Sweets for the sweet; Jam Paradise outfits

I really enjoy food-related sweet lolita pieces in brown colourways, or at least that feature brown prominently, though currently I only own a single one of that nature: Jam Paradise by Rococo Soul.

It's a really lovely dress with lots of cute details that I enjoy wearing casually, and in my last taobao haul I picked up the matching headbow and two-way clips. Which means it is my only lolita piece where I actually own the proper matching accessories. Of course, I put them to good use in the flat-lays below!

First, a quite casual outfit that is something that I would definitely wear for a more laid back occasion. Given that the print is quite eye-catching I don't really feel the need to make the rest of the outfit too dramatic (at least, not this time!). This look would include lace topped offwhite ankle socks too, insert usual rambling about my current pairs not looking good laid out here.

Next, since the first look was quite casual, I wanted to run with a very typically lolita look. This is the first time I've used the shoes James got me for my birthday in a flat-lay, I really do like those shoes. A definite improvement over my previous cream pair!

Lastly I wanted to do something a bit more interesting colour-wise, so I whipped out one of my new cutsews, which I think matches really well! It's not the same shade of red as in the print but with the OTKS to tie it in I think it worked quite well. You may (or may not) have noticed but in this outfit I didn't use the matching headwear, even though I have it. This was partially just because I wanted to stretch beyond that, and partially because this outfit, I think, works best with the dress as a standalone piece in that print, and with more focus on the accompanying pieces.

Talk to me about matching headwear in lolita in general, and in your wardrobe as well. Love it? Hate it? Super neutral?

Merry Christmas!

A very brief post today to wish my readers (and any random internet passersby) a Merry Christmas. Whether you're celebrating Christmas, another holiday, or nothing at all I hope you have a wonderful day.

Have a picture of some Christmas themed donuts for visual appeal, and if you feel liek chatting about Christmas or anything else please feel free to leave a comment  ^__^

Lolita 52: What I thought when I got my first real piece of Lolita

Simply put; I loved it. Whether it was the pieces for eBay I bought at the very start, my early Bodyline, or my first brand, Lolita has always set my heart a-flutter. But just saying that would make a very short post, wouldn’t it?

If you count my first real pieces of Lolita as the first clothes I bought that were designed for the fashion, those would be an Ekaterina replica (though I didn’t know it was a replica at the time, not really) and dress/coat/thing from eBay. I enjoyed both of them so much. I felt pretty and happy and frilly when I wore them, and even though they weren’t perfect in construction they brought me a lot of joy.

The JSK from my very first Bodyline order, the only piece I still have from it.

However, if you’d call my first lolita perhaps more accurately as my first Bodyline, then my main thought here was that I was wowed by the prints and the details. You can see the pieces I got from Bodyline in my first order here. My love of lolita was cemented now – what was there not to love about this pretty, feminine, detailed fashion? I also started to fall in love with lace around here and even though Bodyline lace may not be the greatest, this was one of my first experiences with lace that wasn’t cheap raschel or basic eyelet lace, and I have never looked back since.

A flat lay with Loyal Rosette, before I sold it on.

And for the people who don’t count “real lolita” as anything other than brand, well, my thoughts then were a continuation of the same. Loyal Rosette was my first burando main piece, and it was such a lovely thing. Mostly, the quality was such a surprise and such a step up from Bodyline. I hadn’t truly believed that brand was really so different (and I still think there are a great many excellent non-brand lolita pieces) and so I revelled in the luxury of it all.

How was it for you when you got your first piece of "real lolita"?

The lolita LBD: L348 outfits

I won't bore my regular readers by repeating my praise of solid coloured main pieces...I'll just share some outfits that prove my point for me. Before I start rambling I want to apologise for the picture quality - shooting black indoors is just not good. Due to that and the fact that this is a solid colour piece there's no usual detail shot to start the post.

L348 is one of my many Bodyline pieces, and it has served me well over the years. It's a little bit old-school in style but not so much so that it limits how it can be worn. It's comfortable and sturdy and has a good amount of detail.

First up, I ran with red and hints of white to make a really cute outfit! 10 out of 10, would wear. Legwear would be simple black tights, which like always I didn't put out for aesthetic purposes. This is just such a wearable outfit, I really like it.

Next I put together a look that's a little more obvious and ran with black and white. I think they key to this outfit would really be in the accompanying hairstyle and make-up. It looks a little boring as a flat-lay, but big double buns for hair and perhaps a statement lip would really make this something rather fabulous.

For my last outfit I just had to run with black and pink - it's one of my all time favourite colour combos! Once again, it's a bit of a simple outfit but here I don't think it really needs to be made more elaborate, you know? It's rather lovely with the the big blocks of contrasting colour.

Are there any Bodyline pieces in your lolita wardrobe?

Lolita 52: Something that I made

If you’ve followed my blog for while you’ll know I’ve made several things in the time I’ve been in lolita. I even have two relevant blog tags; sewing and crafting (though not everything in those tags is strictly lolita). So since I blog about everything as I make it I don’t really want to just rehash that for this post.

For curiosity’s sake, I decided for this post to pull out everything I have made in my current lolita wardrobe to take a look at it all together.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with that turn out! I have made other things that have shortly made their way out of my wardrobe; two JSKs, at least two skirts and another short-sleeve bolero are what I can think of offhand. But these things I've kept are items I'm happy with and that I do actually wear. The cherry skirt in particular I wear a lot casually, and the brown bolero is just so handy!

I have plans for several things I want to sew, so we will see how that goes. I'll definitely blog about it ^__^

Review #43: The best part of lolita is the OTKS...

...and I recently bought myself three new pairs from Innocent World. A bit of an impulse buy, to be honest, as my OTK collection really is quite well rounded but as I've said before - OTKS are my favourite part of lolita! And you can never find anything like them anywhere else.

The pairs I bought are Union Flag Lame Overknee Socks in beige, Antique Bouquet Overknee Socks in Beige×Bordeaux and Diamond Rose Overknee socks in Beige×Pink. As is standard of innocent World the socks are soft, stretchy and all-round delightful.

It also seems like the "handwritten note" is actually a handwritten note these days!

However, also as is usual for Innocent World, the colours are not exactly as they appears on their website - I think IW stock photos tend to be brighter, in most cases, than the products really are. But regardless, these still all match my wardrobe pretty well. Also, oddly enough though they are all labelled as "beige" the Antique Bouquet ones are a distinct tan-ish colour, while he other two are off-white. And the last funny thing is the that Union Flag Lame pair are several centimetres shorter than the other two! Different manufacturer, perhaps?

Regardless of my comments above, which may sound a bit negative, I am really happy with these socks. Yes, maybe a bit of a frivolous purchase, but one that brought me quite a lot of joy! Turns out the most useful ones will probably be the Union Flag ones as the pattern is very generic (except for the crown part) as is the colour and I didn't have anything like this. The others are a lot more distinctive and limited due to colour, but I love them regardless.

Have you bought anything for your lolita wardrobe recently?