LBC: A Bird Inspired Coordinate

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival Theme is "A Coord Based on a Type of Bird." I chose an owl for aesthetic purposes and because I absolutely adore the Roman Goddess Minerva and all of the symbology that owls commonly carry.

Top right picture from RedBubble

When I think of owls, I typically think of Spotted Owls, Barn Owls, Grey Owls, and Great Horned Owls. I left Spotted Owls out of this coordinate to work with three varying shades of gray, gold, and ivory in a sort of generic owl blend.

For the actual coordinate itself, I started out with Michael's Blessing and added ivory and gold around it to make the jsk's central color stand out. The four pieces on the left are all BtSSB.

I read that this jsk is bright green, but since I've yet to obtain it and every single picture I've ever seen of it shows it to be silver/gray, we'll switch and say that I'm actually planning it around a green owl—if it is, in fact, green. If you own it in this color way, please let me know what the jsk's true color is!

Lady Victoria's Afternoon Ribbon Bonnet gives a large, round effect to the outfit while the soft lace provides a feathered effect.

The blouse and the shawl are from the Sonnet for Juliet series, in ivory. The blouse's high collar and jabot create a dignified appearance, and its transparent princess sleeves are reminiscent of wings. The shawl rounds out the shape of the coordinate and layers it appropriately.

Victorian Maiden's Rose Bouquet Tights elegantly balance the lace from the top.

Vivienne Westwood heels create pop without being overbearing.

The book clutch from could easily be replaced with a plain gold clutch, if you prefer.

A handmade mouse skull necklace makes the coord finish saying owl.

After expanding my wishlist by eight items, a corresponding makeup idea came to mind. An owl's most distinguishing feature is its face, after all!

Gunmetal grey provides a contrast between the ivory bonnet and the face. A short wig would be even more owlish, but this long one is more elegant and won't blend in to the jumperskirt.
Like an owl, the nose and lips (well, beak) should not stand out very much. A smooth, matte lipstick in a nude tone will make room for the eyes to stand out. Peachy orange shades of blush help the soft, rounded look. The invisibles, eyeshadow primer and setting spray, aren't shown. I like Urban Decay.
There are a dozen dozen eye-enlarging tutorials on YouTube, but if we're doing owl I say go huge! Or don't, if you're mellow like that. Whatever. Using a light cream or white eyeliner along the waterline and maybe even a little under it will definitely make the eyes look bigger, but adding a gentle brown line under that will make the eyes huge, which is what I'm going for here. A dramatic liquid line in black along the top edges and winged out a bit can be blended outwards with a brown pencil. Pat a bit of light brown shadow above the lid to provide contrast for the gold shadow, which should be applied in gradation from light on the inside to darker on the outside of the lid. Glue on some extreme lashes, and bamf!

That's how you become a lolita owl.


Other Lolita Blog Carnival posts for this week's theme:
Fawn and the Frills
A Sweet Lolita's Disney Life