Sydney community swap meet 2017

I did the thing! Yesterday I went to my very first ever lolita meetup! And I had a rather nice time ^__^

About two months ago a date was set for the swap meet and I decided it was high time I actually went to a meet. Besides, I had a lot of things that I've been needing to sell and either have not been successful at parting with online or haven't even listed anywhere yet. So I clicked "going" on facebook, and earlier this month, when we actually had to confirm via message, I did, nervous about it though I was. In the week leading up to the meet I was tagging, pricing, organising and had basically no idea what to expect.

Well, overall it was nice! It was a long day, because it was an hour and a half drive each way for me, then I was there for five hours but it was a great to finally get involved in the community. I got to speak with lots of nice girls and now I feel confident to go to other meets in the future. Everyone brought a plate to share, so there was a tasty lunch spread to partake in between browsing clothes and chatting. And I only had a like one really socially awkward moment, yay!

Unfortunately I didn't do too well on the sales side and only managed to get rid of two pairs of shoes and a pair of socks, and traded two other things. I also didn't buy particularly much, because I really wanted to watch my spending and there was nothing I really, truly loved enough to pay much for. But there was a good reason for my lack of sales because...

...there were so. many. clothes! There were two rooms filled with clothes; the downstairs room was for dresses, skirts, outwear, shoes and bags and upstairs was for blouses, coats and accessories...though it ended up with a bit of everything as some latecomers arrived. And to give you an idea of volume there were four racks of dresses, two of skirts, two of blouses, at least 10 pairs of shoes and a big dining table plus another smaller table filled with all kinds of accessories. Some girls who had been to Japan said we basically had a Closet Child's worth of clothes and I can believe it! We had around 45 girls in attendance, and nearly everyone brought a tote bag of clothes at least!

Though I did come home with basically the same things as I left with, here's a picture of my little haul! I traded for the Meta shawl thing and the Innocent World clip, and bought the socks and the Rogue Aerie chokers and bracelet (I couldn't decide between choker styles, lol).

And, what meetup post would be complete without sharing what I wore? The dress code was casual/otome for ease of trying things on and also for space constraints (and even with all the small pettis wow...it was still hard to move around!) which suited me perfectly!

I got James to snap a photo for me after I came home, so excuse the peeking petti! I wore my Jam Paradise JSK and got several compliments on it, as well as one on my bolero, which was nice. Really, the Sydney community is full of lovely girls!

So yeah, I went to a meetup! What was your first lolita meet like?

P.S. I'm tagging this post with "Lolita 52" because it can belatedly count for the "My first meetup" topic!

#lolitaaesthetic

Yes, I jumped onto the #lolitaaesthetic bandwagon. If you follow me on instagram or on facebook you'll have already seen these, but I though they were worth sharing here as well! Since I don't tend to get anything more than snapshots when I wear lolita out an about, these are made from two of my lolita photoshoots.

First I explored the aesthetic (wow I feel like a wanker) of the fawn lolita I shot with James in 2015. This shoot was earthy, yet ethereal, and I think I captured that well in this collage.

I also made a mood board from my 2016 shoot with Phocal Photography, which I think really shows of the pretty yet slightly grungy vibe of the shoot rather well.

I sourced all the additional images in these collages from Pixabay stock library ^__^

Have you put together a #lolitaaesthetic (I still feel like a wanker, lol) post?

Lolita 52: Most versatile lolita item I own

This is a surprisingly tricky question! To me the word “versatile” means it really is about main pieces, otherwise the keyword would be “useful”, and a lot of my main pieces are fairly firmly classic, and occasionally sweet.

So I think my black Bodyline JSK (L348) probably wins this round, narrowly beating out my Lyris Design JSK. It wins for the following reasons:          

• If I’m going to mix-and-match colours black is a great base (black x pink 4eva)
• Also, black is super easy for me to wear and I like it ^__^
• JSKs are the most versatile main piece style in my opinion
• The style is a little old-school, but not so much that it is old-school, so it can be styled in any way from 2008 era onwards without looking odd (though maybe not the current OTT classic trend!)

The main reasons it wins over the Lyris JSK is because of the cut. The brown/classic side of my wardrobe is more well developed than the black/sweet section, but the underbust cut of the Lyris JSK limits how it can be worn.

I wore this JSK for a photoshoot with Phocal Photography last year.

I have to say, even though it’s not one of the most exciting pieces in my wardrobe, this JSK is certainly one of my best investments, and a testament to something I always say…solid coloured main pieces are a must have for a lolita!

Review #44: Lolita Desu Lucky Pack

I received some money for Christmas and of course, I spent it on lolita because what else? I actually ordered this before Christmas though, because Lolita Desu was offering 10% off their lucky packs until Christmas.

Now, a little bit of backstory. I've been aware of the Lolita Desu lucky packs for a while, and reviews are all positive, but I've never really seriously considered getting one. This year I was hoping to buy a lucky pack around Christmas. But I didn't like any of the special sets, and didn't want to get a Metamorphose skirt pack because I really don't want more skirts, so I was left wanting to buy some kind of lolita surprise and not having any options. Then, like a sign from above, in the lucky pack thread on CGL someone shared the contents of an XXL pack they ordered, and I was impressed. So I decided to just go for it.

I ordered a Large/Big pack on 24/12, which after the discount was listed on their site as $301AUD. However, the site is in USD so even though it converted to AUD I still got charged at the PayPal conversion rate when checking out so it was actually $312 - just something for non-US currency users to be aware of! I chose the free shipping which was an option since it cost over $150. I knew they were closed until 30/12, and their website specifies an average of 2-4 weeks to make up a pack, so I was not expecting it until late January at the earliest.

However, February rolled around without my order status changing from Awaiting Fulfilment so on the 2nd I went onto my account to send a message to make sure my order hadn't somehow slipped through the cracks. But then I saw that status was now Awaiting Shipment and then later that day I got an email with a tracking number. So they did put the pack together within their 2-4 week time frame.

The pack arrived on 10 February. Their free airmail shipping is stated to arrive in 5-15 days, and generally shipping to Australia from Japan isn't so bad, so I was expecting it on the early side of the time scale and it was. The only thing was the tracking never updated after it left Japan, so when I got a text from James while I was at work saying it had arrived it was a real surprise! So that was the ordering process ^__^

For those who don't know, Lolita Desu lucky packs come in four sizes, and you can specify what you do and don't want to receive as well as your sizing. They don't guarantee they'll give you the things that you want, but do guarantee items will fit the given measurements and will not be the items or colours you'd specified you didn't want. Which I think is pretty fantastic, to be honest, because you can get the surprise of a blind bag without any major disappointment.

I gave fairly broad specifications of what I wanted because I don't have a single theme going on in my wardrobe. In summary I asked for:

• Warm colours, no typical sweet pastels (but everything is okay as part of a print).
• Preferred brands of Innocent World and Metamorphose (no exclusions).
• Preferred styles of classic and sweet-classic (excluding everything else).
• Preferred themes of florals, regimental stripes, tartan, cats, chocolate or food prints (brown only), strawberry, cherry or candy prints (black only), and solids are okay.
• Desired items were JSKs, OPs, blouses, OTKS and headwear; excluded items were salopettes, UTKS and tights.
• I also listed in the additional comments sections some specific items (like lace-topped OTKS in basic colours, fawn fur items and some specific boleros/blouses) that I've been wanting/needing, though I did also note that I know it's not how these work and that I really didn't have any expectation that they would find me those items but that I thought it was worth mentioning.
• I said I preferred second hand items, wanted a mix of big and small items, and that I didn't mind if things were a set or not.
• I said I was happy with minor flaws and missing pieces such as waist-ties or detachable bows etc.

That's a lot of details, I know. I'd be curious to know how specific or not other customers are. But anyway, enough rambling about the lead-up to the pack, here is the pack itself. As I said, I ordered a Large size pack, which is meant to include 4-9 items. And I lucked out on the quantity side because I got 11!

So my pack included:

• Swimmer fawn fur collar
• Fawn fur gloves (possibly Swimmer as well, no tag but the fur is the same and the style is very similar)
• Unknown brand lace topped black OTKS
• Jane Marple royal/medal themed OTKS
• BTSSB brown wristcuffs
• Innocent World cape
• BTSSB long sleeved black bolero
• Unknown brand choker
• Jane Marple crown badge set
• Beth Kingdom OTKS
• BTSSB wine red side bow
• Free gift of a travel toothbrush with cookie case

I have to say when I opened the box and saw fawn fur I was super excited, and the cape is amazing! Here are a few closer pictures with more thoughts from me...

Firstly...the fawn fur! I have three collars now, which is kind of overkill, but they are all different in decoration colour and style. Also, the fur on this and my Peacockalorum ones are different too so you know... I don't have an obsession...

Anyhoo, the gloves are definitely a secondhand items as they feel a bit worn, but I love them! Such a quirky item and one that I would probably have never bought myself.

Speaking of things I'd never really buy this cape is another example. But it is so adorable and I'm really happy to have it! I am really excited to wear this when Autumn rolls around.

I over-brightened this photo a little to show the texture of the bolero - it makes me think of like 2010 era sweet, which is nice. Unfortunately it's a bit too tight on my arms at the moment, and I did provide my arm measurement because I know it's a problem sometimes. I'm not going to contact Lolita Desu about it through, even though from all I've heard they're great with replacing/refunding items that don't fit from their packs because I can't be bothered and I am trying to lose weight anyway. It does also seem to be missing the ribbon tie at the front, but I did say I was okay with missing pieces and that's an easy replacement to make.

I have to say, first off...I love this headbow! It is so damn cute! And it looks good on me, which is impressive since I'm pretty picky with bows. The wristcuffs are also adorable and are in a colour that will be useful. The choker is cute too, but I won't wear it outside of photoshoots so I'm donating it to the model wardrobe.

Now, to be honest, I was a bit baffled at getting these...honestly if I got anything themed I was expecting florals! But I suppose this does fit the theme of regimental stripes, even though I was thinking more of main pieces when I added that to my preferred themes. And I guess crowns/military is a very popular classic theme at the moment so these things would theoretically be a crowd pleaser...just not with me! But I have to say, other than these pieces Lolita Desu pretty much nailed it and besides, I'm planning to go to my comm's swap meet this month so I should be able to part with them there.

All in all I'm quite happy with this pack! If I'm to be completely honest yes, I'm a bit bummed about the crown items and also would have liked to have gotten a JSK or OP, but Lolita Desu certainly did ensure that I got a good range of items that fitted my requests. Most of all I'm impressed that they got me four items from my "hey, here are specific things I'm looking for list" - plain OTKS in black, long sleeved bolero in black, and not one but two fawn fur pieces. To me that's really going above and beyond what they guarantee they will do for these packs, and I'm pleased with that level of customer service.

I have to say, I won't do it regularly but I will probably order another pack from Lolita Desu in the future. I will be keeping six of the eleven items, including both large items, and now I know to be a little more specific in the preferences if I do order again. Overall though, I would definitely recommend a Lolita Desu lucky pack, especially if you have a large or varied wardrobe and want a fun surprise.

A bouquet in black; L323 outfits

Onepiece dresses are so convenient. You don't need to layer them with anything, but you can, which gives them all the options of a JSK with none of the limitations. Admittedly, you can't always layer OPs successfully but I like to think that in the outfits below I did!

The onepiece in question here is Bodyline's L323 (sans satin ribbons and wa-lolita sleeves) which is one of my favourite dresses, though I don't wear it much. It's a bit elegant, but still comfortable and no too fussy.

This first outfit turned out to be virtually identical to an outfit I came up with when I first did an outfit post with this dress. The only differences are legwear and headwear. What can I say, it's just a great combination!

I always wanted to try something less obvious, colour-wise, and introduce ivory as well. I do like how this turned out but I don't think it's quite there...and I can't tell why! If you have any ideas about what specific elements of this aren't working, I'd appreciate if you let me know in the comments, because it's kind of bugging me, lol.

And of course, I can't use a black main piece and not run with black complementary pieces. I know we lost a lot of detail in this photo...shooting black inside is not my friend! It's the simplest outfit of the lot, but still a nice one, I think.

Lolita 52: Nails to match my favourite looks

I don't do nails. Perhaps twice a year I will paint them in a single colour for a photoshoot or special occasion. I think once I painted alternating nails different colours, but that's as adventurous as I get. So an honest or real life version of this post would be very short.

Therefore, I picked three of my favourite recent flat-lays and turned to google to find some nail art that I thought matched rather nicely. Click on each picture to go to the source of the nail art.

Though I would perhaps change the colours a bit, I felt like these elegant, detailed nails made for a great match with this Anniversary Rose coord.

Again, the colours would have to be different (replacing some of the white with black) but these cute nails seemed like a perfect finishing touch for this casual coord with my handmade cherry skirt.

It was weirdly hard to find a jam themed nail, but I thought these cute polka-dot nails were a good pairing with this Jam Paradise coord. 

I will be honest, this does make me want to maybe do more with my nails. My fine motor skills kind of suck, but nail stickers are a thing, and so is going to my boyfriend for help so who knows, you may end up seeing something from me on the nail art front in the future.