°˖✧✝ Lolita Blog Carnival: What Are 5 Pieces/Trends You Can't Go Without✝✧˖°

◊ Black Lipstick

So, black lipstick isn't an item that is necessarily a part of Lolita fashion, but is is an item that I definitely can't go without when wearing Lolita (or pretty much anything else, hehehe~). It may just be because I'm biased toward wearing black lipstick, but I really think that it completes my outfits and the dark, ethereal, painted dolly look that I'm going for (there were so my adjectives in that description; my style is so silly).  

There was a small stint were I forcibly had to go without wearing black lipstick for awhile when I would wear Lolita, but only because I ran out of it. During that time, I was bogged down with a lot of work from my university, and would hardly have the time or energy to dress up, so when it did come a time when I would plan to go to a meetup, I would realize I didn't have any black lipstick to put on, and there wasn't any time to order any or go to a store to pick some up.     

Never again.
Without black lipstick, my face looks so pain and empty here,
like something is missing.

◊ Crucifixes 

Victorian Maiden Shantung Cross Long Skirt 

I already talked about crucifixes in a previous blog post, but that was apart of what I wanted to wear more of for my New Year's Resolutions. Still, though, I don't have much to say in this certain section, since I already talked about crucifixes the last time. All I really have to say is that I really like crucifixes. There's something about them that makes them appear very ornate and sumptuous. I think it's because when I think of crucifixes, I typically think of those beautifully adorned churches and cathedrals.

Alte Kapelle (Old Chapel) in Regensburg, Germany
(Source)

◊ Lace/Fishnet Tights

Lip Service Ripped Net Tights

I've been wearing lace patterned and fishnet tights since high school, and they were a bit of a staple for my outfits, so I'm glad I was able to transition these pieces from my old fashion style into my new one. Depending on the style, I like how wearing a pair of net tights gives my Lolita outfits a certain amount of Punk-ish or rebellious edge, that's slightly jarring against Lolita's elegant appearance. And of course, with lace tights, they boost the elegance of a Lolita outfit that's both delicate and refined. 

◊ Princess Sleeves

Antique BeasT OP and Collar

It wasn't until I started to like the brand Metamorphose temps de fille more did I began to admire princess sleeves. They have so many sets and blouses with this type of sleeve design that it would've been pretty hard to dislike, though, considering that I always say Metamorphose is my favorite brand. Because of Metamorphose, wearing a top with princess sleeves makes me feel heavily decorated and frilly. 

I'm thinking of making some engageantes (frilly, false sleeves that are attached
to the end of elbow-length sleeves), just like the woman in the painting above,
to feel even more embellished.

◊ (Nicely Tailored) Lace Monsters

I put "Nicely Tailored" before the title "Lace Monsters", because of all of the crude looking dresses scammer sites label as Lolita. Those type of dresses are always shoddily made with materials of low quality, and their designs are always a bit off, like having way too many bows, questionable design cuts, or just being plain frumpy. But with brand lace monsters, typically, it's the opposite. Somehow, the designers find a way to go over-the-top with their designs and materials, but still maintain a refined look. I also like how the majority of brand lace monsters have a bit of silliness to them. But when you make something so overdone and exaggerated, I would assume some sort of silliness would be automatically attached to it.

Make sure to check out Lolita Blog Carnival!

Lolita Blog Carnival is an online Lolita community of Lolita bloggers who come together to blog about certain topics each week to stimulate further ideas for great blog posts!

If you want to find out what peices or trends other Lolitas can't go without, take a look at these other Lolita blogs:

Pastel Peggy

°˖✧ 'Till next time

°˖✧✝ Lolita Blog Carnival: What's Your Number One Goal Item Right Now ✝✧˖°

With me being a Lolita with more of an Old School taste, there are a lot of items that I covet, mostly because of their rarity due to how long ago they were released. So, my wishlist is a long one. But the item I will always place on top of my list is any sort of bag from Patchy. 

If you've been through my blog before, you may remember me finally getting one of these bags last year and talking about it in this post here. But getting that bag didn't satisfy me. And ultimately, purchasing it lead me down the path of obsessively trying to get even more Patchy bags. Sadly, I wasn't able to get another one since my first. That is, until now. Yes, after about a year, I was able to find and purchase another bag from Patchy. The best part is that it was one that I thought I would never end up owning.

Look at this beauty. It makes me want to cry every time I look at it.

And here are some details.

The detachable wings make me think this is one of Patchy's recent bags.
From pictures, it looks like their older ones don't have detachable wings.

This three-way (handbag, shoulder bag and backpack) Patchy bag popped up on Yahoo! Japan auction a few weeks ago with a staggering opening price of 1600 yen. With the price set so high, I thought it would be best to forgo it, especially when I could get a number of different items for that amount of money. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of owning the bag and how good it would feel knowing I owned such a piece. In the end, I caved and bought it. And thankfully, I was the only one who put a bid on it, probably because no one else in their right mind would pay that much for this bag. With the fees included, I ended up paying $150.

If someone would have told me that in the future I would have purchased a $150 bag I would have laughed in their face. And yet, here I am- $150 gone form my bank account and nothing but a bat bag to show for it. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret buying it, but it does shed some light on my spending habits. And because of it, I'm restricting myself from anymore impulsive buying for awhile. I'm trying not to let it get me down, though. Every time regret tries to creep up on me, I just think about how much my coolness will increase whenever I wear it!

So I guess I got my number one goal item in the end. This week's topic for Lolita Blog Carnival turned out being really convenient for me!

Make sure to check out Lolita Blog Carnival!

Lolita Blog Carnival is an online Lolita community of Lolita bloggers who come together to blog about certain topics each week to stimulate further ideas for great blog posts!

If you want to see what kind of items other's have been hunting for, take a look at these other Lolita blogs:

The Bloody Tea Party

*BONUS*

Along with this three-way Patchy bag, I also was able to get a Patchy change purse for about $5. It's very safe to say that I'm obsessed with this brand's bags and accessories.

What I got.

I don't know if the change purse the same one in this advertisement, just without the ring at the opening, but I'm sure that it's supposed to be worn the same way.

I really like Patchy's bat items, but in the future, I hope to get at least one of their pieces with their angel design, like the one hooked on the suite case in the picture above. 

°˖✧ 'Till next time

°˖✧✝ Lolita Blog Carnival: Create a Coord that Reflects Your Style of 2015 + Goth Day in NYC ✝✧˖°

Wow, it's already at the end of the year and I haven't had much of an update on this blog in the last month or so. I have a lot of posts that I've started and topics that I want to talk about, so that's not the problem. I just don't get a chance to finish a post in the time that I want. But as long as I get to at least post once a month, I won't feel too badly about not posting often. So, my post for this month, but hopefully not last, will be a topic from Blog Carnival, creating a coord that reflects my style of 2015.

And in an attempt to make up for the lack of updates on this blog, I'm going to merge two post into one and use an outfit from a previous outing, along with showing what I did for that day. But first, my outfit!

OP: Cornet
Apron: Metamorphose temps de file
Headdress: Handmade

Not only has this look become one of my favorites this year, but it's also the look that I really want to focus on more next year. I'm really into the eccentric and zany pieces in Lolita fashion, but the look I wish I could do more of is along the lines of the Old School Gothic dolly look. I absolutely love huge peter pan collars, obnoxious bell sleeves and lace upon lace, upon lace, upon lace... oh, and heart aprons. Looking back at this picture makes me see all of the things that interested me in Lolita fashion long ago. And above all, it inspires me to aim for a closer connection to that pastime.

Make sure to check out Lolita Blog Carnival!

Lolita Blog Carnival is an online Lolita community of Lolita bloggers who come together to blog about certain topics each week to stimulate further ideas for great blog posts!

I wore this outfit at the end of August for a "Goth Day" I had with a friend of mine. All of my other friends were at the Waku+Waku convention that day, but I really wanted to go to an oddities flea market instead. So my friend decided that we should have a jammed-packed day in New York City, going to all of the places we wanted to go to. But, she was really overzealous with the task! She had a long list of attractions and stops that went all around the city!! Thankfully, we got it down to a decent amount of stops, but we still didn't get to all of them. 

The first stop was to the Morbid Anatomy's Flea market. They had one earlier in the year, but I wasn't able to attend. When I told my friend about the upcoming one in August, she told me we had to go. So, we came early to assure we would be one of the first groups inside (and we had so much to do that we had to make time for everything).  

I'm not too keen on taxidermy, but look how cute this is!
Can't you see this being in a children's picture book?
(I think it's a weasel, maybe?)

Sister Weasel stands outside guiding the weasel children into the classroom.
Oh! What a busy day this will be!

The oddities flea market was basically what you would expect from an oddities event. There were a lot of bones, taxidermy and kitschy knickknacks. There were a fair share of dark accessories available for purchase too. I wanted quite a few religious items and some supernatural comic books, but I was on a tight budget for the day and couldn't get everything I wanted. I did end up getting something small, though.  

My bible and set of love fortune cards.

I picked theses cards from a huge sack that was separated by men and women.
Each one was different, and even though I wanted most of them,
I decided to get a pair that suited each other.  

But the coolest thing, was what I found inside of the bible I purchased!

Inside was a bookmark with an eerie cross stitched message, "Remember me," stitched in with purple thread.

There were also leaves placed in between various pages and a charted genealogy
of the Simpson family starting from the last page.

Unfortunately, by the end of the day, both of the front and back covers ripped off. I was really upset about want happened, but my friend tried cheering me up. She said I must have broken a curse or a seal that was on it. 

If you want to look at what was at the Morbid Anaomy Flea Market and some of its participants, you can go through pictures here at The Village Voice's website.

Even though the flea market was hosted by Morbid Anatomy, this August event was located at a different venue down the street from the museum to accommodate its size. So after we were done at the flea market, we thought our next stop should be at the museum to see what new exhibit they were showcasing. 

You're not allowed to take pictures upstairs in the exhibit,
so here's a picture of us in front of the bathrooms upstairs instead.  

After the museum, we decided to go get lunch at Eight Turn Crepe. My friend was really excited to go since it was her first time, mine too, and couldn't decide with crepe to get, a sweet or savory one. Feeling adventurous, she ended up getting both! I didn't want to feel left out or bested, so I decided to do the same. I thought it would be cute if we got the same crepes too.

Second crepe of the day and the last room in my stomach.

This is the look of defeat.
My sanity is gone. There are only crepes left.

The crepes were delicious, but after stuffing the last bit of the second one down, I had soon regretted it. I was left feeling bloated and sleepy for the remainder of the day. But there was no time to sleep it off, because we were off to our next stop, Sebastian Masuda's Hello Kitty Time Capsule event. For those of you who frequently read my blog, you may remember that I went to this same event earlier in the year. You can read about it in this post here. But because I was already going to be in the city, I decided to go again. And I wanted to get a picture with Yuka, the gorgeous and influential shop staff from Sebastian's 6%DOKIDOKI store, since I was too shy to ask last time.

All aboard the kawaii bus!

Source: Sebastian Masuda Official FB page

While the last time capsule event was affiliated with the Japan Society, this on was backed by Waku+Waku. It was with the same Hello Kitty time capsule and located at the same place, though. I guess you can say that the only difference was the bus that was rented to bring the Waku+Waku attendees to the time capsule and back to the convention, which I think was the coolest!

I think it was great that fans got to to be this close to an icon like Sebastian. Not only that, but it just shows how down-to-earth Sebastian is with everyone. He isn't a person who puts on airs and he continues to show how he's committed to bringing people together, regardless of their differences. Whenever Sebastian comes to New York City I always try to support him.

I decided to put in my My Melody mini Pez candy dispenser this time.

I still wanted to soak up the atmosphere of the event and take some time to relax, so my friend and I decided to stay at the time capsule for a while. But as the Goths that we are, we shuffled over to a nice shady corner next to a fountain to catch a breeze (I forgot to mention that is was really hot that day too). After siting around watching the Waku+Waku attendees be interviewed by some people from the television show Kawaii International, we went off to our next stop, a bakery called Dominique Ansel. 

Dominique Ansel has a really small front area, but must stay full
with costumers throughout the day. Even though we showed up pretty late in
the day, there was still a long line reaching down the hall! 

Everything looked so tasty at the bakery and were reasonably priced.

One of their specials were their cookie shots, as seen on display in the first picture.
The "shot glass" is a chocolate chip cookie molded into a cup shape and the "shot" is milk!

I regret not getting anything at the bakery, but I was still so full from the crepes earlier and thought it would be a waste to buy something. So I just watched my friend try out their frozen s'more specialty in agony. It look so good! It was a wad of ice cream on a wooden stick, wrapped in marshmallow and lighted torched over a flame!! I wish I took a picture before she ate it. Next time, I want to try one of their Cronuts, a pastry mixed between a croissant and doughnut. But apparently, you'll have to come in earlier if you want to get one before they sellout for the day.

After the bakery, we finally reached the last stop of the day, Bassanova Ramen! My friend heard great things about the restaurant and insisted that we go. And with all of the accolades it received, like being one of New York Times' Top Ten Ramen Destinations in New York, I  wanted to see what all of the fuss was about. Waku+Waku was done for the day and another one of my friends came along too. It was really late about time we got to the restaurant, but I glad we went, because it was the best ramen I've ever had! But it was also the smallest ramen bowl I've ever had. I really wished there was more of it.

Lemon Black Pepper Tondaku Ramen:
Berkshire pork, tonkotsu soup, with lemon and black pepper. Topped with
portion chashu, kikurage mushroom, fried ginger onion, crushed sesame, nori and scallion.

Wow, that was a long post wasn't it? Now do you see why I don't update as often as I do? I like long post, but just don't like writing them. Maybe committing to completing more of my post can be one of my New Year's resolution, though. It may seem hard at first, but completely doable. I'm definitely going to work on doing even more blogging on here. I can't wait!

°˖✧ 'Till next time

°˖✧✝ Lolita Blog Carnival: Design a Complete Coord for $100 ✝✧˖°

Screenshot from Ruffle Chat on Facebook

I've been wanting to do a price rundown for one of my outfits for a while. And after a post on Ruffle Chat that linked a photo set of people listing the contents and prices of their outfits, my urge to make one grew stronger. But instead of coming up with the most expensive outfit I could, like the photo set sought out to do, I though it would be fun to show one of my cheapest. The post in Ruffle Chat was created in February, but I wanted to wait until I could actually wear the outfit I was planning on using. I ended up wearing the outfit in mid March, but then laziness caught the best of me and I put off making such a post. Though, wouldn't you know it, lemontree11 had planed a similar project, and posted a huge compilation of Lolita's outfits and their costs at the end of the same month! I didn't want to seem like I was bandwagon-ing, so I waited to post mine at a better time. And now, Lolita Blog Carnival has created the perfect excuse for me to do so!

    

You can read about the time I wore this outfit here. 

The task for the participants of Lolita Blog Carnival was for us to create a coord that's worth $100, but I went a bit over. It's just $8 extra, though. I'm sure you can let it slide this time. And for the sake of the price range, I didn't include any shipping or fees I may have paid for these pieces. Also, as a little note, I listed the Bodyline shoes as $21 because of the JPY to USD currency exchange rate at the time I had bought them. However, they are now $25, which is still a great price for platform shoes.  

So yeah, this is one of my cheapest coords using main brand pieces, if not the cheapest. Though, besides the backpack, I can say that, every other piece is of the cheapest items I have. Hence, this Black Peace Now blouse is the cheapest blouse I own, and the same goes for the skirt and shoes. 

I LOVE hunting for bargains and uncovering deals. My friends marvel at how cheaply I shop for Lolita clothes! I'm thinking about making more post like this one. I have a lot of great deals I'm willing to show.  

Make sure to check out Lolita Blog Carnival!

Lolita Blog Carnival is an online Lolita community of Lolita bloggers who come together to blog about certain topics each week to stimulate further ideas for great blog posts!

If you want to see more $100 coordinates, take a look at these other Lolita blogs:

Pepins de Pom & Co.

Art du noir

Crimson Reflections

Pastel Peggy

°˖✧ 'Till next time

°˖✧✝ Lolita Blog Carnival: Make A Spring Inspired Coordinate ✝✧˖°

Nothing scares a Gothic Lolita more than the words spring or summer. The spring reacquaints us with the sunlight left behind during daylight savings and the summer brings us sweltering heat (like really, I just want to wear my black velvet). And lets not forget the most common threat both creates- cutesy wootsy themes that designers can't help but to design for. So what's a Gothic Lolita to do? How can we survive all of the floral and fruit prints? 

I can't say much for those fruit prints, but what if I told you that florals aren't something just for fulling up the boarder of a Sweet Lolita's OP, the little embellishments found on the collar of a Sweet/Classical Lolita's blouse or those patterns you find on a grandmother's old couch? Turns out, they can be used for Gothic outfits as well. That's it, the secret is out. Did your blood dry up? Are you hissing from such a shock? Maybe you can get to your coffin in time to recuperate. Yes, Gothic Lolitas can wear florals and still be considered Gothic. And why shouldn't I wear florals? After all, it is spring.

JSK: Innocent World
Blouse and shoes: Bodyline
Parasol: Alice and the Pirates
Accessories: Handmade

Psst, this is the first outfit I wore that made my friends say,
"You look a bit... Old School."
Or should I say the first time they noticed! 

"Where are the florals? You were talking about forals, but this JSK has bows on them?!"

You got me. There's no floral print. Instead, I let my bouquet of flowers take the place of an actual printed floral pattern on the JSK.

For this Lolita Blog Carnival topic, I felt that an older outfit of mine was quite fitting. I wore this at the tail end of spring last year, but haven't posted the picture on an open platform until now (So I can get away with posting it now with a new topic, right?). At the time, I was just identifying myself as a Gothic Lolita, and not specifically as an Old School one. But either way, I was going for a more Classic look to fit the theme of the meetup I was attending. Even though there are different styles present in this look, (a little bit if Sweet with a pinch of Classic wrapped in an Old School silhouette, but somehow Gothic), I like how each style element can read as its own while still being cohesive as one outfit. 

"Girl, how is this Gothic? I think you're stretching that one."

Asides from the constant presence of the color black throughout the outfit and my black lipstick, there are a few Gothic motifs sprinkled among everything else: bat charms on my hair bows, a badge that has the word "SPOOKY" on it written in Gothic font with a spider attached to it, and the black scenery of a haunted house on my purse.     

It should be already known that Gothic Lolitas can wear florals, especially with all of those Moi-meme-Moitie dresses with floral designs created over the years, but you'll be surprised how many people get stirred up when I mention it. Adding florals to an outfit used to be really popular with all three of the main styles, Sweet, Classic and Gothic, but it seems as if there are those who have forgotten this or just don't know. I attribute most of the confusion with the lack of different representations or renderings of the style from the majority of our fashion resources and participants. Gathering information solely from these sources would make it seem like Gothic Lolitas always have to be mature and elegant while wearing only black or jewel tones. But no so, we can be cute and wear florals too.         

Can you imagine a time when Classic Lolita looked like this?
But it looks Gothic-y, doesn't it?

Innocent World ad in The Gothic & Lolita Bible Vol. 2
Source: Hello Lace under their Classic Lolita style list

"Yeah, but that's obviously old. You can't possibly expect a Gothic Lolita to wear that now."

Atelier Boz ラゼンシアミニ Skirt (2015)

Source: Atelier Boz's blog 

Florals in Gothic Lolita designs have been around for years and they are still being produced. Though, for some reason, they don't seem to be a popular look for Gothic Lolitas in the west, which is fine. You can't expect all of us to look the same. Just know that there are more options out there for us (with budding pink roses, or in my case, a cream and lilac bouquet, being one of them)! 

Make sure to check out Lolita Blog Carnival!

Lolita Blog Carnival is an online Lolita community of Lolita bloggers who come together to blog about certain topics each week to stimulate further ideas for great blog posts!

If you want to see more spring coordinates, take a look at these other Lolita blogs:

The Bloody Tea Party

Courtly Dreams for Burgher

Candied Dreams

Divinecross

°˖✧ 'Till next time

°˖✧✝ Lolita Blog Carnival: Favorite Lolita Hairstyles ✝✧˖°

To those who have read my posts in the past, you may already know that my favorite Lolita hairstyle is twin tails! I've referred to them as ponytails or pigtails in previous posts, because that's what people call them where I'm from, but I think the Japanese term, twin tail, is more fitting and cuter. Even though I've already talked about why I like this hairstyle before, I still have more love to give!  

I don't want this post to seem monotonous, so I'm going to go deeper and explain where my fondness for this style comes from. Though, I'm a bit embarrassed to say that it's not because of a very sophisticated reason (it's more finicky than anything). In some instances, I obsess over symmetry or a sense of balance. So the effect of having mirroring hair pieces on both sides of my face gives me a soothing satisfaction. They also frame the face in a shapely manner that's quite appealing. 

Likewise, because the the root of my admiration comes from my symmetrical obsession, I've realized that any hairstyle that's comparable to twin tails' proportions is a style I've also harbored love for. So yeah, buns are included too! I feel so silly explaining it, but I've come to terms with it and even named it. I call it the "Noah Effect," everything has be in twos.     

So lets appreciate some of my favorite "Noah Effects" in Lolita hairstyles!

◊ Puffy/Curly Twin Tails       

I know I've already said I liked twin tails, but when I talk about them, I'm usually referring to those with tight ringlets. It's an Old School trend, but I still think that it reflects the strongest "dolly" look out of all of the other common Lolita hairstyles. But, out of all of the standard twin tail looks, with the most common one being the straight twin tail with a curl at the end, I think puffy twin tails aren't given their due anymore. I'll admit, at first glace, they don't give off an air of sophistication that Lolitas are trying to achieve nowadays, mostly because they read as being childlike. But I believe that they stand a chance of being used for an elegant princess look. Especially when you grow tired of that hime hair (or can't get it layered just right). 

Alice and the Pirates x Hizaki collaboration (suck it you Visual Kei haters)
Hizaki is the ultimate princess, so if curly twin tails
are good enough  for him, they're good enough for me.
And adding a little more puff wouldn't hurt either.

◊ Curly Buns

The reason why I chose curly buns and not regular buns is because curls adds emphasis to a hairstyle. It creates the right about of volume and depth to the normal bun shape. Instead of having knots on the side of your head, curly buns makes these otherwise sculpted bumps of hair into smooth, soft gathers. The effect ends up being like one of those Christmas present bows! This style is cute, but it's still able to be done with a level of maturity, as seen from the picture with Misako. Ditch the matching bows and style with looser curls that's more relaxing and natural. It'll be toned down, but it'll still serve as a fun style. (And not the mention, moving your hair up emphasizes your neck, sometimes making it longer and refined.)  

Go ahead and touch my curly buns.
They're nice and springy!

◊ Horns 

Okay, so I'm not even going to try to sugarcoat this one. It's out there (very avant garde). I dare any Classic Lolita to do a workable, elegant horn hairstyle! I'll be waiting and preparing my dialogue to name them as the greatest Classic Lolita of all time. Seriously though, I do think this style is possible with an OTT coord. While the horn style seems to be more Punk in spirit, like in the left Putumayo photograph, I love how the right photograph interpreted the style with a more light and whimsical approach. It's not harsh, heavy or rebellious. Even though it is abnormal, it doesn't come off as being over barring or forced. Heck, if horns can be styled in a Sweet Lolita coord, then why not any other sub-style of Lolita?       

Even I wear horns once in a while.
But this outfit comes off a a little Puckish,
so I guess I took the easy way out! 

Make sure to check out Lolita Blog Carnival!

Lolita Blog Carnival is an online Loita community of Lolita bloggers who come together to blog about certain topics each week to stimulate further ideas for great blog posts!

Here are other Lolitas writing about their favorite Lolita hairstyles:

Raven Snow

Divinecross

A Heart's Sound

Poppy Noir

°˖✧ 'Till next time