Some Good News and Some Bad News

Life has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs recently!
-Sister got a job, moving to Seattle (yay!)
-Need new housemate because I cannot afford the rent alone (boo!)
-Friend found a friend who needed a place too (yay!)
-Other housemate is moving at the end of the lease, so we need another housemate (boo!)
-Got appointment with work center on Wednesday (yay!)
-New housemate will not move in if another housemate is not found (boo!)

So I may or may not need to move somewhere, which then also affects where I can work @_@;;
Basically putting all my thoughts on hold until Wednesday when I can check with the work center to see what type of jobs I qualify for and whether it will be enough for me to afford rent so we can rent the house with just two of us.

In other news, check this outfit I put together with clothes my sister bought for me from Gen Con!

T-shirt, Leggings: Savage Sparrow (gift from my sister!)
Skirt: WEGO
Bag, Shoes: Swimmer Japan

The leggings have a print of Magikarp and shiny Gyarados on them!  And the T-shirt is ultra cute:

Things aren't going great but at least I look cute with Pokemon gear ^^;  Keep thinking positive!!

Who's your favorite shiny Pokemon?  Mine is probably Ponyta!!  Blue fire is good fire :3  Also I just like Ponyta~

Artist Spotlight: Meredith Dillman

Today's artist spotlight is on fantasy and fairy artist Meredith Dillman (website) (deviantART) (instagram) who is from Minnesota! If you are a fan of Art Nouveau, fantasy, fairies, and Asian aesthetics with highly-detailed clothing and backgrounds, you'll really love her style!  I appreciate the watercolor and colored pencil look especially.

Work in progress
Image from instagram

In addition to prints, she also produces enamel pins, charms, books, coloring books, and has an oracle deck, all available on her website.

Image from deviantART

Image from deviantART

Personally I adore the attention to detail in the folds of the fabrics and how there is depth and color variation in the light and shadows.  There are probably too many folds to be realistic, but I really enjoy the draped effect it gives! 

High Priestess
Image from website

My love for fantasy art came from the days of Amy Brown and Nene Thomas fairy art at Hot Topic ages ago.  While I do still enjoy those artists, Meredith's style has more whimsy and fantasy that I find so alluring!  I do also recommend Nene Thomas for more photorealistic artwork and Gothic aesthetics though~

Do you have a favorite fantasy/fairy artist?  I've named my top three here but I'd like to see more!

Pokemon Go Ralts Community Day

Yesterday was Community Day for Pokemon Go!  I played at a park nearby, but it rained about an hour in so I had to go home.  Still got two shiny Ralts (one I evolved) and also evolved a female one too!

There is a bunny!

Did some Ralts makeup too ^u^v  I like the pink glitter~

Pokemon makeup!

OK that's really all :P  Not much else has been going on with me.  Been in Adult Day Treatment for the past two weeks and I think it's helpful so far.  I hope I can find a job soon though @_@;;  That would be the biggest relief!

Did you play for Community Day?

Artist Spotlight: Zihling Huang

Time for a smaller artist spotlight~  Today is a Taiwanese artist named Zihling Huang (Instagram)(website)  I first found her art through her collaborations with my friend's Lolita brand Little Rose Planet and fell in love with her style!

Image from her Instagram

Described as "a mix of sweet girls with some weirdness added," her girls are "doll-like creatures walking a line between human and inhuman."

Similar to Yoh's Monochrome World, whom I previously wrote about, she does very detailed lines with some yami-kawaii (sick-but-cute) elements as well as dark or Gothic designs.

Image from her Instagram

The proportions and faces of her characters are much more human and less exaggeratedly spindly, though, which I think adds a more kawaii charm to her style.

Image from her Instagram

If you'd like to wear any of her art, be sure to visit Little Rose Planet (JSK, SK, tights are all available!) and support two local Taiwanese artists!!

Do you have any local artists you are a fan of?  Please share if you do because I really want to know more small artists!

Artist Spotlight: ECONECO

It should come as no surprise that ECONECO (Instagram) (Art Shop) (Products Shop) is one of my favorite artists!!  Her dreamy pastel colors and deco'd canvases are totally my style *u*   Of course, I've previously blogged about meeting ECONECO when she came to Taipei  (1st time)(apparently I didn't blog the second time, only post on Instagram)(3rd time) and now own a few little things with her art!

Flashback to the first time I met and purchased ECONECO!

There is a whole series of cosmetics and home goods in collaboration with ECONECO available in Taiwan as well.  I miss it!  I did purchase the BB cream for the packaging, but it turns out to be a good BB cream as well!

From ECONECO Instagram

On LINE you can add the ECONECO TW account to get a free mobile wallpaper each month.  I cannot seem to link the account on the webpage, but if you use LINE you can do a name search to find it I'm sure.

2019.07 monthly wallpaper

 She also visits Taiwan quite often, and did again in July!! (Crying because I missed out!)  She even did a special wallpaper using four Taiwanese animals:

Formosan Blue Magpie, Formosan Black Bear, Formosan Clouded Leopard,, and Formosan Macaque 

The blended pastel colors, canvases with strass crystals and peals, and whimsical settings I think would be popular with Lolitas!

From ECONECO Instagram

I think the deco canvases are really a cute and unique touch.  If I had art skills I would want to attach sequins, pearls, and jewels to my artwork, too!  It reminds me of a puzzle I had as a child that came with a glitter pen so you could decorate the completed puzzle.

Let me know what you think!  Also if you have any similar artists that you are a fan of, I want to know!!

A Little Sweet, A Little Spooky

Have you ever scrolled through your own photo albums or Instagram feed and just felt like you pose the same way all the time?  I know I have just a couple go-to poses for outfit shots, so recently I tried out different poses and learned that SO many of these "casual" poses are difficult to angle/hold correctly if you are taking the photos yourself.

FYI this post is just going to be random talking ^u^v

I like candid shots like when I was playing with Natto (it also shows my makeup look haha) but it's difficult to show an outfit like that~

Normally I take outfit shots standing up, but trying to show more close-up pictures in a square image for Instagram is more complicated... 

Am I effortlessly chic yet?

However, it was really sort of fun to try and copy a bunch of poses found online!  I really feel like certain outfits fit certain poses better.  If you find yourself going back to the same few stances in pictures, maybe try copying some models who use poses you'd not have thought about doing before~

Rejects

That reminds me... didn't I start a "posing" series like seven years ago on this blog?  Originally it was going to be face-specific gestures and some Lolita-friendly poses, but I think I gave up on it because it just wasn't very interesting ^^;

Other random images!!

Taking myself out on a date makeup:

I am awful at "natural" makeup so I'm wearing zero eyeshadow here ^^;  Just mascara and face makeup!

 Hanging out with the cat makeup:

Natto is acting like a tough guy but he's a big softie

 Colorful days!!!

I LOVE these hair accessories!

 And one final spooky one:

Jewelry love

I really love original googly eyes *u*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK I really haven't had anything interesting to talk about.  Still looking for work, getting medical help, and hanging out with friends when there is time.

How is your summer going?

I still haven't gone to any Lolita-specific events here, but it seems like it's mostly just small meets anyway and usually not anywhere I can easily get to.  Been taking myself out on Loli-dates when I can!

Recently I will likely just blog to share interesting things like artists and maybe indie brands.

All makeup details on my Instagram accounts @_sparklewolfie_ and @white_bones if you are curious! Or you could ask in the comments if you don't like or use Instagram :P

Artist Spotlight: Yoh of Yoh's Monochrome World

I'd like to start sharing some of my favorite artists on my blog here!  I enjoy a variety of styles and mediums, and artists both internationally famous and small-time deserve to be seen ^u^v

Today I'm sharing one of my absolute favorite artists, Yoh of Yoh's Monochrome World. (Instagram) (Shop) Many of you may be familiar because he's been featured in Lolita bibles before, which is how I originally discovered his art, and there was also a collaboration with Alice and the Pirates!

I own the book Gothic Lolita Punk (Amazon link) which includes his artwork as well as a variety of other wonderful artists (including famous artist Kira Imai who often does Angelic Pretty illustrations)

His style is very detailed and almost always just ink lines on paper (hence "monochrome world") though occasionally there will be some color.

The pictures usually depict spooky-cute dolly girls and boys.  I especially love the hair and eyes!

Some of the artworks are very sweet-themed too~

I really enjoy the clean lines and hatching/dotted shading.  The illustrations seem to be sort of dark fairytale or dreamy, like the colored illustration above.  Even the dark Gothic pictures don't rely on gratuitous blood or gore to make it seem sinister.  It's more like a creeping shadow than a bloodfest, if you will.  This style appeals to me a lot more, as if you are being gradually drawn into the details and cannot look away.

As for the collaborations with Alice and the Pirates, there are cutsews from 2009 and can be found on Lolibrary (Princess Grape, Princess Pear, Princess Raspberry).  I believe there were collaborations with Tokyo Rebel as well, but don't really know much about that one ^^;

If you use LINE (messaging APP popular in east Asia) there are also LINE stickers you can purchase!
There are currently six sets, three in Japanese and three in English here if you are interested~

The example

Do you enjoy this style of art?  I will try to share more artists regularly, so stay tuned and thanks for reading!

Donut Time and Personal News

KC, JSK: BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT
Blouse: Little Dipper
Bag: Swimmer Japan
Petticoat: Classical Puppets

Starting out with a donut day photo!  I was at a local shopping center and there was this setup for "National Donut Day" in the center!  I don't think that's a real holiday, but it was a nice background for a photo~

We didn't really go out for doughnuts though ^_~

What is your favorite fake holiday?  Well, other than International Lolita Day I suppose!

Now onto a more personal update:
I originally moved here because I had a job offer here, however after orientation I decided that it is not a good fit for me and so have not taken any cases, despite having already paid US$50 for roster registration and US$50 for a background check.  To be honest, I had a bit of an anxiety attack at the place and had to hide it behind some sunglasses so people wouldn't see me crying ^^;  Most embarrassing behavior!

So I have been searching for other work with no luck.  Got some replies and tests taken but either was rejected or simply never heard back (most are doing mass recruitment so perhaps my results were lost as they said all applicants get a reply.)

I've also had an intake assessment at a job help center so I'm hoping I qualify for assistance to get work. 

If all else fails, I will move back to Taipei in September when ticket prices go back down and either try to negotiate office hours at my current job or look for additional work as all my work experience is in Taipei.

Though I have wonderful friends here, I don't think I am a good fit for the lifestyle and current culture.  It has certainly changed a lot in the last decade, more than I could have anticipated based on reading online!  Though Minnesota was a good home that my parents provided for me, Taipei is a good home that I made for myself.

So what happens next is really up in the air and I'm terribly nervous about that.  I've been losing sleep and not been doing very well in daily life, but on Monday I will have an intake for mental health assessment so I can get help.  Personally I'm not a fan of hiding behind mental illness as an excuse to not do anything or try to get pity or handouts from others (rather manipulative to do so, really) so if there is help available, I'm definitely going to take it!

Normally I don't talk about much personal news on here so I hope this wasn't too much ^^;

Thanks for reading!  How have you all been doing recently?  Hope everybody is doing well :)  I'm trying to comment more on others' personal blogs as well!

Dragon Boat Festival 2019

Happy belated Dragon Boat Festival!  I wasn't going to post about it because nothing happens for Dragon Boat Festival here, but I'm going to share the zongzi I made anyway ^u^v

Normally zongzi are filled with a lot of stuff like fatty pork, peanuts, water chestnut, shitake mushrooms, and even more stuff depending on each seller's recipes!  Because I made mine very last minute, I didn't have any ingredients, not even glutinous rice!  The middle-eastern grocer didn't have any either, so I used the leftover white rice we had at home ^^;

The sauce is normally very flavorful, but I only used soy sauce and spices!  I did manage to get bamboo leaves and cotton twine at least!  And the zongzi didn't fall apart when I wrapped them!

Once steamed, the inside is far more lacking!  The filling is really only tofu and white mushrooms!

I will need to plan ahead next time...

What traditional food do you like to make?  I guess it doesn't even need to be a traditional food :P  Just what festival or holiday food do you enjoy making?

Recent Days

Recent outfits!  I haven't been doing much other than looking for work and hanging out with friends to be honest.  I've met some new friends, gotten shots and fingerprints for job stuff, applied to so many other jobs @_@;;  I forgot how annoying it is to look for work...

Hair: Daiso Japan
Blouse: Little Dipper
JSK: BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT
Wrist stoppers: handmade by me
Everything else: offbrand

The weather here has been pretty nice, so that's good!

Blouse: Little Dipper
JSK: handmade by me
Everything else: offbrand

It was also my birthday on the 30th and my sister and friends threw me a surprise party!  It was nice and we played some board and card games and had cake!

Hopefully something more interesting is to come~