Items of Desire- Easy Fake Lashes

Although it absolutely pains me to say it, I am completely hopeless at applying fake lashes! I guess I always felt that I already had quite long natural lashes and a few coats of mascara was enough. But sometimes I would really like to put in a bit of extra effort and wear some falsies too. Every time I have attempted fake lashes I have failed miserably. I was daft enough to try individual ones first and they were so small and fiddly. I have also tried strip ones but I didn't feel like I was wearing them correctly.

So anything that makes applying lashes easily is a must for me.

And so, I am very curious about trying these false lashes. They have easy place strings to help apply them better.

I am unsure how you remove the red strings and I am a bit worried I may accidentally glue them on too, but I am still keen to try these. They make applying lashes look so easy!

I have often thought about giving eyelash extensions applied at a salon a go. They last about 2 weeks from what I have heard, and you have to go back to get them removed. But it seems a bit wasteful spending out money that way when these easy lashes could work out a lot cheaper.

I am hoping that with time, more lashes will come with these easy place strings. Anything that can save you a bit of time and effort has got to be a good thing.

Items of Desire- Pout Paints by Sleek

With all the different skin tones out there, sometimes it can be hard to find a lip shade that really suits you. And some days you want a look suitable for the day, and something a bit more bold for the evening. Or maybe you just want to try something completely new.

So I think Sleek's Pout Paints are ideal. Sleek is a make-up brand which is available in Superdrug, but I am sure there are other products on the market which do a similar task.

The idea is that you can mix pout paints together to make your very own unique lip colour. It is an interesting idea. Luckily, the Sleek ones are not too expensive (around £4.99) and you only need a very tiny amount because the colour is quite intense. If you got just a couple of paints, you could come up with lots of different shades. Peek-a-bloo (the blue shade) adds depth and warmth and blue tones are also useful if your teeth are not a pearly white shade and want to make them appear brighter. Use Cloud9 (the white shade) to lighten the colour.

Pout paints are great if you want your own personalised shade and it is definitely something I have considered. Being able to play with make-up is brilliant and I can see myself spending an afternoon having a bit of fun with these!

Items of Desire- the "inbetween" items

I would consider myself to be a lolita who has to watch their budget. The trouble is, I have been drawn in by both sweet and classic lolita which occasionally means there is a bit of conflict with my lolita purchases. Should my next purchase be a sweet or a classic item? This is a question I constantly ask myself.

This is where items which I like to call "inbetween" items are a life saver. I would call an "inbetween" item anything that has the potential to be worn with more than one style of lolita. When worn one way, an item could be sweet but worn in a different way, and the effect can appear different.

The latest "inbetween" item on my list are these new Bodyline shoes-

At first I thought the shoes were a little odd, but on closer inspection I really like them. they have a removable crown patch on them. Despite the heart buckles, I would happily wear the brown shoes with classic. For a more sweeter look, I can remove the crown patches and make the most of the heart punch-out details. Brown and classic go so well together but I want to wear these with a chocolate style sweet outfit too. If I dislike the crown on the patch I could always try to remove it and replace it with something more to my personal taste.

I really love it when items like these come along because they have so much potential and they don't cost loads.

Items of Desire- Re-Ment mystery boxes

Something that I enjoy outside of lolita is collecting things. I have a large Pokemon card collection and I like to collect designer vinyl toys like Dunnys. A lot of the item these are considered collector items rather than toys. One of the most exciting parts of collecting things is that sometimes collectables are packed in mystery boxes so you don't know what is going to be inside.

Recently, I have been craving items by Re-ment. I first came across Re-Ment when I visited a shop we have here in the UK called Artbox. They were placed next to the Dunny toys I was already collecting, so I picked up the box and had a look. I recall being amazed at how detailed the items looked. They would make lovely doll house furniture, but are cute enough just to collect by themselves. Since then, I have spotted several girls blogging about Re-Ment too. After seeing people showcasing these collectables, I really wanted them!

These are just a few of my favourites-

I have a strawberry obsession so naturally, I was drawn to this strawberry sweets themed collection!

I really want the Hello Kitty 3 coloured dango from this collection.

This collection has a melting theme. Some items are pretty typical, like melting ice cream but there are also more obscure items. The melting clock is very Salvador Dali.

I also like how Re-Ment are usually small. You could try attaching these to deco projects (provided you don't want to keep them in mint condition). If you wanted something simpler, get one of the keychains and attach it to your bag, or wherever else you want. You can also get other items such as magnets.

I know it is not really lolita specific, but I like these so much that I had to write about them. For more information, there is a website here- http://www.re-ment.co.jp/index.html

And if you live in the UK, check out Artbox- http://artbox.co.uk/

If I find any more links featuring items like these, I will try to write about them another time!

Just a quick note- It is my 2nd Wedding Anniversary on Saturday, so I am posting today instead of tomorrow. So if you were hoping I was going to post on Friday, then technically, this is Friday's post!

Victorian Trading Co.

I was browsing the EGL Sale community when I came across a company I had never heard of. Feeling a little curious, I did a little google searching and found the Victorian Trading Company!

The website is here- http://www.victoriantradingco.com/index.html

The Victorian Trading Co. is stuffed full of Victorian inspired items and if you are a fan of classic lolita or just like Victorian imagery, this website is definitely worth a visit. As well as clothing and accessories, there are lots of home wares, gifts and some crafts too.

The prices may be a little steep for some but I was not that surprised by the price range. However, having a browse could give you some inspiration and I have a few ideas simply by looking. They also have a free catalogue which would be good for cutting up and making some DIY art work. Plus, you can send free E-Cards to friends!

Here are a couple of the items I have been lusting over-

This is the Pastel Tea Party hat. I liked the shape of the hat and the way the lace has been draped. The dusky colours remind me of Innocent World and Victorian Maiden.

This is a Fairy Door necklace. A lot of the jewellery on the site looks very similar to a lot of other shops but I thought this necklace was a bit different. I can already think of several dresses and prints this would work with!

These boots may not be to everybody's tastes but I like the use of lace. The boots look like they are a nice shape too. It would be interesting to see some reviews of these.

I remember playing with paper dolls when I was younger but they never looked as pretty as this! I am curious to see what outfits are inside this book.

Mirrors with roses seem to appear quite a lot! I have seen this idea in lots of places before but the one in the picture is still lovely.

There is no way I am EVER going to be able to afford this bed but it is so beautiful! Anybody who has ever slept in a bed this gorgeous is very lucky. This is called their Rococo Bed. It will set you back $4995. Ouch!

The Victorian Trading Co. is a very interesting and beautiful shop. The website has definitely been a lovely distraction from all the current chaos in my life. I would recommend having a quick look. I wanted to make an Item of Desire post, but I was unable to pick out a single item!

Items of desire- macaron maker

Sometimes I find myself getting a little too attached to fun but completely pointless gadgets. My birthday is in July and my husband usually likes me to make him a list around this time so I have been scrolling through lots of different websites. The other day I came across this-

A macaron maker! I am not entirely sure what this gadget does or whether it actually makes macarons any easier to make but it looks interesting. I am curious to see this kit in action.

It looks relatively simple. The instructions are in Japanese but it shouldn't be too hard to find a translation and the process looks straight forward anyway. Apparently a recipe book is included which also has some filling ideas. You will also need to find the ingredients which may mean looking online if your local shops do not stock them.

I may be 22 but I don't think I ever grew up! I still get suckered in by cute gimmicks. I just think the kit would make a fun addition to the kitchen.

Source- http://www.strapya-world.com/products/40238.html

Items of Desire- lace stickers

I was looking on a website called Pretty and Cute http://prettyandcute.com/ and I found these lace stickers in the nail sticker section-

Sadly, these are currently out of stock but hopefully they will come back some day.

I have chosen these as an Item of Desire because of how easy they are to use. I have attempted to use real lace on nails and you have to put the lace on at the right time or it goes funny. Sometimes it can be very fiddly and a pain to get right. These stickers are far more convenient and because they are strips, you can cut them to your ideal size. These lace stickers would make a lovely decoration to nails or you could use them in the background and place something else on top. Of course, there is no reason why you would have to limit these stickers to your nails. I am sure people can come up with some more inventive uses!

Items of Desire- fluffy Candy Violet petti

I decided to start a little series on items called Items of Desire. These are items which have had very positive reviews online and which would be very useful for lolitas in general.

So for this entry my item of desire is this-

http://www.vivcore.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=VC&Product_Code=CV04-900&Category_Code=6CV_foundations

This is the Fluffy Petticoat by Candy Violet. Why is it an item of desire? Because according to some very happy lolitas, this is one of the best petticoats out there. It delivers a very good puff which would be suitable for sweet lolitas. Also, it has been reported that this petti keeps its puff for a very long time. It costs $56 and when you consider how long it lasts, I think this is an absolute bargain. It definitely puts my flat Bodyline petti to shame.

Want an alternative? Candy Violet also offers the Lace petticoat which has slightly less puff. I have also heard good things about this Closet Child petti-

http://closetchild.ocnk.net/product/2589

Bodyline, whose petticoats usually don't last very long, recently released a petticoat which costs $100. It is double the size of their normal petticoats. Quite frankly, I think this is a waste of money compared to the Candy Violet petticoat. If it is anything like their other petticoats, it wont last as long and for just over half the price, you can get the Candy Violet one.

So hopefully I will be able to put the spotlight on some other great items in the future. If you have any suggestions for items which you think deserve a little love, then please feel free to let me know.

And I would just like to say I have not abandoned my other series Taming the Beast, about hair tutorial reviewing. I have just been taking a break from it!