Warpaint Beauty is Warpaint II [picture laden]

Good afternoon, everyone. Somewhere last week all my time went into the centennial Cherry Blossom in D.C., which is strange because it was only involving Saturday. It was very beautiful, and the weather was so pleasant [in comparison to last year, where it was, what 40 degrees? Aaah], I met up with friends and old teachers, and got to see JASA's Soran Bushi, a great Japanese fisherman dance. Sunday was the recording session for GSO [the Smithsonian isn't able to provide us with quality recording on the day of our concert], courtesy of a fan of the orchestra. As for Friday and yesterday, well... work. Or something, haha. But~ now I think it's time for some more Warpaint.

So when I went on my Tall Shoes Outing with M-san, we made a short hop sudden stop to Hot Topic. I was looking to see if any Versailles albums had come in, but really, HT's music schedule for foreign titles is sort of random. Warpaint cosmetics were still on sale, so I thought, okay, while I'm here, I'll grab that darker blue lipstick I saw. Again with my misconceptions of cosmetics.

Looks vaguely familiar...

No real loss, purple IS positively the best color ever, so I'm okay with that. To match, I decided to get another color of the powder eyeliner and nail polish. Psychedelic neon blue? No~ it actually goes on sparkly, and glows in the dark. I couldn't quite get a picture of that, but it does glow pretty well [especially if being on top of a solid color layer gets in the way of the phosphorescence]. I'll try again if I can think of a good way.

It's even in my eyelashes, haha.

I don't know if the first batch I got is just defective, or if this batch is defective; the purple goes on less opaque than the blue--even though it's darker--and the gold comes out like crazy. I barely need a full pass to get it entirely over my eye. But I am immensely fond of it [gold on darker tones go well], so I'll deal with the overflow and swipe it up.

The purple appears slightly darker here than in person, unless it was just the lights.

I tried to emulate the poses from the first Warpaint session, to mixed degrees of success. I don't know why part of my face is shiny, too, or looks like I've been crying. I swear I wasn't. Also, please excuse my crow's nest of hair. I've since tamed it much better, ugh.

For your skin tone, does gold or silver suit you better? Do you like eyeshadow to go up until the eyebrows? What colors work best for your lips~?

Things are getting so busy again, bah~ but it's fine, I suppose. I'll do my best to play keep-up.

Eternally yours,

Il Ruinante Isaak

Weekend Gamer

Good afternoon, everyone [already afternoon? ugh, where does all my time go?]. Hope you all had a pleasant weekend. I was verily too busy to post on Sunday [che sigh], as I tried to be semi-productive and catch up on work in the time I wasn't going out. Saturday, I had a tall-shoes outing with a friend from campus, and we went and saw Hunger Games [I haven't read the book, so I have a very base opinion just concerning the movie. And I feel like I sound jaded when I say it was alright; just okay]. Aside from the Demonia boots, nothing to report. Resident Evil-ed into the night [this was probably one of the worst ideas ever, but heeeeyyyy I swear the paranoid hysterics are gone].

On Sunday, the weather dipped again, so I knew there was a jacket in the works. But for walking around D.C. to go down and see The Art of Video Games exhibit at the American Art Museum in the Smithsonian, I was in the mind to be kept at arms length. I don't mind staring--I'm going to get that on the Metro this Saturday for the Cherry Blossom festival--but I don't want to be -bothered- by... undesirables. So I made myself 'fierce', with direct inspiration from the guys of SID.

Jacket: Second hand
Scarf: Undertaker cosplay
Pants: Handmade
Shirt: Katsucon
Platforms: Demonia

And the shades are over top of my glasses.

Trademark delinquent crouch. No really, this is a staple.

Wish I had remembered the cane, I would've felt safer.

I am quite pleased with this ensemble, and I was able to walk the three blocks to the museum in relative peace. The exhibit was pretty good, it was a nice sampling of the past and present in video games, including the evolution of story, mechanics, music, and of course, art. The Kogard Courtyard is quite beautiful, but as far as how a 120 piece orchestra plus chorus is going to fit, I do have lingering worry. But we'll make it work.

Not inspired by my hair. Totally.

The face swirls are courtesy of my calligraphy brush. This is probably not the best implement for writing on one's face, but I use it because of the control, non-smearing, easy remove ink. Replace instead with any liquid eyeliner, is what I recommend.

Since this one is sort of late, hopefully I can get to another one about more War Paint by Thursday... but don't hold your breath, I don't want you to suffocate.

Cherry blossoms are very much in season~, do you have any plans go to a viewing? Are you lucky enough to have some in your backyard? This is the hundred year anniversary of Japan giving us those very first trees, everyone~ do something special just for that.

Eternally yours,

Il Ruinante Isaak.

Surprise Chilly Bishop

Good afternoon everyone. I'm starting noonish, but I'll probably finish in the evening. Ah the conveniences of modern technology. If the title seems like a complete puzzler, I don't blame you. But rest assured, this is a regular post about what I wore. Perhaps my creative juices are flowing outwardly from all the story writing--flash fiction mostly--I've been doing lately. This isn't necessarily a bad thing I suppose [only my posture is steadily becoming crap].

True to the east coast tendencies, we had some serious bi-polar weather yesterday and today, dipping back into the 60s and below. So I donned on the staple coat I've been wearing over everything as I did during the winter. I suspect that even with the weather over here being as ridiculous as it is, it's likely not going to go back to this. It's almost April for all's sakes.

Sleek, and awesome on windy days.

Trinity Blood crucifix serves me well, after replacing the first chain early on.

This is, of course, the 'cossak' underneath the main grey robe/coat for my Undertaker cosplay. I had somehow forgotten about the sash, but it completes the image in my opinion. I remembered to take off my glasses, too. Masks tend to go well with this ensemble, and, since it's usually weather based, it doesn't really matter what I have on underneath.

How are the cherry blossoms near you? It's about that season~! [whaaa, even though it was just so cold? Huh?]
Eternally yours,
Il Ruinante Isaak
p.s. I boiled up some of my green tea tapioca pearls at last. And then promptly put them into a dark mug. *Panned.* But they turned out delicious for once, and I put them in apple juice in a clear glass when I remembered. Get them at your nearest Asian food mart today~!

Under De-Construction

Good evening, everyone. For the record, the title took two more minutes than usual [aka, those two minutes] to come up with, aaaah. I guess we all struggle with it. Our Golden Week is here~ and so soon, already gone... awww... I have to say, it's not as if I've been doing anything. It's actually quite terrible, I was sleeping. Sleep, sleep, sleep, SLEEP. And I think I'm caught up, but I still just want to sleep. Somewhere between the shut eye, I did something semi-productive.

Since the weather's warming up, it's hard to wear the full layers of Aristocrat and not become a hot mess [although I am temperature retarded, so I might be okay]. So I'm going to do my best to switch it up to Visual Kei, and emphasize the accessories and make-up. However, there's a important aspect to Visual Kei clothes that can make it easier for even beginners to build up a wardrobe. Aside from a norm of darker colors, deconstruction is your friend.

So, thinking to make a wide-necked shirt, sort of shoulderless, I did the thing anyone does now a days, and Googled how. I came across Salinabear on Youtube, who has a wide array of videos on how to tear up your T-shirt in a cool way. And I sure as hell have a lot of T-shirt's to tear up. I tried a look from this video, and cut down the back as in this video. Here's my results~!

My first subjects~ [why haven't I seen these shirts in forever?]

For a shirt more baggy than the ones in Salinabear's videos, I like how this came out.

Oh, and then I went out. [a pair of pants I haven't seen in forever.]

I was going to use the white shirts for the cut up the back, but I wrote stuff on the back, haha. So I dug around for another one that was a little smaller [the vast majority of the T-shirt's I have are also nightclothed sized from when I was a kid].

I ended up double weaving it, too. Don't be afraid to cut wide for this one.

I probably did something wrong as far as making the boat cut on the top, but eh, it's fine.

I'm not ready to cleave up my special graphic T's just yet, but perhaps I'll get some in the future, and with the extras I'll give it a whirl.

What's your opinion of pre-torn clothes? Do you think torn clothes are ever appropriate? If you have holey jeans/shirts/etc, how did you get them?

Oh Golden Week, here and gone. Please just a few more days~
Eternally yours,

Il Ruinante Isaac

For My Brother

Good afternoon all. Very suddenly yesterday evening, my tuxedo cat Sebastian, displayed severe lethargy [he limped as though one of his hind legs were broken] and refused to eat or drink. He barely made it through the night, and this morning he was taken to the vet. Taking everything into consideration, I decided to have him put to sleep. In his memory, I just want to post a picture reel of sorts, of Sebastian being Sebastian.

Sebastian "Michaelis" Cross, little brother demon butler yakuza boss cat. Gone, but not forgotten. Rest softly, boy, and take long naps in the sun.

From here, looking up to you,

Big Brother

Warpaint Beauty is Warpaint [picture laden]

Good morning, everyone [...eh? EH?!]. It seems I've been dead all last week [weak, week, unintentional play on the fact I was sick, and also out taking care of neighbors' cats], but not only that... *Looks hither and yon.* Where... where has everyone got to? Eh? Well... be sure to take care, everyone, do your best. I hope things are going well. The GOLDEN Week approaches... [There are plans of grandeur in my head, but lets see what actually happens.]

Last week, or so, I got out of the house and down to Annapolis with the parent marquis for Pretzel Day [that took one too many tries to get correct]. The Hot Topic was across the way from the Auntie Anne's giving away free pretzels, so I perused with my om nom. I was definitely bent on getting a new color of nail polish. Don't get my wrong, I love all shades of purple, which explains why I have at least five different bottles of that color alone. But whether it was lime yellow or citrus orange, I was getting a contrast color.

As it were, there was a sale on Warpaint Beauty brand cosmetics. So I picked up some eyeshadow and lipstick as well [or at least, for as long as I stared at it reading the ingredient list, I came to the conclusion it was lipstick].

Red~! Red, red, red, red, and that is Triforce you see. In a nice compact cubular bottle, it goes on very thick, despite my expectations. This is just one coat. It also dries very quickly, which is great since I have a knack for doing my nails either right before going to the event I'm painting then for, or before I do laborious activity [like laundry]. I'm very pleased, and looking forward to new manicure combos.

Another thing I seem to do a lot is mistake the forms cosmetics come in. First, I thought the eyeshadow was eyeliner. Thus, I thought said eyeliner was liquid.

Being a roll-on, I did sort of literally roll it everywhere, and smudged off where I didn't want it.

I was wrong on both counts, and the eyeshadow is actually a powder that applies via roll-on. I am not perturbed by the turnout, since I do already have a fair share of pencil eyeliners [in purple, too]. It goes on light, so it takes several roll overs to get is as dark as I'd like, but it comes off with a light swab of my thumb or a cotton ball [which is great since I just let it go wherever really, tsk tsk tsk].

Lastly, but certainly not least, a off the wall desire that I didn't think I'd find so easily. Che blue lipstick.

Hey yo. Otonashiku.

Murrr grrrr... or whatever.

I wanted blue [or even purple or dark emerald] for this purpose alone; to have a black upper lip and a blue lower lip. I do this with red as well, whenever the urge hits me. If I get back to Hot Topic soon enough, I will probably get a darker blue variant as well. This is something most likely likened to anime in my subconscious. I don't know. But this is all I wanted it for. And if it wasn't for the fact that I'm bad about mashing my lips together, I'd wear this more regularly.

So maybe I'll do the manicure in blue or black, or both.

Make-up is more understated in Aristocrat, but it is a defining feature of what makes Visual Kei, well, Visual Kei. That and the elaborate costumes. The weather is definitely leaning into Spring, so I will probably spend more weekend outings in climate friendly Visual Kei as the year goes on. Whether this will result in more make-up posts will still depend on if I remember to do it before I go out, ahaha.

Sigh... I try. I really do love the bags under my eyes, as strange as that might sound.

Golden week... aka Spring Break... come to me...!

Eternally yours,

Il Ruinante Isaak