The Kailey Doll

Presenting... The Kailey Doll! Only $34.99 😂 Halloween season is HERE and I was finally able to fulfill my dream of becoming an IRL doll! I followed my friend Aww Sam's Roller Disco Barbie tutorial for sizing the cardboard and wrapped pink paper around the cardboard.

Hot glue wasn’t keeping the box together, so I had to go in with not-as-cute packing tape haha! Finally, I cut out and painted a bunch of cute motifs of things I love/have featured in my work and glued it on :) What other Halloween looks should I try?

Makeup Look: Starry Eyed

When it comes to makeup, I must confess I usually stick with very "wearable", soft looks because I'm always secretly afraid the artsy, "out there" looks won't flatter me. But I've been so inspired by Euphoria's runway ready makeup looks (along with everybody else!), I decided to try out an intense smokey eyeshadow look with a side of Swarovski crystals!

Song to the Siren

DRESS: Valfre * PURSE: Valfre * BARRETTE: Pastel Renaissance * How can it be that summer is already winding down? I don't think the novelty of basking in a sun drenched living room, with my cat strategically laying in a sun spot, will ever get old. I wore this outfit to a BBQ and I feel like these photos, captured at golden hour, perfectly encapsulate the beautiful summer sunsets I love so much! I''m wearing a dreamy little dress from one of my favorite brands, Valfre.

Fashion in Film: 5 Favorite Period Pieces

Some of the most memorable scenes in film feature breath-taking clothing that speak to different time periods, class system, life experiences, and more. As well as introducing me to worlds outside of my limited scope, movies also taught me about fashion - how to identify fabrics, sewing techniques - not to mention reading a character based on their wardrobe. Things like scuff marks, specific kinds of fabric, color stories, and garment structure all give us clues to the characters on screen.

I started a Twitter thread on some of my favorite films based on their costume design, but wanted to explore the topic without a word count, and I felt like a series here on Mermaidens would be the perfect way to explore costume design in film! I would love to hear your favorites as well, so please leave them in the comments!
Let's discuss one of my very favorite genres of film: The Period Piece.

Makeup Look: Modern Day Marie Antoinette

Lately, instead of asking myself "how can I make myself look better?" when doing my makeup, I've been trying to ask myself "How can I have fun with this?". It's a much appreciated change, partially inspired by the amazing dialog we had in one of my last post which touched upon beauty standards.

On Beauty Standards & Hamlet Inspired Self Portraits...

To sleep,
perchance to dream --

Sometimes, I have a hard time feeling like I need to be all these things - youthful, pretty, soft, small. While taking photos the other day, I was trying to project all of that: but after looking at the photos I wanted to cry. I began hyper focusing on the lines under my eyes, how tired I looked, how my body looked.

So I decided to hell with it - I put my hair up, smoked out my cried off eye makeup, and started taking portraits - only this time, instead of worrying about looking pretty, I decided to try to look annoyed, confident, bored, smug… Slowly, I realized I was trying to emulate a bit of a Shakespearean hero - think Romeo’s bravado or Hamlet’s weariness.