REQUIRED READING: April

Hey all! This week has been a really busy one, so I'll keep this short. Even with impromptu dance events and the home stretch on my dissertation, I've been reading a lot of interesting pieces on the web, which you can see below -

• Though I'm really quite new to the world of corsetry, I found this piece of research on Foundations Revealed illuminating about how personalized the perfect corset is. Get properly fitted!
• The title of this article immediately made me react, but on further reading I actually absolutely agreed with Liz Kessler's argument in Why I don’t believe in “self care” (and how to make it obsolete). Too often consumerism is conflated with self care in a really damaging way, and relying on one another is a far more valuable tool than mainstream culture wants us to acknowledge. 
• On a similar intersection of politics and health, this article on why therapists should talk politics really hit home for me. As a doctor, I'm going to be seeing the effects of capitalism first hand, and I think it's important to take that into my own practice. 

Just in case you missed it, I posted an outfit featuring my spring favourites last week, and announced that I'll now be putting up a new post every Wednesday! For some reason this inspired decision came three weeks before my dissertation is due, but now I've announced it it's going to happen (imminent deadline or not).


What has everyone else been reading? Has anyone been doing anything cool this April? Let me know below!

     

STYLE: Spring Favourites

A quick note: as you may have noticed, I'm posting a lot more regularly now; I'm happy to announce that An Honest Drug will feature a new post every Wednesday! I'm not certain how this is going to go, but I'm enjoying writing again, so let's continue in the spirit of Miss Addams herself.

My kingdom for a pussybow blouse. I've become obsessed with accumulating as many of these as possible, as they're the only sleeved tops I actually like wearing (90% of my wardrobe is vests and tank tops) - everything else just irritates the hell out of me. I was actually going to put a waist belt over the top of the whole thing, but nothing ended up looking right? Draped silhouette it is!

This outfit is full of things I've been totally unable to stop wearing; the blouse, my wife brimmed hat and these DIY Quartz hoops. I've had awful luck with earrings over the past year; I lost half of my favourite pair of vintage clip ons at a party, one of a pair of moon earrings I made on the way to coffee with a friend, and one of these. Thankfully, though I haven't found the right materials (yet) to remake the moon earrings, I managed to whip up a new set of these, and I've been wearing them constantly since spring started - apparently Spring really makes me want to wear pink? I think it's the cherry blossom.


My daily outfits feature a lot of similar looks to this, and it's nice to have a uniform. I feel like the Internet is grossly oversaturated with the witch aesthetic now, which I partially blame on brands trying to cash in... But I still like it. It's a more grown up and refreshing take on goth, and the occult is an area I really enjoy researching - so those elements appeal to me. Plus, there's a lot of variability in the silhouettes and looks within it; I don't get bored.

How do you feel about the popularity of witchy styles? Is there anything you're really enjoying wearing right now? Comment and let me know below!

     

LIFE: February/March Instagram Round Up

Welcome back, readers! It's so great getting to post more on here - I haven't regularly blogged for the past year due to a mixing pot of stress, a busy life, and frustration, but it's like a mental block has been removed and all I want to do is write. I hope I can keep it up!

Today marks April 1st, aka the day the internet becomes totally unusable. As ever this month is a fresh challenge, as I enter the final countdown to dissertation submission; whilst I'm proud of what I've achieved so far, this is going to be totally different.

With that in mind, it's worth looking back at what's been happening in February and March. I feel like I've been bouncing around Scotland for the past two months, and it's been a eclectic mix of new experiences. I always enjoy reading Instagram round ups, and I'm pretty active on there, so let's take a look back at what I've been posting.

Top Left Taking a Voigt Kampff test, aka Helping my flatmate out with his psychology research.

Top Right February was really tough work wise, as due to ethics bureaucracy my research was delayed and had to be tweaked (not my fault!). I triumphed nonetheless, in time for the first signs of Spring!

Bottom Left I was also down in Edinburgh for the national student psychiatry conference, and in a spare hour completed my first room escape game. I got to pretend to be a Russian femme fatale spy master, so overall 5/5.

Bottom Right Dundee ran its second swing dance workshop of the academic year, Valentine's Swing, so naturally I went with some vintage inspired styling.

Top Left Volunteering at a creative arts group for chronic pain in Perth. This was watercolours week!

Top Right I was back home in Glasgow for a impromptu blues workshop (dance has been the main reason I've been flitting about Scotland so much), which in contrast to the last minute nature of my attendance was revolutionary in how it impacted my dance. If anyone gets a chance, I highly recommend learning blues from Justin Riley!

Bottom Left A look I wore for shopping recently. I've had a bad spot break out recently, so I've not been feeling like posting selfies, but look forward to seeing more in future.

Bottom Right Spending easter with my parents in the highlands; it really is witch country up there.

-

You can find more on my instagram, username @anhonestdrug. How has everyone else been finding the start of the year? Do you like this type of round up post? I quite like reflecting back on what's been happening, but I always like finding out how readers feel. Let me know below!

STYLE: Vintage Florals

Gosh, I haven't posted an outfit in five months. As a fashion blogger, that's surreal - you must have thought that I stopped wearing clothes. I finally decided this week, after months of camera frustration, that for taking pictures maybe I should just use my perfectly acceptable god damn phone instead; magically, the lack of light was no longer an issue, the photos looked better, and everything went ten times smoother. Sometimes the easy route is the best. 

I haven't shown a vintage look on here in even longer; they do sit somewhat incongruously next to the rest of my very black wardrobe, but given how much time I spend Lindy hopping (and how much I love vintage) it's a division I don't mind. This gorgeous 1940s inspired floral playsuit seems particularly appropriate given the recent Spring Equinox; I leapt at it in a new look sale with the plan of wearing it to dance workshop socials, but quickly realized my mistake of not checking the tag. Never wear polyester at over 200 beats per minute. 

I do get wear out of it however, even if it's still a little cool for bare legs. It's not very goth of me, but I love Spring - it gives me so much energy after sleepy, wet winters, and a drive to get outside and get moving.

How is everyone else finding the change in seasons? Do you have any clothing that you ended up wearing for different reasons than you bought it? Let me know below!

Fiona C. 

CONSUMERISM: Pin Me Up

Inner Decay: Ecstasy of St Teresa pin - [link]  Punky Pins: Black Moon pin - [link]
Little Whip: Trois pins - [link] Wasted Effort: Mystical Pyramid pin - [link]

God knows I've been sticking patches on my jackets since I first knew what punk was, but pins? I could make my own badges. Why on earth would I go buy pins?

Turns out lots of reasons. It feels almost silly to do a shopping feature on such a tiny accessory, but they have a very charming retro vibe, and I've been noticing a lot more cute and covetable pins popping up on my radar of late. And where there's cute there's weird, and where there's weird there's all black versions for the chromatically challenged. A lot of these shops also have other great accessories, and honorable mentions go out to Inner Decay's Medusa and Wormhole patches, as well as Little Whip's very NSFW Try Me Shirt and Punky Pin's Death's Head Moth pin,which I sadly didn't have space for up there.


Are there any pins you want out there? Any other unusual accessories you like? Let me know below!





Fiona C.

DIY: Heart Pasties

You need -

• Paper
• Scissors 
• Craft Foam
• Crystals
• Super glue
• Paper clip/hair clips

Step 1 

Make yourself a template for the pastie from the paper; I drew around the top of a beer glass and shaped it into a heart from there, but the size will be individual to you. Make you cut a slit up to the centre, and check how well it fits in the mirror.

Step 2

Trace the outline of the template onto your foam sheet, and cut around it. 

Step 3

Fold one side over the other, and glue it in place; hold in place with a pin or paper clip. 

Step 4

Bedazzle. 

Lining the inside can be an additional step, which is best if you're performing with them (i.e. you're sticking them on with glue), but you won't need to if using double sided tape. Happy Valentine's Day. ❤






Fiona C.

Art: Soren Häxan

Top to bottom: 'Monstrum', 'Dead Hands', and 'The Spiritualist'.

Until I either hang/frame/do something with the pieces I already have or move into my new flat, I've had to enforce an art ban on myself; no buying any new prints, which I have responded to by... looking at lots of art. I guess the heart wants what the heart wants. 

The most recent of my guilty late night binges is the work of Soren Häxan, Washington-based artist and writer. Häxan's oil paintings and ink illustrations blend illness, the abhuman and the occult, and homoeroticism to create unique works on faith and sexuality.

As well as prints and original artworks, you can also find hand bound books and patches in Häxan's etsy store, The Hands of the Corpse (warning: some art NSFW). Additionally, keep an eye out for his soon-to-be-published book, Our Queen Milk.

All images by Soren Häxan. Soren is also on twitter (where he's a joy to follow), as am I! Has anyone else found any new art recently? Let me know below!




Fiona C.