#the coloring is pretty sloppy and the lines too but its fun to draw loosely sometimes

[elfsyellowflowerzart]

ten

[bubmyg]

idcilh (4) - jjk

pairing: jeongguk x reader

genre/warnings: youtuber!au, sickening fluff, ft guk’s glasses

word count: 1,560

summary: “these have been done before but I don’t care I love her” - a series on gcguk in which jeongguk tackles old, cheesy YouTube couple challenges. episode four: boyfriend does makeup challenge or please stop laughing you’re creasing my masterpiece. 

a/n: s/o to the angel that is @gukniverse​ that inspired me to write this one uwu

“I’m not sitting in your lap.”

“It would be easier.”

“No, it would not.”

“...what if I—”

“Do not touch my legs.”

“Baby!” 

“Jeongguk!”

He pouted, ring light reflecting in the wide frame of his glasses and masking a bit of the stars in his irises that normally would render you useless in denying his wagers. It didn’t help that he pressed his cheek into his shoulder, palm on the space between your thighs to lean closer to you. 

After a moment, Jeongguk asked gently, “Can you at least come closer?”

A devastating smile overtook his features when you shifted, leaving enough space to turn completely toward him to fold your legs at the ankle. You sighed, do your worst, and you couldn’t keep up the faux annoyance when he excitedly wiggled a bit on the couch cushion before diving for the array of products you’d laid out on the coffee table. 

You watched Jeongguk fiddle quietly through the products, making offhanded comments here and there for the blinking camera stationed in front of you. You heard him but you didn’t comprehend him, instead convinced that if someone were to see you, they’d mistaken your features for one giant beam of sunshine, overly endeared with the way he was muttering to himself in between camera friendly comments until he finally settled on a container and a brush. 

He blinked, eyes round and lips fished into a little button, demanding, “What? What—” and when you covered your mouth to keep from laughing, he broke into tiny giggles as well, ones that started with his cheeks bunching up underneath his glasses, eyes wrinkling, lips spreading outward last. 

“Nothing,” You grit your teeth to keep your grin in place, “Tell everyone why you’ve got your glasses on.”

Jeongguk flushed a bit into dabbing the tip of your widest brush into the pan of powder, narrowing his eyes underneath his fringe, “Because I need to be able to see for this video. Obviously.”

“Noo,” You sang, drawing out syllables and nudging his leg with your foot, “Because I told you that you look cute—”

He silenced you with one sharp jab of the brush against your cheek. The dust went everywhere, falling into your lips and you spluttered while he continued to laugh. 

“Oops,” Jeongguk shrugged, teeth capturing his bottom lip when you glared at him. Gentle knuckles brushed across your skin, moving to set his pinky underneath your jaw to tilt your face up for careful brushstrokes, a far cry from the first, “Sit still.”

You waited until he was two taps into your powder foundation to murmur, “You’re starting with this?”

“Is this wrong? Is there something—” He looked over his shoulder at the other products he’d shuffled around before settling into set shoulders, “—you know what, no. Silence from the peanut gallery and let the master work.”

You let your eyes roll up when he rolled the soft black brush underneath your right eyelid. “The beauty community is terrified, truly.”

There was an utter gentleness in the way he went about it, cradling the balance of your face on the feathered end of his fingertips, barely brushing the fibers of the brush to the surface of your skin, using the edge of his thumb to make minor touch ups. Moments of concentration had him zoning out, circled eyes inspecting your features with parted lips to complete the three shapes dominating the majority of his face, only an outline to the round shape of his nose. 

Periodically, Jeongguk would make a noise in his throat, varying in tone and volume, only enough to catch your attention before his lips were on the space just off the side of your nose. You sighed each time, letting him have his fun because, again, you were overly fond of your lovesick fool of a boyfriend. That is, until the one time he caught you off guard, hand engulfed on your opposite cheek while his lips caught the corner of your mouth again. And again.

And again…

...until you were laughing enough to shove at his shoulder. 

He’d gotten his initial wish. You’d all but ended up in his lap the closer he shifted to you in between trying to figure out blending eye shadow and contour and the thing he’d heard you refer to as baking. Your leg was thrown over his thigh, latter knee bent and resting against his. If you stretched a bit more and scooted forward, you could trap his waist with the lock of your legs. Neither of you were complaining of the predicament. 

“Stop laughing!” Jeongguk chided, immediately leaning to you after the end of your fingers finished shoving. “You’re creasing it…”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” You rolled your lips over your teeth to suppress some of it, cocking an eyebrow when his crooked index finger rested underneath your chin, “Are you almost done?”

Jeongguk hummed, lifting up on his finger to tilt your face toward him. “Yes…” He let his thumb unfurl from his fist, pad tugging on the forced sanction of your bottom lip in your mouth, “I need these though.”

You let your lips loose, half into asking why when his mouth was on yours, lingering for longer than the previous, fleeting pecks had. He hummed happily into the seam of your lips before pulling away, only enough to nudge his nose against your cheek before returning in your line of sight with a shy smile. 

“Lipstick,” Jeongguk provided to your previously cut short question, raising the small tube of red up. 

The delicacy in which he dabbed the color onto your lips made your heart swim laps in the flutter of butterflies that had gathered in the pit of your stomach, a few breaking loose to lift your most vital organ back to its proper position where it then proceeded to grow in size, spilling over into the spaces between your ribs. He’d finished by the time your fond had, for the time being, ceased to grow in the warmth that harbored the very feeling to the very tips of your toes. 

Thoughtfully, you rolled your lips together, smacking them together a few times before you pursed them comically, like a red tulip blooming through the frost into spring. “Good?”

There was a handheld mirror under your nose before you could blink, Jeongguk’s shifting next to you outlined by his giddy stream of statements, “I think I did a pretty good job. Did I do a good job?”

Truthfully, the blending of the eye shadow was a bit questionable, but he’d managed to draw two mostly decent eyeliner wings. There was way too much highlight, by design of him insisting he wanted you to glow, but he hadn’t grown sloppy in sliding the lipstick to your mouth. It, honestly, wasn’t that bad. 

You told Jeongguk so to a proud smile that burst into his cheeks, jostling his glasses on his nose to which he shoved up with the heel of his palm. Some more formalities, mostly those that marked the end of all his videos, a small and slightly sarcastic shout out to the beauty community, and he was about to let the footage roll out a few seconds before shutting off the camera when you were stopping him with a loud wait! 

“You forgot something,” You nodded solemnly when his gaze whipped down to you still seated in front of him. 

“What—”

There was a minor struggle, mostly one out of surprise when you squished his cheeks in your palms, leaning forward to plant a lipstick stain to the center of his cheek. A noise of protest mewled out of his lips and his cheeks quickly flushed around the mark you’d left, quick to wave off the camera for his editing self later before you were happily clambering astride his lap, planting more kisses to match the first mark while he giggled underneath you yet made no motion to stop you with his fists gripped to the front of your shirt. 

He wiped those first with the makeup wipe he retrieved, only after you took a selfie to have for promotion purposes whenever the video would eventually come out. And a few selfies, just for safekeeping. 

Jeongguk worked at removing the makeup he’d just applied to your skin with a tender patience, parked between your thighs where you sat on the bathroom counter. A gentle tune that he murmured under his breath filled the silence but otherwise, you were content with the happiness of your heart in your ears while his tongue poked between his lips to get a particularly hard speck of black from the crease of your eyelid.  

He only hesitated when he reached your lips, ones that pursed playfully at him to catch his attention. “What’s wrong?” You continued to make soft noises at him, “Don’t want to part with your creation just yet?”

“Something like that.”

Quietly, he let you pinch the frame of his glasses in the center, dragging them off his nose to set them next to your thigh on the counter, instead fitting your hands on either side of his neck to drag fingertips upward into the fluffy hair at his nape. 

Jeongguk dropped the makeup wipe when you locked your legs around his waist, fitting the artificial cherry between the natural strawberry of his. 

[projectalbum]

R U Talkin’ I.R.S. R.E.M. RE: ME? 183. “Murmur - Deluxe Edition,” 184. “Reckoning,” 185. “Fables of the Reconstruction,” 186. “Lifes Rich Pageant,” 187. “Dead Letter Office," 188. “Document” by R.E.M.

If you’ve been following this blog with any regularity, you may have noticed how often references to R.E.M. weave their way into my appraisals of other artists. That’s because the band has become a bit of a Rosetta Stone for my musical taste: eclectic, ever-evolving, beautifully melodic, with evocative (or downright inscrutable) lyrics. I delved into their decades-long catalogue- piecemeal and out of chronology in the pre-Spotify days- at the exact point in my adolescence when I was forming what that taste would be. And now I must ask the question that has so ignited the public's curiosity: When did I first hear of the band R.E.M.?

My answer, at long last, is… "Hmm, not sure." As recounted in my entry on Barenaked Ladies (or “BNL,” as befitting such an essential band): during a high school trip through Europe, a bus ride from Ireland to Wales was scored by an all-over-the-map mixtape.* I was definitely already familiar with “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” when it popped up. And I remember, sitting there as misty green hills moved past the window, that it sparked a web of associations: I likely thought of “Losing My Religion,” probably “The One I Love.” After watching a Comedy Central documentary on Andy Kaufman, I became briefly obsessed, and my mom helpfully told me that there was a song written about him, titled “Man on the Moon.” She pulled Automatic for the People, the only R.E.M. release she owned, off the shelf and played that track for me. I think I liked it, but I didn’t go further than that.

So, sitting on that tour bus, I figured that when we reached the London leg of our whirlwind trip, I would use my personal pilgrimage to Virgin Megastore (remember those?) to pick up a greatest hits collection. And I did, getting the recently released In Time: The Best of R.E.M. I loved it so much, I barely noticed that half the songs I knew, including the one that had inspired the purchase, were nowhere to be found.

As I later learned, that compilation was put out by Warner Bros Records, and as such was solely focused on the songs the band recorded while under contract to that label. And it’s true, several of their biggest hits came out of those first few WB releases. But wither “The One I Love?” Well, before they signed that lucrative deal, R.E.M. made their bones putting out arty, jangly, pastorally pretty rock music under the banner of I.R.S. Records.  

It’s been awhile since I first heard their debut full-length Murmur (#183), but after the slicker, weirder, string-flavored tunes I was used to, hearing the upfront immediacy of the young-and-hungry band, playing as a tight group over a chasm of reverb, was a bit revelatory. Recorded at the now-defunct Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte, NC (a liner note discovery that filled me with no small amount of regional pride), Don Dixon and Mitch Easter's production makes the jangle rock dreamy and beguiling while avoiding cheesy 80’s pitfalls. It’s all killer, no filler (I even love “We Walk,” all bouncy repetition and ever-climbing arpeggios)— right now, I’d say the earnest “Talk About The Passion” and the almost hiccupy hook of “Catapult” rank as my favorite moments, but that changes and shifts unpredictably.

The sonic muscle of Reckoning (#184) is cleaner, with opener “Harborcoat” immediately shaking loose the spooky cobwebs of Murmur. Again, the immediacy surprised me when I first heard it: I was hearing the version of the band that tore the roof off of tiny venues in sleepy college towns throughout the South. For a time, it was the comparative lack of the fussy arrangements and earnest, soaring melodies I’d come to expect from my R.E.M. that dismissed this album to a dusty gray corner in my mind. But the mark of a Favorite Band means that you can return to their work at different times in your life and find that while the music stayed the same, you’re hearing it with different ears. There’s not a weak link in 10 tracks, and songs that I’d once had trouble even recalling became new favorites: "So. Central Rain,” with its ringing Rickenbacker guitar line, melodic bass, and keening chorus (“I’m sorry”) is a fan favorite for a reason, and “Camera,” which recalls a departed friend of the band’s, builds to a shattering chorus. And of course, the one straight-up, tear-in-your-beer country rocker in their catalogue, “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville."

I remember driving to night classes in my first year of community college, listening to my newly-purchased disc of Fables of the Reconstruction (#185). Now this was immediately my speed, with the spooky, menacing, string quartet-inflected “Feeling Gravity’s Pull” and incantatory “Maps and Legends" leading the pack. The band had a lousy experience recording it, and they badmouth the way the songs were mixed, but to me the thick-as-kudzu production is a big part of this album’s hallucinatory power. I love the surreal, umber and burnished gold and chartreuse cover art as well: though the layout looks a little too cluttered on the CD, I bought the vinyl record from a second-hand store just to frame it, with the “Reconstruction of the Fables” ear-box side facing out from my wall.

Not every track does it for me. “Can’t Get There from Here” is fun but a little too affected in its whimsy, and “Auctioneer (Another Engine),” already a bit monotone, is the track most hampered by sludgy sound. But sandwiched in-between are “Green Grow the Rushes” and “Kohoutek,” glimpses of the environmentally-conscious, culturally-sensitive side of Michael Stripe and Co that led directly into their follow-up, Lifes Rich Pageant (#186). They expand the promise of those two tracks with “Fall On Me” and “Cuyahoga,” to devastatingly pretty effect.

Where Fables was a nighttime drive down an inky-dark American highway, Pageant is a wide-eyed survey of virgin prairie, a longing to return to unspoiled harmonic existence. “Let’s put our heads together / Let’s start a new country up,” the natives of “Cuyahoga” resolve over the ashy remains of the river bend. "What you want and what you need, there's the key / Your adventure for today, what do you do / Between the horns of the day?” Stipe exhorts his listeners in “I Believe,” and the Southern beach rock behind the words pushes you to make your move. “We are young despite the years / We are concern / We are hope despite the times,” he belts out over furious riffs and annihilated drums in “These Days," Mike Mills calling out affirmation in his backup vocal.

Right down to the absurdist sea shanty “Swan Swan H” and infectiously fun cover “Superman” that close it out, it’s hard to find a more consistent document of the band’s strengths. And now, damn, I want that to be a crackerjack segue to discussion of their next studio album, but months before that final I.R.S. release, there was Dead Letter Office (#187). A collection of occasionally rather sloppy outtakes and covers of varying reverence, the main draw here is the inclusion of their debut EP Chronic Town (on the CD, anyway. I notice that Spotify separates those songs from the DLO tracks). The angular menace of “Wolves, Lower” and the subtle, melodic magic of “Gardening At Night” (Stripe’s almost unintelligible lyrics are Exhibit A for his early-years shyness) are justifiable fan favorites to this day— not bad for the first batch of songs from such a prolific group. A must.

Buying Document (#188) finally gave me easy access to “It’s The End of the World...” and “The One I Love” (rather than, you know, waiting to hear one or the other on the radio). It also meant first experiencing one of my favorite opening salvos on record: “Finest Worksong.” It sounds HUGE, to borrow an oft-accurate phrase from notable actor/R.E.M. podcaster Adam Scott. Bill Berry’s thundercrack drums echo as if recorded in a cavernous factory where the overlords have been overthrown, while Peter Buck’s guitar chugs and drones, a dramatic change from the nimble arpeggios that made up previous records. It, and the songs that follow— “Welcome to the Occupation” ("Listen to the buyer still / Listen to the Congress / Where we propagate confusion”), “Exhuming McCarthy” ("Vested interest, united ties / Landed gentry, rationalize / Look who bought the myth / By Jingo, buy America”), “Disturbance at the Heron House”— make the album, at 31 years old, feel like a queasy reflection of our current milieu. No one feels fine right now.

Luckily, the music is still driving, fun, singable, varied in its grooves and moods. “Fireplace,” coming right after the twofer of the most famous singles, provided me such an unexpected thrill with a rare appearance by sinuous be-bop saxophone, such a different color for this band. Sax in 80’s songs is usually an utterly cheeseball affair, but this is a dark, weird tune, and is nowhere near that register of power balladry. “Lightnin’ Hopkins” is just as unique, with a metalhead rolling drum beat and Stipe acting like a throat-shredded street preacher over echoey chain-gang backup howls.

This band takes up a whole shelf in my house, so hold on tight for several more comprehensive and encyclopedic write-ups. 

*It’s been over a year since I wrote that entry, and I recently realized my memory is jumbled up. I now have a clear recollection that the songs from BNL’s Everything For Everyone were repeating in my head ON THAT VERY TRIP! So I was already a fan.

[doctortdesigns]

I’m probably the last person to get around to blogging this (I mean, really, people have already sewn some of these items!), but I thought I’d throw out my opinions on the new Jalie patterns.  Spoiler alert: I love them!

Most sewists probably don’t have much use for the Tessa – Jalie’s latest skating dress pattern.  I might be off my mark here… but I find it terribly old fashioned.  The style just screams 1980s to me.  The beading on the purple sample saves it a bit, but… meh.  The skirt shape isn’t what I typically go for, but, it might be a nice starting point to modify to something a little more interesting; it is certainly a better starting point than the circle skirts that my go-to Kwik Sew patterns (now OOP) came with.  To be honest, I’ve drafted my own skirt patterns that I use for pretty much everything at this point, but I do like to see how more traditional skating skirts are drafted – the fit and shape do so much for the look of a costume that would otherwise be a basic leotard.  Also, naming it the “Tessa” – I see what you did there Jalie!

The Joëlle in contrast feels super modern.  I LOVE the red and black version they’ve sewn for the sample – so sleek!  The front zipper is an interesting idea, and hasn’t been used much in skating costumes since the 80s either.  I’m pretty sure it went out of fashion because having a zip rubbing your chest isn’t the most fun, but the technical fabrics we have now are much less bulky than the 1980s knits that were used.  I also love the open back variant on this pattern.  Bonus points for a seam on the lower back – so much easier for fitting!

The Diane seems like a pretty standard swimsuit style and meshes well with the others in Jalie’s line.  Looks like it includes info for adding bust pads (see the line drawings), which is a nice feature.  I do rather like this style, and I’ve not owned a swimsuit in years.  Might be worth considering.  Plus, if I add a skirt, it’s magically a simple but cute skating costume.

The Clara leggings look super practical.  I LOVE the high waist on these, as well as the length options and waistband options.  Simple, functional, and clean lines.  They get a yay vote from me!

I’m intrigued by the Julia undergarment patterns.  I’ve not yet made my own underwear, but I like the sporty look of these, the different rise options, and I like that tank top – could be great for summer PJs or just a lightweight tank.  I’m not sure how practical that bra top would be for me, but I do think it’s cute, and depending on how easy it is to add structure to it, it might be worth considering.

It’s probably weird to be so excited by the Gérald men’s underwear/swim pattern, but I’m excited!  There really aren’t any men’s patterns like this on the market, and having form fitting undergarments is important for a lot of athletic endeavors.  Also: interesting to see that Jalie didn’t airbrush over this model’s tattoo – it’s an uncommon move in the home sewing pattern sphere, but I have to applaud them for going with it.

I’m also super excited by the Frédéric hoodie for men.  It’s nice to see a non-unisex hoodie, and I love the zip front and cool slant pockets.  The color blocking options are also a great way to showcase the style lines.

I feel like the Mimosa is the perfect t-shirt I’ve been looking for but never knew I needed.  It’s not too tight, but not sloppy loose either.  The curved hem is cute, and I bet it would look great layered under a moto jacket.  I wasn’t really into the ruffly sleeves, but the yellow version is growing on me the more I look at it.  Though, to be fair, I’d probably just make the basic version (perhaps a few with the pocket) in lots of basic colors (and stripes, of course) so that I could wear it with everything.  Really, I haven’t even bought the pattern yet, but I feel like I could plan a whole capsule wardrobe around this pattern.

The Adèle top is pretty cute!  I feel like I might be able to pass on this one for myself – years of experience have taught me that I really don’t do well with this sort of mini-cap-sleeve-ruffle-length sleeve like they have going on here, but I think the pattern looks great on the models in the photo.

The Rose is another pattern I think looks great, but that I can probably pass on for myself.  I’m pretty sure I’ve got similar patterns in the stash, so I really don’t need this one, but, it does look like a great top for layering, especially in summer.  Though, now, the more I look at it, the more I think it just might be that perfect top for layering under a navy blazer…. Hmmmmmm…..

I like the Bobbie t-shirt pattern, but it is very similar to a Burda top I’ve made.  Another case of I like it, but I don’t need it.

The Mélanie looks like a great robe pattern.  I’m especially taken with the styling of the central image.  The ties being connected to the side seams is also a super practical feature, and the neckband has an interesting design.  I like it.

I’m pretty sure I’ve got some Simplicity and Burda patterns that are pretty similar, though perhaps not drafted to be a simple pull-on skirt like this one.  It’s cute, but I feel like I could modify a pre-existing pattern or use one of my stash patterns to get a similar look.

The Éliane looks like a really practical and actually pretty cute scrub top.  The pockets seem super practical, and the fitted waist makes it a little more stylish than typical scrubs.  I don’t need this, but I’m going to applaud Jalie for what they’ve come up with on this pattern – it looks great!

Really, Jalie deserves its own post, but because my blogging time is limited at the moment, I’m going to roll McCall’s announcement of the Summer Marfy patterns into the same post.  Interestingly, it seams that they really are going after this “Big 1” role with zeal, since they’ve exponentially expanded their Marfy offerings in comparison to what they’ve had listed on the site previously.   

I’m not going to go through all of the patterns, since I haven’t followed Marfy close enough to discern what is “new,” but I have been looking at them long enough to know that many of the patterns have been available from the line for quite some time.  Anyway, all I’m going to say is, if I were going to a royal wedding (which I’m not), Marfy is where I would turn:

    F3472

F3846

F3803

Similarly, if I wanted to dress like I was having a royal wedding (which I’m not), I’d also go Marfy:

    FS894

FS626

FS703

And, finally, just because I thought they were pretty:

    F3859

FS671

FS863

And that’s it!  I’ve gone from one extreme to the other: Jalie’s super sporty goodness to Marfy’s bridal couture.  With Jalie the only way I can really express my excitement for these new patterns is thusly:

I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying a fair number of the new Jalie patterns – I’m really excited about a lot of the patterns they’ve come up with in this release.  As for Marfy, well, I’m still at a look, don’t touch phase of that relationship.  I’m still pretty sure that if I had a *really* fancy event to go to, I’d turn to Marfy in a heartbeat.  But I can more easily justify spending ~$10 US on a Jalie t-shirt pattern that I’d make multiple times and wear to death than I can spending $35 on a Marfy pattern that isn’t exactly conducive to my daily lifestyle.  Anyway, what do you all think?  Are the the sporty Jalie patterns your jam?  Or is Marfy’s refined look more your aesthetic?  Or are they both too extreme and you prefer other pattern brands all together?  Feel free to discuss in the comments!

New Jalie Patterns and Marfy #sewing #patterns #Jalie #Marfy #shutupandtakemymoney I'm probably the last person to get around to blogging this (I mean, really, people have…