Category:

reviews

Psych Blues #4 – film review!

by Kaylah Stroup December 30, 2019

Earlier in the year, a person I follow on Instagram posted some incredible film photos that they had taken with rainbows light leaks across the frame. It was so cool looking! It’d been a while since I’d played around with film that wasn’t instant but this made me want to get back into traditional film immediately. Luckily, it was pretty easy to find out what she was using based on her hashtags. That’s how I discovered Psych Blue Film.

Psych Blues Film is a pre-exposed experimental film. There are different batches that are exposed to different things that you shoot over resulting in totally unique images. It’s a regular 35mm film so you can use it in any camera (…that takes 35mm film, of course) and it can be developed anywhere the processes film.

We were just about to leave on June’s epic roadtrip so I used that as my excuse to splurge. I bought two rolls, #3 and #4. Although all their films look really neat, I was most excited about #4. This film has been pre-exposed to holographic paper resulting in a wide array of colors that fade in and out between the frames. I could not wait to use it in the desert!

I’ve attached all the images from the roll that weren’t already included in this post so you can get a better idea of how it all turned out. Click on any of the images below for a larger view and to be able to scroll through them.

Overall, I feel a bit like the dinosaur below about the results. He looks super stoked to you, right!? I feel like he looks like he just saw his two best dino pals get engaged. I think they tuned out really fun. At first, I was a little underwhelmed with them, or perhaps, I was overwhelmed with how busy it made some of the frames. Now every time I look through them I like them more and more.

That being said, I’m glad that I shot this vacation with other cameras and didn’t rely solely on this roll of film to capture my memories because of course, it is an experimental film. If I had been counting on a certain shot to look a super specific way, I’d be disappointed. Nothing really turned out exactly how I pictured but that’s what’s so fun about it. It’s all a surprise! I love how unique they all are.

Would I purchase Psych Blues film again? Absolutely! I’m super excited to shoot another roll! It’s completely renewed my interest in traditional film so expect to see lots of film on the blog in 2020!

Shot with Pentax K1000 on Psych Blue film #4. Developed + scanned by The Darkroom.

things I loved in November

by Kaylah Stroup December 4, 2019

▴ hooded sweatshirt + matching leggings. I shared about these on my Instagram account a week or so back and joked about how wearing leggings and a matching hoodie that aren’t black feels like I’m dressed for a cult. I still haven’t changed my mind on that. It’s probably not something I’d wear out of the house. At home though? I wear them constantly. Maybe like every other day. Seriously.

Comfortable! Cute! The leggings keep their shape and don’t get baggy after all-day wear. They’ve already been worn and washed a bunch of times already yet haven’t faded. And dare I say, it’s kinda nice owning leggings that aren’t black!? (These come in black plus like eight other colors if ‘merlot’ isn’t your jam but I kinda dig the culty vibe of this color…)

This has basically been my uniform for the past month.

▴ striped sweatshirt. It’s a cozy hoodie, what’s not to love!? When I’m not wearing the sweatshirt I mentioned above, I’m probably wearing this one.

▴ LaPen. I am constantly on the hunt for my favorite new writing instrument. Right now it’s LaPen! I recently used one for the first time and despite the fact it was orange and who in the heck ever needs to write in orange(??!?) I was hooked. I bought myself a handful of black ones and haven’t touched another pen since.

That being said, for me, it’s always a short term thing with pens. I’m seriously always looking for the next best thing. So tell me, what’s your favorite pen? My only requirement is that it writes smoothly. (I feel like that should be a given but if so, then how are there so many pens that skip!!)

▴ L’Oreal Paris Quick Dry Primer Spray. Not a new discovery for the month but one I ran out of and didn’t even think twice whether or not I’d repurchase. This is my favorite heat protectant spray I’ve ever tried and it’s cheap! It does its job, doesn’t make my hair greasy even when I use a bunch of it, and smells nice too.

This stuff has earned a place in the rank of products I will always have on hand and *need* to do my hair each day, like Hask Placenta.

▴ CordaRoy queen bean bag chair. This is honestly like 85% of the reason I wanted to write this specific post. I am IN LOVE with this bad boy. It’s a bean bag chair (not actually full of those little beads you’re probably imagining but shredded foam…stuff) that comes out of the cover to turn into a queen-sized bed. Super rad, right?

I was interested at first because we always need extra seating when guests come over. When we have friends crash here I always let them sleep in our bedroom and to be honest, I hate sleeping on the floor sooo it’s pretty clear how this bean bag solves both of those problems.

In the cover, the bag is super cozy. The cats love it. Basically, if I’m not in it one of them is! Out of the bag, in the form of a queen-sized mattress, is where this product truly shines for me though. Jeff and I have this thing on our floor… almost always. It’s not exactly cute taking up our floor but gosh darn it, it’s cozy. Like the coziest thing ever. Do you love the feeling of being in a nest? Yeah? You need this baby!

They are pricey, I will be the first to admit that. You probably won’t catch me spending that much on a non-essential piece of furniture very often and to be completely transparent, I received this in exchange for providing the company with some photos BUT we love this thing so much that when it needs replaced we will absolutely purchase another without hesitation!

We’ve had this for about two months now but with the cooler weather (aka cuddle weather!) we’ve been using it like crazy lately. It’s our favorite place to curl up and watch TV in the evenings. We haven’t sat on the couch in like a month.

Welp, that was way more than I ever meant to type about one product in this post but I’m very very jazzed on this bad boy. I’m literally laying in it now typing up this post. Feel free to ask any questions you may have about it!

▴ Dead Rising 4. I guess I should preface this by saying that I’ve never played any other Dead Rising Games. This was free to play with Xbox game pass (which isn’t free but totally worth it!) I figured I had nothing to lose by giving it a shot. Turns out I had like 72 hours to lose because that’s how long it took me to beat the game. I was, still am, obsessed. Like, play until 3 am obsessed.

Zombie games aren’t normally my jam and I’m extremely particular about video games in general. The list of games I truly love is minuscule but this one makes the cut. What I enjoy the most about it is that it’s not terribly challenging. It’s fun to just collect things, and rack up zombie kills. It’s a blast. There’s also so much comic relief mixed in that it’s not stressful (which is a huge turn off for me with games. I wanna relax, not be tense.)

I’ve already started playing a second time through just to collect everything!

What did you love in November? Anything I should be adding to my Christmas list? xoxo

The Dead Moms Club – a book review

by Kaylah Stroup November 21, 2019

It has been SO long since my last blog post about books. It’s one of the most popular post requests I get. The thing is, I just have not been reading very much lately... at all.

I have to be in the mood to read and on top of that one bad read will set in motion months of not reading. So, that’s how it’s been lately. Read some crummy books a while back and just haven’t picked up one since. BUT I have been feeling the urge to find a book about grief. (Please don’t stop reading, I swear this book could be beneficial even to those who haven’t lost yet!)

It was one of the first things I did once I stopped crying every second of the day – look for a book that would help me through this terrible time. I was specifically on the hunt for something secular, no mention of religion, spirituality, of my mom being in a ‘better place’, etc. I also didn’t want a self-help book that was essentially just going to tell me to do yoga and volunteer. I read tons of reviews but came up empty-handed.

I had basically given up on it when I got a DM on Instagram recommending The Dead Moms Club by Kate Spencer. The name really struck me, I looked it up immediately.

‘Kate Spencer lost her mom to cancer when she was 27. In The Dead Moms Club, she walks readers through her experience of stumbling through grief and loss, and helps them to get through it, too. This isn’t a weepy, sentimental story, but rather a frank, up-front look at what it means to go through gruesome grief and come out on the other side.’

Honestly, the name alone made me want to buy it but after seeing she lost her mom at 27, I had to buy it. I felt like maybe she could offer some nuggets of wisdom for me since we lost our mothers at a similar age.

*my mom’s plant that I rescued from near-death*

I feel like this is a really weird place in my life to lose my mom. There’s obviously no great time but as the great Britney Spears once said: “I am not a girl, not yet a woman.” (LOL) For real though, I’m married and have been out of the house for 11 years at this point but I still depended on my mom for so much. At her funeral someone said to me “Kaylah, now you have to take care of your dad.” and it completely blindsided me because I’m the baby! Who takes care of me? Grief brings up ugly selfish feelings and I just hoped that The Dead Moms Club could help me understand and deal with those. Spoiler – it didn’t solve everything but it certainly helped!

I was merely a couple of pages in before I knew it was the book for me! I want to say ‘I tore through this book’ but honestly, it was too relatable. I could barely read a chapter each night and most of the time I needed a couple of days in between each of those. I sobbed through it. There were times I had to quit midchapter because I couldn’t see. But… it felt good! I laughed. I cried (A LOT!) and most importantly, I felt understood. I realized some universal truths (wow, that sounds dramatic) and dealt with some shitty feelings.

Grief is super lonely. At some point, you’re going to lose someone important to you so these are feelings that everyone feels, perhaps in slightly different ways but still! In the depths of it though, you can’t imagine that anyone has ever felt that way too. Reading a book by someone who has gone through the same thing is so helpful.

Being able to pick up this book and put it down as I pleased was just what I needed. Talking to a real live human is obviously ideal but sometimes I don’t want to talk about it, and other times maybe I do but don’t want to unload like that on my husband. This was almost like a workbook for me. Reading it in small doses gave me time to think about and process what she had written.

I don’t know that this is the book for everyone because I recognize that we all go through and deal with grief differently. The Dead Moms Club was 100% what I needed though. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

xoxo

More posts on grief, my mom and loss in general –

▴ my mother’s plants ▴ grief & road trips ▴ I cry over four leaf clovers ▴ grieving in the digital age ▴ the greatest loss ▴ six months / things I want to tell you

#1 houseplant care must have!

by Kaylah Stroup September 26, 2019

Okay, so maybe this isn’t the “#1 houseplant care must have”. I’d say that goes to proper lighting or pots with drainage. BUT, holy cow, it’s been a major game changer for me!

The Dr. meter moisture meter! *cue angels singing in the background*

It is a small device that you poke into the soil of your plants (indoor, outdoor, potted or not) that gives you a reading of the moisture level immediately. It doesn’t need a battery and is ready to use as soon as you take it out of the packaging. The back of the box includes a list of some plants and what moisture level they like to be at.

It’s obviously way more accurate (and less messy!) than poking your finger into the dirt. Previously, that’s how I’d check if my plants needed water but I quickly realized how much more of a superior method was. Not to mention, it’s small and easily fits in places my hand wouldn’t – like into the pot of a spiky cactus!

From the day I got it, I was very into it. About a week after starting to use it though? OBSESSED.

Here’s my little success story about the moisture meter: So, I have this chenille plant. This is what it looked like when I brought it home. Gorgeous, right!? The first few weeks I had it, it started dropping it’s fuzzy pink chenilles. I wasn’t too worried, figuring that maybe I bought it during its showy season and now it was going to kind of just chill for a while before blooming again in a few months. Then my leaves started to look kind of icky. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing wrong. I felt like I was following all the stuff I’d been reading online about it but still, it wasn’t improving.

The first time I used my moisture meter I poked it into my chenille plant. It read as a “1” meaning very dry which was weird because I had watered it that morning. I watered it, waited until morning and checked again. The meter yet again said “1”! It took a few days of this cycle before I realized that that plant just LOVES to drink. I don’t water anything else in my collection that often or even close to that often but the moisture meter helped me figure out that where I had my chenille plant placed made it really, really thirsty and that it was a plant that liked to be moist all the time.

It’s a been a little under two months since I’ve had the Dr. meter moisture meter. Every single one of my plants has benefited from this silly little thing. I honestly really thought I was good at knowing when to water my plants and how much moisture they liked but this has shown me otherwise.

My chenille plant still is nowhere near as fluffy pink as it was when I brought it home but each week its producing larger and larger chenilles. It’s on the up and up all because the moisture meter helped me figure out how quickly it drank.

I use my moisture meter at least once a day on some of my more high maintenance plants. It’s a bit addicting for me to see what their moisture level is at different points in the day. It’s helped me learn a lot more about my plants which of course, helps me take better care of them.

For the price (currently under $10!) you can’t beat it! The Dr. meter moisture meter will be a staple in my plant supplies for life.

*You don’t leave the meter in the plant. This is just me showing you a thirsty plant!* 😉

hair dye diaries – bright yellow + flamingo pink

by Kaylah Stroup September 23, 2019

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed my hair looking a bit more yellow than normal. It’s actually kind of been a while but I was slow to get around to editing the video. It’s here today though!

I’ve been dyeing my hair bright colors for nearly my life at this point but this has definitely been the color that gets the most attention. It’s been basically nonstop. I share some ‘fun’ little stories in the video…

Watch below + subscribe on YouTube!

Punky Colours bright yellow + flamingo pink

Products used –

Used one container of each. Both Punky Colours have approximately 1/3 left. I used every single drop of the Wella Color Charm Paints though.

Final thoughts –

Punky Colours is still number one to me. So far, with the comments from my hair dye diaries series, I’m learning that what works for one person, might not necessarily be the holy grail product for another person. I mean, obviously, right? But it really is wild to me how so many people can swear a brand is the greatest but other folks literally have the worst experience with it.

Punky Colours may not be everyone’s brand of choice but it’s definitely a solid brand and if you’re new to hair dyeing it’s what I’d recommend you start with. I’ve never had a bad experience with them.

Wella Color Charm Paints are awesome as well but the bottles are way too tiny. If they offered larger tubes I’d be all about them, especially since they smell so good.

You can find tips & guides in my hair master post – including Bleaching your hair 101, 7 tips for maintaining bright hair color, Two tips for switching hair colors easily. & so much more! I also have a handful of hair videos on my YouTube channel.

perfect display for heirloom rings!

by Kaylah Stroup September 11, 2019

When my mom passed, I inherited her wedding ring. I wore it for a month or so before determining that I felt better keeping it somewhere safe. It’s not really my style and I don’t actually enjoy wearing very much jewelry. I briefly searched for ideas on how to nicely display a special piece of jewelry but came up empty-handed. The ring eventually found a home in my desk drawer.

Fast forward to last month, my dad gave me his wedding band. I put it in the drawer with my mom’s ring and headed back to google to hopefully find a good idea for how to display them. I didn’t want to wear them or repurpose them in another piece of jewelry. It was important to me to keep the pieces as-is. My mom’s ring is missing a couple of stones and my dad’s is comically misshapen. I just needed a good way to display them that fit my style.

Then, as luck would have it, as I was working on a Friday Favorites post I stumbled upon this sweet little glass case. Seemed like exactly what I was looking for and it was under $15! I ordered it immediately, half assuming it was too good to be true.

It is PERFECT. It fits my needs exactly. It’s 100% my style, looks great with my decor and is a beautiful way to display something really precious to me.

I did end up cutting two or three links out of the chain just so the rings hung up a bit higher. I literally just used scissors! It took one minute and was totally not a big deal.

This was a super simple post but one that I think is important. I can’t be the only one out there searching for the perfect way to display an important piece of jewelry. I was honestly surprised to have not found an abundance of options.

You can find the ring display here. It’s affordable, delicate and the absolute perfect way to keep heirloom jewelry safe! It even comes in a couple of different shapes too.

hair dye diaries

by Kaylah Stroup July 30, 2019

Its been around two months since I made the big change from green to orange. In that time period, I feel like I’ve had to touch up or deal with faded hair way more than normal. This is my one last hair change with Arctic Fox then I’m off to try new brands. (I say that… but honestly, I bought some Punky Colour last night and I already know it’ll treat me well.)

I very recently dyed my hair yet again with Arctic Fox’s Sunset Orange, Cosmic Sunshine + Virgin Pink. Because I am trying to now document any and all hair changes, I have a video!

Watch below + subscribe on YouTube!

These are the colors I was really looking forward to doing the most after leaving green. I wouldn’t say it came out as expected. Maybe next time!

It feels kind of silly to continue to dye my hair with Arctic Fox when I’m so unhappy with the results. (In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have bought the 8oz bottles.) Don’t get me wrong, the initial color is GORGEOUS, although never really what the bottle shows. I still can’t believe that it covered the mess of green I was left with after bleaching but it just does not last. The fading is worse than anything I had ever tried before. Its been about a week and a half since I filmed that video and already my color is… meh.

It leaves me with such vivid color when it’s fresh that I know despite how I feel now, in a years time or so, I’ll probably convince myself to try it again. For now though, I’m excited to tuck the remainder of those bottles in the back of my cupboard and try something else.

Supplies used – (affiliate links)

Arctic Fox Virgin Pink (Amazon / Sally Beauty)
Arctic Fox Sunset Orange (Amazon / Sally Beauty)
Arctic Fox Cosmic Sunshine (Amazon / Sally Beauty)

You can find tips & guides in my hair master post – including Bleaching your hair 101, 7 tips for maintaining bright hair color, Two tips for switching hair colors easily. & so much more!

5 things I tried in May

by Kaylah Stroup May 30, 2019

▴ GoPro Hero7 Black. For our five year anniversary I bought Jeff a GoPro. A month later, I ended up buying myself as well because I enjoyed using his so much. I’ve been wanting to play around with making videos for… like ever. I’ve just felt like there was too much to learn and I wanted to just be good at it automatically. I’m not sure what it is about the GoPro that makes me feel so excited about learning but I’m super inspired. I am very excited about this purchase.

As for actual product notes on this, I’m very happy I sprung for the Hero7 Black instead of the Gray. (Approximate $150 price difference currently) The video stabilization is AMAZING and having a removable battery is much nicer than having to charge the actual camera.

PS. Follow The Dainty Squid on Youtube!

▴ String lights. Not just any old string lights though! I own more than a few different sets of string lights, all of which are battery operated. I feel like they go through batteries like crazy and are never all that bright. These bad boys are different. First of all, they plug into an outlet. Second, they’re bright as heck. Third, they’re super long! The lights comfortably wrap all the way around my inspiration board and the excess sits in my lamp (which isn’t plugged in anymore because string lights > lamp) I truly didn’t know string lights could actually work so well. I was under the impression they were kind of just junky, pretty but not all that useful or reliable. These are different!

▴ 1 hour intense teeth whitening kit. I have been very casually looking at teeth whitening products for years now. I’d be interested in them for a few days, read tons of reviews, be unable to choose one, and then forget about it for a while. It just seems like the reviews are all so flooded with overly edited photos.

Earlier this month at Target, I impulsively bought this kit. I had very modest expectations and this product met them. I don’t feel like it made a radical difference but it definitely improved how I felt about the color of my teeth. It didn’t make them sensitive either! I’m not sure I’d buy the same one again though but only because I’m more interested in trying out their 7-day kit instead.

I guess what I’m saying is – it wasn’t life changing but it was definitely worth the twelve bucks I spent. On that note though, if you’ve had REALLY great results with another product I’d love to hear about it!

▴ Set of 28 washi tapes. Why am I mentioning these? Because I spent seven million years comparing prices and listings before finally pulling the trigger and grabbing these ones. Buying cheap washi tape, both online and in the store, always feels like a risk to me. I’ve bought so many non-sticky tapes that don’t even come off the roll nicely. This set was cheap and it’s actually really nice! They weren’t tiny either, each roll is 5 meters long! I use them to pack The Dainty Squid shop orders. I will absolutely reorder when I get through these ones.

▴ Storage trolley. I was tired of breaking my back ironing fabric on the floor. A second office chair that I moved into my office to iron on gave me the idea to look for something similar but with a flat top. I loved the height and that it rolled out of the way when I didn’t need it. This printer storage trolley was the first thing I found and holy smokes, it’s perfect. I use this cutting mat on top when I want to cut and iron. It’s a great alternative to another desk in my tiny office. I don’t think anyone who makes things has ever been opposed to more surface space to work on!

One last thing purchased after I got the majority of this post done – this jumpsuit. An ad for it popped up on my instagram feed. Five minutes later, after scouring their instagram for more photos of people wearing it, I bought the jumpsuit. Happy to report back that it’s just as amazing as the site hypes it up to be. I will be wearing this alllll summer long.

Did you try/buy anything awesome in May?
xoxo

things I loved in March

by Kaylah Stroup April 2, 2019

▴ Jade facial roller. I’m a little late to this party. These jade rollers were all the rage a year ago but excuuuuse me, I am here now. I don’t necessarily like that they advertise it as “anti-aging” and that you’ll be saying “goodbye to lines and wrinkles” because that very much feels like a stretch. That being said, holy smokes, it’s relaxing!

I have mine sitting on my bedside table so each night, after washing my face, I lay in bed and use the jade roller. Some nights I don’t use it with any product, other times I use it to roll in Herbivore Botanical’s orchid facial oil (which feels ultra luxurious!) It makes my skin feel plump and smooth. It’s not an effect that lasts forever obviously but it does truly relax me which definitely counts for something!

If you’re someone who likes to rub your face when you’re sleepy, I think you’d love a jade roller!

Jade face roller + Herbivore Botanicals Orchid

▴ Revlon Kiss Cushion Lip Tint in Naughty Mauve. Ugh. Naughty mauve? Why?! Worst name ever aside, I LOVE this stuff. Love it so much I bought it twice, actually. The first time I bought it on a whim, got it home, tried it on and instantly loved it. I went to find it the next day and it was missing. I searched high and low. I looked every single place possible and eventually came to the conclusion I must have accidentally thrown it away. I sucked it up and bought a second because I just couldn’t stop thinking about how much I liked the color and consistency.

I love lipstick. I want to wear it more often but I stress whether or not its worn off in a funny way. Obviously, the solution for most people is just to, uh…ya know, check but I really do hate having to touch up anything throughout the day. I just want to put something on in the morning and not worry about it again. That’s my make up style – one and done! This lip tint works for me because it wears off nicely. It looks excellent when you first apply it and as the day goes on, you eat, drink, etc, it wears off evenly. At the end of the day I have lightly stained lips which is ideal!

Revlon Kiss Cushion Lip Tint - Naught Mauve

*It also fits perfectly in my standard sized pouches. I love* *this jackalope print* *so much I had to steal one for myself.*

▴ Joules ankle rain boots. I have been a big fan of Joules rainboots for quite a few years now. I have a pair of their taller rainboots that I get a ton of use out of but I wanted a more casual pair. Honestly, something I could wear to the beach and then go grocery shopping in on a sunny day without feeling like a goofball in. These fit the bill perfectly. They’re comfortable and they keep my feet dry so I can search for treasures along the shoreline. Plus they are covered in a cute raindrop pattern! What more could you want?

I will say that I think they run a bit large. I’ve noticed in reviews of Joules products people always mention not buying their regular size. For my mid-calf height pair, I bought my normal size. Never once have I felt like they were anything other than perfect. Despite the reviews warning otherwise, I went ahead and bought this shorter style in my normal size as well. They definitely feel a bit big. If I were to purchase another short pair in the future I’d probably size down.

Still, a great purchase! I love Joules boots!

▴ Speedball Rubber Stamp Making Kit. I already wrote a whole post about how much I loved this kit! (Read that here!) It’s perfect for anyone looking to carve their own stamp or give lino cutting a try. No complaints here! I’m just stoked to have a new hobby to play with.

▴ Thigh high socks. I own many thigh high socks alas I am always on the hunt for the next best pair. I think I may have finally found them. These bad boys stay in place all day long, don’t get baggy after hours of wear and perhaps most importantly, aren’t snagged easily. They’ve certainly gotten their fair share of use this last month and aren’t showing any signs of wear yet.

I bought the set with one gray pair and one black pair. I’m already considering buying a second set because I wear them so often.

One last thing…

▴Tubi. Have y’all heard of Tubi yet? It is a 100% free streaming service. I’ve only been using for a few days now but I AM STOKED to have discovered it. We have both Hulu and Netflix but sometimes it can feel like there’s nothing left to watch. (I marathon movies while I sew!) Tubi has lots of big names movies that I recognize and tons of other stuff that is 100% new to me. So many documentaries! YES!

Obviously, it is supported by commercials but they’re no worse than if you were watching cable. I take that back, sometimes they’re very randomly placed. For a legal free way to watch tons of movies and TV shows that I don’t have access to anywhere else though, it rocks!

Did you try anything new & awesome in March? Tell me all about it! xoxo

Newer Posts

Older Posts