Jewel Brown, Vassen Circle Lenses

So, this is what the design looks like. [I took it off of pinkyparadise's page]

Here are the stats:

Weight: 0 kg, 100 grams
Stock: Stock available
Manufacturer: Vassen
Diameter : 14.5mm
Water Content : 42%
Base Curve : 8.6mm
Life Span : 1 year disposal

This is how they come out in flash lighting, super pretty right?

So, I can't even begin to say how much I love this pair. I've been using the Jewel Brown by Vassen for roughly half a year now and I use them almost every other day. They are amazingly comfortable and I've had no issues what so ever dealing with dry-ness or itching or even moving and drifting around my eye. They stay in quite solidly and move perfectly with my iris. I've even accidentally slept with them on and I woke up without any irritation. Not like I recommend falling asleep with circle lenses in, you should not do that.

They are a more golden colour than my eye, you can tell because they are very spot on with the example picture. They also blend in quite believable with my own brown eyes. I get a ton of compliments on them, almost every time I wear them and people can't tell they're contacts and assume it's my natural eye colour.

The design isn't pixelated at all and has a very natural effect starting from the limbal ring all the way to where it blends about a millimeter away from your own pupil, which is great because you don't see that ring of colour in your peripheral vision.

It's also quite enlarging, but not obviously so, which I find very lovely.

I really wish I could give you some 'cons' to balance out my raving review, but I honestly can't find any. Maybe except that I can't wear them 24/7 for life... Haha.

This is really my #1 favorite pair of lenses and I highly recommend them.

I am probably going to order them in different colours to see how those look against my brown eyes.<3
Here's what they look like with my pink wig.~

5/5 rating~

can I do like, 10 out of 5? Because I think they're super rad??

You can purchase them at pinkyparadise

<3CarisseIris

My favorite store, Red Apparel and Outfit of the Day

I have a local boutique near me that I want to share with you all, seeing as a few people ask where I purchase a majority of my wardrobe.Most of my items, if not from American Apparel or ebay or shipped from abroad, come from Red Apparel. [Just so you know, this is in not was sponsored. I just want to share this lovely place with you guys.]

Honestly, I really loath forever 21 and like stores, with super cheap clothing that fits oddly and has very odd prints and odder cuts and shapes. Not only that, but you know that a hundreds of thousands of people have the same clothing as you and that's just something that kind of irks me. Also how there's just something always 'off' about the clothing there, or that's just me...

I really enjoy Red because their inventory always switches like every other week and the clothing ranges from high fashion, to formal wear to every day wear. [I even found some Miu Miu inspired dresses this time around]

I also love that I can find a lot of current 'gyaru' trends and inspired clothing. There was a really sweet polka dot dress that looked straight out of a Dazzlin' catalog.
This blazer is so in trend and I kept seeing tan blazers in the February ViVi magazine.
This top also reminded me of Snidel's embroidery striped tops, like almost spot on and it took so a lot of will power not to just snatch it up.

Oh, another thing with Red, is that if you see something you like, you should pick it up right then and there, because rarely do they restock items and the really nice pieces tend to be gone the following week. I had to learn that the tough way, I let so many gorgeous clothing items escape me and I regret it so much.

Oh yeah, another note, in store pictures aren't allowed. My bad.

[I was outfit shopping for a wedding this weekend and ended up straying and just picking up things for my daily wear, oops.]
I couldn't help but snap a few outfit pictures to show you.

I really love this dress and I want to purchase it next time I go there. I really want to pair it with a daisy crown.

Kind of inspired by this picture from tumblr. [under]

Cute right?

It also reminds me a bit of Liz Lisa dresses with the lace and frills.
Also, this outfit is super cute. I bought the top of it actually. It's a super cute chiffon collared top. So in trend. Also the skirt reminds me of Dazzlin, probably because of the pastel coral colour and the polka dots. Note the small belt that comes with the skirt. It totally matched the colour of my litas.

I drew on some ruffle socks, because that would make the outfit cuter.

I also think some small round sun glasses or cat's eye sunglasses would look really cute with it.

Note that you aren't supposed to take pictures, but I honestly couldn't resist.

;_;

This is what the top looks like. Ugh, the little gold buttons are such a lovely detail.
If any of my followers are near the Long Beach area, you should check it out. <3

5531 Stearns St.

Suite B

Long Beach Ca

The girls that work there are super friendly and are absolute sweet hearts and have great fashion sense. Just so you know.

Oh yeah. This was my outfit today. I really don't know what I wanted to accomplish with the look. The consensus on my other blog was 'whimsical with an edge'.

Lace raglan top from eBay

Layered maxi skirt from eBay

Jeffery Campbell Litas

Oh, all my accessories today are from Red all bought sometime this past summer.

I should do an accessories post one day, but all in due time...

Actually, the satchel I use all the time I got there too...

I think I've illustrated my point that a lot of my items come from there.. Haha.

I also forgot to post my outfit from the other day.

I have in my hair a peach bow from American Apparel

Vintage Guess jean jacket

Dazzlin' Tiger Sweater

American Apparel leggings

Jeffery Campbell Litas

Yepp.

<3CarisseIris

S'mores Cookie Bar

Yum! I made some delicious sweets and I want to share my recipe for others to enjoy.

What you will need:

1/2 cup [1 stick] of butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 graham cracker crumbs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups [8 ounce package] chocolate chips

3 cups mini marshmallows

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8 inch square pan.

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until well blended. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt~ Then add it into the butter mixture, beating until blended.

Press half of the dough into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the baked layer, followed by the marshmallows. Finally, scatter bits of the remaining dough over the marshmallows.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden.
Please wait for it to cool down and cut into bars.

Then, grab a nice beverage, put up your feet and enjoy!

<3CarisseIris

Disney's Aristocats, Marie Nails

Ooh la la, I have some fancy kitty perched on my nails. If you're interested in recreating this, than look no further.

What you'll need:

Black, pink, white nail polish and a top coat.

Optional: Glitter polish

Now, let's get started!

I'll be doing this a bit differently than my other nail tutorials. I will be creating them 'upside down' like, if you were to be staring at the back of your hand and painting them, which is how I did mine...

To start it off, create a medium sized circle in the middle of your nail bed and fill it in.

On the sides of the circle you'll be making 2 downward curved triangles followed by 3 or 4 slanted lines at the very bottom of the circle.

It looks like a funky bird doesn't it?
Now, this is where it starts taking shape. above the triangles, make 3lines coming out of the circle, you can curve them slightly downward, it's at you're discretion.

After that, you will make a swooped line from the left side of the circle to the left side edge of you're nail.
On the other side of the nail, you will do the same thing but stop 2/3 of the way down. From there you will need to make a hump, similar to a 'heart' shape, to create the cat's thigh.
Now you get to fill in the cat with white! Can you see it take shape now?

Now where her hair is, draw a line with pink and make a small triangle on one side and a thicker line on the other, to create a depth to the bow she wears on her head.
Around her neck, create one large triangle connected to another and dot the center. This will make her bow around her neck.
Here is the tricky part, start outlining the bow and her head in black polish. I try to use short fast strokes so that my shaking fingers won't mess up my work.

Then, you will need to outline her bow followed by her body.

When you come to her thigh, I use 3 short curved strokes going inward to give it some shape. Please note the example I drew on the picture.
The final step is to draw in her tail, which is quite similar to how I drew her thigh, using 3 short stokes which finish off at the bottom of the nail.

Voila! Marie the cat is perched on your nail!
Now, after it's dry, you can apply your top coat.

And if you're like me and love glitter, you can add some to the nail for a little extra oomph.

Now, if you want a complete set you can do the following...

I used:

Now, to finish off the nails, I like to vary my nail decoration.

I made a french tip following the curve of my nail bed with the pink 'rite stripe' polish and filled it in followed by going in with the black 'rite stripe' polish and making 2 large dots and 4 small dots above them respectively. I followed that with glitter applied in a 'c' shape around the side of my nail.

I did a plain shimmering pink nail with 'seashell' coated with the iridescent 'fifty four' and tipped with just one coat of the 'sally girl' pink glitter applied to the upper half of the nail.

You can also make a lovely gradient starting off with a coat of 'fifty four' and a very light light application of 'seashell' and just patiently layering 'seashell' again a few more times to turn it into a lovely haze up the nail. I then made paw prints with the black 'rite stripe' and took the white glitter from 'sally girl' and did one stripe across the nail.
I hope you enjoyed my Marie from Disney's Aristocats themed nails.

<3CarisseIris

Making a Purse out of a Stuffed Animal

So, this might be a bit picture heavy, but I don't know how to properly illustrate my directions without visual aids, probably because I find visuals very helpful. SO, here we go.

Difficulty: Easy

What you will need:

Stuffed animal

Zipper [one that will fit into your plush]

Fabric [for liner]

Something to use for straps. ie; ribbon, fabric, backpack straps....

Needle and thread

Optional:

'D' rings

Sewing Machine

So, firstly, start off with a plush you don't mind cutting up.

Any size will do, mine is 15 inches long.

The first step is to make an incision where you will put the zipper. I decided because my plush lays down, to put the zipper along the seam on 'her' back. If you have a plush that looks like it sits or stands, you have the option of turning it into a backpack so you can place your zipper horizontally but it's all to you're discretion.

After that you need to take out the stuffing, but please leave the stuffing in the head and arms/legs alone. You can sew the limbs shut if you choose to do so. I didn't because I'm not that concerned about it.
I decided not to buy a zipper because I had an old purse with the perfect size zipper, so I cut it out carefully and set it aside for later use.

See, my zipper is ready for application, but I need to make a liner to put my things into.

I decided to recycle my reusable canvas bag that I use for groceries because my family accumulates them in bulk. I guesstimated on my measurements so my lining came out to be roughly 8 inches in width and 10 inches in length.

Please figure out your measurements according to you're stuffed animals measurements.
I then folded it width wise 'hot dog' and sewed 2 of the edges to make it into a pocket.

I used really simple stitches and tied it with a french knot. I'm not an expert sewer, just so you know.

I then turned my pocket inside out and lined it with my plush's opening like so.
Which, with the same simple, weaving in and out stitch, I sewed the lining to my plush's opening.

After It was secure all around with no gaps or open spaces, I tucked/pushed the lining into my plush.
The next step, which is the most difficult step was to sew the zipper to the plush's opening.

SO, I overlapped the edge of the plush/lining over the edge of the zipper and using the same simple stitching, I sewed the zipper on.
After finishing one side, this is how the underneath of the sipper looked.

I then opened the zipper and finished the other side.

Voilla! The zipper is sewed on. This is how the end product looked open.

My sewing skills aren't the best or the neatest, but I make sure my stitching is secure. If anything needs to be reinforced, please do so.

Now, on to the straps. I do prefer using backpack straps which you can cut off an old backpack or purchase at you're local fabric store, which I did. I bought a yard which was perfect for the length I was going for.

Please measure the precise length you require for your plush because it might differ from mine.

I also bought 'd' rings to adhere my straps to my bag, which is optional but I wanted to experiment....
If you plan to use the 'D' rings, you must sew the straps to the rings by over lapping the straps over the ring and sewing it shut around the apparatus. Like so.


Then repeating on the other side, making sure that they will both be facing inwards.

You can also incorporate 'd' rings into you're strap to make them adjustable.

But you will have to find a separate tutorial online for that, I'm sorry.
Now, you can attach that with a piece of fabric or by sewing them on directly to the plush. Please use you're preferred choice.

I opted for directly sewing them on, because I got lazy. But, it worked out just fine.
I just sewed into the plush and wrapped it around the ring and repeated it over and over until it was securely fastened on. I harshly tugged on it to make sure it wouldn't rip off.

If you're sewing on the strap directly, I would just use a simple stitch but sew over the strap a good number of times to make sure it won't rip off and give it a good few tugs to make sure the sewing job was done well.

Don't forget to repeat the same process on the other side. [Doubly so if you're putting on 2 straps to turn your plush into a backpack]

Ta da! It's finished!

I'm quite fond of the finished product!
Here are a few examples for making a backpack. There are optional placements for placing you're straps.

Minnie's are on her hand and connect to her feet so it looks like she's hanging on to one's shoulders.
While Scrump, is a basic backpack that hangs off one's back.

Though, mind you, these 2 are purchased from the Disney company.

I hope this tutorial is helpful and enjoyable. I know I really enjoyed making my purse!

<3CarisseIris