LA LA LASHES

I love fake lashes. The bigger, the better. In general I only wear them for shows or photoshoots since I get pretty much of my own lashes with a good mascara as well, but sometimes I might wear them in every day us as well, just for the fun of it.

Here are some of my best lash-tips for you:

* I've noticed alot of "how-to's" out there on the web when it coems to applying the lashes. My best tip for applying is the same old mantra that I've mentioned with so many other things : practice makes master. There's no other way.

* Be sure to choose a good, professional glue. All of us Itty Bitties use Duo.

* When you shop for lashes alwyas take one size bigger, fuller and longer than you first intended to. They still look pretty different on you than in their box. And what's the use of wearing false lashes if you don't look like straight out of a make up ad? In my opinion at least.

* You can modify the lashes a bit yourself; a lot of lashes are very long but rahter thin, for stage use I'm after a few thick long "cartoon-like" ones that will show from a far; I used a bit of water and glue to stick the lashes together to achieve the effect. Make Up Store has a couple of lashes ("Circus Holiday")with the right look that doesn't need modification.

* The thinner the lining of the lashes the better. Some may look nice with a linig of rhinestones or glitters but it will make them harder to glue on correctly. The ones with the lashes attached to a thin, almsot unnoticeable silicone strip are the best. You can always add a line of glitter or diamonds yourself later (you can buy those on pre-glued strips).

* Some recommend to put mascara on your lashes before applying the fake ones or to put eyeliner on afterwards. I say never! Do all other make up first. I put mascara on last, only a little, to make the fake ones stick to my own better. Sometimes I might have to fill in a bit more on the eye-liner afterwards.

* I never put the glue directly on the lashes, but on a small piece of paper and then, with the help of a pair of tweezers or a cotton pin, attach it onto the lashes. I use the tweezers for application help too. When applying I first check that it fits my outer corner correctly, but I press the lashes down in the middle first, then the corners. I glue them on my own lashes, right on the root, not on my skin. If there has to be more glue added to the edges put som on the tweezers and carefully add some. After a few second I press the lashes a bit upwards, then add mascara.

* As you may know you should cut the lashes to the lenght of your eye. My eyes are pretty wide so I seldom have to, but alwyas chekc the lenght before you start. You can use the small bits of the lashes cut off for a star-like effect; glue them "up sie down" in the outer corner of your eyer, under you underlahses. Seal with mascara.

* You can use the same lashes many times, but you have to clean them in between use. Carefully rip off the dried glue with a pair of tweezers. Afterwards I press the lashes against a make up removal pad and gently wipe them clean, after which I press them onto a tissue. Let them dry for a whole and place them in their box to keep their shape.

* It's fun to play around. Now for our Zombie Halloween show I'm going to wear huge lahes under my eye for a holed-eye effect, that will still make me look good.

CHERRY IN RED AND BLACK

Photo by Risto Kantola

This is me in dark locks and wearing part of what became of the sequinned fabric. In other words, just before getting up on stage last Saturday to premier my new number.

(I can let you in on so much as what starts out in black ends in blonde and there's a whole lot of glitter and shaking fringes in between but the rest you'll just have to catch yourself. *wink wink* Club Wanted X is coming up and so is our jazzy night at Storyville, more on those later.)

EDIT : You can see some pics of our (as wells as Burlesque Polaire's and Sugar Kane's) last week's show here.

CANDY SUNDAY

I have a bag I refer to as my ice cream bag. It's the colour. It makes me think of ice cream. So does my pink cardigan.

So dressed like this I felt like a bowl of ice cream (vanilla, strawberry licorice sauce. And some pistachio ice cream too, underneath. Not that I really like licorice sauce on ice cream. But anyway). Or Fazer's French pastilles in my grandmothers porcelain jar from when I was a kid, since as you know I like to dress like candy from time to time. And what a candy Sunday I had!

First I went to an elderly relative of mine who was wealthy and into fashion in the 50's and 60's and collected hers and her aunts old clothing she wanted to get rid of. Stuff you'd kill me to get your hands on I tell you - a 30's long evening gown in velvet, an amazing 50's satin brocade cocktail dress, a promenade suit with the perfect fit in mint condition plus some more dresses and skirts. (Yes I will twist the knife even deeper and add some photos eventually.)

Afterwards I met up with one of my sisters and my parents for a late birthday celebration; we had some cakes and pies and you name it at a café in a 18th century villa in a park just outside of town. Nice.

To top it all off I had marzipan and champagne for dinner.
As I said, candy Sunday.

(For those who wonder; the skirt is thrifted, the cardigan from Gina and the bag from one of the shoe shops in Kamppi.)

WINTER TIME

Did you all remember to turn your watches one hour back?
(After years of being watchless I now have one I could turn the time back on - one that will surely not help me to be on time but that will let me know how much I'm late and make me look more sophisticated to check the time from rather than my mobile phone; a watch necklace.)

Anyway. I would appreciate this one extra hour a lot more if it came on a Monday morning, instead of Sunday morning. Sundays are easy anyway. This one especially. But more on that later.

LIFE IS SHORT AND FULL OF STUFF

(That's me quoting the wisdom of my friend and burlesque gal Jackie O's new superb tattoo).

But yeah life is full of stuff and here's what's up for the moment :

* I received some of the stuff I've ordered lately. Stuff makes me very happy in many ways. (Not all ways possible, but many.) Ordering online makes me guilty and excited at the same time and picking up the stuff makes me ridiculously happy; it brightens up rainy days or hectic on-the-verge-of-a-burnout periods.


* Yours truly gave her harbor boys a laugh some time ago by answering the question of "what to do when you're underdressed" (my first answer being that I, of course, never am underdressed for any occasion...) by phone to a reporter, while wearing yellow safety clothing, heavy boots, trailer grease from the knees up and dirt from the knees down, loading a ship. The related photoshoot was fun and taken some weeks earlier. (I look like I'm about to eat you and anyone else opening the mag at that spread).


* This sea of sequins, pearls and satin ribbon will turn into yet another burlesque outfit of mine which will premiere on Saturday. Fanicest fabric I've ever bought (I better do that number a lot now). That and a whole lot more can be seen at the L-World party at DTM. (And yes I know, most of you don't live around here and won't make it but I'm going to wear this outfit-to -be on a photoshoot coming up soon so this time there will be pics!)

VAUDEVILLE BOUTIQUE

I'm proud of my friends - my fellow burlesque performers Mimi de FrouFrou, Lafayette Lestrange and Olivia Rouge have opened a shop for all burlesque and retro lovers in their home town of Tampere!




Vaudeville Boutique is a beautiful shop full of pretty, kitschy and delicious things from labels such as Stop Staring, What Katie Did and Kiss Me Deadly - not to forget a bunch of Finnish designers and friends as well; hats and fascinators from Fiona Timantti, accessories from Molla Mills, clothing from Mirkka Metsola and Olivia Rouge herself, plus many more. Olivia also has her small studio upstairs where she can sew you custom clothing.

The store is located just by the train station on Rautatienkatu 26 so if you visit Tampere you'll find it hard to miss. If you are a local I take it you've been to the store already, right?

For all of you everywhere elsewhere than around here the online shop is begin constructed.

This is surely the largest dressing room in Tampere! It actually is a room.

I payed the store a late night visit before a show of ours over there and got myself a hair clip from Olivia Rouge, which I attached to my angora beret instead of my hair. (Because you can do that too you know :)

(Ps. Mimi will be our guest star on Club Wanted in Novemeber!)

A SHIRT IS A SHIRT IS A SHIRT. OR?

(Yes, I am shamelessly using my cats for more interesting pictures.)

I have been asked to do an honest review on a shirt from Littlewoods. (I hadn't heard of Littlewoods before but maybe it's a familiar name for you if you' re from the UK or so?). The Love Label check shirt.

So why not; one can never have too many shirts. A basic cotton shirt is always useful and versatile since easy to wear in different ways. At first I wasn't really sure about how one reviews a shirt though; it's either a good shirt or then it's not.

Well this turned out to be a good one - I was positively surprised when I received it since I, to be honest, think it looks rather boring on the site. It has kind of a western vibe that you can accent by wearing a jeans skirt or a fuller skirt and "hide" by wearing a pencil skirt or high waisted wide trousers, like me. I am between sizes and tend to order the bigger one to be on the safe side just to find out that I am in fact not in between sizes but exactly the smaller one, and so it was in this case too. But a shirt doesn't really have to be skin tight, it looks nice with a bit of puffiness.
Thumbs up!

DRESSMANIA

Oh my. I just can't stop drooling over pretty dresses I spot online! Clothing porn. I am a total dress addict and for the moment there are quite many notifications from the post office about parcels to picked up that I'm waiting to receive (oh yeah!). And just as I've decided not to allow myself to order anything for a while I stumble across this beauty. Oh! What a shame to leave it all alone out there on the internet and not on me instead...
(Bettie Page clothing / ModCloth.com)

Ps. You've asked to see the results of what I've been sewing on in the previous post. They are stage outfits so I most likely won't be presenting them here, you'll just have to pop by at Club Wanted tonight for a peak then!

TULLE, LACE, CATS AND PEARL RIBBON, STRESS AND SILK

I am once again in a very familiar state - the one where I wish the day had more hours and don't have time for everything. (Or when I wish I were a millionaire with a couple of assistants doing all boring chores for me and me not having to work with anything else than what I want to). I'm still quite proud over the fact that I have achieved a lot so far- a part from getting up at 05:40 every day this week to go to work, I've sewn (and sewn very well!) not only one but two very nice burlesque outfits for my shows and even finding the time for a little lindy hopping in between!

You can see the first outfit in a re-vamped number of mine in Tampere, where I'm heading on Thursday with Lola Manchego and Tinkerbell to perform at the Sweet Jeena & Her Sweethearts record release party! There will be a lot of dancing, americana, swing DJ's, chocolate sweet hearts and lovley ladies on stage. (Getting up before six in the morning and doing the two-hours drive to perform in the late evening is less nice however...)

The second outfit can be spotted at Club Wanted VIII on Saturday!

Next week I'm going to sleep a lot.

BLACKER / COVER UP

If you have a bad hair day, cover it.
If you have a bad makeup day, paint over it.
If you dont know what to wear, wear black, and wear a lot of it.

(If you happen to go to a circus-themed burlesque party the same night it makes it easier not to spare the eyeliner, drag a scarf out of the closet and go all gypsy fortune teller from a travelling circus sometimes long before you were born. If you're not, go for it anyway, think silent movie star in an exotic role. The one a of gipsy fortune teller in a circus perhaps.)



The scarf is from Tunisia, the hair flower from Rascal, the earrings a gift, the eyeliner thick and covers most of the eyelid.

SUNDAY SONG

Good for lying in bed, waiting to get up,not being in a hurry, Sunday morning.
This one.

WALKING AROUND IN STOCKHOLM

Last week we did our short trip to Stockholm. We did a whole lot of walking in nice autumn weather and visited a whole lot of nice vintage stores and cafés, thanks to you and your Stockholm tips. I saw a lot of pretty things but didn't actually buy anything myself becuase you know, you don't always have to.

RUBBER BOOTIES

Oh the joy of waterproof shoes!

(Although I have to confess, they are not the most comfortable ones. Totally ok for an hour or so, but not to walk in for hours. Ouch. But then again, few shoes are...)

HALF MOONS

My nails are rather small and I seldom do anything else with them than just paint them red or pink. Sometimes however I go for this vintage style manicure; colouring the moons in a paler colour, or leaving them without varnish with only the base coat showing. I don't use any manicure strips or fancy nail paint for this, only a precise hand, but it's a bit tricky that way so I have been thinking of investing in either one to make the painting a little faster.

I've come across pictures and videos on the web calling a manicure like this "Dita nails". Surely she has her nails painted in this 30's style from time to time but it's not like she has come up with the idea herself. (It's not like all shoes with something heart shaped are called Minna Parikka shoes either :).

I saw the movie Public Enemies some time ago and noticed that you could catch a glimpse of Billies nails painted in this style in one scene. I like those small details in movies that you might or might not notice, but still add an over-all touch to the authenticity of the era pictured.

A PRETTY LONG TIME AGO

27 years ago today I blew out the candle on my first ever birthday cake!
(I'm pretty sure I didn't have any of that cake myself then though. Today however, I will :)


(I couldn't resist putting up this pic of me, mom and my very baby-chubby legs here too...)

EVERYDAY YIN AND YANG

I got two things today. A good thing and a bad thing to even it up a little; I picked up a couple of cherry combs (to be shown later) and a big beautiful blue flower from Rascal Kosher's etsy shop. I also got a parking ticket (during those five minutes I ran up to J's flat to pick my cats up after staying there during my Sweden trip).

That's everyday yin and yang for you.

(Psst. Thanks for all you Stockholm tips!)