My Favourite Apps for Lolita

For many of us, not just Lolitas, our smartphones and tablets have grown to be big parts of our life. With those devices comes a truly endless ocean of apps for pretty much everything you could need – and even things you definitely don’t need. Now that I have a new phone, as well as an iPad, I indulge in those a bit more than I did previously, and would like to introduce you to a couple of my favourites as a Lolita. I’m sure that there’ll be some which you won’t need introducing to, but hopefully you’ll find something new here as well.

XE

From the tried and trusted currency converting website comes a handy app – always ready when you need to check how much that dress actually is in the currency that you hold in your bank account. I have mine set to show the currencies I convert to and from most often and even added a widget to my home screen showing the GBP to JPY exchange rate. While the widget sometimes goes a bit bonkers, the app always has the most up to date rates, just like the website. Except that you can convert things a lot faster and into multiple currencies at once, which is where the app reigns superior to the website.

Labels

This one allows you to create a database of washing instructions on your clothes tag – so of course I use it for my Lolita clothes. It has a very comprehensive guide of care instruction symbols with explanations (though they seem to be for English labels only) and then you have all the information you need at the tap of a finger. Yes, it took me a while to take photos and select the right symbols, even going as far as putting in materials the dresses are made out of, but it was definitely worth it. Minor complaint, but it would be nice if the app let you pick whether the material you’ve just put in is for the whole garment or whether there’s lining – at the moment, for example, I’ve had to mark 100% cotton dress with 100% polyester lining as 50% cotton and 50% polyester. But that’s a minor thing which doesn’t detract from how useful this app is.

BeautyCam

I tried to stay away from photo editing/filter apps, but couldn’t. Out of the few that I have this one’s my favourite. I like all the various filters it includes and how much of a different look they give you – plus, whilst definitely great for selfies, it works just as great for other kinds of photos as well. You also get some other editing perks, such as cropping photos, making it a very versatile app. In fact, when using my phone, I tend to stick just with that one, as my other favourite, MOLDIV, has more options on the iOS version than the Android one. But whether it’s a coord shot, a selfie or trying to make any other photo look a little bit fancier, Beauty Cam’s worked beautifully for me.

Amino

I only joined recently, following Cathy Cat’s video on YouTube, but I already love it. Of course, Amino hosts a whole bunch of various communities, but I use it only for Lolita and it’s a great hub, where you get to interact with people across the world, exchange ideas, take part in challenges, get some of the latest info on sales etc. Like with any social app, it’s only as good as its users make it, but I found Amino a lot more fun, interactive and welcoming than Alice Holic, another Lolita-specific social app. On Amino people seem more willing/keen to talk to each other, but although Alice Holic has a comment option I am yet to see people use it and as it’s visual only, focused on photos, you naturally won’t get to really know the users behind the photos unless you find another way to talk to them. So yes, if you’re looking to get some more online Lolita buzz from your fellow frillies, definitely give Amino a go.

Fril

This is an app for the Fril website, a second hand sales hub in Japan. It can be a little tricky to navigate at first if you can’t read Japanese, but I think that most people could quickly get the hang of it. After creating an account, you can save your favourite brands – in our case, Lolita ones like Angelic Pretty or Innocent World – and then every time you open the app and scroll sideways you’ll see updates for every new listing tagged under that brand. They have some amazing deals that go beyond clothing and you’ll get notified if an item you liked has been reduced, allowing you to keep an eye on the things that you’d like to buy, but maybe need to save up for. And as I said, somethings things go on there for really cheap!

Do you have any favourite apps that you use for any kind of Lolita-related purposes? Share them with me, please, and I hope that you found something useful here.