MCM Expo and Camden buys- May 2011

For my full expo post, please scroll down to my next entry. Today I am focusing on the items I purchased during this MCM Expo. Needless to say, my purse was very empty afterwards!

I could not justify spending out £30 for an art book with my budget for the day. I still wanted some pretty anime and manga artwork and I found a stall selling laminated prints. I usually go for typical "pretty" shoujo artwork! My favourite is the one of Shinku and Suigintou from Rozen Maiden (top left).

I also got some back issues of Neo magazine. It was a shame that Popi who does the fashion page was unable to attend. She was really lovely when I met her at Hyper Japan last October. I also got a free manga preview book.

Fluffy hair pom poms! These remind me of the soot sprites from the Studio Ghibli films. In fact, they probably are meant to be the soot sprites!

I am a massive Pokemon nerd so I had to get a Celebi keychain. I was going to get a Celebi plushie instead but I decided to get a friend a birthday present instead (so they had better like their present or I will be devastated I missed out!).

Cardcaptor Sakura is one of my favourite animes EVER. I felt this was the cutest Sakura figure in the series. It was fairly cheap and I am not sure if it is legit merchandise or not. I am hopeless with fake spotting but I still love this figure! I also got a Hangry and Angry keychain. I believe this is Angry but if it is Hangry, please correct me. The bow at the bottom was from the Cherry Abuku stall http://www.cherryabuku.bigcartel.com/

I also got this cute little rain drop from the Cherry Abuku stall. It was very difficult to photograph. It has a cute little face on it.

I got this pudding ring from a stall called Tanabata. It was also available in purple but I thought the yellow version looked more realistic. As you can see, I am still wearing my nail polish to match my Wonder Cookie dress! I painted my nails pink, blue, green and white to match all the stripes.

Alpaca! You may have seen some alpacas lurking about on the online lolita community. I think they are so cute. I want to get a rainbow of alpacas!

Thankfully I got around almost all of the stalls before I started feeling ill. After getting some food I decided I may as well do a little shopping whilst I was still in London.

I went to the Japan Centre and got the July 2011 issue of Kera magazine. I don't buy Kera religiously but if I am in London I like to pick up a copy. I found this issue very inspiring and I have some great new ideas. It is also great to see the latest lolita prints in more detail. I noticed a lot of pretty Innocent World stuff coming soon and Lumiebre is doing a parasol collaboration with Metamorphose.

In Camden I found this K-Star blouse in Angel Pretty. I currently have a real shortage of blouses in my wardrobe and I have been looking for a pink blouse for ages. This blouse is a little more frilly than my usual tastes but for some reason I just love it. This blouse is surprisingly good for Angel Pretty which is usually known for over-priced poorly made goods. Yes, it is not the best made blouse out there but for what I paid I was really pleased with this blouse.

I am debating removing the ribbon bows just to tone it down a little.

I want to remove the ribbon bows on the collar here...

... and also the ones on the sleeves. If anybody has any further suggestions or just want to share their opinions on this blouse (good or bad) then let me know what you think.

I also got some light pink shoes from Sai Sai.

Nowadays, I choose to ignore the dresses and skirts because I dislike the lace on most of the dresses and the material feels cheap. I still think that Sai Sai is worth visiting for their blouses, socks and shoes.

The straps on these shoes are a little confusing but they have poppers to make putting the shoes on easier. The colour is a delicate milky pink so I will probably be using these for classic lolita and maybe sweet on some occasions. I have not worn these shoes yet but they feel relatively sturdy.

My main pet hate about both Sai Sai and their sister shop GLP is that they don't take good care of their shop and their stock. A lot of their items are dirty and look as though they have not been stored well. My shoes do have a few scuff marks but they look very superficial. If I give them a quick clean before I wear them then most of the marks will come off and they will be like new. Do double check any items from these stores before you buy them. I was lucky because there is no serious or lasting damage on my shoes.

After all this I was feeling very broke. I don't feel as though I will regret any of my purchases. I will have to wait and see how the shoes turn out and they are my most riskiest purchase of the day. The blouse was a very pleasant surprise considering I dislike a lot of Angel Pretty's stock. Their dresses still look awful though...