Friday, February 10, 2012

What I Wore: new times a billion

Hello there!! Well, school has picked up and of course I'm busy busy busy, as always. I have amazing classes this semester, and I'm really psyched about the practice and inspiration I'm getting. (This includes in both art AND style!) I usually end up really dolled up for my two shortest classes that start late in the day. It gives me a lot of time to get ready in the morning, so sometimes I over-do it. Y_Y

Collared shirt: thrifted
Sweater: Red Light (Seattle)
Jeggings: Pac-sun
Socks: Forever 21 

(hmm. I need to find a better place to photograph myself. My room is so crowded!)


This is the other day, for instance! Okay, maybe it doesn't really seem like I tried so hard on the clothes, but I think it looks so cute! Collared shirts + sweaters = best.



Mis-matched socks! I put on shoes later, I promise.



"Esther, what's wrong with your hair?!" 
Oh, that's right, I haven't showcased my new hair just yet. I spontaneously acquired a side-cut over break. My roots had grown out horribly by the time I made it back to chicago. I had some fun plans for my hair, but I ended up going with this black + rusty pink + lavender combination. I miss having color all over, but I'm really trying to grow my hair out! Yet, I got a sidecut... Don't question my methods!!! It's a work in progress. :) 

DETAIL VIEW TIME!!



~Check out my ear!~

I changed out some jewelry over break and sized up my ears. I'm currently at 8G and my current goal is 00G. :) My next goals are a nose ring and a medusa piercing! <3



~Sparkly eyes!~

I've actually put a bit more pink dye on since these shots were taken.


If you want to see more regular cam-whoring outfit/personal posts, you are totally welcome to follow me on my tumblr. :) sad-bumblebees

If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask away!!
xEsther

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Back to Chicago

School has started and I'm back in Chicago!

 Unpacking all the books I got over break...! I can't wait to try out recipes from my new vegetarian cookbook.

 Zoe brought a ton of magazines home with her. Good reference for the fashion class we share.

 Still rebuilding my closet!! Blacks/greys on top and my pastel section growing on the bottom.



It was pretty cold and snowy when we got back. The lake was even frozen over and looked so pretty from our flat. I've been drinking a lot of tea to keep me warm and keep my metabolism up.

I'm ready for my next week of school! All I want to do is draw these days. I think re-finding Annie Wu's art blogs might have something to do with this extra inspiration....

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Breaking Fashion

Break: because my Christmas break is nearing its end!! I'm very sad. I've been enjoying my time back in Washington so much! I wish I had blogged about it, but I left my camera back in Chicago!! I really should have made some room in my suitcase for it... sigh. Lesson learned!

In other news, once again we reach the subject of fashion here on Awkward Royalty. I've been continuing to rebuild my closet while I'm here in Washington. My [nu]goth and lolita sensibilities have been growing quite a bit. I even found some cute new articles and some awesome places to shop at before I fly off on Sunday. :'( The week is going by way too fast!! I've been snowed in at my house the past few days... 
However, yet another adorable fashion has weaseled its way into my brain... Fairy Kei. I knew it would grab hold of me one of these days.

As always, I've found many of my fashion icons on tumblr. It's admittedly my go-to site every day... I should probably be paying more and more attention over here!!
Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the bloggers that I really admire and their flawless faces and style. They're really inspiring to my closet. ;)

 


A gorgeous pastel beauty from Kazakhstan. Her blog is full of hipster goodies and pink wonderfulness!
I think her style goes with a title pastel goth or nu-goth... I see a lot of goths complaining about the association of "nu-goth" to goth subculture (they seem to see it as "dark hipster"), but I just think we should accept everyone for whatever style we feel best in!!

 

I think she's a model? Whatever she does, it's simply adorable!! Super cute bright hair and a side serving of punk rock, Eva never ceases to make me smile AND be extremely jealous of her style. She really has a signature look that tumblr seems to love.

 

This was the gorgeous gal that made me officially decide to work on an additional fairy kei closet. (More money-spending, YAY!) She's also got sort of nu-goth edge to some of her outfits that I love. Where do these girls get their items?! I must know... I also can't wait to take Intro to Fashion when I get back to school and learn how to make myself some epic pieces.

There are actually quite a few more that I could add, but I have some plans and I gotta get ready!!

xoxo

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

My Little Pony: Styling is Magic

My Little Pony: Styling is Simple

I’ve been aching to style Rarity’s hair ever since I first bought her.  I looked up a few tutorials online, but they were all made for older generation ponies. I thought that maybe I’d make my own tutorial for the Friendship is Magic toys.

Rarity is our model, of course.

~You will need~
-Conditioner
-Your pony’s comb
-Curlers or pen caps
-Strips of paper towels
-Tiny baby hair-ties/rubber bands
-Maybe barrettes


I trimmed some of Rarity's hair to get a flatter edge like she has in the cartoon. Her ends were previously really uneven. You don't have to, but as someone who cuts their own hair, I was a bit picky about it. 




STEP I
Wash your pony’s hair with mild temperature water and a bit of conditioner. The conditioner will make your pony’s synthetic mane super soft and help to hold the style.
I use an all-natural conditioner for my own hair, and it worked splendidly for Rarity. Of course, synthetic hair is all the same, so it doesn’t really matter what kind of  conditioner you use.



STEP II
Towel-dry your pony’s mane and tail as much as you can, but make sure it’s still a little damp! The styling won’t hold if you dry your pony’s mane all the way.

STEP III
Brush out your pony’s hair. Part it as you see fit. I’m going for the same style Rarity wears in the cartoon, of course. However, it’s always easy to re-style your pony’s locks, so don’t be afraid to practice or have fun with it.


STEP IV
Here’s the tricky part. If you have some tiny curlers available (or you are styling a larger-sized pony), I highly recommend those instead. For this Rarity, I found that pen caps were closest to the correct size.

            Curly tail: Fairly simple. Wrap the tail around your pony’s back leg, starting on the outside. Cover it with a strip of paper towel and tie on a tiny rubber band.



            Mane: For Rarity I’ve got her bangs to one side and the rest of her mane to the other. This style would also work for Fluttershy. For Rainbow Dash or Twilight, You’ve got straighter styles that are a little harder to get right.
Roll her mane in the pen caps (so that they curl up and in, like in the cartoon!!), wrap with paper towel, and tie the rubber band on once again!




Let your pony sit this way overnight. The next day, carefully take everything off. In some cases your might want to brush her mane out a bit, but you might not! It’s a preference thing.


Let your pony sit this way overnight. The next day, carefully take everything off. In some cases your might want to brush her mane out a bit, but you might not! It’s a preference thing.




Here’s my very own Rarity! <3 I love her to bits. (Sorry about the picture quality…!) I got Fluttershy for my birthday, so I’ll post her once she’s done as well.

If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask! I’m always online. : )

xo

Monday, December 19, 2011

And then there were SIX

Three more QR codes, posted around school this time!!




Nothing special. :)

I've got a lovely little pony mane-styling tutorial coming up!! I'm going to write it while I'm on the plane today. I finally get to go back to Washington!! The excitement almost hurts.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Holiday Cheer

It snowed in Chicago! It kind of set up this awesome Christmas atmosphere. We were inspired to clean and get in the spirit of the holidays.


Frosting some sugar cookies after cleaning up the kitchen and living room....

I frosted a ton of cookies and they look smashing. :) At least I think so. What do you think?



I tried to incorporate as many Christmas icons as I could...
Let's see, there's trees, ribbons, wreaths, poinsettias, and holly... and a couple other random things. I think I like the wreaths the best.
To give sugar cookies with icing more of a flavour variety, I suggest crushing peppermint sticks and sprinkling it on the icing. Maybe you can tell that I did that on a few of them. They needed some flavourful fake snow!
(I just ate one, and they're crazy delicious.)



Here's our epic Holiday set up. Check out our futuristic mini-tree! We have a lot of cat ornaments, and one seal ornament to fit my tastes.
The presents wrapped in shiny red are from me to my roommates. ;)

I absolutely love the holidays! December is one of my favorite months. Maybe it's because it includes my birthday, Christmas, and winter break....
Speaking of which, I turned 19 on Tuesday!! Everyone was kind enough to take me out or give me goodies. I really don't like being the center of attention, but everyone is always so sweet. <3 Thanks for the well-wishes.
Now I'm looking forward to going home!! I leave Chicago this Monday afternoon! It will be an adventure....

What are you doing for the holidays??

Sunday, December 11, 2011

QR Coding

As both a personal and school project, I've printed some QR codes to post around town. They lead to my tumblr art blog. :)



I've only posted three around town so far, but I plan on posting some more when I'm more well equipped to be a ninja. Posting these QR codes was a bit challenging because I was running around donating and selling clothes so I could afford to buy Holiday presents for my friends and family! Therefore, my hands and arms were super full and... not ready to be stealthy and swift.

(clearly.)

QR 1

QR 2




QR 3



1 = Down on a blue line stop. Probably gone pretty quick.
2 = The back of a random blue line train seat! Good times.
3 = A resale fashion store off the Damen stop.

Next time, I'd like to post some around school and some art shops. Since the code links to an art blog. Over time, maybe I'll have up to ten (my current goal) around town. :>
Let's just hope they work and I gain some followers. haha~