My Christmas Adventures!

Hello everybody! I hope you had a great Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year! I am feeling completely exhausted after all of the festivities but at least I had a good time. It was really good to catch up with a load of my friends. I decided to share some tales of my Christmas adventures (well, the ones with any remote connection to Japanese fashion anyway. I doubt anybody really wants to hear the story of me visiting my mum and other daughterly duties...)

My Christmas break started with me wearing my last lolita outfit for 2015. Shalisa, James and I went over to Sammi's place for a Christmas gathering. Yes, I know I am wearing a strawberry print and it is not very festive. I wasn't really in the mood to wear a more festive themed outfit, so in the end I just wore what I wanted. I think a big part of lolita fashion is to enjoy dressing up and appreciate the clothes, so there is no point wearing something I don't feel like wearing. I didn't do anything too radical with this outfit as I haven't really had the time to think up some new outfits lately.

I got to meet a very energetic puppy! This is Sammi's corgi puppy, who is called Biscuit (such a typical Sammi name!). He is such a little cutie and his fur is so soft and lovely. I really hope I get another opportunity to meet him some day, provided Sammi doesn't mind me invading her flat! We also had a quick peek in to Sammi's wardrobe, as it was the first time we had really seen it all together in one place. Sadly, some of my photos of her wardrobe came out a bit too blurry, so I decided not to share them.

We got to open some of our presents. Here is a shot of Shalisa examining one of her gifts. I think Sammi and Shalisa liked the gifts I gave them. That is what they told me anyway! I completely forgot to take a picture of the presents I got. Sammi got me some stationary, socks and a beret. The beret has a moon on it! Shalisa's presents unfortunately got stuck in the mail but she did give us these reusable carrier bags. Mine has a duck design and I love it! It is already proving super useful and I have been using it loads.

We had a good catch up and laughed at some dodgy Youtube videos. Of course, we had to get out usual Domino's pizza order! It has become a bit of a Christmas tradition. We had a bunch of friends over a few days later and I ended up eating Domino's again, which turned out to be a bit less fun because I went in to what I call "Post Pizza Regret Mode". I felt so sick! Anyway, after our pizza binge we ended up watching this absolutely dreadful movie and then we dropped off Shalisa at the train station. I was feeling very tired at this point, but it was really good to spend some time with my best friends over the Christmas period.

Shalisa was not the only one having Christmas post dramas... I managed to win an auction for Chess Emblem a couple of days after the release, but it got well and truly stuck in UK customs. It was in the UK from early December, but it was not going anywhere. I was getting really concerned that I wouldn't get my package before Christmas but on December the 23rd it finally arrived! This was after a 2 hour phone call to customs, a very nasty customs fee and several panic attacks... I believe Chess Emblem is the only print from 2015 that made it on to my wishlist and I loved it the second I set eyes on it. I can confirm it is just as beautiful in real life as it is online. There are so many little details to it. I keep finding new details to fall in love with! I am hoping to get the matching beret at some point, but it is not an urgent priority of mine. For the moment I am really glad I was able to find an auction only a few thousand yen above retail price, as the prices for this series have since gone up a fair bit since. I did toy with the idea of wearing it on Christmas Day, but I decided to save it until I get some more bits to go with it.

This year I decided to join the Tea Party Club's Secret Santa event. I saw the event from the previous year and decided it looked like fun. I really love the secrecy of it all and knowing you could get almost anything. It is a bit of a gamble, but I think it paid off. The photo shows what I got from my Secret Santa. The fur shawl (fake fur thankfully!) is so soft and I keep stroking it as if it is a kitten or something! I love getting cute storage containers too. My Secret Santa also made me this beautiful headdress and I love it. I am definitely going to have to make a special outfit to go with it. Thankfully the person I gave a gift to apparently liked their present too. I was really worried they were going to hate it! It felt really exciting to attempt to put a thoughtful gift together for a stranger and it was surprisingly stress-free. I will definitely be doing this again next year.

And now I am going to do a mini review of the Japanese Fashion related Christmas presents I got from James. He isn't quite confident enough to dare ordering from Taobao yet, so I ended up with a lot of stuff from My Lolita Dress! I got given these navy blue and gold tights from Petite Luna (I think that is the Taobao store name?). The tights have a reasonable amount of stretch, although I wish the material was a little bit thicker. The pattern is lovely though, and when the tights are worn the pattern stretches okay. I was worried that the glitter would start to crack when they were worn and stretched out, but they seem fine for now. We will have to wait and see how well they last after a couple of wears and washes. The gold was a bit darker than I would have expected, but it is still very pretty. I would definitely consider ordering tights from Petite Luna in the future.

He also gave me a brooch from Vanillas Traumfabrik, which is a store I have always been curious about ordering from. The brooch is absolutely beautiful with a fantastic design to it. The ribbon rosette part is well formed and the chain and charm is a suitable length as well. 

I am pleased that the back has a 2-way back, so I can wear it more ways. You can perhaps see just a tiny bit of glue on the back. But this glue is in no way visible from the front and I am very satisfied with the overall quality of the brooch. I really want to go and order this in more colours now! Royal/Regency themes are a favourite of mine at the moment.

Finally, James got me this Mu Fish beret in black with silver embroidery. If you look very closely at the embroidery you can tell there is a slight hint of silver to the thread but actually, it looks more white than anything else. But this is actually how I was hoping it would turn out, as I really wanted this style of beret with white embroidery! If you do want a more silver colour though, then you may be disappointed.

The embroidery has been nicely done and the design is clear. I couldn't find any obvious mistakes anywhere on the beret.

The only thing I am slightly unsure about is this embroidery on the rim, which will appear on the forehead when worn. The embroidery itself it well executed with crisp letters, I'm just not sure I like this part of the design!

So I think that essentially covers everything fashion related that has gone on for the few weeks I have been away. Hopefully I will soon slot back in to my usual everyday routine and I will write plenty of blog posts for the upcoming year. Thank you to everybody who continues to stick with me and my little adventures. I hope you all had a great Christmas. Here is hoping 2016 is a fantastic year, in and out of lolita!

Some Festive Print Ideas

So as I was writing my post about doing Christmas outfits without resorting to Christmas prints, I ended up coming up with some festive prints I would really like to see. I do love looking at Christmas prints, even though I don't own any! Some of these ideas have featured as small parts of prints, but I feel I would quite like to see these ideas used in a bigger way. So here is what I want to see from future Christmas prints.

Robins- In the UK, we love a cute little robin. They feature heavily on Christmas cards and their red breasts are a lovely burst of colour in the harsh, dull Winter countryside. In fact, earlier this year there was a survey in the UK to find what bird we would most like to have as our national bird (because we don't have one) and the robin was the winner. I could imagine a robin print having a mainly white, snowy background, so that the robin would stand out and truly shine. Maybe the bird's footprints could make a trail in the snow. Birds also have lots of quirky little mannerisms that I feel have never really been that well captured in lolita prints. Most bird themed prints either feature the birds in cages, or just have the cages with no birds at all. Earlier this year, I made friends with a little robin who came and watched me do the gardening and it would come so close that I could almost touch it. Sometimes I stopped and just watched the robin hopping about. During that time I realised just how sweet these cute little birds are. Some lolitas may love cat prints, but I am championing bird prints!

Penguins- This is another bird which I am surprised hasn't really featured that heavily in lolita. Whenever I see penguins on TV, they always look so cute, especially the babies. The babies are like little balls of fluff! Penguins would maybe not work with classic or gothic, but I could definitely picture a sweet penguin print. Come on, Angelic Pretty, you know you want to do a penguin print! Penguins love to slip and slide about, so I think a print would need to capture this, instead of them just stood in a line.

Cornucopia or Christmas wreaths- Admittedly cornucopias are a bit more Thanksgiving than Christmas, but Thanksgiving is close to Christmas, so I decided to leave it on the list anyway! I could definitely see Innocent World doing a beautiful cornucopia print. Out of all the brands it perhaps seems Innocent World would be the most likely to do one. I guess though, that cornucopias are not that big a thing in Japan, so this is probably not likely to get made. Christmas wreaths on the other hand, have featured in Christmas prints before but never as the main feature. They have always sort of been hidden in the background. Wreaths is definitely another one which I think Innocent World could make a beautiful print with.

Reindeer- There are a lot of deer prints out there! But how many deer prints feature reindeer? A lot of the prints are either fawns or this sort of generic looking deer. Maybe the reindeer is too similar to a regular deer, and the brands are worried about how many deer prints are on the market. But I personally feel a reindeer print, in the right sort of setting, could work really well for Christmas. Perhaps they could even sneak a red nose on one of the reindeer as a hint to Rudolph! A lot of deer prints feature a leafy, forest theme. But a reindeer theme could take a different route and use a snowy background. It would also be lovely to see reindeer prancing about and frolicking, as in a lot of deer prints the deer are usually not moving too much.

A festive decorated fireplace- Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, hanging up Christmas stockings... this is a popular scene at Christmas. Perhaps the fireplace could have a line of decorative holly and ivy carefully framing it. You see this scene in a lot of films and TV series at Christmas, so why hasn't it been made in to a print? I could see this idea working for Baby, who have done a lot of prints this year which feature indoors scenes.

Christmas Theme Without Chistmas Prints

Christmas is an interesting time of the year to be a lolita. I know that even at this last stage of the year, there are still many lolita meets to come all around the world and many lolitas will be getting dressed up, no matter what they are doing. But I personally have always struggled to make what I would call the perfect 'festive' outfit. I usually end up breaking out the black (because of the poor weather here in the UK). I guess I just go with what feels comfortable rather than trying to do a Christmas relevant outfit.

A lot of my problem comes from the fact that I simply refuse to buy prints that have an obvious Christmas theme to it! I have nothing against Christmas prints per say, it's just that I feel like it's not worth buying a dress you can only wear for a short period of the year. With my small wardrobe space I need dresses I know I can get some decent wear out of, otherwise they are just sitting in my wardrobe, not getting worn. So despite liking Christmas prints, like the Baby one above, a holiday print has never made it in to my wardrobe. All is not lost though. If you don't have a Christmas print, it doesn't mean you can't add a touch of festivities to an outfit.

The first thing is to think about colour. When I think about Christmas, the colours that come to mind are red, green and gold. Those are what I think would be considered 'traditional' Christmas colours, or at least they would be in the UK. Santa Claus is typically seen wearing red, or in some cases he may wear green. Gold adds a touch of glitz and sparkle. Red is quite a common colour in lolita and is easy to get hold of. Gold trims can add a subtle festive feel.

Tartan is the sort of simple print that I associate with this time of year. I don't know why, perhaps it is the festive Scottish shortbread tins you see in the shops? I don't quite know where the idea of tartan being festive comes from, but you seem to see it a lot around Winter time. But the great thing about tartan is that it can be worn at any time of the year. It looks festive, but at the same time it doesn't scream Christmas! Tartan dresses are also very easy to get hold of. Chances are, you will find a cheap tartan JSK on the Japanese auctions or on Taobao and Bodyline during most of the year. And because tartan is easily available, you can usually find a reasonably priced dress. So if you decide to save it for the Christmas period, at least you don't have to worry so much about how much you have spent on it. Tartan accessories are usually available on the high street during the Winter period too.

But just because you may be avoiding obvious Christmas prints, it doesn't mean you have to give up on prints altogether. Think of smaller, less obvious themes and your wardrobe may be more festive friendly than you think. Angels have been a popular theme in lolita this year, which would obviously be a bit of a nod to the angel in the nativity story. That was just one idea off the top of my head, but I am sure with a bit of creativity you could all come up with some great themed outfits.

Even if you don't want to splurge on a big festive print, perhaps there are smaller items that would be worth considering. A small accessory shouldn't break the bank and they don't take up too much space. Taobao usually has plenty of accessories which will add a bit of Christmas cheer. Then it is just a case of matching the accessory to something in your wardrobe. Closer to home, perhaps a local craft shop would have some nice ribbon to make accessories with.

So I still feel quite adamant that Christmas prints wont be a part of my wardrobe. There are still options out there and I wont be resorting to buying anything new. I have never been that big on celebrating Christmas and I see it more as an excuse to catch up with friends. But at the same time I am happy to get in to the spirit of Christmas, and that is exactly what I shall be doing!

Happy Christmas!

So today is my last blog post of the year and I would just like to wish all my readers a Happy Christmas! Thank you so much for reading/following my blog and here is hoping 2015 is a fantastic year for everybody. I am taking a break over the holidays to spend some quality time with my loved ones and I will be back on Monday the 5th of January. 

2014 has been an interesting year for me. I had the chance to model for one of my favourite lolita brands, the Oxfordshire group had some fun and interesting meets and I got to spend lots of time with my favourite lolitas. I would like to thank my regular readers who have stuck by me. I have had a lot going on outside of lolita this year but thankfully it doesn't seem to have affected my blogging too much. I have high hopes for 2015.

So I hope you all have a fun, safe and happy time over the holiday period. I will see you all when I get back from my holiday break!

Happy Valentines Day For Tomorrow!

Although I think every single day of the year should be a celebration of love, I still enjoy Valentine's Day. In celebration of this day, I have picked a few love inspired items that I really like right now. Unfortunately, some of these items are out of stock. Although with a bit of digging I am hopeful of being able to locate them.

1. Nail Rock Love Hearts Nail Wraps 2. Heart Macaron Ring (other colours available) 3. Cute Can kill Love Necklace 4. Chocomint Hug Me Star Ring 5. Milk Metallic Pink Heart Bag 6. Cute Can Kill Sweetheart Lollipop necklace 7. DreamV Love Heart Cardigan

As you can probably see, I tend to favour sweet, pastel themes when it comes to love themed items. However, I do believe that gothic and classic outfits can be very romantic as well. Maybe in the future I could do Valentines inspiration for these styles too or maybe even put a few outfit ideas together.

Whether you choose to celebrate Valentine's Day or not, I hope everybody has a lovely day tomorrow!

Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish all of my followers and readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you all have a wonderful time over the festive season.

This is officially my last blog post of 2013! I will be taking a mini break over Christmas (quality family time comes before blogging). At the moment, I am intending to be back on Thursday the 2nd of January. However, this might move to Monday the 6th. So if you don't see a blog post on the 2nd, then please check back on the 6th!

I would like to thank everybody who comes to visit my blog. Hopefully 2014 will be full of plenty of adventures that I can share with all of you.

Back From My Break- Hello 2013!

I'm back from my time off! I hope everybody had a good Christmas. I have had a very good time, albeit with the odd bit of chaos thrown in. Please bear with me, as my brain has not quite caught up with things going back to normal yet...

Here is hoping that 2013 will be full of fun frilly times! I have to be honest, I have not worn lolita much over the Winter so far. A lot of that has to do with the fact that it wont stop raining here in the UK. It is seriously depressing. I think I need to invest in some more Winter friendly lolita items. But hopefully I will still be blogging as usual. I have a lot of posts I need to write up.

So... did I get any lolita stuff for Christmas? Yes! I got a small haul of Bodyline items from my husband James. This time I said I would like some basics and wardrobe building items.

The first item I got was this pair of ankle socks with crown motif. These appeared on the Bodyline website quite some time ago and then all of a sudden, they disappeared before I could buy them! Luckily, they came back (see, Bodyline does restock sometimes) and James was able to get them for me. In 2012 I brought quite a few crown themed items and these are a very welcome addition to my collection. The material is soft. They fit me quite nicely. I would probably recommend these for people who are a UK size 6 or smaller as any bigger than that might stretch them a bit. The lace is your typical Bodyline quality. It is okay for the price and has been used neatly. 

HOWEVER... I was horrified to find that one of the socks had a stain on them. I didn't notice it at first because it is quite small and James had not spotted it either. It looks like make-up or something of a similar consistency. I have never had this problem with Bodyline before and I am very annoyed about it. It has made me a bit nervous about future Bodyline orders and I am somebody who orders from them on a semi-regular basis. This just isn't acceptable. I would complain but I don't see the point as I don't think Bodyline will do much to resolve the matter. I am going to attempt to wash the sock later and here is hoping the stain comes out. It's so disgusting.

Anyway, let's move back on to the positives...

I also got an off-white cutsew. Cutsews are something I am hoping to buy more of in 2013. As much as I love blouses, I sometimes feel that a cutsew would be a better option. They are more casual, so feel a little less stuffy. When I think back to Summer last year, I remember wearing a blouse and feeling very uncomfortable. So I am very grateful I got this cutsew! The colour is very easy to use in many outfits. I like the lace detail on the front because it helps to make it look more special than just a regular tee-shirt. The sizing was generally good, although I wish the arm circumference was a bit more generous. The sleeves are not too tight on me, but I would have felt more comfortable if it was a little bit bigger. 

Finally, I was given a short sleeved lavender blouse. It's the one that has the separate neck tie. I have not quite mastered the perfect bow with it yet, but the blouse looks fine without it! The material is a little on the thin side but the good thing is that it feels very light when wearing. I love the colour. Lavender is a colour I want to buy more of this year. The rose shaped buttons are lovely and the lace matches well. It fits just as I expected it to.

And that was my Bodyline haul for Christmas. I am a bit angry about the stain on the socks but that aside, I am very pleased with my presents. I am currently waiting for my Christmas treat to myself to arrive (it is stuck in post-Christmas customs and it is not moving at all) and when that comes, I will hopefully have a review of that up on here.

And this ends my first post of 2013. Here is hoping we all have a great year ahead of us!

Christmas haul and festive holly nails

Christmas has come and gone and we are about to enter 2012. My Christmas was awesome and I hope all of you had a good time too! Despite being in a post-Christmas daze, I should be back to normal posting next week. In the mean time, I thought I would update you all on all things Luna!

Well, I did say I was going to do some festive nails! I was going to do something very simple but then I had a sudden brainstorm and these are the resulting nails. In the end, I did a holly design with 3D berries. This photo was taken about a day after I did them so they don't look as nice here! Anyway, the nails came about because ages ago, when I was still using clay to make nail pieces, I decided I would make some cherry nails to match a skirt I had. However, I sold the skirt on and I was left with these red balls. So I used them for holly berries instead! I did the leaves and black background with nail pens and it took FOREVER to do. The berries were quite small so they didn't really get in the way like other 3D nails do. The berries were coated with clear polish to give it a more realistic berry look.

And now on to the lolita presents I got. I didn't get much lolita stuff this time because a lot of people gave me money to help pay off my Starry Night Theater dress (and I am now all paid up!) and usually only my husband is brave enough to buy me lolita! But I did get some very nice stuff...

My husband got me these Bodyline shoes. I didn't have any white coloured shoes so these should be very useful. I already own this style of shoe in red, so I knew straight away that I would like them. Even my mother-in-law recognised the design! Out of all my Bodyline shoes, this design is my favourite. They are simple, but with a cute bow. I find them very easy to wear. So I was very happy indeed!

The other thing I was given were these cute Bodyline socks. They have macarons on them! They are so pretty and socks are always a welcome addition to my wardrobe. They are pink and white.

I also got given some basic items such as some new black tights (always useful), make-up and nail polish. I am very grateful for all of the wonderful presents I received. I especially love how my friend Jo got me the best children's book ever-

It is the book we found when a group of us went to London in November! Now I can treasure this story forever.

But I think the stand out present has to be this one from my husband-

I got given a copy of my favourite painting by Edgar Degas! I got to see the real thing earlier this year, which was a huge deal for me because I have been a fan of Degas since I was little. Now I have a copy! I am absolutely ecstatic! It is so beautiful. Now I get to see it every single day.

I have not had many chances to dress in lolita recently because of Christmas (apart from the outfits which are viewable on my Lookbook) and also, because we finally got around to getting a wardrobe! It is from Ikea and it is so huge that we had to put it in the living room. It is the only place it would fit. So I have been busy sorting out my wardrobe and using the space as best I can. A few people have asked me to do a wardrobe post and there should be a post coming soon!

So I wish you all a Happy New Year for Sunday! Stay safe and have fun!

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2012!

I just want to wish all my wonderful readers and followers a very Merry Christmas! And so, I present my very dodgy looking Christmas card! I have never been that good with technology!

I will be taking a mini break during the festive season to spend time with friends and family. I don't know yet if I will be doing any posts next week but we will see how things go. Things will be back to normal in January. So, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here is hoping for a brilliant 2012!