Lolita 52 Challenge: How I First Found out About Lolita

Hello everyone! Today I'm doing another Lolita 52 Challenge: How I first found out about Lolita. This is a fun little story for me, so I hope you enjoy it!




 So back when I was around 12 years old, my sister made a new friend who introduced us to the magical world of anime. In addition to anime, she introduced us to this interesting style from Japan called Lolita. She had some Lolita clothes and very quickly my sister and I got interested in the style and wanted to know where to get it. In those days, buying Lolita clothing online from Japan still wasn't much of an option due to prices and finding quality Lolita clothing was very difficult. Indie brands and makers were few and far between and the Gothic & Lolita Bible was just wrapping up its English version run. Our friend introduced us to one of the few Indie Lolita brands in the area, Miss Carlyfornia as well as the now defunct site Sweet Rococo. Miss Carlyfornia made lovely pieces and Sweet Rococo had a wide variety of fabric and notion choices available as well as plenty of different bodice and skirt options, but with no jobs, neither of us could afford to buy Lolita clothing. All we could really do was longingly look through Google image searches and the G&LBs our friend lent us. So with lots of creativity and a bit of help from our parents, my sister and I began to each make our own Lolita outfit. (You heard me right: singular outfit. A full wardrobe was something we never could have afforded back then.) I went for Gothic and my sister went for Sweet (which coincidentally is the opposite of our styles now) and we both ended up with pretty decent outfits considering the fact we were generally broke and spent all our money on Magic: The Gathering cards. Our parents were pretty supportive of our style choice, so they helped us buy pieces or fabric too, which allowed us both to have better outfits than we would have raiding the thrift store. (As an example, chunky shoes were in for Lolita style at the time and I got some really horrible Frankenstein-esque platforms that were way too big for me and did not suit my outfit in the slightest from the thrift store. Thanks to my parents, I got some really cute black Mary Jane style wedge heels with white contrast stitching that worked really well until I grew out of them.)


How were you introduced to Lolita? Do you wear it at all currently, or is a Lolita wardrobe still in your future? Let me know in the comments!


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Lolita 52 Challenge: 5 Keywords that Describe my Lolita style

Hello everyone! Here we are again with another Lolita 52 challenge topic: 5 keywords that describe my personal Lolita style. Let's go!


#1: Pastel
 I generally prefer pastels and while I do have a few Gothic and slightly Classic pieces, my Lolita style is most definitely Sweet Lolita. Because of this, my wardrobe, including my Lolita, is most definitely pastel.


#2: Foodie
 No, I don't have gravy stains on all my Lolita dresses, nor am I morbidly overweight (I'm just a bit chubby :3 ). Though there is definitely a food theme to my Lolita style. Macaroon necklace, candy-like jewelry, heck, my dream dress (which I happily own) is Jewelry Jelly, a cute pastel print with lots of cute jelly treats on it. I definitely love cute food themed items and want to add more to my wardrobe in the future.


#3: Cutesy
 I definitely have a cute flair to my Lolita style, also evident in the fact that I mostly wear Sweet Lolita. Even with my Gothic Lolita pieces, I have cute oldschool styles and accessories.


#4: Simple
 While I enjoy OTT (Over the top) Lolita styles, due to time and money constraints my outfits are fairly simple in nature with one or two well place hair accessories, a main piece (or pieces if skirt or JSK), and some well placed jewelry. Also, I generally wear my natural hair with my Lolita coordinates as opposed to wigs.


#5: Mildly repetitive
 As mentioned before, I have money constraints, so my wardrobe is a bit lacking and I end up using the same pieces a fair amount. Because of this, my outfits can look a bit repetitive because, as an example, I'm always switching between the same two white-ish, short sleeved blouses and only really have one JSK and an OP.


So what about you? Can you come up with five keywords to describe your personal style, be it Lolita or some other fashion? I struggled a bit coming up with three key words, much less the five I ended up with.


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Rosa Hermetica Dress Review

Hello everyone! Today I'm going to be doing another review for my friend Alis's shop Rosa Hermetica. This time around I decided to buy two items and do a more in-depth review here on my blog as opposed to a first impressions review in video format like last time I ordered from her. So here we go! I'll be rating both dresses on size, quality, shipping, and overall order accuracy.

 The first dress I ordered is the To Alice Strawberry Lolita Dress in the Pink colorway.

Quality:
This dress has an adorable print and is made of soft, yet opaque chiffon-like fabric and has two detachable bows for the collar, buttons up the front, and a removable red ribbon to tie around the waist. All of the bows are made out of grosgrain ribbon and the buttons feel like plastic. There is no shirring on the dress and a zipper up one of the sides to allow for easy wear and removal of the dress. The lace is soft and delicate and the print stands out well, though it is a little blurred due to the fabric's texture.
Size:
Sadly, this dress does not fit me. I double checked my measurements and compared them to the ones listed on the site, but this style of dress runs small. I ordered the largest size available, a Medium, but it's equivalent to about a US small or extra small. I should have remembered that my sailor dress from Rosa Hermetica was almost ten cm larger than my bust measurement and was still tight when I decided to order this dress. Unfortunately this is something that happens with online shopping, so I have nothing against Rosa Hermetica for this, but I did warn Alis so she can make a note in the description to warn future customers that it runs small.

The second dress I ordered was the Alice in Wonderland Lolita Dress in the Pink colorway.

Quality:
This dress was also made out of a soft, opaque, chiffon-like material and has a nice print, albeit a little blurred due to the fabric texture. The lace is very nice and soft with multiple types on the dress. The dress has two detachable bows, one larger for the waist and one smaller for the chest, as well as attached bows on the edge of the dress made from grossgrain ribbon. There is some slight damage to some of the bows on the edge of the skirt, though it's not noticeable from the front of the bows and it looks like it's just the ribbon being burned from sealing the edges to prevent fraying. In addition to the ribbons, the dress also came with two detachable wait ties and a chiffon drape that buttons onto the shoulder straps. The dress is zipperless, with only shirring on the back and it also has adjustable shoulder straps with three different positions.
Size:
This dress fits very comfortably and allows for enough stretch to easily put the dress on and off. I'm towards the lower end of the measurements for this dress and it still fits great with and without a blouse under it. The adjustableness of the straps is great for me and the waist ties are a nice addition for bringing the waist in a bit.
Order accuracy:
Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication on the color of this dress between Alis and the people who package and ship her orders as it arrived in purple instead of pink. Fortunately she got in contact with me very quickly when I messaged her about the mix-up. While her store policy doesn't cover shipping on this, she did send me a gift as an appology for the mistake, which I very much appreciate. It's a cute little flower crown with white to pink mini roses on it. The dress is still very lovely in purple, albeit the print is a bit more subdued than with the pink colorway.



Shipping:
Both dresses arrived about two weeks after my order in seperate packages about half a day apart. This is about normal shipping time for me for packages from China. The packaging for both was a typical white polymailer, both of which were undamaged. Inside the polymailers, both dresses were in clear plastic resealable bags with their attachments. I am definitely happy with shipping time and the condition both packages arrived in.



Overall satisfaction:
I am quite satisfied with the quality of the dresses and shipping time, though I am rather upset about the color mix-up on the Alice dress and the fit of the Strawberry dress. However, I feel that Alis's customer service was very good and helped make up for these. Overall I would give this experience with purchasing from Rosa Hermetica a 4/5. I will definitely be ordering from Alis's little shop again and would highly recomend it to my friends.

Product Reviews: Violle Ville

Hello everyone! So recently I was given the opportunity to review some items from the online store Violle Ville (she can be found on Storenvy or Etsy). I'm going to be going through the whole process, from buying to recieving. Enjoy!

Storefront
 After receiving the offer, I went to check out what all was available for sale in Violle ville's shop. She has a wide variety of items for sale from bags, accessories, plushies, and phone cases. Having just gotten a phone case and having a bit of a spending limit, I decided to purchase some accessories. While the storefront was a little difficult to browse due to Storenvy's annoying feature of showing everything that's out of stock, I had a little trouble finding some items I liked the look of that were still in stock. I eventually settled on the Mini plate of sweets necklace in blue, Hearts and Bows necklace in pink, Marshmallow necklace, and a Mini Alpaca plush.

Shipping
 Shipping was from Israel and took 17 days, about two and a half weeks, to get to me after ordering. Everything shipped out the day after I ordered them and arrived well withing the 2-4 week span predicted for shipping on her website.

Receiving and Packaging
 When the package arrived in the mail, I had to sign for it as it was registered mail. I was a bit worried when I saw the package as it was a fairly weak material and already had a rather large tear in it. Everything inside was alright though as the alpaca plush was in a plastic bag and all of the necklaces were in a little jewelry box wrapped up in bubble wrap with a business card on top.

Front of the package

Back of the package

Detail of the tear (appologies for bluriness)

What was inside!

Products
 So the first and most obvious item in the package was the alpaca plush I'd ordered: an Arupakuso! He's very cute, soft, and cudly. I love his little smile, and he's the perfect hugging size!

Ain't he a little cutie?

Also inside the packaging was the little gift box with bubble wrap and a business card around it. Upon opening the bubble wrap around the gift box, I saw that it was a very cute, dark blue box with a little ribbon and bow detail on it.

Violle ville's business card taped securely to the bubble wrap

Underneath all that bubble wrap!

 Upon opening ther box, I saw that all of the necklaces I'd ordered were safely in there as well as a couple extras included as free gifts! I got a Pastel Purple Heart necklace and a cute little fruit Tart necklace.

Inside the box

All the necklaces lined up!

Hearts and Bows necklace

Mini Plate of Sweets, blue necklace

Marshmallow necklace

Tart necklace

Pastel Purple Heart necklace

All of the necklaces were very cute! The chains and clasps are all good quality and didn't look to be in need of fixing with my pliers. All of the pieces are well made and don't look like they'll be coming apart anytime soon with proper care. I was very happy to see that the parts of the pendants were all glued firmly together as well as to the bails (the loop backings), so I'm not worried about the pieces falling apart. I wore the Heats and Bows and Mini Plate of Sweets necklace together the following day and had no problems with them falling apart, breaking, tangling themselves on my hair, or having the annoying grey marks from the coating coming off like with a lot of inexpensive jewelry nowadays.

Final Thoughts
 I'm super happy with my order from Violle ville! Other than the torn package, everything was great from her comunication to the final products! I would definitely consider ordering from her again in the future and would reccomend Violle ville to anyone looking for some super cute accessories, clothes, or plushies. I'm looking forward to wearing these cute necklaces all the time with Fairy Kei, Decora, and maybe even Sweet Lolita coords!

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Lolita on a Budget: Offbrand and Bodyline

I recently got my first ever order from Bodyline, so I figured now would be a good time to not only review those products, but also go over a few off brands that are less expensive than Brand.

*Please note* I am not being payed to review or suggest any of the products. All were bought at my own expense. Additionally, all views are my own and do not in any way reflect those of any other companies or organizations.

Bodyline Product Review
 So, I decided to order two different skirts and a pair of socks from Bodyline a little while ago and went with the EMS shipping option. The first thing I noticed when ordering from Bodyline was the sizes. All of their measurements are taken in cm and the sizes (m, L, 2L, etc.) vary from item to item. I have large measurements compared to a petite Japanese girl, so I was finding that my size was typically coming out to be L or 2L. This made it rather difficult to settle on an item, but I was eventually able to find a couple of cute skirts I could afford as well as a pair of socks to include in my order. I selected EMS shipping as opposed to Air because EMS was free and Air would have cost more than my whole order combined. I was surprised at how soon after placing the order my items were shipped out as the order page stated that items shipped via EMS would be shipped on Tuesdays and I had placed my order on a Thursday. Two days later I had my tracking information and the package quickly moved between stops in Japan. Then tracking stopped for a good long while (as stated on their home page) and arrived about two and a half weeks after ordering.

Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed was that the corners of the closing flap were slightly open. Upon opening the package though, everything inside was undamaged and packaged in cute reuseable wrappers.

All of the items I received were good quality and arrived undamaged. Both of the skirts were slightly shorter than most Lolita skirts tend to be, but still very wearable! The lace and trim was all of a fairly good quality too, no scratchy lace here! I was super excited to find out that one of them had detachable waist ties and a detachable bow as well! The socks were a nice, soft material and are super comfy. I've worn them a bunch of times and will randomly wear them just 'cause. I unfortunately don't have any pictures to share at this moment, but I will be sure to post some eventually! I would highly recommend Bodyline to new Lolitas or Lolitas on a budget!

One note about Bodyline: A lot of their prints are replicas of popular prints from brands like Angelic Pretty and Baby the Stars Shine Bright. If you're uncomfortable with buying replicas, I would recommend researching a print before buying a piece with it to avoid mistakenly buying a replica. Unlike some replicas, Bodyline's replica prints are not exact copies of the originals and will often times not have the Brand name or logo in the print itself. There are also slight modifications to some of the prints.

Hot Topic
 Recently, Hot Topic has been carying more and more clothing that can work for certain styles of Lolita. I purchased one of their Hell Bunny sailor style dresses a while back and it works perfectly for Sailor Lolita with the addition of a blouse and petticoat. I've seen a few other skirts that could work for Lolita, one of which sadly looked like an ita sort of skirt (scratchy, cheap lace, bad fabric choice). Unfortunately, one problem Hot Topic skirts and dresses have is that they are usually shorter than a proper Lolita skirt. In the case of my sailor dress, I just layer a plain white fabric petticoat underneath so it looks like a ruffle at the bottom edge. An alternative would be to add a ruffle to the bottom of a skirt. Hot Topic products are fairly inexpensive compared to brand and typically cost around as much as Bodyline.

Thrift Store
 My last recommendation for inexpensive off brand Lolita clothing is checking your local thrift stores. It has become increasingly harder for me to find blouses that fit (even my home made ones are too tight at the shoulders now), so I've begun checking my local thrift stores to see if they have something that will work. Thrift stores are always give and take, so I recomend checking them as frequently as possible as well as keeping an eye out for modifyable pieces if you can sew. If your thrift store doesn't have a fitting room, I'd advise wearing tight fitting clothing so you can try items on in store and get a more acurate fitting than if you were to try something on over a JSK. And make sure to bring cash in case your thrift store doesn't accept card!

Lolita on a Budjet: Hime Lolita

Who doesn't want to be a princess at some point in their life? As girls, many of us dream of being a princess and with Hime, or Princess Lolita we can make dreams reality! Hime Lolita is definitely a extravagant style, so it can be fun to wear on occasions when one feels like going the extra mile to look glamorous. Perfect princess hair and makeup is only part of the look, and here I'll show you an affordable Hime Lolita look using items from Bodyline! This outfit costs $114 to $167 plus shipping and handling.

The base of a Hime Lolita look is always an elaborate dress. I feel that this pink flared sleeve dress is perfect for the Hime style and it's got the added benefit of removable sleeves, making it so you can wear it as a Sweet Lolita dress as well. And what outfit is complete without a great pair of shoes to go with it? These ribboned heels are pretty and cute and give you an extra boost of height for that added confidence as you stroll along. I felt that a pair of lacy tights would work best with this look and was pleased to find that Bodyline! offers cute bow patterned tights. For that extra touch of glam, a pair of pink lace and bow nails is just the perfect touch. And for icing on the cupcake, put on a cute flower headpiece that is elegant and cute. Or you can glam it up and get a tiara, which unfortunately can't be gotten from Bodyline!, but can be easily found at stores around Prom season. Not everybody has perfect Hime Lolita hair or the time to do their hair up, so if that's you you can also get a Hime wig from Bodyline! in just about any color you want! I hope you enjoy this Hime Lolita outfit.

All of the items in this outfit plus more in this style can be found on the Bodyline website. No pictures due to the fact that I haven't received permission to use Bodyline!'s images. Check me out on Twitter.

Thrift Store Find: Sweet Lolita Skirt

Whenever I visit a thrift store, I like looking through the linnens section to see if there's anything that would look cute as a dress or a skirt. A while ago I found some curtains with a very cute print and ruffles along the edges, so I bought them and made one of them into a skirt. The skirt turned out a bit longer than the ones on my other Lolita dresses, but it's a very nice skirt. I don't wear it very often mainly due to the fact that I don't have a blouse that works well with it. I found one that works alright as long as I pull the skirt waistband down around my hips though. I plan on turning the second curtain into a blouse once I find a pattern that I like.
 I'd run out of waistband elastic at the time I made the skirt, so I instead used a ribbon I had lying around. It turned out very nicely.

All images were taken by me unless otherwise noted. Check me out on Twitter.