The Frilly Panda

Holy crap have I been a busy panda lately. I guess you can tell by my lack of posts for the last few months and I hate to say it but I think that trend is going to continue into the new year. I only have 8 weeks left in my pregnancy (eep) and I can't believe it's creeping up so fast.

I had a summer sale on my corsets and bags last month and I am still super busy with it. In total I got orders for 9 corsets, 8 bags, 3 alterations, a dress, a belt, and a bridal set including the dress alteration, custom bolero, and matching garters. I currently have finished: 4 corsets, 6 bags, the dress, the belt, and all 3 alterations. 1 corset is 90% done, 4 more are half done, 1 bag half done, waiting on the fabric for the last bag, and the bridal stuff is in progress. Its the kind of set that I can't move onto the dress until the corset is done, the back of the dress until the tailoring is done to fit the corset underneath, the bolero until the dress is done, etc etc. It is, however, right on schedule to be completely done by the 20th of September. I want to have absolutely everything done and out of house by then as there is always the chance I could deliver early and I want to elave that last month open just in case. On top of those I am going to be making myself a new bag and dress, plus the quilt for the newborn and my annual quilt for my son (it's Star Wars this year). So I have to do all that plus any Christmas gifts I'll be making before the baby comes. The hubby and I want to have all our Christmas/Birthday stuff done before then because we certainly don't want to be doing the holiday crap with a newborn. I say Christmas/Birthday because between Dec 23rd and Feb 21st we have not only Christmas but 5 birthdays including the entire family (aside from new baby). It's gonna be a busy few months thats for damn sure. I still have no idea what we're doing for halloween... I was going to do Neo Queen Serenity and Chibi Usagi for me and baby as I will be staying home and handing out candy so the whole family doesnt have to match like we would like (we did Leia, Luke, and Chewie last year).

I did have a bunch of posts planned over the last little while but they obviously never happened.
1. Make-up for my sister in laws wedding - how I ended up designated MUA and what I used
2. My fav baking tools and recepies
3. step by step making of - the progress of making all these comissions (or dress diaries if you prefer)
4. Revlon Scented Nail Polish
5. Julep - my personal opinions and experiences
There may have been more but I have since forgotten about them. If you still want to read about them let me know and I'll do my best to actually make the posts. Or if you have any requests let me know and I'll think of something :)

While I was looking a while back for some comparisons between OCC's infamous Lip Tar and the Liquid Lipsticks from SweetPea and Faye I was quite suprised that there were none to find. Being as most of the people who have swatched, blogged, youtube'd, and generally posted somewhere about either product has another post about the other. So I have decided to make the comparison :). I will be looking at a few things with each so please bear with me as this will most likely be a long and pic heavy post.

General:
SweetPea and Faye
J'Adore Les Levres (I love lips) Liquid Lipstick

0.37oz/10.5g per tube
$7.99 per tube (USD)

Each color comes in a regular lip gloss slanted tip tube so you can either apply straight from the tube or with a lip brush. They have all ingredients and color name printed on the back on the label  along with the website - as with any printed label, the text will come off with wear so I would suggest putting scotch tape or a coat of clear nailpolish on it if you want to keep the text around for the lifespan of the lipstick.

The texture of the liquid lipsticks is very creamy (anyone who is familiar with Lime Crime lipsticks, these are similar but more paint-like). Because they are so creamy I have a difficult time squeezing them out of the tube - the darker colors are harder to get out than the lighter ones for me. I know from reading other posts that this is a common thing so no it's not just your tubes, they're all like that.

Application is easier, I find, straight out of the tube than with a brush. I find that with a brush they tend to go on less opaque than they actually are and can end up streaky unless you put a top coat of gloss over it. Straight from the tube I tend to get a more opaque and even color.

Opacity is amazing! These can be applied sheer with a lighter hand and less product in order to layer and blend with other colors - which is also totally easy being as these are almost the consistency of acrylic paint. I have yet to achieve the look of the swatches on the site but honestly that is not my preferred look anyways. (links will be a the bottom as always)

Each color has a slight vanilla smell (again similar to Lime Crime) which is awesome cause let's face it, lipstick and gloss smell is not attractive.


Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics
Lip Tar

0.27oz/8 ml per tube (old packaging) 0.33oz (new packaging)
$14.00 per tube (USD) new packaging - I cannot remember what the old was but it was definitely around $13/$14

As the packaging has changed since I purchased my colors I won't go into an in-depth review of it but be noted that everything is listed - ingredients, website, color name, address, vegan & cruelty free, etc. The old packaging is the same as SweetPea and Faye's with the slanted applicator whereas the new one is more tapered.

Texture of these could not be more different from the Liquid Lipsticks (LL). They are way more watery, due to a completely different base but the pigmentation is out of this world. Where as you would need about a small pea sized squeeze of the LL, you only need between a pinhead and rice grain sized amount for full coverage. I have had no problems with streaking or even-ness of color with the Lip Tars (LT) and they are super easy to build up and mix due to their lightweight feel. The finish on these goes from matte satin (light coat) to glossy with multiple coats. You will definitely have to use a lip brush with these. They get everywhere otherwise.

The pigmentation of LT is so incredible that like I said you will only need the smallest amount. You honestly dont know what I mean until you try them for yourself.

The LTs have a minty smell which I quite like as I am partial to mint but because of this OCC has requested that you do not use this product on or around your eyes as it may get irritated.

SweetPea and Faye
Pictures!

Apocalypse
SP&F: Apocalypse is a bright pin up red shade with a completely opaque look. Also has a hint of lip stain for lasting wear.
Me: Definitely a purple tint to the red on me but otherwise very true.

Paper Cut
SP&F: Paper Cut is a dark neon pink with purple undertones and a completely opaque look.
Me: Very true again :)








Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics
Pictures:

Anime
OCC: Seriously neon pink.
Me: Damn straight seriously neon pink! Everywhere you find swatches and videos of this color you will also find the disclaimer that photos do NOT capture the neon-ness of Anime. It's like if Jem and the Holograms had a baby with Cindi Lauper, and that baby took acid this is what it would see.

A while ago I had the lovely chance to try a blogger sample set for Darling Girl Cosmetics and finally got around to swatching them. Each set comes with 5 samples of your choice which is really nice - you can pick the shades you really like as opposed to a pre-set pack where some of the colors just dont work for your skin tone and leaves you with a slightly tainted view of the company. Now, there are some companies that have pre-made packs that actually have very good colors in them so I'm by no means making an assumption, just a generalized observation.

I chose the following in my set: Eyeshadows in Butterfly Flutterby, Garden of Weedin, Rainbow Brite, and Lucky; and for my last one I requested the owner to select a lip sample of her choice and she chose one of her most popular holo-glosses Miami.

Miami:
DGC -

Me -
Once again I found the color different than the description. I find it's more forest green than tealy with more silver sparkle than pink. Still a very lovely color though.

Rainbow Brite:
DGC -
Rainbow Brite is a pale, baby pink with red shift and a rainbow of star sprinkles

Me -
DGC says on their site that the Rainbow Brite collection is a set of duochrome highlighters so the colors are very pale when used by themselves but change and darken dramatically when swatched over a black base. I have shown this effect with Lucky but not Rainbow Brite (which goes more magenta over a black base).
Right on the money here. Pale pale pink with rainbow sparkles :)

Lucky:
DGC -
Lucky is the only sprite in the collection. It is a pale white with turquoise iridescence in the jar, but when swatched, a beautiful green flash is seen along with blue, green, and red/pink sparkles

Me -
I have to say I love this collection (I have a few of them) and the light color shift in the highlight is wonderful. When swatched over a black base however I feel it looses it's pink sparkles but everything else is still there and the base color is enchanting.


I have a bunch of other DGC products which I will review later on but I have to say I am very pleased with this company and their makes. The shadows are velvety smooth, blend like a dream, and are generally true to color. I have had some problems with a few of the other shades I have just because of my weird skin tone changing the color slightly but that is literally just me. Do yourself a favor and check them out :) They have some very good collections and one offs that are hilariously named (I myself need to get "The Phantom of the Taupra" just cause of the name :)).

Darling Girl Cosmetics: http://www.darlinggirlcosmetics.com/
DGC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/dgcosmetics

Or should I say always??

As I said in an earlier post I am currently going through and swatching the rest of my collection. Some of which is new, some has been given to me, some were prizes I won, and some were just in the collection and didn't get swatched last time round.

Anywhoo, Geek Chic Cosmetics (GCC) is a superb company with wonderful staff and even better products. You may actually hear my"NOOOOO!" when I run out of foundation. I have never had a bad color or product from them as of yet, but I have had some that just didn't work with my skintone - which you will see here.

Left column top to bottom: As You Wish, Dream of Large Women, Prepare to Die, Inconceivable! (all from the new Storybook Love collection)
Middle column top to bottom: Kingslayer, Princess in Distress, Blood Wine, The Imp
Right column top to bottom: Eyes of the Werewolf, Sexy in Suspenders, Glass Cannon

As I have stated before very few (and I mean only 2 of the shades I've tried) oranges work with my skintone so unfortunately Prepare to Die, while a beautiful creamsicle color, looks terrible on me. I also noticed that my particular skin tone made Sexy in Suspenders very dark taupe. I got that one specifically because of the gorgeous fawn shade featured on the website and in other swatches I looked at but it was very dark taupe on me which makes me sad face. Princess in Distress was a very nice suprise - it looked a bit orange on the site but I thought what the heck I'll try it and it is gorgeous on :). Other than those ones GCC's descriptions of the colors are pretty much spot on. As with all my GCC products they are very velvety smooth and blend wonderfully. Blood Wine is especially lovely paired with a smokey eye or as a liner. The burgundy shimmer is a very nice change to regular black :) I don;t know if it comes across on here but Glass Cannon is very icy blue, not white. I have a few colors similar to this already but this one has more of a pearly white sheen than my others so it is a nice addition.

Left: Rotten Miracles (blush)
Right: Kissing Stuff (lipgloss)

Rotten Miracles is very very orange. This is quite a lot to make it show up on my skin but it is extremely pigmented. Which don't get me wrong, is awesome, but it is soooo not for me. I ended up giving this one to my mom who has deep olive skin and it will look very nice on her.
Kissing Stuff is super super pale. I can't wear it alone as it makes me look kinda... dead. But, when applied sheer overtop of a deeper color it adds a very nice pearlescenty-shimmer. I haven't tried it over any reds (only pinks and berry tones). I also noticed GCC's current model used it as a cheek shimmer in the promo shot for the collection. I have yet to try this but as we have similar skin tones it may work for the summer if I can get the hang of it.

Geek Chic Cosmetics: http://www.geekchiccosmetics.com/

I've decided that I need to expand my Chinese Brocade stash. I've used it many many times before, have a few really nice yardages, and it's just really pretty. I busted my stash out last night while picking fabrics for a birthday present I'm planning to make this week and had lovely visions of some of the yardages as finished pieces. Of course there were a few corsets and as it sits I will not be able to wear any corsetry until November and even then I will not be able to make any till then as I do not know what my post-partum measurements will be. I could potentially make one now based on my measurements from my first son but I don't want to take any chances with it. I really could just make some now with it and sell them this summer but there is no guarantee that they will sell and I dislike having multiple rubbermaid bins full of stock that is made and not selling. It's actually kind of irritating. I do get a lot of people saying "Ooh this is really pretty", "I wish I had something like this!", "I would love to order something from you"; and then no follow through. I know that this is most consumers and I myself am guilty of it too but as a producer of things like that it is very defeating. Almost like, yes I know the stuff I make is pretty and I wear it all the time myself but if nobody is going to purchase it then why bother?

On that note, I will try to take a positive action and give my etsy shop a go again this summer. I am re-opening it in mid June with most of the same products, new bags, handmade paper, silkscreens, and maybe some fabric de-stashes of pieces I have accumulated and never used. I'm also thinking of having a re-opening promo sale and hopefully that will bring some more sales in. With monster number 2 coming in the fall the extra income would be very helpful.

As an aside, I tried using a commercial pattern for some maternity shorts yesterday. Now you all need to understand how much I hate commercial patterns. They don't fit properly, you have to alter the crap out of them, generally they're very boring unless you use the perfect fabric, and sometimes even as an experienced seamstress they just simply dont make sense. Like the one I was using yesterday, it took them a whole page of random nonsense to explain how to insert a zipper. Seriously I read the page probably 6 times and it still didnt make sense to me, and zippers are generally quite simple. Luckilly I was altering the pattern to make maternity shorts (it was for actual shorts) and didn't need a zipper so I was able to omit that page completely :). Anywhoo, long story short, my hatred of commercial patterns was heavilly reaffirmed. I went by the size for my exact measurements, followed the instructions to the tee, finally tried them on after getting them together and bam. They were a freaking horribly fitting tent on my ass. The crotch seam was leaning to one side, the butt darts were inches too short, the butt itself looked like it was drafted for someone who had a big badonkadonk in their youth but had let it sag for a good 30 years, the waist was even huge on my preggo belly, and the nice trim leg portion (or as it was supposed to be) sat like gauchos. I tried for a number of hours to fix it doing everything aside from taking the whole thing apart, re-drafting the pattern, and putting it back together. And they still sucked. So needless to say I will be going through my bermudas and capris that actually fit me and simply replacing the waistband with a maternity panel. I didn't want to do this originally because I really like these shorts and didn't want to have maternity panels in them when I wanted to wear them again next summer. But really, for the amount of trouble that horrible pattern was, my only options are alter my existing ones, draft a new pattern based on the existing ones and try to make them in the next 2 weeks, or purchase maternity bermudas. Now being as I have to alter my bridesmaid dress (it was made for people much much taller than me) and make some more things for the re-opening when I get back from vacation I don't think I'll have much time to draft test and perfect a new pattern. And bought maternity bermudas where I am could easilly run me up to $60 a pair and being as my regular ones only cost me approx $15 a piece (I had my staff discount when I bought them :)) it really makes the most sense to alter the existing ones. I can always shell out the $34 per pair next summer for new ones. I really have to get over my attachment to material items.

I'll keep you posted on how it all goes.

I'm finally going back through all my cosmetics and swatching everything I didn't swatch during my last run. First up is the Invader Zim Collection by Moi Minerals.

Left Column: Zim, Gaz, Dib
Middle Column: Professor Membrane, Gir, Waffle
Last Column: Mrs. Bitters, My Tallest, My Tallest Special (I'll explain that later)
Stripe: Piggy Lip Gloss

Moi Says:

Just a couple of new things to show you guys today. I finally managed to get my hands on some Harry Potter fabric - this is a feat considdering the WB discontinued the fabrics in 2002 and the only people I've found selling them online are charging an arm and a leg for them. (literally one person wants $95 or something for one yard of my fav print - obscene!) I managed to scour the depths of the net and find a livejournal post from someone dated sometime in 2008 and she had 2 yards of this print she was destashing.

She was selling it together with 2 yards of the mottled blue fabric (both have fine silver sparkles too) for a steal of a deal. I was weary about contacting her because the post was so old and I thought for sure such a good deal wouldnt have been passed up in the last 4 years. I was wrong. Not only was it still available, it was the same price! I won't say how much I got it for (buyer/seller protection and all that) but I will tell you it was less than half of what I have seen that particular print go for. AND I got all 4 yards for that one price! Damn good deal. So anywhoo, I got the fabric in the mail, oooh'd and aaaw'd at it for a while then put it in my "to make projects" box. It wasn't in there a full week before I broke it out and made my dress. I just couldnt let it sit as a yardage when it had clearly sat on a shelf or something untouched for so long. It deserved to be used! I couldn't decide on a design to use so I just used my old trusty box pleated jsk design with a few alterations. It is a really simple and basic design so it is really easy to change the look of the dress when worn depending on what I wear it with.
The main alterations were that I moved the natural waistline to the empire waistline to accomodate my growing belly (this dress will be worn throughout the pregnancy), and the hemline sits a few inches lower than normal again to accomodate the belly. I hate it when I have a hem that sits perfect and then the belly raises it a few inches and then it looks too short. I am already short so I don't need to make myself look even shorter with a weirdly placed mini.
Here's the finished dress shown over a single tier petticoat. I think I'll most likely ditch the petticoat for the summer because of the heat involved but once it starts getting cooler in the fall I'll actually wear my regular crinoline with it. I think it will look really cute with a cardigan and flats. Also can be dressed up easilly with a dressy cap sleeved blouse, jewellery, and low sparkly heels. Or if you're me and weird, probably my 3/4 sleeve crop cardi, sparkly jewellery, and either my saddle shoes or some wicked 5" heels. I haven't decided yet.
I also made these little bow brooches to wear with it.

I first put them at the top bust line where the strap meets but it looked a bit busy with the box pleat detailing underneath for a casual look so I moved them to the empire waist at the bottom of the princess seams. They look much better there :) But because they're brooches I can move them around really wherever I want or remove them entirely which is nice. The beads underneath are hand strung swarovski bicone crystals in Golden Shadow, Sapphire, and Dark Sapphire in 3mm and 4mm. They give just enough sparkle with movement to be pretty but not overbearing.


I've got a bunch more maternity summer dresses planned and I want to have them all done in the next month or so but we'll see how that actually goes :)

Hello all! Well good news (for me anyways) I have been nausea free for the better part of a week! That means a lot to me because I was throwing up everyday of my entire pregnancy last time and i was taking the max dosage of Diclectin the whole way through too. I'm still taking it at night to stave off the "right when you get up queezies" but otherwise I haven't had to take it at all :).

I've been sewing a bunch lately and finished some pretty neat things. I made this beauty

They've all got matching linings and they are very cute - currently they're about 50% complete as I still need some zippers and a lining fabric for one of them. But being as it's easter weekend I highly doubt I'll be able to go and get them until Tuesday at the earliest. But they'll be all done by the end of next week so I can ship them out to their new owner :)

This is a project I've been working on for a while inbetween commissions and it's coming along quite nicely. I had originally intended the pattern to match up at all the seams but at the last minute I decided to add the piping as a detail and because of the width of the allowance in the piping some of the pattern now doesn't match while some of it does. A little off putting yes but it still looks good to me. I won't say what this is until it is completed (mwahaha) so you'll just have to guess for now.

The LIT Cosmetics video shoot was awesome! I can't wait to see the final images and video cut. It's not everyday I get to dress up as an "inspired" Sailor Moon covered in glitter wearing a floofy dress and massive shoes (well the Sailor Moon and glitter part). I wore this skirt as a tube dress

The hem is so heavilly stitched and embellished it stays out completely on it's own - no crinoline needed - and the length is perfect. As a skirt it hits just below my knee (it's a high waisted skirt) and as a dress the hem hits mid thigh so it's quite cute. And these shoes

So it was a pretty cute outfit - not your everyday outfit mind you but awesome none the less. As for the make-up, it wasn't an exact replica of the Sailor Moon look but it was clearly inspired by it. Also the make-up artists who worked on me didn't really know what her look was to begin with so they were going by a description so they did the best they could.

I have another summer dress half made and a few others planned with fabrics in mind that I already have in my collection. I have been thinking about what my summer is going to entail with the pregnancy getting further on and everything and I think I'll have to take it easy when it comes to the sewing. My husband made a very good point to me last night about my studio and the work I'm currently taking on and everything that goes along with it. Last time I was pregnant I didnt find out until 3 months in and I had already signed up to do Alberta Fashion Week and was thusly crawing around on the ground, drafting, cutting, producing, fitting, altering, etc at 6-7 months preggo. It wasn't fun. Plus I was working full time during the week so needless to say I was pretty stresso. I don't want that to happen again so I am going to lighten my load I think. I'll post more about it when I decide exactly what I'm going ot do though.