Cupcake Kamisama's Lolita World: February 2018

Last Saturday was the third meet I had ever organised. It was another laid back kind of meets, although compared to the previous one it was really well attended.

I wish I could make my makeup show up better on selfies, I had
a very pink thing going on with bright pink eyes and fuchsia pink
glittery lips. If you click on the photo, you can just about make out
the pink eyeshadow I put on my lower lash line (if you know to look
for it).

Although generally speaking I’m actually pretty against Valentine’s Day (I believe that love should be expressed all year round and its expression doesn’t have to be limited to overpriced chocolates or restaurant meals which don’t cot that much the rest of the year), I must say that I like the aesthetic with the hearts and lots of reds. I decided to adopt a love letter theme: the print has kitties (and other animals) writing letters and lots of hearts, I had an envelope shaped necklace and charm on my headbow and opted for pinks for my coord to bring out the pinks in the print and add a bit of soft elegance to the whole look. While I would’ve liked something a little different with my hair, I didn’t have the energy to properly curl it the night before, so I improvised this inward front curl and put the rest in a bun at the back.

The envelope details. Wish I had more themed accessories, but
I'm not sure if I actually need them.

Now, you may be thinking that the name of this meet is pretty weird: what’s the deal with No-Kitty Pancakes? Originally I wanted the meet to take place in the still fresh cat café in Leeds. Unfortunately, due to the café’s popularity and the size of our group, as well as a delay caused by me, they were fully booked up on the two weekends I had available to host the meet and plans had to be changed. Since I didn’t want to do a Valentine’s Day meet (and didn’t have enough spare time to prepare one), I opted for the next February Favourite of Britain: pancakes and Pancake Tuesday. Another Lolita in the group added a link to an interesting exhibition about the history of circus in Leeds we could go to and so the No-Kitty Pancake Meet came to be. Despite the lack of cats, just as many people were interested in pancakes and we ended up having something like 15 people attending, with a fair few coming from way outside the area (the spread was from Sheffield to Lincoln, to Derby).

However, bad luck tried to follow us. First it turned out that the exhibition was closed just for that day we tried to go in without any prior announcements. I had checked the night before and there was nothing said on the website, but when one of us arrived there earlier, she was informed that there’s a convention taking place in that area and the exhibition is closed. Not only that, the convention is an annual one, so there was plenty of advance knowledge and notice to put that info somewhere – all we needed was text saying “exhibition open from [date] to [date], with the exception of [date]”. That is being dealt with – in the meantime, we were lucky that that was meant to take place in the building adjacent to the actual Leeds Art Gallery, so we went there instead to potter about looking at art and art we couldn’t really comprehend.

One of the rooms was perfect for outfit shots and selfies, with
tonnes of natural light and white walls to reflect it!

Then when the time came, we made our way to Crepeaffaire for pancakes. Although there are several well recommended places in Leeds for pancakes, I decided to go with this one as it’s the only one that had vegan and gluten free options available and we had at least three vegans in attendance. Although the place is very tiny and doesn’t take bookings, I had rung them in advance and spoken to the branch manager who was accommodating on the phone and said that she’d try to save us a table – and on my part I promised her that we’d be on time. Alas, when we got there the manager wasn’t there and none of the staff were told, else they would’ve prepared something for us. In their defence, even on the phone I was told that they can make no promises and that it’s not an actual booking, just trying to help since I gave them notice of bringing fifteen people in, but still. But luck smiled on us again and the largest table there was mostly empty, so we just started filling it in with whoever needed to sit as soon as possible and the rest joined as and when we could. Which, even luckier for us, didn’t take long despite it being a typically busy Saturday afternoon.

I was looking forward to that pancake the whole week and I was not disappointed. I ordered one called I’ll Have What She’s Having, which was a strawberry, Nutella and whipped cream one and although it looked unassuming on the plate, it ended up being really filling! At something like £5-6 it’s on the pricier side (especially for something you could make at home yourself), but it was a worthy treat. Having said this, one of our vegans wasn’t quite happy with the consistency of hers, it was more crispy than delightfully chewy, but we couldn’t tell whether it was meant to be like that because of the vegan recipe or whether the staff had made it wrong in the rush to try and get so many people’s orders done. Still, Crepeaffaire is a chain, so if there’s one near you you’ve been thinking over, I’d say it’s worth a try.

It might not be a looker, but it was delicious!

The rest of that afternoon we mostly spent just sitting down and chatting. There were lots of people there I had met for the first time and a few I hadn’t seen for a while, which always makes for a lovely meet. Having missed the January meet, it felt amazing to be back attending one, I really missed that joy of seeing and meeting people who understand exactly what you mean when sentences like “I lost that JSK on Mercari” or just what kind of a rage it is when your colours don’t match when they’re supposed to.

Officially the meet was supposed to end at 5pm, but a handful of us stayed beyond that, pottering about in Leeds Trinity (mainly ticking off your typical Lolita things like the Pusheen collection in Primark, Claire’s and Lush). I was staying in Leeds for the rest of the night as I was attending burlesque after not going for exactly two years (can you believe that last time I went there was my very first meet in February 2016?!), so we all parted ways and I made a beeline for Belgrave for a slice of pizza and to wait until their upstairs opened for burlesque. I had missed not going there and enjoying the world of beautiful, empowered women, as well as the friends I have made there, so it was truly a day of enjoying the favourite activities I’ve missed not taking part in.

Final word: however uncomfortable it may be and however they may not match your coord, make sure to always bring a change of shoes when you decide on the less comfy ones that match your outfit better. Trust me, you will thank yourself for this!