Cheerful "Goth"

This dress is an unusual choice for me; I usually never go for something so acidly bright, so yellow, so babydoll, so short.. It attracted me though, from the moment I saw it. A moment of hesitation, a doubtful frown plagued my first time view of it.. I even almost left it on the rack. But here I am wearing it, still a little doubtful, but loving the strange edge it lent me for the day. The biggest reason I bought it was because it reminded me of another tiny shockingly bright dress I had seen in a photo somewhere, off in the nets, worn by the songstress Lana Del Rey to a festival. It was so different and crazy and strange, and I of course fell kinda in love with it. It was that image stayed in the back of my mind somewhere, and pushed me over my moment's worth of hesitation. 

Dress I was inspired by.

As cheerful and youthful as the dress seems, the violent clash of the dark purples and teals colliding with that extremely shocking acidic yellow made me feel like the outfit had a darker, almost gothic vibe, which  I tried to play up with my velvet black choker and heavy lipstick. One can only go so much goth on a hot day though. I will have to try to figure out other ways to style this dress, maybe with some black tights and dark sweater? I did enjoy the simple daring of it, as much as I worried about it riding up TOO far up for comfort. Go bold or go home, amirite?

Oh ps, it's a good outfit for shocking people who think they know you :) 

Dress, bag - thrifted

Sandals - Old Navy

Earrings - World Market

<3 The Magpie

40 Years

I distinctly remember this day; it was a few days after I had gotten my hair lightened and I was still marveling at its boldness. The air was humid and the day was overcast, the sky heavy and still. On a whim, I brushed gold eyeshadow over my eyes and bridge of my nose, like a shimmering mask suspended holographically over my skin. I was so disappointed that it didn't show up well in my photos. I was wearing a simple dress with a simpler vest thrown over the top, but everything still felt too hot to the touch. I wanted to wear something easy to go to work, and this fit the criteria. 

The outfit is indelibly inscribed to a certain memory from that work shift; I work at a coffee shop and a man pulled up in his car, and the normal exchange of a cashier/customer was exchanged. And then, and then, and then! he asked me if my co-worker was "my daughter". My daughter! A girl only a few years younger than me, but apparently so mature I appeared, he legitimately thought she was capable of being my offspring. I had the strong suspicion he was fishing for information on whether or not I was old enough to hit on (sigh) or he lacked all reference to time. I'm more amused than offended by such a out-landish question, but idea that somebody's age radar can be so wildly askew is rather interesting. Do I WANT to look older? Do I want to look younger? How will I look as I age? I hope that wherever life takes me, that I will grow into a strong and beautiful character, that my view of myself will mature and grow as my body ages, changes, and decays. 

(p.s. I'm in my early twenties)

Dress, vest, necklace - thrifted

Earrings - World Market

Sandals - DSW

<3 The Magpie

Daisy Train

Another summery outfit post. I have quite the backlog of photos, but am able to slowly work my way through them. I still can't quite believe I have my own computer! My own means of producing and creating my work... My own way to connect with the world and use a tool to create and draw inspiration from.. Truly, we are blessed to live in this tech-saturated world, where ideas dance at our fingertips, and the process from mere thought to full-bodied creation is shorter than ever before. People may decry the proliferation of media and how new technology can damage society, stilt creativity, and on and on and on, but really, it's only a tool, and although it IS a powerful tool, it only affects us as much as we allow it. For me, my computer has given me freedom whereas previously, my hands were tied to specific locations and times. Ironically, I am writing this on the computer at school, but the principle remains! I edited these photos on my own computer last night, and was thusly reminded and gladdened of the power it gave me. All the poweersss, yessss! *cackles maniacally* Ahem. 

This outfit is color coordinated, and so 'me'. Did you notice how the lipstick matches the bright magenta in the dress?? Do you see it?? CAN YOU TELL???!? Have I mentioned I'm a little obsessed with colors..? As for the turquoise eyeliner, I was on a turquoise-liner kick for awhile this summer. I go through turquoise spurts. Turquoise was my first color of non-traditional eyeliner, and one of my favorite colors to wear in high school, so I definitely go through turquoise phases that fade and then swing back in full force. Wearing it with the contrast of the bright magenta was also a plus!

I painted daisies all over my nails; hence the blog post title. I know they aren't that splashy, but they were so fun to wear! Daisies randomly became a favorite trend of mine, so hopefully I will get to show some more outfits with said flower in different shapes and forms. I was so happy when they actually became a mainstream trend, because that enabled all of my feels for them that had suddenly bubbled up from the dark recesses of my creative soul. Can anybody else relate? There should be a word for the surprising affection of a random theme.

Dress, bag, necklace - thrifted

Sandals - DSW

Earrings - Target?World Market? One of them. 

<3 The Magpie

Boyscout

These were taken in the heat of summer, when my face is perpetually flushed, my hair is eternally too long, and I can't quite wear hems short enough. I titled this post "Boyscout" because of my little yellow scarf, but "cub scout" would be more accurate. I was drawn to its graphic elements - the strong yellow versus the dark blue - and decided I didn't care that it was a cub scout bandana, even if my mom made fun of me for wearing something so campy. As for my hemlines, I veer between as short as I am comfortable wearing, or something decidedly matronly. I'm not sure why I can't find a style balance, perhaps I'm just a drama queen.

Boy scout turned out to be a great theme for me, as when I was taking these photos, a boy drove up (note: I'm all alone, purposefully far away from all the other cars) to ask me for directions, and then proceeded to do his best to hit on me. Poor child. He picked the wrong girl to test his smooth talk on. Aside from just generally being annoyed by the unwarranted attention, I can't help but laugh. I can be out in the middle of nowhere, and still, guys somehow find me. It's my latent power. :/

The sweet little dress I'm wearing is one of my long-time favs. I found it at Target ages ago and have worn it ever since. It's a tiiinnyyy bit on the short side, especially if I raise my arms, but it's perfect for the that eternal hot spell called summer, and super cute besides. I wore it with my shiny gold sandals and pretended I was 'effortless' and 'cool'.

Dress - Target

Scarf, bag - thrifted

Sandals - DSW

Earrings - self-made

<3 The Magpie

$th of July

I decided that putting up pictures from the 4th of July is better late than never. This was the day I got to see my best friend Bekah right after she just come home from a trip to India! So as you can see, she had the Indian style dress, and her henna game was strong. I hung out with her and her family that day, and then we all went to a field behind my church to watch the fireworks. We also played around with lightpainting techniques which you'll see later in the post!

This red dress is one of my favorites - a light cotton frock in the brightest of shades. I found it at a thriftstore for only $8, and it turned out to be from Calvin Klein, so double the score. I wear it with a red camisole in a matching shade of red since I cut out the insert in the front. It had a weird sag and was always too low, so snipsnip. I love pairing this dress with with my red rose jewelry and red red lipstick - might as well go all out for the 4th! Speaking of which, I drew little stars near my eyes that spilled down to my cheeks with a gold eyeliner pen. Sometimes you just need to draw galaxies on your face, you know?

I am looking forward to wearing the dress more in the summer, as I feel it is best served on a sunny day with no heavy layers in sight. I'm still enjoying the cooler weather though, so hopefully not TOO soon. Have a great day all!

Dress - thrifstore

Earrings, necklace - boutique/street stall

Shoes - DSW

<3 The Magpie

Macaw

 

Somebody wise and renowned once said "Never wear yellow eyeshadow with blue eyeliner and bright red lipstick", but apparently I never got the memo. I personally thought it turned out great! I don't know any real makeup routines, and I got into it later in life than most girls, but I kinda just move colors and stuff around on my face until I get something I like. I've gotten a little better at it than when I first started, figuring out what works for oily skin and what colors go well with a generally olive complexion (most!). Maybe one day I'll look up makeup tutorials on Youtube channels and get really good at it, but videos bore me in general, and I'm kinda addicted to cheap drugstore makeup. So pretty much, I'm lazy as crap and not willing to spend the extra time and $$.

This dress was a thriftstore find (surprise, surprise) and I wear it to work all the time in the summer. It's a tiiiinnnyyyy bit little-kiddy, and not high fashion by any means, but it's cute and I get compliments on it all the day long, so I'm not complaining. I just wear it over a coordinating camisole and matching jewelry, slip on some sandals, and I'm out the door. My makeup probably took way longer than it took to create and wear the outfit.

The overall effect of the bright colors together reminded me of the tropical parrot, the macaw, hence the title name. I'm definitely not one to shy away from colors, there just has to be something holding them all together, an underlying backbone so to speak. I keep all the colors to a specific spectrum, and they all have to coordinate; it's not just a slapdash thing. It's difficult to describe, but it's like a mental closing the circle thing. Similar to when the conclusion of a story ends in a way that throwbacks to its beginning. A full circle. Everything has to mesh. I could just be crazy, who knows? I just know what feels right and my personal style is a way to indulge in that artistic compulsion.

Dress, necklace - thriftstore

Earrings - boutique store

Sandals - DSW

<3 The Magpie