The drink that should not be named

So suck it, Valvira.

Koska loppu- ja alkuvuosi menivät niin tiiviisti Tampereella, olen viettänyt pitkästä aikaa pari viikonloppua Helsingissä Herra J:n luona. Ensimmäiselle viikonlopulle ei ollut mitään suunnitelmaa, hengailtiin vaan ja toteutettiin pikainen reissu Ikeaan. Toisena viikonloppuna taasen oli vuorossa Uisge-viskifestivaali, johon itse osallistuin nyt ensimmäistä kertaa. Herra J:n ollessa innokas viski- ja olutharrastaja, on itsekin tullut maistaneeksi yhtä sun toista taikajuomaa... ;)

Perjantai ei lähtenyt käyntiin kovinkaan hyvissä merkeissä: juna, jolla minun oli tarkoitus matkustaa oli kokonaan peruttu onnettomuuden vuoksi. Koska korvaavaa kuljetusta ei VR:n puolesta tällä kertaa järjestynyt, vietin matkan istuen liikuntarajoitteisille varatussa tilassa lattialla istuen. 

Matkustaminen täyden junan lattialla ei ole sieltä mieluisimmasta päästä...

Pysyin kuitenkin alkuperäisessä aikataulussani, joten ehdittiin vielä ennakkoon varattuun leffaan. En ole paria noita uusimpia Deppin leffoja nähnyt, joten kävimme mielenkiinnosta katsomassa Mortdecain. Hienosta näyttelijäkaartista huolimatta täytyy sanoa, että olisi saanut jäädä katsomatta... Deppistä olen pitänyt jo vuosikausia, siitä lähtien kun ensimmäisen kerran näin Gilbert Grapen ja Saksikäsi-Edwardin. Harmittaa vain, että hän tuntuu nykyään vain toistavan noita hyväntahtoisen hölmön rooleja, mieluusti katselisin häntä vähän vakavampana. 

Sininen huulipuna on Makeup Monstersin Atomic Number 27

Lauantaina heräsin kamalan flunssaisena, olo oli todella kurja. Sitten kun vielä onnistuin täysin kadottamaan toisen piilolinsseistäni heti sen silmään saatuani (sitä ei oikeasti löytynyt mistään!), iski paha mieli ja tuli tirautettua pienet itkutkin. Sain kuitenkin rauhoituttua ja kerättyä kamppeeni, joten pääsimme lähtemään kaupungille. Marmatin tosin matkalla murjotukseni lomasta, että ainoa syy enää liikkeelle lähtööni oli jo ennakkoon ostettu pääsylippu...

Asukuvaa lauantailta

Itse viskifestareilla oli kuitenkin niin paljon katseltavaa ja maisteltavaa, että kurja fiilis onneksi hälveni nopeasti. Myös flunssapöpöt tuli nujerrettua maistelemalla enemmän kun useita 1cl annoksia toinen toistaan kiinnostavampia viskejä ja rommeja. Olen ihan rakastunut tuohon lipun hintaan sisältyneeseen maistelulasiin, tavallista pienempänä versiona se sopii passelisti meikäläisen uuden harrastajan annoksille.

Mini-me!

Itse festaritarjonnan lisäksi osallistuimme vielä yhteen viimeisistä tastingeista, joista tämä salakuva on räpsäisty. Näihin tunnelmiin, sláinte!

Happy derp is happy ^_^

~Misantrella

Belated Hexmas post and other stuff

I was going to write about Christmas, but there really isn't much to write about. We spent a few nights with My. J's parents and a couple nights with my parents. I was surprised with how many presents I got in the end and how very little of them were chocolate!

Prezzie pile!

The biggest present (in both prize and size) was a fitting doll sponsored by mom! ♥ I've been wanting one for years now, but since my sewing and crafting has been quite nonexistent lately and those things are expensive, getting one has been on the backburner for a long long time. 

Prymadonna fitting doll from Eurokangas, size M

I discovered that Eurokangas was selling customisable fitting dolls in two different colours and different sizes for 159 € and finally decided to get one! I thought about getting the purple version, since I mostly use black clothes so it would be easier to differentiate the clothes from the the background, but wound up getting the black version in the end. It does feel a bit flimsy though, but as a tall girl with a long torso I really love that this one has a customisable waist/back height! The only thing I hate about this is clearly seeing how big I've gotten...

I've been really stressed out for the past week with possible changes in my living arrangements. I also have a ton of stuff I don't really need, so I've been slowly going through everything and trying to figure out what to keep. Tiina already helped me decide which items to keep in my wardrobe/jewelry box and which ones to get rid of. She's really damn effective, I wouldn't have been able to make all those choices by myself! :D

The "for sale" -clothes pile, not even all of it.

And the "for sale" -jewellery, accessories & other stuff -pile, also not all of it.

Hopefully I can shave off all the extra stuff from my belongings before actually having to lug everything around... 

~Misantrella

Love and Fear

My computer keeps acting up with stupid little things and it frustrates me to tears and to the point where I keep lashing up at Mr. J. Not cool. I feel like such a bitch, since all he's done is try to help me.

My sister's birthday is coming up this Thursday and for some reason I'm really dreading it this year. It's been seven years since she died and to my horror her memory is fading. I've tried to keep her death out of my mind for so long, for my own sanity, but it looks like this coping mechanism of mine is just pushing her away from my life, like she didn't exist at all. It's a terrifying thought.

Decided to have a little yukata-themed photoshoot, getting ready.

I did have a sister, a beautiful, stubborn girl who left us way too young. I loved her so much, and such a big part of me died with her. Her death was such a shock to the whole family and her friends. I haven't really been able to talk about her with anyone since, not even my parents or my brother. It just hurts too much. I sometimes dream about her though.

I kept snapping photos!

Lately when I've thought of her I keep remembering all the mean things I did or said. Why can't I bring back the good memories? I had a few therapy sessions over the years, but they mostly focused on other aspects on my life. I couldn't talk about her with them either. And now I don't even know where I'd start.

There was a masquerade event at a club, we went as undead lolitas, she was so bored! :D

My memory is already bad enough as it is, so it's painful to realize the things I'd really want to remember can no longer be reached. All I remember of those days is that I wanted the call her the day before her death, but never did; the day I heard the news and the day we went to see the body. Those moments are etched in my mind. I cannot remember anything after that, I can't really remember the actual funeral either, only the moments before the church. I left a note in the coffin, but I don't even remember what I wrote in it.

She'd probably hate me for posting this, but she was a baker and a cute one too! ♥ This one was going to be a chocolate Totoro cake.

I wish she was still here. I often wonder if she'd be proud of the person I've become. If she had stayed with us, would we have kept in touch? She'd probably have a family by now, she was so in love. We had talked about religion, and when I told her I left the church, she said she wouldn't do it because she wanted to get married in a church. I think out of all the three of us siblings, she would've been the first to actually settle down. Would she have liked the choices I've made? I'm pretty sure she would've hated some of the people I chose to have in my life, and she'd been absolutely right about them. I wonder how she'd have felt about Mr. J... She thought I was a total dork, so maybe she'd have said we were perfect for each other.

The finished cake! ^_^

I feel like I didn't really start living until after she passed. I got my first piercing (excluding "normal" earrings) and started to change my wardrobe and appearance more to the way I wanted to be. She was into alternative fashion and I really admired her style. I had been too much of a coward to be anything like that myself. I cared about other's opinions too much. She got me started in changing my own wardrobe. After she died, I realized life is too short to give a shit about what anyone thinks about you. Always be yourself. What's the point in any of this, if all you do is hide?

The picture is really blurry, but she had drawn a tiny Totoro and a soot ball next to her eyebrows with eyeliner. So creative! ♥

I could go on and on, but this post is already too long. I just needed to get some of this off my chest, sorry for being a downer. Take care of yourself and the people around you. ♥

Back in 2006, after my year in Japan. This is my favourite pic of us together, so I've probably posted it before. ♥ 

~Misantrella

TL;DR: I miss my sister, her memory is fading and it terrifies me.

DIY Edward Scissorhands -costume

We had an Oscar Gala -themed Christmas party at work, and there was a preferred dress code. Apparently not everyone had read the invitation, since they didn't realize they could dress up as a movie character and not only in evening gowns. A lot of people hadn't worn anything special but some had really cool outfits!

It took me a really long time to decide who I'd want to go as, since the "genre" was so broad. I thought about using my Ursula-costume from Halloween but switching to the more authentic silvery white hair and purple makeup, if I couldn't come up with another costume. I also thought about another Halloween costume idea that I've yet to do: a starlet from an old black and white silent movie from the '20s, but that would require a lot of gray body paint and a small blackboard for text.

From the start I had decided to go as a character instead of an actor or a guest, since I like to dress up in costumes. Mom suggested I go as one of Helena Bonham-Carter's characters, but I was leaning more towards a male character just for the heck of it. When Tinde suggested I do Edward Scissorhands, after I had already played with the thought, I finally decided to go for it. Especially when I was told I wouldn't be able to pull it off with such a limited time and budget!

Painting them buckles with some bling! Unfortunately I accidentally left the opened bottle like that overnight and lost about half of what was left and the rest got all clumpy. Sadface, it was a really nice silver polish and they no longer make it! :'(

I got buckles (1,50 €) and some wide elastic (1,70 €) from a flea market, used some silver nailpolish to paint them (had ran out of silver spray paint) and built the costume around a pair of black college pants and a black turtleneck shirt (7,99 €) with a pair of black studded shoes. The studs I had from earlier (also second-hand, two huge bags of them) so decided to slap a bunch of them on the elastic as well. I didn't really follow the original costume that much, I decided to put a lot more effort in my scissorhands and makeup.

Making the gloves for the hands - remember to check which way your fabric stretches, cause I sure didn't! ;P Saves you time if you don't need to redo this step...

I couldn't find cheap gloves so I made them too from some black tricot fabric. I just traced my hand, (forgot to check which way the fabric stretches, had to redo it!) and then taped (5,99 €) a bunch of cardboard-duct tape "scissors" on to them. I had originally made the scissor bits rounded from the other end, but had to cut them straight since they proved difficult to tape. They turned out pretty cool, even though I used the very last evening in making them!

My lovely left scissorhand.

It was impossible to bend my fingers because of the cardboard and all that tape!

The finished costume! I'm pretty proud of myself, I liked the way it turned out. I managed to cut my hands a lot during the process of making the costume, which I found ironically hilarious. I opted to go as the genderbent  version of "Edward", seeing as I didn't even want to try to bind down my boobs. ;)

Derpy pose, but at least you can see the whole thing.

A dark, lonely soul

I didn't have a chance to try out the makeup beforehand, but I had watched through a couple of tutorials (there's a bunch of them out there!). I brought a ton of makeup with me to be able to pull this off, and used a Sleek makeup foundation that was a couple shades too light with Grimas translucent powder for the base. I then used Grimas scar wax (bought it a couple years back for a Halloween costume) to make very quick and basic scars that I lined with a brown and purple eyeshadow to make them pop. Then I used a dark purple, brown and black eyeshadows for my eyes (I didn't hide my natural eyebrows, since they are very light anyways) and some purple to draw out my cheekbones. Lips are done with just lipbalm and the purple eyeshadow. I really hope the makeup wasn't as lopsided as it looks in these pictures though...

I ended up winning the best female(?) costume! I was super stoked about this, though a lot of my coworkers told me they voted for me. This year's prize was a golden "Oscar" statue and a box of chocolate truffels. I actually won last year's competition too with my quick (rein)deer -look, so now I'm really psyched to keep this going! :P

This is what a winner looks like, bitches!

~Misantrella

Bonus pic: the stupid powder box thought it would be hilarious if it totally exploded in my purse. It really fucking wasn't.

Argh! I really hated cleaning this up and the bag still looks horrible. 

TL;DR: Made an Edward (Edwina cuz of boobs!) Scissorhands costume using only about 16,20 €. (I only bought the shirt, the buckles, the black tape and the black wide elastic, all other stuff I had already). Was told I couldn't do it but proved them wrong and won 1st prize, suckas! ♥

Friday!

I'm finally getting my computer back today! \o/ Two thumbs up everything actually works properly... :P

Meanwhile, I've set myself a makeup challenge for December, pics available on my Instagram! Since I'm a hoarder of all sorts of things, especially cosmetics, I set a challenge to actually put on makeup every day this month. I tend to be really lazy in the mornings and much rather spent the "extra" minutes playing HayDay rather than paying attention to my face... Which leads me to have all these pretty lipsticks and rad eyeshadows that I never use. I even hoarded more makeup from Sugarpill, Lunatic Cosmetics Lab and Makeup Academy during their Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales, so all the more reason to start using stuff!

I get to spend another weekend with Mr. J, so even though work is hectic, I'm feeling pretty good today! Have a great weekend everyone! ^_^

~Misantrella

Rogue giveaway!

(Just a quick update at work on my lunchbreak, my computer is still with Mr. J in Helsinki, hopefully getting fixed...)

My fantabulous friend Tiina aka the incredibly talented Rogue is having a giveaway to celebrate her 1st year! ♥ You can participate in the giveaway by following her blog, Facebook page and sharing the post in either or both.

And here's what's up for grabs!

Go follow her and good luck in the giveaway! ^_^

~Misantrella

Halloween, part II: Halloweener

We had another Halloween party hosted by Tiina, Tinde and myself on the 31st. I dressed up in the morning so I could scare my coworkers - successfully too. I didn't have a specific costume, so I ended up throwing on a wig, messy makeup, fake blood and a long poofy skirt. The horns were an impulse thing I did in the morning.

Managed to scare a couple of coworkers with this getup, tee hee hee ;)

I rushed off to Tiina's place straight from work to help her with the decorations and got some last minute shopping done when Mr. J got there.

The paper garlands were from Tiger, we also had a bat-one. And lots of spiderweb!

More spiderwebs! And the tiny mareng ghosts had taken over everything *spoopy*

We had all sorts of lovely snacks and delicious chocolate cake, courtesy of Tinde. The tiny mareng ghosts were an absolute delight! ♥

...until I killed one...
(How do you kill a ghost?)

The cake was AWESOME! Every chocoholic's dream ♥

Iinamon's second boyfriend Bob looking over the table featuring Graveyard dirt, Mummy wieners, Dragon scales, Ghostcakes, Alligator skinflakes, Deadly Nightshade, Snake venom, Brain chunks, the dips Black Bat sneeze and Alien Sneeze are missing from the picture.

Outfit selfie ;P

 ~Misantrella