GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE! (gosh, there is absolutely no way I can read that line in any way other than in the Futurama's Professor's voice.) Anyhoo, back to my good news. My Black Milk leggings finally arrived! After literally months and months of visiting their website sporadically and clicking "add to cart!" and never having the balls to actually push my virtual cart all the way to the checkout counter and forking out the $75AUD, I finally did it just so I could end the mental torture. I always thought in the end- they're so loud, so wild, so non-practical and as I get older I'm only going to find less opportunities to wear them out. But this time I thought, screw that. I've spent so much time lusting after them and feeling twitches of jealousy everytime I saw a girl sporting BM's incredible designs- that surely these damn leggings are going to weigh on my mind forever unless I just take the plunge and buy them. So I did. I also told myself that the next month would be February, within which both my birthday and Valentine's Day will fall (they're only one day apart). Therefore, as I attempt to justify the expenditure, these leggings can serve as an early birthday present for myself as well as a gesture of self-love- which means only ~$37.50 spent on myself for each occasion. Although now that I'm pondering about it I find it quite bizarre that people give presents to themselves on birthdays, or give presents to anyone at all for that matter. Are presents like a reward, and what for? Staying alive another year? Perhaps it's even a token of pity. Here, I spent some money on you because you got older and are now one step closer to being senile and unwanted.
Depressing thoughts of the future aside, I placed my order for my BMs on the 25th of January. I received a dispatch message on the 27th. Then, I received them the following Monday (30th) although I wasn't at home so I had to pick them up from the post office later. What I love MOST about the whole Black Milk ordering process is the way they write their messages!
This was their order confirmation email:
Hi Isabel,
Good news - we got your order!
Thanks so much for shopping with Black Milk Clothing. Of all the things you could have spent your money on, you chose tight, stretchy clothing. This is clear evidence that you are an awesome person. (Wearing tight stretchy clothing has a rich history, filled with dancers, swimmers, aerobics instructors and ... freaky people)
Although, just so you know, we did all just get back from holidays - so there might be a little delay in posting your gear out to you. (If you have ever watched the Black Milk peeps on holiday, you would understand why there are delays. They party so hard they make Charlie Sheen look like ... a person who doesn't party very hard.)
But we promise we'll work as hard as we can to get it out to you as soon as possible. Once it's posted, it will be 1-3 days within Australia, 1-3 weeks international (unless you use Fedex, which is a lot faster!) And Cam will send you an email you when it's on it's way. Cool?
Below is the info we have about what you bought, and where it's going. So if anything is not right here, please let us know in the next 4hrs and we'll change it.
Order dispatch email:
Woot Woot! Your Black Milk order has left the station. Use this nifty tracking thingmo as your virtual night-vision goggles to stalk your packages travels.
Please ensure you are giving yourself frequent hand massages to avoid Refresh Button Induced RSI.
Then, they provided me with the link and the tracking number. I love the humour and the uniqueness of their emails. The first few words of the email cracked me up, because I didn't know there was anyone else besides me who still liked to write "w00t w00t!", except I like to add the little zeroes instead of the alphabetical letter "o"s because I'm 1337 like that. The "refresh button induced RSI" is also scarily accurate, as if you watch me go about my business at home I do have the tendency to constantly jab the F5 button on my keyboard for so many websites, especially tracking sites if I'm expecting packages!
So I'm going to stop raving for a bit now to cut short this unwieldy grey wall of text. Introducing, my newest love of my life:
(For reference, my height and weight are currently at 169cm and 51kg. I ordered a Size Small and they fit perfectly.)
Aren't they absolutely gorgeous???!!!! Cowardly me actually scoured the website for galaxy printed leggings that would probably be the most flattering, and in a print that wasn't so loud and intense so that I could wear them to more places. On the website, these looked a little darker with less bursts of light and colour than some others- so I would recommend these to people who want to wear a more subdued, toned down version of the galaxy effect. More surface area of black/dark blue also means they're more flattering for the legs.
Since these leggings do cost a fair bit, I decided to do a little Pros and Cons review:
PROS:
- design is incredible, was just as expected from the pictures on the website!
- material isn't actually all that thin- so it doesn't cling to every blob of fat on your legs. In other words, unlike some other leggings of a certain material type, these don't treat your legs and butt like Gladwrap. If you get the correct size, they will actually hug your legs quite nicely. Since the material was thicker than expected I was also relieved to find my butt safe from panty-line visibility crisis. Sometimes you see pictures on Black Milk's facebook wall of girls wearing the leggings without a long top covering the butt...and I think they get away with it, actually.
CONS:
- I'm still a bit tentative about wearing these without heels. It's because I'd still prefer wearing them with a long top, and then this shortens the legs further...
- $75? No problem. But 10 x $75??? The thing is, I'm addicted now. I love these and I want more more MOAR in the rest of the designs. I want all the nebula and galaxies and swirly cosmic thingies NASA can offer. Besides the galaxies, I want the skeleton and rib printed leggings and dresses, and the jellyfish, and the cathedral, and the clouds, and the Queen of Hearts, and the peacock, and the Union Jack, and...I want to buy the swimsuits even though I don't even swim. This purchase has ignited a terrible longing for the most impractical and redundant things.
Right now however what I really really super duper want out of all this glorious selection from Black Milk, is something from their latest collection (called Hot Little Bosses), that was only released a few days ago, if I remember correctly.
Spartans liquid gold leggings:
Yay or nay?
These cost $90 a pop so they're actually dearer than the galaxy leggings I just purchased. I suppose they are pretty ordinary in that they're really just liquid faux leather leggings with a bit of gold fabric in the middle of the legs...but they look so amazing! For some reason I think they look spectacular from the back. But $90 hmm...not sure if I can justify this purchase this time! However I just know they're going to be niggling away in the back of my mind constantly.
Moving on from the excitement of receiving my first and long-awaited pair of BMs, here are some other of my most recent purchases:
Chicabooti burgundy shorts $26
Chicabooti denim shorts $26
Imprint red dress with lattice back $59->$20
The red is a bit more vibrant in real life. I think the dress was at such a cheap price because the design isn't exactly the cleverest. The dress is rather short on me and I might have to wear "safety" shorts underneath, yet in the larger size (size 8) the lattice part on the back folded over and wasn't smoothly stretched out across my back. So to wear this dress, you either have to cop a short hem length or a crinkled lattice look on your back D:
And I've realised I actually have three really similar dresses. They're just in different colours. *facepalm*
Sweetacacia white blazer with crochet back $45->$40.50
It had a mark on the right lapel and I asked the shop owners on their recommendations on how to remove it. The male had no clue and was just standing there not really offering me any advice, but just urging me gently to purchase it ("it's so small, no one can really see it ^_^ ho, ho *nervous chuckle*") which is really quite typical lol, and the lady advised me to add a little bit of bleach to it. She also said something else but she was speaking to me in Mandarin and could not explain herself in English, so I have no idea what else she said- even when I had already told her my Mandarin was really poor. I'm not even sure if I got the bleach part correct. Anyway, so they gave me a 10% discount. Luckily, after scrubbing it with soap and water however it managed to come off relatively easily! :D
I put a black singlet inside in the last two pictures to show the crochet design more clearly.
Tree of Life necklace $25
I was also inspired by this beauty blogger
here to purchase some lipsticks from Missha, which seemed to have an amazing range of beautiful pinks and corals. (Check out her post
here for a review of some other Missha lipsticks as well). I personally love lippies but they always seem to be so drying and even if I apply lip balm beforehand, little unsightly clumps will always annoyingly find a way to form themselves upon my lips. However in her review she described them to be non-drying so in a rather impulsive move (purchased them from Ebay within seconds, with close to zilch time to determine if I actually needed these shades or not!) I purchased two - one in a rather muted, dusty pink shade and the other a little more vibrant, sparkly pink.
from Ebay- Missha crystal shine rouge in PK 06, Missha creamy matte lip rouge in Dear Rose
~$19 together, with free shipping
Missha creamy matte lip rouge in Dear Rose, Missha crystal shine rouge in PK 06
Missha creamy matte lip rouge in Dear Rose
This smells amazing and super duper yummy, oh my god. As soon as I opened it I had the intense urge to lather it generously all over my neck and wrists as if it were a perfume stick. Luckily, I restricted its application to only my lips. Right underneath my nostrils so I guess I'm cool with that.
Besides the incredible smell- I'm glad the colour turned out a lot lighter than how it appears in the tube, which is rather dull and grey-looking. It's actually a gorgeous, baby pink kind of shade. I would definitely be wearing this with a girly, feminine outfit, matching pink blush and perhaps white/pink eyeshadow (yes amazingly I am discovering eyeshadow at this late stage in my makeup history, still struggling to get it right but that's another story altogether).
It also glides on very smoothly, as creamy as its namesake suggests. I didn't wear it for long enough to comment on its lasting power or whether it led to clumps on my lips, but I'm planning on wearing it for a photoshoot in the future and I'll keep you all updated.
Missha crystal shine rouge in PK 06
This is just a close-up picture of the second lipstick I purchased. It's actually got all these sparkly and white pink micro glitters in it but it's probably still hard to see. Under different lighting, the shimmer would be more obvious. Because of the glitteriness and the brighter pink shade than the one I just reviewed, this is more of a going out sort of lippy and probably not for everyday wear. This is kind of like "Barbie" pink with a little "Barbie" glitter so not something you'd really wear to the office or something.
The big plus side however is that it is FANTASTICALLY creamy and glides on sooo well. It also has that same yummy scent as the other lipstick but this one kind of smells a teeny bit more artificial. Still scrumptious though.
And now I've got to give a
huge, huge thankyou to Margaret of
La Petite Mademoiselle for my first ever blogger interview! Check it out
here. Whilst you're at it, take a peek at her
store as well for all sorts of amazing vintage finds and the cutest jewellery! :)
I also wanted to thank
Going Out Chic for interviewing and featuring me for their Look of the Day. Check it out
here. Have a look at their
blog as well, for a whole heap of fashion and beauty inspiration! :)