Lolidrobe Reassessment Post 2018.2

Time bloody flies these days! How is it halfway through the year already? Feels like the first few months of 2018 dragged then all of a sudden – BAM! Time sped up so much and it seems like I have hardly had any time for myself. There are so many things I wanted to do, but wasn’t able to as all the other stuff kept me busy. Oh well, at least it makes for interesting life, eh?

New additions

The season for carefully considered, sensible spending continues. It still feels a little odd, but I know that I’m reaping the benefits by having a more cohesive wardrobe and a happier wallet. Especially as, where I felt it was the best course of action, I used my Wunderwelt points or the JPY kept in my other PayPal account, which always feels like I haven’t actually spent anything as it’s not going from my current account. So this season’s small list includes:

• 1 JSK (Gothic in black)
• 2 blouses (1 Gothic long sleeve in black* and 1 Sweet princess sleeve in pink)
• 1 overdress/peignoir (ivory*)
• 1 pair of shoes (Classic boots in wine)
• 6 pairs of legwear, 3 of which were from a lucky pack (1 pair of Classic OTKs in ivory x green, 1 pair of Sweet OTKs in dark brown, 1 pair of Classic OTKs in pink, 1 pair of Sweet OTKs in black [sold since], 1 pair of Sweet tights in black and 1 pair of Sweet OTKs in sax x pink)
• 1 bag (Classic in ivory)
• and 11 pieces of accessory (1 black Gothic brooch, 1 Classic pearl brooch, 1 Classic pearl necklace, 1 pair of Classic navy gloves, 1 Classic navy brooch, 1 Classic headpiece in ivory, 1 Sweet/Classic necklace in wine, 1 Sweet/Classic headbow in ivory/beige, a pack of 7 Classic-appropriate rings, 1 Classic brooch in wine* and 1 Gothic headpiece in black*)

Bearing in mind that I have a lolita event coming up in August, I’m glad that I was able to keep the spending sensible. Not that this gives me an excuse to go mad at the event, but I don’t have to feel guilty if I do find anything I’ll want to get on the spot. Whilst overall I bought more items this time round, they all add something to my wardrobe and were carefully considered, not just in terms of fitting my style, but also storage capacity etc. 

Possible new looks

Well, since half of the socks are from my need list, it is only logical that these complete some of the colour-palette based looks, isn’t it? Although I feel that with the addition of the wine boots and some of the Gothic accessories, however small they may be, there are some new possibilities in that area too.

How to make my Lolidrobe go even further?

The three pieces identified in the last instalment still stand. Finding exactly the right item is tricky when you’re picky. I think that I will expand my Gothic/black collection a little bit, but I want it to be pieces that would work well in Classic coords as well, so I will be selective about what I get. At the moment I don’t really need anything else, now that I bought a headpiece, but I might consider a bolero or something. Anything else I feel like I’ll be able to get offbrand (like black lace tights or shoes/boots), so they’re not so much a priority. Overall then it looks like there isn’t much to add. There are individual pieces that I’d like to add for individual coords, but since they’re for single outfits adding them to this list doesn’t seem appropriate. If anything else appears, I will be sure to add it here. For now the list remains unchanged (minus the things I’ve already purchased, of course), which is:

• A neutral sax bag
• A neutral navy bag
• Socks: 
• White/off-white/ivory x sax Sweet OTKs: subtle or versatile pattern like bows or dots
• White/off-white/ivory x sax Classic OTKs: preferably floral and preferably muted;
• Red Sweet OTKs: subtle or versatile pattern like bows or lace, will look at Christmas-themed ones too;
• White/off-white/ivory x pink Sweet OTKs: subtle or versatile pattern like bows or dots, may consider smaller sweets-themed designs e.g. macarons (although truth be told, they’re the lowest on my priority list and I might even reconsider how much I actually need those);
• A wine bonnet
• A neutral long sleeve brown bolero or cardigan (ideally warm brown)

Current wishlist

Hmm, I guess there are some changes here. Granted, when searching for just the right Gothic dress I have stumbled upon a few other pieces which really caught my eye (although most of them in either white/ivory or wine). Having said this, they’re not high enough on my priority list for me to actively start searching for. Right now a red-based floral piece is my priority (with very strong preference for IW’s Angel Rose skirt if it is fully shirred or Mary Magdalene’s Aranesque Rose), AP’s Jewelry Snow JSK, Queen Chocolate JSK and Meta’s Gold Braid Tuck Pinafore JSK are the pieces I find myself wanting most, but don’t want to spend a lot on them, so it will be a waiting game. Everything else on this collage has to be an even more enticing price to convince me. Although having said this, my mindset recently has been changing and veering towards buying brand pieces new to support the brands that I like. At the moment, there is one upcoming AP release which I’m keeping my eye on (My Favorite Room –  I’ll probably cave in if there’s a nice JSK cut or a cutsew OP) and I have already been eyeing Baby’s Doki Doki Strawberry Magic skirt, although it sold out since. We’ll see how that turns out.

Click to enlarge.

New Year’s goals: progress summary

Ugh, this is where I feel my busy life has impacted me the most. Whether it is life proving my 2018 goals to be overambitious or whether I genuinely have let myself down remains to be seen. However, I will admit that this very post was a key motivator and gave me a last minute kick with some of these things. Otherwise I’m not sure if things would look as good as they do now. It’s great that I made progress, but the point of these goals isn’t for my own self-assessment to motivate me to do them.

1. I have the agreed amount of money in my account at all times: Yes. With so little spending this is a no-brainer.
2. Did I wait a minimum of 48 hours before purchasing something outside of my wishlist: Just about, yes. The lucky pack was sort of on the fence and the accessories bought in person away from home obviously had to deviate, but otherwise yes.
3. Did I learn how to crop cardigans: Nope! I haven’t picked up my sewing machine once since setting that goal. The scary part is that the event I wanted a cropped cardigan for is in two weeks!
4. Did I wear every new main piece at least once: 3/4 new main pieces worn, the 4^th is scheduled for August. So more ‘yes’ than ‘no’!
5. Did I organise the Winter ILD: It’s pretty much organised now, just needs to actually start happening. As in, I have everything prepped, announced and I’m starting to collect payments etc.
6. Did I attend at least one lolita meet or even outside of the UK: Not yet, but I have event tickets for two, so it’s definitely happening!
7. Did I connect with my lolita lifestyle: mostly, see below for details.
8. Did I improve and boost my online presence and content: yes, see below for details.

As far as point no 7 is concerned, I feel like this is what being busy took away from me most. While strictly speaking, when I look at the list of activities I set myself in January, I have done something like this at least once a month, I couldn’t say anything for sure like I could in the previous reassessment post. This means that I’ve either not done exactly that over the past few months or that I have, but I don’t consider it anything different to what I normally do. Which, if true, means that by the standards I set myself my lifestyle is already pretty lolita-esque and if I want to connect more with it, then I’d probably have to do something else. Or better still, redefine what I consider to be part of my lolita fashion lifestyle and define how that differs to my regular lifestyle. Which I think is the route that I will have to take. So while the goal remains unchanged for now and I’ll still work towards doing something like what I outlined earlier at least once a month, my priorities will likely change.

And when it comes to the last goal, I really had a last minute boost thanks to the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Up until then I’ve done nothing since the previous reassessment post and felt so terrible about it that I sorted out the new blog layout (including getting a commission to use here) and recorded some videos to have in advance. Of course, I also kept this blog regular and have been writing more about doing things than purchasing things, which again is mostly thanks to shopping less in general. Oh, and finally, after trying a few different things, I started a Ko-Fi account. It seems like the best way to go about monetising on this blog, so if you want to support me, use the Ko-Fi button on the right, please. Every little helps! For now the plan is to continue blogging the way I have been for now. If I could get myself into a comfortable rhythm with both blog posts and videos, that would be ideal, although my life at the moment may be a bit too irregular for both, so it will have to be all about making the most out of the opportunities that are there.

How are you all feeling halfway through the year? Do you feel like you’ve been doing well with any of your resolutions or reverted back to the old ways (or reached a plateau even)? How do you feel about that? Is there anything that you’d like to happen right now, either in your frilly life or on this blog? Always happy to hear some recommendations!