Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Golden Foliage


Isn't this dress amazing? From the baroque print to the heart shaped cut out on the back and the circle skirt, it's a combination of a bunch of awesome on-trend elements and it really works.

wearing
dress - c/o Koogal
cardigan - c/o Sheinside
sock cuffs - DIY
shoes - Oasap
belt - Vintage
hat - c/o Wholesale

I'm not feeling so well today and my brain is rather sluggish, so I may save an awesome science fact til tomorrow. Hopefully today you can just enjoy the outfit photos :) Much love,

Sunday, 9 December 2012

DIY Ice Cream Pockets Skirt

Hey guys! This is what I made today - and another idea for pockets if you want to give my DIY skirt a go! (Thank you so much to the ladies who have made & blogged about this DIY skirt! I've loved seeing what you're coming up with!) I made the pockets a little larger than the blue gingham skirt, and appliquéd on some ice cream shapes, using slightly different patterned fabrics for each ice-cream scoop. I really like them :)

wearing
t- shirt - Forever 21
skirt - DIY
tights - c/o Oasap
shoes - Raben footwear
hat - c/o Wholesale

Onto some science - if you needed any more proof that science is awesome, then please take a look at these nail designs from Cosmetic Proof.
Scientist and fashionista Jayne creates molecular nail designs, and then explains the biological funtion behind the chemical structures she draws!

These are by far the coolest mash up of science and fashion that I've ever seen:
Amino acids are the "building blocks" of what make up proteins in your body (proteins being what makes all your different tissues, skin, organs etc). There are 20 naturally occurring amino acids in humans, and each amino acid has both a name and an abbreviated letter. These nails represent the stick drawings for each amino acid (the red dot shows oxygen and the blue dot is nitrogen, and the black lines are how chemists draw carbon that is linked in chains).
So the super awesome thing about these is not only did she paint amino acids on her fingernails... she placed each amino acid so that, read left to right, the abbreviated letters spell out a secret message:
These are actually the nerdiest and best thing ever, I am so impressed.

Also seeing as I want to be a brain lady one day, I'm crazy for these neuro nails:
Check out Jayne's blog Cosmetic Proof here for more amazing nerdy nail designs. Yay for science!

Saturday, 8 December 2012

Black Lips, Blue Docs & Immortality

Okay, so look what I got at the op shop on Thursday! I mentioned these in yesterday's blog post, but I still can't believe my luck so I'm mentioning them again. Super good condition dark blue Dr Martens made in England. For $12. In my size. BEST HAUL EVER!
I'm also so happy with this blazer! I'm not a big blazer wearer, but this one suited this outfit really well! I LOVE the plaid orange colour. I actually think it would also work really well paired with lilac in an outfit that isn't so dark.
wearing
blazer - c/o Sheinside
dress - Chicabooti
boots - Dr Martens (Vintage)
socks - Wholesale
belt - Vintage

You guys already know how much I love jellyfish (even when they're not really jellyfish), but the coolest hydrozoan that I think I've come across thus far are the species Turritopsis nutricula, who are only immortal.
(source)
These jellies are the real-life equivalent of Benjamin Button - basically, once they reach old age, they can revert back to being babies again. This reversal process is part of their natural life-cycle and the fact that they can continuously do it again and again makes them biologically immortal. Read more here, they're amazing creatures.

Another animal who I've always been fascinated with, who is also considered somewhat biologically immortal are the flatworm Planarian. This worm can be cut in half, in quarters - in fact, up to 1/279ths, and each bit will regrow into a whole new individual worm. Because of this regeneration, and because they also maintain telomere length (a process thought to be a causing factor of aging in other organisms), they can also effectively live forever.

This is why science is awesome.







p.s. I recently joined up with re.mu! They're an online style-sharing network where you share photos of the clothes in your closet. Anyway, I need some friends! If you guys join up I'll follow you right away :) You can sign in easily through facebook, and find my profile here! Let me know if you do sign up, and leave a comment with your profile below.

Friday, 7 December 2012

Restyler (giant old dress --> cute vintage number)

I had the best luck at the vintage stores I went to yesterday. Not only did I get this awesome dress (which I had to resize, but still) and orange sweater, I also scored a pair of dark blue Dr Martins, in super good condition. And then I got my university results back and found out that I got two High Distinctions in the subjects I really wanted to do well in, which means I can do the advanced neuroscience courses I wanted to do next year! (I'm actually on the way to becoming a real scientist!) I then spent the rest of the night sewing, attempting to alter this dress into something wearable, and succeeded!  It was a very good day :)

I also have to let you all know what happened the entire time I was altering this dress. Bomfunk MC's Freestyler started playing over and over in my head, except instead of the main word being "Freestyler", it got replaced with "Restyler". I'm not sure why. Possibly because I'm mad. I embedded the song here for anyone who wants to know what my mad brain subjected me to all night. Luckily I happen to have a massive soft-spot of nostalgia for this song so it really wasn't all bad. I even got into it and started singing along as I was sewing, being a total bad ass mutha-f**ker restyler (from the 90s).

Anyway, here's a before and after shot of my dress! My process of alteration was: making the bodice smaller, shortening the sleeves, removing the shoulder pads, shortening the skirt then bringing in the bodice again with some darts. If anyone who alters vintage dresses has any tips for resizing, I'd love to hear them - I'm really just making it up as I go along and I'm sure there's better techniques I could use! Still, I'm pretty happy with how my dress turned out.

There's no way you could leave a dress with these buttons and collar alone in a thrift store.  No way.
wearing
dress - Vintage (restyled)
bag - Ebay
shoes - Vintage
socks - Cotton On
clips - The Little Pineneedle
sock cuffs - I made them
hat - c/o Wholesale








p.s. No science fact for today - I haven't stopped, don't worry! I just didn't want this to turn into a monster blog post.

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Little Jellybean plus a Scientific Christmas Gift Guide

I bought some super pink lipstick the other day and I'm loving it! I'm feeling pretty lucky that I now have a whole THREE lipsticks to choose from, oh my! (Although I wouldn't mind a bright blue and maybe a dark violet and a lovely lilac..)

I also love my new jelly shoes but wearing them the last few days has made it clear (I unintentionally wrote that pun then went back and noticed I'd done it, oh dear) that I'm going to have to start a super cute sock collection because now you can see my entire foot! These lilac socks are pretty cute, but I need more patterned ones I think! Anyone know some really cool sock stores? I'm on the lookout for ice-cream patterned socks in particular...

wearing
blouse (actually a dress) - Vintage
Skirt - Vintage
bag - c/o Mochi Beaucoup
shoes - Jellybeans
lace sock cuffs - I made them
socks - Cotton On

I've been seeing the coolest, nerdiest science-themed christmas presents all over the internet in the last few days, so I thought I'd make you guys a little Science-themed Christmas Gift Guide. I love art/science mash ups.
Microbiology pendant necklace from ctrl alt deviant
Test tube flower vases from Urban outfitters
these personalised Chemistry prints (I want to point out they've written the chemical symbols wrong - always big letter then little letter! - but it's cool anyway)

The nerdiest ever vintage-print chemistry pendants (featuring an orbital and chemistry apparatus) from Left Brain Right Brain

Glow-in-the-dark(!!) Marie Curie portrait ring from The Science Boutique

Galaxy in a pendant from The Pendant Garden

And if you're feeling super ambitious, there's always this DIY project:
Test tube chandelier by Pani Jurek

By the way, thank you so much to everyone who's entered my two giveaways in the last few days! (Find them here and here). I've tried to make them a little more interesting than your average giveaway by asking you guys to be creative. I've really been enjoying your entries :)
Hope you're all super dooper well!

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Oh my glob - Adventure Time DIYs (and a giveaway) // CLOSED

Adventure time canvases now residing above my bed
Do you guys think my obsession for adventure time gone too far?
Finn & Jake sweater clips
hand-painted shorts
Not a DIY but here because I'm obsessed with it - a picture that Bruno Harryson sent to me and is actually my FAVOURITE THING EVER
No, I wouldn't say I'm obsessed... When I start writing fan fiction, then you guys can get worried. Do you all like my DIY Adventure Time collection? I think Finn & Jake would be pretty proud. Which, you know, of course they couldn't be because of course I know they're not real (...)

And because I think you guys are totally math:
*Win* one of TWO PAIRS of Finn & Jake sweater clips handmade by me (Open internationally until Dec. 24!) - it's a Rafflecopter giveaway so if you can't see it then give it a second to load.
( I can't not read that in John DiMaggio's voice.)