Sorry For The Radio Silence!

Heyya Everyone!

Firstly, I must apologise for the lack of posting recently, I’ve been ridiculously busy in the recent weeks. I’ve had to put my costume making on hold for a little while, as I’ve been swamped with doctor’s appointments, blood tests, and the most important thing; wedding planning.

We’ve decided to get a head start on organising our wedding; we currently think that 2018/2019 would be a good year to choose, as it gives us plenty of time to get everything planned and booked, without any need to rush or panic. We have viewed one venue which was truly beautiful, and the head of the events teams there was so helpful and friendly, this place will definitely be a contender! However we still have 3 more venues to view, so were not setting anything in stone until we have viewed all possible places.

I have had my eye on 2 absolutely stunning wedding dresses, and knowing myself as I do, I am sure that whilst trying them on, about 4 more will probably catch my eye! However, I am trying to keep just a few in mind, as too many and I will feel overwhelmed, and the last thing I need is for my anxiety to kick up during one of the biggest decisions in my life.

Also, I’m super looking forward to visiting my first wedding fair next month, myself and my best friend are heading down to London to hopefully get some inspiration and ideas for the big day, and hopefully find the perfect cake maker to create the wedding cake I have designed. It will be a fantastic experience, and I can’t wait to see all that there is.

I will continue to update on my costume creating as and when I am able, but for the next few weeks they will be few and far between. I thank you all for continually supporting me in all my work!

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

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Workroom Completion

Heyya Everyone!

I am thrilled to let you all know that I finally have my new workroom up and running! Previous to this, all my costumes and props were built in my living room, which meant that I had to work in a confined space, and was forever digging around in cupboards and boxes for fabric and tools – nothing was ever close to hand. This meant that not only my costumes, but my commissioned pieces took a long time to complete; thankfully now that I have a fully kitted out workroom, I can complete all my pieces a lot quicker, and therefore take on more commissions than I could before.

Now that all the furniture is assembled and in place, all I have left to do is unbox all of my materials and tools from the boxes at the back and place them in my new storage draws. Finally I have all my things organised to continue my work.

On that note, I would like to quickly say that I am not currently taking on any more commissions, as all available slots have been filled. Keep checking back for when the commission slots are available again, I will update both this blog and my Facebook page when commissions are re-open.

Hope you are all well, and thank you for your continued support,

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

L’Oreal Studio Pro LOCK IT Hairspray Review

Heyya Everyone!

Being part of a campaign for BzzAgent is wonderful as I get to try out the latest products for free and give my honest opinion on them, be it positive or negative.

This time I got to try out the Studio Pro LOCK IT Hairspray by L’Oreal, and I am super excited!

I’m a girl who loves her hairspray, it’s a necessity for me as I have just had my hair cut back to a short asymmetrical bob – now when I go outside the wind blows my short layers all over the place and instantly ruins my style, so I always need a good, strong hold hairspray to lock it all into place. For this campaign I chose the ‘Ultra Strong’ hold hairspray, which is the strongest of the range at hold number 5.

This hairspray boasts a double-hold formula, with instant hold and up to 48 hour endurance – and unlimited styling possibilities. The can recommends spraying at a distance of 30cm and in an S-motion on dry hair. I really liked the look of this product from the moment I unboxed it, the bright yellow and black can looks very edgy and stylish, and really stands out among my other styling products, so I can easily identify it when in a hurry. Then came time for testing, I washed and blow dried my hair as usual, gave the top layers a quick backcomb at the roots to get some volume, then sprayed the LOCK IT hairspray all over my head, at arms length and in the S-motion suggested. First thing I noticed was that this hairspray smelled fainty sweet, almost fruity which was a nice touch – also that it set fairly quickly and left hair hair still feeling soft, not hard and rough like some hairsprays do.

Next came the first challenge, how would it hold up on my trip to town during typical British weather? I walked the 15 minute route into my local town to do the weekly food shopping, all the while the wind was blowing a gale and it was lightly spitting with rain. The hairspray seemed to hold up well overall, but it wasn’t holding so well on my fringe which was constantly being blown to the other side due to the fierce winds – no fault of the hairspray, more the fault of the gales which are intent on ruining all nice hairstyles. So I get to town, do what I need to do, then head home – soon as I step in the door I take a look at my hair to see how it has coped – and it pretty much still looked the same as when I styled it in the morning, with the exception of a few strands of the top layers being a bit windswept. Overall I was very pleased with how the hairspray held up, especially considering how violent the weather was; I ran my fingers through it and there were no knots or tangles, which is rare as normally when hair finished with hairspray gets wet, it goes hard and clumps together – making it very painful to brush out.

A little windswept but it held up pretty well given the weather!

This also leads me to my next point, I was able to brush through my hair and restyle it midway through the day without any issues at all; usually I can never restyle my hair after I have given it a blast of hairspray, which is a pain as if I am going out in the evening or just want another style, I would either have to wash my hair and start again or not style it until I was about to go out – I shouldn’t have to compromise! Luckily, when I got home I could give it a quick brush through and then heated a wave through the longer side, so I was ready for when my client came over that afternoon for a costume fitting. Not to mention that as I heated the waves into my hair using my usual 3-barrel waver, the hairspray didn’t go all rigid and awful, it remained flexible and held the wave beautifully, meaning I didn’t need to spray it over again – Perfect!

The sun finally poked through to see my lovely wavy hair.

I couldn’t resist showing this product to my client when she was over, partly because I adored it and partly because I was curious to see how it would hold up on her hair. Emma’s hair is incredibly thick and shoulder length, so how would this hairspray cope on a different hair type? I have known Emma for many years and know that she never uses hairspray as her hair is so thick and heavy that it’s very difficult to control, so she leaves it to do it’s own thing. When she arrived her hair was straight, as it usually is due to curls never lasting in her hair due to it’s weight – so after I finished the fitting, I sat her down and curled her hair all over, then gave it a good blast with the Pro LOCK IT hairspray.

        

After this I sent her on her way, and asked her to send me a selfie later to show how her hair held up, and to text me what she thought of the product. This is what she sent me later that evening:-

 

The back of the can also advertises L’Oreals ‘Studio Pro’ app, which it says will allow you to virtually test drive different hairstyles by uploading a selfie, and show step-by-step tutorials on how to create each style – I downloaded this app on my iPhone to give it a go and see how it worked.  First time I opened the app I tried to upload a selfie for the virtual hairstyle , and the app crashed before it could even take the picture, not a good start. I reloaded the app and went into the tutorial section, first off this has almost no short hairstyles, there all for mid or long length hair – which sucks for short haired girls like me! Second of all, the tutorials were very short, 15 second clips of models having their hair done in the styles, with 2 or more people creating them, meaning it is of no use for anyone trying to replicate it – if it takes them 2-3 people to create a style, what hope do we have of doing it at home in front of a mirror with one hand on a styling tool and the other on a can of hairspray?

Overall I really enjoyed using this hairspray and thought it was great quality, I would definitely recommend this and will certainly be going out to buy another can once this one is finished!

If any of you have tried this hairspray let me know what you thought of it in the comments,  I’d love to know how it worked for all of you!

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

Best Black Lipsticks? Swatches and Reviews!

Heyya Everyone!

I love a good lipstick, whether it’s for cosplay or just out and about everyday. And I really love a bold coloured lipstick, especially blues, purples and reds – but I’ve always wanted to try a black lipstick. Sadly my experience with them doesn’t go much further than those terrible ones you get in kits around Halloween. You know the ones, those cheap things that need about 10 layers to get anywhere near opaque coverage, and that go all over your teeth as soon as you try and speak – not a good look!

Going to Comic Conventions, events or even just doing a days hard shopping, I want a lipstick that has a nice opaque coverage, and that has long lasting wear, something I don’t need to keep reapplying after I eat, drink, kiss or talk. Not too much to ask is it? 😉

After having a look through my current favourite brands of lipsticks and lip liquids, I found that some of them did indeed sell a form of black lipstick! I ordered all the ones I could that were in stock and this is how they faired!

The ones I ordered were, ‘Pristine’ by Illamasqua, ‘Wierdo’ by Jeffree Star, ‘Venom’ by LaSplash Cosmetics, ‘Raven’ by LA Girl Cosmetics, and ‘Borneo’ by Gerard Cosmetics.

I had a few shipped over from the USA as they were out of stock here in the UK, so after an age of waiting for delivery I finally had them all and couldn’t wait to get on to test them!

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After stripping them all out there packing this is what they looked like:-

L-R: Pristine, Wierdo, Venom, Raven, Borneo.

Already I love the style of the Jeffree Star and LASplash lip liquids, the containers are quite heavy and sturdy and feel really high quality. I first swatched them on my forearm to get a feel for there consistency and to see how opaque they really were. The top image is using indoor light, the bottom image is outside in natural daylight.

1) Pristine, 2) Wierdo, 3) Venom, 4) Raven, 5) Borneo

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‘Pristine’ by Illamasqua:-

RRP: £19.50

I’ve always been a big fan of Illamasqua’s lipsticks as they have such a wide range of colours, both generic and alternative, with such a creamy texture which makes them glide on beautifully. This lipstick is no different, it applies beautifully, with a lovely semi-matte finish. However I would describe the colour as semi-opaque, if applied in just one layer it can still be seen through, however it can be built up to a deep black. In indoor light it looks very nice and even, however when photographed with a flash or in natural light it can look a bit patchy. With the shape of the lipstick itself I found it tricky to apply straight from the stick, it was hard to get a crisp line – I would definitely recommend using a lip brush.
The top left picture was taken indoors under artificial lighting and it looks very opaque and even, however the others were taken outside in natural light, and you can see how it’s a bit patchy in places, and had already started wearing away at the sides. I think this lipstick should definitely be used with a lipstick sealant like LipKote, as it does smudge very quickly, due it’s creamy texture. Overall I think this lipstick is okay, although I would be careful where I wear it, to be sure I don’t wear it in situations where I would have to be eating! Due to it’s price however I would recommend either waiting for their sales, or signing up to an account with them, as you will get a 15% discount code e-mailed to you on your birthday.

 

“Wierdo” by Jeffree Star:-

 RRP:£15.99

This was one of my favourites from the second it arrived! I love the packaging it arrived in, it was packed in a pink box with gold stars, with the container itself being a heavy glass vial, candy pink lid with a thick doe foot applicator inside. I’ve always been sceptical of doe foot applicators as I find they pick up way too much product which becomes hard to apply evenly, however the little suction cup thingy on the inside of the vial stops a lot of the product from clinging to the wand, meaning just the right amount is dispensed to do the whole of your lips. The instructions say to shake the vial well for 5 seconds before applying, and to wait for 3-5 minutes after applying for it to dry fully. It applies smoothly, the wand is brilliant and gives a perfectly crisp line no matter what angle you hold it at, and dries to a matte finish which I LOVE! Also, it doesn’t  After I applied it I went shopping for the day with Emma to Bluewater, and it lasted through the whole day of talking, laughing and drinking- it only started to fade a little on the inner corners of my mouth after we had a TGI’s, as the mozzarella sticks were a bit oily, and the instructions state to avoid oily foods as it can remove the lipstick. Overall it has fantastic coverage from the first swipe, has a beautiful finishes and lasts all day depending on what you eat! Well worth the money, and I will be buying the rest of the collection soon!!

“Venom” by LASplash Cosmetics:-

RRP: £9.95

LASplash is a company I have grown to love over the years, there great value for money and extremely high quality. This product is no different, it’s very opaque and has a beautiful matte finish, and is extremely long lasting – after a whole day of talking, eating and drinking it had only just started to fade on my inner corners and the inside middle of my bottom lip. The doe foot wand for this liquid lipstick is very long and thin, and covers the whole lip beautifully in one swipe, it even makes a beautifully sharp line on the cupids bow, no brushes needed! I’ve had a few LASplash liquid lipsticks in the past and thankfully have perfected the art of applying them, you need to scrape a lot of the product off the wand as it does pick up a lot, and then apply it neatly but quickly, as it sets very fast; and after giving it a few minutes to set, it is almost completely water and smudgeproof. This is one I would highly recommend!!

“Raven” by LA Girl Cometics:- 

RRP: £5.50

This was one of the cheapest ones I tested and you could definitely tell. The packaging was very basic and light, and the lipstick itself was quite dry and hard to apply. The product itself is not pointed like a normal lipstick, it’s a round shape which makes it impossible to get a nice sharp line around the lips without using a brush or a lip liner. In the picture I had applied 2 light layers of the lipstick, and you can see that it is still semi-opaque in some areas. It’s not a bad lipstick for the price, but it doesn’t last long so you would definitely need a lipstick sealer to stand any chance when wearing it.

“Borneo” by Gerard Cosmetics:-

RRP: £12.95

As soon as this arrived I realised I had made a mistake with this product – it was a lipgloss and not a lipstick. It’s a heavily pigmented gloss, with a gold chrome lid and glass vial with a very thin doe foot wand inside; it also has a light inside the cap that turns on when the lid is unscrewed and a mirror on the side. Soon as I started applying this I took a dislike to it, it’s very sticky and very thick which meant it didn’t go on very well and looked very patchy. It also went on my teeth as soon as I opened my mouth, not a good look! It shifted and slid all over the place, and looked terrible after an hour or so. Personally I would never wear this on it’s own, however I would consider wearing it over one of the longer lasting matte ones to give it a nice shine.

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Overall the best black lipsticks were the liquid lipsticks from LASplash and Jeffree Star – both apply very smooth and opaque, highly pigmented but non staining, dry with a beautiful matte finish, and are smudgeproof.

Please note these reviews are my own opinion and products were all bought by me, I am not paid to test them (sadly!).

Hope this is useful for some of you, let me know if there are any brands you have tried and are good!

Much Love,

Sabrina xXx

Bittersweet Decisions.

Heyya Everyone!

This week has been a really testing time for me. Those close to me will know I’ve had a lot going on in my home life which has had me struggling to keep it together and maintain my usual composure. However this week something in me snapped. I handed in my resignation at NEXT.
I’ve been struggling with depression for the last 2 months and have barely been able to do anything, which made the usual struggles of working in a very physical environment ten times harder. There is a lot of cattiness and gossiping in the workplace, as there’s far more females than males working in our team, and one in particular finds it necessary to blame me for everything that goes wrong in the shifts. Normally I have no issue brushing off these claims as I know I have done nothing wrong, and the truth will always come out, however in recent weeks it’s been nothing but thing, after thing, after thing, and I can’t deal with it at the moment. There is no worse feeling than working your hardest to be the best member of the team you can be, and constantly having someone spread lies about you, just because they can’t compete, it shouldn’t bother me, and yet it does. A lot. Combine that with Luke’s troubles with his eyes and the constant pain he is in, along with my Nan’s arthritis which on some days leaves her unable to get downstairs, and it’s a lot to try and deal with. I was working 5-6 days a week, and on my days off trying to fit in everything; seeing my Mum, tidying the house, getting to doctors/hospital appointments, doing the food shopping and still finding time to get my commissions finished. If I could drive it probably wouldn’t have been as bad, but I was having to do it all to the schedule of the buses. I couldn’t do it. So I’ve decided that I will take some time out, away from work to focus on my family, as they come before everything else.
I like working at NEXT. Excluding the one or two who lie and cause trouble to hide their own failings, we have a brilliant team, and I’ve met some wonderful people there who I am proud to call my friends. Providing my health and family’s well being has improved in the time, I plan to return there in time for the summer sale.
So thank you to all of you who have been patient and stuck with me through all of this, it means more than you know. Here’s hoping everything starts to calm down from here on.

Much  Love,
Sabrina xXx

Upcoming Costumes for 2016!

Heyya Everyone!

Now that Brighton Film and Comic Con 2015 is over, I’m starting to plan what costumes I’ll be creating for upcoming conventions and events. Aaaaand I can announce that they will be; GoGo Tomago from Big Hero 6, Daenerys Targaryen’s blue dress from season 3 of Game of Thrones, and regime Wonder Woman from Injustice.

                          

Alongside these beauties,  I will also be working my socks off on the 3 commissions I currently have on the go aswell. Those are; Honey Lemon from Big Hero 6, Melisandre from Game of Thrones, and Mordecai from Borderlands 2.

                     

This will be one of my biggest challenges, as it will be pushing every skill I have to the max, from sewing to armour making. Plus I will have to overcome my biggest issue, one that I have with every costume I have ever made; managing my time so that everything is finished more than a day before the event. All my previous costumes have been finished in the late hours the night before the con they were being worn to, and it makes me panic and causes so much stress. From my Lilith costume, the wig from which I was still cell shading the morning of the con, to my Katniss dress, which was still being stitched until 10pm the night before expo! So now I’m trying a new way to work. I’m writing to-do lists for every costume, and working through them all, in order, so that as one is drying/setting/curing, I can be doing things on one of the other costumes. Fingers crossed, that will mean I have steady progress on them all, and will have them finished well before the scheduled dates. Wish me luck!

Much  Love,

Sabrina xXx

Brighton Film & Comic Con 2015

Heyya Everyone!

Sorry it’s taken so long for me to post about this, but I’ve been a bit ill recently, plus super busy with work and everything!

So last weekend I attended BFCC 2015 and had an absolutely fantastic time!! On the Saturday I went in what I refer to as my civvies – basically I didn’t cosplay! My fiancé Luke had bought my ticket, all travel costs and a ‘special something’ (which I’ll go into detail on in a minute), as an early birthday present. This was fantastic as I’m a right pain the ass to buy anything for, as I always see things I want, but then buy them for myself in case I can’t find them again later.  I was also really upset about missing MCM London in October, due to not being able to get time off of work. Our friend Matt went as Yellow Lantern Scarecrow and looked absolutely brilliant! We all had to duck under his scythe every now and then, but it was totally worth it!

Matt’s fantastic Yellow Lantern Scarecrow cosplay.

We got there in great time, about 10 minutes before the event actually opened, and thanks to the efficiency of the Showmasters staff, had our weekend wristbands and were ready to go within minutes! Once the doors opened and we were inside, I was super pleased to spot a familiar face, in the shape of David and Jo from The Monster Company.

I first met these two amazing people at MCM London May 2015, when I was browsing there stall and spotted something I had been trying to hunt down for a very, very long time: a Smile Time puppet of Spike from the TV show ‘Angel’. My jaw literally hit the floor the moment I saw it, I couldn’t believe my luck in finding one! I got talking to them about how much I loved the episode, about how rare the puppets are now, and about my cosplay at the time (ironically, the same thing I wore on the Sunday); my Katniss Everdeen Wedding Dress. They were stunned by the fact that I had made it all, and asked about the process of creating it, which lead to long conversations and my whole group deciding that this was a fantastic company run by friendly and  enthusiastic people. I bought the puppet there and then, and spent all the rest of the con with a big old grin on my face!!

Me and David at MCM London May 2015

Anyways, back to the present; as soon as we entered the hall of BFCC, I spotted their stall again and immediately trotted over again to say hello! Not only did they recognise me out of costume, but also remembered me from MCM! David pointed to a shelf on the top of the stall, upon which sat a Smile Time puppet – of vampire Angel!! Needless to say once again my jaw was on the floor and I started reaching for it, like a small child wanting to be picked up. I bought it the second it touched my hands, and I don’t regret a thing. My first purchase of the weekend!
As the day progressed I bought a fair amount of things, mainly Pop! Vinyls and the odd figure here and there.

My haul from Saturday

Then I was told about the ‘special something’ – I was going to meet James Marsters on the Sunday, and have a picture taken with him. Well that had me both beyond excited and utterly terrified at the same time. Ever since I was young and started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I absolutely adored him and his character in the show, Spike. I also found out he was doing signings and decided I would bring 2 things with me to be signed; after a long decision, I decided on my Spike Smile Time puppet and my Chase edition Spike Pop! Vinyl.
Roll on Sunday! I had already signed up online for the BFCC Sunday Cosplay Masquerade, and because of this I went in my Katniss Everdeen Wedding Dress. Not really realising that would mean I would be meeting James Marsters in a dress with a giant cage round it – I was totally terrified that I would end up accidentally taking an eye out or something! After arriving at the convention again, I first popped upstairs and headed to the Cosplay Masquerade sign in desk. Everyone was lovely and talked me through everything that needed to be done, as well as where and when I needed to be everywhere. It was here I bumped into KouYumi Cosplay, who was helping to get everyone organised and talking with everyone about their costumes: I couldn’t get over how she had made such a fantastic Vaporeon costume in such a short space of time! I then had to head downstairs for my Cosplay photoshoot, which was super fun! I loved seeing everyones costume and chatting with everyone whilst we waited for our turn infront of the camera. I loved my pictures, and ended up buying a print of the full length shot of my dress, it looked so floaty and perfect!

My Official BFCC 2015 Cosplay shot

Luckily the photoshoot ended just in time for my timeslot for the James Marsters photoshoot, so I met up with my friends Emma and Sarah who had also booked to have a photo taken; we were all so nervous but beyond excited!! When my turn came I was so shaky, but as  I walked up, he was so sweet and shook my hand, telling me I looked “absolutely beautiful”. I. Nearly. Melted. I had the goofiest grin on my face in the picture, and I couldn’t have been happier!! I even found a stall upstairs which was selling frames for the pictures, which had a plaque engraved with his name, and 2 shots on the right hand side from when he played Spike in Buffy. It was an immediate purchase, and now I just need to find the space to hang it!!

Such an amazing memento of meeting one of my childhood idols.

Later on that day we also had the signing with him, which was such a laugh! I queued up with Emma, as between the dress, the puppet and the Pop! figure, I didn’t have enough hands to hold everything. So when we got to the table we put the puppet and Pop! on the table as instructed, and a mini conversation took place which still makes me and Emma crack up when we talk about it:

Emma: I didn’t realise you were a lefty.
James Marsters: Oh yes. So where do I know that dress from? Is it Frozen?
Me: Almost, It’s Katniss from The Hunger Games.
James: Fuck Me! How did I not know that? Sorry, I was blinded by your eyes.
Well, at that point I had the gimpiest look on my face and couldn’t stop smiling, and after signing the two items, shook my hand again and wished us both a great day. I can safely say that he is one of the sweetest, most friendly celebrities I have ever met in my life, and I will never, ever forget meeting him!

These two beauties are now pride of place in our room ❤

After another few hours shopping, and in the case of myself, Sarah and Emma – giggling like schoolgirls about how much we adore James Marsters – It came the time for the masquerade. So I headed upstairs with my group, and left them sitting in the room whilst I was taken round the back with the rest of the entrants. Everyone was a buzz of excitement whilst we waited to go on stage and show off our costumes and performances. Looking around, a few cosplayers caught my eye; the Belle and Megara, who were so lovely and sweet, and their costumes were beautiful, and the Jon Snow and Sansa Stark. My God their costumes were perfect, they looked identical to the characters and stayed in character throughout the whole show. There were 40 entrants in total and we all had such a great time on stage! Then, after we had all performed, the judges got together to discuss our costumes, performances and confidence on stage. After an agonizingly long wait, the judges had made their decisions. The notable mentions went to the fantastic Ursula cosplay, whose makeup was stunning and costume just beautful! Also to the cosplayers of the Portal 2 androids ATLAS and P-body, whose on stage performance was so funny and perfectly in character.  The winner of the group cosplay, was Jon Snow and Sansa Stark! I was so happy for them as they looked so perfect and were such sweet people. Next was the winner of the performance category; the stunning cosplayer of female Loki. Her lip syncing performance was perfectly on point and she looked fantastic, even down to the striking green contacts! Finally, was the first place winner of the show. Everyone was shouting for who they wanted, and then all fell silent as it was announced. It was Katniss. It was me! I honestly couldn’t believe it, I was so surprised! All the winners were asked to return to the stage for a group picture, and we were all so ecstatic!
For me, it was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend with my fiancé and close friends. And to top off the day, Luke bought me another gift, A Pop! Vinyl of Arkham Knight Harley Quinn, and Katniss Everdeen ‘The Girl on Fire’ – The only Katniss I was missing!

An amazing weekend that I will never forget.

All that’s left to do is say a HUGE thank you to Showmasters for holding the event, which was a great success; and to Dark Cleo Productions for hosting the Masquerade, which we all thoroughly enjoyed being a part of. I look forward to watching the video of the event on their YouTube channel, once it has finished being edited ❤

Much Love,

Sabrina xXx

Heyya Everyone!

Hello all!

I’ve been thinking about starting a Blog for a little while now; using it to keep everyone updated on how my cosplays are coming along, what my future plans are, and posting about general bits and pieces I think may help people. I’ll be keeping this updated alongside my Instagram page, however this Blog will go into more detail on how things are made, conventions I’ll be attending and the sort of products I use to help everything all come together!

I hope you all enjoy this Blog, as much as I enjoy writing it,

Much Love,

Sabrina xXx