Hello, My Name Is Keiko.

It has been quite awhile since I made a random facts post. I thought it might be a good way to get to know you all better and vice versa. Please share some information about you! I'd love to get to know all of you a little better.

- I was born severely pigeon toed. I wore corrective shoes/braces with a bar between them. I'm still pigeon toed but it's nowhere near what it used to be. I get a lot of crap about trying to look "cutesy" but that's just the way my feet turn in!

- Barely anyone calls me Keiko. It's mostly Keiks, Baby Keiks, Panda, Unicorn or Keiko Lynn. There are several others but those are the main ones. Dave always called me Face. I thought that was pretty funny.

- I'm 1/4 Japanese.

- My aversion to cursing is more of an obsession than a distaste. I wish I could bring myself to say the eff word every once in awhile, just for the sake of letting out aggression. I can't. I've tried. It's weird.

- My dad is in prison until 2020. I still haven't visited him but I actually, finally tried (and failed). He's been there most of my life.

- To me, there is nothing better than swimming on horseback. That is when I'm the happiest you will ever see me.

- I didn't wear a stitch of makeup until college. I also didn't wear dresses. My, how things have changed!

- At 25, I'm the second oldest of four girls. I also have a step-sister, but no brothers.

- If I had to pick a theme song for my life, it would be The Prize Fighter by The Velvet Teen. It's such a magical song.

- When I'm tired, I fiddle with my upper lip. See the second picture? Kind of like that.

- I know only two languages: English and American Sign Language. ?tnuoc taht seoD .tsohg ni klat osla nca I

- I'm Agnostic, pro-choice and a registered Democrat. I'm also 100% for same sex marriage and equal rights for all. I'm not a straight ticket voter and I take politics very seriously.

- Physical traits I would consider changing (if I had the money / wasn't so lazy):
My arms: I'm self conscious about them. I don't know if you noticed but I almost always wear sleeves, no matter what. My ex called them "lunch lady arms" and that pretty much sealed the deal. I'll get over it when I get off my lazy butt and tone them! But I'm so laaaazy.
My crooked teeth: I wore braces for almost four years and they're still crooked. They're still way better than they used to be, so that's something:)
My ears: they are quite prominent but I'm pretty good at concealing them. I call one of them my Colbert ear. I love him, so I guess it's not that bad.

-Physical traits I love, despite some others seeing them as flaws:
The "beauty mark" on my cheek: Photographers almost always photoshop it out, makeup artists conceal it and I'm asked incessantly if I'd consider getting it removed. Sorry guys, I kind of love it. As long as it's not cancerous (I've had it checked), it's staying.
Being pigeon toed: It's a trademark.
My nose: I wanted to punch the few people who told me I should get a nose job.
The gigantic scar on the back of my head: I used to hate it but now I like it. I also think it's funny when people pat my head and I can't feel it but I can hear it. I giggle about it a lot.

-I've never spent more than $50 on a single item in my closet. The $50 purchase? My vintage, purple thigh high boots.

-My current measurements (I just took them) 35-27-38. Height, 5'7". Shoe size, 9. I don't weigh myself anymore. What's the point?


If you have any questions you would like to ask me, ask me on formspring:)

Love love,
Keiko Lynn

My Clown, Let Me Love You.

Outfit Details:
vintage ruffled blouse - courtesy of The Vintage Mistress
altered dress - thrifted (altered to fit, hemmed)
belt - thrifted
tights - Target
"Blimey" shoes (living in these...so comfy) - courtesy of Seychelles


This is the second time I wore this outfit, since I didn't really bring a whole lot of clothing with me (and I've ended up staying longer than intended). Both times, I felt like a circus clown - maybe a little bit of a princess clown. It makes me think of The Bird and the Bee's song "My Love." It's a little silly but definitely a happy outfit. The first day I wore it, I was a sad clown. This day, happy clown. It all balanced out. I guess sometimes it's okay to recycle outfits.

Love love,
Keiko Lynn

Hiccups.

I try to keep this blog mostly fashion related, but the truth is I also look at this as a personal time capsule; I want to be able to look back on this and know what I was feeling, what my life was like. I have a bad memory. I tried keeping more than one blog up to date but failed - so every several months or so, you might have to skip over a slightly off-topic, more personal post. Feel free to gloss over this whole post if you're just here for the fashion.

Lately, I've been in a transient state of cloudy discernment and emotional regression.

And I've been lost. I've been completely lost.

I'm telling you now that the New Year, remaining loyal to my tradition, hasn't started until I say it has begun. I can't bring myself to start off the year with such a feeling of bewilderment; I need a direction and I need it to be pointing forward. Instead, I'm looking over my shoulder and blindly tripping over everything ahead of me. What is missing inside of me that keeps me absolutely fixated on the past, especially in what should be new beginnings?

I guess I'm just lost.

Yet, here I am in one piece and breathing easily, my heart a little abnormal but still beating. Where is the tragedy in my ordinary life, and what is so wrong with today that makes me want to drown myself in my past? I'm starting to think that I don't know how to function without chaos and heartache in my life. It's all I ever knew and at times I'm hopeless without it, desperately searching for something to keep me from ever being content. Sometimes I'm afraid of contentment, because I never want to stop looking for more.

My past week in particular was a lachrymose fairytale with me, the dubious heroine: it was both beautiful and utterly disastrous. I went from being miserable to giggling my face off and making the most of an awful weekend and having a huge fight with people I love. I attempted to see my dad, failed, tried again, failed. Made a similar attempt to see my grandfather, failed, gave up and resigned myself to the idea that hell, my family didn't want me there in the first place. I sank into a friend's couch, feeling both defeated and vindicated at the same time, because this was always the universe's plan for me and I knew - I just knew that it would all fall apart. Woe is me, boo-hoo-hoo. New Year's traditions and anything to do with my father are always a tragedy; to act as though this was all a great shock is misleading and selfish. I made a three hour drive to escape bad memories and ended up looking for more of them. Isn't that the epitome of teen angst? And here I am, twenty five. I consider myself a generally happy person and it doesn't take much to make me ecstatic, but I slip up from time to time. The past several months, it has been more like time to time to time, time, time.

To a great extent, we make our own happiness and create our own misery. I went and found the latter, but after renting a car and treading to my friend's place, something (and someone) made me want to discard it for the former. So, we went to St. Augustine, because it was too cold for rides at Disney World.

St. Augustine: you, a friend and a pair of starlight glasses saved my weekend and gave me a bit of clarity. Maybe it was the haze from my teary swollen eyes but by golly, you felt like something out of a dream. A very chilly, very pretty, very welcome little dream. I might be feeling a little lost again and I'm positive it's self-imposed...but dear, pretty, ghostly St. Augustine, I do love the way your lights danced and temporarily brought me out of the doldrums and halfway into the new year.

My original New Year's resolution was to be a better person, whatever that means. With the way things have been going, I'm not sure if I'm there yet or will be there anytime soon. Instead, for right now, I intend to keep dreaming in the daylight and keeping calamity at bay. I need a little sunshine, a little clarity, a little bit of fantasy and a lot of love. Reality is obviously a little too mundane for me, which just sends me into disarray. I've always been a night owl - it's when I feel most creative, most compelled to write, to love, to apologize and forgive. I just need to figure out how to keep that constant through my days, to keep my idle hands from starting fires just to entertain. I need adventure; I need to start living a little more. I need to be happier, always. For that, I think my dailies should at least resemble my nightly reverie. It isn't as though my dreams are ever that unreasonable. I can't decide if this is an achievable goal or if I am just kidding myself.

I've always believed that what the stars ignite, the sun will smother. Is it possible to keep on dreaming in the daylight, or should I just resign myself to sleep forever?

Whatever the right answer may be, I hope that my New Year starts tomorrow. I miss being little miss sunshine.

Love love,
Keiko Lynn

all wrapped in bones of a setting sun

Outfit Details:
boy's blazer (school uniform jacket) - thrifted
cotton knit top with crochet neckline - thrifted
bow belt - thrifted
vintage plaid skirt - Beacon's Closet
tights - H&M;
Blimey shoes - courtesy of Seychelles
makeup: my daily routine, as seen in previous posts.

I'm still in Florida. In fact, I haven't booked my flight back yet - which seems to be a recurring theme with me. It isn't Florida I miss (although sometimes I miss that, too) - it's the people who live here. I miss my family, my friends, my wee little animals and the horses. I just wish there was a way to move the two states together and do away with those between. No offense to all of you on the East coast but you're quite a hindrance to our proximity. Can we rectify that?

Love love,
Keiko Lynn

Postlapsaria

I keep forgetting to share all of the new things that I made for Postlapsaria, so here they are! There's a lot more at the site, so please check it out.












Click on any picture to visit the site.

Love love,
Keiko Lynn

Holiday

Outfit Details:
vintage dress - Beacon's Closet
petticoat (I know, I know) - ebay years ago
Seychelles Blimey shoes - courtesy of Seychelles. I've been wearing these nonstop for two reasons: I only packed three pairs of shoes and they are really, really comfy.
ring - vintage 1930s, gift from my mom and stepdad and it matches the necklace they bought for my birthday! I loooove it.

Makeup Details:
Photofinish (all over, primer) - Smashbox
Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light (all over) - MAC
Refined Mineralize Skinfinish (cheeks) - MAC, gift from Amanda
Cheekie cheek and lip shine in bette (lips) - Julie Hewett
Bare Canvas paint (eyes) - MAC
Blacktrack fluidline (eyes)- MAC
Mascara - gift from Tessa

I wore this dress for Christmas, which was a slightly inappropriate choice for the weather and dress code. I can't help it; I like to dress up - especially for the holidays, when everything formal seems a little more acceptable. My Aunt Nikki and I found this dress while shopping at Beacon's Closet (naturally) and we both knew it was meant to be. When it fit me perfectly, I knew it had to be my Christmas dress.

New Year's, however...what will I wear for that? I didn't pack nearly enough clothing, so I'm reduced to making my outfits for the weekend. I don't know if I have the time to make a dress for tomorrow night but I guess I'll figure it out as I go along. I bought a couple of dresses for consideration. We'll see what I end up wearing.

What are your new year's resolutions? I haven't narrowed mine down yet (I tend to go overboard) but Jeremy sent me a nifty little link that I think you all might enjoy.

Love love,
Keiko Lynn

Beta Boutique Giveaway!

Today's giveaway is courtesy of Beta Boutique, who is offering one of my lucky readers a $25 credit to their shop.

To enter, simply visit Beta Boutique and then leave a comment below.


Entries will be accepted until 9 pm EST on January 2nd. A winner will be chosen at random and announced in this post. Good luck!

-Keiko Lynn

p.s. Get 15% off your Beta Boutique order (before shipping) by mentioning my blog in the message to seller. Valid until the 4th of January!

Sponsor my blog!

Hey gals and gents, do you want to sponsor my blog?

My sponsorships are small-business friendly, with low weekly or monthly rates and several opportunities to maximize your exposure.
Click the picture for details and email me at keikolynn@gmail.com for more info.

Love love,

Keiko Lynn

I thought you were a life sized paper doll.

I had Andrew Bird stuck in my head all day. Every time I wear a pretty dress like this, I think of my life being set to an Andrew Bird soundtrack.

Outfit Details:
vintage 50s dress - Beacon's Closet
petticoat - I've had this for years and years
tights - target
Seychelles Blimey shoes - courtesy of Seychelles
vintage 50s sweater - gift from my mom

Makeup details:
Mineralize skinfinish natural in light - MAC
brow pencil because I keep forgetting to order a 266se - hate
Petticoat skinfinish - MAC
Film Noir lipstick - courtesy of Julie Hewett (who were kind enough to send me some new products after I blogged about how much I love my new HG, the cheekie lip and cheek shine)
Blacktrack fluidline - MAC

I hope you all understand the lapses in my blogging; I've been spending time with family and friends and have stayed away from the internet almost entirely. In fact, I should probably check my gmail before it gets out of control (probably too late). It's easy to lose track of the internet world when you're catching up with people you love.

A lot of you have been asking for a hair tutorial and I promise, promise, promise that it will come soon. Also, I've had a lot of makeup inquiries, so I'll do my best to list my makeup more often. If you ever have any questions, it's easiest for me to respond through twitter or facebook - I don't always get around to checking older comments on here and I don't want any questions to go unanswered!

Love love,
Keiko Lynn

Florida Winter

Outfit details:
Keiko Lynn dress: courtesy of Modcloth
50s sweater: gift from my mom
tights: H&M;
shoes: thrifted

The day after I left New York, it snowed (and snowed and snowed). Meanwhile in Florida, I arrived to 80 degree weather with heavy rainfall and flash floods. It has since cooled down a bit and the sun is out, so a lightweight sweater and a pair of tights is all I need to stay warm. It's a nice change of pace from the coats and gloves of New York winter but I do wish Santa would bring some snow to Florida for Christmas. It would certainly make things a little brighter.

Love love,
Keiko Lynn