Tuesday, September 25, 2012

TUTORIALS ☆ Basic makeup, basic short wavy hairstyle

I was going to clean my room but then something happened. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:

My first video hair- and makeup-tutorials!





I was so nervous posting these for some reason. Guess it's because I'm still kind of hesistant towards internet in general, still, since the break I had for about a year. It makes no sense that I still get the creeps from time to time since I have accounts everywhere now. Anyway. It turns out it was a lot of fun making these ♬♪ and the feedback I got was over all very positive, so once I posted vid no 2 I wasn't as anxious about it. Thank you guys for all the lovely reassuring comments!

Yep. I think want to start making more videos from now on. I need some help with it though.

Any suggestions on video topics?

I was thinking of a Q&A thing, since it might be fun. But other than that I don't really know. Q&A? Clothes? DIYs?

I would really love some ideas, if anyone has something in mind they'd like to see. Help? ♥

Pusselipuss until next time alla hjärtegryn. 
xoxo 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

New things ☆ Taobao shopping


Morning people ♪ ! 

It's been a while now. What has happened since last time, you ask? 
Among many things, this: 

A few weeks ago, me and my best friend Alex made a huge order from Taobao. Last week our stuff finally arrived! It was insane, not kidding. The combined weight of our packages was 21 kg (46.3 lbs). Me and my girlfriend Alice were both sick and since Alex was in school, we had to carry these terrifying, cardboard bombs all the way from the post office. We weren't feeling so great afterwards. Doesn't matter. Who can be anything but happy with clothes, clothes and Rilakkuma everywhere, right? 

I mean, look at all these things! 


1. Galaxy print oversized tee 
2. Panda t-shirt, me and Alex bought matching ones 
3. Adidas leopard print t-shirt


1. SHOES! I searched for lolita shoes and found these. Not so lolita, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for either. 
2. High-waist black shorts
3. A lovely jacket with studs, kind of looks like a leather jacket, but it's not
4. A bunch of Kreepsville accessories


I went completely Rilakkuma crazy...

1. Two backpacks, one Rilakkuma and one Ko-Rilakkuma
2. Rilakkuma wallet, Ko-Rilakkuma earphones
3. Ko-Rilakkuma nightgown
4. Rilakkuma pyjama

And I bought a Ko-Rilakkuma fleece pyjama for my friend Emilia, as a birthday gift! 


Last but not least: 

1. I've always wanted a cow kigurumi ;;
2. Mint green curly wig, a Gothic Lolita Wigs model

That is it, 10 kg!

I was like a child on Christmas Eve. Or like almost-eighteen me on Christmas Eve, I'm still pretty excited about Christmas. Anyway. 

Should write a little more about Taobao, I suppose. It is basically like Chinese Ebay. But, like with most Japanese or Chinese websites, you'll need a shopping service - or in this case, a "Taobao agent".
The one I use is kinalink.se. However, Kinalink is a Swedish service, but I've heard many good things about Taobaospree as well. Wonderful Josephine used Taobaospree, and she was happy with her order. 

So Taobaospree as a Taobao agent, highly recommended! 

Shopping on Taobao is really easy once you find your agent. You translate your search word to chinese, with google translate for example, paste it into the search field and press enter. Once you find something, just follow your Taobao agent's purchase procedure. Usually it's as simple as filling in an excel document and e-mailing it to your agent. Done! 

This was my third Taobao order. All of the things I bought add up to around 1000 SEK, shipping included. Insanely cheap for this amount of stuff. Needless to say, I have every intention to make another order! 

Not right now though. No, no. Saying I have no money would be an understatement. 
I've actually gone as far as banning Taobao and Ebay in my browser settings. Will have to survive without window-shopping, lord have mercy. 

Whatever, it's not the end of the world! Instead I'm going to take this opportunity and save some money. It's not like I need more stuff. It'll be nice having some money saved up for something bigger in the future! In the meantime I'll only spend money on a few treats, once in a while, like going to the cinema. I'm usually too cheap to do things like that since I save all my money for clothes, stupid as I am. 

Anyway! I'm sick so I'm going to curl up in bed and watch TV for the rest of the day (* ´ω`) Coughing up my damn lungs. Hope you're feeling better than I am!

Hugs and kisses from cap'n iro ♡ !

Friday, September 7, 2012

A part of my life story


This blog is usually about my interests and fashion, the fun things going on in my life. Today I want to write about something else. A more serious matter. I have to tell you something. 

A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder type two. 
Basically; depression with periods of out-of-control and sometimes damaging happiness.

I will probably regret posting this later on. But right now, I want to tell my story.

I've been thinking so hard about how to write this for quite some time now. So many words to use. It's better to just keep it simple, right?

Well, the cat is out of the box now. 

Why am I writing this, you ask? Simple. I understand people I talk to frequently online have been wondering and worrying about me going to the hospital all the time. I've been tweeting about it, for example. I'm sorry if I made anyone worried in vain. I've been going to the hospital to do tests in order to get the right amount of medication to help me deal with the symptoms that comes with this diagnose. Blood samples, heart and liver function, ultra sounds, and so on. Nothing more serious than that. I'm actually happy I've finally gotten the help I need, weak as it may sound. 

Truth is, the past years have been hell for me. 

When I'm down, I don't like to write about it online. Or even talk to my friends about it. I do, but not very often. I feel annoying if I do. People in general seem to be deadly afraid of any kind of imperfection or weakness in other people, it's completely ridiculous. We're all different, but the one thing we have in common is that no one is perfect. People seem to me ignoring this. So I like to keep things to myself, most of the time.

It was all really confusing before I got it confirmed that something was "wrong" with me. The thing with bipolar disorder, is that it sort of resembles regular moodswings. Only these bipolar moodswings are ten times worse, follow a weekly schedule, and there's never even a second of peace and quiet. But still. It's like moodswings. So I thought I was supposed to feel as - pardon my french - fucking miserable and lost as I felt, because I was a teenager. I actually felt bad for letting it affect me as much as it did. When everyone else was coping with life, why couldn't I? 

For a week or two I would sit on the couch, playing video games, watching TV. Or just stare at nothing, depending on how bad it was. I did push myself to do something each day though. Like seeing a friend, or going into town, taking a walk. Dressing up and taking an outfit picture. Just because if I sat all day the guilt and anxiety would kill me. 

"Oh god my friends will forget me and they will find new friends and I'm going to die alone and never accomplish anything in my life, I need to do something" 

Even if I felt like crying and thought everything I said just sounded stupid, I pushed myself to smile and act normal. For as long as I needed. Then it was back to the couch, completely exhausted and empty. Constantly tired, sleeping twice as much as I should. Completely lost my appetite. Got anxiety attacks over the most irrational things. I would literally kill myself with angst over something stupid I said in kindergarten, seriously. It wasn't fun at all, I tell you. 

Then out of the blue, I would wake up one morning feeling like superman. 

This phase is one I still have to deal with, since I've been given the medication that only affects my down periods, while waiting for the one that needs more "investigating" before knowing how much I will need of it. 

It's the weirdest feeling ever. I feel super creative. I can't stay still for one second, I just run around with all these ideas and everything is so much fun. In fact, it's so much fun I can't decide what I want to do first, so I end up doing a hundred things at once and leave unfinished projects all over the apartment. It's good, in a way, the extra creativity is something I like. But it's so stressful not being able to stop. And it's definitely not fun losing big chunks of your memory, noticing you've spent all your money on ebay on things you don't remember buying. 

It only gets that bad over the night, though. You see, I stop sleeping during these manic periods. The brain gets a little crazy with no sleep. I can at least pretend to act normal, if not a lot happier than usual, during the day. 

I actually prefer my down periods over my up periods. 

And the carousel goes round, and round, and round. Never slowing down. 

When I stopped going to school completely, since my depressive weeks were longer than my manic days, my parents finally accepted the fact that I might be "sick". Both my aunts are bipolar, and my mum has seen how hard it was for them before they got help. They're fine now, living life like everyone else, but it was still hard for her to accept that I was going through the same hell as she had seen her sisters go through. I don't blame her, I wouldn't want to see my kid in the state I was. By the end of last year I finally started seeing a doctor in order to find out why things had gotten so bad.

It was such a relief getting my diagnose. 

A massive weight lifted off my shoulders, learning my moodswings weren't normal. I could get help. Feel like everyone else, get back on my feet. I didn't have to experience this emotional rollercoaster for good.

I've been through a lot in my life. In short words, was bullied all the way up to sixth grade. I came across a person that mentally abused me and controlled me up to eight grade. I comfort ate and locked myself inside, afraid of people. I became overweight. I lost weight. Ended up battling an eating disorder, which I've still not fully recovered from, to be honest. Then came this complete crash. 

Through all this I've never given up, though, and I can say that I'm proud of myself. Even at my lowest point I've still fought to make things better, looked for that light at the end of the tunnel. Eventually I've learned to keep my head high and stay strong, no matter what. Because I am strong. Even if I have to live and deal with this diagnose for the rest of my life, I know I can do it. It's not the end of the world. My aunts are living normal lives with their families. So do and can I. Life will be good for me. 

Just because I have a diagnose it doesn't mean I'm no longer human, or that I've lost my personality, have to be treated any differently. I hate that people seem to think so. Really. Especially with bipolar disorder, it really doesn't affect you at all, if you're lucky enough to get the right help and have people around you to support you when you need them.

I'm really happy with my life now. I'm over all just... happy. I'm so grateful for my friends and for everything that's going so well for me, in every way. Things are really looking up. 

No one will probably read this all the way to the end. I know I wrote quite a lot, haha. But I want to be honest about this. I'm not ashamed and I wanted to clear things up, for those who have been wondering. I wanted to give a message too, I suppose. 

Stay strong and you can do anything. 

Time to say goodbye. If you've stayed with me until now, thank you for reading. I appreciate it. 
Just going to post this now before I regret being so honest. 

Go on and have a wonderful day

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Quick update!

I just changed around a little bit, so now two more Snow White thorns and roses headbands are availabile! I figured since they sold out so quickly, that must mean I should make more of them instead of the Little Mermaid for example. 

I have like an "empty canvas" I just fill up with flowers, so it's no problem. Look at me, rolling with the punches! 

Have to get ready for school now, bye ☆


New products in my little store ☆

Evening bloggy! 

So the only thing I've been doing for the past few weeks is sewing my fingers off, basically. Finally finished everything up today and took some pictures of my work. And here's the result! 


First up is "Bubblegum Bitch"
Probably my favorite! I wouldn't really wear it myself, but whatever. I'm happy with it ♬ And it's called Bubblegum Bitch so what's not to love, right. 

☆ One Bubblegum Bitch up for sale ☆


"Lavender Baby" 

☆ Two Lavender Babies up for sale as well ☆


"Babydoll" 
Named after my favorite Sucker Punch hero. 

☆ One Babydoll up for sale ☆


"Little Mermaid" 
A successful experiment, I'd say! Turquoise x black was requested by a nice tumblrer, so I made a prototype and it turned out quite nice! 

☆ One Little Mermaid swimming in the ocean ☆

(Dear god what did I just write)


"Snow White" 
Can't go wrong with the classic black and white ~ 

☆ Four Snow Whites up for sale ☆

All of them are up for sale now on my storenvy → irosgarden.storenvy.com. 

I'll also sell some at the Japanese Flea Market here in Sweden this October. 

Anyways, would like to once again thank everyone who's constantly giving me feedback and keeping me going with so much kindness. I love you sweethearts. I wish you all the best in the world ♥ And also, thanks to everyone who suggested and requested colors! I hope what I've made lived up to what you had in mind. At least a little bit! 

Hope everyone's having a great Sunday!
Hugs and kisses from iro


Saturday, September 1, 2012

Life at my new school

Time to tell the tale of the magical place that is my new school, G2. 

It's a an ordinary high school that basically looks like an abandoned factory from the outside and is like Narnia on the inside. I'm not even kidding, but more on that later. Apart from the Narnia-part, it's pretty much a regular high school. Kids between the ages of 16-18, lockers, classrooms, so on. Anyway.

In Swedish high schools, each class has a different orientation/focus with courses assigned to that orientation. Like a major. So there are classes like swedish, english, math, all the regular stuff, and on top of that art students have art, florist students learn and work with flowers and music students write songs. And hairdressers like me obviously have hairdressing-classes. 

Right now we're learning how to hold the scissors. 

Our first homework; sit in front of the mirror and practice so you only move your thumb when cutting.
Ridiculously entertaining. 

The salons we work in are super nice too ♫ The whole school is being remodeled so everything is fresh and new. We'll be taking customers in here once we're good enough to actually attack human beings. 


The pic to the left is from the salon. It's still a little messy with the furniture, but almost done! 

The pic to the right is from this place called "Här". It's a shop exclusively for hairdressers where you can get all these things you can't find anywhere else. Like the haircolors. Look at the haircolors. I seriously didn't know what to do, just went around drowning everything in tears of joy. 

Seriously, the benefits and things the students get from this school... It's crazy. First it's the shopping place. We also got a MacBook air (a lease, but we get to buy it for like 1000 SEK when we graduate) and a bag packed with tools. 

2 scissors, 5 brushes, 4 combs, 1 knife, 6 big hairclips, around 2000 hairpins, 1 toolbelt, probably something else I forgot and some scissor oil. 

I want to keysmash so badly just writing about it, haha. 

Really, it already seems like a great school. The teachers are beyond great and the other personnel too. Of course, since it's quite far from the inner city and most people that live out here are wealthy, I do stand out a lot. The first day of school people stared at me like they hadn't seen a human being before. My friend Marijela, who's in her third year, told me her classmates talked so much trash about me after seeing me. I couldn't care less. People are so narrow minded it's embarrassing. It only makes me want to dress even more extreme to show them no matter what I will always hold my head high and set a good example by smiling and being polite. 

Truth be told, I'm only there for the education. If my classmates are nice and I make a few friends, that's always nice. But if I don't, then it doesn't matter. Since I've already passed two years of high school with straight A's in all the basic courses like swedish, english and history for example, I will only be there for at the most two classes a day. My classmates are very nice though, so it won't even be something worth thinking about, but still. 

It's kind of nice for once feeling like I really can do this. I look forward to learning and moving on from the past year, which has been horrible, to be honest. 

So it's an awesome start. Even more awesome because of this; 
You walk through this corridor, a regular, old, boring corridor, and you open that little door you see at the end... 


...and you end up here. 


A little village with classical swedish cottages, trees, streets and even a water pump. 

This isn't a very good picture to capture all of it, I didn't have much time so it had to be this or nothing. Still. Freaking Narnia. Classes are held in all these little houses. The principal lives in the yellow one. And my face the first time we walked in here can not be described. 

That's about it for this time! I'm so looking forward to three years at this place. Even though my classmates are two years younger, I have to go three years instead of the one year I had left in artschool, and yada yada, it's so worth it. Happy Saga is happy. 

Wish anyone who's reading this all the niceness and positive energy! Goodnight until next time ♥