A winter photoshoot

I have done quite a few photo shoots over the years, but no recent ones. So I thought I will show you some old ones. But before I got around to that, I had another one. It was supposed to be an ugly gray forest shoot, but OF COURSE it started to snow for the first time this winter on just that day. So instead we got a pretty snowy photo shoot. Here's a small selection of the outcome - Mormelar in January 2014:

Treating myself with new stuff

Sometime deep in the winter I got a bonus from work. Most of it suddenly disappeared into everyday shoppings and food, but on one afternoon I decided to go shopping! I think it is something I have not done in a while, most of my things are found by accident, except second hand findings.

So, I really really needed a hat. I had looked everywhere for it, but as big, furry and yellow are the key words in hat fashion this year, I had no luck what-so-ever. But, as the weather was really cold and I had ruined my last hat, I had to buy something.

I finally found an okey hat, which I later on transformed into awesome, from Mohito. There was a huge bargain, so I also grabbed a pair of faux leather gloves. I actually can not remember if I have ever had leather gloves before. I don't think so. But they were cute.

The skirt is a plain HM skirt I got while visiting our capital for a work thing. Always time to do a little shopping during the lunch break! Also the Couleur Caramel mascara is from that time. This is my third one, I think, I am in love with it. I have to make a separate post about my make up stuff!

We also went to a getaway-weekend in Riga. It was a really cool and romantic weekend, we walked in the city, took part in some events and also snuggled a lot in the hotel. As my husband dislikes shops and shopping in general, I tried to stay away from them. We only visited a craft shop and a few eco shops, for I needed a new foundation. In the third one I got it. It's Sante and the lightest color as usual.

Back to my shopping day. I got two dresses from Lindex. The fun thing is, that they are from the girls section and only one of them is for my daughter! I really love this dress, the upper part is velvet and skirt part is black tulle, it is really pretty. I bought one for my daughter and tried on the biggest girls size just for fun. It is a little too short, I as am rather tall and the dress does not really take into account boobs and booty (why should it, right), but I just could not leave it in the store. I mean, having the same dress with your daughter? Adorable!

The last item I consider the biggest finding of the day. I have longed for a leather jacket for a few years now. But as I am not a skinny jeans model, I never liked any of them on me. I have ordered a few second hand ones from eBay, but always sold them. And then, just like that, there was a bargain (-70%) black jacket, only one size left, in Seppälä. And it fit me perfectly! I have not had the chance to wear it yet, as it still is winter, altough a warm one. Hopefully it will look as perfect on my dresses as I imagine it to look.

So, an overall nice afternoon, I am really pleased, as I did not spend a lot of money but I think I got some really nice things for myself.

Next week I will be in UK for a work project. And I will have lots of things to show you afterwards. I already ordered some things to a friend's place whom I will meet and hopefully I will have some time to shop also!

Some new second hand shoppings

So, I still have not shown stuff from my last two secondhandshop runs. The last time was especially good, haven´t found so much good stuff for months.

This was a really boring time, when I only got one thing, a studded pencil skirt.

Then things got a little better, the next month I got a short sleeved cardigan, a long sleeved cardigan - I am really into cardigans now, as they can be spruced up so easily by a brooch or even an embroidery. I also got a cool plan top with awesome shoulders. They had hideous huge golden buttons and some weird bows, but I removed them. I have not yet replaced the buttons with something stylier, but I will. I also got a cute military style jacket for my daughter.
Guess I should mention that my children are not wearing black all the time, just that I only show stuff I buy for them that go with the gothic or punk style. 

So, the last and the best time. I got a really cute dress, a long sleeved shrug with white edges, a pack of 2 mesh tights from HM and another black cardigan! As you might have noticed, I really love the ruffle shoulders (is there a real term for it?)

I also got two long blouses, which look really similar in the picture, but actually are not. One is more like a jacket, it only buttons in the middle. It has a ruffled back and looks really cute. The other one is like tunic, with noticeable buttons. I am not really sure if I am going to keep it. Really loved it at first, but now I am not so sure if it's really me.

Gotta love Monster High

So, I believe that there are not so many goths out there who does not know Monster High dolls. As the blog scene shows, a bunch of them even have those dolls. Our home has about 14 of them, although none of them are mine.

I disapprove all sorts of branding when it comes to children - actually, adults too - and so I do not like to get my daughters all sorts of Disney etc stuff what is really popular at any given moment. But as every parent knows, what you want and what you actually can have are two different things. I try to explain to them why they don't have to like everything others like and have and how those desires pass. But I am no extremist, we do have some of popular brand stuff, especially books.

Draculaura

So, why do we have so many MH dolls and countless of books, stationery and even some clothes with this brand?
It is all my fault. A few years back we went on a trip to Ireland and visited one huuuuge toy store to get some gifts for our daughters. And I found a cute Frankenstein cloth doll and a vampire Barbie-lookalike. What more can a goth mom want? We bought them, the children loved them, I googled them and... suddenly everything was Monster High! I had never before heard of them and in my country there was not a sign of those dolls, they came about 6 months later.
I was in love with the theme, with those alternative dolls and their quirky bodies - which I find to be less attractive and not-so-easy to identify yourself with, so, a tad bit healthier for little girls. I wanted to get them for my children and of course, they loved them even more than me.

By the time I realised that this thing had gotten out of hand and that MH was so incredibly popular, it was too late. We were sucked into the brand and actually, it does not suck so much.

Elissabat

Lots of the children including my own identified me as Draculaura, a cute pink-black vampire character. I had the black and pink hair and lots of pink accessories and also the scary dark look of course. I work with children so I heard that a lot.
The cutest thing was in Spain, where I traveled for work, where a little girl was at first afraid of me cause I "was a real live Draculaura" and later on fell in love with me, gave me a kiss and danced with me. There were a lot of Monster High fans there in Galicia, children wanted to take pictures with me and shouted with happiness every time they saw me. It was adorable.

A few weeks after I dyed my hair black, a sad child told me that I am not Draculaura anymore. Sadly, that was true. I was no longer a Monster High.

Until this weekend when my daughters found that they had released some new characters and surprise-surprise, there is a new vampire chick called Elissabat, who is more black and a little bit of violet, which is my thing at the moment! I was violet about 3 years ago and when I dyed myself black at the beginning of winter, I was really happy to wear my violet accessories and hair clips and other stuff again. And I do like Elissabat. She is an actress which also connects to me as I was in an hobby theatre for most of my childhood, 11 years. Her clothing style is also much more like me than Draculaura's was.

Long live Monster High!

Frankenstein's Bride

I have had (partially) colored hair over 5 years now. So, a few months back my hair "grew ill" and one of the reasons was all this bleaching I had done over these years. My hair dresser, whom I love and trust so deeply, decided it was time to go all black again.

I was really really devastated at first, I did not like myself all black, everybody knew my because of my pink or red or whatever I was wearing at the moment. I still sometimes miss my hair, but the best thing about having all black hair are all the different colors I can add to myself now!
I have this thing that I cannot wear many different colors at the same time. I usually have black and silver (jewelry or piercings), so one extra color to that is enough, maybe two if one of them is white. When I had pink hair, I tried to wear only pink additions, the same tone pink preferably.

With black, I have much more fun in that department.

So, I discovered green for myself. I love the character and the looks of Frankenstein's Bride, so I got myself some things with that theme.

I ordered a bag and a cardigan by Banned from Soho's during their -30% sale. The bag is big and comfy. I love the cardigan very much, it's very soft and the quality is good, cannot compare to these cheap 5-pound-findings at all.

And my adorable husband gave me some long desired jewelry for my birthday, a pair of earrings and a necklace. Love them so much, they are big and brave. From C.A.B Fayre.

Some new eBay findings

Ebay and Etsy are big big friends of mine. We get along really good and communicate often. I buy craft supplies, accessories and clothes from both of them. From eBay, mainly used clothes, though.

I wanted to share some of my latest eBay findings with you. Ebay is so big, that it is difficult to find good stuff without knowing exactly what to look for.

A sugar skull type bag. It was really cheap. The quality is okey, altough the strap ending broke as soon as I tried it on. But what can you expect for only a few dollars? And it was easy to mend.

I have searched for a similar necklace for some time now. I had several listings in Etsy in my cart, all rather pricey, and I was trying decide between them and also bring myself to give so much money. Most of them were laser cut acrylic necklaces. But then, while looking for something else, I found this! It is perfect and the cost was only a few dollars again. I have worn it a few times and the color has not faded yet, but I suspect that it may. 

I have many skull print items made by the great China, but not this cardigan yet. It cost about 7 dollars and is one size, as usual.

Whoever said money can't buy happiness, simply went to the wrong shop.

Uh, I finally found some missing pictures from summer. This pack of things is special in two ways - I found a great pair of boots and I also went to a real mall with new things! Haa. Altough I did not buy clothes, it's still worth something.
From the usual once-a-month-second-hand-shopping I got a black longsleeve with a cute white lace collar and sleeve puffs, a shortsleeved leather jacket, an adorable black lace blouse with a bow on the collar ( I love it to bits!), a black dress I already sold cause it was a wee bit small from the chest and as a funny addition for me, a pair of pink pajama pants with skulls. Funny, because I do not wear pants at all. But they already proved to be useful when it went suddenly cold and the heating system couldn't keep up.

So, my new boots! I still cannot believe that I am so lucky to have found them. They are real leather, so-so good looking, so comfortable, well-kept and had a very reasonable price. I bought them in the summer and could not wait for the weather to go colder so I could start wearing them. It does not show on the picture but they are actually really high, so not everyday boots for me as I am rather tall.

And finally, a few small things I got from "regular" shopping. Some hair clippings and a pair of pantyhose from Seppälä. Actually, I recently went to mall-shopping once again, got some nice jewelry, I have to make pictures of them too.