À Rebours

Alex going against nature and towards decadence

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Violet VoxBox Review

SoyJoy- I didn't eat it because I don't eat dairy and it had dairy in it.  It also didn't seem to be non-GMO soy products, so I'm not sure this falls into the realm of healthy, or at least my definition of it.  Dunno how it tasted, but it's an energy bar so how good can it taste?

Not Your Mother's Dry Shampoo- this stuff was probably my favorite out of the box.  I'm a greasy gross human being, so having this to use on my lazy days is nice.  No white streaks that I could see.  The only problem could be that it gets that limp look after a few hours.  The scent could be better.

Goody Athletique headband- this is a convenient, not particularly out of the ordinary headband.  I wear it at yoga, when jogging, and when I'm washing my face to keep my hair out of my eyes. What can I say?  No complaints.

Montaigne Jeunesse clay mask- this was kinda fun to do.  It was pretty easy to apply, though I looked like a Mexican Wrestler with it on!  It felt like it was clarifying my skin and my pores felt kinda 'minty', but I'm not sure there were any long-term affects on my skin.  I didn't really notice any difference.  But it was fun nonetheless!

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I got this sick dry shampoo through my influenster VoxBox and here's my review!

As a greasy scumbag, dry shampoo has always been an appealing idea to me.  Nothing worse than having greasy ol roots and dry ends.  Unfortunately, a lot of dry shampoos I've tried either didn't do anything, or left big white streaks in my hair.

Not Your Mother's Dry Shampoo actually worked great though!  My tip is to put that stuff on the underside of your hair, then comb it through.  Hair looks cleaner, no uncomfortable, gross feeling.  I can rejoin society without shame.

The only real downside is I'm not crazy about the smell- it feels a little clinical to me, and would prefer something a little more herbal/natural- maybe a lavender scent?  Overall though, I can't complain too much, considering it WORKS and I had really needed something like this.  Would definitely buy again!

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Rain-BOW Oven Mitt

Today, I finished cross-stitching this oven mitt.  The mitt itself was another find in my mom's old embroidery stuff that I decided to make use of.  And when it comes to kitchen-related paraphernalia, the more saccharine it is, the better.  I am a sucker for pastels and bows and ribbons and adorable, girly things.  Which is strange, since in every other way, I am a bitter misanthrope who dislikes almost everything.  But ever since I was in my mid-teens, I knew that I would one day have a 1950s style baby pink themed kitchen, and nothing would stop me.  

Since then, I've been collecting all kinds of antique and cute accoutrements for just such a kitchen.  One day, once I have my mansion, the pink kitchen will exist fully formed, and not merely as an idea in my mind.  And I had it in mind when I came up with this idea.

I just really love the graphic quality of this pattern in different shades, with the repetition.  Rainbows are kind of odd if they are in the true ROYGBIV colors, but in a muted  jewel tone, this reminded me of cutesy childhood toys, and also a stairwell at a Uniqlo store in New York I shopped at once where every step going up emitted a muted neon light.  The pattern is really stupidly simple, the only thing that was difficult was working within the oven mitt, as the cross stitch fabric was sewed down on three sides, so I had to learn how to embroider with both hands, and at awkward angles.  

Overall, it was a simple (slightly boring) project, but I really liked the effect.  It was also nice to embroider on something that was already a useful object, instead of having to sew it together afterwards, or just leaving the embroidery work on an awkward  piece of fabric and never doing anything much with it.

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Scandinavian Pin Cushion

The first thing you need to know about me is that I absolutely ADORE Japanese embroidery books.  Actually, all Japanese craft books are amazing, but the knitting and other craft ones are useless to me as a non-Japanese speaker, but the embroidery patterns don't typically require any foreign language skills.  To be honest, most of the time, I just look through the pictures, thinking of how cute everything is more often than I actually make something, but I feel like that's about to change.  Hell, maybe I'll even befriend some Otaku anime-nerd to translate those other Japanese craft books.  But probably not, because I have standards.

I saw a pattern in one of these books that showed a beautiful, Scandinavian-style cross-stitch on a brightly colored background fabric, and when I found this kelly green cross-stitch fabric while going through my mom's old craft things while preparing for an upcoming garage sale, I knew it would really look great.

The pattern is neat because it is identical all four directions, and also diagonally makes a mirror image.  The pattern is simple, but has a high-impact look that makes it seem fancier than it is.  In the photo above, you can see the example from the book as compared to mine at the halfway point.

I'm not sure I'll use a pin cushion that much, but I'm hoping to get more comfortable sewing clothes in the near future.  At any rate, it looks pretty, and I think that's a good enough reason for it to exist. 

If anyone of you wants the pattern, here it is:

Hopefully I don't get a cease and desist letter from a Japanese copyright lawyer. :x

I'll have more projects I've been working on in the last week or two soon!

[alex-a-rebours]

Starting À Rebours

Hello!  My name is Alexandra, or more frequently, Alex.  I decided to create this blog in order to have a space to put all my artistic endeavors, craft projects, and self-indulgent aestheticly-motivated photos in one space, so only those who are interested in seeing it end up having to look at it.  Basically, this is where I put pictures that make it seem like my life is an Anthropologie catalog shot through an instagram filter.

I'm 25 years old and am currently splitting time between Brooklyn, NY and my parents' house near Olympia, WA, mostly because I'm an ambitionless drifter who hasn't managed to find a "career" yet (whatever that is). While I was in New York, I realized how much I missed doing more "homey" activities, and how much gratification I get from starting a project, no matter how simple, and completing it, in order to make life seem a little bit nicer all around.  

The name of my blog comes from one of my favorite novels of the same name, by Joris-Karl Huysmans, which means "Against Nature" in English.  It is the story of a French nobleman who gives up on human contact and builds himself an artificial paradise in the country, based on his notions of aesthetics.  He's basically a dandy antihero, and the book is mostly a catalog of decadent excesses, and how he created his own world, by and for himself.  I hope that I may, in my own way, create a beautiful world of my own, or at least give that impression to my readers.

So please, enjoy my blog.  I'll try to post instructions for craft projects if possible, and welcome any questions or contributions.  Thanks!