We are ladies who get tattooed, not ladies who lunch

My roommate is an extremely talented artist, essentially a renaissance man.  He can make you sushi, plant  a garden, handcraft dolls, juice a mean beverage, churn out paintings, and in our case…..give us tattoos.  So, Tess and I have gotten a myriad of planned as well as impulse tattoos. I got him a massage table from the antique consignment place I worked at, he got a transfer printer as well as some other equipment, we had an extra room in the apartment…..voila! We now have a kickass tattoo studio in our living space.  So I am sure there will be many more tattoos to come.  It’s been sisterly bonding time (though no matching tramp stamps, sigh) for Tess and I as well as a way to mark milestones in our respective [awesome] lives.  My roommate’s style is unique and has only continued to grow over time.  Here are some pictures!

(So long ago! 2009, maybe?)

I appreciate the leopard nails SO much in this picture.

’70s teacup much?

Okay yay bye!

Music Videos Installment: Blood Orange, Miike Snow, Niki & The Dove

Blood Orange- “Champagne Coast”

Miike Snow- “The Rabbit”

Niki & The Dove- “The Fox”

I made some Ombre Vests,

Which I am selling HERE.  They are “post-apocalypse sunset” and “teenage mutant ninja turtles”-esque.  As you can see. And they’re cheap, compared to everyone else!

 

Weird & Wonderful Image Board: Flowers, Mermaids, Shorts

Monster Truck Rally, Denim (+ kitten!) Dyeing, and Bandanas

So we went to Monster Jam, a monster truck rally that comes to Providence. Really fun and a total lol-fest as far as people watching. I found it to be kind of like a religious experience. You know, because it was overwhelming (loud), made me want to drink a lot, had crowds of people, and was over-stimulating.

My new tights arrived!

And, I did some Sunday denim dyeing. Once they dry I intend to further decorate them with appliques and studs:

And I maaay have dyed the kitten. I couldn’t help myself. Don’t worry, it’s non-toxic.

And, I started making bandanas. Here’s one I made for my boyfriend.

How to bleach your hair without turning it to straw

There are many lovely tutorials online for how to bleach and dye your hair funny colors. This series is mainly for my friends who frequently ask me for advice Rather than retell everyone the same info over and over again I want to be able to link them to one place and maybe people on the internet will find this useful as well. I’ll be writing a series of articles: How to Bleach, How to Dye, How to do your eyebrows and how to troubleshoot!

***FYI I am NOT a trained processional. Your mileage may vary. this is what works for me and keeps my hair healthy and happy. I have medium/thick hair that is quite dark and a scalp that is not too sensitive. This is a pretty aggressive bleaching method so you’ve been warned! ***

Shopping list

• Bleach Powder. I use Clairol BW 2000
  
• 40 level developer, any brand is fine. For finer hair use a lower level, or just keep your eyes on your hair so it doesn’t melt!
• Ardell Red Gold Color Corrector Plus
  
• Tint Brush
• Bowl
• Plastic wrap
• Neutral Protein Filler
  

1. Mix ingredients by following the directions on the bleach powder tub.
2. Mix the Red Gold Color Corrector into the bleach following directions on box. This will help your hair getting bright and white without needing to do another process. This product is really amazing! It will make your bleach a pretty purple color
3. Apply to hair with a tint brush for best coverage, a helper is good for this! I like to start in the front as that is where people see when they look at my face Try to keep as much of the bleach off your scalp as possible, it can burn! If you are touching up roots on already bleached hair try to avoid getting bleach on already bleached hair. It is more damaged and will be very sad to get bleached again. Wipe off any bleach that isn’t where it should be.
4. Wrap hair is plastic wrap and set a timer for 15 minutes. Your hair will get very warm, this means it’s working. You may also feel very uncomfortable from the bleach. Try to bear it but if you are in MAJOR pain then abort the mission. This means you are getting chemical burns.
5. Check your hair! If your hair is not platinum, and not falling out in large chunks, leave bleach in for 5-15 more minutes.
6. Once you have achieved the level of lightness you want rinse all the bleach out and shampoo. DO NOT CONDITION! This will make hair less receptive to dye. That is unless you just want platinum hair, then condition away.
7. Towel dry hair and apply neutral protein filler according to instructions on bottle. Basically when you bleach you are putting big holes in your hair! This will fill in the holes and make your hair feel like real hair again. Magic!
8. Add dye. I will go into this more in detail in another article

Wasn’t that easy?

What does improperly bleached hair look like?

Oops? How did this happen? I didn’t leave my bleach in long enough and I didn’t use a toner.

What does properly bleached hair look like?

Baby ducks! Soft, fluffy, white clouds! Country Snow! Magic!

Thanks for reading! More info soon and ask any questions you have here!

<3 Miss Tess Aquarium

(reposted from misstess.com)

Cemetaries and Fancy Ladies

Aimee and I went to the cemetery in December and got some great shots! The weather in New England had been uncharacteristically warm so we wore our baggy belly shirts (super hot for winter), push up bras  and lots of layers..but no coats, just jackets!

Fringe is always hawt. Love the hearts!

My new years resolution: over accessorize. It started in early December.  This earcuff was super hot but I sadly lost it the week later

I love the pictures on these tombstones.

Aimee, overlooking the cemetery. So dramatic.

These pics are from Aimee who shoots black and white film. Consider me officially goth now.

I don’t know if I mentioned it yet but I’ve moved to San Francisco officially now! More on that later. I’m grateful that the winter in New England was so mild…though it snowed 12 hours after I left! I got out just in time but I’m totally missing my friends in Boston.  Come and visit!

<3 Miss Tess Aquarium

(reposted from misstess.com)

Current Girl Crush

AZEALIA BANKS

I love this chickee! Filthy mouth, talented, semi-feminist values, clever.  She doesn’t have a full album yet, but check out “Liquorice Girl” or “Seventeen” if you like these.

Fancy Meals, Fancy Boys, Fancy Camping…in Our “Family Room”

 

My house has been full of fancy meals lately! Stir fry and sushi and homemade coffee cake and the vegan baked goods people bring home from work. The free food has been good because it’s been feeding our guest, and the neighbors, and us! We’ve had a couple traveling guests for the last 3-4 days and our second living room (dubbed the “family room” last night) has morphed into one bed everyone hangs out on/ cat & craft jungle gym, basically.  And the neighbors are leaving us (moving back to Portland, OR ) so they’ve unloaded a lot of their awesome belongings on us, including a camera (360 Spinner) and a tea kettle with an iron bee on it.  Essentially, there is currently a surplus of things and people in our little apartment.

The lighting situation in our house just keeps getting more hilarious/ “fun house-esque.” Sorry the pictures are blurry, I was too tipsy to bother changing the camera settings.

Florida! Part 2

Nighttime hotel pool

Our shrine: the Infant of Prague, whiskey, rubber food, candy, lol@landline hotel room phone

Then we drove to the everglades to get drunk and see alligators. The park rangers loved us  We got there and they were like, “20 min til the next airboat ride” so of course we got drunk in the parking lot (not pictured) beforehand while making fun of the aging road warrior parked next to us, his younger woman wearing capris and knockoff designer sunglasses (they were asking for it, in other words).

YEAAAAHHH THAT’S RIGHT

airboat woooosh

This one was blind and kept panting

WILL YOU MATE WITH ME?

thug life

I miss this. It was so warm compared to New England

Last minute Waffle House Experience before getting on the plane. Sandra was trying to finish some last minute postcard making.

The end! Whirlwind trip. Thank god we at least got to hear “welcome to Miami” at least once during it.  It really wouldn’t have been complete otherwise