Where is my mind? - The Pixies

I made another skirt to go with my outfit today! I tried to attach the pockets so that they weren't straight to emphasise the handmade-ness of them, but now I'm kinda wishing that I did. Ah well. Learning process! How cool is this blouse anyway?? Paired up with the teeth necklace it's really kind of creepy! wearing blouse - c/o Romwe necklace - c/o Oasap tights - c/o Oasap skirt - DIY bag and shoes - Vintage For those of you who haven't discovered it, this is probably the greatest science site on the internet: xkcd's "What If". It explores what may seem like (and, well, are) nonsense questions, and attempts to answer them using maths and physics. This weeks questions asks if it's possible to build a jet pack using machine guns (it is), but other questions explored include "what if every actually had only one soul mate, a random person somewhere in the world?", "what if all the rain in a cloud rained down in a single drop?" and "if you lay on the ground with your mouth open how long will it take for a bird to poop in it?" Check out "What If" here. I am going to post a DIY for this (and this) skirt very very soon! The post is all written up and everything, so if you want to know how to make one yourself check back in a few hours! p.s. Where is my Mind - The Pixies

Lady Cupcake

Even though I've been dressing a bit darker lately, including leather and black lipstick and the like, don't think I've forgotten my frilly, pink, pastel side. This dress is yet another beautiful design from the amazing Mod Dolly. Paired with this lace blouse I feel a little bit like I'm emulating a cupcake (definitely a good thing, cupcakes are the best). Also, a bunch of new dresses have just been added to the Mod Dolly store so you should go check it out! As I'm going through a bit of a 90s phase, I'm loving these two in particular: dark florals and all-over tartan with a peter pan collar?! I'm in love! And if you want to snap these up before they're gone, remember that you can use the discount code ANNIKA to get 15% off anything at Mod Dolly! wearing dress - c/o Mod Dolly blouse - cheap shop under Central Station tights - c/o Oasap shoes - Forever 21 bag - Vintage Okay, how awesome is this? Here's my nerd-love science item for the day. Brady Haran (from periodic videos) and the University of Nottingham chemistry department made a chemistry professor (who they obviously like quite a lot) a periodic table of cupcakes for his birthday: (source) So uh, my 21st is coming up in half a year... just saying. I also want to mention that I'm so glad I started talking about science on my blog. I never thought I'd be having discussions about time travel or zombie parasites on a fashion blog, but I'm really enjoying it :) Thanks to everyone who gets involved in discussing the science item that I post! Even if you don't have a scientist's knowledge of science, I love hearing your thoughts about something I've posted, even if it's just letting me know you found it interesting or learnt something new!

Time Traveller

I feel like I should be heading off on a worldly trip wearing this outfit. The shoes may not be practical for travelling but this gorgeous berry bag from Marc B certainly would be - this is probably one of the nicest bags I've ever owned, and super luxurious - it's got leopard print lining and pretty gold embellishments. It would also be the perfect sized bag for a plane trip. This skirt from Romwe is one of my new favourites. Although I'm actually not sure of where the photo is of. Is it Rome? Can any geography/history buff point me in the right direction? It would be really cool if it were Rome because I'm (probably possibly) going to visit Italy next year! wearing shirt - Forever 21 bag - c/o Marc B cardigan - c/o Modcloth skirt - c/o Romwe Tights - c/o Oasap Now this is definitely more science fiction than science, but IF physicists were to figure out time travel, how would it work? Well, movies and fiction give us three possible ideas: (source) But just make sure, any potential time travellers, that you first do some astronomy lessons. (source) By the way if you're wondering about why the heck I'm talking about time travel, I started putting an awesome science item with every outfit post. Keep up.

Leather collar, kitten shins.

I've been listening to a 90s grunge playlist on spotify all morning and I think it's worked it's way into my outfits a little bit. This is definitely not a bad thing, and I think my style has been drifting a little grunge-ways anyway... I'm really getting into the black lipstick though. I looooove black lipstick, almost as much as bright red lipstick. The only problem is that I end up transforming into a creepy Dr Who-style character if I eat while wearing it - it goes everywhere and I end up with black smudges all over my chin and upper lip. Not pretty, haha. However, how pretty is this Romwe dress? I decided to pair it with a mustard cardigan to accentuate the yellow floral pattern on the dress. wearing dress - c/o Romwe Fine & Dandelion cardigan - c/o Modcloth collar clips - Ebay tights - c/o Oasap So check out this little guy: (image source) Really, I have no way to segue in this science item today and it has nothing to do with my outfit (at best I could say it's purplish and greenish). But ignore that - how cool is this transparent turtle?? This is not something that exists in nature (although freaky looking dudes kind of like this do exist in the deepest dark depths of the ocean). This is a regular old turtle, to whom artist Iori Tomita has applied scientific techniques of staining and dying to transform it into a colourful, transparent work of art (although I hope it died naturally first... hmm). In any case, it's cool what he does - he removes scales and skin, then soaks the creature in an enzyme which eats away muscles and tissues - until just the right point where it's become see-through. Then he stains them using dyes, and this is the result. Pretty cool.

I like your BRAIN.

Hello ladies and gentleman! Like my shirt? This aspiring neuroscientist was asked by Dizzy Little Dotty to wear & review a t-shirt, and so of course I decided to choose the brain one. Well, the zombie/brain one, anyway. I thought it was pretty appropriate - I like brains, what can I say?  So when I received the t-shirt in the mail I went through all my shorts and skirts, wondering what I should pair it with. I kept looking at the outfit of the cute nerd-girl on the t-shirt thinking, "damn. I wish I had a skirt like that." Luckily, I then remembered that I have sewing abilities! So I ended up emulating the girl in the t-shirt in my outfit, and making a blue pencil skirt with little heart-pockets and suspenders. I decided not to stop there, and so I put on some knee-high socks and brown brogues as well, just like the girl on the shirt. Now I basically am the girl on my new Dizzy Little Dotty t-shirt. (And this has got the potential to become like the painting of a painting within a painting that goes on infinitely, haha.) Can I also recommend that you check out Lauren Carney's artwork blog?? (Lauren Carney is the lovely lady who puts the artworks on the shirts at Dizzy Little Dotty.) Her illustrations are actually ludicrously cool. Her facebook is probably the best place to see all her artworks. I keep discovering all these amazing artists lately (like these two) that are really making me wish I could draw. Guess I'll have to be satisfied with being able to make clothes... for now...   wearing t-shirt - c/o Dizzy Little Dotty bag - c/o Choies skirt - I made it! socks - c/o Sock Dreams  shoes - Vintage Speaking of brains and zombies, here's a real-life science example of zombification. (Not involving humans, don't worry.) Ants can be infected by a species of fungi called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, that actually turns the ants into zombies by altering the ant's brain chemistry, changing their behaviour and causing them climb up the stem of a plant and clamp on for dear life until they die. Then the fungus continues growing inside the ant until it sprouts out the top, releasing spores of itself onto the conveniently placed plant below it. Here's some of the innocent-looking fungi that have these mind-altering properties (that sentence could be taken out of context very easily). I cropped the picture because a zombie-fied dead ant was a little too grusome for a fashion blog, but if you want to see the whole picture then click here (don't worry it's not horrific or anything, it just features a poor dead ant with some fungi sticking out of it), and if you're interested, you can read more about parasitic fungi here. And if you're worried about an analogous parasite-zombie relationship occurring in humans, well as far as we know fungi can't do this to us - but if you want to sleep tonight, then don't look up toxoplasma. That is all.

I'm back, baby! (& my DIY Tapestry Shorts)

Well hello there! It's so nice to be back! I feel like I've been gone forever, even though it's only been 10 days. And oh boy, has it been a long 10 days. I'm really happy with how my exams went though, I feel like my crazy non-stop studying session paid off; now my first year of university is behind me and I am looking forward to being able to specialise in some neuroscience next year! However for now, I am definitely looking forward to the start of the summer holidays and not studying for the next three months. So this is the second time in just three posts where the title of my post has also been a pun  (because the first picture has involved me turned around, showing off some feature of the back of my outfit, and I am also "back". So clever). What can I say. I guess I'm just a really lazy writer. Unless you're like my dad or brothers and you consider the ability to make puns to be the height of wit and intelligence, then you probably think I'm some kind of genius. I've basically lived in this Sheinside sweater the entire past week. It's the perfect study sweater for me - it allows me to be comfy, but I like that the heart patches on the elbows stop me from looking like a bit of a slob. Yes I care what I wear even when I'm studying. This is why this is the perfect study sweater. A plain grey sweater would be a bit daggy, but the addition of the subtle heart patches at the elbows turns it into a cute layering piece. And then there's my shorts! I made them about a month ago - remember how I suddenly came into the possession of a very large lot of fabric? Well this was the first thing I made with them. You can see my past DIYs for shorts here. I made these socks myself as well! I'll have a tutorial up on how to lace-ify your socks real soon. I took these photos a couple of weeks ago before I started studying, but if I got to take the photos again I would have paired it up with this bag from OASAP instead (which unfortunately arrived in the mail a day after I took these pictures.) I've used this bag exclusively for the past week, and it is my new favourite. It was the best for my exams because it's the perfect size for A4 study notes and can be converted from a satchel bag to a backpack. Expect to see this gorgeous thing in an outfit post real soon: Anyway, as for my outfit, I am wearing... sweater - c/o Sheinside shorts - DIY socks - DIY hat - c/o Wholesale belt, shoes and bag - vintage I hope you've all been very well! I've missed blogland! No science item for today... I've already talked on enough. Tomorrow I will have an awesome science item for you though. One more thing - I'm sorry for freaking everyone out with the title of my last blog post. Yes... it was intentional. I thought it would be funny... but I didn't think everyone would freak out as much as they did! I particularly liked this comment for it's dramaticity (if that's even a word): Dying is pretty extreme. It's nice to know I am appreciated, and thank you Lauren :) Much love and thanks for reading!