Wicked Whimsy

Archive for the ‘Fashion/Style’ Category

As my hair’s grown out, I’ve had to readjust many parts of my old haircare routine. Case in point: my old shampoo and conditioner were just not cutting it. They worked fine for shorter hair, but with longer hair kept leaving me with greasy roots and dried out ends, for some reason.

I’ve heard so many great things about Lush, I decided to give them a try. In particular, I was curious about their solid shampoos. I ordered Trichomania, which is suggested for curly hair, and Jungle, the only solid conditioner available. The price isn’t bad for the quality, and the shipping was very fast. As soon as I got them, I stuck them in tupperware containers – I would definitely recommend doing so with solid shampoos/conditioners because otherwise you will end up with quite the mess in your bathroom!

Anyways, I received them in July. For reference, I have fine curly/wavy hair that’s easily weighed down. Here’s my thoughts a month on:

Trichomania smells amazing – it’s a light coconut scent, and it’s definitely not drying at all. My hair feels clean but is still soft. It’s almost too conditioning combined with Jungle (more on that in a second). It has almost entirely lost its bar shape by now, so like I said, some kind of container is pretty much a must. One curious thing is that I notice a lot of blue on my hands after I wash my hair, so I figured it would strip the color much faster than the shampoo I had been using, but it doesn’t at all. Go figure.

Jungle took some tweaking to get just right. In its unaltered state, I found it really hard to get enough off to adequately condition my hair – I would have to reach outside the shower and dry my hands off, then try and pinch off a piece of conditioner, emulsify it between my hands, and finger-comb it through my hair. My hair didn’t feel conditioned enough just using it while in the shower, so I started using a tiny bit as a leave in conditioner – but that tended to weigh my hair down a bit more than I liked; my second-day hair looked great (I shampoo my hair every other day and on the off-days just pull my hair back) but my first-day hair, not so much.

I looked at some of the reviews on the Lush website and saw that other people  had had similar problems, with both application and the quality of conditioning; so I tinkered with it a bit. I cut the bar into chunks as suggested by one reviewer and poured water over them, just enough water to cover the chunks. I didn’t want to just water it down, so I put a tiny bit of jojoba oil (probably 1/4 tsp) and olive oil (3-4 drops) in the mix as well; then stuck it in the microwave until it was melted. I stirred it well and then let it solidify again – the result is much more buttery and easier to handle in the shower. And instead of applying it twice, I just put a small amount in my hair as a leave in conditioner right before I get out of the shower. It works fabulously this way; my hair is soft and shiny but not weighed down at all!

The smell might be off-putting to some. I think Lush may have changed the scent at some point, because several of the reviews comment on a “fruit loop” smell, but the bar I got smells like freshly cut grass and evergreen trees, not fruity at all. It’s pretty strongly scented in the shower but it doesn’t linger on my hair much, or at least not that I can tell.

Overall, I had a really positive experience with Lush & the products I ordered; I would definitely recommend checking out their haircare products!

I’ve never owned Rieker shoes before, although several of their pairs have good reviews on Zappos. Several of their shoes are pretty dowdy, but I think these are a lovely blend of quirkiness and practicality. The scalloped edging on the strap and the detailed silver snap is the icing on the cake!

This is what I wore to go see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World yesterday (I wanted to see Inception, but Matt thought that the trailer looked too pretentious.). I actually wore this a couple of weeks ago at one of the blogger lunches, but the pictures from then turned out shitty and I really liked this outfit, so I documented it (slightly, jeez camera) better this time.

Rundown:

Fluevog engineer boots, Hot Topic dress, vintage skirt-slip, H&M lace top via eBay, Tarina Tarantino bracelet, secondhand amethyst necklace. Which broke later last night. Boo, hiss.

My thoughts on the movie: (slight spoilers ahead)

…

I haven’t read the comics, so I don’t know if they’re any better. I didn’t think it was AMAZING, but I didn’t think it was really terrible either. I was mildly annoyed by the fact that Ramona (the love interest) had a total lack of agency through most of the movie; I mean, she obviously wanted to date Scott, but the movie revolved around how her exes all decided to make it difficult for anyone else to date her, no matter how she felt about it, Scott had to fight the exes for/over her, and at the end of the movie one of the exes literally puts a chip in her brain so she has to be saved yet again. As Matt said, it’s essentially a “save the princess” sort of deal. Also, I am kind of wondering when Michael Cera will be too old to be the go-to guy for movies like this. I think he’s adorable, but I’m also pretty sure he’s played essentially the same character in EVERY MOVIE he’s been in, EVER, in the history of the universe, and I mean, there’s only so much cute-awkward-geeky-skinny-indie-kid shenanigans you can watch. Or I can watch, anyways.

It was pretty funny at parts, though. I’m pretty sure there was some sort of Jungian archetypes thing going on but I was never much into Jung so they went right over my head.

The avatar maker is also pretty cool:

They even had my hair color! Which I guess makes sense, seeing as how Ramona’s hair goes from pink to blue to green throughout the film…

Speaking of hair!

It is LONG, y’all. Or at least for me; this is the longest it’s been in ages. I kind of forgot how to take care of it when it’s this long, I probably  need to take a few pokes around the Naturally Curly site or something. Not to mention figure out something else to do with it other than pigtails, since that’s currently how I’m wearing it every other day. The movie made me want to cut it short again BUT NO, I shall persevere. If nothing else it needs to be long(er) so I can have a majestic teased mess of hair for my Halloween costume.

As for general state of the me things; I’m doing pretty well. I’ve been feeling inexplicably burned out lately so I’m mostly holing up in a Hogwarts inspired hole; I’m reading my way through the HP series again (between books three and four at the moment) and planning on watching all of the movies too (I never saw five or six at all!). The cover story is that I want to be caught up/refreshed for when the next movie comes out in November, but I think I also just needed some comforting nostalgia. Although the trailer is pretty fucking awesome, amirite? I think I need to take another short internet break & that’s tentatively planned for the 22nd-28th at the moment.

Anyways. Hope your weekend is off to a good start, dear reader. I have more Harry Potter planned, myself. Because I am an adult and that is how I deal with things, dammit.

Dansko is not usually a brand I think of when I think of shoes that I *want* – comfortable shoes, yes, quirky shoes, yes, but not shoes that you think about after closing the browser window. Well, they pretty much hit it out of the park with their fall line as far as I’m concerned. Dansko’s shoes are guaranteed to be more comfortable than 95% of the footwear out there, and now you can wear riveted cut-out chunky heels while being in total comfort (or badass boots, or sassy vintage inspired shoes). Of course, being Dansko shoes, they’ll all set you back a pretty penny. (Unfortunately.)

Jeez sun! Way to be all bleachy-outy! (Also: woah, my hair looks super bright in these photos!).

Breakdown:

The tank is from Buffalo Exchange, it’s one of the items I mentioned last week. It is made out of rayon and is super super light and I’ve been practically living in it since I got it. It was in the “dress” section – sorry, I don’t think so! For the record, I’m 5’2″ and it would most definitely be chocha-licious on me. Since I don’t want to be on Winona’s blog for that reason, I wore a vintage slip-skirt underneath it (forgot where I got it. Cream Vintage I think?). The belt is F21, the necklace is secondhand, the Tarina Tarantino skull bracelet is from BX. And so are the Guess Marciano boots, which were also mentioned last week in the Buffalo Exchange saga! They’re breaking in pretty well, and as far as I can tell their retail would have been something like $150-200 new…so $25 is a frickin’ steal, considering they’re in like-new condition. Especially considering I didn’t actually pay cash-money for them and that it’s a bitch to find cute flat shoes.

Here you can see the back of the ensemble, including more of my terribly-in-need-of-a-touch-up roots. Lots of bra action, but I really can’t be arsed to care. Maybe next time I’ll wear one of my black ones and make it super scandalous!

This was worn for another Ladies Who Lunch (more photos there) – there were a ton of people there this time! We went to Somnio’s and took up almost the entire restaurant (that place is tiny). I felt bad for being late; the guy in front of me at the ATM took literally ten minutes and then when I got there I drove around the block three times panicking and looking for parking. Oh well, (sh)it happens sometimes.

I then came home and after watching some Battlestar Galactica with Matt (we’re Netflixing it), proceeded to start working on this and forget about, oh you know, eating anything or what time it was until some four or five hours later. I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered (like that it’s only my second piece of computer worked on artwork, ever!). Which makes me feel better about tackling the webcomic (which is still in the thumbnail stage, whoops).

Matt is going in for his CO (correctional officer) screening/testing next Tuesday, wish him luck! I’m really hoping he gets the job, it will make things a lot easier for us. Although he’ll have to go for five weeks of training or camp or whatever, boo. Our new roomie (who turned out to be awesome, by the way) can keep me company. And the cats.

How’s your week going?

Hmm, probably sounds better as Ladies Who Lunch, doesn’t it?

This happened yesterday. From left to right: Grechen, Megan, me (my hair is in pigtails, I swear), Sandhya, Amy, Diya, Joanna, and Anslee. It was a LOT of fun and laughs were had by all!

I felt like kind of a slob next to these lovely ladies – I had intended to go home and change before this, but didn’t get the chance. See, we went to Buffalo Exchange on Wednesday evening, experienced some truly crappy customer service, and came home without selling or buying anything – but I did spot some truly awesome pewter motorcycle boots that I wanted to come back for before anyone else got them. So I got there right at 11 the next morning, thinking that was when they opened (because that’s what Google told me, the lying bastard), but apparently not! I had to wait in line to sell my stuff. It was okay though, because the boots were still there. Of course, me being me, I waffled incessantly, and decided to get a BCBGeneration dress instead. By this time, it was about ten after, and the lunch was at twelve thirty – yikes!

So, I went ahead and went to the lunch. Then I got home and started wondering if I should have got the boots instead. Because that, my friends, is how I roll. I tried on the dress to convince myself and then in short order I started feeling itchy all over and Matt told me I looked like a Vulcan. Lesson learned: check the fiber content before buying, and don’t listen to Matt.

After which, I went back to Buffalo Exchange for the third time in twenty four hours. With the credit from the dress, plus a $5 off $20 coupon that my truly awesome friend who works there gave me, plus the $3 voucher I found in the bottom of my purse…I got the boots (Guess by Marciano for $25!), a lovely flowy tank that is super breezy, and a screenprinted knit dress for a grand total of $18 spent. HECK YEAH.

That was my Thursday. How was your’s?

Questions, questions

Edited by: Jennine Jacob, IFB

They say the only dumb question is one you don’t ask, and these days the questions keep coming and the answers? Well, we try. In the fashion world… Lady Gaga, is she really doing it for the girls? What does working with Terry Richardson do for/against her cred? Should we question the ethnic headdress trend? Has fashion blogging become overloaded and narcissistic? What’s the real price of our clothing? And more importantly what should we wear to a movie date!?! Oh man, the questions they keep coming. Luckily this week’s roundup has some answers.

Links à la Mode: July 8

• 365 Fashion Rehab: Nautical Stripe Shorts 4 Ways
• Denimaniac: Paris Fashion Week SS11 Denim Looks
• Fashion Butter: Beach wear, street wear
• Fashion Cents: What to wear to a movie date.
• Fashionista Lab: Traveling light: Plan ahead
• Fete a Fete: Nars Summer 2010 Colors
• Hello Beauty! Urban Decay Summer of Love set offers a palette that’s all about gorgeous sparkle and a vibrant pop of purple
• Holier than Now: The New Hipster Headdress – fun fashion or not-funny appropriation?
• I’m the It Girl: Master Control: Q&A with Design + Conquer
• I like socks: The price that we are willing and able to pay for our clothing.
• Oranges and Apples: My fiancee made me a dress! Lots of pictures and some thoughts on gender divisions in the crafting world.
• Rocker Repro: Lady GaGa: Yeah, but what is she doing for her female fans?
• Rah! Rah! Style Revolt: Information Overload: 2010 & The Blogging Revolution
• Retro Chick: Love yourself, Love others, Love Vintage Challenge
• Return to Sender: Losing some weight! (but not from where you’d think)
• Shrimp Salad Circus: Greta Pollman handmade feature and giveaway
• The Coveted: American Living Preview
• The Fish Tank: Gothic, grunge Jewelry
• The Thrify Poet: Is fashion blogging narcissistic?
• Wicked Whimsy: Fashion & Accessibility

If you’re a long time reader, you’ve probably noticed the lack of fashion posts as of late – at least, compared to times past. Admittedly, part of this is due to my short attention span and me wanting to branch out to other topics, but part of it is trying to figure out how to take part in fashion when my accessibility to it has changed. Among other things, shoes over 2″-2.5″ tall are right out for me, at least for the time being. For someone who used to regularly lust after shoes along the lines of these, that’s quite a change! And now, in general, I’m unwilling to wear anything the least bit uncomfortable (no matter how cute!) because really, why add to discomfort/pain when I’m already feeling it?

So how do you enjoy something when, whether intentionally or not, you’re left out of it? Good question – one I’m still trying to untangle in my head, while re-tooling my wardrobe so that it realistically fits my wants and needs, but still has some sort of aesthetic that I like. And here’s another one – what would make for more accessible fashion? This is what I came up with (psst, retailers! pay attention!):

• More sizes! Smaller sizes, larger sizes, easily available fully or partially custom sizes (like eShakti) to cater to a variety of heights and proportions. (I know eShakti’s prices are not 100% accessible to everyone – but I firmly think retailers going down that road is a step in the right direction.)
• More knits! Especially in soft and breathable things like cotton (polyester knits = the devil!). Knits can handle weight fluctuation much better than woven fabric can and have less tendency to be scratchy, which is an important factor for those with pressure/skin sensitivities.
• More elastic, instead of button/zipper closures! This can look sloppy if not done well, but I don’t think it has to look bad by any means. If someone is sitting the majority of their day, whether because they have a sit-down job because they can’t stand all day or from being a wheelchair user, hard buttons can be unnecessary and uncomfortable. See also: extensive beading or pretty much anything that adds unnecessary plastic bits to clothing. Not to mention that some closures (like one skirt I have with a hook and eye + zipper closure up the back) can make clothing very difficult to put on by yourself.
• Better online shopping options! Better photos, accurate size charts, a detailed text description of the item for those on braille or text to speech computers, video of the product in motion – these things should be implemented at pretty much any online store that sells clothing, if at all possible. Shopping in a physical store is unnecessarily taxing (physically and mentally) for many people, and let’s face it, online shopping is just a hell of a lot more convenient. If it’s to be a viable alternative, not only should these suggestions become the norm, but the return process (whether online or in store) for online purchased products should be made as painless as possible.
• More comfortable shoes! I’ve covered this before, but it can stand to be said several times. There are some brands doing it right but a lot of others still look like Victorian schoolmarm shoes, and not in a cool steampunky way.

I’m trying to incorporate all of these things into my wardrobe more – not only is it pretty much a physical necessity any more, but hopefully if something sells well, similar things will be restocked. Of course, this is not a comprehensive list, I’m sure it’s biased to me and my experiences – anything else you’d like to add?

Probably not my most flattering outfit ever. Definitely not the most flattering photo ever, thanks to indoor lighting and the cats interrupting the other photos we got!

Oversized shirt/tunic – Austin clothing swap a while back

Flats – Aerosoles via eBay

Leggings – Target (need to get new ones, these are a little short for me and the waistband kind of cuts me off at an odd place, creating lumps!)

Secondhand necklace & the belt is F21.

We’d gone swimming earlier in the day – Barton Springs is amazing, by the way, even if Matt complains about it being cold – and so I had some inner-thigh-rub from walking around in a swimsuit. Hence, leggings. This was also surprisingly wearable given the heat outside, I kind of thought I’d be dying! Note to self: stock up on cotton leggings. I have a feeling I’ll be wearing variations on this outfit pretty often – maybe with a slip under the top – because it’s ridiculously comfortable and given the way I’ve been feeling lately (read: in pain!) comfortable trumps everything else. Also, it was surprisingly easy to class up with a belt and a necklace.

What’s your go to comfy outfit(s)?

Fashion History, Doing it Yourself, and Breaking Stereotypes

Edited by: Marie Denee of The Curvy Fashionista

My first week editing the Links a`la Mode and it was such a pleasure to peruse the latest jewels from the blogosphere! Imagine viewing the history of fashion through the lens of a exhibition or a syllabus of what you wish was taught. How about taking inspiration from the latest Jeffery Campbell shoe and tricking out your own for less? Better yet, let’s talk about the “nude” trend and its color classification, and while we are at it, let’s question the newest movement in advertising campaigns: Unretouched and real beauty- a breakthrough or a publicity stunt? From fashion tips, finds, and favorite things, this week’s links a`la mode will satiate your hunger for full frontal fashion!

Links à la Mode: June 24th

• Bay Area Style File Shoptalk: Stript Wax Bar
• Bonne Vie Is “nude” a problem? Or just a color palette?
• Fashion Butter How to deal with the girls (dressing a larger chest)
• Fasshonaburu looks back at the fashion rules she set for herself at the beginning of the year to see how’s she’s done following them
• Fish Tank Fashion Are “unretouched” and “real beauty” advertising campaigns just a publicity stunt?
• Grit and Glamour Photography for the Amateur, Stagefright-Afflicted Blogger
• Hello Beauty have a new makeup lesson video with the Bobbi Brown Beach Collection and Treatment Lip Shines on hello beauty! The lesson is by Bobbi Brown education executive Katrina Rau.
• Intrinsically Florrie From 50s swimwear to an 18th century duchess’s wardrobe; a look at her college’s fashion exhibition
• Living Embellished Take a course in Fashion History…you know, what you always wished your college offered!
• Lovely & Lavish With the help of a stylish scarf you can transform an everyday getup into a chic outfit, Lovely & Lavish explores this season’s best accessory!
• Meowsk Dressing for the playground, reminiscent of recess.
• Miss Jones and Me Shares a Few of her Favorite Things
• Miss Vinyl Ahoy DIY Jeffrey Campbell Tick shoes for under $20!
• Profresh Style Combining prints & textures
• Retro Chick Frock love: Hot picks from the world of reproduction vintage
• Simply Luxurious Summer items to add to your wardrobe
• Stylish Thought Everyone Loves a Quirky Girl: Examining quirky style and women who dress the part
• The Coveted Under the Sea, Closeup view of Cynthia Rowley’s Resort 2011 Collection
• The Curvy Fashionista The opening of Full Figured Fashion Week NYC 2010
• Wicked Whimsy How to build up a versatile & comfortable array of shoes