in the two years from when I first made that video, my room is much more crowded now. I don't know if that's rather a blessing or a curse but what does it matter anyway.

Without further ado, Let's just start right off!

My room is still the same and so is the assembly of my furniture. The way it is now is simply the best way to place everything while having the most space.

My room is also more or less divided in two because of the original partition of this floor. My 'dressing room' used to be some sort of bathroom, we assume and then my bedroom and my sister's room used to be one very big room, which is parted by a wall now. And wall that used to separate my two rooms is partly removed ever since. That much about the theory of our houses architecture.

This is what my dressing room looks now~ ♪

When you enter my room ♪

And from the middle of my room. This corner is like the heart of my room~ ♪

My closet on the left, next to my dresser ♥

My clothes don't have a certain order, they're only assorted by type and style. Above I have all my dresses, big sweaters, jackets, cardigans, blouses and skirts. Below on the outer sides are all my shorts and skirts, in the middle my my shirts, in the back my sweaters, pajamas and old jeans, T-shirts and tanktops ♥

The top of my dresser ♥ Around here I keep all my make-up, accessories, jewelery and hair things.

The shitload of accessories I call my own, postcards, souvenirs, ponies and random kitsch you'll find all over the place ♥

The top of my small rack next to my dresser. On top I keep my hairties, bracelets, rings and brooches. Inside of the rack you'll find more bracelets, bangles, nailpolish and DVDs

My DVD collection! I wouldn't ever want to part with that. Though I'm still missing a bunch of my favorite movies it still represents what I love fairly well so far ♥

Another small shelf, right above the other rack. Here I keep some beauty products, more jewelery and my favorite perfumes. My very favorite is L by Lolita Lempicka, followed by Opium by Yves Saint Laurant and Coco by Chanel.

A brooch I've made ♥

This coat rack is what keeps all my beloved necklaces safe ♥ Though I wonder why it's still hanging, considering the weight it has to hold up.

More jewelery can be found on my sill, where I keep all my pendants, brooches and most important: my rings!

Getting dressed without this big mirror? No thanks, haha ♥ Here I also have all my painting supplies and a painting that I haven't finished in far too long. The walls are decorated with Monki receipts, flyers, clothing tags, a setlist from a Gogol Bordello concert and the two old clothing hangers my mother found at the fleamarket. I seriously love them to death!

That's all the things you could find in my dressing room but I keep most of my stuff in there. My bedroom isn't as crowded and also a little bigger.

The first thing to see in my bedroom is my bed on the right and my desk to the left. Here I work most of the time, craft, sew or draw. Ronja is blocking my chair again, like she always does ♥

The shelf above my desk where I keep some drawing supplies, notebooks and other useful things. You can also see my wall decoration, the big yellow scissors are still there ♥

Hidden between my desk and bed is where I have my stereo, CDs and books, crafting and sewing supplies, my sewing machine and my dress form.

Finally, the place where I dream my weird dreams, my bed ♥ Above I have shelves with all my vintage toys and underneath are pretty much all the shoes I have. In three rows actually, I'm running out of place for them! There are also a bunch of bags hanging from my bed posts.

And now that is all ♥

I hope you enjoyed the little picture tour through my room and maybe now you have a little better inside into how I live. But if there's anything else you'd like to know or like to see, just tell me ♥

Also, I wanted to take a minute as well to thank you all for your great support in the Kawaii.i contest! I wouldn't have thought of this to happen but I actually really made it! I can't thank all you guys here and on Facebook enough for your help and the love you gave me.
But also in general. I get so many cute messages and mails that help me keep my head up even when I'm sad. Reading your sweet words always cheers me up somehow. I really wish I could travel the world in order to meet every single one of you and to thank them in person. Because of this I'm also working on a little surprise again and I hope to have it ready very soon. Stay tuned ♥

But now I need to head downstairs again! We ordered bulky waste for tomorrow and still need to put some old things outside. Finally we're getting rid of all the things that blocked our living in this house, one step further once again ♪

I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!

Much love ♥

Mio~

Kawaii.i Fashion Contest ♪

2011-08-07T03:00:00.002+02:00

Look, she's bugging us again with this!

Yes, yes I am and I'm sorry in case some of you are already annoyed of it, haha ♥

I've already pestered my Facebook and Tumblr with this and now I'll even invade my poor readers here with it, but to me this contest is really important. Why? Because the price is fucking awesome!

300$ worth of lovely shit, who wouldn't want that? The only downside is that the winner is voted by an audience and not a jury, and currently I'm second place. But in order to really make it I have to be first and therefore I need any help I can get!

Voting is pretty easy as well, you don't even need to 'like' anything, just click on the big, green VOTE button and accept an application on Facebook, that's it. It won't even take a minute but it would help me more than enough ♥

Of course you can also spread the word about this and tell your friends and family, haha! But asking you for this would probably be a little too much. Nevertheless, I also want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who already voted for my entry, you are the best ♥

It really means the world to me that I already made it this far thanks to you all. I'd really love to win this thing more than anything, trust me. But we'll see how things will be going with this.

Now it's your turn and I'll see what my Kismet brings~

VOTE

And speaking of Facebook, did you know that Pastel Raindrops ♪ actually has a FB page since a couple of weeks? No? Though so, that's why I'm telling you about it now ♥

You can see it over here, though it still needs a lot of touch up. Over there you'll also be the first one to know what's new and if there are any updates over here, so make sure to check it out!

Now then, I wish you a lovely Sunday and a good night and once again thank you for your great help!

Much love~

Mio ♪

Bloggers Wardrobe ♪

2011-08-05T23:57:00.000+02:00

What a week this has been, full of ups and downs and crazy happenings. Yesterday the heavy rain flooded our basement, I won a ticket to the Dockville festival in Hamburg, had a chilled time with Roya, got soaked wet in a thunderstorm and last Monday I received one of the most exciting mails I've ever came across to read.

What I'm taking about?

Bloggers Wardrobe

'Bloggers Wardrobe gathers the BEST brands and the BEST bloggers. Bloggers Wardrobe is where they meet in a way so that the integrity of the bloggers is kept sacred'.

Basically it's going to be a place where the crème de la crème of fashion blogging will gather together to discuss and present brands, products, fashion and much, much more. They called it the 'chance of a lifetime' to be part of this but you can see for yourself if you need more information. To me it indeed sounds like a chance you'll only be offered once.

Now, I received an invitation from the Product Manager of Studio Total which created Bloggers Wardrobe and was offered to take part in the auditions for the last few free places of this project. Only time will tell if I really have what it takes to be part of this but I figure it's needless to say just how much I want it.

This takes me to my part of the hearing: 'Write why YOU should be a part of this'

I'm not your average kind of fashion blogger - if that label even fits the things I do. But anything that is supposed to work out needs a misfit, doesn't it?

And now time, tell me those are the 30 words it takes to change my life ♥

No, I'm not obessed with feet ♪

2011-08-03T03:41:00.000+02:00

Even though you one could get that idea considering how many pictures I have here. But sure as hell I am obsessed with these shoes!

Creepers, yes, they're finally mine. Call me a stupid girl for buying these but I've been wanting these shoes for at least 6 years now but never got myself to actually buying those. We want so much and eventually some things will be forgotten. But not these shoes, after all these year's I still like them and now that I own them I'm more in love with them than ever before.

So many pictures for only one silly pair of shoes, I apologize. Look like I had a little too much fun with playing in them today ♥

The lace socks are from Monki but I tie-dyed them last weekend just like a bunch of other things. The gods of crafting had mercy with me and finally put me in high spirits again. Soon I will show you some of the lovely things I made these days ♪

But for now I'll take a rest. It's so late, or more like early, already and I need at least a bit of sleep. See you again soon ♥

Mio~

Witch, what is your name? ♪

2011-07-30T03:04:00.001+02:00

Funerals are surely the strangest things I know.

Death itself is strange, even though it's not as strange as life is.

Dress, Chiffon Bow - Monki; Hat - my mother's; Shoes - offbrand; Jewellery - Fleamarket

The amethyst ring was a birthday present from my mother and hell, I -indeed- love it to death. It certainly is one of the prettiest amethysts I've seen in all my life.
Amethyst is also surely one of my favorite gemstones and probably the one which is followed me the longest time. Who said Taurus' birthstone had to be rose quartz? It's a pretty gem as well and I surely got enough stones of it for a lifetime since relatives always gave them to me, but amethyst seem so much more appealing and accurate to me.

This was by the way what I wore a few weeks ago to bid yet another farewell. The hat belongs to my mother and neither pictures nor words can describe how lovely it actually is. I didn't even know it existed until recently but I'm planning to wear it more often now that I do. There really isn't anything that is as wonderful as a pretty hat.
A call for everyone, me included - Wear more hats!

Well then, much love~
Mio ♥

Sweets for my hair ♪

2011-07-19T22:07:00.000+02:00

I found some really cute old hairclips at the fleamarket some weeks ago ♪

Polly Pocket and Little Twin Stars!

They're almost too pretty to wear but eventually I'll take them outside someday.

I still have so many old Polly Pocket things on our attic but it's hard for me to go up there to find them. But I miss them so much, especially the tiny PP boxes you could wear on a necklace and the set with the rings. Polly was certainly one of my favorite toys back when I was little ♥

Bonus:

Kewpie and my Magic Nursery Puppy had a little vis-à-vis recently, hehe~ ♪

Well, I hope you're all enjoying your holidays or have some fine days~

Much love ♥

Mio~

Princess Mimi/Bambi && Hana SPC Hyper Circle Lenses ♪

2011-07-15T21:38:00.000+02:00

Hellow cuties~ ♪

Finally I get around to show you the lenses I got last months! I've been dying to do this review but whenever I planned to take pictures for it something got in my way. This time, however, I will present them to you.

Maybe you've already spotted their lovely banner on my sidebar and if you didn't already it's time to check it out. Shoppingholics kindly asked me to do a product review for them and now here I am.

They offered me to choose a pair of lenses and trust me, this just came right.

Because a while back one of my dear readers recommended me the Princess Mimi/Bambi lenses and ever since I saw pictures of them I really wanted to try them out myself. So guess what lenses I chose to get from Shopping holics? Right, Bambi lenses in Apple Green!

And on top of that, as if that wasn't already enough, they threw in a pair of Hana SPC Hyper Circle lenses in black for me to try out. Both in my prescription of -1.25 which also gave me the opportunity to try out prescription lenses for the first time in my life.

This is how the lenses got to me, in a perfectly cute packaging ♥

What can I say? Shoppingholics is a very lovely shop! The lenses got to me in no time and it took only about a week for them to deliver them to me. Besides circle lenses they also sell a range of Asian cosmetics and Make-up, so it's worth to take a look!

Now, let me first show you the Bambi lenses ♪

The plain lenses, already pretty right? ♥

No make-up and in comparison to my natural eyes ♪

With make-up on and both lenses in and in natural, bright daylight ♪

And lastly how they look all in all ♥

Now some more data about the lenses ♪

Base Curve: 8.6

Diameter: 15.0mm

Water percentage of content: 38%

1 year disposable lenses

Manufacturer: GEO Medical

Prescription available? Yes

Now that I've already tried out a couple of different lenses I can also say a bit more about them, I think. And compared to the others I have, these are by far my favorites!

The only ones that I like almost as much would be my Shinny Aqua & Green lenses.

They are really easy to put in -and I can assure you, this is always the thing I have the most problems with- and very, very comfortable to wear. They are also very light, thin and elastic which makes them easy to handle.

My favorite thing about these is the colour and texture, though. They blend in really well with my natural eye colour and look almost natural. To me this is very important because that sadly doesn't go for all lenses and with light eyes it's always a bit harder to find nice lenses, or so I feel.

The enlargement effect of these is also pretty nice but I guess the pictures can already tell about that.

In conclusion:

I can definitely recommend these lenses! They are just wonderful and I'm super happy to have them!

Now onto the Hana SPC Hyper Circle lenses ♥

The plain lenses in their box ♪

And of course in comparison to my natural eye colour and without make-up ♪

With make-up and in natural, bright daylight ♪

And then again how they look overall ♥

Again, first some data about the lenses ♪

Base Curve: 8.6

Diameter: 14.5mm

Water percentage of content: 38%

1 year disposable lenses

Manufacturer: Hana SPC/Vassen

Prescription available? Yes

These lenses were a bit stressful to get in my eyes because I would constantly get lots of air under the lens and they just wouldn't stay on my eyes. It was almost as if they wouldn't fit me, though that most likely wasn't the reason, and it took me a while and some trick to make them stay. Before they would fall out as soon as I tried to blink.

But then I lifted my eyelid over the lens as soon as it was somewhat on my eye, closed it and gently pressed the air under it away and voilá, it worked. Still, this wasn't really what I expected and of course my eye was a little sore after that.

Once they were on my eyes they were pretty comfortable, though! Same as with the ones above, they are very thin and elastic and I could barely feel them, so that was really nice.

Then the thing I don't really like about these lenses is their texture. The colour is nice, a plain, classic black and surely nice for the enlarging effect. Because even though they are a bit smaller then the Bambi lenses I don't think they look like they really are.

However, the texture doesn't blend in with my eye colour at all because the inner circle is just too harsh. This is probably not so visible in darker light, when the pupils are bigger, but in natural light it looks a little awkward and isn't really my thing.

So these lenses are probably better for people with darker eyes, I bet they'd look lovely then.

Concluded:

Pretty lenses but just not the right thing for me. Also a little hard to put in but then comfortable to wear.

Lastly I can also simply say that prescription lenses are wonderful! Both of these lenses came with it and I can't complain a bit. It's a very cool change for once to have better vision without having to wear glasses. Though my sight luckily isn't that bad so I don't depend on that. Regardless, I wouldn't have though the prescription would actually work so accurate, I was a bit sceptic at first. Now I'd definitely always go for them if my prescription was available ♥

So, I hope you liked the lenses and maybe this is helpful for some of you!

Thanks again to Shoppingholics for the lovely lenses and to the anon who recommended me the Bambi lenses!

Now then, much love && take care my dears~ ♪

Mio~

♥

Regarde! Une poupée! - Japan Expo Paris 2011 ♪

2011-07-09T18:48:00.001+02:00

The things you'll hear à la Gare du Nord when you wear pastel clothes. Well, at least I can still understand a bit of French, though I do my best to avoid speaking it myself, as to not embarrass myself too much. But now, I'm not a doll. Whatever that was for, gramps.

Now, I promised to write a bit about Mimi's and my trip to Paris, didn't I? I think I did.

I'm still sad it's all past now, it was way too lovely to meet all those lovely people. The world should be a smaller place so we wouldn't have to travel so far. Or perhaps a tiny world for all those beautiful fashion people? Sadly that will never happen.

But yes, the time passed by so quickly, after all we've only been in Paris for three days. The other 24-32 hours were spent on the road in our not-so-comfortable buses.

And I've sworn to myself to never travel anywhere by bus again. The wonders of money - or more not having money, because that way our trip was a whole lot cheaper.

So, we left Bremen and Berlin on Wednesday and arrived in Paris on Thursday morning. The first footsteps in France, it felt so strange. But I must admit, the 'pain du chocolat' and 'Oasis' made a nice breakfast and the accompanied us until the very last day. Even now I still have a bottle of that sweet, orange drink next to my desk.

Our first day in the city of love (Ah, oui! L'amour!) was still a little stressful, though. We were pretty much forced to attend a sight-seeing tour with our travel group or else we had to run around through Paris with all our stuff, probably getting lost or robbed. All because we wouldn't get into our hotel room before afternoon, anyway. Because of that our fine planned schedule was pretty much killed of. Originally we wanted to get to Paris, into our hotel room, get ourselves ready and pretty to head of to the Expo. That way we didn't make it to the Expo before 5 or 6 pm when most of the people I wanted to meet were already gone. Like Mnon, who I really wanted to see but couldn't. I'm still feeling bad about it because she only went to the Expo on Thursday.

But despite our crossed plans we still got to see a few places in Paris we probably wouldn't have seen if it wasn't for that tour. Every bad also has it's good you could say. So we saw 'l'Arc de Triomphe', the Louvre, Nôtre Dame, Sacre Coeur and many more sight. And of course 'le Tour Eiffel' as well as many other places. Some only behind the windows of our bus and some directly in front of us.

In the end we finally managed to the hotel room, get ready and to the Expo, like I said, and got to meet some lovely girls who directed us to the booth of Cute Can Kill ♥

The picture belongs to SiriusC from DeviantArt ♥ Thank you so much for it, I hope it's ok to blog it here~ ♪

I can tell you, I love these two! I'm pretty positive that Lila And Ciali from CCK must belong to the most wonderful people I've got to meet so far, they're darling ♥

Sadly, this is also the only decent picture I have of my outfit that day because we forgot to take pictures, stupid us.

But regardless, a short outfit rundown for those who are curious:

Cardigan - altered Oxfam; Shirt - Banana Fish, Shorts - DIY; OTKs - Angelic Pretty; Bags - Mezzo Piano and DoL; Accessory - of course CCK and also Chocomint and offbrand~

In the evening we took the metro through Paris again, then trying to look for a 'Supermarché' and finally found one hidden in a small street just before it wanted to close. Lucky us, that way we got some vegetable salad, sandwiches and something to drink for dinner - besides the instant noodle soup we brought from home. I swear, we could've survived at least two weeks with all those soups we had.

Back in the hostel then we could finally get to rest after the exhausting bus ride and all the walking through Paris. It was a nice first day but we also felt the cold sitting in our necks. We were both still sick and it was a big festival of coughing, sneezing, snotting and sore throats. It always was that way in the evening and morning, at least for me. During the day it was better, though I always lost my voice little by little.

On Friday we got up early again and got ready for the Japan Expo where we got around noon, I think.

We finally got to look around a bit, checked out the booths, the program and met more lovely people.

I can tell you, I've never been to a convention that was this big. After all it wasn't only the JE, it was also the ComicCon that was going on in these halls and all of it was huge. There was so much going on the on the program was something for anyone. Really nicely organized, the kind of thing you won't find in Germany that easily. Here conventions are a lot smaller, overpriced and usually don't offer that much of a program - or if they do it's most of the time anime or manga related only. It would be nice to have something like the Expo here too, more about fashion, pop and historical culture, music, lifestyle. Japan isn't just Anime and Manga, so that's what I miss here a lot and which is also the reason why I don't visit real conventions anymore.

But this was a really nice change for once and I'm sure to visit the Japan Expo again if I can.

Then this is what I wore on Friday~ ♥

Jacket - milklim; Shirt - Banana Fish; Shorts -Primary; Shoes - Swimmer; OTKs - Angelic Pretty; Accessory - CCK, Chocomint, I'm Your Present, offbrand

It was a bit awkward to wear pigtails after so long again, though! Must've been years since I last wore some outside. Actually I also wanted to make them really curly at first but I didn't bring my curling iron with me, only my straightener. Usually it was possible to also make curls with it but now that it's very old already the ceramic surface broke away and it doesn't work that well anymore. So instead you see me with slightly curly ends~
What do you think? Pigtails - YAY or NAY? Haha~ ♥

Other things we did as usual on that day was chatting a lot, walking a lot, keeping Lila away from her work, then chatting more, walking more, looking around for things and keeping Lila away from her work some more. In the evening we left for our hotel again, though~

Saturday was going to be our last day so we had to get up really early as we had to pack our things into the bus shortly after 8am, right after breakfast. And before that we had to, of course, do our make-up and get dressed but eventually managed to do that in time to head off for the Expo one last time. Before we got there we also visited the Baby the Stars Shine Bright store because we didn't make it there on Friday anymore. And I must admit, I imagined it a lot bigger, haha~ ♥ Not in a bad way, though, it's a very sweet little store. Maybe it also felt so small because of all the pretty Lolitas that were in and outside of the shop.

I think I met the most people on Saturday and it was more crowded as well! So many fashionable kids everywhere, cosplayers and regular visitors, it was a blast!
The schedule of that day wasn't that much different from the others, though. But it was still extremely wonderful, maybe my favorite day of all ♥
The only downside was that the toilets were so awfully crowded! The queue for the ladies room was going from the toilets, two stairs down back into the hall again. Not so great when you really need to pee.
And still we mastered all the things and had the greatest time. I just want to travel back in time to spend it all over and over again, that would be sweet ♪

Saturday I also decided to wear the best things I have, haha ♥

Outfit Rundown: ♪
Dress - Spank!; Jacket & fluffy socks - Primary; Petticoat - ManiaQ; Tights - offbrand; Shoes - AmiAmi, Accessory: CCK, Milky Way, Chocomint, handmade and offbrand.

They're barely visible but I was wearing two little alien buns in my hair~ ♥ I really like that hairstyle and I think I have to wear it more often. At least I want to do that.
You can also see that I'm wearing my Ice Creamy Bear necklace here. I truly adore this thing, let me tell you!
I also tried to improve my make-up a bit but I'm still not that used to putting on lashes. Just have to find my way of wearing this kind of eye-make up, I guess. Eventually I'll get better at doing it, I hope. ♥

Mimi also wore some kitschy pastels on Saturday! How cool is that?! I think we'll slightly get her to join our pastel side, we're taking over. ♪

The day ended way too soon, then. I could've stayed there forever or at least one more day but our bus was already ready for takeoff. So we had to wave our friends goodbye, changed our clothes back to casual style, as to not scare our fellow passengers, and took the metro to the centre of Paris where we had some dinner. During midnight we took our bus home, back to the grey and rainy Germany.
The only reason I was also a little happy for my home was the tea and my own bed. During all these days my cold got a little worse and Mimi and I had to pump ourselves with drugs to survive. Luckily it's not hard to find a pharmacy in Paris and we managed to get some good tablets against all our little aches and pains.

Then we also bought some other things at the Expo through the days because we just couldn't help ourselves. So we bought a few things from CCK and other booths~

This lovely shirt was a gift from Lila ♪
Damn, that girl is just the cutest ever and I mean it! She's just so kind ♥ And I'm in love with the design, even though the colours didn't turn out the way she wanted it. I still love it to death ♥

And here's the other cute stuff I got at CCK's booth! Seriously, how can you not love these things?
I even found a cute planet ring, like the one I lost in March at the bookfair in Leipzig. Now I'm all happy again because that one must be one of my favorite designs ever. I'm just mad for galactic things ☆彡

I also bought a sweet Gloomy Bear pouch! ♥
It's one I wanted for a long time since I found it on Ebay but it was a lot cheaper at the Expo, so now this cutie is mine as well.

So, these are most of my memories from my lovely days in Paris that I can share with you.
And I want to thank all the cute girls and boys I've met for having us and giving us such a great time!
If I can make it I'll come back next year! I'll try all in my might to see you guys again ♥

Until then~
Much LOVE && take care! ♥

Ice Creamy Bears ♪

2011-07-05T23:00:00.000+02:00

Yes, we are back from our short Paris trip and actually I wanted to write about it today but I figured that first things come first and there's something I've been meaning to show you for quite some time but unfortunately didn't get around to do so yet. Now then I'll do so, though some of you may have already seen it ♥

Sometime ago, my favorite jewellery designers from Cute Can Kill started a little designing contest where the winner would get their design as an actually jewellery piece!

So, of course I entered as well (honestly, how could I not?) with the following design~

As the theme was 'ice cream' I decided to place some poor, melting bears in an ice cream cone and ban them on a necklace. And surprisingly enough enough people liked this design and eventually I won. Honestly? It's like a dream came true for me, I was so awfully happy!

So at this point I also take the chance to thank those who voted for me once again, as well as CCK who started the contest and later made my necklace ♥

And I can tell you, the necklace turned out so cool! It's even better than my design, it's just perfect!

Lila is so talented with this, it's hard to describe. I just know I could never do only half as good with this as she does, 3D modeling just isn't made for me.

But you better see for yourself~

See it now? Really, I couldn't be happier than I am with this precious necklace ♥

But who knows, maybe the little Ice Creamy Bears will soon go on vacation and visit many other girls and boys to make them happy. Tell me when you see them somewhere~ ♪

Other than that I tried myself in digital drawing once more in the past weeks and months. Actually I almost gave it up because my old grumpy tablet got a bit stubborn during the years and so it's always a little struggle to draw a clean line. But a little practise doesn't hurt and digital art offers a lot of possibilities I don't have with traditional materials.

...Well, and it's a nice distraction when I should actually work on my laptop.

Most of those are only little doodles though and nothing too serious, just a nice change.

And that's it again for today but I'll show you some things of the Japan Expo later this week ♥

I hope you enjoyed my crappy little pictures and the darling necklace~

Much LOVE && take care ♥

Mio~

Not getting tired of all this kitsch ♪

2011-06-27T03:27:00.000+02:00

Still no news and still not well again, while it's been one week now that I'm sick. Trust my words, I'll smack a bitch if I don't get fit again by Wednesday. Though, it's so stupid! In the morning I always feel like catpoo, wake up with a very scratchy throat and a running nose, during the day then I feel a lot better and in the evening I'm always getting a bad cough. This isn't funny anymore, I want to feel better now.

But what else can I do besides drinking lots of nasty tea and taking it slow, in the end I always win the fight against the cold, anyway.

Then I though it would be about time for another shopping review, wouldn't it? And today we even had some sunshine and I took that opportunity to show you some of my newest treasures.

♥

These lovely accessories are all by I'm Your Present, a very sweet indie brand ♪

I finally got around to buy some of her things, along with the Sweetheart earring that I've been lusting over so long now. They are probably also the most know items from the shop and available in many colours. But I also couldn't get around the cute cat earrings, they were simply too darling!

And since both pairs are pretty big at the top they can cover up my tunnel as well - or well, what is left of that tunnel now.

Actually I also bought them because I have nearly no earrings left from what once used to be a big collection. But then I got my tunnel and mostly only wore studs or other tiny things if I wore anything in my ears at all. I think it's time to change that ♥

Those hairbows were also love at first sight for a cat lover like me and the fabric is also to die for!

Yes, she did it again. She bought new shoes. Who would have thought...

I know, I know, too many shoes! But I bet you wouldn't be able to resist them either and besides that - you can never have too many shoes (or handbags!).

It was really worth it though, because these sneakers are spot-on cute - all around! Even the soles have a sweet little pattern with bunnies and hears ♥

I also have the strong suspicion that these come from the same shop, or at least same factory, as my other sneakers, which would solve the mystery. Anyway, I found them at AmiAmi ♪

Lastly I also managed to get my hands on these darling bedsheets by Spank! ♥

I was lucky enough to find them on mbok after I already gave up ever getting them, since they sold out so quickly once they were released.

Though apparently they have weird measurements for bedclothes in Japan and while the pillowcase is super small the bedcover is extremely big! It's 150cm x 210cm and is even longer than my entire bed.

But the money I spent on it won't be in vain because I'll use it as a daybed and a decoration pillow now, so it'll be fine if not even better!

And this would be it for today I guess~

I hope to be find the time for another time before I leave for Paris but we'll see how things are going.

However, I hope you liked the things! ♥ See you again soon ♪

Mio~

♥

In the hidden forest ♪

2011-06-24T03:11:00.000+02:00

Starting of today my mind is a bit more free than usual, as I had a last interview here for my university application. On Monday I had my exam at the same department, then I fell sick - and still am a little, and now I'm pretty much through with this. For now. Next Wednesday we shall get the result and I got all my hopes up for this. Bremen isn't my first choice to study but the HfK is such a wonderful university with so many nice people that I wouldn't mind. And then I'm also still waiting to get news from Berlin.

I have some other brilliant news though, and I think I haven't announced them here yet:

I'll be travelling to Paris next week with Mimi and we'll visit the Japan Expo! ♥

It's going to be my first time in Paris and my first convention outside Germany, I'm beyond excited! Especially for all the people who are going there and whom I hope to meet. So, in case you're seeing me somewhere in Paris, please don't be afraid to hit me on! ♪

Today I also finally got around to edit some more pictures, finally. They date back to April, shortly before my birthday, and for some odd reason I didn't get around to post them anywhere yet.

But I don't get up to post much lately, anyway. I can't post the things I should and would want to post because I can't take photographs with all these clouds in front of my window, and I also don't feel like posting the things I have already saved. I'm a weird woman.

These pictures were, by the way, all taken by Mimi ♥

I don't know, she's actually the only person that makes me feel fine in front of the camera (except for my lonely tripod) and takes wonderful pictures. Even of me, haha~

You probably guessed it but we had the most darling day back then. And now it's already been so long since we last see each other, next Wednesday can't come quick enough ♥

Alright, it's time to go again, have a last cup of tea and take a good rest.
See you soon ♥

I ♥ SPANK! ♪

2011-06-18T15:30:00.002+02:00

You've got to be kidding me, right? Almost two weeks passed me by just like that since I last made an entry. Now I really get kind of suspicious, there must be a black whole or a place-time-vacuum surrounding me, else I don't have a proper explanation to where all this time goes.

In the meantime I was in Bielefeld to catch a sweet rejection and finished my assignment for the UdK Berlin. Next Monday my exams in Bremen will start as well and in the end I can only hope all this leads to something good. A nice place at a nice university would be something very sweet now.

Nevertheless, I actually have quite some things I've yet go to show you! There will be some upcoming reviews, pictures and Shopping Updates as well. I just need to find some free space in my schedule and my mind to do all these things. Right now I'm a bit overwhelmed by everything but that's just the average madness.

Then, was is last month? Sometime in the past few weeks I ordered custom made buttons from an Ebay seller. I found myself lusting over the Spank! buttons for way too long but I never found anyone online and if I found them they were sold out already. But I really wanted to have at least one so instead of whining about how I never found any I simply made my own.

So I grabbed some nice patterns, tried my best in copying the design and font of the original buttons and searched for a shop to make them real. And I did! Greener City Designs on Ebay did a pretty good job on them. The buttons are nice and big, the communication flawless and the service good. Only the colours, specifically the mint, came out a bit wrong but by now it doesn't matter to me anymore, I like them ♥ Et en plus, they also threw in a free magnet with my design~

In the end I paid about 2€ per button which is still a good price in my opinion, considering that they are pretty big.

What do you think about them? ♥

I really love them and immediately threw them on everything I could. On bags, on a dress, on my mirror and as you can see also on my biker jacket. Though, I'm slowly running out of space but also love that jacket more and more. I really need some more spikes and studs to decorate it, or some spray paint so I can customize the back.

In case you want some Spank! buttons of your own I put all my designs, the ones you could see here and some more, together for you to enjoy. You only need to cut them with an editing programme and make sure to safe them as a png so they stay clean and sharp, but even MS.Paint should be able to do that ♥

But when you're using them, please only do so in a private manner. The original design doesn't belong to me and it doesn't belong to you either so don't use it to make money out of it.

Just click on the picture and it should pop up bigger ♪

I hope you enjoyed the designs and the buttons ♪

See you soon, lovelies! Take care until then ♥

Mio~

Kawaii Factory - Let's wear some treats ♪

2011-06-05T19:27:00.000+02:00

I said I was going to be back with a second part on this, didn't I?

In case you don't know what I'm talking about or you didn't see it yet you can catch up with me by taking a look at this entry about Kawaii Factory ♥

There isn't much to add about the accessories, I think I pretty much said everything about them. Of course I wanted to wear them immediately and so I did! I did my best to take some pretty pictures, though I'm not so sure if I succeeded. Maybe they give you a better idea of all the things~

I apologize beforehand for the load of pictures and in case I destroy your internet bandwidth with it. Actually I didn't intent to have that many but in the end I had more 'good' pictures than I expected. Usually it's more like "So, I'm going to take pictures now but in order to get 3 decent pictures I have to take 97 ugly ones first". For whatever reason, I have no idea, this wasn't the case this time.

But I don't want to keep anything secret from you, I'll just stop babbling and show them to you ♥

There I'm leaving you with this huge~ wall of photographs. Regardless of the amount, I hope you still like them a little, it would make me happy if you did ♥

This time I really tried to make even better photographs and I hope I succeeded a bit. At least I know for sure now, that it's a whole lot easier to take pictures when you have a remote. Best invested 4€ ever.

With this I wish you well for this weekend and get back to sewing my assignment work. Not much time left to finish it, I'll be leaving for Bielefeld on Tuesday already. In case I don't write anything anymore until that I also wish you a very pleasant week!

(And wish me good luck to get in the exams so I didn't to this assignment for nothing ♥)

Until the, much LOVE & take care ♥

Mio ♪