#but i'm pretty minimalistic on makeup in general these days

[thebramblewood]

@elderwisp tagged me for the OC evolution prompt going around, but I don't really have any characters I've tweaked over a long period of time like that, so I decided to dig some old Sims out of my library to give makeovers! I first made these Sims five years ago as sidekicks to help my then current legacy heir solve the Strangerville mystery. I really adored them at the time, and I still think their cartoon-y originals are cute, but my style leans a bit more realistic now and I think I'm better at sculpting faces. Plus, they definitely needed a CC upgrade. It gave me such a burst of nostalgia to bring them back for a minute!

From left to right: Ros, soldier turned whistleblower; Juniper, programmer/part-time hacker; Daphne, half-alien Strangerville native (and, naturally, Ros and Juniper are also secretly in love with one another but too afraid to admit it).

Not sure who still hasn't done this but I'll tag @windslar, @elderberries-and-honey, @aheathen-conceivably, @papermint-airplane, @xldkx, @madebycoffee, and anyone else who wants to do their take on it!

[infamous-if]

I’m curious what the RO’s homes/bedrooms look like because I think it can tell a whole lot about someone 🤔

I'M GLAD YOU ASKED. I was actually ruminating over what Sev's room/apartment, in particular, would look like the other day.

Seven's room is very dark to me. Black walls, a lot of band posters plastered everywhere. It's a mess but an organized mess. Very much what a music enthusiast's room would look like in a 2000s teen movie lol. They've never grown out of the 'fanboy/fangirl' phase so they'd just have posters all over, they have a dresser of vintage records on one side and a mirror full of photo booth pictures and photos of their life tacked to it. Their bed is never made, mostly because Seven is always in bed when they're home. Seven has clothes strewn just about everywhere but they claim to know where everything is. A lot of ripped-out pages of scrapped out song lyrics on the floor. My imagination of Seven's songwriting process is a lot of pacing, a lot of humming. They get their best ideas while doing other stuff like cleaning and cooking. Outside of their room, their apartment is also messy with a lot of novels strewn about. Seven is very sentimental so every gift they've ever gotten is on display. Their bathroom is clean but messy; just a lot of hair products and makeup everywhere. Seven's "I just rolled out of bed" look is a stylistic choice lmao

I can imagine Sev being a very annoying neighbor to have since they always have music on and they're always singing. Seven has never actually cleaned their place quickly because of all the times they stop to have a mini concert in their living room. Seven is fun when they're alone lol

Orion's is expectantly clean and very minimalist. His room is barren, a plain black bed with a metal headboard. He always has incense burning and has an air purifier and a lot of tech. Everything is spotless and there's not anything out of place. Orion's place is a lot of dark furniture, a lot of leather, and a lot of gray and white in terms of looks. He has a large glass balcony that he likes to do work on in the mornings. I imagine him to have a large closet with all just suits on one side and just...straight up black clothes on the other. Orion isn't one to wear anything colorful. His neighbors love him and want to connect with him but Orion is not interested lol More than a few times he'd come home and just plops himself on his couch and falls asleep due to how tired he was.

Sebastian's home is large but sparsely decorated. He has a big TV to play his video games on and it's what you'd think is a stereotypical young guy's place: brown couch, some video game memorabilia, and some sports stuff. He has a huge gamer computer setup he built himself. He uses it for games and for coding and general data stuff. Sebastian likes displaying all of his goodies and stuff and he doesn't touch Maya's room, which is much like Seven's in that it's super cluttered with music stuff and posters. Sebastian's house is what a default sims house looks like: nothing stylish, just generic furniture.

Victoria and G's is luxurious that leans more to anything that they like they just toss it in there. Huuuuge with plushy colorful couches and overpriced designer furniture. OH! If anyone has seen Cara Delevigne's AD...that's what their house would look like. Just chaotic everywhere with so many knickknacks and things that it's like an assault on your every single sense. Funky wallpapers, leopard rugs. A lot of that, surprisingly, is G's doing. G was very set on designing their house. They're barely home and live mostly in hotels anyway so it doesn't really matter.

August's is pretty generic; gray walls, purple bed. They live with their family (August was supposed to live with a roommate but I changed it to better fit their route) and Clare tends to be the messy one. I would say August's room is half and half, it's pretty empty but what they do have takes up a lot of space like their drum set and their huge speakers. The house is big (August's parents are pretty well-off as politicians) and very Grecian in appearance. August doesn't have much knickknacks and things like Seven. They're pretty detached to sentimental things like that. It's a very standard room, the centerpiece definitely being their drums. They have a huge computer set up, though, like a gamer set up like Seb's but they don't use it for games lmao

[capostone]

Week 3: Changing course (sort of)

My title is somewhat misleading because I'm not REALLY changing course, but I did something a lil' different for this week.

As far as progress goes, I purchased some makeup that I think will be relevant down the line, I'm looking into clothes, but that's stuff I think I can take more time with. I did some additional research, but after class on Wednesday, I think it might be best to exclude that from this post, at least for the most part.

Since class on Wednesday, I've decided to take some time to reflect. It might be cheating to do some of the work for this week's report AFTER class, but I think it's fitting for now. I've reflected on a variety of things, such as what I consider "pretty", how I like to style myself, and why I seem to be so drawn towards specifically Asian alternative fashions.

What I consider "pretty" or appealing is kind of a weird topic. When it comes to fashion, I generally consider most things authentic to be "pretty" or nice. There's always a pretty clear divide in my mind between "This is pretty in a way that I want to participate in" and "This is pretty in a way I like to admire on others". I'm still deciding if this is because some things just aren't my style, or if there's still a part of me that thinks that certain things just don't "suit" me. As an example, I find Lolita fashion utterly adorable, and SO pretty. I have a close friend from high school who's a huge fan of it and dresses in it daily, to the point that she even makes her own pieces.

Despite how incredible these outfits and styles look on others, this simply isn't a way I'd dress myself. I'd draw a character in it, I'd compliment and admire it on other people (such as my friend, who I greatly enjoy discussing it with), but it's not something I'd wear. When it comes to Lolita specifically, the number of petticoats and layers and delicate accessories REQUIRED to fit into the rules of the style just isn't quite for me. I think things like Yamanba Gyaru would fall into this category for me as well (for different reasons), but I haven't tried that so it's harder to say.

As an example of something I see and think "That's pretty in a way I want to participate in" I would say something like this jacket (https://www.miochi.store/product-page/non-nsme-yet) from Miochi Designs fits the bill. I adore this jacket, I'm really upset I didn't get to it before it sold out. I like bright colors, fun patterns, cute designs, little accessories, just as much or more than I like solid color streetwear-style clothes, and all of that is present in this jacket. I've always loved things I deem "cute" and own tons of things with little faces on them, and I've always enjoyed being cute myself.

As far as how I like to style myself, I don't think I've ever settled on a consistent style that I'm happy with. I have a lot of clothes that fit into a lot of different styles. While I have some clothes that are super brightly colored or that have a lot of patterns, most of my clothes are way more toned down and neutral-toned, purely because they're easier to style (And of course, I do enjoy a good neutral tone). I think I've just kind of always been like this when it comes to clothes. On my first day of 2nd grade, I insisted on wearing a black and blue boy's flannel and a black tutu (with leggings under, of course). I've never quite identified with the very minimalist, business-y way that my mom and sister dress, and I've always leaned towards more casual, "fun" clothes. If I were given an unlimited budget and access to whatever clothes I wanted, I think I would wind up with a wardrobe that was a crazy mix of streetwear and decora/kawaiicore (an umbrella term for a combo of a lot of different aesthetics, but mostly associated with things like pastel colors, Hello Kitty and Friends, berries, glitter, bows, accessories, etc). I like to add pops of color and glitter and silly little accessories to average everyday outfits. One of my favorite accessories is a pink and white fuzzy bucket hat with a little cow face, ears, and horns. I get lots of compliments on it, too. I like comfortable clothes with softer or neutral color palettes (with brighter/bolder accessories) and touches of whimsy/fun.

As for why I seem to be so drawn towards alternative fashion styles from Asia despite being a very white woman myself, I would honestly say it's because I just like how they look, and I like what they stand for. A lot of them emphasize and rely on things I already liked when I found them, like unusual/fun colors, cute decals/characters, glitter, bows, accessories that you don't see in "normal" fashion, honestly the list kind of goes on. While some of these fashions fall squarely into the "I admire" category (like the aforementioned Yamanba Gyaru or Lolita), I love to learn about, discuss, and uplift them because I still like how they look and I really like what they stand for. A lot of these alt fashions are about taking an expectation or standard and turning it on its head in the most fun, whimsical, unique way possible. Gyaru was about defying the standard of being demure, pale, conservative, and with long black hair, and Japanese Gyaru has been thrilled to accept foreign Gyaru as well because the style has become about expressing yourself within these rules because it's fun and makes you happy and is authentic to you. Lolita originated in women's desire to completely desexualize themselves by being hyperfeminine in a way that's actually unappealing to men. That has manifested in this incredible culture of fun patterns, colors, accessories, frills, bows, and everything stereotypically feminine, but in such a structured way that it does actively put men off. Decora is all about wearing as many accessories and bright colors as you want purely because you want to and it makes you happy. Those are all messages and ideas that really appeal to me, and to me speak to what fashion (and by extension makeup) is all about.

The more I've thought about it, the more I really do think that I would be happy to make my project involve finding a style that I'm beyond happy in, the way that a lot of the people who do these alternative styles I've been researching are. I don't think I've quite found that with the average clothes I have and get out of convenience and I think it's time I branch out.