Dream Masquerade Carnival!

So I am still feeling ill, but I am going to try and soldier on with this post. Please bear with me!

So on the 27th of August I headed to London for the Tea Party Club event Dream Masquerade Carnival. I was only able to attend the tea party on the Sunday this year, as I had other commitments on the Saturday. I would like to say that my bank account thanked me for avoiding the inevitable shopping spree, but I ended up spending my money elsewhere anyway! I think I have a serious shopping problem! The truth is, I almost didn't even make it to the tea party. I had received some really bad news just a week before, which has totally thrown me and is going to affect me for years to come. So that has been playing on my mind quite a lot and as a result, I was feeling super anxious. It just didn't seem right going to London and eating cake, but I told myself that this would probably be my only chance to see Maki and Asuka from Angelic Pretty. I had so much support from friends throughout the day and they made my decision to stay a whole lot easier. Seriously, I cannot thank you all enough (you know who you are!). 

I didn't do anything too OTT outfit-wise this time. I didn't have as much time to plan an outfit as I had hoped, as I have been exploring other hobbies outside of lolita a lot more this year. In the end, I decided to pick a dress that A) was Angelic Pretty B) went with my pink AP Tea Parties and C) I didn't think was going to get worn by a large number of other attendees. I came so close to wearing Daydream Carnival, but in the end Milky Swan won out. It would appear that I have recycled a fair bit from previous outfits this time! The shoe feathers made a return and I feel as though I have worn these gloves to death. But I wasn't really focusing on having a super unique outfit. My priorities have changed a whole lot lately. In fact, I didn't realise how profound an effect this one day was going to have on me.

The hair and accessories were inspired by Odette from the ballet Swan Lake. As this was a ballerina themed outfit, I also took some inspiration from my favourite artist Degas. The feather clips refused to stay in the correct position and the purple roses were not quite the right shade, but overall I was really happy with my choices.

The first room we were all gathered in was very small and tightly packed. It made finding people very difficult. I didn't see some of my friends until later on in the day because there was just no way of mingling without barging in to scepters, hair accessories and all the usual stuff that comes with dressing up super fancy! But I did manage to get a few pictures of other people's outfits and eventually I found Michelle sat at a table. We had a good talk and she really put me at ease. She was dressed as a beautiful fairy. Ayumi from Rose Marie Seoir picked Michelle as her best dressed and I think Michelle was the only person on the whole table who didn't see that coming! 

I didn't get many pictures of the venue itself, but here is a blurry photo of a unicorn tapestry I took! I am a huge fan of the series of unicorn tapestries and get very excited when I see any of them hanging at places I visit. They seem to be very popular in fancy hotels because I see them quite frequently. This year the venue for the tea party was the Royal Horseguards Hotel. It was this venue where the Tea Party Club hosted the 5th TPC anniversary featuring Juliette et Justine and my first time back here since that event. It did bring up quite a few memories. There was even another proposal this year, which was so sweet.

The tables had some lovely goodies available. My favourite was the AP themed temporary tattoos. I got a proper tattoo done a few months ago (I was going through a 'f*ck it' phase and just went for it) and I keep having to resist the urge to get more done! But I am not sure if I would want to get a lolita themed tattoo, just in case I regretted in later on. So having a temporary option is fantastic! There were recent prints featured as well as some carnival themed ones.

I was left feeling a bit 'meh' about the food. It was lovely, but I have to admit that it is not the best afternoon tea I have had. I think there could have been more cakes provided. We ended up with about one each. I opted for the fruit tart. The fruit was lovely and refreshing. It complimented the sweet custard filling well. There were lots of sandwiches though and the usual scones. I felt a little bit sorry for our waitress, because we kept asking for refills of the cream and jam!

The Triple Fortune designers Babi and Kaie went around each table to greet us and take pictures. I thought this was really lovely. They made such an effort and I really hope they will consider coming back to the UK again. There was a translator as well, so we got to tell them just how much the UK adores their products, especially their beautiful bonnets. 

Later on, I got a chance to have my photo taken with them. They told me they loved my hair accessories and how they reminded them of Odette. So that was definitely a highlight of my day!

But that is not all the happened... Unfortunately this is the end of the Tea Party Club. Kyra has decided to step down and it seems Mica and the others on the team are in agreement. It was a huge shock, but I think ultimately, Kyra has made the right decision and I can empathise with some of the things she has said about her decision. I will be forever grateful to the Tea Party club for the most fantastic events they have put on over the years. They have achieved so much. But this does not have to be the end of the UK lolita scene's bigger events. It may take a few years to build up to this level again, but it is not impossible. I wonder who will be generous enough to step up? Whoever decides to put on the next big event, I do hope that the community will help out and support them.

I also ended up having a very in-depth discussion with this lovely lady called Charlotte. She has made me rethink a lot of things and I loved talking to her, as she is very passionate about what she does. I don't want to say too much about it right now, but I am very excited about the future!

So if I didn't buy lolita stuff, what did make my wallet weep in London? Well after feeling so terrible in the run up to the event, I promised myself that if I made it to the tea party, I would finally treat myself to a bottle of Luna by perfume company Penhaligon's. Thinking back, I can't remember if I shared the story about this perfume on my blog or not. Basically, when I had afternoon tea for my birthday last year in London, I went in to Penhaligon's afterwards and a sales assistant got talking to me. I told him what I liked and he picked out a perfume called Luna. With a name like that, it felt like fate! It turned out to be the most beautiful rose scented perfume I have ever smelt and the shop guy sprayed it all over my arm. Then he told me the price (it costs A LOT) and I had to try so hard to not show my horror on my face! As he had sprayed so much on me, I spent the rest of the day getting painful reminders of the perfume that felt way out of my league. So this year I put the money aside and I found the perfect excuse to finally get it! I also got some Tarot themed Dunnys. Those are the little vinyl figures at the bottom of the picture. I used to collect them years ago and the tarot series reeled me right back in again. The bird themed stickers are from Artbox and the snacks are from both the Japan Centre and Artbox/Tofu Cute. I got myself quite a few DIY candy kits because I am going to be making them and uploading the videos to Youtube. This is a little side project I am doing because I thought it would be a good way to combat my anxiety and get used to talking more confidently. So if the videos do well then that is great, but if they are not a success that means less people will see me making a fool of myself on camera! I will be happy either way! The idea came to me because I am having therapy at the moment and this felt like a good step to take to improve my interactions with people online. This is just one of many lifestyle changes I am making at the moment. The channel is not up yet, so I am not able to link it. But if you are that desperate to see me being an anxious idiot, then I am sure you will be able to find me!

A quick picture of some of the items that were given away at the tea party. I adore the fans! There were also some chiffon bows, but there were limited supplies of them and they didn't match anything I had anyway. Long Ears and Sharp Ears Studio made a lot of effort with their gifts and donated so much to the raffle as well. And speaking of Long Ears and Sharp Ears...

... I won one of their skirts in the raffle! This really made me smile because do you remember the post I posted literally just the other week about difficult colours? I commented about how I don't own any brown in my wardrobe and I ended up winning a skirt with lots of brown in it! But there is also red tones and some muted gold, so I am going to focus on those colours in the print. It just made me smile that a post I posted just 2 weeks ago has become so incredibly relevant to my current situation!

So I guess this is the last Tea Party Club themed post I am going to be doing on here. It has been a wild ride, and I feel as though there are a lot of things which I have forgotten to mention. Thank you Kyra and the Tea Party Club team. I set out to meet the AP designers and I made it! That is another goal to tick off the list. I hope everybody else had a great time and hopefully I will get to see some of you at another big event soon. This might give me the incentive to attend the next Street Fashion Europe event or search further afield. Who knows what the future holds!