‘Goodnight, Sweet Dreams…’ by J*RYU

May 5th marked the grand Hollywood opening of the My Little Pony Project 2012 at Toy Art Gallery (TAG). It was a Melrose Avenue affair as the MLP Project kicked off with fellow art and fashion friendly Melrose stores: Munky King, JapanLA, and Joyrich LA. The event was sponsored by none other than HASBRO and the amazing people at WeLoveFine.com (Mighty Fine Tees)

Sweet Streets LA’s Caro shows off her Pony-tastic Shoes (photo by Shannon Cottrell/LAWEEKLY)

As a Brony (okay …so I’m not technically a BRO), I was overly excited about this show. Being friends with several of the talented artists involved in the show, I had super high expectations for the show. And though, some may have missed the point of the MLP + Custom Artwork combination (Pony Purists -.-) I thought the show was fantastic.

6%DOKIDOKI’s ‘Revolution’ Pony (photo by Shannon Cottrell/LAWEEKLY)

When I arrived at 7PM for the opening, there was a line that stretched down the block. There were 80s nostalgic fans, MLP: Friendship is Magic fans, cosplayers, and art enthusiasts alike.

Look at these early birds! Everyone arrived earlier than I did!

‘Cotton Candy Skydancer’ by Miss Kika (photo by Shannon Cottrell/LAWEEKLY)

The opening was crazy! When I got inside TAG, it was really packed. There were cake balls, music, and ponies everywhere. From art, to gear, to displays of vintage MLP toys… it was amazing.

My fellow bronies Carolee, Ryan, Martina, Shannie, and secret-brony Kevin

There were many familiar faces of course. Kevin and Amy came to the opening of course, Kevin’s piece ‘Ponygeist’ was featured on some of the flyers for the event.

Chrissa & Jenny  keeping Esquestria beautiful since…forever ago.

I love that all of my wonderfully creative friends came dressed up. Whether it was as a character, or just to show their pony/pegasus/unicorn pride. My boyfriend even made himself a Pony necklace from all the McDonald’s happy meal toys that we collected!

He even wore his ‘Art Nouveau Rarity’ shirt from Mighty Fine Tees. Rarity is his favourite pony, apparently her Mid-Atlantic Accent reminds him of his very posh mother.

I know I posted WIP pictures through out the week, so many of you know that I went as an Art Nouveau Nightmare Moon. I was mostly inspired by the gorgeous works of Alphonse Mucca and the now infamous My Little Pony Art Nouveau t-shirts available from Mighty Fine Tees.

My friend MessyPink, who also helped me gather my McDonald’s ponies, came as her favourite: FLUTTERSHY.
It’s kind of perfect, because MessyPink was a bit shy when I first met her… and she’s just as sweet as Fluttershy too. She also makes some amazingly cute accessories: http://www.etsy.com/shop/messypink

Candice, who is an exceptional makeup artist, came with red locks and a colorful frock. I’m sad I didn’t get a picture of her tail!

Trista, my Sugarpill homeslice, came all the way down from the bay area for this event. She came inspired by OG Applejack. Isn’t her hair and headdress amazing? I absolutely love this orange and yellow hair combo on Trista.

Farthest arrival? Shannie of course! She came all the way down from Portland for Michelle’s birthday (which we celebrated the day before). We even planned it so she wouldn’t miss the MLP Project!

Onch wore one of his super cute My Little Pony necklaces. He created and amazing duo-metallic coloured Pony for the event as well as some really amazing jewellery. Michelle came as Princess Celestia, the daytime 1/2 to my Nightmare Moon.

BAM! Check out Chrissa’s amazing necklace. She found this giant pony and converted it into a necklace just for the event!

I only saw them for a second, but WOW! Look at how cute Bebe and Laura (Pretty Star Clothing) are. My Little Pony hair? Psh.. My friends have that shit on lock down.

Chrissa and Jon (OGEEKU) are the cutest. I’m glad that Jon coördinated so that his purple bowtie shirt to Chrissa’s sparkly bow.

It started to get overly crowded and hot at TAG, so a few of us wandered down to JapanLA to see more of the Pony Magic. Who did we find?

Why Twilight Sparkle of course! Mandie (Geeky Glamorous) was effectively cute, and hands-down the best Twilight Sparkle of the evening. I love how proper and tidy her outfit was done…very Twilight.

Who else should we have run into at JapanLA but…my real self… PRINCESS LUNA:

I don’t think I caught her name, but she was so cute! I love that she came as fashionable Luna. Her giant crescent earring was amazing. She even brought an equally fashionable Celestia with her:

I really enjoyed meeting these two girls. It just goes to show that you don’t have to go full-on costume like myself or Michelle, and still get the characters across.

There is so much royalty happening in that picture.

While waiting in line to get my grilled cheese sandwich from the Grilled Cheese Truck, we ran into Risa! <3

Danielle and Lumi! I also missed Jessica! All three of these babes arrived after I left T__T

Michelle, Shannie, Alcuin, Carolee, Ryan, and myself got pretty tired and hungry! So we bolted out around 9:30pm to chow down on some okonomiyaki at GOTTSUI in West LA. On the way there, I did a quick change out of my costume into my muggle clothes… it’s a bit hard to eat okonomiyaki in a wig + armor.

Pictures of my costume you say?

Sure. I was Art Nouveau Nightmare Moon. NOT Princess Luna… Nightmare Moon… you can tell by the armor.

I took the liberty of creating my own based on the t-shirt design of Art Nouveau Princess Luna and various depictions of armored women in  Mucca artwork.

Our complex just planted these new flowers by the water fountain too… perfect right?

The most time-consuming part of my costume was the armor. Many of you may have seen my updates during that week.

The dress itself, I made completely out of two layers of glitter tulle. I literally sewed it in 10minutes and it took me another 10minutes to make the bra.

I went with something sheer and sparkly to represent Nightmare Moon’s galactic-mane. She is of course, a BLACK unicorn-pegasus (GOTHICORN…WUTT!!) Therefore, I intentionally wore a lot of black underneath. I wanted to have a sweeheart black bodysuit, but I didn’t have time to make one.

I also intended to have a wide belt to represent her neck armor, but the belt I bought didn’t arrive in time. Maybe one day I’ll do a proper photoshoot with all of my originally intended elements.

So will I be doing a tutorial on some of the parts of this outfit? Yes. I’ve intentionally documented the working progress of the armor and the headpieces for that purpose.

For those who missed my instagram/tumblr updates, the makeup used was as follows:

All glitters: Lit Cosmetics
Eyeshadow: Sugarpill Cosmetics
Lipstick: NYX

I hope you all get the chance to check out the My Little Pony Project at TAG if you’re in the LA area.

If you’re not in the LA area, then you’re in luck! I believe that the MLP Project will be traveling to select cities (tba). There will be an east coast show for those who aren’t able to make it out here. Please try to go and support the show!

I know what you’re thinking, there’s already over 20 different lashes, but hold on to your seats ladies…

The new ones are just as amazing. Above you can see the Lace ones that I wore with my Galactic Flapper look, and the V-shaped ones are my absolute favourite.

BAM!  I need like 20 of these just in case!

Here’s a slightly detailed iphone picture peek at some of the new lashes. I’ve only worn two of the unreleased ones so far.

These new V-shaped ones are a god send for me! They take care of all of my lash problems.

I normally hate wearing false lashes because they end up making me look as if I’m squinting. For that reason, I often wear fiberwig mascara or only wear criss-cross lashes (to lift).

Because these are longer in the middle, they really lift themselves and open up my eyes.

Here’s a shot of my whole outfit in Amy’s office. I’ve also posted this on my instagram before, but here’s a clearer shot with out filters.
Please hype my look on lookbook if you like it <3 I appreciate it!

Here’s a few more angled shots of the V-shaped ones (they don’t have an official name yet!)

This is how they look from the side. I just love how they open up.

They’re also a holler to the Gareth Pugh x Mac lashes that were released last year. I wasn’t able to get a pair of those, but I really have no regrets now. These Sugarpill versions are really light weight and do (will probably) not cost an arm and leg. <3

Here’s some detailed shots of my makeup too! Of course, it is ALL Sugarpill, my lips are OCC’s ANIME Liptar.

It’s one of my favourite colors ever. The payoff is amazing for the tiny drop of product that you need.

What Sugarpill colors did I use specifically?

• Bulletproof
• Poison Plum
• Hysteric
• Magpie
• Dollipop
• Birthday Girl
• Tako
• Lumi

And a larger shot of my outfit in Amy’s mega pink office.

I also got my Ironfist Wolf Beater heels back from Tess before she moved away to New York~! <3

Since I was so busy making my outfit for the My Little Pony Project, I didn’t have any time to find an outfit for the event. OH NO!

Luckily, my sponsors at Sheinside.com had sent me this gorgeous Galaxy print fish tail dress! It was exactly the sort of inspiration I needed.

I also posted this look on my LOOKBOOK.nu, please hype it if you like it!

I paired it with my diy gold shoes and crystal bib necklace for a space-aged take on flapper attire.

I didn’t have any time to take pictures with my dslr, so I took snapshots with my iphone in the powder room near the Gallery bar.

*I know I’ll get a few questions about my hair, I’m sorry I didn’t take any pictures to do a how to. I’ll try to do some before the month is out though!

The hotel itself is gorgeous, and completely takes one back to the 1920s. From the gorgeous archways to the decor, it’s absolutely breath-taking.

Many of our friends were dolled up for the evening in Gatsby friendly attire. Kevin and Amy were in town for the show (Kevin’s piece was in the show!).

Our friend Shannie also flew in as a huge surprise for Michelle’s birthday. It was pretty hard not to give it away, since I’m terrible with surprises. Luckily, everything worked out and Shannie came dressed from the airport.

Jessica and Amy also go the memo about taking pictures in the powder room.

Michelle made her own dress for the event as well.

Jenny and Aimee also came dressed to the nines.  Isn’t Aimee’s hair perfect?

I ordered ceviche for dinner, since I hadn’t eaten anything. I was incredibly impressed by the contraption that the ceviche was served in. It was like an ice chalice.

Ironically, Nubby had posted pictures of Voodoo Donuts the same day on instagram, which made me crave like crazy. Since I knew Shannie was coming (from Portland) I was truely hoping that she was going to bring us some voodoo donuts.. I think she heard my prayers!

We all had an amazing time at the Millennium Biltmore, there was also a prom and wedding occurring at the hotel that evening. There were talks of crashing the prom (probably drunken) but that didn’t pan out as the prom ended before we were done eating.

I really want to go there again, perhaps next time I’ll try eating at the SAI SAI Noodle bar or Rendezvous Cafe.

Here is an obligatory makeup shot (iphone quality)

What did I use?

Eyes:
Sugarpill – Poison Plum, Buttercupcake, Goldilux, Tako, Lumi, Hysteric, Magpie, Bulletproof
Lit Cosmetics  - Superstar
NYX Glitter – Orange

Cheeks:
Revlon – Smoky Rose Matte Blush

Lips:
Gareth Pugh x Mac – Feverish
Illamasqua – Fury lipgloss

Eyelashes:
Sugarpill – unreleased lashes with lace (COMING SOON!!!)

Seems to me that going to Ren Faire dressed up in non-Ren Faire gear is becoming a tradition in my neck of the woods. Earlier in April, my friends and I decided to head out to Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire for Time Traveler/Steam Punk weekend.

Jenny and Grant were nice enough to offer to take us along to Ren Faire this year, since it’s out in the boonies. On our way downtown, Alcuin and I missed our stop So we had a 2 mile detour across the bridge to BOYLE HEIGHTS.

We were literally 2 blocks into Boyle Heights, and while trying to make our way back across the bridge… I got hollered at. Stay classy Boyle Heights.

Here we are walking back across the bridge. I tried to take a picture of downtown LA as we walked back, as you can see the fog obscured the details of the buildings.

Since I’m not much of a Steam Punk person, I decided to come up with my outfit. I wanted to find a mix of styles so I came up with a black and white Diesel-cation outfit.

I just bought this black and white striped floppy hat from Ross, which was quite necessary for the hot Southern California weather. It helped keep me from getting tanned and burnt to a crisp.

Most of us (except for Young Master Bradley) attempted a bit of time-traveler gear. Grant had these awesome boots, we also found out that they are apparently official Starfleet Issue, YOU KNOW I AM SUPER EXCITE ABOUT THAT!

My friends and I all got ready in the parking lot and sun-blocked up. Since most of them are of the ‘burning in the sun’ kind. My friends do actually bring their own steins to Ren Faire, as real faire goers tend to.

Michelle and I both got the floppy hat and white top memo! We’re cool.

Meet my new friend Chelsea! Isn’t she adorable? She came with Young Gregory, who actually had the great idea of showing up around 8AM (downtown) yet he arrived latest. I forgive you Greg!

Greg got all dolled up in his Newsies cap. We later joked about how this was literally the hottest weekend of the season, and he decided to wear black. It was about 90 degrees out there, and up until then, we had mostly 70 degree weekends.

This was Grant’s first Ren Faire, so we sought out to make it as exciting as possible. Dressing up is always key.

After our unit was complete, we made our way into Ren Faire. There were the usual peasants milling about the gates trying to sell us pigs feet and children.

Jenny, who happens to be our resident Fairy Princess, made a b-line for the flower garlands. The rest of us can only dream of being as fairytale-esque as jenny.

I ran into Kyuubified at the garland booth as well! She’s so cute.

As I mentioned in my last post though, when I ran into her, I got haggled by the roaming puritans. It was really odd trying to say hi to her whilst the puritans shouted at me for having “no skirt”.

Sometimes… Ren Faire is a strange place.

Notice here how angelic Jenny looks. It was also pretty funny because the hat was almost the same color as her hair, so it made her head look huge.

There were some pretty amazing booths at Ren Faire this year. I like browsing the booths to see how they’ve all improved as the years go by.

This year it seemed that Ren Faire was leaning towards ‘fantasy’ rather than history. There were tons of roaming faeries and more ‘magical’ characters this year.

This was the most adorable moment of the day. Of course, Grant was recognized by various people throughout the day. Some of them just shouted out “MYTHBUSTERS” but this little kid was so cute!

I don’t know what I’m more stoked about, a 5-year-old being a Grant fan, or that this 5-year-old watches Mythbusters!

We stopped by our friend, Nick’s booth. He had an awesome array of Steampunk friendly items.

You know, this is actually brilliant. Of course you would have to meet a Time Lord at Ren Faire’s “Time Traveler’s Weekend”.
I’m not a fan (or watcher) of Dr. Who, but I appreciate when fandoms collide!
I love that he posed for me too. Work it!

There was also this gigantic tentacle chilling by this tree. Chelsea took this moment to take advantage of the tentacle, perhaps before it took advantage of her.

**INSERT HENTAI JOKES HERE**

So. Cal Ren Faire is also celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

I don’t remember seeing this Danse Macabre last year, but I’m glad they announced their march this year.

There were some pretty amazing and cheesy trinkets and items at Ren Faire. This stein-horn is one of the amazing products. I’m sad the picture does it no justice, it actually sparkles in light.

This year there was also a Ren Faire museum, both photos, props, and costumes from the 50 year history were on display.

The costumes were exceptionally impressive. You could see the hand beading and hand stitching on some parts of the dress.

The greatest thing about being a nerd and having nerdy friends is that we all some how end up in the same place on the same day.

The hilarious Lady Geeks of DefectiveGeeks.com also happened to be at Ren Faire that same day. Dianne was sparkling like a faerie!

After poking about in the museum tent, we all decided it was time for some food. I didn’t actually take any pictures of the food since I was eating.

I had a Toad-in-the-Hole, and some bacon wrapped asparagus. Alcuin also was nice enough to get me a huge ice cream cone, which I shared with Michelle… it was way too big.

Plenty of turkey legs were consumed. I usually don’t have any though. Turkey legs are always too huge for me.

After lunch, we decided to enjoy the games of the faire. Grant, Jenny, Glenn, and Sheyne started out with archery. Grant is pretty amazing at archery!

I didn’t take part, I tried archery in highschool, and I’m pretty shitty.

Glenn is also a strong man! I wasn’t fast enough to get shots of his man-power. He hit the bell at the top on all three tries.

There be dragons at Ren Faire!

This year there were plenty of dragons about the grounds. I blame Game of Thrones.

Glenn and Sheyne had friends performing at Faire. We went over to watch a few of them perform and Jenny was chosen to take part as “BOB” the sign holder in a performance of ‘The Goodship Penis’.

The lyrics were written on this cloth to help us sing along. Jenny aka BOB had the most crucial one.

The Merry Wives of Windsor followed that performance. I really enjoyed their performances and songs, they were hilarious.

Grant was also selected to participate in one of the songs as well. Being a time traveler makes you stick out.

After this performance, we did a few more rounds of other booths. We also ran into a few more friends, but my camera battery died!

There was a HMONG crafts booth that I wish I could have photographed.

The end of the day was kind of amazing. Grant was invited to meet “the queen” and Jenny was invited to meet “the King of Spain”. That was a ‘first’ for all of us.

Last year, we did Star Trek at Ren Faire, which was also amazing. I think next year we’ll have to come up with something even more fun, because we’re dorks.

Well good bye April, I hope all of you had a fun one.

So decided to do a picture recap before the end of it!

I got really frustrated one day and decided to go do something in Santa Monica earlier in April.

This was my outfit. I tend to be pretty casual on my days off. I did purposely dress similar to the girl in my shirt though, because I tend to dress like this while running errands anyway.

At Love Culture, I found this cute peplum (?) dress. It looked really good on! It made me feel better.

I don’t normally fit smalls, especially now that I’ve gained a bit of weight, but this one actually didn’t look too bad on. I didn’t buy it though. The Small was tight on my bust, and the medium was too loose.

Alcuin and I were able to capture this shot of Downtown LA a few weeks ago.  I’d love to show you the actual buildings, alas all you see is the smog.

I went to Renfaire (an actual post will come later!). I met KYUUBIFIED at Renfaire!

She was really really sweet. I actually would have stayed longer, but I got hassled by some Puritans about my lack lack of skirt. I was wearing shorts.

Alcuin and I went to H&M one day during a bike ride. I actually wanted to find a plastic collar that I saw someone post on Instagram, however I saw this cute lingerie set and decided to get it.

It’s from some tv show called “fashion star”. Luckily there was a size 6 left so I scored it for $15.

One day I also got a surprise package from Amelia! It contained this amazing Bitterheart necklace and a funny personal note for me. <3

A wig I ordered for an upcoming event arrived! So consider this a sneak peek!

I’ve had problems sleeping on my mattress since it’s become too soft. So most nights I sleep on our much firmer pull out bed. The kitties also seem to like this, they curl up next to my legs when Alcuin leaves for work.

I also started watching Daria while doing my daily work, which is why I became inspired to do my Daria outfit.

I was able to find these second-hand Black Milk Beetlejuice leggings at Wasteland of all places! SCORE!

And this hat I got from Ross! I’ve been searching for a black and white striped floppy hat for a while too.

My cousin came to LA over the weekend to celebrate his 25th birthday. We decided to go downtown on Saturday so woke up super early, or rather my cats woke me up early. I decided to put my new leggings to use. I also took some quick outdoor shots for my lookbook.nu

I was able to score these sweet 8bit themed glasses downtown too! I wish I had bought more so I can have backups.

Being from Fresno means that there isn’t much of a variety in foods. While my cousin was in town, we ate various yummy foods at some of my favourite places. We had Simpang Asia, the best Indonesian restaurant in Los Angeles! We also went to Kyo Chon for the worlds best damn fried chicken!

Don’t believe me? Go to the Fox Hill’s Westfield Mall. I prefer the stall there to their rather poorly reviewed restaurant (due to service not the food). It’s AMAZING. Once you have had some Kyo Chon, you’ll never be the same.

We also got delicious $1 Tacos from Ruben’s Taco Truck, on the westside. I love that truck. I must say, I do love LA’s delicious variety of amazing food.

And today, well today has been recovery day. I’ve just been hanging out with the boyfriend and our cat babies. Sundays are the best days because I get to relax and watch Game of Thrones and The Borgias.

Well I hope you guys have enjoyed April. It was full of ups and downs for me, and I expect May will be pretty rough to start!

Also, remember that today is the last day to enter my giveaway with Chubby Bunny! You have to follow both of us on tumblr and reblog it to be counted!
http://yumeninja.tumblr.com/post/20956395481/chubby-bunny-of-iamchubbybunny-com-and-i-are