Even though I know that I’ve ‘caught up’ towards the end of the month thanks to being on leave, July still felt like it didn’t have that much lolita happening. Granted, understandably so: the UK has had an actual, genuine, legit heatwave for good two weeks straight and whilst my flat remains cool enough for frills to be comfortable, that didn’t necessarily stop my will to wear them from going down. Especially as I’d started investing in non-lolita clothes (by which I mean that I bought one dress that I wanted to wear all the time), which were more weather-appropriate. Also, why is it that I want to wear cardigans and cold-weather outfits precisely the moment that we’re given sunshine and heat that I crave so much during colder months? Why can’t I just enjoy being seasonally in the moment? Send your answers on a postcard to 13 Nonsense Street, Diddlysquat DQ1 13DD UK.
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Coord 1: Charity Shopping
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| | Violet Fane Otome Nostalgia skirt | Rose Marie Seoir necklace | everything else is offbrand | |
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I've gotten really into wearing mascara again over the course of the month.
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So glad I caved in to these sleeves. Even if wearing them is very strange, they look so cool!
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July started off with a 4-day weekend for me, so I took the chance to venture somewhere new and explore the charity shops there. This meant needing to be practical with footwear, though I did compromise on the top. I bought it at my most local charity shop, intending to use it for other casual and J-fashion looks, but it looks nice with casual lolita too, don’t you think? It gives the weirdest “hot and cold at the same time” sensation, though that helped to ensure I didn’t overheat. The trip was definitely quite successful, even if I only returned with some new glasses, groceries and a handful of compliments on my skirt.
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Coord 2: Retro Post
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| | BtSSB Secret AIR MAIL from Sweet Kitty JSK | offbrand cardigan | Angelic Pretty Wrapping Cherry ankle socks | Deary heels | Innocent World Art Nouveau headbow | Metamorphose Rose Letter necklace | Violet Fane Post Office brooch | handmade bracelets | Twinkle Kitty Boutique rings | |
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I think the next step to master in my hair game will be teasing and smoothing.
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Allow me to offer you a birb in these trying times.
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Having completed my coord archive Google Drive folder the day before, I finally got to a place where I could easily see what sort of ways I’ve already worn a dress before. This is helpful with those pieces that I sometimes find myself stuck with, of which this is one. Although I had originally planned to wear it differently, the mood also struck me to curl my hair the night before, so in the end I went with something more typical for me and for this dress that’s nonetheless cute and fun. Just because a colour combination or a vibe has been done before doesn’t mean that switching out a couple of pieces won’t make it into something new.
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Coord 3: Lavender & Merry-go-round
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| Angelic Pretty Crystal Dream Carnival Tiered JSK | Chess Story Gift from Budapest blouse and detachable bow | Metamorphose Lace-up Bouquet OTKs | Deary heels | Shinku Rose hair clips | offbrand earrings | Gravelvet Iridescent Princess necklace | handmade bracelets |
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I feel like of all my wigs this is the one I reach for (even mentally) the least, but it's somehow one of the nicest ones I own?
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When you go to your big brother after kids on the playground are mean to you...
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Another Coord Mashup theme, though I’ll be honest, this only counts as worn so
very tentatively. I’ve been filming the next AYWi30C lookbook beforehand and wanted to capitalise on makeup, but despite it not being hot, it was so stuffy that I got too hot and sweaty for frills, especially this involved. So I only wore this look for the photo, then promptly took it off. But I’m counting this nonetheless! It’s kind of an updated version of
this coord from 2017 (where you can finally see the lavender instead of it being hidden under the cardigan). It’s the closest I have to a merry-go-round print, but carnival prints count too, right? After I shed this I watched
Luca on Disney+, which was such a sweet film, I enjoyed it a lot and am enamoured with Giulia’s Dad, he is Dad goals.
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Coord 4: Rococo Summer
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| | BtSSB Soiree of the Beginning of My Memories JSK | Angelic Pretty Romantic Bright blouse | offbrand tights and choker | Laura Ashley shoes | DIY hat with a clip from the blouse | handmade bracelets | |
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Hide the fact that your hat doesn't stay where you want it too with cute posing.
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It's actually one hella wonky hat, but heck, it's my handiwork and I'm pretty pleased with it.
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Of course it was a rainy Monday when I wanted to wear a summery look. I’d picked this outfit based on the forecasted temperature and didn’t take notice of what the weather would actually do, trying to balance being cute with not overheating. I had
finally finished DIY-ing that hat over the weekend and it seemed perfect to wear with this dress for a more summery, country-ish look. But hey, it’s not the first time over the working from home period that I’d be completely weather inappropriate.
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Coord 5: Heatwave Frills
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| | Haenuli Lovely Memories JSK | offbrand socks and earrings | Deary heels | Naked Lace Company bow barette | Tiny Passerine Creations necklace and ring | vintage gloves | |
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Would more traditionally vintage hair and makeup styling improve this look? Totally. Could I be bothered? Absolutely not!
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As soon as I can go to another vintage fair, I am hunting down more gloves.
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Was wearing lolita in the heatwave that we had a smart idea? No, it probably wasn’t. But I was going to be hot regardless of what I wore, so why not something cute? Blouseless lolita is not that bad with a bustier, though there was definitely a mental barrier to get over. The things we do to feel cute… I also really would've preferred to have some sort of a navy necklace or maybe even a scarf, just something in that area that was navy to balance the colours out a bit more. This might be a look that I will re-do in the future to realise the vision that I wanted to aim for and got too hot and tired halfway through executing it.
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Coord 6: Cute in Pink & Blue
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| | Innocent World Revival Sweet Teddybear JSK | offbrand blouse, socks and earrings | Metamorphose shoes | Celestial Castle hairclip | Dentelles brooch | Angelic Pretty Logo Ribbon Charm wrist cuffs | handmade bracelets | Banned Retro Bella belt | |
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I am currently loving these earrings and as I am in town the moment this post is going live, rest assured that I am going back to the shop I got them from to see if any of the other colourways they came in are still available and if they're something I could work with.
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Current mood is braid crowns and double bow clips with a chain. By which I mean that I've done it twice within the space of a week. But I would genuinely like more clips like these.
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Even though the heatwave carried on, my flat is indeed cool enough to warrant frills like this, so I indulged. I am so pleased with how well my Coord Archive is working in keeping tabs on what I’ve worn previously to inspire the next look because that is exactly how this one came together. But clothes aside, that was an uneventful day - except for this one tiny, small detail that I, erm,
talked with RinRin Doll and she called me cute!? Lads, I am still reeling from that, it was such an odd set of circumstances that led me to hosting that talk show with her and Minori in the first place, but I am eternally grateful for it for the opportunity to (privately) fangirl, whilst (outwardly and professionally) talk with her about all sorts of things including the UK community, which Chinese brands are popular amongst people, how do we deal with the heat without air con and more, as well as the event. It was a voice call only, so it won’t mean anything if I say that my hands were totally not waving around to release all that pent up excitement - especially because that would be an utter lie and my hands were all over the place to compensate for having to sound cool. I will write more about the MinoRinRin talk show separately, so look out for that!
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Coord 7: Reunion Picnic
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| | Innocent World Georges Rose JSK | Innocent World bolero | offbrand socks, shoes, necklace and bracelets | Rose of Sharon hair clip | vintage brooches | Amadea Kingdom The Adventurer D20 brooch | |
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Oh look, it's that same hairstyle and accessory type!
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Whilst I have detail shots of the necklace and the hair clip, I'm picking this one instead because of the brooch placement and that glimpse of the bolero's lace which I ironed the night before.
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If you follow me on Instagram or if we are friends on Facebook, then you will know by now that my comm’s reunion picnic had a really awful disruption in the form of anti-lockdown/anti-vax protesters getting real nasty and making us feel unsafe to the point of fleeing the park we were at which they stormed. It’s so unfair that ignorant entitled pricks can just endanger people like that because boohoo their favourite pub imposed a vaccinated-people-only restriction or whatever. But let’s not dwell on that, let’s keep that in the past where it belongs and move on. Unusually for me I was Naked-chan for this meet for a long time until a friend I was catching the train to Leeds with said that she was going to wear a floral Innocent World dress. That inspired me to wear my Innocent World floral dress and whilst I initially started out with a more typically country lolita styling, I ended up with this country-ish look that’s all ivory with pops of dark green. Because we need more dark green in lolita and this was more comfortable and cuter than the other oen. And whilst I can’t say that I was cold (I did bring a long sleeve bolero in case it cooled down, which I never had to do), it also wasn’t quite so warm to really necessitate such summery layers. But as I said, it worked out fine in the end.
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Coord 8: MinoRinRin Talk Show
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| | Baroque Repose of Queen Teatime Dress | L’Esprit de la Noblesse Le Nuage blouse | replica socks | Laura Ashley shoes | After Midnight flower crown | Claire’s hair clips | offbrand earrings and rings | vintage necklace | Peppermint Fox brooch | offbrand flower brooch | |
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Once again, I would've wanted some fancier hairstyle with this look, but it was that or sleep and I needed sleep really badly. Shoutout to Lola's Lashes for giving me falsies distracting enough to hide a multitude of shortcuts in plain sight.
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Damn, I love this print so much, it's so beautifully intricate! I want my house like this too.
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Literally the day after that reunion picnic was the MinoRinRin talk show that I co-hosted for Hyper Japan. Given that I wasn’t quite rested after my very eventful weekend (by then I’d been busy with something requiring my energy for the fourth day in a row), my priority was comfort, though I guess I couldn’t resist a bit of OTT styling. Combining this OP with this blouse had been on my mind for a while and I was so pleased that the two had worked together as well as I wanted them to. Although I would’ve wanted something fancier for my hair, I literally had zero ideas, zero will and zero tolerance for something like a wig, so this was the best that I could do. And I think this is the first time that I’m actually wearing this flower crown having owned it for… oh my God, three and a half years now! Wow…
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Coord 9: Welp, I Guess We’re Doing This
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| | Metamorphose My Little CA JSK | offbrand blouse and socks | Irregular Choice Flickety Kiss shoes | vintage gloves | |
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I'm going to have to look up videos on how to tie a nice bow with scarves like this, this was hard!
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Welcome on board this Metamorphose Airline flight number 132021, my name is Paulina and I hope that you have a comfortable journey.
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I declare the 78th Nonsense Games open! Full disclosure, I
wasn’t actually going to wear this just yet, I only put this on to film a worn shot for the unboxing video that will come later. But was I
really going to take this off straight afterwards? Especially on a rainy, stormy day that needed some brightening up? Of course not! I am living what I preach which is to wear your dream dresses instead of waiting for the “perfect coord”. The perfect coord will still happen, this dress isn’t leaving my possession anytime soon. And until then I can just have fun with it. It was also the perfect opportunity to sort of, kind of, tentatively figure out how Instagram reels work from the technical side. The first one will be very basic, but we all gotta start somewhere.
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There was actually a chance that I’d wear something after that impromptu last coord, but you know what? Fuck that! Let’s end the post on a high. (And no-one try to stop me and my puns, accept the dad joke lover that I am in reality!)
July felt both really fast and quite slow. Fast in that wow, it is August in just a few days, but slow in that I didn’t have that many days that blended into one and I do feel like I’ve been present throughout this month. Maybe it’s because somehow in my head I feel like a lot has happened? Is this what life used to be like pre-2020? Whatever the case may be, I hope that you all had a good month too. I for one look forward to August, both in terms having a bit of a break (if you hear me mumble anything about doing NaNo in November, now that I’ve done both camps this year, please, do me the favour of slapping me in the face first) and things that will be happening (potentially two more in-person meets and my first GLISH!). And some stuff that I am not looking forward to quite so much, but let’s ignore that for just a little while longer.
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