"July" Lolita Haul

So I did a thing, namely I got my tax return and while most of it got squirrelled away some if it went to funding new lolita! I'm calling this my "July" haul since that's when I ordered it, but  it took a while ^__^

I placed the order with Japonica on July 15, and received a near-instant email letting me know that they couldn't ship by EMS but could hold the order at no extra cost and was I okay with that. I was, so I replied just as promptly. I did have a bit of a panic over the order, because the seller for my first item just wasn't responding and I didn't hear anything for like a month until I decided to check in with Japonica. Turns out they had missed the sellers reply and were able to buy the dress after all but I was a bit sad for a while thinking I wouldn't get it!

Ultimately I got my package on the first of September, though I did have to ship by DHL which was horribly expensive. But let's not dwell on that, let's look at the amazing goodies I got!

The dress that started it all is Meta's Blooming Garden OP in yellow. I've been after a sweet dress in a light pastel for a while, though I hadn't specifically considered this dress before I found it on Fril for a decent price and decided to go for it. I was actually strongly considering buying this no matter what, but once I realised what my tax return was going to be I decided to go for it!

In person it's just lovely. It is hands down the most typically sweet thing I own now, and that's exactly what I wanted. The print is really beautiful, and I love how it's both very soft and very vibrant. With front and back shirring the sizing is very flexible... but I can't zip it up on my own due to the high waist! Oh well, that's what husbands are for ^__^

I also decided that it was high time I bought the Maxiciman Lovely bolero that I've been eyeing off for like a year. If I was going to have a bit of a lolita splurge I was damn sure this bolero was coming with me! I wanted a pink bolero anyway so into the cart it went, and besides, it was on sale.

The bolero also came with a shopping bag, a fan, and some catalogue pages, which were really fun to look at. 

An oh my goodness, I am not a firm Maxicimam fan. This bolero is absolutely perfect. It fits me so well, it's comfortable, it's beautiful and I'm so glad it's out of stock int he other colours I'd want otherwise I'd be buying too many of these! Seriously, if you are plus-size check out Maxicimam's Lovely size, you won't be disappointed.

Then I did a little more browsing on Fril and found another wishlist item - mint OTKS! Admittedly, I was hoping to find something more versatile but given that my only mint main piece right now is Teddy Chocolatier and these are a perfect match I figured why not? As you can see, they were actually part of  a set and while I'm not overly excited about the other two pairs they certainly do go with my wardrobe so all in all I was very chuffed with this AP sock set.

I also picked up a couple of cheap Bodyline main pieces secondhand. The first was this bustle back cherry print skirt. You know me, black berry prints are kind of my thing, and I liked how quirky this was. On the surface of it it's just a cherry pattern, but I liked how prominent the flowers were in the print and I also loved the bustle back. It's a weird mix of casual and OTT, very old school.

But unfortunately, despite being a full elastic waist this skirt is still tiny! Probably a maximum stretch of 70cm and while I have had a 70cm waist I don't think I'd ever be able to get it past my hips or boobs even if I got down to that size again!

And that is a massive pity, because I adore this skirt. I'm toying with the idea of deconstructing is an replacing the bustle back with a wider one, but more likely I'll just sell it. Though it has made me think about making this skirt cut myself so that's a plus side, I suppose. I'm just really disappointed that it's too small to even keep as a "when I lose weight" thing.

Last of all I bought this older Bodyline floral JSK (L003). It's a beautiful simple piece and that's about all I have to say about it. It was a gamble, size-wise and thus it is a bit small for me, but it's definitely something I can fit in time. I actually really love it - I've always thought it was pretty when I've seen it online but IRL it's even more gorgeous! 

So that's my "July" haul. It was really exciting to buy a bunch of new lolita items given how much I've been wearing the fashion recently, and I'm loving the immediate boost to my wardrobe versatility. Stay tuned for outfits with my new things soon!

Japan 2020 Highlights: Lolita

I am back from Japan! It was a wonderful but thoroughly exhausting trip. And, to be honest, I've realised that I don't actually want to do a blow-by-blow blog series about this trip. Instead I'm going to be sharing a few highlight posts focused on some of the most noteworthy aspects and experiences of the trip. Starting with, of course, the lolita side of things!

My lolita shopping this time around was actually rather modest, especially compared to last year's Tokyo trip!  This was not entirely through lack of trying, but ultimately I just didn’t find much that suited me and my budget. Still, as you can see below I did still come home richer in lolita than I left!

In the end I bought two cutsews, a haori, a bolero, a bracelet, some hairclips and a headband. Because I’m me, here’s some ramblings about every single thing, starting with the small bits.

Smallest thing first, I bought this bracelet at Ikebukuro Closet Child. I have the same one in pink x white and red x white, so knew that I get good wear out of this colourway. Unfortunately the little ribbon bow came untied and fell off and I decided not to put it back on. Still cute though!

These Hello Kitty clips came from Don Quijote, and they had a whole bunch of other Sanrio ones as well. But I exercised restraint and only got one set. I did spend a while debating between these ones with pink bows or a set with the traditional red bows but James suggested I get these ones so I did.

When in Akihabara James and I went to the maid cafe Mai Dreaming, which was ridiculously cute and fun. They loved James’s Sailor Moon knuckle tattoos, and even put on Sailor Moon music because of us! As part of the package we picked, we got to take home a souvenir each. James picked a keychain, which started his camera bag collection, and I chose this little bear headband! When I thought we may be going to Disney Sea I was thinking of getting some Duffy ears there but hey, this is a great alternative! Not super high quality but they’re cute and I love getting wearable mementos.

Moving onto the actual clothing items, I got this cute Nile Perch bolero from Shinjuku Closet Child. A bit frivolous for sure, but it was very cheap and cute and definitely gives me a good sweet outerwear option which I was very much lacking. It’s a bit snug at the moment but oh well.

I must admit, however, that the trend of buying things that don’t really fit has continued to be a trend for me. What can I say? I see cheap things, get excited, and just buy them! Case in point, this Angelic Pretty cutsew from Osaka Closet Child. It’s super adorable but I’m 90% sure it’s going to go straight to my sales folder. Not only am I too big for it right now, I think it’s just too short in the torso and the sleeves for me no matter what.

This Axes Femme cutsew, bought at the same time, is also too small but I know that Axes Femme fits me okay when I’m a smaller dress size. It’s not an exciting piece but it is pretty so I’m glad that I snagged it from the sale rack. It’s new with tags too!

Lastly, at secondhand kimono chain Tansu-ya in Hiroshima I found this pretty haori. I love the use of haori jackets in wa lolita, and thought this one was perfect for the classic (and maybe even chocolate-y sweet) side of my wardrobe. I especially love the vibrant lining! Tansu-ya in general will be its own highlight post, because thanks to their affordable pricing I now have a massive love for kimonos and am so excited to learn more about how to wear these beautiful garments.

In terms of where I went for lolita, I actually stuck wholly to secondhand loltia stores this time around; four branches of Closet Child as well as Maiden Clothing. Though I’d have liked to have acquired some brand socks as well, I didn’t have much desire to visit any of the brand stores. Too much out of my price range at the moment and there was so much to see and do that I didn’t want to spend time window shopping.

I also wore lolita twice while in Japan, once for Harajuku and then for the Kyoto Railway Museum. I’ll write more about these outfits when I do my quarterly outfit roundup in a bit but I thought they deserved to be featured here regardless. I very nearly didn’t take any lolita with me and I’m glad I did.

So that’s the lolita side of things from this trip! Not too extensive, but certainly still a highlight of the holiday ^__^

July lolita haul

Recently I ordered a little haul of secondhand lolita items. I ordered a burgundy Angelic Pretty cutsew cardigan, finally got my hands on a brown Millefeuille bolero from Innocent World (it was only 3k yen!), a black and pink AP cutsew, and two pairs of strawberry patterned socks.

Then, of course, since I had an open order with Japonica I kept browsing. I soon added a white Bodyline blouse since my current white blouse is not a good fit. After that I found a cute Metamorphose cutsew cardigan in lavender and since I'd been wanting to get a lavender top I leapt on it immediately (I was at work at the time and did a sneaky).

So overall, my modest haul ended up becoming quite a decent sized one! Not that I'm complaining ^__^ Though I'm totally sad about the fact that I was this close to getting Country of Sweets in white but Japonica wasn't fast enough...

Everything arrived to Japonica by July 14, I paid for shipping on July 15 and it arrived July 18 - not bad at all!

I'm really happy with everything! While nothing except the lavender cutsew blouse is a new thing in my wardrobe, they are all welcome additions in their own ways.

First of all, I need to emphasise how over the moon I am to finally have a Millefeuille bolero! The lace is absolutely to die for and it's just a beautiful piece. However, it's actually a very dark and cool shade of brown (the left side of the picture if probably most accurate in colour) so I'm not actually sure how useful it's going to be in my wardrobe!

On the flip side of the usefulness coin, however, is this AP cutsew! It black and pink and cute, so obviously it's perfect for me ^__^

Strawberry socks are also an insta-win for my wardrobe. I mean, these were a pretty frivolous purchase given that I already have ample black and red berry socks, but hey, I like them! And actually, I super love the stripy Crown Label pair - it's such a unique design!

This AP cardigan is actually a new item type in my wardrobe - I didn't own any plain lolita cardigans! I had real trouble getting the colour right, and it's still not quite there, but it's a pretty piece. Possibly a bit too plain for my tastes after all but we'll see how much wear I get out of it.

On paper the most boring part of this haul is this Bodyline blouse - but I really love it! It's pretty, comfortable, and definitely one of the nicer Bodyline blouses I've ever owned. It has the buttons for detachable sleeve but the sleeve are nowhere to be found but that doesn't bother me one bit ^__^

And the final piece of my haul, and the bit I was actually most excited about - the lavender cutsew! Something that wasn't evident in the listing photos (and isn't all the obvious in mine either) is that the collar and sleeves and buttons are actually all a very fine gingham cotton! It's such a beautiful and unexpected detail and this top just makes me really happy. Is that weird to say about clothes?

Anyway, these are my newest wardrobe additions. I'm very happy with all of them and am keen to trot them all out in outfits soon ^__^

Lolita haul from Tokyo!

You have to have known this was coming - how could I not go to Tokyo and not visit the lolita shops?

In the end, as well as visiting the stores in Shinjuku's Marui Annex and the Laforet building in Harajuku, we went to the Shinjuku Closet Child once and the Harajuku branch twice. I'd have loved to have visited the Ikebukuro branch as well, and dropped by the Shinjuku Closet Child a second time, but in the end we had exactly zero baggage space left on the way home so I'm glad we didn't!

That intro may make it sound like I bought hardly anything, but that is very much not true! For the purposes of this post I've photographed things together on an aesthetic level, but when I blog about the whole trip that'll have the details of what I bought where an when, just in case any of my readers care about knowing that much. This is also just the lolita items I bought - I got as much general fashion stuff as well, which I'm also insanely happy with.

So, with no further ado, allow me to introduce my newest wardrobe additions!

First up, the edible themed items! I was surprised to find this Innocent World JSK in both pink and blue at the Harajuku Closet Child, both new with tags. It took me a while to pick which colour I wanted, but I figured the pink was the safer bet. I'm not 100% sure how much I love the cut on me, but we'll see how I go wearing it. The Angelic Pretty cutsew was super cheap, so I had to have it, and the Peace Now bolero is a bit frivolous, but also cute and cheap so again, I just grabbed it ^__^

The Icing Cookie print is never one I really paid attention to, but like so many lolita prints, after seeing it in person I'm in love. It's really adorable, but a little more subdued than say an Angelic Pretty print on the same theme. Very excited to start putting together some coordinates with it!

The other main piece I bought was Enchantlic Enchantilly's Queen Cat skirt in black! It's missing the sash ribbon, but I do not care at all. I also grabbed this super cute BTSSB capelet because how utterly Little Red Riding Hood is it? I mean, except for the fact it doesn't actually have a hood...

But in all seriousness I'm so over the moon with Queen Cat! I tend not to talk too much about things I like but don't see myself buying, and Queen Cat one of those things. I thought it was an amazing print when it came out, and have admired it every time I've seen it since in all cuts and colours. So when James turned around from browsing the skirts at Closet Child while I was looking at dresses and held this up I just had to get it! It was a bit pricey for a secondhand skirt missing a piece, but hey, I had the husband's seal of approval so I didn't think twice!

Speaking of James finding me great things he also discovered these two Axes Femme coats on different days in Closet Child Harajuku. They're both a bit small for me now, but they were both around ten dollars. How could I not at that price? The green one in particular I really adore, even though it doesn't match anything I own.

I did also buy a few items new! I really wanted to get some direct from the brand socks, so I visited AP and Baby. Silly me didn't check the length on the lavender socks though, but oh well. Forced versatility in my sock collection! The floral canotier is from Dangerous Nude and to be honest, it was more expensive than I like, and I kind of bought it because the owner was so utterly lovely that I wanted to buy something! All that aside, it's really gorgeous and I like having an opulent classic piece so I'm still happy.

Following the trend of headwear, on our first visit to Shinjuku Closet Child I went a little bit nuts on accessories. All but the top headbow are from that night! And though the top one has tags, it was also from Closet Child, just later on ^__^ I'm particularly happy with the dusty pink and the lavender x gold bows, as they were on my wishlist.

I also bought all of these accessories at the same time, except for the Angelic Pretty necklace. I even already wore the pink necklace in one of my Tokyo coords, and I'm just really happy to have bulked up my jewellery collection with some more loltia specific pieces.

Throughout our trip we went into a couple of Claire's and also Paris Kids and I picked up so cute little things that will be good for lolita as well as being generally cute ^__^

James also found me three Axes Femme skirts for about five dollars each in Closet Child but my photos of them really don't do them justice. They are all varying levels of brown and floral and all a tiny bit small for me at the moment, but I couldn't pass them up. Two will be great for casual classic lolita - one is a damask-y type fabric in a beige/tan and the other is a brown and mustard floral - while the other will be lovely for mori kei or fairy kind of looks.

So there you have it! All my new lolita items direct from Japan! I'm really happy with everything I bough and am so excited to start incorporating everything into my coords ^__^

AYWI30C #10: Pick a substyle

Ahem. Once again it has been way too long since I did one of these! I hoping to be more regular in future and post a couple of these a month but well, I'm not making any promises ^__^

Anyway, today's Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates topic is to coord in a particular substyle. I don't want to do anything that I've done before so that rules out so of my immediate favourites like bittersweet, mid-00s OTT sweet, and steampunk. So I was thumbing through my wardrobe and then my fingers landed on Dramatic Rose - it was fate! My substyle was going to be hime lolita!

Hime is not something I've ever worn, nor will I probably ever do it outside of a really fancy meetup or an equally luxurious photoshoot. But now that I've come up with this coordinate, I really want to organise some suitable time for me to wear it because it is gorgeous!

Just wow. How lush is all the lace?! I really wish I had some fancy lace tights to go with it, but even with just patterned OTKS this coordinate is really detailed and decadent. Serisouly though, jsut look at this close up!

To match the OTT laciness of the JSK and bolero combo, I puled out the canotier headdress as well as another floral and pearl chain accessory. I still honestly don't like the matching headdress much, but even so it would look amazing nestled into a big, bouffant hairstyle.

Then for added decadence, I added flowers to everything and stacked up a load of glittery bracelets. It's also not very visible in the photos but I paired this looked with my simple Liz Lisa ribbon choker - I feel it was the best aesthetic match.

I mean, clipping flowers to things is not new to me, but it works. It just gives a little extra detail. Why buy fancy floral shoes when you can just add flowers to your existing ones?

I just have to say again how much I utterly love this outfit. I kind of didn't expect too and I'm so happy I discovered a wonderful new outfit combination by doing this challenge!

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!

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.