Off On Holiday Again- Back Thursday the 8th of August!

I am afraid I wont be blogging for the next 2 weeks, as I am off on holiday again! I should be back on Thursday the 8th of August. I am going to Center Parcs for the 3rd Summer in a row and the internet is notoriously dodgy in the forest.

Pictured is my blueberry lemonade from a restaurant there called Huck's. I became VERY obsessed with this last Summer to the point where I actually started having cravings for more. This year I hope to drink many more blueberry lemonades and to finally figure out how to make them at home!

When I get back I shall do a review of whatever lolita stuff I got for my birthday (I am typing this before my birthday and I am very curious to know what was in that Bodyline parcel James received...) and try to catch up with the latest print releases. I look forward to hopefully seeing you all on the 8th!

Thank You For the Birthday Valentine

Just a quick post to say thank you to whoever wished me a Happy Birthday on Lolita Valentines this week! It is much appreciated. Thank you!

I am number 15- http://loli-valentines.livejournal.com/151478.html

My Melty Moon Bag Came!

I am over the moon (sorry...) that I have managed to obtain Angelic Pretty's Melty Moon bag in my 1st colour choice! As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it because it is my ultimate bag!

In person it is every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be. The shape is amazing and the stitching is so neat and tidy. I love the little sprinkling of white stars on the front too.

This photo is probably the most accurate to how the colour looks in real life. I think that the writing on the tag should have been done in white though, as the silver is very faint.

It is great that the strap is adjustable. I love the heart shaped buckle too.

The melting drips have been done so well. I'm really impressed.

Even the zip has cute dangly stars!

As expected with a moon shaped bag, there is not a massive amount of room inside. However, it will still hold about the same amount of stuff as your average AP pochette.

So overall, I am a very happy lolita right now. I can't really see any negatives to the bag but that may be because I have been blinded by love! But it is good to see that this bag lives up to my expectations.

On a Dream Sky related note, I decided to try and make a moon brooch to wear as part of an outfit. If I'm being honest, I am unsure I like how it turned out. At the moment it looks a bit basic. I am not sure what to do with it though. Felt is not the ideal material to be using but it is a material I am comfortable working with. If anybody has any opinions or suggestions let me know (It was just a quick project so I promise I wont be offended). 

Wicked Queen's Poison Cellar by Alice and the Pirates

Today I am looking at recent AatP release Wicked Queen's Poison Cellar. This series includes two printed dresses, one long non-printed dress (with matching headdress), a skirt, a blouse, a head bow, a bonnet, tights, wrist cuffs, jewellery, a few boy's style pieces, a lace shawl and a bolero. Phew! That's a lot of items!

This is JSK I. The bodice looks fairly well fitted. The bodice shape is okay but maybe a bit simple. I think the straps are a bit too thin but I suppose they do match well with the ribbon. They do look a bit flimsy though. The waist is nipped in well by the ribbon belt. The ribbon looks to be of a good quality and not too shiny. I think a more solid coloured ribbon would have been nice here though, as it would match up better with the ribbon used elsewhere on the dress. In the picture above for example, the waist ribbon looks a bit washed out compared to the ribbon used on the neckline. The bodice is mainly kept simple. It suits the classic style but I actually think it is a bit too plain. The ruffle along the neckline is a nice touch though, and at least adds a bit of interest. The ruffle is topped with ribbon and finished with a bow in the centre. The bow is kept small and sits nicely on the dress. It adds a slight touch of cute, but it is the right level of cute and doesn't look out of place with the classic print. The back has a small panel of shirring, which is concealed neatly by a ribbon corset. The shirring panel looks quite narrow, so I wonder if that will affect how flexible the sizing is. Also, the ruffle on the neckline ends quite abruptly when it reaches the shirring panel at the back, which I don't think looks too bad but could have been done nicer. The skirt is quite rounded and it flares out a fair deal. I probably wouldn't use the petticoat BABY have used in the stock photos as it looks a bit too rounded, but I'm sure that you could get a decent shape with this dress. The skirt is kept clutter free and the print is displayed beautifully. The bottom hem is finished off with some pretty lace and then a tulle ruffle underneath. 

This is JSK II. The bodice looks very well fitted and the shape is interesting. I especially like the neckline and I think that overall the shape is quite mature and smart. The straps are a good width and fit the design well. I like the use of solid colour for the bodice too and think it works well teamed with the printed skirt. The waist bow is a nice shape but possibly a bit on the big side. I also think the waist bow maybe looks a bit too cute style-wise but at least it blends in fairly well. There is a row of buttons sitting atop of some lace and a ruffle. The ruffle is pretty but I would have maybe used black lace so it blended in a bit better. The buttons are pretty and are spaced out well. The lace used on the bodice and along the neckline is pretty, although the lace on the neckline doesn't seem to sit very well, especially when it nears the ruffle in the middle. The back has a panel of shirring. It is concealed tidily by a ribbon corset although due to it all being the same colour, it blends in quite well anyway. The skirt again has a very rounded shape, although I think it suits this second dress better. It looks very plump and full and will hold a decent amount of petticoat. The skirt is once again free of cluttering details and the print is displayed brilliantly. The bottom hem is then finished off with pretty lace.

And here we have part of the print close up. This print is available in ivory, red, green and black. Although all four colours are lovely, I feel the deeper colours work better than the ivory version. I just feel this print works the best with a darker background as it gives it more depth. I would probably pick the red as my favourite colour overall. We have seen a few library prints recently from brands such as Juliette et Justine and Innocent World, but I actually think this AatP one may be my favourite offering. I think that is because there is more to it than being just a simple book shelf print. There is stuff going on in the foreground and more interesting objects to see. I love all of the chemistry themed bits tucked away in the bookshelves and the apples are drawn beautifully. I love how Snow White is included in the print in a subtle way by having her appear on one of the apples. The books in the foreground are so detailed and drawn well. It feels like every time I look at this print there is something new to discover.

Shawls don't seem to be released that often in lolita but I think they can add a very elegant touch to an outfit. The design of this one is simple, yet beautiful. I especially love the rose clasp. Shawls may not be as easy to wear as a bolero or cardigan but I think they are worth a try!

I think this series is very interesting. We may have seen Snow White and library themed prints before but who knew the two themes could work so well when combined together? The resulting print is beautiful. Would I buy this series? Yes, I probably would. I know I would definitely go for JSK II in red. This is a wonderful series and I think it deserves to do well.

My New Bodyline Wig

At first, I admit I was a bit sceptic about Bodyline wigs. I wasn't really sure how good the quality would be. But after discussing Bodyline wigs with friends, I decided I would give it a go. So I ordered wig 088 in Medium Brown 7.

The packaging was done in pretty much the same way my Lockshop wig was. The 3 wig pieces were wrapped individually in nets and then it was placed inside a cardboard circle, in a bag. My wig didn't need a massive amount of brushing when I took it out the packet. There were a few flyaway strands but generally, the wig seemed to be of a good quality. It feels lovely and soft too.

The wig has a slight sheen to it but it isn't massively shiny. My camera flash makes it look worse than it actually is. The colour is gorgeous. It is a lovely, warm chocolate shade. I was originally going to go darker but I am so glad I didn't now!

The one thing I would say is that I wish the base wig was a bit thicker. The wig cap is covered but I fear that it wouldn't take much for the cap to start poking through and become visible.

This is what the inside of the clips look like. I am not really sure what the random hair ties are there for? Maybe somebody with this style of wig could explain it to me!

Please excuse my sleepy face! This is what the wig looks like worn. It is very comfortable to wear and despite the clips, it didn't feel too heavy. It looks a bit wonky in this photo but that is because I pushed some of the right ponytail over my shoulder by accident. The clips have a nice fullness to them and it definitely helps to disguise the thin base.

I think I need to brush the wig a bit more so it looks a bit fuller at the back. At the moment it does look a bit on the thin side.

And finally, a random shot of the base by itself. I personally wouldn't wear just the base by itself due to the thin issue I mentioned above.

I would say that the quality is definitely what I was expecting. I have heard that some Bodyline wigs are better than others. I don't think the wig I chose was a bad one, with the only issue being how thick the base wig is. It hasn't put me off Bodyline wigs and I am already eyeing up another one. Overall, I am pretty happy with the wig I got. I still think I am a bit of a wig novice but I think this wig suits my needs quite nicely.

More worn photos can be found here- http://luna-rain.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/june-2013-ox-loli-meet.html

Sleeping Beauty Princess by BABY

Today I am looking at Sleeping Beauty Princess by Baby the Stars Shine Bright. This series includes 2 dresses, a skirt, blouses, a hair comb, a head bow and socks. There is another BABY Sleeping Beauty series, which doesn't have a print but has some amazing floral accessories worth checking out. Today though, I shall be focusing on the print series.

This is the Rose JSK. The bodice looks reasonably well fitted and is a nice shape. The straps are a good with and suit the style of dress. The gold lace lining the outer edges makes them look a bit more interesting. I am not a fan of the waist bow though. It has a nice shape and sits well on the dress, but even with the use of gold lace it looks too plain and ordinary compared with the rest of the dress. It's a bit too simple and I think a more elaborate design would be an improvement here. Thankfully, it is detachable.

I like the use of gold lace to give a panelled effect. The pleated area adds texture, to stop the area looking too flat. The gold rose buttons are a nice touch and fits in well with the other bodice details. I am a little unsure about the two lines of gold pleat though. Visually, I think they look okay but I wonder if the lower gold pleat will sit awkwardly on the bust area of some wearers. I personally don't think the dress design would suffer if the lower gold pleat wasn't there at all. I think the top gold pleat along the neckline does work well though, and is an interesting finishing touch. The neckline is topped with a golden rose corsage, which I think is very pretty.

The back has a panel of shirring, which is concealed neatly by a gold ribbon corset. The skirt has a lovely, subtle bell shape to it. It flares out well and looks as though it will hold a decent amount of petticoat. The skirt is kept simple and so, the print is displayed well. The bottom hem is then finished off with a line of gold lace and underneath, a simple ruffle. I'm not too fussed about the ruffle and I am surprised BABY didn't use a pleat here to match the bodice. But the ruffle doesn't look that bad.

This is the Aurora JSK. The bodice is very well fitted and an interesting shape. The straps are quite wide but match up quite well with the dress design. However, I am not a fan of the scoop neckline. I feel the neckline scoops too far down and if it finished a bit higher it would look a lot better. But I suppose it is a good excuse to bring out a blouse with an interesting jabot or quirky neckline!

The waist bow is a bit too big for my liking, but apart from that I think it looks better than the waist bow on the other JSK. The shape and gathering is nicer on this bow. However, I really feel this dress looks a lot better with the waist bow detached. The waist bow clutters up the bodice and I am glad it is detachable. The bodice has a ribbon corset on the front, using soft gold ribbon. It looks a bit cluttered and bunched together but when you detach the waist bow I think it looks a whole lot better. The lace used on the bodice is beautiful and has a lot of detail to it. It looks quite luxurious, especially teamed with the gold. The use of gold and lace along the neckline is great too. It sits very well and has been done neatly.

The skirt has a nice, subtle bell shape to it. It looks like it will flare out quite well and hold a decent amount of petticoat. The skirt is not cluttered with detail, so the print is displayed very well. The bottom hem is finished off with a line of gold lace and a simple ruffle. It finished off the dress simply, but looks pretty and neat.

And here we have part of the print close up. This series is available in ivory, pink, lavender, navy and black. I like how the print stands out against the black and navy versions. The print is not so bold on the other colours, yet for some reason I still quite like the lavender version. I never really noticed it until I got Day Dream Carnival recently, but lavender and gold is a very interesting colour combination. I hope to see more of it! It's just a shame that the print isn't bolder on that colour version this time around. As for the print itself, it is very beautiful. I love the use of gold or silver instead of using multiple colours. The effect is simple and yet stunning. I love the castle and the roses. They have both been drawn very well. The writing in the print also blends in quite well and doesn't stand out too much. Everything in the print compliments each other and the end result is wonderful.

I do think this is a very good series. I would maybe make a few minor adjustments here and there, but overall I think the designs are strong. It is a shame that the print looks washed out on some of the colour ways, but maybe it will look better in real life (BABY's stock photos are known for not being that great!). Would I buy from this series? Possibly. It's hard to choose a JSK, but I think I would go for the Rose JSK in lavender. I could see this series having a lot of potential. I can imagine it looking lovely as part of a decadent OTT classic outfit with the right styling. I will be keeping an eye out for some lovely lolita outfits with this print!

Alice Day 2013!

On Saturday we had our annual lolita meet at Alice Day in Oxford. In the end the Oxfordshire and South West lolita groups joined together, which was lovely because we got to meet some new people and there were more people to share the fun with.

I was dressed as the White Rabbit wearing Angelic Pretty's Wonder Cookie print. People kept mistaking me for an Alice/White Rabbit hybrid though. I thought people would guess who I was from the massive rabbit ears! My WC dress and bow was teamed with white Bodyline shoes and wrist cuffs. I used my Bodyline stripy macaron socks too as I wanted to do something different (I usually end up wearing my matching Wonder Cookie socks!). 

I teamed it with a DreamV cutsew and off-brand and AP jewellery. Being the rabbit was a perfect excuse to use one of my Paris Kids fluffy bunny brooches, which I absolutely adore.

As I was hosting, I planned games and surprises. Sammi was unlucky enough to find a lump of carrot in her cupcake. She found the carrot before she bit in to it though! This was all part of the plan for the guests to build up points and then win a big prize at the end.

One of the games was to build the highest sugar cube tower in one minute. It's a lot harder than it sounds. Everybody kept getting the shakes!

The prize at the end featured postcards, tea, jam, a spoon and an AP spade cookie ring. Jenny won in the end.

Jenny also won our Best Dressed contest and she got a brooch that I spent ages making. I don't think my crafting skills are that brilliant but Jenny seemed pleased with her prize! The prize was quite appropriate in the end because Jenny was dressed as the Red Queen and the brooch matched her outfit.

I did notice there were less exhibits going on this year and the ones that were on seemed to end sooner in the day and were smaller compared to previous years. So we didn't get to see that much. We did however, see a dodo skeleton in the Ashmolean Museum. I do hope that there are more events at Alice Day in the future. For those attending in the future, I suggest having a picnic at the Botanical Gardens as the Oxford castle stuff is a lot smaller than it used to be.

And a group shot of us all. Michelle told everybody to pull derp faces at my camera, so some of us are pulling some pretty strange faces here! Everybody looked amazing.

I do hope everybody had a good time in the end. I tried my best as a host! We got very lucky with the weather. It's just a shame Alice Day seemed smaller this year. But I doubt that will stop us having another meet in Oxford again next July.

My Blog's 3 Year Anniversary!

Can you believe my blog is now 3 years old? Time really has been flying!

I am seriously grateful to all of you who have stuck by me and supported me. The last year has been a bit of an interesting one for me. I have met lots of lovely new people and maybe drifted apart from a few people as well (which is a shame). I suppose my highlight of the past 12 months was when I finally managed to obtain AatP's Midsummer Night's Dream (a dress I never thought I would own) and also going to the Tea Party Club's 5th Anniversary event. I will hopefully be seeing some of you at Frock On in August!

There have been some low points too, some of which I don't wish to go in to detail about, but generally my spirits are high. I am definitely looking forward to the next year and I hope you will all continue to follow me on my frilly adventures!

So a massive thank you to my friends, my husband James and my wonderful followers.

Frame Swan by Metamorphose

Today I am looking at Frame Swan by Metamorphose. This series includes 3 dresses, 2 skirts, socks, 3 hair accessories and wrist cuffs.

This is the OP. The waist area looks well fitted but overall the bodice has a very frumpy appearance. The shoulder area gives the illusion of being wider than it actually is. The detachable collar doesn't help either. The collar is far too big and the chiffon just adds to the bulk.

The sleeves don't help matters either. There is just far too much detail on them. Before we even get down to the bell shaped part, there is a line of chiffon ruffle running down the sleeves which makes the shoulders look wider and also looks far too OTT. There are then another 2 rows of chiffon ruffle just before the bell part starts. Although the bell shaped sleeves are a bit wide, it's not that which offends me the most about them. The thing I don't understand is why half the bell part is the print fabric and half is chiffon (you can see this is the first picture above). I personally would have made the whole of the bell part chiffon. That way the sleeves would be softer and maybe a bit less OTT. Also, I think the half and half design of the bells looks ugly. I don't understand what Meta were thinking...

The front of the bodice has a ribbon corset. The ribbon is at least non-shiny and the spacing is good, without looking too bunched up. Underneath the detachable collar, the neckline is quite straight edged with harsh lines and even the chiffon ruffle along the neckline doesn't seem to soften it that much. The back is fully shirred, which is good for size flexibility but doesn't look very appealing. The skirt is slightly rounded and flares outwards quite far. It should be able to hold a decent amount of petticoat underneath. However, the skirt length looks a bit short. I think the printed fabric could do with being a bit longer because the border print is almost up at the waist area. The bottom of the print looks too high up. If there was a bit more length of the printed fabric and the top chiffon ruffle was narrower I think the spacing would look better. The chiffon at the bottom helps to soften the skirt a bit and does match up well with the outer half of the sleeves. If I am being honest, I am finding it hard to say anything nice about this dress.

This is the Chiffon Pinafore JSK. The bodice looks well fitted but I am unsure I like the shape. The straps look a bit bulky. Maybe they wouldn't look so bad if the chiffon ruffles along the straps was thinner. The fake corset style does help to nip in the waist area. I think it would look better if the chiffon ruffle at the bottom of the bodice wasn't there though because then the silhouette would have looked smoother. Also, without that ruffle it would give the illusion of the skirt being longer. The fake corset is topped with criss-crossed ribbon. The ribbon isn't shiny but I think the spacing is off, because it looks very bunched together. The chiffon panel at the top of the bodice is interesting. I am unsure I like the way it looks overall, but I suppose it does add a bit of shape to the chest area for more flat chested wearers. Looking at the pictures on Meta's website it does appear that the bodice looks better on the model than it does the mannequin. I'm still not convinced though. The neckline is finished with a printed fabric bow. I think the bow is a bit on the big side. However, it's got a good shape and it doesn't appear to droop. The back has a panel of shirring which is concealed very neatly by a ribbon corset. The skirt shape is nicely rounded and flares out well. It's a shame that it looks a bit short length-wise. I think a longer skirt would vastly improve this dress. The border part of the print again sits quite high up. The bottom hem is then finished with two chiffon ruffles. The chiffon ruffles are a good width, are layered nicely and compliment the bodice.

This is the Shirring Pinafore JSK. As the bodice is fully shirred, it is a bit lumpy looking. On the positive side, it will give a wider ranges of sizes. I just don't think it is very attractive looking. The straps are an okay width,  maybe Meta could have gotten away with them being a bit narrower. The braid along the strap edges is very pretty though. The waist bow is a good size for the dress. It has a good shape to it and looks very perky. I'm not sure I like both the bows on the bodice teamed together and I think a belt would have looked quite nice. Thankfully, the waist bow and ribbon brooch are detachable so you can wear them whichever way you think is best. I really like the ribbon brooch on the neckline. It is a good size and doesn't look too bulky. The shape is interesting and it sits nicely on the dress. This brooch is also decorated very nicely with gold braid, which I think looks quite pretty. As this dress is fully shirred, that means the back shirring is also left open and exposed. Finally, one of the dresses has a decent skirt length. The border part of the print doesn't sit too highly up the dress. The skirt shape maybe could have been nicer, but at least it flares outwards a fair bit. It will hold a decent amount of petticoat. The skirt has no cluttering details, so the print is displayed well too. The bottom hem is then finished off with a simple ruffle.

And here we have part of the print close-up. This print is available in dusty rose, blue/grey and green. Both the dusty rose and the green colours look hideous in my opinion. Those colours are both dull and the green looks like sludge. The blue/grey version is an improvement on the other two but I am not amazed by that colour either. So, a lot of people know I think ducks are the cutest thing ever so surely I must love this print, right? Well, I don't. I do think the ducklings in the print are very cute and the swans are pretty too. I also think the frames around the swans are drawn well too. But apart from that, I hate everything else about it. I don't see how the stripy/floral background really fits in with the print. I think my main problem with the print is the spacing. The frames seem quite small and as we can see on the dresses, there is a lot of that ugly background, which seems to dominate and take emphasis away from the frames. I think a print based on the Ugly Duckling is an interesting idea, but Meta have gone about it all wrong. This theme could have had a lot more potential. Think of Meta's Swan Lake print and how well-liked that is... I think that Meta should have gone down a similar route with this Ugly Duckling print.

So this series is not looking that promising in my opinion. It does not appeal at all. The colours, the dress designs and even the print could have been done a lot better. I'm a bit disappointed because I know Meta is capable of releasing beautiful series. I think it is pretty obvious I wouldn't buy from this series but if I had to, I would go for the Shirring Pinafore JSK in blue/grey (and wear a bolero to cover up the full shirring). The skirt could possibly look a bit better but the pictures were not up at time of writing.