My graduation!

Ok, this entry has nothing to do with goth and such stuff :D but it's a really important point in my life, plus there are a few outfit pictures XD so I'll just do an exception and post a few pictures of this event :)

Fist of all, this was my outfit:

And yes, I'm rocking my new spiked Jeffrey Campbells *_*! Which are my parents' anticipated gift for Christmas. I can't tell how much I love them, they're amazing.
Actually I wasn't wearing them during the discussion, 'cause I thought it would have been better to keep it as sober as possible. But I immediately put them on as soon as I got off with the discussion <3
Unfortunately my father only took half-length pictures and you can't really see my booties -.-; so I took some photos for you, because they DESERVE to be shown off.

I want to show you my "papiro", literally "papyrus". I wouldn't know how to translate this in english, I don't think people do this abroad; it's a tradition of north-eastern Italy and I don't even think people do it outside my region. But where I live, whenever someone graduates, they get this paper.
It's generally a caricature, often with a lot of explicit sexual content, with a long rhymed text that tells the most embarrassing moments of one's life. You're supposed to read it out loud and whenever you make a mistake, you must drink wine. Of course, the more you drink, the more mistakes you're going to do :D.
Besides, while you do this you must wear a costume. It's usually something very ridiculous and it's your friends who decide what you're going to wear :D you can be a nurse, a prostitute, a bear, whatever comes to their mind; the sillier the better. I once saw one guy dressed as Jesus Christ: he was even baring a wood cross, lol.
Oh, and when you come out of the building you must cross two rows of people who beat the hell out of you and then they cover you in stuff like flour, or tomato, or other food. One of my high school professors had fish rubbed all over his armpits.
Well, not everyone likes all that, so they can just read their "papiro", have a sip of wine and just put on some funny clothes; that's what most people do.
I told my friends that I WOULD HAVE KILLED THEM if they did something like that to me. I even made sure my boyfriend told them not to do it. I'm sorry, but that was an important day for me and I didn't want to make an ass of myself °_°
So this is what they did:

That is me in an Asuka Soryu Langley cosplay (with my Eva Unit beside me <3), a lot of tea (I'm a tea junkie), mangas, books, tv-series I love and some pictures of me, alone or with them.

And then there is a crossword, which refers to some anecdotes of my life :D

I hid my face but you can get an idea by my caricature XD well, the guy actually made my nose and my eyebrows bigger than they really are, but considering he had to do this with just a couple pictures of me as a reference, I guess he did a nice job :D.
They also made me a very peculiar crown XD

Because, like I said, I REALLY, REALLY love tea. I could drink nothing else but tea. Realized by my beloved cousin.

Of course my boyfriend couldn't miss the chance to do a silly pose XD

And these are all the AMAZING presents I got!

Well, this was actually  a sort of gift from Sephora because they spent a shitload of money there. But it will surely come in handy. It's cute after all :D

Biphasic cleansing cream, mascara and eye liner <3 I really needed a cleansing cream, the one I have now sucks :°D

50€ Sephora gift card. I can finally buy the face powder I needed so bad *_*!

THIS PALETTE. The Queen of all palettes. It has a very good primer (which is wonderful since mine from Kiko really sucks) and a proper brush. I mean, look at the colours. Look at them.

I have no excuses for not looking hot from now on :D.

All these make-up related gifts were from my friends. Not only from the few you can see above; many people could not come because of work or university, so they came in the evening. It's really too much anyway :O.

To get what this brooch is you should know the anime/manga Kuroshitsuji. It's the one Sebastian wears over his uniform :D

It's from a friend who made a car accident that night, so she asked my aunt to bring her to my home so that she could at least give me this present. She's been super kind.

These are from my boyfriend's parents. I had seen them some weeks ago and I fell in love with them, but they cost too much. They are GORGEOUS and I already know which beige and marine blue dress I'll match them with.

Well, this is actually just the bag in which my cousin's boyfriend carried the wine, but it was so cute I couldn't not take a picture of it.

This was from one of my aunts; it's a silver bookmark. Which is very welcome since I read a lot (and now I'll read EVEN MORE, since a finally have some time!) and I always have to use random stuff to keep the page.

Apparently it brings luck to students that are graduating :D

This pendant was from one of my grandmothers. It's so cute. I had seen a pendant like this in a shop some time ago, and I wanted one. My nana didn't even know that, and yet she bought the perfect present :D.

This is a towels set, and it's PINK <3. It was from two of my father's colleagues.

And then there's my bay-wreath you saw me wearing above. Do people wear these outside of Italy? That's something people do here when they graduate. The colour of the bows depends on your faculty. Mine's was white - well, actually I'm not sure about that: Lettere e Filosofia (which I guess is liberal arts college...? The literal translation is "Literature and Philosophy") has white, but my course was related to two faculties, one of which is Political Sciences, which has another colour. Besides, in my city there isn't a faculty for the studies of foreign languages, but in some cities there is and it has its own colour.

I was unsure but in the end I just went for white. My mother's friend had it done for me and she still wanted to buy me a present; she's so kind, but it really wasn't necessary, I bet she spent a lot of money. I got many compliments for my bay-wreath.

After the graduation (I got 101/110, by the way, which is not bad at all :D) we went to a bar where we had sliced meats (which is a very typical dish) as a starter, a vegetables pie and venus rice with shrimps and zucchini.

After that, I spent my whole afternoon doing these:

Those are the remaining muffins. I also did a chocolate cake.
They don't look very pretty but they were quite good.
It's kind of ironic that the first thing I did after graduating (... with a dissertation on women's studies...) was going back to the kitchen and cooking cakes :°°D

It really was a nice day. My best friend even shed some tears; he was more moved than I was XD. I really enjoyed my party thanks to my friends and now I'm SO relieved for not having to worry about exams and dissertations anymore; I can't even describe it.
From now on I'll have ALL the time I need for blogging, planning outfits, reading books, correcting my novel and sending it to a publisher, watching movies, buying Christmas presents and so on. This is so great!
Thank you for reading; next time I'll show you my new Alchemy watch and my new Monster High dolls ;D stay tuned!

Color pop-up palette & comic convention haul

This month I missed the Monthly Theme Post, but I really didn't have the time to think of a good outfit.

So this time I'll go for a make-up post.
Actually I just wanted to show you guys my new palette - my first palette! :D
Lately I've found myself more and more interested in make-up. Recently I've been watching a tv show that I like very much; it's run by a girl who used to live in my same region and, after becoming Youtube famous with her tutorials, moved to New York to study as a make-up artist. Now she has this very interesting tv show, which got me interested in make-up.
I thought that if I wanted to achieve her same results I needed to buy at least the basics, so the first thing I did was buying some good brushes, a primer and a couple eyeshadows (that's right, I've never used that before, I just used eye-liner and mascara). I bought white, red and black, because I thought they were the best for a goth make-up; but that was just the eyes, and by the way I needed to try some non-goth make-ups as well. Also, I had absolutely no idea which were the right colours for my skin and my lips, so I decided to buy a palette, so that I could experiment as much as I wanted, without spending 10 or 20 € at the time for each single product.
I bought this one (right-click and open in new tab for better resolution)

It's quite tiny when it's closed, but when you open it it becomes very large.

Isn't it beautiful? It has everything I might need: 64 eyeshadows, 12 eyeliners, 6 top coats for eyeshadows, 6 top coats for glosses, 48 glosses, 3 blushes, 6 primers for eyes/cheeks/lips, 3 lighteners and 3 brushes.

The only thing I still needed was foundation, so saturday I went looking for one. I ended up buying a BB cream, of which I'll talk when I'll have time to take pictures of it on my skin :D

And now, the comic convention haul :D

This time it was a really small convention, I didn't think I would have found such pretty things. Instead, there were pretty good cosplayers and I found some amazing stuff:

I've been looking for a Lannister girls t-shirt for AGES. Damn Jaime, it's your fault I could never find a t-shirt of your house.

 This bag <3 I'd been eyeing it on goth websites for a while. Now it's mine *_*

These are Sana Kurata and Akito Hayama from Kodomo no Omocha, and this is my favourite illustration of those two. I couldn't have been luckier.

 Miwako and Arashi from Paradise Kiss. There were even earrings with Yukari and Joji (and a lovely Marie Antoinette necklace <3) but they were quite expensive, so I only bought these two couples.

Has any of you bought a palette from Sephora, or any other palette? What do you think is better, to buy a palette or to buy single items? I'm sure you're all more experienced than me for as regards make-up XD!

New dolls!

I'm sorry I haven't posted any outfits these weeks, but I didn't really have the chance to wear some pretty clothes in this last period. I'm stuck home writing my dissertation and I haven't gone out a lot; last saturday I went to a comic convention in a classic lolita outfit, but I didn't have time to take proper pictures of it. Too bad :/
After my degree I'll probably have more time, but until then I don't want to abandon this blog! So I'll post my amazing new dolls :D

The first one is Draculaura from Monster High, Super Sweet 1600 series. I've been drooling over her for more than a year and finally I found her on sale *_*

 In her box.

Here she is <3 she came with a cake :D

I absolutely love her outfit :D

Close-up :)

She has heart-shaped pink earrings, a pink tiara and an amazing choker, which has a lovely brooch on it :) (it's a black heart with bat wings <3)

Ribbons on the lace ruffles, heart pattern and a mouth-shaped bag with fangs <3 all in black and pink. She's just amazing!

Her shoes <3 I would TOTALLY buy them if they sold them somewhere.

This is what came together with the doll: a skull-shaped black brush and what looks like a skirt :D with fuchsia an black stripes. She has such an amazing sense of style *_*

And they also gave you a key ring <3 I immediately attached it to my keys <3

To be honest I had found Frankie Stein too, but I didn't want to spend so much money in a day; I'll just wait a few weeks and then see if I still find her.

These dolls are great: they are totally articulated, very well realized and just gorgeous. I particularly love Draculaura because I love pink and black, but they're all beautiful and all come in different styles.

And then there's Hit Girl. Have you ever seen Kickass? I have, and I loved it. Hit Girl is a twelve years old who has been trained to use guns, knives and fighting techniques, and she defeats a criminal gang all on her own. She's the real super hero of that movie, and I was very sad that the Hit Girl t-shirts I had spotted in London didn't come in my size.

So I made up by buying this doll :D I was pleasantly surprised to see that she even was a Living Dead Doll. I couldn't have been happier!

 This is the box. It's very cute, isn't it?

And this is her <3 she's so lovely, I can't stop combing her hair <3 (which really need it xD)

She was on sale, and I hadn't understood why until I unboxed her at home. She didn't have her knife. But I don't really care about that, as long as she isn't defective, or a bootleg.

And finally... just as I was about to go home... I saw this *___*

This is Asuka Soryu Langley from Neon Genesis Evangelion (you're starting to get the hugeness of my obsession with her).
I actually had seen son Bleach stuff and then among that stuff I saw her. Instant buy.
I'd also found a coldcast of Asuka in gothic lolita style that I've been looking for for years, but it really looked like a bootleg, so I let her there. I can buy a bootleg if it still looks nice, but not at the price of an original statue, thank you very much.

So, two new amazing dolls joined my collection and, despite my mother's sighs, I'm really glad <3
I hope next time I'll be able to show you some nice outfits ;D for the moment, Draculaura's outfits will do! :D

Lucca Comics & Games

Last weekend I was in a comic convention in Lucca, Tuscany. It's the biggest comic convention in Italy (more than 180.000 people came from all over the country) and I go there every year.
This convention takes place on the outside. Not entirely, of course: stands are in sheds, but the cosplayers' stage is on a promenade. The city is encircled by its medieval walls, along which there's this promenade, where there are stalls, bars and, of course, cosplayers.
Every single year, it rains on the sunday. It's like a curse. I don't even know why they keep doing it in november, since it's clear that the weather will be bad, cosplayers will be cold, events will be cancelled, and everyone will be forced to stay stuck in the sheds with thousands of other people.
By the way, I was there and I had a lot of fun. I missed Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Bakuman) but I found some friends I hadn't seen in a while. But what's important is that I finally had the chance to wear my shiny new Mollflander dress :D!

These are the only pictures where one can properly see my dress ;_; (click for a better resolution). That's too bad because it is so beautiful. I'm wondering whether I should wear it again at the next comic convention on November 17th, or if I should go there in lolita and then wear the Mollflander again on New Year's Eve. It's killing me ;-;

 Sitting on the Iron Throne surrounded by my two ASoIAF favourite characters. I couldn't possibly ask for more.

Yes, I'm a Lannister. Unfortunately they'd run out of Lannister t-shirts in size S.

 This is a Cersei cosplayer. Our encounter was quite fun, actually.

"... may I ask you... who are you portraying?"

"I'm Cersei Lannister."

"OMG REALLY? OMG CAN I TAKE A PICTURE WITH YOU??"

"OMG OF COURSE YOU CAN! OMG YOU'RE THE FIRST ONE TO ASK ME! I was so sad!"

"How's that possible!!"

"They were always telling me "die, bitch!" ;_; and you're the first one to ask me for a picture!"

Then she called Drogo and Daenerys and told them:

"See? See? Someone wants to take a picture with me!"

"Are you kidding, you're like my favourite character, I love you, you're the best!"

"Yea! Yea! She is, right? She's such a perfect character, omg thank you, really, I love you."

"Thank you! I love you too! Can I, I don't know, hug you...?"

"Oh you can do whatever you like <3!"

And then we took that picture and we said bye to each other.

"Bye! Thank you! I mean it!"

"Thank you! You're so lovely! I'm so glad I met you!"

(This went on for way longer, I summarised it for you)

On the second day I wore a pretty plain outfit, because the weather forecasts had announced heavy rain and I didn't want to ruin a good dress. But they were wrong, the weather was fine. And I lost the occasion to wear an amazing outfit T_T

This is me with a friend of mine after the presentation of her book, which hasn't been translated in english (but it really should be; if only I, as a translator, were allowed to translate in a foreign language, I'd do it right away).

I've changed my hair colour. I went to a new hairdresser because the old one just didn't get what kind of blonde I was asking her, and the new one told me that my hair can't get that blonde, because my base isn't an ash colour, but a golden one, which is a typical trait of mediterranean hair. I would never have thought that I had mediterranean features: my hair is a very light brown (dark blonde, actually), my skin is super pale, I have grey eyes and freckles, and I'm often mistaken for a German or an English. Why do my mediterranean traits show op only to get on my way to platinum blonde...?! -_-
Anyway. I was really sick of dying my hair blonde and never getting what I wanted, and I didn't want to be blonde if it wasn't *exactly that kind of blonde*. So I asked him to do my natural hair colour. Which isn't the one you can see on the pictures, but he said that's the closest he could get. Meh. I hope next month my hair will be the right colour, I don't want to do my dissertation with that blondish brown on my head -.-

Oh, I almost forgot: my haul.

 Nerv sweater. If you don't know what Nerv is, just go and look for Neon Genesis Evangelion episodes, like, NOW, in this very moment. You'll thank me later.

Pins <3

The first ones are Ichigo and Rukia from Bleach. I've been shipping them since 2008/2009 and I know they'll never be canon, but I still think they're one of the best love relationships I've ever seen in a manga.

The second ones... well, you should recognize them, by the way they're Oscar and Marie Antoinette from Versailles No Bara ("Lady Oscar" in Italy). I shipped them at so early an age that I didn't even know what "shipping" meant.

And the last one's Asuka Soryu Langley from Neon Genesis Evangelion (which I meant to buy together with Shinji, but I couldn't find him. That's too bad because I wanted to buy pairing-related pins). She's my favourite character from my favourite anime ever, her name's been my nickname for years, she's the character I've related to the most in my entire life, she's episode 22, she's... well, I don't have enough time and space to properly explain what Asuka Soryu Langley is to me.

And, yes, I brought home some Magic the Gathering cards which me and my boyfriend got from playing a demo, but they were for free, so they don't count as "haul" :D.

And I guess that's all!

Do some of you like anime & mangas, or like to go to comic conventions? How are the comic conventions in your area :)?

Halloween Outfit & Monthly Theme - Hosiery

As I said, in the end I couldn't be Drusilla: not only my boyfriend didn't want to shave his beard to be Spike, but he also got the flu, so I had to go to the party alone (I mean, with my friends) and there was no point in putting on an outfit I had planned to wear as a couple. (Besides, I hadn't found a brown wig)
So I went for a classic: pin-up. Not very original, I know, but you know, pin-up is a trend right now, and I had some clothes from my 2008 rockabilly phase :D. There was one in particular I'd only worn once, and it was too bad because it's lovely. So I gave up unicity and jumped on the rockabilly bandwagon :D

Unfortunately, my hair didn't come out very good. I had planned to do two victory rolls but it was easier to only do one; then I asked my mother for help with the curlers, but something went wrong and instead of getting amazing blonde locks I got... whatever this is. XD

XD I had also forgotten to bring my jewelry, my plan was to wear a black velvet choker. But I think my outfit was fine all the same.
Me and my friend Matteo ended up having matching costumes XD our friends told us we reminded them of Candyman by Christina Aguilera XD.
I don't really like the tights, but it was quite cold and there was a major storm outside. Well, they actually declared a state of maximum alert and we risked a flooding, but this happens very often where I live, I'm used to it :D.

And now... hosiery!



I'm glad this is this month's theme because these last few months I've bought some really nice stuff.
Unfortunately, I haven't worn any of these things yet, so the outfits you'll see below are instant and random xD I haven't figured out how to wear some of these tights yet.

For some reason, the picture of my favourite stockings (the lace corseted ones) came out really, really bad :/ but I should wear them again in a comic convention this weekend, and I'll make sure to take better pics. :)
I hope you liked them - and if you have any suggestion on how to wear the red and the pentagram tights, they'd be more than welcome XD!