2017 wishlist

Talking about my goals or doing a wardrobe post before 2017 officially rolls in makes me a little bit uncomfortable, it’d feel like cheating. I can, however, talk about what sort of things I’m looking to get.

End of Year Lolidrobe Reassessment Post

2016 simultaneously feels as if it flew by and as if it dragged on forever. I’m glad to see it off and focus on the adventures ahead, yet at the same time I can confidently say that despite the political upheaval and so many famous people passing away, it was a good year for me. Especially in terms of Lolita.

Merry Christmas!

Very briefly, as I am still recovering from the overeating spree that lasted from Christmas Eve throughout today: I wish you all the loveliest of Christmasses, with all the peace, love and happiness you can get. I spent both days with my loved ones, first my family and then my boyfriend's family and while I only wore Lolita on Christmas Eve, I still had the chance to kawaii-fy myself for the occasion. Pro tip: have at least one fully shirred main piece for maximum comfort when eating.

Merry Christmas!

| Metamorphose Shirring Tiered Ribbon JSK |
Angelic Pretty Twinkle Glitter Knit Cardigan |
Antaina heels | Cutie Creator headbow |
Resailan Jewelry Box tights | Rose Marie Seoir
necklace |

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 8

I’ve been postponing doing this one because I waited for some of my orders to arrive as a lot of the items I purchased very much with this skirt in mind – and then ended up using only one of them. Because my logic is flawless. But hey-ho, we got to my first and so far only real Lolita skirt (I own one from Bodyline, but I use it as an underskirt, so I count it as a half), Magic Tea Party’s Bears Paradise. I love high-waisted skirts, I think they look very flattering and elegant, which tends to limit my wardrobe a little as this preference means I’m avoiding perfectly adorable skirts purely on the basis of them not being high-waisted. Maybe one day I’ll get over that…

What Makes a Successful Lolita Meet

Meets can be a little daunting, especially at first. And that’s regardless of whether you’re attending or organising one. I went to a total of eight meets, of which I organised one (my second to last one). So while my perspective on this week’s Lolita Blog Carnival topic is still very much from a newbie perspective, what I’ve observed thus far boils down to three main things.

Lolita UK Secret Santa

No doubt many of you are in a similar position where you either stand no chance of getting Lolita-related presents from your friends and family (for whatever reason) or you’d just rather that they didn’t because they’re likely to get it wrong. However, getting Lolita fashion items for presents is an incredible thing, so it’s a little sad that sometimes it’s a present from us to ourselves. Unless you manage to get a chance to take part in some Lolita Secret Santa.

Taobao Haul

Like many other Lolitas I spent some money on Taobao stuff in November, even though in the end none of it applied for the 11.11 sales. But since I needed some of these things anyway - why not? I managed to film a little unboxing/review video of that, which I hope you will enjoy.

Winter ILD

Happy International Lolita Day everyone! Whether you got to hang out with other Lolitas or had to spend the day at home/work/elsewhere, I hope that you enjoyed yourself and managed to do at least one little Lolita-related thing to match the occasion.

Ever since learning that I can make my comm’s Winter ILD meet I knew exactly what I wanted to wear and how. I’m not entirely sure where the idea actually came from, it was simply there and since I had months to prepare, I managed to get every single piece for my outfit, with a lot of them being offbrand.

| AP Crystal Dream Carnival JSK, headbow and ring | Meta Snow Crystal
OTKs | Soufflesong Ice Prism blouse | Chocomint star clip | offbrand white
star clips, boots, boot toppers, capelet and jewellery | Peacockalorum hand
muff |

For the meet itself we were actually on a boat (and yes, we did play “I’m on a Boat” at some point as well). It was only a canal barge, but still made for something different and as the interior was really lovely, we all really enjoyed it.

To add to the little twists, our Secret Santa wasn’t your usual gig either. Instead of everyone being matched up with people, everyone was asked to bring a gift, wrapped and all, with the only guideline being ‘get something that you’d like to receive’. When the time came, it was almost like a raffle – but still not the same as a raffle. We all had raffle tickets and we started from the person with the lowest number. The idea was that everyone had to go and pick a gift from the pile, then open it in front of everyone. The next person could then either do the same OR – and here’s the truly evil twist – they could steal a present that someone else had opened and then the theft victim had to go and pick a new present from what was left in the pile. Not particularly in the Christmassy spirit of giving, but it did make for quite an entertaining and character-telling game. Nobody tried to steal the gift that I picked, nor the one that I bought, however, one person ended up having their present stolen from them twice.

Photo by Holly.

Photo by Holly.

My Secret Santa present and raffle win

There was also a raffle filled with all kinds of cute prizes. I totally didn’t anticipate to win anything, and yet brought home a pair of Swimmer headphones. Now, I’m a bit of a headphone enthusiast so these are miles behind the quality and the standard that I’m used to with the pair that I currently own – but at the same time my headphones don’t have cats with bows on them! If only there was a way to combine the two…

The rest of the meet was your usual socialising, chatting, eating (we had a deconstructed afternoon tea, with sandwiches being served first and sweets coming after), dancing, taking photos, admiring everyone’s outfits, more chatter and more photos. Because of how long our boat trip took, it was already dark by the time we got off it to take some full outfit shots, but the bit of street where we ended up taking most of the outfit shots worked just as well (except that it was at the entrance/exit to a car park and we had to move out of the way a few times).

Team Fluff & Faux Fur!

Photo by Holly.

I admit that I was a little too tired to engage in everything full on, at some point I needed a moment to just zone out, yet in the end I enjoyed myself a lot and I know that I would’ve regretted not going a lot. This will be the last time I get to meet up with my fellow frillies this year, next one will be in January 2017 (it feels like 2016 had barely just started), however, it won’t be the last time I wear Lolita this year, definitely not!

How was your ILD? Did you do something fun or unusual? Or, if circumstances forced you to stay at home or work, how did you manage to incorporate a little bit of Lolita into your busy/tiring day? I love comparing how everyone celebrating, it’s inspiring both in terms of what things to do during a meet as well as what we could do at home to have a cute moment of engaging in the fashion without attending an event.

Create a Coord Under $100

I’ve actually already done this topic before, although that was before I officially joined the Lolita Blog Carnival community and at that time the coords were entirely hypothetical. Since then not only I became able to showcase a coord whose total actual cost comes within that price that, but I’ve also learnt a lot about what is and isn’t Lolita, meaning that what I can showcase now will be a better example to newbies as well as a better representation of my style.