My EGL Transformation

First of all, I never meant to go this long between posts, but many late nights (watching terrible movies) and working on three cosplays has had me either really sleepy or busy. 
However, I wanted to post a little more in depth about the transformation post I did on EGL.  So, this will be the same things just with more information.

This is me on a, more or less, daily basis, except for the fact that my hair is naturally curly, and when it's curly I don't style it like I do when I have it straightened.  On a side note, the top cost me $5 at the Wet Seal, and the jeans cost me $6 or $7 at Goodwill.

I hope no one minds, but I left out my "just out of bed" picture (because it's pretty awful).  However, this is me out of the bath with clean, dry and gelled hair.  All I do is run some Garnier Fructis Cream Curl Sculpting Gel through my hair, when wet, and let it dry!  I like to start with dry hair if I plan on experimenting with my hair or going for a poofier style, which I was trying to do both today.

 

 All I did with this was make a 1/2 ponytail and back-comb my hair right up by my hair tie.  Then I pinned two portions forward, and pulled the remaining ponytail bit back in 2 bobby pins then added the flowers and headband.

This is my make-up and I really have a range between expensive and cheap!  From left to right, top to bottom this is what I have: 
Sephora Lash Plumper-Black ($12)
L'Oreal Paris Double Extend Eye Illuminator ($10.95)
Target-brand eyeshadow brush (about $4)
CoverGirl Perfect Point Plus in Black and Silver (about $5 each)
Lipstick I didn't actually use
CoverGirl Cheekers Pretty Peach ($4)
Sephora Aspen Summit eyeshadow (FREE!)
Sally Girl Baked Eyeshadow Purple and Pink ($1.99 each)
Maybelline Natural Accents Phantom Grey ($4.99)
Mary Kay Telescoping Brush (FREE!)  
Mary Kay Bronzer - I don't know if they make this anymore.  I use it on my cheeks
Physician's Formula Gentle Concealer Green ($5.69)
Bare Minerals Powder Fairly Light ($28)

I personally wouldn't recommend the Physician's Formula concealer to everyone.  I use it because I have some red scaring around my mouth and nose from cold sores.  If you have something like this or consistent red spotting, buy this!  It works!
Also, my Bare Minerals is love!  I have very sensitive skin and break out in dry patches easily, this doesn't cause any of those problems!

My make-up and two very flattering pictures of my face!  I want to point out that I do smoky eyes, and when I do purple I like to do my outer corner in black.  I just wanted to point that out, as to say black eyeshadow can look really great if you use it carefully!

Finally, here I am in my cute clock dress.  I love this dress, and I love full-shirring.  I'm apparently the only thin person who feels this way (but it may have to do with being thin and having a small chest).

Also, that's what I did with my detachable bow (see it on the back, there)!  I felt like the back of the dress was too plain, and this was the perfect quick fix!

Clearance Find!

Since one of my main motivations behind this blog is saving money, I had to share this!

I found this white floral print tights on the rack of clearance tights and socks at Target, and they were marked down to $4.90.  They had the pink flowers on white, and also had blue flowers on black (I passed on those, since I don't wear much blue).  At the Target I was at, the rack was almost hidden away so you may need to look really hard for these.

Here they are worn (sort of).  You can see that they also incorporate a little polka dot pattern.  Also, the packaging lists them as sheer, but I thought that they kept the white color really well!



Sorry for the blurry!

I had to use them in an outfit shortly after I got them (this was 2 days later).  I love 'em!

I'm hoping it stays sunny enough that I can post a review for a Bodyline item, next week.  It's been really cloudy, and my apartment is pretty dark so if there's not enough natural light I can't get very good pictures.  I've got my fingers crossed that it'll be sunny this weekend so I can get it done!

Finally, I wanted to apologize.  It is my intention to update on either Monday or Tuesday and I've been having a really hard time making that happen.  I picked up a lot of extra hours in the last few weeks and a lot of them have been working with a new co-worker who is not a nice person and seems to enjoy irritating the crap out of me and one other co-worker.  This has left me feeling really crappy and when I have days off, I just want to destroy things in mass numbers in video game form (my favorite things are Geth and Darkspawn). 

In addition to this, the last few weeks I was trying to bludgeon my way through another Dragon Age play-through before Dragon Age 2 came out, and then Dragon Age 2 came out and that's all I've been doing this week. 

It's Cold Outside!

It's cold in the Northern Midwest, REALLY cold.  It was -20 degrees Fahrenheit last night, and when I just checked the local 24/7 weather channel it was 8 degrees.  I even told Husband to take the car to work, instead of me dropping him off, because there was no way I was going outside.  So, in between reading science and history articles on Cracked.com (God, I'm a nerd) and thinking about how cold it is, I decided I wanted to write about some of this.
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Just through my regular browsing throughout some of the online Lolita community, I've noticed that many ladies don't wear their Lolita clothing in the winter time.  The main reason is that it's too cold.  I, personally, would be more concerned about getting salt stains on my shoes, but that's just me. 
I don't think it's so unreasonable to wear Lolita in the winter time, in fact it seems much better time than the summer.  I feel that with some minor creativity, this type of clothing can be very well layered and worn in the cold weather with the right articles of clothing.

Article 1: Tights
Really, it's a no brainer to wear tights once the temperature starts to drop.  Even stopping at your local Target you can find a good variety of colors and types of tights. 
There is one thing to make sure of in cold weather, though.  Make sure your tights are THICK.  I have a few pairs of tights that are thinner, and I might as well be wearing knee socks with bloomers (not a pleasant experience when it's cold and windy).
Article 2: Leggings
No, really!  I have two pairs I can't live without that I wear under my OTK socks.  One pair is a full length pair in black.  I like to wear these with my solid black OTK's.  I'm short enough that you probably wouldn't know the difference.  The other is a skin-tone type color pair of capris. I wear these with any of my other colored OTK's.  Unless someone is really paying attention or looking for it, most people probably wouldn't even notice I'm wearing them.  Due to personal experience, I prefer the capri type because I am short and they tend to make my socks wrinkle oddly around my ankles. 
On a side note, I wouldn't recommend doing this with plain knee socks.  Odds are the leggings would wrinkle around the knees giving a weird look.

I'm wearing OTK's with leggings AND boots!

Article 3: Boots
If for no other reason, than to keep your socks dry.  Seriously, I don't think there's an ickier feeling than wet socks.  I looked all winter for a nice pair of black, fuzzy, warm snow boots as and add-in to my wardrobe, but was unsuccessful.  However, I've seen lots of ladies on Daily Lolita Coordinates using them and looking so cute!  I do have my little ankle boots (seen above) but I generally only wear those the day after in snows when most places have plowed, but I still may get unlucky.
Article 4: Cardigans
If you're going somewhere that you won't need a coat but it's cold outside, wear a cardigan.  If it's not the perfect match to your outfit, so what.  Take it off when you take off your coat and put it back on before putting your coat back on. 
There's lots of cute brand and non-brand stuff out there that you can wear to go with your outfits, but if you don't have any, at least put something on under your coat for that chilly trip outside!

Alright, that's all of the stuff I was thinking on today.  I hope some of you find this helpful.  Keep warm!!

Welcome!!

Alright, here we go with this brand new blog that is a little bit like a New Year's Resolution.  For my first post, I just want to list down some things that I expect to try and accomplish here, along with why I want to do these things.

To start, a little bit of background.  As stated in my information, I'm in my mid-20's and I'm married.  My husband and I are both employed and hard-working, but money is often tight for us.  As such, I've found lots of ways to adapt my hobbies to our budget.  These hobbies would include: Lolita fashion, bento-making, jewelry making, cooking/baking, video games and various other crafts.  As such, I've found that it's possible to be extravagant almost every day, even when you're on a budget.  That's what I want this blog to be about.

To begin with, I really want to keep my focus within the scope of Lolita fashion, and ways to make it work when you're on a tight budget.  As far as I see, most of my other thrifty hobbies will be able to seamlessly weave in and out of this focus.  That's not to say that my focus will never change.  Part of the idea of "Everyday Extravagance" is all the little things that can happen in a day, or week, or month that make life and the world around us a little more beautiful.

So, to begin with, you can expect the following:

-Craft Tutorials (both of the practical and fun varieties)

-Product/Clothing Reviews

-Pictures of Pretty Foods (and hopefully recipes!)

-Views and Advice for ways to help stay within a tight budget.

-Pictures of Various Pretty Things

So, I hope I can really deliver and make this work for my sake, and for the sake of any out there interested in what I have to say.  If all goes well, I hope to make a schedule so that I can post once a week on one of my days off (either Tuesday or Sunday).

See!  It's my first picture of something pretty!

(BodyLine shoes with BTSSB socks)