Day Out in Manchester

I was going to go to a meet with my comm – but when I realised that this would mean not seeing my boyfriend for another whole month (if not longer), I cancelled on that and called up a plan us two have forged earlier: spending a day out in Manchester. Which, of course, called for dressing up!

| Song and Temple Fairytale Library skirt | Axes Femme
blouse | Innocent World Millefeuille bolero | Putomayo
Celestial Light OTKs | Innocent World Art Nouveau
headbow | Fantastic Grim Jewellery necklace | offbrand
beret and shoes (New Look) |

This is actually what I would’ve worn to the comm meet as well. The Fairytale Library skirt is my new favourite because of how easily you can dress it up or down. In fact, I’ve been wearing it to work for a whole week before that weekend and got plenty of compliments on what are some simple outfits by Lolita standards. So it also ended up feeling quite cathartic to finally do a proper Lolita outfit with it. Also: big shout out to the Putomayo socks as they stayed up almost all day without sock glue. Now I want more Putomayo socks, but I’m waiting for them to do some new designs.

Our day in Manchester consisted of visiting the Manchester Museum, going out for ramen (which is what started the whole thing) and a little bit of shopping. Despite it being a pretty gloomy day all day, we managed to avoid most of the rain and stay relatively dry, but unfortunately (and very surprisingly!) I was a little bit ill on that day which affected my spirits a bit. (Context: last time I was ill, and that was quite seriously ill, was 2014.)

The Manchester Museum is actually a part of the University of Manchester and while I knew that they had several different exhibits on, it still confused me a little bit. Rather than being a museum specialised in one specific thing it felt more like a museum of everything anyone affiliated with Manchester Uni ever laid their hands on. So one moment we were looking at a typical archaeological exhibition focused on Ancient Egypt and Ancient Roman artefacts found around Manchester – and then suddenly we’re in a natural history part… from which we ended up in a little aquarium of lizards and amphibians? This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but a better marking of what’s where or at least a map suggesting visit routes would’ve mitigated the confusion a little bit. But hey, the museum staff appreciated my book skirt, so I can’t really complain and I did enjoy the visit.

From there we made the walk to the city centre, which was a lot quicker than what Google Maps told us (25mins according to them, more like 15-20mins at my low-energy pace). We went to Shoryu Ramen, which is actually a London-based chain that managed to open up a Northern branch. I’ve tried them before when I went to London once, so I knew that I was getting what I was craving, but I’m glad that I also converted my boyfriend a little bit too (this was his first time trying ramen). Bonus – the ramen made me feel a bit better, proper comfort food, but also soups are amazing when you’re poorly. It’s in Piccadilly Garden, so right in the middle of the city and hard to miss.

What I didn’t realise has also come up North from London was some of the shopping that we did after we refuelled. After eating we had about an hour before shops would close and I don’t miss a chance to go to Lush, ever. On our way there, however, I spotted a familiar tattooed face on the Debenhams window. Yes, the Kat von D line, which has been available through Debenhams in the UK since like last November, has finally become available not just online and in London, but in other branch(es?) too. I can’t exactly say that I’m obsessed with her makeup line, but I wanted to try the Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks for a while and selecting colours online makes me uncomfortable. And rightly so, because the colours that I would’ve bought online I did not like at all in real life. Since I couldn’t decide, I bought two and went straight to the till before I dropped any more money, and then we proceeded to Lush where I dropped more money. The lady in Lush told me that Debenhams has launched the Kat von D line in Manchester only the day before, so that was such incredibly lucky timing as well! But whilst in that Lush I realised that even “my” Leeds brand, which I thought was so great and well stocked, was poor in comparison – the Manchester one had things which up until then I’ve only seen online, like the iridescent eyeshadows. Again, deciding was hard, but in the end I only got one which I plan on doubling up as a highlighter – as well as one bath bomb and a small bottle of shower gel. Because I was ill and deserved to spoil myself a little!

This is kind of silvery lavender sheen in real life

On our way back to the car I also fulfilled a promise I made to my boyfriend in that I’d treat him to something nice and he decided that this “something nice” would be a milkshake. We spotted two branches of this milkshake (and burger) place called Archie’s and it turned out to be absolutely delicious! I was too worried about a cold drink making me worse, though I didn’t refuse when offered to try my boyfriend’s Oreolicious – it was absolutely gorgeous! Pretty large for a regular size as well, but totally worth it!

So in the end, even though I felt a little weak and not really myself, I enjoyed spending a day out in Manchester. It’s a place that I feel I should know better, but somehow never make my way there – but every time I’ve been there recently I’ve been nothing but pleasantly surprised and genuinely enjoyed my stay. So I guess it’s time to attend more meets with the comm there, isn’t it?