Today has been hard. We have winter storms on the way, and the falling air pressure and rapidly-dropping temps have my arthritis in overdrive. Combine that with stress about deadlines at work and I slept VERY badly and woke up too early. The day continued with more thwarted deadlines and wrecked plans and an inexplicable internet outage, and it all piled up to induce a quiet sobbing meltdown. I came very close to not doing today’s outfit at all. But sometimes I feel better after I get the whole thing together, and it’s at least one thing I can complete right now.
Purple cotton sweater: Value Village (label is Blue Sky)
Black & white stripe ponte skater skirt: Torrid
Leggings: Carousel Ink
Purple nubuck boots: Hotter Shoes Belle
Black fleece arm warmers: Talismana Designs via Sock Dreams
Silver & black star diopside “Orbits” neckace: Angelwear Creations
Black onyx & silver wire cabochon earrings: Angelwear Creations
Makeup—Aromaleigh unless otherwise noted
Foundation, concealer, undereye: standard
Contour: Medusa Menagerie Amphisbaena
Eye shadow: front of lid, Pure Eyes Frost Hyacinth (discontinued); rest of lid, Crystal Fretting (LE); browbone, Spring Solstice Larkspur (discontinued); crease & corner, Medusa Menagerie Sthenno
Liner: Holly-Days Midnight Mess (LE)
Mascara: standard
Rouge: Goddess of the Month Iris
Highlighter: Galactic Gravitational Lensing
Powder: Ultra Resolution English Rose
Lips: NYX Cosmetics Matte Lipstick Up the Bass
Today’s outfit is basically a color variation on the one from last week: long sweater, short skirt, leggings, boots. As I said then, some days I just need to be able to be comfy and quick when I get dressed. I decided to go with the B&W skirt to break up the palette a bit; I would have done B&W jewelry as well, but I wore it all when I did this last August and I’m trying not to repeat clothes or accessories.
The arm warmers are for my arthritis. I have it bad in my hands, and the pain refers up into my forearms. Nice cozy arm warmers like these help mitigate that, and provide a little stylishness too. I have them in a few colors, because, as noted several times during this project, when I find something that works for me, I get multiples. They’re out of stock at Sock Dreams, which is where I bought them; a few other colors are available from the Talismana Designs Etsy shop, linked above, and there are some other styles as well.
And yes, the hair is the same as yesterday. You’ll probably see this more times before the project is over. As with most things in my outfits, there’s a reason.
There was a meme on Twitter a couple of weeks ago that asked what your two accessories would be if you were an action figure. Mine were a mug of tea, and an octopus clip. I have a lot of hair, very dense and heavy, as well as prone to Medusa-esque qualities, and when it gets more than a couple of inches past my shoulders, it becomes hard to wear loose and down. Thus, when my hair is as long as it is currently, it needs to be corralled.
I am capable of doing a lot of cool things with my hair; I can do numerous kinds of updos, braids, and twists. However, a lot of those cool things require a lot of pins and clips to manage, and there are days when having to stick all that stuff in my hair becomes a source of discomfort. And on days when my arthritis is active, forget it, there’s no way I’m managing the effort of twisting and wrapping and folding and holding to do something cool. Also, a lot of those cool things take time, and some days I don’t have or don’t want to spare the time required.
Doing a basic ponytail with an elastic or large barrette is an option, but my hair is so heavy that it’ll pull these fasteners down unless I can fasten them very tightly, which goes back to the “source of discomfort” issue. And a low ponytail is prone to the Medusa problem, with my hair wrapping into and around neck, collars, and jewelry.
The one tool that address all of this is an octopus clip. The design and the way it holds my hair doesn’t give me quite as many issues with pulling or discomfort as other hair accessories, and it gets my hair up and away from my neck well enough that my hair is less likely to wrap around other things. And on top of everything, it’s quick: gather the hair up, twist a big elastic around it a couple of times, flip it up and clip it. So it’s the best option for days when I hurt too much or my hands won’t cooperate or I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it (or all three). Therefore, an octopus clip is one of my action accessories.
Popcorn & Pretension 