Outfit Post- Pencil Skirt and Kitty Shoes

Hey there and welcome to today's post!

This is a short little post showing an outfit from the weekend that I really liked. I was going through my wardrobe to see what I had that I hadn't worn in a while and I found this skirt. I got it in a charity shop about a year ago and I've never worn it so I took it for its maiden voyage on a coffee quest!

My hair needed a trim so I pinned it all up and adorned it with this simple black flower which suited the style of the skirt quite well and gave the overall look a pin-up vibe. It's also been a long time since I wore my kitty shoes out for the day so I took them along for the walk! Makeup was simple and overall I liked how the outfit came together. It is different to what I normally wear which made it more fun!

The pattern on the skirt is this leopard print which I don't normally wear but I love the fact that the skirt is all one colour, Makes it easier to wear I think. 

My trusty cameo skeleton lady! This is one of 4 necklaces that are in constant rotation in my collection, it just adds a fun flair to outfits! 

These shoes have seen better days but I love them so much! I bought these the day I handed my Masters thesis in. I was exhausted and almost dizzy walking into the shop after a stressful week but I emerged with the coolest cats in town! 

I couldn't get a good photo of my makeup! My eyeliner went on pretty evenly and very quickly which is always a good sign for the day ahead. My lip colour is pulling a pinky shade here but it was darker, more of a plum! 

I have been using Dr. Organics skin care in the Dead Sea Minerals Range and I have to say it's really been doing good things for my skin. It has been Clearing it up and helping it look more even. I am also freckled from a summer of fun in the sun. I actually quite like the sunshine despite the whole goth thing but I was forgetful and didn't use sunscreen all the time this year so I picked up some colour. It should fade out over the Winter. I'm not overly pushed on having a ghostly pallor but I do like the pale look so I'll just remember the sunscreen and see what happens! 

Does anyone else enjoy the sunshine or do you hide in the shade all summer?

Thanks for reading,
Rebecca.

Bat Themed Birthday, Outfit and Artwork

Hello there and welcome to today's blog post!

So I turned 26 on the Wednesday just gone and I had an amazing birthday! I went for a night away with my fiance and we actually ended up getting what we are think may have been the fanciest room in the place. It had a panoramic view of the sea front, it was kind of at the edge of the building so it stuck out from the hotel which is quite cool.

We went to an authentic style Italian restaurant where they baked my pizza base in the shape of a heart! I did some shopping and bought a ton of skincare stuff (not photographed) along with some Halloween themed things and some new sketching pencils. 

I took a lllot of pictures, enjoy ;)

My outfit was a Hellbunny green bat skirt with a cami and lace bolero paired with thigh high socks, mesh tights and docs. I was wrecked and tired looking so didn't get a close up of my make up but it was a green smoky eye to match the skirt. 

I wore my bat necklace which I love very much!

I bought these new earrings in Claire's! A bat and black cat. Can you tell I like bats? 

...Yes this is another bat! I think. I don't know for sure though, he is a bit of an odd  looking chap, he has no wings but he does have a tail. He is a keyring also from Claire's and I couldn't leave him behind! Look at that face! 

Then I picked up some darker sketching pencils, a light grey and a black colouring pencil which I needed to finish... 

This guy! Cesare from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I'm still amazed that I managed to finish it as I rarely finish these things. I am very happy with how he came out! I love this film and re-watched it recently so I wanted to try my hand at drawing something from it as it is such a stylised film. 

Then of course there were the chocolates... So many chocolates. I love dark chocolate, these were amazing! Except for the Raspberry ones. Those were weird.

So this was the view from one of the windows in our room at night! I really wish I had a good camera for night photography actually. There was a couch by the window so we spent ages watching everything happen outside, all the passers by and of course all the dogs getting their evening walks by the Quay.

Earlier in the day I wanted to practice photography a little bit as the windows were huge and the corner of the room was shaped in an interesting way so my gorgeous fiance was my model for a while. He is a very chilled out person and very thoughtful too so I think this photo suits him very well! I love this photo.

So that's it. Overall it was a very relaxed day which made it so nice. We finished the day off with  Top Gear Special which was hilarious!


Thank you for stopping by and reading my post! I hope you are all having a great September and are as excited about Halloween as I am!

Rebecca.

Sunday Outfit of the Day- Understated Darkness

Hey everyone!

So lately I have finally broken free from a very long style slump and am getting my mojo back.  I went a long time with no distinct style, no fun make-up and generally just making no real effort. My sense of style got lost somewhere but it has been reborn, it took some experimenting with new things, some forcing myself to just do it and some definite mistakes but we are back in business once more. The result is actually really anti-climactic because its not terribly different to what I was doing before, it's just a bit more put together and more understated in a way. I've been feeling very inspired by post-punk, darkwave, 80's style and the earlier days of goth in general. I guess sometimes you have to break things down to their roots to piece it together again.  

Anyway, on with the show chaps! 

                                 

I went for pizza and cake today (as you do) and wanted to experiment with my hair and make-up a little bit. I remembered that my mother told me my hair reminded her of Madonna once and so I looked up some pictures earlier and saw that Madonna had a lot of volume at the roots. Luckily having short curly hair makes this relatively easy to achieve, especially on third day hair, all I did was run my fingers through the roots and rub at them a lot! Kind of like back-combing. Adding dry shampoo probably would have helped but I find it dries out my hair a bit too much if its not actually greasy when I use it.  I messed around with the curls and just kept pushing them up and back a bit which resulted in a fun hairstyle!

Wow thats close! I haven't done eyeliner like this in a loonng time!
It's not even at all but I'm happy enough with it. Practice makes perfect! 

For my make-up I wanted to channel a bit of Arianna Froxeanne from The Frozen Autumn as she does simple but effective eyeliner styles! And has short blonde hair too! I also darkened my eyebrows more than usual. I put a  small amount of black on top of the earthy brown I usually use and I also drew them on to be slightly more bold and square looking than I have been doing. I did so carefully though since the contrast against the blonde hair makes bold brows into quite the statement. I actually forgot to put mascara on which is an unusual omission for me but its not super obvious

My awkward 'I wonder has it taken the photo yet.. ' face

As for the outfit it's fairly standard and simple. I really like simple put together looks! I am wearing a lace trim camisole, a lace bolero, a really ancient waist belt, a wet look skater skirt and plain tights! I wore patent black doc martens and my favourite Beetlejuice bag along with a sparkly cat necklace. The waist-belt totally came off in the car after the meal though, I got my money's worth of delicious carbs thats for sure! 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!!!

Look! He has little sparkly whiskers! 

So that's it! I'm writing this in my comfy loose pyjama bottoms allowing my food baby to settle! I really hope I can get back into blogging more again but I just keep going blank when I go to write anything down. I'm full of excitement and ideas one minute and then I open blogger, look at the empty page and I can't seem to channel what's in my head into a post! I probably just need to sit down and do it in fairness!

What has been influencing your fashion lately? Maybe the changing seasons have been inspiring your wardrobe or you've found a new band or singer you admire? 

Alternatively have you ever had this blogger's block issue I speak of? How did you get past it? 

I'd love to hear your thoughts, share them down below and thank you so much for reading my post and visiting my blog!

Rebecca. 

Casual Outfit, Hair Updates and Art-Work

Why hello there fellow goth bloggers, it has been such a long time since I have been around this neck of the woods I can believe it! Today I put together a simple outfit today that I loved and I felt like making a blog post about it so here I am. 

All i had to do today was go out for a drive to buy something and come home but I felt like making a bit more of an effort with my outfit than usual. Lately I have fallen into the habit of wearing gym leggings and band shirts all the time which isn't really my style! Right now it is sort of warm sort of not here in Ireland (which is upgrade from the usual rain rain rain so yaaay) and so I wanted something light, airy, casual, comfortable but pretty and styled! I put together this gorgeous top from New Look with a pair of cut-off leather look jeans, a long dangling necklace and my trusty Doc Martens. I didn't wear make-up but I think the look was casual enough that I can get away with it.

 

Top 29.99 New Look
Jeans cut into shorts 10 euro No Name
Doc Martens 100 euro Korkys Dublin
Necklace- no idea! 

The top has sheer sleeves, a casual flowing look to the main body and it has a slit down the middle in the back which reveals a sheer panel underneath. I wore a plain black cami underneath, I don't mind showing skin or my bra but just wasn't feeling it today! 

I love the back of this top so much. I really
like when clothes are plain in the front and have a detail like
this in the back. Also with my shorter hair you can see it a bit better! 

The necklace I'm wearing came from a stall in Venice around 10 years ago and I love it so much. I think the long pendant goes perfectly with the loose flowy top.

Apparently I need more chap stick! 

I also cut my hair short and went blonde! I am actually growing my hair into a bob but I've had it in a pixie cut for the last 8 months or so which I have loved. The colour is great and I find it gives a nice contrast to all black outfits. I never ever thought I'd have short hair or blonde hair but now I have both and experimenting with something different has definitely given me more confidence! 

This is my hair from when it was done first with the blonde. It took like 3 hours and a LOT of bleach but my amazing hairdresser managed it! It has since had the ends bleached twice to lighten it up a bit more and it has definitely settled into a more natural flattering colour. Although I like how unnatural the colour looks in this picture! It took around a month to get used to my hair. I cut it all off and then bleached it a week later which I don't recommend! Even if you really want a drastic change its an awful lot to take in. I kept catching sight of myself in reflective surfaces and getting a small shock!

 Lately I've also been focusing on my hobbies and was inspired to take up sketching again! This is a sketch I did from a photo I took of my mother's tiny little dog. She is a Chihuahua Jack Russell cross and she is brilliant!  In the picture she is sitting on top of one of my fluffy socks that she stole from the washing basket *shakes fist* This took me about a week to do and I am very proud of it. I can't bring myself to finish it though, I don't know why but I'm like that when it comes to writing stories too! 

What about you guys? What't the craziest thing you've ever done with your hair? Or maybe you are trying to build up the confidence to make a big change now! I love love love anything to do with hair so I'd love to hear your stories! I've done so much with my hair at this stage. Poor poor hair. 

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca 

Outfit and Makeup!

Hey guys!

I went to a barbecue recently and got some outfit pictures before I left! I rarely wear anything beyond training gear and pyjamas these days so this was a nice change! This was also my second barbecue this month so yay for socialising! 

Very happy with how this makeup came out! 

Very little black, mostly silver and purple! 

I chose my eye makeup to match the nails! Hey its the little things!

Ahhh socialising and talking to people!! The face of realisation. 

Simple outfit!
Tights 4 euro Penneys
Skirt 15 euro H&M
Top 8 euro Penneys
Belt 1.5 Penneys years ago. Its a jeans belt that I tigheted and looped around to
fit my waist. Really like how it pulls the outfit together!
Patent Docs as always! 

Plus lace cardigan!
18 euro Dorothy Perkins. Good quality lace- not scratchy or cheap!

Hope you enjoyed!
Rebecca.

Goth Fashion and Job Interviews: My tips!

Job hunting is tough. Like really really tough. Although there are more jobs becoming available over here in Ireland there is also a lot of competition for those positions. With many entry level jobs requiring 2+ years of experience it makes things challenging and you definitely don't want anything within your control to count against you, right?

I am a recently qualified personal trainer in the market for a job. I am also a goth. I love black spikey things with holes in them and too much eyeliner. When was the last time you saw a personal trainer with a giant bat on the back of their polo t shirt? (note to self: make bat polo shirt happen)

In an ideal world what you look like wouldn't matter but realistically speaking there are times when paying the bills and keeping your car on the road has to take priority over one's image (unless you work in a creative job or are otherwise allowed to dress as you please for work, of course)

However I don't think that means you have to sacrifice your personality to the corporate machine altogether, I think a lot of alternative people have probably found themselves in the position of wearing something so normal to an interview that they lost their confidence.  What follows are some tips which I have found to be useful!

Yes goth girl from freeimages.com. I also make that face when job hunting.

• Isolate those themes in your wardrobe that are strong signifiers of your own style and translate those trends into a professional look. Think really far outside the box on this one! I have always loved combining super sleek items with distressed things, ripped tights ad platform boots with a cute fitted blouse for example. Taking that blouse and putting it with something more professional ensures that I am still wearing 'me' things to an interview. 
• If you have to purchase something new then try and find items that can fit into your style. I bought a blazer to go with an interview outfit recently and I will definitely wear that blazer again. Blazers are a goth staple and usually not too expensive. Hold off on sewing patches and things to it and it becomes a little more multi functional. Band shirt, shorts, ripped tights and a blazer? Perfect!
• Think simple. If your style is very elaborate or very full on remember that in the job hunting world these approaches may not work. Get back to the basics instead. Dress pants/suit pants whatever they are called (we just call them work pants over here usually) are great and they usually come in black or grey. Perfect. You can go for skirts either. Next think blouse or shirt and don't be afraid of colour. White shirts are very gothable after the interview is over for example. Deeper colours may be a good option too, say plum or even something pinstriped. Next consider a blazer or a waistcoat to add tailoring. I already mentioned blazers but waistcoats are a great addition to ones alternative wardrobe too! 

• Accessories can be a fun way to make an outfit more you. If you have a colourful or subtly printed neck scarf then that could work well tied into the collar of a shirt as long as it isn't too overpowering. An all black outfit could benefit from a plum or even cream neck tie in the collar of a shirt or blouse.
• Give your nails a coat of clear nail varnish. Even though its as plain as you can get, that extra bit of preparation adds to the look. Nude is great too if you have a nude shade. 
• As for jewellry? This can be a great opportunity to show a little bit of personality. Now I wouldn't go wearing massive ankhs to an interview but if you had any simple delicate jewellery then this could be the time to wear it. A silver chain with a small black jewel could work or maybe you own some earrings in the colour of your birthstone for example? Small little cat earrings (depending on how formal the interview situation is) and a simple silver bracelet could be a nice combination too. If you are wearing something with a high neck then you could always wear any gothy necklace of your choice without the interviewer having to see it. You'll know its there though and that can help! 

Hilariously cheesy stock photo ;)

• Piercings.Well for starters if you can remove your piercings then I would suggest doing that. I actually hate having to do this but an employer may not bother to ask you during an interview if you would take them out for the job, they may just assume you won't. Your image conveys a message during that short interview time, convey the right one! If you can't take them out without them closing then perhaps wear your hair down to conceal ones in your  ears. If you have facial ones then you may get away with taking them out directly before the interview and popping them back in straight away afterwards. You can make a more permanent decision if faced with a job offer but if you can save your piercings at all for an interview then I would do it.  I lost a piercing to a job interview and when I realised I wasn't getting the job I was kicking myself for not taking the extra few seconds to take care of my piercing afterwards. If you really can't do this then you may need to be honest and make a decision over your body mods and work so think long and hard. You could always replace lost ones with something like a septum which is easily hidden. 
• I don't have tattoos so I can't speak from experience but I would say honestly conceal what you can if possible! This may be tricky if is too hot for long sleeves where you live but if this is the case then I would make an extra special  attempt at a professional image for the interview. Also Try google to see what the company's guidelines are with tattoos and piercings, this can be quite useful. 
• Hair! Hair is in my opinion the make or break of an interview outfit. I love the sock bun as it is simple and elegant. When I had my short Betty Paige fringe I used a combination of hair wax, styling gel and hairspray to keep it back and I secured it with a plain patent black hairband and it ended up looking very sleek and well put together. I have curly hair which can be unruly so I usually opt for wearing it off my face in some way. Wear your hair down if you like but make sure it is smooth and as silky as possible. Whilst frizz ain't your fault and is often uncontrollable it doesn't look the best so if you are in doubt then wear it up! You can also look to Kitty from Sophistiquenoir for amazing inspiration on beautiful elegant updos! 

Ignoring the headset this hair and makeup combo are very interview friendly
I think. This was also a hard post to get images for as you can probably
guess;)

• Shoes. Again keep it simple. I think every goth has occasion for a pair of plain black ballet flats in their wardrobe. They are very handy to have around and you never know when you may need them! Keep them in your bag the next time you are wearing huge heels on a night out or even just throw them on to head around the corner to the shop. They look pretty and neat with some tights for a job interview or poking out from some suit pants. They are also fairly cheap.
• Bags. If you can get away without a bag then go for it as they can be annoying but if you are alone then I would opt for something small and neat. Here I would go for black or maybe a nude colour but go with your instincts on that. I have a small over the shoulder black bag which looks nice and simple with interview outfits. It was 4 euro in Penneys. Can't go wrong!
• The most important thing to remember is your attitude. It can seem stupid to friends and family when you are unhappy with having to tone down your look for an interview, they think its a phase and not an important part of who you are etc. Ignore them because they just don't get it and probably won't. Image is a reflection of self and changing that to please someone else isn't fun but try and look to the positives. Remember that this doesn't change who you are and that you can dress as you please when you are home. Remind yourself that you are being intelligent by understanding how competitive the job market is and presenting yourself accordingly. Its not lying or selling out, it is simply good survival tactics.
• Do not forget your MP3 player or CD if you are driving. Listen to YOUR music before and after. Very very important tip!!

I love blasting this song when I drive anywhere. 

I would also add that if you are handing out CV's then the tips above still apply. A lot of people put no effort into their appearance whilst they are out and about visiting shops thinking that the interview is the time to look professional. Set yourself apart, look the part at all times!

Anyway I hope this helps and that you found it interesting in some way!

What about you guys? Any thoughts on points I've mentioned? Maybe you think I've forgotten something? Or maybe you have your own job hunting story you'd like to share?

This is a big topic for me at the minute so I would love to hear your thoughts!

Rebecca.

xxxxx

If you go down to the woods today...

Hello lovely reader and welcome to my first blog post in a long time!

Last week myself and my lovely fiance took a random trip to a nearby woods. It was on of those rainy fresh days that was perfect to spend surrounded by trees and nature! I took one look outside and knew it was an adventure day.

Sometimes you can forget that you don't have to travel far and wide to find nice places, sometimes those places are nearby! With a quick google search I found woods close by that I never even knew existed! I've been living in the area for years and had never heard of the place.

Anyone else ever stumble upon a gorgeous location in their local area by chance?

I love woods and forests, they remind me of fantasy shows and fairies!

Enjoy the pictures, we had a great day!

This tree reminded me of the tree in Sleepy Hollow directed by Tim Burton!

This was a hard photo to get, he kept moving!

Miaow!!!!
xxx