Lolita Blogpost Roundup: October 2018

October has come and gone, and it's been a very varied month on the blogging front, so I hope you enjoy reading a few of the same posts I did!

Create an Autumn Theme Coord from Fleur d'Elise

This was an LBC topic I didn't take part in and oh my goodness, this coordinate is gorgeous! I love he warm oranges, it's an uncommon thing in lolita but so utterly lovely.

Improved Outfits [2]: Color Coordination - 2 colors from Minty Frills
Guys I found another blog! Yay for new things to read! And also, wow, lots of effort must go into their graphics. It's a pretty basic post, content wise, but the visuals are fantastic and I'm just so excited to share a new blog with you all!

Victorian Girl Photoshoot with Real Vintage Camera from Gravelvet

Not a lolita post, but so damn cool! The title says it all and I suggest you check out the epic pictures.

Vintage Japanese Advertising Could Sell Us Anything from Messy Nessy Chic

Another non-lolita post, but again something really cool. Japanese ads have always been a bit weird, apparently, and these were really cool to take a look at. Besides, I figures most people into lolita are at least vaguely interested in Japan as a whole so it's not that off topic.

Birthday Haul 2018 from Buttcape

Birthday month twins! And a very, very different set of purchases than what mine were.

How to Dress in Old School Lolita (authentically) | Pt.1 from Cynical Neo-Princessism
Just read this one, okay? I can't summarise it at all, so I suggest just giving it a read.

A Year of Writing for Wunderwelt Libre from Cupcakes and Unicorns
Blogging about blogging, so meta ^__^ But in all seriousness this was an interesting perspective to read.

ANGELIC PRETTY MUSEUM - October 26th from Ghost Girl Goods

Oh my goodness, why did that have to be a limited event? I want to goooooo! But I guess I'll just have to live vicariously through other people's experiences like this blog post.

I don't have too much to say about this month's roundup - I hope you enjoyed and I look forward to seeing what awesome content crosses my reading list next month.

Lolita Blog Carnival: Compare your most and least worn main piece

Now this is an interesting topic because you know me, I love analysing things and figuring out the why of it all. And this time I get to turn that onto my own lolita habits!

As a quick note before I ramble on, I only chose the most and least worn main pieces from the items that currently fit me. It didn't seem fair otherwise, since there are pieces I've never worn due to fit issues that I hope to resolve and pieces that I used to wear a lot when they still fit properly but can't now.

But we'll start with the least worn because it's obvious. I have not yet worn my Wonderpunk Jurassic Party skirt, and I know exactly why. I don't have things that match!

I don't own any tops in lavender or purple, which makes colour balancing really difficult. It coordinates nicely with white or pink, but none of my tops in either colour have fit well enough to wear with a skirt, so I've been out of options until they do. Which is a bummer, because Wonderpunk is our little brainchild, and though it's not typically my style it's super cute and I really want to wear this thing that we designed. So I will...once I drop a dress size or two! Or unless I buy a lavender or purple top that fits me...

See how cute it looks?

On the flip side, there are two main pieces that I wear quite frequently. Since I couldn't be bothered looking back over outfit photos and counting how many times I've worn each to see which was the most worn, I thought I'd feature both of them!

First is my handmade black cherry skirt. Fitting into one of my favourite colour schemes and themes, as well as being really comfortable and easy to care for this is no surprise at all. Also, due to cherries being one of the more "normal" lolita themes, I can wear this casually to work and have done so quite a few times. Though actually, in writing this up I realised I haven't really done a "traditional" lolita outfit with this skirt yet. Onto the "coords I need to wear" list it goes!

And then we have Bodyline's L417 in brown, which I think does actually win over the cherry skirt in terms of frequency of wear. Once again, this JSK gets points for being comfy and easily machine washable, and it doesn't even really need ironing (I should, probably, but I don't). Being brown and floral it goes really well with a lot of things in my wardrobe, and the chiffon ruffles and bustle front mean it can be dressed up, while at the same time it's simple enough to wear in more basic ways. Given that it matches nicely with my handmade short sleeve brown bolero and that I then have a range of legwear and headwear to go with it, it's really an easy go-to if I want to wear lolita but not think too much about it.

This was an interesting post, though the outcome was not unexpected. As I work on getting back into shape and fit into more of my clothes I'l be interested to see if and how my most and least worn main pieces change.

Read more from other bloggers:

Cupcakes and Unicorns
The Bloody Tea Party
Saxon Blues
Petite Tomoyo
In Love With a Dream
Sanakanin

A not so little birthday haul

Happy birthday to me - I got lolita! No surprise there...

(I mean, James also bought me scratchies and took a gloriously artistic NSFW photo for me. Which we'll probably frame and hang in our bedroom and that is now my computer and phone wallpaper as well, but it's not on theme for this blog. Also you guys are here for pretty dresses, not amazing Warhol-esque junk pics, so let's get back on topic!)

With birthday monies I got myself a few new pretties! Not that I need more, but the pieces I got are fabulous additions to my wardrobe. All purchases were made with Buyee, who provided a good service as always, and EMS shipping got everything to me in three days so I came home from work last Thursday and was very happy indeed!

First of all, I grabbed a few things from the Angelic Pretty sale. The main reasons for that was this adorable strawberry cutsew in black because it is totally perfect for the black-and-berry subset of my wardrobe. Then, since I was buying from them I also grabbed two pairs of the Vintage Marine OTKS since they were severely on sale. Not really something I needed, but certainly cute and I'm sure they'll come in handy.

I am utterly head over heels for this cutsew. It has daisy buttons! And the collar is beautiful. I'm really excited for the coordination options this will give me for my black x berry outfits.

And then I made the dangerous realisation that you can also use Buyee to buy from Closet Child and Wunderwelt. So of course, I had a browse, and on Closet Child I fell in love with the full shirred version of Meta's Teddy Chocolatier JSK in mint.

It was a print I'd never really paid attention to, but when I saw it something just clicked. I wanted to get more pieces that I can wear now, and when I finally get back to a smaller size. I wanted to add some new colours to my wardrobe, including mint or spring green. I wanted to get another chocolate print. So it was just a win on all accounts!

It certainly was a birthday purchase though, because I normally wouldn't pay as much as I did for a dress that I'd only just realised existed. But hey, it was my birthday! And I also picked up an Angelic Pretty bolero in mint so I'd have something to match. I have my priorities...

I'm super happy with both these items. The bolero is a bit small for me for now, but it's really pretty and all the bows are detachable so it's quite versatile. The JSK is just so cute! The print is delightful and detailed. Funnily enough though, the details I thought were pink are actually lavender, which I think is pretty quirky. And the bolero matches the JSK perfectly, which is definitely a win.

Then as I always do, I kept browsing while waiting for my packages to arrive at Buyee, and what popped up on Wunderwelt? The Rose Stripe Shirring Pinafore JSK from Metamorphose temps de fille in green! Literally one day I started drafting up the LBC dream dress post, the next I bought one of the dresses I listed there. I could hardly believe it and naturally bought it immediately. Like the other dress, I did pay more than I like for it but there was no way I could not buy it!

I'm so glad I got this JSK as well. The colour is beautiful, a little warmer and brighter than my pictures show. The bows at the straps and the big waist one are detachable which is a big plus in my books - makeshift headbow, yay! And this is going to work so well in my wardrobe, easy to wear with lots of colours in many ways.

Overall I am just so chuffed with this entire haul! I had really been itching to add some new colours to my wardrobe, and to have done so with a dress that filled a niche I wanted filled and with a dress I've loved for years was just amazing. So happy birthday to me, and expect to see me wearing some of these new things in my next outfit post...because I already have!

Lolita Blog Carnival: Create A Halloween Inspired Coord

I'll start this post with a confession, and that is that this topic was really hard for me! I wanted to come up with a Halloween-themed coordinate, not a costume suitable for Halloween that comes from my lolita wardrobe. And I was totally, utterly stumped because I don't own a single spooky item!

So, I went with a photoshop coordinate instead and put together something that I would utterly love to wear if I ever did want to have a Halloween look.

I really adored Lady Sloth's "My Spooky Macaron" series, and if I thought I'd ever wear it (which realistically I know I wouldn't) I would have bought the JSK and matching headwear in the orange colourway. It's just so bright and bold and tacky and cute, it's the perfect Halloween print for my tastes.

For my hypothetical coordinate I leaned fully into the tacky creepy-cute vibe, with spiderweb stockings and a cute Swimmer bag. A bat blouse from Angelic Pretty seemed like a perfect match, as did a pair of gothy-yet-adorable Demonia platform shoes. I also thought that a natural-ish wig would be a nice touch, so I edited one of those in as well!

I truly would love to wear this coordinate, but as I said earlier I do know that realistically I'd get little to no use out of these pieces so this will just remain as a fun hypothetical. But, to prove that I can get into the Halloween spirit in real life, have a witchy lolita Halloween look of mine from a few years back!

Photo by The Enthusiast <3

Do you have any Halloween prints in your lolita wardrobe?

Read more from other bloggers:

The Bloody Tea Party
In Love With A Dream

AYWI30C #7: As sweet as you can go

This prompt was so much fun! I’ll admit, I could possibly go sweeter, but what I wanted to do for this prompt was doing something very quintessentially sweet lolita and that informed all my coordination decisions for this outfit.

I’m trying to not re-use main pieces in this challenge (or at least, not this early on in the challenge) so that ruled out some of my typically sweet items. So I decided to instead run with a common sweet theme – chocolate! Or at least, sweet food things in brown with my Rococo Soul Jam Paradise JSK and BTSSB chocolate cardigan.

As brown can also read as more classic, I tried to move the coordinate back into properly sweet territory with the rest of the styling, such as my using the matching headbow. I also kept it sweet with the brown-and-pink wristcuffs and cute bow-and-biscuit ring. I apparently don’t have any sweet jewellery in brown other than that ring, so the coordinate is a bit sparser in terms of accessories than I’d like but what can you do? I also realised while typing up the entry that I should have included some of my biscuit hair clips as well. Ooops.

The thing I love about this coord is how warm and cute it is. I mean, just look at that layering! Isn’t it just cosy and adorable?

I also love these socks with this coord. Because of the cardigan featuring so much offwhite as well the colours are still balanced, and there’s just something about socks with bow patterns that to me is so very typically sweet lolita.

Have I ever gushed about how much I like these shoes? Because I really like these shoes! Such a good staple, and they work for classic as well as sweet. And I also love this bag! Since buying it I realised it’s an Innocent World replica, which I’m a bit bummed about, but oh well. When it dies I’ll buy a non-replica to replace it but in the meantime it’s pretty and practical, which is my favourite combination of attributes.

So I guess in the end, this coordinate is very quintessentially sweet lolita for me. It’s not as OTT as I can go, but in terms of substyle purity it is very much as sweet as I can go.

Lolita Blog Carnival: What makes your dream dress so special?

Dream dresses are such a quintessential lolita thing, but I must confess I've never really had any. There's a lot of things I love, but I've never really gone all out and tried to hunt something down, nor have I ever been willing to spend over what I consider a fair price on an item.

However lately I've come to realise there are two dress in particular that I really would like to get my hands on. I still wouldn't be willing to drop too much cash on them, nor would I devote lots of time scouring secondhand sales for them, but I do still consider them dream dresses. So this is an interesting topic for me because I've never put too much thought into why these dresses in particular really appeal to me.

Early Summer Chocolate Strawberry Parfait Shirring JSK from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Rose Stripe Shirring Pinafore JSK from Metamorphose temps de fille

I first fell in love with the Baby dress when I saw it in Chocolate Maiden's 2016 wardrobe post. It comes from what is probably my favourite lolita era (lates 200s to early 2010s) and is delightfully simple, yet still quite bold. That's the main thing I like about it, I think. There's a lot going on in the print, but the colour palette is limited and the cut is simple so it's not overwhelming. Being fully shirred it's comfortable, and both the cut and the colours work very well with my wardrobe. It also could pass as being retro or rockabilly inspired, so it would be a good one for wearing lolita while not being quite so unusual looking to members of the public. Mostly though, something about this print just speaks to me and I'd love to own any cut of it in this colourway.

As for the Meta JSK, well, you know me and florals. It's my thing! Being another fully shirred dress again it's a comfy and easy to wear piece. But the thing that mostly draws me to this JSK, in either of the green or the off-white colourway is that though it works well with my wardrobe it also brings in something new. I used to have a green gingham-and-floral Bodyline OP that never sat quite right, so I got rid of it. But I've missed it ever since and loved how fresh and springlike the light green was. So in a sense, this is my upgraded dream dress of that OP. I like the green a little more than the offwhite but either one would fulfil my spring green desires.

Meta also released a similar JSK in the same year (2014), the Flower Bouquet Pin-Tuck Frill Pinafore JSK, which I also like in the green colourway, but not quite as much. As I say, this dream dress of mine is less of a love for the exact dress (though I certainly do love it for itself too!) but for the things that is offers.

I mean, like I said right at the start, I'm not really a "dream dress" person so in a sense this is more of a ramble about two dresses I currently really like (but don't own) and why but still, it was an interesting thing to think about!

Read more from other bloggers:

Cupcake Kamisama
The Bloody Tea Party
In Love With a Dream

PS In a wonder of coincidence I actually bought the Rose Stripe Shirring Pinafore JSK in green after I had written up this post, so consider that a dream dress acquired!

A classic country wardrobe

Oh capsule wardrobes, how I have missed photoshopping you. In a stroke of good timing, just as I'm getting active in blogging again there's a capsule wardrobe thread on CGL. And of course, I am so there.

There was one person in the thread who was asking about capsule wardrobe principles, for lack of a better word, so naturally I waxed lyrical about that. Then I offered to make them an example capsule based on their style interests, which turned out to be classic lolita with a country vibe. I really enjoyed what I came up with, but did have a few thoughts about it's versatility which I'll go over as well, because it was very interesting to use this wardrobe as a teaching tool, pretentious as that sounds.

I really like this wardrobe, I have to say (even with the few flaws that I'll go into at the end after showing example outfits), and I enjoyed incorporating the country vibe, which isn't something I usually do. The green JSK is actually a wishlist piece of mine as well so that was fun to include!

I don't have much to say about the outfits with the floral OP, they're nice but not particularly noteworthy. Which is fine! This OP would probably be the everyday workhorse of the wardrobe since it's such a gorgeous piece on its own.

This floral Meta JSK is also a very versatile and easy to wear piece. Despite not being wholly in the ivory/brown/pink/wine colour palette of all the other pieces, it works very nicely with each of them. And working with it for this wardrobe only made me want it more!

While this skirt on its own is nice and gives for some good simple looks, I really included it so we could have the jacket and skirt plaid combo. Each piece on its own is not anything special, but put them together and you have a very striking look which I enjoyed quite a lot!

Another Meta piece I adore made its way into this wardrobe and it's one that can be easily dressed up or down. You could also layer it over some of the other dresses because the buttons down the front are functional, but I had no way to photoshop that! But it gives another layer of versatility to this capsule, and that's what you want in a small collection.

Lastly, the Innocent World Annette JSK is the most "country" of the main pieces, and I included the matching tights and headdress to go with it. It's a very easy piece to work with and I honestly don't have much to say beyond that!

I promised some ramblings at the start of the post, so if you're just here for the pretty pictures feel free to leave now ^__^

Since this wardrobe was actually put together for someone looking to get into lolita I wanted to provide some more information on it and explain my choices. I also discovered a few things I should have done differently after I put the example outfits together.

First of all, let's go over the things that I think could have been chosen better. The short sleeved pink cutsew would probably have best been a wine or a brown short sleeve blouse or cutsew instead since we already have the pink short sleeve bolero, or vice versa. Another brown outerwear option, probably a more casual cardigan, would have been very useful too since the jacket is not always the best choice. Also, the bags I chose weren’t sufficiently neutral  and I should have subbed the floral one for an ivory one, unless mis-matched bags are okay with the wearer. In addition, I’d underestimated the amount of pink in this wardrobe so a pair of dusty pink shoes would have been really helpful, and a couple more headwear and legwear options would not have gone astray.

However, having said all that, other than doubling up with the pink cutsew and the pink bolero, none of the thing above are necessarily issues, just areas for improvement. But I really do think having a short sleeve brown bolero instead of the pink one would have been a lot better!

I also wanted to share a bit of my thinking behind the "statement pieces" of the wardrobe - the things that stand out and give the wardrobe as a whole variety without necessarily being versatile themselves. I love neutral basics, but neutral basics can be boring and you need balance between them and some statement items. In this wardrobe there are four main statement pieces: the green floral JSK, the plaid jacket and skirt set, the bonnet, and the matching pieces for Annette.

The first two I already discussed above and it's pretty self-explanatory how the bonnet adds pizzazz without being the most wearable of pieces. The tights and headdress for Annette are statement pieces in that they give you a full set with the JSK, which can really elevate outfits with it, but they are less thematically versatile. They still work with other main pieces in the wardrobe, but mostly only when worn together. So they are limited, yet provide varied coordination options.

I hope you enjoyed this wardrobe and the fact that I went a bit more in-depth about my choices in it. I have really missed doing this type of post...so prepare for more!

August lolita haul

After a while of not making any lolita purchases (except for my wedding coordinate, but that doesn’t count) I found myself browsing Mercari and, in browsing, put together a small wishlist of things that were reasonably priced and that I really strongly wanted. I’d been having a very tough time since June (if you want to know more details, read this post) and ended up making the purchase in the interests of retail therapy. Then, having an open order with Japonica Market I naturally browsed a little more (venturing onto fril.jp as well) and added some other things to my order. So in the end, I got quite a decent haul in!

But oh my goodness you guys I think I need to do a wardrobe cull, it’s getting really full. And I still have stuff from the last cull I haven’t sold…

My package arrived on the 6th of August and with great glee I opened it up and welcomed my new wardrobe additions with open arms. However, as you can tell by the date of this post, I did not have a chance to take photos until the latter half of September! But I finally did it, and regardless of the lateness of this post I've really enjoyed having these items in my collection.

The item that really made me pull the trigger on this order is this adorable short sleeved red bolero from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. I figured it would be a valuable addition to my collection, given how much I do fall back on black x red for my easy-to-wear coordinates. And oh my goodness, was I right! It's a darker red, though not a burgundy, so I like that it reads a bit more classic. It also seems to be a larger size, which is great for me, and overall I just love it a lot.

I also grabbed some more Metamorphose socks, because socks are amazing and I will never have enough. I just really love the Cherry OTKs (and for real, given how much I honestly do rely on the berry subsection of my wardrobe, it’s not frivolous to get more options) and can you believe they are from 2006? So cool! They're just perfect for my berry pieces. The pink Heart Ladder Lace pair are also super cute...and the bow part of the pattern is sparkly gold! The blue version is as well, but I don’t do blue so they’re off to the sell pile.

The next item I kind of spent more money on than I wanted to but I decided it was worth it, and that is one of the Tokimeki necklaces from Angelic Pretty. I have loved these glittery bow pieces forever, I get decent use out of the matching bracelet I already own, and my jewellery collection definitely needs building up. So even though I don’t like spending twenty dollars on a necklace I think it was worth it!

And then…I bought bags. Several bags. A beautiful pink Enamel Heart Bag and a big white one that I can’t identify from BTSSB, and a Rose Lace Book Pochette from Innocent World. I had been wanting a neutral pink bag for a while, and a brown one, and a bigger white one, so finding all of these under ¥2000 each was amazing. With these, I’m pretty sure my bag collection covers all my bases pretty perfectly! And they are all really gorgeous (and the white one is massive) so I'm super happy.

Continuing with my earlier red theme I also picked up a cute unidentified cutsew from Metamorphose…isn’t it adorable? A bit of a frivolous purchase, I’ll admit, but it was really cheap and I think I’ll get good use out of it. And if I don’t, it can go into the ever growing sales pile ^__^ I don't have all that much to say about it, actually, other than that it's really sweet.

The next item is probably the one I was most excited by, because I was not expecting to ever find this for sale at a price I was willing to pay. But I did and am now to proud owner of a Baby Sweet Fawn Cape! Like seriously, one of my dream items and now I own it!

How cute is that lining?

I was so worried someone else would buy it before Japonica could get it for me but it didn’t happen, and now this beauty is mine. It’s missing the pearl chain that’s meant to be on the bow, but I don’t care about that at all. It came to me stinking of smoke, which meant the first thing I had to do was wash it, which was a terrifying prospect, but it came out fine!

Last of all I took a gamble because it was cute and comfortable looking, and bought an adorable cutsew dress from BTSSB. In typical BTSSB fashion it has a super long name (Sweet Fruit a la Mode Print Tart Cutsew OP) and is very cute! It is a quite worn, which the listing noted, and I’m okay with that because it means I can wear it casually and if it gets ruined oh well. I mean, it was a little more worn than the listing made it seem, so I'm a but bummed, but again it means I don't have to care about it at all. This also smelled bad and got an immediate wash, but it was less scary to do so due to the wear it already had.

So these are my most recent wardrobe additions, along with my wedding coordinate, which I will be reviewing shortly as well. I'm really happy with how my lolita collection continues to grow ^__^

PS Because it'd be weird to post and not say anything, today is my birthday. Officially "late twenties" now lol.