Sunglasses and Lolita?

Hooray! The sun has finally made a re-appearance here in the UK! After a dismal April, the temperatures are rising and the sky is cloud free. Of course, there are some downsides to the sun when you are as pale skinned as me and I have my parasol and sun cream at the ready. However, there is something else which I am really lacking at the moment- sunglasses. I have been making do with one pair of red Ray Ban style sunglasses for everyday wear, but with lolita? Well, I am a bit clueless.

Let's be honest, when you mention the words 'lolita' and 'sunglasses' together, chances are that most people will think of the heart shaped sunglasses. They are so cutesy and come in a variety of colours.

But heart shaped sunglasses are also associated with the 'other' kind of lolita. I am always reminded of this poster from the movie Lolita. Now quite frankly, I couldn't care less about the movie using these sunglasses. But what is really annoying is that whenever I try to search for lolita sunglasses, I am bombarded with the same heart shaped sunglasses over and over again! I actually do like the heart shaped sunglasses and I wouldn't mind owning a pair, but there has to be more styles out there that you could wear with lolita... surely? Most lolitas would probably wear the heart sunglasses with sweet lolita, but what if you were wearing a different style or just simply wanted something a little different?

I did think of going down the deco route. Kawaii lovers seem to decorate just about anything nowadays and it could easily liven up what could otherwise be a pair of very dull shades. Character shades have the potential to be cute too. The ones above are Hello Kitty inspired, which seem fairly popular. It would be interesting to see people make sunglasses for lots of different characters. 

Sweet seems fairly simple, but what about gothic? Well, this was a bit of a pit-fall! Beyond wearing dark shades, I couldn't think of very much! I did find these lace covered sunglasses. I think that actually, the lace ones would irritate me a bit. Seeing the lace pattern in front of my eyes would be annoying and so I think I will leave these ones to the Lady Gagas of the world.

And what about classic? I guess there are some cute floral frames out there. But there is so much more to classic than just florals. I would probably go for more gentle brown tinted shades in this situation.

Of course, not all sunglasses are equal...

So classy and elegant! People stare at me enough in the street already without me wearing a pair of boobs on my face! I wonder if anybody has ever ordered these?

So my adventure in to sunglasses has not gone very far and I don't feel like I have made a massive amount of progress. I will be trying to wear sunglasses regardless of whether they match or not, because I think my eyesight is more important than fashion. I just felt it would be lovely to have something matching (but at the same time, not majorly expensive). Maybe I will give in and get the heart glasses for sweet lolita, but as somebody who dabbles in more than one lolita style, I feel like there is a lack of variety. If anybody has any suggestions, then please let me know.

A Few Little Tips For Summer

Here in the UK it would seem we are going through a dry spell this Summer. We have already had some scorching hot days. So to people in America 30 degrees centigrade may not sound much, but when you are used to British temperatures you soon start to melt in this heat! Getting hot means getting sweaty and sunburnt which do not go well with lolita. So I thought I would give advice aimed at lolitas (although non-lolitas may find it useful too!)

1. Blast yourself with icy cold water on the areas where you sweat a lot. This is also good for temporarily tightening any wobbly bits. In theory, you should sweat less.

2. Use a men's deodorant. Men varieties of deodorant tend to work better than female varieties. However, avoid ones with sport in the name or you will smell masculine.

3. Parasols are not sun protection! Although a lovely lolita parasol is good for shading you, the harmful rays WILL still get through. So don't go thinking you can't wear sun screen!

4. If sun screen gives you acne use a variety which is oil free. They tend to be more expensive but your face wont be as greasy.

5. Break the lolita rules! Those of you familiar with lolita will know that some lolitas stick to some pretty strict rules (Flashing your knee? Heaven forbid!) but in my opinion, as long as you are not breaking a load of rules in one go it should not matter if you break one or two rules. Don't want to wear a blouse under your JSK? Then don't!

6. It is pretty obvious, but if you can't handle the heat- don't wear gothic lolita!

7. Try and remember that brighter colours will attract more insects

8. If you are attending a meet-up, do a bit of research to see if there are any cafes in the area which do nice ice cream or desserts. I am always researching places where I can cool down and the information is so easy to get over the net now. Tomorrow I am off to Oxford for the day and I know a great ice cream place. I will also be visiting the Alice cafe. More on that next time!

9. Buy a portable mini fan. Here in England, I find that petrol stations are a good place to find these.

10. Suggest meeting somewhere like a river or the sea. The air will be cooler near water.

11. If you are staying in a hotel, pay extra for a room with air conditioning. Last August when my husband and I went on our honeymoon we were convinced we would not need any air-con. "This is England! There is no way the room will get that muggy!" we both thought (we spent the week in London doing all the things we usually don't get to do on day trips). But we were wrong. We chose the one week of the Summer where it was not raining and it was very hot. I barely slept the entire week and by the end of the week I was shattered. We learnt our lesson- pay extra for air-con because it is so worth it!

12. Carry a drink around with you in case there are no cafes in the area.

If you follow all these tips and still feel hot and sticky, then maybe you should just save lolita for the slightly colder days (it has got to rain some time). Nobody said being lolita was easy...