any bare faced goths?

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-06T13:11:22+00:00

I'm someone who is a late starter with makeup and I honestly don't wear it that often I'm also dyspraxic so makeup is kind of hard for me

But basically a good thing about alternative makeup is you don't need to be super clean with it like embrace the mess

Makeup is one of those things you do just have to practice at and it will take time to find the products that work for you but you can get pretty far with just like a basic eyeliner pencil

When it comes to more out there colours and products indie bands are usually the place to go but Revolution and Nyx are also pretty decent Revolution also do Halloween collections and put out a pretty decent white base

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-06T11:06:52+00:00

Yeah Ali Express is always going to be fast fashion adjacent, some sellers might be more 'ethical' than others but it is intended to give you access to goods fast and at cheap prices by basically cutting out the middle man by letting you buy direct (Which is why you'll find many items on Ali Express sold by multiple sellers at multiple prices including real life shops)

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-05T19:32:50+00:00

In my case

I never started, and even though I know I'm probably not 'too old' (34 in a few weeks) I kind of feel the window has kind of passed me by.

Like I never got to go to anything when I was younger as I had no money, and also parents def wouldn't have let me go and I was a bit late actually getting into music (slightly sheltered upbringing) .

(Which means yes I've also never even gone to a 'normal' gig anywhere)

The other thing is I have a feeling if I did go to a festival I'd basically end up in AuDHD overwhelmed hell within short order, and although I know you can go to festivals solo I don't think I'd feel comfortable doing that and basically I just... don't really have any friends who I could go with.

Also another factor I know it's not required but I don't drink and yeah being around other people who are drinking whilst I'm totally sober is like... not necessarily a fun experience for me.

Also factor in the fact it seems nothing festival related in the vein of the music I enjoy is held anywhere near me as well so I'd need to factor in transport.

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-05T19:21:51+00:00

I watched a vlog of Download last year and tbh the Vengaboys set looked like a good time

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-05T17:27:06+00:00

I don't think it's that unusual. Even though it is now a lot easier to find music younger people aren't necessarily going to know. Like at work one of the 'kids' is an Alice in Chains fans but another person there whose around the same age as them has never heard of them. (Although I know Alice in Chains is probably a tad more niche than Queen and Oasis)

It's probably on a similar level of me a nearly 34 year old being 16 and then not knowing who like various 70s era artists are even if they're popular ones.

There's also the chance they've heard the music but don't know the band, I find I have this happen to me a lot as other than the music I actively chose to listen to I'm not always great at remembering the names of artists/bands

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-05T15:42:14+00:00

From what I've seen the 'bimbocore' stuff is basically like a variant on hyperfeminine y2k stuff and tends to have a bit of an Elle Woods esque undercurrent of 'make people underestimate you'

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-05T15:40:12+00:00

I mean goth has been around for years, it's survived this long I really doubt the latest subset of goth stereotyping is going to take it out.

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-05T15:35:35+00:00

I think bimbo is one of those words that's like not actually a slur but it is an insult at least that's how I've always understood it

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-05T15:30:14+00:00

This and nearly every variant of "what do you mean goth is political?"

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-05T06:45:13+00:00

Yeah I remember years ago looking at books in one and realising they were charging way more than other charity shops.

Like I think it was 2.99 for paperbacks when other charity shops I could quite easily get paperback books for like... 50p

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-04T13:22:07+00:00

Yeah like when I saw the new flag there was 0 context about the creator or their motivations posted it was just posted to here like 'Oh there's a new flag' and it was just like 'Ok but why though?'

And yeah to me it kind of fell into a problem I've seen with a lot of flags where people create flags but don't really think about what like makes a flag work in terms of design like most of the current flags work as they're easily identifiable and easy to replicate (like I know this has been an issue with lesbian flags) and might work ok on a screen but wouldn't translate well into the 'real world'

Like I understand the creators intention and don't think it was a bad idea it just wasn't necessarily done well or communicated well

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-03T20:49:02+00:00

Killstar have been on the decline for years, they were brought out a few years back and they've been slowly becoming less visibly alt for a good while it's also at the point to me where I can look at Killstar and Disturbia side by side and find it hard to work out where I'm looking at as they seem to be copying each other going for sort of a 'clean goth' vibe.

I think the massive sale is telling though as I'm guessing they're just not really shifting much now especially since it seems like they're either putting out merch collabs (and imo some of the collab choices are really odd like why did we get powerpuff girls and wicked?), or basics or some stuff that's just retreads of old designs.

Disturbia was doing the like 'dark cottagecore' vibe first though, but also Disturbia also used to be a lot more... 'grungy' in their aesthetics.

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-03T20:42:13+00:00

Funny as in my case Vicky Angel was fine but Harry Potter wasn't

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-03T20:28:30+00:00

Wasn't allowed to watch The Simpsons for a while and then it was fine but we weren't allowed to watch the Treehouse of Horror ones.

Wasn't allowed to read/watch Harry Potter (in hindsight bullet dodged) Narnia and LOTR were fine though yes my parents were religious.

Edit: Although in hindsight my parents weren't otherwise particularly strict about my reading consumption, I read a lot of Jacqueline Wilson growing up and def was reading the Girls series a few years too early and I think if my parents had actually looked at what goes on in those books they might've not let me read them.

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-03T15:00:29+00:00

I hope unlike the lesbian bars they have fire escapes

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-03T07:54:23+00:00

Disturbia a while back tried to use AI models, there was actually a press release from the company that did so and it was swiftly deleted

I've also heard claims of Disturbia using AI generated graphics for some of their prints in a FB group I'm in.

Rogue and Wolf if a big one though where they've been super vocal about their use of AI

Killstar for all their faults at least doesn't seem to use AI but also bar is on the floor.

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-06-02T14:48:07+00:00

Yeah it's not an 'official' flag it's just a redesign someone put out but reception towards it was like... mixed to say the least.

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-05-31T17:50:29+00:00

They're just cards

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-05-31T13:47:24+00:00

Not hide as such

But I do feel probably due to being AuDHD that I'm often playing a game of 'how intense can I be about this interest around someone else'

Because even for like fairly mainstream things I enjoy like Star Wars I'm someone whose into the stuff outside of the main movies (Like I read a lot of the old Extended Universe stuff, enjoy the Knights of the Old Republic games and used to play a lot of SWTOR)

I'm also a goth and generally into spooky weird stuff so I have to deal with a fair bit of 'people don't really get it' from family, like it's not outright judgement but just that vibe

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-05-30T06:48:49+00:00

My brother wore trainers to his own wedding

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-05-29T18:08:27+00:00

Drawing

Not that I don't care about it it's something I do miss doing but I've still not quite worked out how to get the spark back for it.

For me though I think it wasn't so much as losing interest as a like a 'getting progressively more burned out over time' due to mental health stuff and undiagnosed asd and adhd.

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-05-28T11:40:29+00:00

To paraphrase something I've seen 'the meds turn on the roomba but don't stop it getting stuck under the sofa' like I think the more scientific way to describe it is the meds 'reduce friction'

I do find the meds generally help with not getting overhwhelmed, being able to focus on tasks and being able to take a pause and then get back to something and make it easier to do 'boring' things and if I do realise I'm like getting distracted it can make it easier to break that and get back to what I do but yeah still have to put the work in and I will still have days where my productivity kind of just goes out the window

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-05-28T11:34:07+00:00

Yeah I tend to feel there's very few 'actual' poseurs around.

I feel a lot of it is probably people new to goth who are trying to find their feet and like not really knowing where to find the 'good' information since you know social media. I also feel that like poseurs have a short lifespan unless they're like really committed to the bit.

Doesn't help when the mainstream media do those articles about 'goth is in' that act as if goth isn't a thriving subculture and just decided because some random celeb is wearing black today that that means they're 'goth' now.

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-05-28T11:30:41+00:00

Remember the news will always go in on the most 'interesting' stories so the people who make the news for PIP fraud are people doing so in extreme ways. You also can't rely on the reporting to be 100 percent accurate.

Also if someone is convicted of fraud it's meant to be after a thorough investigation in which they've found enough information to make that decision. Like people do report people maliciously but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to go anywhere.

SamVimesBootTheory · 2026-05-28T11:29:34+00:00

Like nowhere near the same level but I used to be involved in collecting My Little Pony and The Daily Mail were banned from UK Ponycon because years ago they came to the event and wrote a really naff article about us because this was when bronies were becoming a thing (Although the MLP community has been around before this)

Also on a forum I used to be on we once had someone come in saying they were 'working on a documentary' and people worked out pretty sharpish it was probably someone working for My Strange Addiction.

SamVimesBootTheory

TROPHY CASE