Lolita Blogpost Roundup: August 2017

For some reason August felt like a quieter month on the lolita blogging front, it was a little bit weird because it totally wasn't. I read lots of good posts and am sharing the highlights below!

Ghost Goth Photoshoot from Gravelvet
I do love seeing people do creative photoshoots, and lolita photoshoots, so I get really excited when I see creative lolita photoshoots! Also, gothic lolita in white is totally awesome.

12 GIFs That Perfectly Describe Going Out in Lolita from Vanilla Bear
Gotta love reaction GIFs, and these are all pretty darn relatable!

Paris 2017 Day 3 : Angelic Pretty Tea Party from Ruban Rose
This post combines two things I enjoy reading about; travel and lolita tea parties! Plus the author's outfit is amazingly gorgeous. I also recommend reading her earlier posts, I find reading detailed travel reports really fun to read, especially when they're from someone with similar fashion interests!

The One Tue Blouse: Rococo Story from Sanakanin
I get such a kick out of seeing how other lolitas go about putting together outfits, so this was a great read for me! Getting to see all the different options the writer went through in an attempt to find the perfect blouse was a great illustration of how different aspects of an outfit need to work together. Also, I had followed this fabulous lolita on tumblr for ages but didn’t know she had a proper blog so I was super excited to find this!

Let's go shopping at Dream Masquerade Carnival! - Vendor overview from Poppy Noir
Oh my goodness I wish Australia had something like the TPC events! I am just so envious of the shopping opportunities, let alone the rest of what goes on at one of these big events! Just...wow... though I think I'd be broke after an event like this, I'd probably go nuts at the vendors.

Recent Outfits Summer 2017 from Luna Rain
Of course, the best part of loltia is wearing pretty outfits and looking at other people’s pretty outfits! As an added bonus, in this post the blogger also wears some non-lolita jfashion looks. Variety is the spice of life!

What Would I Like to See in a Lolita Magazine? from Cupcake Kamisama's Loltia World
I am totally not a magazine person, I’m just not. But my goodness, if a lolita magazine ever popped up with the features outlined in this blog post I’d take out a subscription in a flash! If I ever have lots of spare time and energy maybe I’ll start a western-based lolita fashion magazine…

Sewing Pattern Buddy app from Mode de Lis
Okay, so not actually a lolita post or a loltia blog, however this organisational app for sewing patterns sounds like it could be handy. Especially is you're a lolita who sews from regular commercial patterns, I feel like this could be handy to organise non-lolita things according to their lolita use.

Ghibli afternoon with friends from Pastel Jelly Beans
I have to say, this post is like the epitome of the modern lifestyle lolita aesthetic to me. Go look at the pretty pictures!

DIY: Lolita Fashion Round Headdress from Fuwa Fuwa Fashion
This tutorial is nice, simple, and easy to follow. If you have the supplies and good taste you could make a canotier headdress really easily; no sewing skills or crafting experience necessary! If you've ever wanted to try making your own accessories and haven't been sure where to start I think this is a good place.

Just look at all the awesome blogs! I hope you enjoyed reading these posts as much as I did ^__^

August Auctions Haul

As I mentioned in my July haul post, one lonely pair of OTKS missed my shipping deadline. And I get grumpy about having to pay shipping on small items, so naturally I had to keep browsing Yahoo Japan and find a few more things to make an order I wouldn’t feel horrid about paying shipping on. Especially coming so soon after my last haul, I feel a wee bit guilty about buying so much stuff but ah well. I also feel outrageously happy about buying so much stuff!

This little haul ended up being wholly Angelic Pretty and Innocent World...it's a bit odd for me to have such little brand variety in a lot of things from Japanese auctions. Also, before I chat a little about all the individual items I want to point out that the shot above of everything together is most accurate to colours. And with that said...here's a little about everything I bought!

So the item that started this lot off was a pair of Angelic Pretty Candy Border OTKS. They are definitely a bit frivolous, but now that I own Wonder Party as well as Patisserie Dream I figured they were worth getting as a perfect match for those two main pieces. Also, they are just really, really cute!

Then I bought...another pair of OTKS! Making up for all the socks I didn't buy in the last haul, lol. These ones are the Cosette Rose OTKS from Innocent World and totally, utterly gorgeous. What I love is that they are a lighter bordeaux colour than my other socks so they match things slightly differently, which I love.

Next I bid on two more pairs of OTKS. Seriously, don't judge me. Again these are from Innocent World and one pair, the cream and brown Versailles OTKS, are actually a pair I attempted to purchase a couple of years ago! The other pair are the Lucienne OTKS and I adore both pairs. Again, even though I have socks that are similar already, these are different enough that they really give me some good variety in my legwear collection.

I also bid on a pair of Innocent World cutsews – the same one in brown and black. Even though I’ve had good luck with cutsews from other brands, these seemed rather small, but they were also fairly cheap and very cute so I decided to get them anyway, and I am super happy to say that they fit! They are definitely not a good fit, but a bit more weight down and they'll be great. They definitely don't fit only a 78cm bust!

And they are super gorgeous. So darn cute! James wanted to steal them for the model wardrobe...

Lastly, I bought a set of sweet lolita OTKS this was a pretty frivolous purchase, but I didn’t have anything pink and neutrally patterned, so it does fill a wardrobe gap (just not a very important one). When I bought them I intended to keep two pairs, but get rid of the music notes ones, since that's not a theme I ever intend to add to my wardrobe. And that's exactly what I'll do. I did contemplate keeping only one pink pair but the pinks are actually different tones (one warm, on cool) so they're both staying with me!

All in all I’m really happy with this haul…and I really love pretty socks! However, I’m going to try and be really, really good in regards to lolita purchases for the rest of the year. I have one thing in the pipeline potentially, but other than that I really want to give buying a break until it’s lucky pack time again around Christmas!

Lolita 52: The item in my wardrobe that was the hardest to get

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t really have dream dresses, though I do have a wishlist, so I’ve never actively hunted down particular items for lolita. Therefore I don’t really have an item that was the hardest to get in the conventional lolita sense.

The closest thing I can think of was going through two Angelic Pretty bloodbaths for Loyal Rosette and then for the Twinkle Doll set which was a bit stressful! But those items aren’t in my wardrobe any more so they don’t really count.

I braved the crashing of the AP website for this...

This has been another really brief Lolita 52 post, brought to you by the fact that though I really love lolita I don’t fall passionately in love with pieces and hunt them down through the years. I buy what’s available at a reasonable price and that’s a little bit odd in this subculture!

Storm in a teacup; Wonder Party outfits

You know me, I can't buy a new main piece and not do some flat-lays so here are some outfits with my super adorable new Wonder Party OP!

I just love this print. Black with pink, adorable food and tea set print, stripes...it's so many things I love. I keep finding beautiful details every time I look at it, and am super exited to wear it out.

First up I wanted to pair it with my new Baby, the Stars Shine Bright bolero that I got in the same auctions haul. I also wanted to wear my white shoes (which I appropriated out of our model wardrobe) so I felt I needed to wear black socks and then the AP headbow also seemed like a good match. I really like this outfit, even if the colour balance is not what I normally do...when is the last time I ran with pale shoes and dark legwear?

This outfit also made me realise how much more brand I have in my wardrobe these days. I'm never going to be brand-only, because I buy what I like regardless of source, so I find it kind of amusing that I can do almost solid brand outfits sometimes.

My second outfit was very simple, and would have pink ankle socks included. It's the first time I've used the offbrand biscuit hairclips in an outfit, and that's about all I have of note to say about this outfit ^__^

For the last outfit I wanted to really run with lots of pink! Once again I kind of don't have much to say, except that I like this outfit and also would enjoy wearing it.

Despite my lack of rambling about the latter outfits, I am super happy to have coordinated Wonder Party! This print just makes me happy and it was a lot of fun to work with ^__^

Draw me like one of your fawn girls...

Something pretty darn epic happened recently. I posted my coordinate from the recent picnic meetup into a CGL draw thread, because I thought it was cute and figured why not. And I was super pleasantly surprised to receive not one, but five really awesome drawings! So I wanted to share them here because they made me super happy ^__^

First up one anon (who has no social media for their artwork) did this gorgeous sketch. I really love their art style, it's super delicate and flowing and detailed and lovely.

And then I got a second drawing which is just soft and wonderful. How cool is this colouring style...like a watercolour! This anon didn't share any details of where to credit them, so I'll update this if I ever find out.

Then the third drawing made me laugh, a lot. You see, when I posted up my coord I was a bit self-conscious about the size of the beret on my head, so I pointed out that I knew it made me look like a mushroom...so I got drawn as a kawaii mushroom! So freaking hilarious - I showed James and he literally lolled, which was pretty epic.

This is by The Daily Prince, and that link goes to their awesome tumblr!

I then got a drawing from jeilieenart (click their name, it goes to their gorgeous Instagram) which is also super delightful, so mori-girl looking!

At this point, I didn't expect anyone else to draw little old me but another anon did as well! Seriously, getting yet another really lovely drawing was a big ego boost, lol. This anon drew so many people from the thread and every drawing was super adorable...click here for their tumblr!

I have to say, much as CGL has a bad rep with is sometimes quite well deserved, there is a lot of good community on the site as well. Now I've got to go and re-learn how to draw tolerably well so I can contribute to the good community aspects!

PS If you are the artist of any of these and want me to add/change credit or remove them, please let me know, and thank you again for the amazing art!

July Auctions Haul

Last Friday while I was at work (so technically July even though I'm posting this in August) a big box of goodies got picked up from the post office by my lovely boyfriend James. As usual I ordered using Buyee and was happy with their service, so there’s no need for any preamble, let’s just show off what I bought!

I don’t quite remember what order I bid on things in, but I do know what started this whole order…

I saw Wonder Party up on auction and my heart skipped a beat. This is a print I loved when I first started lolita and that I have eyed off on occasion in both the black and brown colourways since, but I’d never seen it at a price I liked…until now! Admittedly, it still cost more than I usually spend on a main piece, but I love it and James thought it was really cute as well so how could I not? This is the Mini Sleeve JSK cut and I think it’s is super adorable.

I also love that I now have another print in the same vein as Patisserie Dream – though I love variety I also like having multiple pieces in similar themes and colours and though this particular one (black x pink tea party theme) was not something I intended to really build up in my wardrobe I’m glad that I have! This dress doesn't quite fit me yet (no zipper, and I can't get the waist over my boobs), but it is beautiful and I am super excited to wear it a lot when I drop a dress size.

I wish there was an emoji for how damn excited I was when I saw this bag! At 1000 yen! With no bids! Guess what I did next? Hehehe I adore this bag! It’s is utterly ridiculous and that’s what’s great about it. I really need to stop buying bags, but I had to make an exception for this. But seriously, my bag drawer is full. Guess I need to switch to a bigger storage area. That’s obviously the only solution!

Then, in my browsing something wonderful caught my eye…Meta’s Berry Stripe Short Sleeve OP in black! One of my wishlist items! Berry print (with both strawberries and cherries), OP, and in black.

And it’s Metamorphose and fully shirred, which are both extra wins for me. I also liked that it was a more realistic print, and quite retro in a way, so it seemed like something I could get a lot of wear out of. The only thing is, I'm no 100% sure how much the fully-shirred and high-waisted combo works one me, but we'll find out!

I’ll admit, this is something I primarily bought because it was cheap. I mean, it will be handy, but I’m just a sucker for cheap basics that I don’t already own, and I didn’t have a regular white short sleeved bolero. It certainly fills a wardrobe gap, just one that didn’t necessarily need filling.

However, it is super freaking gorgeous! It's one of those patterned knits and it is just a really lovely piece. The fit is a little off on me, but hopefully that will improve as I lose weight. BTSSB pieces always amaze me, I have to say. The quality is just amazeballs.

Another item from my wishlist was a plain black skirt. I bid on this one because it was an interesting design, with the pleased trim, and was full shirred. But...it's Victorian Maiden, so I was not expecting it to actually it properly, so imagine my surprise when it is completely perfect and comfortable and wonderful! So excited! I think it's technically an underskirt, but I think it can work as both and I really, really love it.

This outfit was 100% an impulse buy, but damn was it a good one. It was quite cheap and though I’ve long admired this kind of sailor uniform I’ve never owned one so I thought why the hell not. It is, as I expected, too small for me, but that just means it's a goal ^__^

I mean, come on, how much cuter (and punkier) can you get? It even came with a single garter that buttons to the skirt waist and straps around the thigh!

These Innocent World bloomers were another impulse buy. I have been vaguely intending to add more bloomers to my wardrobe but don’t really need more with any level of urgency. But I saw these and liked them so I bought them! And then kind of regretted it because of the aforementioned “don’t really need them” and they weren’t all that cheap. But still, not a bad thing to buy by any stretch of the imagination, just possibly the least exciting item of this haul.

I bought this bonnet entirely for a photoshoot. I have something creepy and oldschool in mind, and the only thing I was lacking was headwear. This cost a bit more than I like, but I figured I could spend a bit more and buy something perfect for the shoot (and any future oldschool things in black and white) or I could get something cheaper but not as good, so I went for quality. This was even NWT and perfectly gorgeous.

My order literally arrived two days before the shoot, but would you believe it, I didn't end up getting to do the shoot! It was another group shoot day where I had hoped to model two looks as well as do photography, but in the end I only modelled one look. I'll definitely do and epic oldschool shoot some other time though ^__^

Overall, I’m super happy with everything I got here! It feels weird to have gotten so many new big pieces in one haul since lately I've more been pulling in accessories but it's a great kind of weird!

This haul was meant to also include a pair of OTKS, but domestic shipping took ages for them so I had to consolidate and ship out before they arrived in order to try and get this order to me in time for the photoshoot. So, to my shame and as a failure of a budget lolita, I will have another (smaller!) haul post next month as well…

Newcastle Lolitas Picnic Meetup

I am kind of ideally situated, in that I live halfway between our state's capital city (Sydney) and another large regional city (Newcastle), both of which have a lolita community. However, the Newcastle community is a. quite small and b. had been inactive for years. Until just recently when another member attempted to revive it by hosting a picnic meet.

When the event first got posted I was super excited. I’m not the most social person so going to a smaller meetup in a smaller city appealed to me a lot, so I hit “going” on facebook. After a reschedule due to sickness, the last weekend of July rolled around. On Saturday I made a bunch of sandwiches and tried on my outfit (which I had previously tested as a flat-lay but ended up changing) and on Sunday I was on my way. I was a bit nervy, because socialising and also because I had to catch a train then a bus to get there, and I hadn’t caught a bus since high school! However, I made it fine.

My outfit for the day!

I met up with Rosie, the girl who organised the meet, a little later than the meet was meant to start. However, I was the early one as Kate, the third confirmed attendee (and in the end the only other lolita who joined us), had parking troubles and showed up quite a while later. But it was all good and the three of us had an enjoyable picnic lunch together.

It was a great meet up. Mostly we just talked; the standard introductory stuff (what do you do and what are you into), discussion about lolita itself (of course!), and even a fascinating segue into how imprisoning people for drug usage doesn’t rectify the problem and in fact only makes it worse. We also spent a good bit of time taking photos – Rosie was even good enough to run after some passers-by to get a group shot taken of the three of us, and Kate let me play with her camera, which had a tilt shift setting. And I got to try taking one of the stereotypical “shoe shots”, which made me pretty happy.

Both girls were lovely (Rosie even caught the same bus with me to get me back to the station okay!) and I really enjoyed getting to go to a small, relaxed meetup. We are all keen for getting the Newcastle community a bit more active, and to be honest I’m more likely to attend those meets than the Sydney community ones, especially because who knows, I may even take a hand in organising a little bit!

I’m really loving the fact that I have actually gotten off my butt and been more active in the lolita community this year! It’s really been stretching me socially as well as giving me more opportunities to actually wear lolita and that’s a good thing ^__^

As a final note, not only was the meet up itself nice we only had positive (or at least neutral) interactions with the public who were enquiring why we were dressed that way, which we willing answered. And the first thing that happened to me when James dropped me at the station to go to the meet was a random lady started a conversation by saying I looked nice! So that all definitely helped it be a good day.