tattoo empek empek

So a lot of you requested a tutorial on the sixties look I did a while ago. The thing is I don't feel that comfortable doing tutorials on looks that I don't do on a regular basis. And I never really got make up tutorials,I mostly think about how I'd draw a face or so and apply make up according to that, or if I want a certain look I watch images and try to make myself look similar...


I tried to sneakily show you how it's done by posting a close up on Julianne Moore's make up as Charly in my post about the film A Single Man but maybe that hint was too subtle :) But anyway I think the picture shows it pretty well - the thing is just to use a light eye shadow and then accent the socket with a dark colour and line the eyes throughout. Dark, edgy and stylized.


In the picture above (by Aino, taken last year at a venue), I have done a similar, but slightly simpler version of the make up. For this retro-galactic look I didn't do it that precise or refined; I only used a dark grey soft pen to draw the line above the socket. For the sixties party look I used both dark eyeshadow and a pen. The finished look should be quite hard! You should use big eyelashes and a smaller pair on the lower lashes (remember to turn them "upside down" ) or put lots of mascara on depending on what kind of relust you want. You can also add small snippets of lashes under the eye instead. I accentuate the lips by drawing a white line above the upper lips and slightly fade it out, but otherwise no lipstick.

If you still feel you don't want to try this on your own without some more help from a video there's one really good HERE.


A what comes to the hair; I rolled half my hair around a rat into a bun on the top of my head and then rolled a burlesque wig of mine(which is almost the same colour as my hair) as a bigger bun around it and fastened it by sticking pins trough into the rat underneath. The rest of my hair I rolled into a French twist in the back. And it actually was rather tricky, hence no tutorial. But I promise to try and come up with something similar you could make without a wig! Although I am tempted to buy some sort of extra ponytail to be able to use for buns and chignons - the wig was good for this party as I wanted a huge and rather exaggerated look, but it is not easy to do and feels somewhat heave on the head.

A while ago Eddi and I went to a theme party.
And you know what? I absolutely love theme parties! Especially if you can do the whole thing in such a way you can really get all dressed up but one can't really tell, because you might just look like that all of the time.*


And you know another thing? How am I ever going to be able to go out again not wearing a vintage gold lamée dress with perfectly matching shoes and bag. And oversized hair. Hmmm.


*) Although in this case, the theme being something like 'dress up like your grandparents did when they were your age' would maybe have been too little of a thing for me as, well, you know - that's pretty much what I look like all the time. So we did dress up like my grandparent's could've done at the time when they were Eddis age instead. Compromise!

The weeks I do my early work shifts I still go for some version of my black uniform I wrote about several years ago. Quick, easy, rather incognito, but still stylish enough considering I get up a bit after five in the morning (or, rather: at night).

Black is the great disguise, a perfect way to cover tiredness, pluffiness and bad hairdays. Sometimes in more drastic ways, sometimes in more subtle. I know for some this might not work and colours and flair may do the trick instead, but I am better in black and it has to be lots of it. Especially when getting up early in the morning, having loaded a few ships already before the average office worker has had lunch, and, especially, like here, when having to go some place and be representable in the evening.

(Cat pics added for bonus comments.)


As you know from before my basic trick is to cover my hair with my beret, and make a few big rolls in front. Basically if your hair is not too messy or dirty you could skip the beret and just do a plain chingnon in the back of your hair as the curls in front will look nice enough.

For my hair in this one I rolled four curls, all in the same direction, and secured them with one pin in the middle.

Some highlighter, a good f foundation and lipstick does the trick on my weary face, but I think the most important is to do my eyebrows - I never leave the house without a few quick lines and a brush trough on them.

For my black look I also, always, do a strong eyeliner. Another easy face-saver is to cut a piece of old false eyelashes, about 1-1,5 cm in length and glue it in the outer corner of your eye. The small pieces are really simple and quick to apply, idiot safe to so say, and gives your eyes a totally different look - perfect cat eyes!

You may have noticed, at least I have, that most of my hint and tutorials always contains the words "easy" and "quick" - I like to be fancy, you know that, but I like to get away with as little effort as possible, unless the occasion is very special, then it doesn't matter. But my poiint is that you don't have to have all the time and skill in the world for a nice look!

The dress is an old knitted one from H&M. You've seen it in drawn sometimes in the very beginning of this blog.

Edit : OK; I have to add as you all seem to read the post this way - I do not look like this at five in the morning, of course not! I put on my black stuff yes - the "uniform" I refer and link to or a black dress- but come on, I work in the harbour, outside, no false lash bits or hair rolls... This is after work, when tired and having to go somewhere! But maybe one is not very good at expressing oneself late in the evening when having woken up some 18 hours earlier :)

Been trying to bring on the warmth -I listen to Hawaiian guitars and we went out for (a lot of) tiki cocktails, but it didn't help - it's just getting colder and colder here! (But it was a good excuse to have lots of tropical drinks.)

Dress - 1950's vintage from Love Miss Daisy

Concentrate...

concentrate...

concentrate...

That's it!

And now I'm off out to town for my sister's fare-well party from the harbour! In high waisted trouser and high heeled brogues but no time for pictures on that. And one has to leave a little for the imagination you know.
Have a nice Saturday night y'all!

Some time ago I said that you could ask questions if there was something you were wondering about. So here's the answers. And some soft Sunday music to go along:

(I always like the Lee parts better in all Lee and Nancy songs).

At some point earlier I got the question of how I decided where to live?
-Well, apart from a couple of student exchanges abroad I've always lived in the Helsinki capitol area, the past eight years rather central. I joke that I'm slightly geographically discriminative in terms that I could not really consider myself to live elsewhere in Finland than around Helsinki. (It would probably be different if I'd have grown up somewhere else I guess...) When it comes to part of town I've lived in the same area the past five years, I originally moved there since the prices are more affordable. This summer however we'll move west of the city to a bigger home.

What computer do I have?
-I used to have an 22" iMac, now I have a MacBook Pro 17". ALso dreaming about the 27-inch iMac, but I guess one computer at a time is enough...

Do I work with photoshop to get my pictures so white or is it just the natural vibe of the cold north?
-It depends on the picture, when and where taken. If there's good light I use manual settings for a slightly overexposed effect, with long shutter speed. Otherwise I adjust the curves and/or add some white to faint out the edges for a more dreamy look in the pictures (like here, also with added lens flare).

Then I get a lot of questions about make up:
-A tutorial? Noup, I don't think I'll ever do one but I have promised some sort of make up post forever. Now I'm really going to try and do it soon!

-The blusher I use is GOSH; the peach and the dark pink shades.

-If I change my skin routine in winter? Yes. My skin gets both flakier and fatter in the beginning of winter but evens up after some time. When cold I try to avoid too much water on my face; I wash it in the evening just before going to sleep but not in the morning, perhaps only wipe it off with tonic. I put a lot of moisturizer on at night but none in the morning, except for some eye serum. I use a serum for my lashes and lots of hand creme in winter too.

Could I post about how I tie my scarves around my head?
-Yes, not that I really tie them in any special way but I'll give it a go at some point!

Is it possible to buy a IttyBitty Tease Cabaret Shake! patch anywhere?
-Yup, we sell them at some gigs of ours but you'll be able to get them trough my blog soon too :)

I love fake lashes. The bigger, the better. In general I only wear them for shows or photoshoots since I get pretty much of my own lashes with a good mascara as well, but sometimes I might wear them in every day us as well, just for the fun of it.

Here are some of my best lash-tips for you:

* I've noticed alot of "how-to's" out there on the web when it coems to applying the lashes. My best tip for applying is the same old mantra that I've mentioned with so many other things : practice makes master. There's no other way.

* Be sure to choose a good, professional glue. All of us Itty Bitties use Duo.

* When you shop for lashes alwyas take one size bigger, fuller and longer than you first intended to. They still look pretty different on you than in their box. And what's the use of wearing false lashes if you don't look like straight out of a make up ad? In my opinion at least.

* You can modify the lashes a bit yourself; a lot of lashes are very long but rahter thin, for stage use I'm after a few thick long "cartoon-like" ones that will show from a far; I used a bit of water and glue to stick the lashes together to achieve the effect. Make Up Store has a couple of lashes ("Circus Holiday")with the right look that doesn't need modification.

* The thinner the lining of the lashes the better. Some may look nice with a linig of rhinestones or glitters but it will make them harder to glue on correctly. The ones with the lashes attached to a thin, almsot unnoticeable silicone strip are the best. You can always add a line of glitter or diamonds yourself later (you can buy those on pre-glued strips).

* Some recommend to put mascara on your lashes before applying the fake ones or to put eyeliner on afterwards. I say never! Do all other make up first. I put mascara on last, only a little, to make the fake ones stick to my own better. Sometimes I might have to fill in a bit more on the eye-liner afterwards.

* I never put the glue directly on the lashes, but on a small piece of paper and then, with the help of a pair of tweezers or a cotton pin, attach it onto the lashes. I use the tweezers for application help too. When applying I first check that it fits my outer corner correctly, but I press the lashes down in the middle first, then the corners. I glue them on my own lashes, right on the root, not on my skin. If there has to be more glue added to the edges put som on the tweezers and carefully add some. After a few second I press the lashes a bit upwards, then add mascara.

* As you may know you should cut the lashes to the lenght of your eye. My eyes are pretty wide so I seldom have to, but alwyas chekc the lenght before you start. You can use the small bits of the lashes cut off for a star-like effect; glue them "up sie down" in the outer corner of your eyer, under you underlahses. Seal with mascara.

* You can use the same lashes many times, but you have to clean them in between use. Carefully rip off the dried glue with a pair of tweezers. Afterwards I press the lashes against a make up removal pad and gently wipe them clean, after which I press them onto a tissue. Let them dry for a whole and place them in their box to keep their shape.

* It's fun to play around. Now for our Zombie Halloween show I'm going to wear huge lahes under my eye for a holed-eye effect, that will still make me look good.

If you have a bad hair day, cover it.
If you have a bad makeup day, paint over it.
If you dont know what to wear, wear black, and wear a lot of it.

(If you happen to go to a circus-themed burlesque party the same night it makes it easier not to spare the eyeliner, drag a scarf out of the closet and go all gypsy fortune teller from a travelling circus sometimes long before you were born. If you're not, go for it anyway, think silent movie star in an exotic role. The one a of gipsy fortune teller in a circus perhaps.)



The scarf is from Tunisia, the hair flower from Rascal, the earrings a gift, the eyeliner thick and covers most of the eyelid.

My nails are rather small and I seldom do anything else with them than just paint them red or pink. Sometimes however I go for this vintage style manicure; colouring the moons in a paler colour, or leaving them without varnish with only the base coat showing. I don't use any manicure strips or fancy nail paint for this, only a precise hand, but it's a bit tricky that way so I have been thinking of investing in either one to make the painting a little faster.

I've come across pictures and videos on the web calling a manicure like this "Dita nails". Surely she has her nails painted in this 30's style from time to time but it's not like she has come up with the idea herself. (It's not like all shoes with something heart shaped are called Minna Parikka shoes either :).

I saw the movie Public Enemies some time ago and noticed that you could catch a glimpse of Billies nails painted in this style in one scene. I like those small details in movies that you might or might not notice, but still add an over-all touch to the authenticity of the era pictured.

The end of summer is somewhat always sad, even warm and perfectly fine sunny days feel like one is sort of fooling one self, since autumn is just around the corner. Not that it's all that bad, as I have stated that autumn kind of is my favorite time of season.

As the weather now has varied from cold, windy and rainy one minute and pretty nice and hot the next, and with rather chilly mornings I'm slowly starting to get into that autumn mood - over romanticizing the image of walks under colorful trees and clear skies, wrapped in big scarves, legs covered with warm stockings (you know, all those thing you are happy to get rid of as spring turns into summer...), wet leaves on the ground. My colours of choice change from pastels into classical september-y ones like plum, petrol, okra and brownish shades. These autumn vibes got even stronger when I went to pick up a parcel with some H&M things I''d pre orderd one hangover morning in June - tweed shoes, headbands and knits.

So, if I'd go all fashionista I'd say these were some of my autumn favorites for the soming season. (I don't really talk like that no but I guess I just said it anyway.)

Headband -New, scarf - Grandma's old.

Shoes - New, Stockings-old