Happy New Year!!!

New Year's party at the Bowery, 1936. Source

Happy New Year my darlings!!!

Photo: John Paul Bichard

2013 was a really bad year for me, so I'm hoping 2014 will be so much better! To at least end the past year, and begin the new one in a good way, I will be celebrating New Year's Eve at Fräulein Frauke's burlesque New Year's masquerade ball at Nalen! Thank you so much - both old followers and new - for spending some of your time reading my blog during the past year! If no one read it, there wouldn't be any reason for me writing it you know... I hope you all will have an amazing New Year's Eve, and a fabulous year to come! Lots of love and red lipstick kisses to everyone!!! 

12 Shoes For 12 Lovers

Artist Sebastian Errazuriz has teamed up with shoe company Melissa to create what he calls 12 Shoes For 12 Lovers. Sebastian has designed each of the twelve high heeled shoes to reflect each of his twelve ex lovers. The names he has given the shoes are not the real names of his exes, but all shoes come with a short anecdote of the girl each shoe is dedicated to. And here are the shoes!

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Fabergé Friday

It's not one of the Imperial Easter Eggs, but it's still a pretty Fabergé egg-shaped box! Made around the year 1900!

The egg is made of gold, covered in pink enamel over a guilloché ground. On it's sides sits rose-cut diamonds, from which hangs crossed laurel swags. The top of the lid is set with a domed rock crystal, surrounded by rose-cut diamonds. To open the egg you use the cabochon emerald thumbpiece seen in the middle. The size of the egg-box is 1.6'' x 1.1'' (4 x 2.7 cm), and it was acquired by Queen Mary, sometime before 1920. Now it's part of the Royal Collection.

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Merry Christmas!

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A very merry Christmas to you all!!!

I hope your holidays will be full of love and food!... And chocolates...

To really get into the Christmas spirit, here are the newest videos from Simon's Cat - Christmas Presence - Part 1, and Part 2!

Snowflakes...

Since it's winter, here comes a post about snowflakes! No two snowflakes ever look the same. The way they get built up depends on the many little changes in temperature and humidity they go through on their way down from the clouds to the ground.

Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov has managed to capture these little works of wonder, using a camera he built himself with old camera parts, boards, screws and tape. Taking photos like these usually demands very expensive lenses and other equipment - if you're not a genius camera-builder that is! Here is his home made tool:

And here are the beautiful pictures of snowflakes he managed to take with it! Looks like they are made of glass...

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Fabergé Friday

During this time of year a lot of candles are being lit. So what could be of more use than a Fabergé match holder?! This one was made by workmaster Erik Kollin, sometime before 1896!

I like the mix of simple and extravagant in this one! The box itself is made of brick. But the ornate handles are of gold, formed as entwined snakes. 

On the head of each snake sits a cabochon sapphire, and between their noses they hold a pearl. The size of the box is 2.1'' x 4.5'' x 1.9'' (5.3 x 11.5 x 4.9 cm), and it was bought by King Edward VII. Now the match holder is part of the Royal Collection.

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Vintage Crime Scenes Set In Today's NYC

Marc Hermann is a photographer and historian of the New York Press Photographers Association. He went looking for historic crime scenes in the New York Daily News archive. After finding a few really grisly ones, he photoshopped them together with modern photos of the same locations where they had once been taken. It's fun to see that much of NYC still looks like in the "good" old days, when the black and white photos were taken. Even though these crime scenes almost look staged, they are, in fact, real moments of horror, documented by cameras a long time ago...

On March 19, 1942, Edna Egbert fought with police after she climbed on her Dean Street ledge in Brooklyn.

Gangster Salvatore Santoro lies dead in a Brooklyn vestibule on January 31, 1957.

Another gangster, Frankie Yale, killed by a drive-by in Brooklyn, 1928.

A stolen car smashed into the streetlight at Classon Avenue and Pacific Street in Brooklyn, 1957.

A tragic photo from 1959, after three-year-old Martha Cartegna was killed while riding her tricycle in Brooklyn.

In 1960, United Airlines Flight 826 and Trans World Airlines Fight 266 collided over Park Slope in Brooklyn, killing 130 people.

In 1958 there was a fatal fire at the Elkins Paper & Twine Co. on Wooster Street in SoHo. The building burned to the ground. 

A gas explosion shattered this Court Street facade in Brooklyn on January 31, 1961.

Here is James Linares with his girlfriend Josephine Dexidor, after being shot by her husband in a Bronx stairwell, 1961.

To see more pictures, together with the whole original photos, visit the New York Daily News archive.

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Full Moon

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Just a few days till Christmas, and the moon is full... So here comes my favorite Christmas song - White Christmas with Bing Crosby! It always puts me in a cozy-Christmas-mood...

Dita von Teese - Erotique

If you follow Miss von Teese, you might have noticed she has now released her fourth perfume. But for the ones of you that didn't know, here it is, and it's called Erotique...

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As Dita's perfumes are nowhere to be found in Sweden, and I still haven't come across them while traveling, I haven't gotten the pleasure of trying any of her perfumes yet. But about the scent of the newest one - Erotique - Dita says herself; "Erotique is an aphrodisiac accomplishment, an elixir of alchemy inspired by a time when perfume meant something different than it does now. With it's heady melange of opposites, Erotique's poetic contrast of leather accords and burnt embers with rare voluptuous rose is not for the faint of heart; it is intoxicating, animalistic and carnal, potent weaponry for a Maestra of the erotic arts." I would love to try both this one and her other perfumes some day... Here is also a video with some behind the scenes clips from the photo shoot done to create the promo pictures for the perfume:

Fabergé Friday

It's December 13th, which means we celebrate Saint Lucia in Sweden today. It's also Friday 13th. But - most of all - it's Fabergé Friday! So here comes a cute dormouse, made around the year 1910!

This little figurine in the form of a dormouse is carved our of chalcedony. It has sapphire eyes and platinum whiskers, and is nibbling on a few straws made of gold. The size of the mouse is 2.4'' x 2'' x 2.3'' (6.2 x 5.2 x 5.8 cm), and no other dormouse is known to have been made by Fabergé. It was bought at Fabergé's London branch by Queen Alexandra, consort of King Edward VII, on November 5th, 1912, and is now part of The Royal Collection.

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Last Moment Christmas Gifts

Soon it's CHRISTMAAAAAS!!! If anyone had forgot I mean... My Christmas shopping is done *phew*... But if you need some last minute tips, I have a few for you!

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Bra, panties and garter belt from What Katie Did's Coco series. I just love that bra! And the brown color is a nice alternative to the "normal" black.

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French knickers - also from What Katie Did. These come in black or peach!

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The Black Currant Scones Heel from ModCloth. Vintage style shoes with a heel low enough for not getting feet aches during long parties. Yay!

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The Goodnight Kiss Gloves, also from ModCloth. Long, warm gloves with diamond-shaped cutouts decorated with red lips!

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The Fan Seashell Bag, from It's Vintage Darling. Kizzy of the blog The Dainty Dolls House, posted a picture of this bag a few days ago, and now I want one myself!

Pearl necklace in a variety of colors, with matching bracelet, from Daisy Dapper!

Come to think of it, I actually want all these things myself! Better write Santa another letter. Haha...