Frilly Fortune-Telling Meet

November can be a bit of a dead time: Halloween’s over, but it’s too early to start doing too many Christmassy things (other than shopping – get that done early, save yourself some money and stress), the weather’s too cold and wet for most outdoors activities, so you just end up at home with some comfort food and comfy clothes. Other than a brief fling that is Bonfire Night here in the UK, there doesn’t seem to be much to look forward to in November. I hoped to change that a little bit by introducing my comm to Polish Andrzejki (St. Andrew’s celebrations) and I organised a fortune-telling meet.

For this reason I decided to put together a fortune teller inspired coord, since as the meet organiser I considered myself the chief fortune-teller for that day. And I must say I love how this look came out. Sheherazade was the only main piece I own which could’ve carried this theme and except for the scarf I already owned all the pieces which I needed, which was brilliant. This may be the closest I ever came to a Gothic Lolita look – it’s still not Gothic, but certainly the darkest and most mysterious coord I’ve done.

| AatP Sheherazade JSK | eBay blouse | Resailan
tights | Risu Rose necklace | offbrand jewellery,
scarf and boots |

For those of you who aren’t Polish/Eastern European, there is a belief in Poland that the eve of St Andrew’s (the night from 29^th to 30^th of November) is a good time for magic that would either predict or bind a maiden’s future husband (men do similar things on the eve of St Katherine’s – Katarzynki – which is the night from 24^th to 25^th of November). This is when all kinds of fortune-telling and games take place, ranging from very traditional and folklore-based to plain silly and intended as a laugh. As a kid in Poland we’d often spend one day’s form time to do this, causing all kinds of giggles and disgusted noises when you were predicted to marry someone with the same name as one of the boys in your class. But this isn’t just something for the kids, although nowadays it’s definitely taken less seriously than it would’ve been for example a century ago – you’ll find night clubs using Andrzejki as an excuse for throwing on a night out, as well as groups of friends casually organising meet ups and doing some fortune-telling at someone’s home.

I organised the meet with the intention of being focused around Lolita, rather than any future spouses. Luckily, most of the games were easy to swap around to incorporate e.g. print names instead of people’s names. Let me tell you though, when I first volunteered to organise the meet and then posted up the details, I did not expect as many positive reactions as I did. They ranged from “cool idea” all the way to expressions of regret that people won’t be able to make it. It was both exhilarating and a little daunting: this was the first time I organised a Lolita meet, so I wanted it to be good, but I tried my best not to give in to any imagined pressure.

Some of the games I prepared included: stab a heart to find
out what print you'll buy next, 5 things in a petagram to
summon X and the wax reading.

In the end it all went great: despite a few last minute drop outs (it’s November, of course people will be poorly) the meet was well attended and fun. Everyone got on board with the games I had prepared, although the wax reading was a clear winner, and I think I hit a good balance between planned activities and down time for casual chat, eating or taking photos. I must say here, the venue Stew and Oyster exceeded my expectations: when I checked it out, I got a feel of it being quite laid back and cosy, but the staff there made us feel very welcome and even separated our corner of the place with a curtain (later, as it got busier and they needed that space for other guests, they opened it up, but we still got a good hour/hour and a half of privacy). The food was lovely too – even though the meet wasn’t centred around eating, pretty much everyone ordered something and then complimented on how lovely and reasonably priced it was. If you’re in Leeds and need a relaxed and quiet place to hang out I’d recommend Stew and Oyster.

Pouring the wax.
Photo by Holly.

Photo by Holly.

Interpreting the shadow cast by the wax.
Polish people didn't predict that you could
have dinosaurs and there was no reading for
them.
Photo by Holly.

There was already a big waxy mess on the window sill, we only added our
creations.
Photo by Holly.

Afterwards, when the meet was over, one of the frillies joined me on the way to Boots. A member on Amino has said earlier how she found a new makeup brand called Makeup Obsession who let you build your own makeup palette for very reasonable prices: one pot of eyeshadow at £2 and one pot of blush, highlighter or contouring stuff at £3 is a bargain! They’re available online, but I wanted to check out the colours in real life first and since my local Boots didn’t stock their products, I went to Boots in Leeds Trinity Centre. Without some help from a very lovely member of staff I don’t think we would’ve found it, I would’ve looked where brands like Maybelline and L’Oreal are, but this was where the designer fancy stuff was kept. From testing out the samples, the eyeshadows and the blushes are very pigmented and they’re quite generous pots too, maybe the size of a 50p coin or thereabouts! It’s a shame that their eyeshadow colour range didn’t include many pinks though – there were lots of nudes and some statement colours like blue, black, green or purple, all available in shimmery or matte versions. But I’m hoping that as they become more popular they will increase their range of colours on offer. It’s a great idea as not only you get to pick the colours you know you’re going to use, but when you run out of one you don’t have to buy a whole palette just to replace that one shade. If you’re based in the UK, I’d recommend checking them out. At £2 per eyeshadow and £3 per everything else you could even pick up just one that you like before committing to building an entire palette.

My custom palette. The blue stands out and bothers me as
far as the aesthetic of this one goes, but I needed all these
colours.

Overall I’ve had so much fun organising this meet and everyone who attended made it even more enjoyable. Having done this I think I caught a bit of a meet organising bug – doing something for others to enjoy is quite contagious, like giving someone a present that is just perfect for them. Hopefully I’ll get to organise something again soon. For now I’m happy to have had this success, as well as plenty of rest afterwards, and all eyes are on Winter ILD now. I can’t wait!