SO. VERY. TEMPTING.

[osaraba]

I forgot to change into my wooden spiral earrings this morning so people keep complimenting me on my new stainless steel talon/spiral dangly earrings. Which, you know, I think are a little too big and eye-catching for work, but my coworkers have said they think it's fine. I dunno, I'm worried about getting trapped in the elevator with the president of the organization and... and what, I dunno.



Which, of course, had me looking at 4g earrings again, this time on Etsy... and now I WANT ALL THE THINGS from these two shops (minionized and tifthapeach). My favorites are:






And, damn, I'd really love to wear these mother of pearl angel wings dangles, but I'm kind of paranoid about my holes shrinking while wearing double flared plugs and then not being able to get them out. T_T



WHY CAN'T I AFFORD TO BUY ALL OF THEMMMMMMM?

Comments

[antumbral.livejournal.com]

Wow, they're beautiful! I like the tiger-striped ones on the bottom especially. Maybe you can get a pair for your birthday or something.

[osaraba]

Ahahah yes, my birthday's next month! But the problem with that is then I'll have to decide on one or two instead of ALL OF THEM. /o\

[antumbral.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling when it comes to one of the things or ALL THE THINGS!

BTW, I recommended you to janinatwin, a fellow hockey fan who, if she isn't on your flist, should be! She's been stretching her ears lately (I think she's 6g? Or maybe 4g), and has gotten grief recently from a supposed 'friend' who didn't approve of her stretching

I already gave her recs on the shops you liked (hope you don't mind!). But yeah, you two seem like you could exchange information about stretching, and you both seem like awesome hockey fans, and I totally think you should know each other.

[osaraba]

YAY NEW FRIENDS! I'm totally up for talking about ear stretching and hockey and whatnot! I'll send her a PM. And of course I don't mind that you recced the shops! =D

[officerjudy.livejournal.com]

I saw where antumbral recced you in janinatwin's journal, and if you're up for another new friend? :) Hockey fan here, have ears stretched to 5/8" and also have five tattoos. :3

[osaraba]

w00t! I'm always up for new friends, so YAY! Although... *groan* Sens fan?! (j/k I won't hold it against you... ^_~) Yay bodymods! Considering I've got 17 ear/nose piercings and 7 tats, I'm still pretty tame-looking.

How long did it take for you to get to 5/8" (and how difficult was it, if at all)? I spent years at a 6g because I wasn't wearing any heavy earrings, so they didn't stretch at all, and then I found some awesome heavy earrings I really liked and then somehow stretched to a 4g without even realizing. I'm always so paranoid I'm going to get a blowout or something if I try to push a stretch, but I probably err on the side of caution. =/

[officerjudy.livejournal.com]

let's see...it took me about 15 months to get from nothing to 5/8". (yeah, I stretched fast) It wasn't difficult for me because my ears are self-stretchy beasts and once I got going they'd self-stretch one size up about every month or so. This is my final size -- I'm not going any bigger b/c my ears will get too thin if I do.

About those double-flared hangies -- the flares on those look pretty gentle so I wouldn't worry about not being able to get them out. And on the unlikely chance that do get stuck, some oil will help with that.

but yes, it's always good to err on the side of caution. I've heard so many horror stories about people messing up their ears and gah.

[puckling.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I'm really loving some of those fakers.

[osaraba]

Oh, do they make fakers too? One of my friends was thinking about getting a pair. I'm torn between wanting to call out "POSER!" and being totally happy that people who wouldn't stretch their lobes can still wear them cause they're SO PRETTY. =D

[puckling.livejournal.com]

hahahah, I'm totally willing to own up to being a poser. As long as I get to be a poser with pretty things, it's all good.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Oooh, tigerstripes.

[osaraba]

SEEE? This is why it's so hard to decide! They're all so pretty! =D

[meresy.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like the wings. They are all lustre-y.

[osaraba]

Srsly! I really like mother of pearl but it's often a bit too fancy/elegant for my usual style. Still, I'm totally in love with these (and I'm not even a fan of angel wings, but these are just so gorgeous), so I'm thinking hard about trying to get over my double-flared plug paranoia in order to wear them. <3

[meresy.livejournal.com]

Could you ask the artist for non-flared thingies? Or would that make that sort of design fall out or something? *is not wise in the ways of gauged earrings*

[osaraba]

You're right - since the plugs go right up to the earring itself, I don't think the plug would necessarily shift in my ear too much. But the double-flare design probably helps to stabilize the whole thing... I'm not even sure myself. But asking the artist is a really good idea, why didn't I think of it?! =D

[officerjudy.livejournal.com]

Ah, hangies are so pretty in the smaller sizes. At my size they just look like horns lol. I do want a pair of the IS pearl essence spirals eventually though.

[osaraba]

But then at your size you can do stuff like this (below), which just doesn't have the same sort of style/impact in the smaller sizes!

[officerjudy.livejournal.com]

oooh yes. I really need to get the IS pearl essence spirals, damn.

[endcredits.livejournal.com]

Augh! These are all so amazing! And just when my stupid damn ears have shrunk down to about 2-4g from 00g, because I had to take my stupid plugs out because of a stupid viral infection. Gah. I've had 00g for over a year and it's only now that my immune system decides it hates me.

Am I tempting fate by getting my septum pierced next month? Possibly. :D

[osaraba]

OH OH OH ASLDFJASLFJLSFJ I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A SEPTUM PIERCING ALSDFJLSFJLSJ

*SOOOOO JEALOUS*

(Also, a Monroe! Also another nostril piercing so I've got two.)

So sorry you had to take the 00s out! Was it a pain to get there? Do you think you'll go back to it?

I'm not really afraid of *pain* per se, but I'm overly paranoid of getting a blowout or tearing skin, etc., so I've always taken a long time to stretch because I rely on the whole tugging on my ears, or using heavy jewelry in order to go up sizes -- with only a teeny bit of encouragement from an actual taper at the end.

I've kind of entertained thoughts of having my ears scalpelled but I vaguely feel like that's sort of cheating, plus I'm not really intending to go very big so it's not really worth it either.

After I got to 4g recently, I bought tapers in 2,0,and 00 gauges and I really think I'd have to stop at 00.

Ahhh, sorry for the babble!

[endcredits.livejournal.com]

Piercing babble is made of complete win; do not apologise!

And IKR? Boy has his septum pierced and I've always been so, so jealous. Girls with pierced septums = HAWT. Plus, y'know, it's a fairly extreme-looking piercing that I can completely hide from boss with a keeper. Muahahah. :D

I've been stretching on and off for about, uh, ten years? I kept getting up to about 4g and then having to take them out for some reason, and then shrinking back down. I think I managed to get up to 00g over the space of 2009-2010, but I was completely unscientific and silly about it all and I seem to have very stretchy lobes from years of wearing lots of jewelery in the same hole. I will almost certainly go back to it! It's ... quite a bit smaller than I'd imagined. I always thought of 00g as huge, but most people assume I'm just wearing fancy big earrings if I'm wearing plugs and not tunnels. Scalpelling scares me!

Pst, where did you get your amazing steel talons? *covets*

[osaraba]

Yeah, that's why I figure stopping at 00 will work for me -- the plugs will look pretty normal, and then I can switch for fun stuff outside of work! Win/win! \o/

EBAY! It's a pretty good resource for body jewelry -- I've gotten a good two-thirds of my jewelry off ebay, and most of the rest of it at a local supplier here in NYC. Though clearly that will change now that those polymer clay talons/spirals/etc are on my radar!

This was the auction for those SS talons; I've gotten a lot of stuff from this particular seller over the years, so I recommend them! I don't know if they ship outside the US, but if you want anything, I'm totally willing to have it shipped to me and then ship it on to you. =D

[lucifuge-5.livejournal.com]

I'm all *_____* about the spiral and the tiger-stripey one. *oooohs and aahs*

[osaraba]

\o/ <3