"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!

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 ^__^

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.

Mercari (and more) haul

As I mentioned I'm planning to wear lolita for my wedding day and I happened to find my intended dress (AP's Dramatice Rose JSK in ivory) really quickly on Mercari. You all know me, I never just buy one thing, so I ended up getting quite a haul in from Mercari (and Angelic Pretty directly).

Given that I found Dramatic Rose on Mercari, I had to use Japonica as my shopping service and they were fine. I still find their emails a bit confusing, but they get the job done! They also handled the consolidation of four orders with nary a hiccup. For reference, because I hadn't seen this information online before, if you place multiple orders under one email address via their site, they will automatically consolidate them for you and send you an updated order email that contains everything. Very handy! The only downside is that I had been avoiding sites like Mercari and Fril as they were new to me, and thus terrifying, but now they are familiar…and filled with so many wonderful bargains…

Anyway, onto the haul! Obviously, the first item is the Dramatic Rose JSK in ivory, which came with the matching canotier. The dress is in perfect condition, apparently there were meant to be some small stains but I haven’t found them yet, and it is so beautiful in real life! A little more ivory than the stock photos indicate, which is exactly what I wanted. I don’t like the canotier at all, I find it aesthetically awkward, difficult to wear as there are no combs or clips, and the flowers seem very cheap. But I didn’t buy this for the canotier, so I don’t really mind. And besides, the dress really is gorgeous and so very detailed.

But, in sad news, I think I’m still too tall for this dress. As I have to lose weight to fit it I haven’t been able to try it on properly, but holding it up to my body it’s just not right. It’s not just that the skirt is too short (because underskirts exist) but the bodice is too short for my torso. I’ll admit, I’m pretty bummed about that because I loved the idea of this as my wedding dress but I just don’t think it’s going to happen. I’ll have a think about it but currently it’s looking like a no. I’ll still hang on to it though, because a slightly too short bodice is something I don’t mind too much regularly in lolita even though it is something I don’t want for my wedding day.

Moving back into a happier mood, I also stumbled on a full back shirred Innocent World onepiece. Innocent World that will fit me? Sign me up! This is the Angel Tiered OP in brown and while it's not a print I'd ever really been aware of before it felt like it would be a good addition to the "easy to wear" side of my wardrobe. Much as I love JSKs I'm finding myself reaching for skirts or OPs more often when wearing lolita casually. It’s a very pretty dress but to my surprise it doesn’t fit…and you know why? The arms! Memo to any larger girls wanting to try full back shirred IW; it may fit around your body but it mightn’t fit around the arms! Oh well, it’s only a bit too tight so I’ll be able to wear it soon and I think I’ll wear it a lot.

Then I saw this cute little AP cutsew (the Berry Garden Print T-Shirt) and again it was a no brainer. Black with berries for just 999 yen - how am I supposed to resist that? To my great surprise and joy this actually fits me! It’s tight and a bit short but wow, I can’t believe the stretch this thing has. It’s so great! My only concern is the length, it may just be a bit too short on my torso (are you sensing a pattern here? I am!) but I’ll try cording it soon and see how we go. I hope it works out because I think printed cutsews are my new favourite thing and given that this matches my number one casual wardrobe theme I see it being very useful.

While browsing the AP section I also came across the Polka Dot Short Sleeve Parka for just a single yen more than the cutsew. Again, when temptation is perfect and cheap I just go for it! Like the cutsew, it fits, and I think it’s the cutest thing in my whole haul! I don’t have anything like it and I am so glad I bought it. Short sleeved hoodies are something I love in casual wear, so I’m really chuffed to it and who knows, I may end up wearing it outside of lolita as well.

I also bought another pair of ivory lace topped OTKS from Angelic Pretty because I made the mistake of putting my last pair through the wash instead of hand-washing and they came out kind of grey. Not going to lie, I was so disappointed I almost cried. Thank goodness I'm an adult with a good job so I can easily afford a replacement but man, that was way more soul crushing than it ought to have been. But on James's suggestion I'm going to try dying the damaged pair so who knows, it may end up being a blessing in disguise, depending on how the dye job turns out.

I then found this super cute brown with ivory lace Metamorphose cardigan, I think it's the Double Frill Lace Cardigan from 2005. I didn't really need another piece of brown outerwear, but it was cute and still different enough from anything else I have that I thought it was a good buy. Unfortunately though it’s a bit short on the sleeves for me and I’m in the process of deciding if that’s a deal breaker for me. I think it is, which is a bummer, but oh well. That’s what you get buying online and there’s a swap meet next month anyway so no big deal!

I also took a dive into the world of burando shoes! Again from Meta, these are currently unidentified but that doesn't matter. I didn't necessarily need these shoes, but I don't own an ivory flat so they're not an entirely frivolous purchase! And they turned out to be my unexpected favourite purchase of this haul. They fit perfectly and are comfortable, but more than that they are just such a typically lolita shoe. The little wooden sole, the scalloped edges, the ankle straps - they’re just perfect and I love them way, way more than I was expecting too. Do you ever come across an item that just make you feel like a proper lolita, some weird nix of nostalgia and excitement? These shoes did it for me.

Now, I thought I was done then, and I was for a little, but I can't keep myself from browsing when I have an open order and I stumbled upon this Maxicimam bolero which I couldn't resist. It fills a wardrobe gap! As a note, Japonica once again confirmed with me that the item description indicated wear and checked if I wanted to go ahead with the order, which is a good bit of customer service (and honestly, the bolero is fine, like seriously, what wear?). The bolero is a perfect fit and while a bit unexciting on its own I’m very glad to have it.

Overall I’m very happy with my new set of wardrobe additions, though I am a bit down about Dramatic Rose. But I got some great new pieces so it’s all good! I do feel a bit bad for not sticking more firmly to my “limited spending” goal for the year though, so I’m going to try very hard not to indulge any further for a while. I also want to focus on wardrobe diversity a bit more and get some items in a broader colour palette. We’ll see how it goes!

Have you added anything to your lolita wardrobe lately?

I guess I do have dream dresses after all...

I really have been buying things left, right and centre lately so following on the heels of my taobao haul, here’s a quite review of a pair of purchase from Yahoo Japan and Mbok via Japonica Market.

To be honest, I really didn’t want to stray away from Buyee, but given that they sometimes restrict your purchasing based on someone’s feedback (which I think was the case here, though I really don’t remember now) I had to make a change when Metamorphose temps de fille’s Patisserie Dream skirt in black popped up with a starting bid of 2000 yen.

My precious...

I’ve said frequently that I don’t really have dream dresses as such because I tend to be unwilling to drop much money on things. But Patisserie Dream is one of those things that I’ve loved since it came out. I missed it once on Closet Child and was really bummed about it, so seeing it at this price made me go; “I have to bid on this”. But Buyee wouldn’t let me so I had to try a new shopping service.

Overall I found Japonica pretty good. The fees seemed about comparable with Buyee and their service was fine. I wasn’t a huge fan of the interface and how they email you updates – there’s nothing wrong with it at all but it’s a bit confusing at first and I do prefer the very modern and straightforward website of Buyee. But still, I have zero complaints about Japonica. They even contacted me to confirm that the second item in my order, a Milky Berry tote bag also in black from Mbok which I bid on on a whim, had some wear to it and to make sure I still wanted to bid. So all in all they’re a great service who I will use again if the need arises.

But anyway, enough with reviewing the service… onto showing off the items!

I’m going to start with the least exciting purchase, the Milky Berry tote. Milky Berry is a print I’m gradually falling in love with, and given that I already have two black-with-berry-pattern skirts in my wardrobe it seemed like a fun little purchase. I won it at 1000 yen, so quite cheaply, but in retrospect I kind of regret it because fees and shipping added up and our exchange rate is not so good against the yen right now so YOLO purchases are not the best idea. However, it is cute, it does go with a particular subset of my wardrobe and it’s in pretty good nick so it’s still nice to have.

And then, my newest and glorious skirt; Patisserie Dream! I am so, so happy to finally have this! It’s so tacky and adorable! I found after I sold off my Bodyline Alice print in black and pink that I really miss having a “bittersweet” print… black and pink has always been one of my favourite colour combos. And now I have something that’s black and pink with a whole host of other colours and a super cute print to boot. James likes it too, which was an unanticipated bonus! I really can’t emphasise how much I enjoy this print, it really makes me happy. 

And Meta just continues to cement itself as my favourite lolita brand... just look at the pattern matching on the seam! That is so close to being perfect, and on such a detailed print too. The skirt is fairly standard length and sizing for Meta's "mini skirt" style, and yeah, I'm just very happy to have this.

Have you ever found a dream item at a price almost too good to believe?