October Coords Roundup

So, spooky month, huh? We all know that I’m not about the spooky anything, not the aesthetic, not the holiday… only my spooky friends whom I support in their love for spooky stuff. But it’s as good an excuse as any to whip out some more inventive outfits, right?

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Coord 1: Spookiest Colour Combo

| AatP Rosier Fleur JSK | Sentaro Star Sleeve blouse | Enchantlic Enchantilly The Crown of the Rose Princess thighs | Cutie Creator headdress | offbrand shoes and flower clips | Enchanted Dream Wear necklace | handmade ring | Love from the North pin | Dalao Home wig |

Every time I wear this wig, it is doing some serious heavy lifting for the coords.

The only cross necklace I intend to own.

Starting the month strong by wearing a coord bang on the 1st AND one to @likeateacup’s prompt challenge. Whilst I always knew that I wouldn’t make something for every day of the month, I wanted to do as many as I could and use the rest to possibly inspire some non-lolita outfits (without committing to photographing any of them). Having asked @likeateacup themselves which of the possibly spooky colour combos they thought was the spookiest, I trusted their choice of white x red and went with this. It’s something between a ghost and a vampire, but for me definitely leans gothic enough with the styling to be considered spooky (even though it’s still just a very classic coord with some red eyeshadow and a cross necklace). Note to self: don’t wear hairclips above your ears when you have to use a headset for work.

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Coord 2: Wrap Up Warm

| Song and Temple Fairytale Library skirt | Axes Femme cardigan | Angelic Pretty Harlequinade OTKs | Deary shoes | offbrand shoe toppers | Cutie Creator headbow | collar from a Litter Dipper coat | vintage brooch | offbrand earrings |

Definitely winter ready!

This may be my favourite cardigan? It's certainly in my top 3 and I will wear the heck out of it this year!

Now this was much more my kind of prompt because while it may have been from the same prompt challenge, it appealed to my love for cosy things, being warm and still enjoying autumn. And it was also good for a working Friday, not too much so that getting dressed takes away all my energy after a long week, but still more-enough to be clear that I made an effort for the prompt. Whilst I wanted to spend October cultivating those autumn vibes, I also really wanted to wear this particular cardigan and doing so made me happy, so screw that, a temporary fast-forward to winter looks is ok.

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Coord 3: Leeds Comm’s 10th Anniversary Virtual Meetup

| Angelic Pretty Crystal Dream Carnival Tiered JSK and ring | Lady Sloth Snowflake Lace blouse | Peacockalorum underskirt | Boguta underskirt | MuFish tights | Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes | offbrand necklace and rings | vintage brooch | Dalao Home wig |

You can juuuuuust about make out that I tried to do some faux freckles.

We love a layered look in this house.

Skipping the prompt challenge for a second because it was my comm’s anniversary and I wanted to crack out something fancy and deserving of the occasion. Had the world turned out differently, this would’ve been a pub meet, so I likely would’ve picked something else to wear, but since we were forced to stick to a virtual one, fancy stuff it is. We had a quiz, which was partly about the comm (where I managed to rack up some points) and partly about Yorkshire (where I fell miserably), landing me overall in a respectable 4th out of 7 or 8. Which I’m very happy with, I feel like I defended my reputation as a comm admin and that’s all I wanted. As always, it was great to see my comm, even if only on screen. Better than nothing and we’re all holding on to the hope that we will be able to have meetups again sooner rather than later.

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Coord 4: Match the Decor

| Baroque Repose of Queen Teatime Dress | Babysong Lolita blouse | Angelic Pretty Salon de The Rose OTKs | Irregular Choice Total Freedom shoes | AatP Sheherazade ~ One Thousand and One Nights ~ headdress | Enchantlic Enchantilly necklace | Enchanted Dream Wear necklace | Cutie Creator wrist cuffs | handmade bracelets | Peacockalorum brooch | handmade (not by me) brooch |

I think I wanted looser curls than this, but I haven't yet figured out a way to do those.

Stuff ALL the accessories into a detail shot.

My decor is neither spooky, to match the prompt challenge, not actually quite like what I’d like because the joys of renting. So instead I decided to match my new favourite thing in the world: the painting I commissioned from @gravelvetart that I finally framed and hung up on my wall earlier this month. Looking at this painting fills me with endless joy, both because it’s beautiful and because it signifies putting my own mark on this flat filled mostly with generic things put up here by the landlord. Sadly, whilst I like the coord and think that it matches the painting well, I was very rushed for photos as that day I had scaffolders outside my window (and every day since then, really) and I felt super weird all of a sudden. So I rushed the photos, stopped after confirming that I have at least one I’m somewhat happy with, even though I’m not 100% so. But I decided to accept the imperfection, since that is the reality of life, perfection on social media is fake, instead of trying to chase something for the sake of better aesthetic. Sometimes, no matter how much you like the outfit, the picture just doesn’t come out as you wanted - and that is ok too.

Looking at the coord and the painting side by side, I think I did a good job of taking the latter to inspire the former.

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Coord 5: Cheap Frills

| Metamorphose Polka Dots Shirring Pinafore JSK | A.R.W. blouse | Innocent World Art Nouveau headbow | Innocent World Original Crown Tassel 2-way clip | everything else is offbrand |

This is actually a very office-appropriate look, I might do it again in the future for the actual office.

Still proud of my wonky embroidery.

Come on, come on, turn the radio on. It’s Friday night and I won’t be long… This certainly isn’t the absolute cheapest coordinate that I could put together - but it’s October and it’s too cold for that one. And this one still is probably around the £100 mark, including the petticoat, which is really cheap for lolita. Another hair curling experiment happened, which mostly just confirmed that I prefer much tighter curls than the loose waves. But it’s always good to know what my options are. This outfit was very comfy, making up for another round of overtime at home.

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Coord 6: Candy Bucket

| Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty JSK | Dear Celine Polka Dot Waltz blouse | Angelic Pretty Ice Cream Parlour OTKs | offbrand shoes, hair clips, ring and waist ribbon | XKawaiiCuteX earrings | Sweet Dolly House necklace | BtSSB Merry Sweet Cake ring | handmade bracelets | Angelic Pretty Logo Ribbon Charm wrist cuffs | Angelic Pretty Milky Candy Ribbon brooch |

Carefully angling the selfie so that it looks like both of those candy clips are the same, when they are in fact not.

This brooch is all too easy to pin around your collar or bodice, but I like it at the waist.

In the absence of an actual bucket to match for this prompt I decided to wear something very sweet and incorporate as many sweets as possible to turn myself into the contents of said candy bucket. After wanting to wear this dress with pink for a while, I finally did it and I’m very pleased with the result. That’s all I can really say. My brain decided that this was the day to bake a cinnamon swirl loaf, the making of which kind of spilled into the start of the swap meet that CLAM were hosting, so I spent the first half an hour or so kneading whilst on the Zoom meet. Which was fun, in a way, I got to embody the lifestyler, particularly when people asked I keep the camera on as I was washing up. I didn’t end up swapping, selling or buying anything myself, only exchanged some tips with people and enabled one other person to make a purchase themselves. For most of us in the Northern comms this will have been this year’s Halloween meet, which is a little sad, but the truth is energy is a scarce resource for everyone, so I get that folks won’t necessarily feel up to putting on anything fancier. I myself am focusing on December and providing some good lolita content for my comm for Christmas, so definitely no hosting any meetups in October.

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Coord 7: Coordtober Break

| Bodyline Sweet Macaron JSK | Bodyline L380 skirt | A.R.W. blouse | Axes Femme cardigan | Innocent World Lauretta OTKs | Sosic Shop heels | offbrand beret | Lady Sloth necklace | Innocent World Chiffon wrist cuffs |

Maybe one day I should attempt to lighten this beret somehow. I feel like it would match more if it wasn't such a saturated shade.

This cardigan was a cheap second hand find, which I didn't end up using as much as I thought because it's hip length. And there are cute faux pockets which always get hidden when I fold it. But it's either that or I don't wear it at all.

For no particular reason besides the fact that I planned this outfit, I was excited to wear it asap and it didn’t fit the prompt for that day. Granted, it’s not like I’ve been doing the challenge religiously, but it’s been fun to have something steer the direction of my outfits when I was in the mood to wear frills. As far as I remember, this one started out as a potential for the Candy Bucket prompt, as I thought about pairing this dress with brown to bring out the chocolate elements from the print. This came out much nicer than I expected, especially considering how none of the blues and none of the browns match each other - somehow the look just ended up being cohesive enough. And now that I’ve finally worked out that this skirt is perfect for wearing under this dress for extra length, I feel re-energised to keep playing with this print and creating new coords with it. I really did feel stuck with it for a bit, thinking that the only unexplored avenues I had were to buy some yellows and bright mints to try that, but now I will try some more classic-leaning options first.

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Coord 8: Time Travel

| Dangerous Nude Gobelin bloomers | Infanta Swan Lake blouse | Mytholon Rafael jerkin | Angelic Pretty Chocolate Emblem brooch | handmade rings | everything else is offbrand |

The beret says casual, but the crown says fancy. Confused? Maybe. But it oddly works.

I don't actually wear my crowns often enough, I should make more of an effort.

Ya Tudor boi is back in da house to party like it's 1503. I tried to give myself a fake ugly bowl cut for the ultimate renaissance look, but my hair is too long and I had to compromise. This jerkin is so perfect for cold weather being 100% wool, I love it. On the other hand, these bloomers are made for people with significantly smaller hips, bums and thighs because whilst fine for standing, they were not comfortable for sitting for an extended period of time, as I had to for working from home. Still, I dig this look and very much look forward to improving on it somehow.

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Coord 9: Spots and/or Stripes

| Metamorphose Polka Dots tiered skirt | Ank Rouge cutsew | Crown Label cardigan | Haenuli Secret Garden tights | Bodyline shoes | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Sky and Sweet Cream Princess headbows | Chocomint ring | Sweet Dolly House ring | offbrand earrings |

Thank goodness that these face opposite directions, else I would've had to choose.

Dots everywhere, including my tights.

Although my recent love for dots with stripes still continues, I just wasn’t feeling that and went with dots only for the day. And when you can’t decide between headbows, just wear both! This coord isn’t inventive, as I’ve done similar ones in the past, but it is comfortable and cute. And if we could the pearls as dots, then that means the only dot-free item I have is one headbow and the shoes, since even the earrings have tiny polka dots (they’re teapots btw, I know they’re too tiny to tell on the photo, so just saying).

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Coord 10: 3 Prompts in One

| Metamorphose Shirring Tiered Ribbon JSK | offbrand cutsew, tights and earrings | Peacockalorum underskirt | Angelic Pretty Wrapping Cherry socks | Sosic Shop shoes | Innocent World Organdy Bow Rose clip | vintage hat and necklace | My Inspiration brooch | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring |

Vel up, mostly to show that there was a side bun adorned with a clip.

I definitely went extra with the photos on this one, though the blur had to be added later, as the veil was really tripping my camera up.

This may be one of the most satisfying detail shots I've ever taken, I really like it.

I really wanted to do all three of those Coordtober prompts separately, but between filming AYWi30C and just resting on the weekend, I had no energy to change. So I’m saving those individual ideas for later and did a combined coord for: Hat or No Hat, Shoehorn a Colour, and Tea Break. I will never not shoehorn in reds if given a choice, so whilst I could’ve been more inventive, this was simply the easiest to work in. This hat is wonderful, so although it hides my entire face, it does so in an elegant and mysterious way, so I can wear just a lipstick and eyeliner and look like I’ve got a full face of glam makeup on. And for the Tea Break post I wanted to match my only china teacup. So this coord all started because I was trying to match the teacup, and then shoved in elements to fit the other two prompts. And I like the result a lot! This dress lends itself to vintage styling surprisingly well, I need to do more of that.

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Coord 11: Courtesy of Nat

| Metamorphose Bubble Bath skirt | Nile Perch cutsew | Crown Label cardigan | offbrand tights, hair clips and pearls | Irregular Choice Earl Grey shoes | Angelic Pretty Dolly Chiffon headbow | Sweet Dolly House necklace | rings from Chocomint, Star Glazed Delights and Twinkle Kitty Boutique | brooches from Madillustration |

Thinking was switched off when I parted my hair that morning and I couldn't be bothered to fix it.

I should see what else these shoes go with.

I was in the mood to wear Bubble Bath, but completely lacked any ideas to style it. So on a whim I sent my wardrobe spreadsheet to a group chats with my friends and said “if you fancy a challenge”. Which one of them did. And whilst I will be the first to admit that I was skeptical when reading it on paper, as soon as I put it on the individual components just clicked. Never in a million years would I think of putting these shoes with this skirt, they are from two different worlds in my head, and yet they work? This is a more classic, elegant, boudoir take on Bubble Bath, which I didn’t know was possible, and which I now want to take further. So all the credit goes to the Nat half of @petticats, they did a splendid job with this and I am forever grateful to them for showing me the way.

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Coord 12: Wizard Wednesday

| After Midnight The First Semester JSK | offbrand blouse, shoes and hat | Jane Marple socks | Gravelvet Iridescent Princess necklace | Fantastic Grim Jewelry necklace | Enchantlic Enchantilly ring | vintage ring | Universal Studios wand |

I am so glad that I bought this witch hat, I never realised how much I needed one.

Using my magic for good.

Wizard Wednesday, but on a Friday, according to Coordtober. I didn’t want to overthink this, as well as wanted to keep things on the comfortable side, so I decided to embrace the Slytherin in me. (Even though I will stand by being a Ravenclaw and will only compromise on a Slytherclaw on a good day. But JKR is trash, so of course her P*tterm*re sorting quiz would put me in Slytherin.) And the coord did everything that it needed to: it was comfortable, it was cute and carried the theme well. What more could I want on a last working day of the week?

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Coord 13: As Seen on TV

| Metamorphose Wizarding Lesson shorts | Dream V cardigan | Angelic Pretty Odekake Ribbon OTKs | Hello Crumpet Paddington Bear brooch | everything else is offbrand |

As a coord this was more cohesive without the coat - but without the coat it wasn't so obviously Paddington Bear.

Those bear ears are so good.

As soon as I saw this, I knew I had to have it. I even set my alarm to make sure I don't miss the reservation.

Picking up the #Coordtober2020 prompt challenge, but probably for the last time. Ever since getting this brooch I wanted to make Paddingtonlita happen, however, on that day my energy levels were low and casual ouji was more comfortable to do. Paddingtonlita will still happen one day, for now this allowed me to be comfortable, still be cuter than just wearing a onesie and match a coord challenge prompt. It was quite a comfortable Saturday: my Patisserie Pink order arrived, I had a video chat with Joelle about an exciting collaboration we’re doing, watched some anime, and then spent the evening watching the Halloween Lolita Tag collaboration on YouTube.

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Coord 14: Craft Meet

| BtSSB Polonaise Brillante ~ Ideas of a Maiden ~ JSK and hair bows | vintage blouse and necklace | Angelic Pretty Rose Lace Pattern OTKs | offbrand shoes | Two Days Slow hair clips| My Inspiration brooch |

Supplementing my hair with the half wig for thicker braids.

Even though the bows from the dress are brooches, I was able to secure them around my hair ties.

I did say in the last 1 Dress 4 Looks post that I wanted to wear this soon. And since I wanted to be warm, as well as needed to be comfortable enough to craft, this seemed like a perfect choice. With some slight changes to maximise the comfort and get ready quicker, since I wasn’t about to sacrifice that extra hour of sleep I got on a Sunday thanks to the clocks going back. The meet was lovely and chill, it was relaxing and soothing for the soul. Everyone was making witch hats, while I made a nurse hat (which I’ll talk about more in due course). And then, whilst still on a high from that creative energy, I FINALLY threaded the elastic through the bloomers I made almost two years ago! Everyone agreed that chill craft meets were good and motivated people to get things done, so I am having a think about what we could do in November.

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Coord 15: Quick and Comfy

| Dear Celine Magic Book OP | Angelic Pretty Crown Logo OTKs | offbrand shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | Gravelvet Iridescent Princess necklace | Patisserie Pink Bottled Stardust brooch | vintage belt |

Again, I was aiming for loose curls and hoping that they'd relax enough by the time I took the photo, but I underestimated my setting lotion's strength.

It's amazing when you can wear a new accessory almost straight away.

Another day, another Exam Board to run… I knew that I’d be short on time, so I tried to come up with something that was cute that I could get dressed in quickly. Which naturally led to choosing an OP. This time I’ve actually worn it with a bell petticoat, which I must say I quite like, I might stick to that silhouette rather than the A-line. The rest is me working around the Bottled Stardust brooch, as well as trying to find the best complimentary colours for this print. Which is honestly harder than it should be, the jewel tones are so much more muted on this OP than all the other ones that I have. But I think I’m finally getting the hang of styling this dress in ways that I am happy with.

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Wow, this month ended up being a lot more frilly than I anticipated it to. Even though I didn’t do the #Coordtober2020 challenge fully, I managed to commit to more prompts than I thought I would at the beginning of the month. Twelve out of thirty one is not bad at all. Still, if I am to do some sort of a coord prompt challenge for December, I feel like I need to conserve my energy in November. So this will either involve fewer coords or more casual coords, we’ll see.

And as Halloween itself is actually tomorrow, whether you’re celebrating or not, I hope that you have a good time, and that if you are into spooks and spoops, that you can enjoy the day to the fullest!
 

Patisserie Pink Review

If there is one thing I probably have enough of and should stop buying - it’s brooches. So what do I go off and do? Buy more brooches. The ways I justify that to myself vary. This time it was a “support small indie brand owned by friends” kind of justification.

About the Shop

For those of you old enough to remember Tea Party Club events in the UK, Patisserie Pink is run by the key figure behind those, Kyra. You may have noticed it more for the Victorian-style boots with all kinds of prints on them, which I think majority of my friends either bought or contemplated. However, the brand also sells jewellery, as well as miscellaneous items (notebooks, phone cases, water bottles etc.), so there really is a lot for people to pick from. And fortunately Patisserie Pink also carries things suitable for all substyles, with an obvious skew toward classic, but still plenty of cute and pink pieces for sweet lolitas, and dark and spooky stuff for goths.

Order Process

Patisserie Pink has its own web shop, which works just like every other web shop. You can create an account or check out as a guest, you simply add things to cart, select a payment method and then wait. Since the brand is based in the UK, everything happened within days for me. I ordered on the day the brooches were released, which is the evening of October 18th. They were posted with a courier on October 22nd, and then arrived to me on October 24th. So whilst I can’t comment on international postage arrangements or speed, certainly not at times when pandemic is affecting all that, everything was super quick and super easy for me as a UK-based customer.

What I Got

Before that, can we stop and appreciate the extent to which Patisserie Pink went with their branding? Never in my life have I received an envelope this damn fancy! I really don’t want to just chuck it in the bin, that’d be such a waste, but what on Earth am I to do with it? But just seeing how fancy my order looked made me feel extremely valued as a customer, I got the boujie experience, which surely is what all of us seek in lolita. So big props to Patisserie Pink! First impressions matter and you’re creating an unforgettable one.

I've had some "oooh" moments at colourful envelopes, but never an actual "holy hell, this is FANCY" moment. Other brands better step up their game.

And it didn’t stop at the envelope, oh no! The entire process of unwrapping this was like Christmas come early. The care and thought that went into the branding and the packaging is absolutely clear, so just like I won’t throw the envelope away, I will keep this hella fancy, custom printed tissue paper. Especially given that my own initials are also PP, so whilst I’m not going to reuse the tissue paper for evil, I will happily hoard it, feeling like it’s mine on an extra special level.

Oh hello there, fancy tissue paper!

How fortunate that your initials are the same as mine...

Wrapped with care, so that even if these weren't for me, I wouldn't have to worry about giftwrapping.

But to the point! I have ordered two brooches: the Bookshelf one in the Jewel colourway and the Bottled Stardust one in the gold colourway. There were some inner debates happening inside of me, one being whether to get the Bookshelf brooch in this colourway or the Antique one, as the browns and golds were appealing to my recurring phases of being into brown. The second one was whether I could even justify getting the Bottled Stardust one, since I had little idea what I would pair it with. But I guess the Halloween vibes affected me too, since I’ve been feeling some kind of witchy way, so I shrugged this off and got it anyway.

The brooches are quite big, the Booshelf one is roughly the size of the palm of my hand. These are very much statement pieces in their own right, although no doubts that these particular designs can also be subtle.

Both brooches are made out of acrylic, however, the Booshelf one is additionally coated in resin, which gives it this glossy shine. This does make it extra reflective, so I may have to be a bit more mindful when taking photos to avoid having a beacon of light on myself, but it’ll be worth it. Just look at this! The colours are perfectly me and without a doubt this brooch will find a good home in my wardrobe. The glitter in some of the acrylic is subtle, but definitely noticeable, even under the glossy shine from the resin coating. And just look at the swirls of colour in the blue and the red! They create such magical depth and almost add movement, depending on which angle you look at the brooch from.

Be it because of the resin or glitter, you can't describe this brooch with any other word except for: SHINY.

I could get lost in the oceans of that swirly blue, it's mesmerising.

The Bottled Stardust one, on the other hand, I ordered without the resin coating, although it was possible to add that for a small extra charge. However, to me it looked perfect without it and I quite like the more matte effect on the brooch itself. Whilst this colourway was described as gold, and I certainly see that, it is more of an opal and creamy type colour, lighter than what I would think of as gold and closer to white. Which seemed perfect for me, as it would stand out nicely against darker dresses and add some depth to lighter coordinates. This one also has some glitter in the acrylic, but it is much more subtle than on the Bookshelf brooch, it sort of reminds me of a bottle filled with fairy dust. Kind of the point of the design, I guess.

The light colourway makes this perfect for witchy/magical themes, as well as astronomy ones, it has a distinctly dreamer/romantic feel to it.

I tried to capture the glitter in this one, but it is significantly more subtle. You can, however, see the opal effect very well here!

Both brooches have the brand name, design name, colourway and issue number on the back, as each was part of a limited run. I’m not sure whether the numbers on the back of mine reflected the order of orders placed, as both of mine are the final ones of their run, but I don’t think so seeing as the Jewel colourway of the Bookshelf brooch is still in stock on the website. Not that it matters, I probably got whichever ones were within reach when preparing the order and I got what I wanted, so this is just an interesting tidbit I found. I can always brag about getting the last ones of the first run later. I’m no pro, but it seems to me that the pins themselves have been attached with resin, rather than hot glue, which would mean that they will last longer and will be less prone to the pins falling off.

The issue number makes you feel like you're part of a special secret club.

Though on a more serious note, it's a great idea, especially if you're gifting these, as it lets the receiver know exactly what they got.

Overall, both of those brooches are extremely high quality, finished with attention to detail and truly exquisite in their own right. I have only just started dipping my toes into the world of acrylic jewellery, but from what I can see Patisserie Pink seem on par with the more established creators in that niche, like Hello Crumpet (the only one I can actually make a direct comparison myself). They are also priced similarly to other acrylic brooches that I have seen. These ones were £22 each, which is a very reasonable price for this level of finish, this standard of customer experience as delivered by the packaging, and for handmade creations.

There are still plenty of acrylic brooches available on Patisserie Pink’s webshop, so if this post has awakened any needs within you, I highly recommend them. I know that I will definitely keep an eye on them so that whenever new designs are announced, I can add them too. Because this is an absolute 10/10 would buy again!