52 Week: Fondest Meetup Memory

This summer I went to a meetup at the Dallas Museum of Art. They were having a "murder mystery" event, a free event, and so of course that's perfect for a meet. We met at a restaurant with intentions of carpooling to the museum... and there were too many people and not enough cars. So three of my friends and I decided that riding the intercity train was just fine. I just remember it was a little scary, but very fun, riding the train kind of late and walking around downtown from the station to the museum. The meet itself was wonderful as well, I think it's my favorite to date!

12 Days of Christmas Meetup

I got to go to a meetup on Saturday! I don't get to go to a lot of meetups since I'm in Galveston for most of the year, so whenever I'm home I really like to go whenever I can. It was an outdoor meetup, and even though it was really cold I had a good time, but an actual lolita coat just jumped up on my priority list!

We all had a lot of fun, and I think everyone who took pictures got really cute ones! It was at the local botanical gardens, and I wasn't expecting it to be so pretty in winter! I'd been there once before, when the gardens had an "Alice in Wonderland" themed exhibit, but we didn't actually explore all that much then, because it was hot.

52 Week: Most versatile Lolita item I own

Oh it would definitely have to be Bodyline's L411!

I have used this dress for literally everything. Sweet coords, classic coords, country coords... and it works in the summer, winter... whichever season! It's also the one I wear a lot when I'm just not feeling like putting on a full coord, and so am going for more "lolita inspired" than actual lolita (I wear it a lot with a hairbow and white flats.)

My favorite thing about it is that the shirring is so stretchy, so even though it's an OP, there's still plenty of room for me to fit a blouse underneath for a winter coord.

The only downside to it is that it doesn't fit me as well as my other dresses, since all my others have been either custom made, or made by a Western indie brand. I have what I think is called a "ballet neckline" where I'm a bit longer from my shoulders to my bust than the body type that the dress is made for... so the shirring hits me a bit too high. But I have gotten a lot of compliments on this dress, and "THAT'S Bodyline?? Dang!" a few times!

52 Week: Favorite hair style

My favorite hairstyle on me... well, I don't have a good picture. It's kind of a half ponytail, where I pull back my hair in the front (I always do it gently, so that my part is still there) and leave the hair down the back so that there's a ponytail, but also some hair down as well. You can kind of see it in this, which is a cropped section of another picture.

My favorite hairstyle in general, though, is curls! Ringlets especially, but any kind of curls, really. They're just so dainty and pretty! My hair is finally growing out a bit, so I'm excited to play with my curling iron this Christmas, and maybe I can get to where I can make curls look decent on my own for when I go back to school and am on my own. I'm including two Gothic Lolita Wigs pictures, but you get the idea. ^_^

52 Week: Something that's not my style, but I love anyways

I have kind of a weird relationship with OTT sweet. I think it looks super adorable: a bunch of my friends in my comm wear it, and I absolutely adore their coords, and they look too precious for words! There are a lot of really sweet dresses that I absolutely adore and love the look of... but would never actually put on my body, just because it's not me. (I say this as I'm surrounded by Hello Kitty products and wearing Hello Kitty lounge pants) 

(Picture is from Tumblr, if it's yours and you'd like me to take it down, just let me know)

(Picture from Lolibrary)

(Picture from Lolibrary)

So, I'm not a big fan of food prints on me. (Although, apparently, I have a secret love for Innocent World's strawberry prints.) But, as you can see from this picture list here, I apparently really like chocolate prints. I just don't want to wear them. Although if I were to find Melty Ribbon Chocolate (the halter style jsk) at a price I could afford (which won't be happening, so I'm safe) then I might break that rule cause I really like that dress. But in general... not my style, but I love it! 

52 Week: What I thought when I got my first real piece of Lolita

My super lovely White Moon "Sakura Pintuck OP" was my first real piece of lolita. It is also my favorite, even above my Sleipnir JSK, just because of how pretty I feel in it, and I feel like it's the most "me" thing in my wardrobe.

To put this in perspective, when my mom and I got a lot of my new clothes was in my freshman year of high school. I don't usually get a lot of new clothes at once, unless we're going to a thrift store, so getting a lot of new clothes at once was a big thing. Unfortunately at the time I was going through my "pseudo emo phase" meaning that all my friends were into dark clothes, Evanescence, and pretty much anything angsty. At one point all I listened to was Evanescence, the Sweeney Todd soundtrack, and a Finnish metal band whose name I can't spell anymore. It was that phase at the start of high school that isn't the same for everyone, as far as aesthetics go, but everyone has some phase that more than likely embarrasses them immediately the second they get past it. I got out of it like halfway through my sophomore year, but unfortunately, my wardrobe did not get out of it for a while. I spent the rest of high school and freshman year of college (although that was a whole different animal altogether... I wore a fleece fox ear hat and a jingle collar without knowing anything looked odd...) trying to help my wardrobe recover from the massive amount of black. Now in the year 2014, I can finally say with all confidence that my wardrobe is as it should be. Actually, it was probably back to normal in 2013, but that's not the point of this.

I got into lolita around the time that my wardrobe had nearly recovered, and I got my first lolita piece at the end of the first semester of my Sophomore year. I was terrified to try it on. I had lost a TON of weight over the summer, due to strict dieting and figuring out that I was actually lactose intolerant and gluten intolerant (two of my favorite things were milk and bread products: I'm sure you can imagine how chubby of a child I was due to swelling.) But this wasn't mom and dad's house with the ability to cook my own food or have the person cooking my food know exactly what I could and couldn't eat; this was college with limited dining options, and I wasn't sure if I had gained some of it back or not, and so even though it was custom made, I was scared to find out. My parents brought down my Qutieland package (which had been mailed to my house) with them when they visited for Dickens on the Strand, and several days had passed after they'd left, and I still hadn't tried it on.

And so, one evening, while my roommate was out at dinner, I tried it on. And it fit perfectly. And wearing that dress, I felt like for once my outside matched my inside. This was what I had always dreamed of wearing. This was absolutely, without a doubt, me.

And I've been fixated on being cute ever since.

52 Week: Something that I made

My brown skirt! This isn't the first thing I've made, but it's one of my favorites. My mom helped with the lace, but I did everything else! It's made from my own pattern, too. Rather than a circle skirt for an a-line petticoat, I did a "trapezoid" skirt. It gives it the same shape, but without the extra fabric and weird math. I'm bad a math. Like really bad. So we avoid math.

I do need to re-do the waist: the waist band is a little loose, but that can be done without much of an issue.

52 Week: Bloomers or no bloomers?

I think it's very much a matter of personal opinion what you wear under your skirts, but I definitely think that you need to wear some kind of shorts, whether they be bloomers, running shorts, pajama bottoms, or boxer shorts, and, weather permitting, with or without tights. Obviously, if it's very hot out, you want to take any kind of short cuts you can, so if you're wearing tights, you probably don't want to wear anything else underneath, but if you can stand it, I think it's a good idea.

I live on an island for around seven months out of the year, and my love for bloomers comes from the simple fact that, in my world, ocean breezes are a thing, and they are a powerful thing. There are many days that I step out of my door and my skirt instantly decides I need to be in a cliche shoujo anime. Or it thinks that I'm Marilyn Monroe (ha, fooled it, didn't I?) and that we're standing over a vent. Some kind of shorts are very necessary in case of wind, but I also don't have to worry about what my skirt is doing when I sit down, or somebody deciding to creep on me. I've been very fortunate in that I haven't had a noticeable problem with other people deciding to be rude and look under, or lift up, my skirt, but I've heard a good number of horror stories. Some kind of shorts are, in my opinion, very necessary.

I personally prefer bloomers over everything else because I like the look. It just kind of completes the way I feel about my coordinate. I make my own bloomers, so they're really very cheap: just the cost of a yard of fabric and some elastic (or a drawstring, but I haven't tried making drawstring bloomers yet.) Plus, then I can make them out of all kinds of cute fabrics: I have a pair that's the typical lolitaish rose print, but I also have a pair (which need to be repaired since I hand sewed them) that are made from Winnie the Pooh fabric, and I have another that are made from horse print fabric. I also have a pair made from thick fleece for when the weather gets really bad, and they're warmer than any of my pajama pants! So to me, wearing bloomers completes my coordinate in a way that wearing my old marching band shorts doesn't, and that's why I recommend them over regular shorts.

52 Week: What's in my Makeup Bag

Oh boy... well, I have TWO makeup bags, so I guess we're doing both of these things.

The first makeup bag is what I actually wear on... well, I'm not going to even pretend it's a daily basis, but this is the bag that I take with me to conventions or when I'm traveling. So the stuff I wear most often.

1. Maybelline "Dream Fresh" BB cream (light/medium)
2. Lipsmacker Strawberry Banana lipgloss
3. Ulta "medium powder" brush (I use it for blush)
4. Ulta "amped lashes" mascara
5. NYX white eyeliner
6. Maybelline black eyeliner
7. Covergirl blush (I don't know what color it is, I think it's a rose something)
8. Hershey s'mores flavored lipgloss
9. Maybelline "define-a-lash" waterproof mascara
10. Clearasil cream
11. Ulta brushes: contour brush, sponge tip, and eyeshadow (these are small)
12. Bonnie Bell "Honey Kiss" lipgloss
13. Bonnie Bell "Sugar Bronze" lipgloss
14. Ulta "Plush Drama" mascara
15. Carmex
16. Burt's Bees "Mango Butter" lipbalm
17. Rosebud Strawberry lipbalm
18. Estee Lauder "Frosted Apricot" lip stick
19. Covergirl "Bronzed Peach" lip stick
20. Covergirl concealer
21. Bobbi Brown "Oyster" lip gloss
22. Bobbi Brown "Melon 2" lip gloss
23. Ulta charcoal eyeliner
24. Unknown black eyeliner pencil (it's a tiny thing I got from a Halloween makeup kit)
25. Eyeliner pencil sharpener
26. Majikah Perfumery "Renaissance Romance" perfume
27. 3 bobby pins

Phew! Yeah, that's one bag...

The second bag is a rectangular-ish tote thing that has more of the extra stuff or the things that I don't wear very much and don't need to take with me very often.

1. Foundation sponge
2. Neutrogena skin clearing mineral powder (classic ivory 10)
3. Neutrogena skin clearing liquid foundation (classic ivory 10)
4. Extra BB cream (same as the first bag)
5. Neutrogena shine control primer
6. Bonnie Bell "vanilla swirl" lip gloss
7. Covergirl 24 hour lipstick
8. Portland Black Lipstick Company "snow queen" lipstick
9-11. Three different Alamay eyeshadow pallets
12. Two different Covergirl powders
13. Ulta "Electric Lights" eyeshadow
14. Unmarked lipstick (kind of a bronze color)
15. Covergirl Concealer
16. Hot Topic eye shadow pallet
17. Jordana "Holiday Red" lipstick (I think this is from when I was in elementary school and I was a vampire for Halloween...)
18. Clinique "Peach Goddess" lip gloss
19. Bonnie Bell "cream puff" lip gloss
20. Ulta "perfect nude" lip stick
21. Ulta face wash
22. Bonnie Bell brown swirl lip gloss
23. Mary Kay "Celebrate" lip gloss
24. BonBons pink and purple lip gloss
25. BonBons vanilla lip gloss
26. Ulta "Flirtini" lip gloss
27. Ulta "flush cheek" blush (I think. It doesn't really say.)
28. A terrycloth hairband
29. Covergirl eyeliner? (I think that's what this is)
30. Unmarked brown liquid eyeliner
31. Prestige "khol" eyeliner pencil

Okay, I've realized that at least half of this is is stuff that was either part of a free sample package, something that I've had since I was five, or something that my mom threw at me that she either had when she was in college or that her cousin sent her. Actually, two thirds of this falls under that category.

So... yeah. I have a lot of makeup. A remarkable amount for someone who barely knows how to use it...

52 Week: What Influences My Lolita Style

I tend to be more influenced by old-fashioned dolls and clothing from history, I think. It's hard for me to really pin-point what influences my lolita style. I've always just liked clothes like this, and before I got into lolita, I was still the type of person who wore long skirts and corsets. Lolita was always that style that I wanted to find and didn't know that I wanted to find it until I did. 

So for the most part, I tend to just find dresses that my younger self would have done nearly anything for the chance to wear. So, that comes out as more of a classic-sweet blend. For the most part. I say I'm influenced by old-fashioned dolls and clothing from various time periods (typically Victorian to Edwardian era) because that's what I was influenced by when I was little. That was what I wanted to wear. So now I'm really just finding dresses that are the sort of thing I've always wanted to wear, and that I know will suit me. That's a big reason why I don't delve into OTT sweet, even though I like it a lot: I just don't think it suits me. Not that it wouldn't look good on my body type or anything like that, just that I think I personally would feel very self-conscious in OTT sweet, in a way that I don't feel in my usual style. 

How I Travel with Lolita

Notice the title of this is "with" not "in" lolita. I, personally, am not a big fan of long distance travel while wearing lolita. I don't really even like driving in lolita, but that's mainly because my truck's seat belts are not petticoat friendly. Riding in the car in lolita is okay... as long as it's on the way to a meetup, and not actual travel. 

For airplane travel, what I typically do is pick one coordinate, or if I do need two, then one where all, or at least most, of the accessories go with both dresses. If I'm able to only have carry-on bags, it's usually pretty easy to violently cram my petticoat (and YES I do mean literally cramming it) into the corner or bottom of the bag (depends on which bag I'm traveling with) and pile all my other clothes or stuffed animals around and on top of it. Having only one pair of shoes is really essential: there's too much wasted space, especially in a carry-on bag, if you pack more than one. However, if you do need more than one pair, wear one in the airport, rather than trying to pack both and wear regular shoes (I like my Bodyline shoes for this, since they have snaps so that I don't have to mess with buckles.) I usually fold and then gently roll dresses up into a sort of sausage link shape, if I'm not able to use a suit or dress bag. I really, really, don't like wearing my dresses in the airport or on the airplane: there's too many possible stains that could happen, plus, with those new full-body scanners, you will have to be pulled aside and patted down, there's too many folds in the dress, and I've had to have a pat down with just a regular skirt. 

For car travel, it's a lot easier, and unless you're traveling with multiple people, you really don't have to worry about space as much. I still don't like wearing lolita dresses on long (I consider 4+ hours to be long) trips, since wrinkles in your skirt are a guarantee, plus they just get uncomfortable after a while, but in this case packing them is much easier. Dress or suit bags are your friend here, you can either lay it flat on top of everything else, or hang it up on the hangars that come in every car. If you're traveling with multiple people, I'd suggest laying it flat since riding in a car with someone's dress bag blocking your view is really annoying. For petticoats, I still shove mine in the bottom of a backpack, and then my other clothes on top of it. 

If you're traveling and you need to, for various reasons whether it be space or time, wear lolita, I still would advise against wearing your petticoat. In the car, traveling long distance will deflate your petticoat faster than almost anything, since you're sitting on it the whole time, not to mention if you're traveling with a bunch of people, it just takes up unnecessary space and can be rude. On an airplane, the same thing applies, and even if you're on a short flight where petti-deflation isn't as much of a problem, how would you like to be the person next to you? There's not much point in wearing your petticoat in the airport since you'd just be going through the hassle of wearing it through security, and then taking it off and shoving it into your bag anyway. 

Just remember to keep your destination in mind when you're packing lolita to take with you. I'd rather wear the same coordinate twice in as many days than over-pack and waste a ton of space that could be used to pack other things, or for bringing back souvenirs. 

52 Week: How I accessorize

I think I've mentioned this before, but I tend to take a very low key approach to accessories. For one thing, I'm very hard on jewelry, and so I tend to not wear much of it very often.

Head pieces: This is helped by the fact that I don't actually own very many lolita head pieces. I have a non-lolita headbow (on a hairband) that I wear with lolita fairly often, a Bodyline bow that I'm pretty sure is supposed to be a detachable bow, but I shoved a bobby pin onto it, a crocheted beret, and two bows my best friend gave me that have the weird spring clip backings. None of these are very tall, or particularly large, and while I'd like to add a bit more variety, for the most part I like it this way.

Earrings: I'm pretty "meh" about earrings. I have a lot of them, but a limited number that actually go with my dresses. None of these are very big, although some dangle. When I do my EGL wardrobe post in January I'll post it here too. Sometimes I wear earrings with lolita, sometimes I don't. And sometimes I meant to, but forgot to put in earrings and don't realize it until I'm getting out of the car at the meetup.

Bracelets: Eh, I'm not that big on bracelets. I have a few, but unless I'm really going with a theme with my jewelry (for example, I have a key necklace, and I have a bracelet full of locks) I don't typically wear them.

Rings: I wear them occasionally, but not often. More often than I wear bracelets, though.

Necklaces: I usually try to wear a necklace. Necklaces are what I wear the most both in and out of lolita. I just like to have a little something around my neck!

52 Week: How Satisfied I am with my current wardrobe

I thought I posted something on Sunday, but I guess not! I was at home all weekend, so blogging took a back seat to being with mom and dad and puppers. I'll (hopefully) post something tomorrow, this is Sunday's replacement.

Hmm... I like the dresses in my current wardrobe. Most of them look relatively the same style, and most of them can use the same accessories easily. I do wish I had a bit of a larger wardrobe, though. Ideally I'd like a wardrobe large enough to wear lolita for a week solid without overlapping too much on coordinates. I'm getting there! I'd like to add some more dresses from my wants list to my wardrobe, and definitely more head pieces and accessories. And bags. I don't actually have a lolita bag yet. I usually just use my nicest purse if I'm going to a meetup, or my Bishou (Hamtaro) backpack purse if I'm just going out to do errands or hang out with my best friend.

52 Week: 10 facts about my Lolita wardrobe

1. Three of my five main pieces (I consider main pieces to be dresses/skirts) are able to be used in a sweet, classic, or country coord!

2. For all my talk of sensible lolita shoes, I only actually have one pair of those.

3. I have three blouses (one of which will be sold soon) and they are all long sleeved (well, one has detachable sleeves.)

4. Most of my head pieces are bows that aren't attached to headbands.

5. I have two petticoats, one bell shaped and one a-line (both are Classical Puppets "daily" ones)

6. My Sleipnir JSK is my first print. (Well, I have Bodyline's L411 but I don't really see that as a print)

7. I made the only skirt I have.

8. I do not own any printed socks/tights

9. I have yet to buy a necklace solely for Lolita (however I have been gifted some)

10. All my blouses/cardigans are thrifted!

52 Week: My first meetup

My first meetup was mentioned in my last post... laser tag!

I remember being a little nervous, just because it was a new group of people who I'd never met. I'd been to cosplay meetups before (I've since left the cosplay group, and while I still cosplay I do it much more casually) but never a lolita meet, and so I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen.

My mom and I did a "dry run" a day or two before, where we drive out to the meetup location so that I can see ahead of time if there's any construction or how some funky thing on the map works, and pick out landmarks. And then, if anything goes wrong, then mom is in the car with me and we can figure out how to fix it without me having a panic attack ^_^; Anyway, I knew how to get there, and everything went fine, I think I was the third person there? I'm always early.

I think they lumped us in with a few more people, but it was largely just us playing, and we did sweet versus classic and gothic for the team divide ^_^ It was a total blast and we hung out after the game, and it just generally made me very excited about being part of the comm.

52 Week: 3 Things I wish I was told when I was a new Lolita

1. Comfortable shoes are very important.

If you're going to a meetup that is a rather active meetup, or one that requires a lot of walking, like say, oh, laser tag or, um, the zoo... for goodness sakes, if you do not have a pair of flat lolita shoes, just wear ballet flats! It doesn't matter that they're not strictly lolita, just wear ballet flats, and for the love of everything do not wear heels even if they are the only lolita shoes you have.

On the plus side, I now know that it is possible to play laser tag in heels. Not very fun, but possible.

2. You never HAVE to wear makeup.

For whatever reason, I somehow got it in my head while researching the fashion that makeup was a "must" while wearing lolita. It is not. Yes, it completes the look and makes you look more polished in general, but you never "have" to wear it. Also, I didn't actually realize what BB cream was until this summer, so there were quite a few days that I was in really hot weather wearing foundation. Don't do it. Just don't. Especially if you're just walking around campus.

3. You look just fine if you wear glasses rather than contacts.

You do. Trust me. And if you want to put on eye makeup, just take your glasses off, get close to the mirror so you can see, put on the eye makeup, and put your glasses back on. You look just fine.

BONUS: Things you will find out when you start wearing lolita:

1. Petticoats are a pain to drive in.
2. Do not wear new tights around your overexcited dogs.

52 Week: Combining other fashions with Lolita

This one might be short-ish but considering that this will be like the fourth thing I've posted today, I think that's okay.

I am a big fan of combining fashions! If you never introduce new things into a fashion, then the the fashion can't grow, becomes static, and then becomes boring and slowly dies off. I have said this many, many, times for a lot of different things. However, I think that combining things needs to stay in the realm of the rules. Also it needs to look good as an outfit in general, that's probably the most important thing.

For example: I'm starting to amass a collection of resin jewelry. I know that a lot of people wear resin jewelry with both Fairy Kei and OTT sweet (or just sweet) and it looks absolutely fantastic. I, however, have not done that yet, because the jewelry that I have would not look good in a coord with the dresses I have. The colors match, yes, but while I think that a resin star with little dinosaur sprinkles in it would look adorable in a Fairy Kei or even the right OTT Sweet coord, it would not look good with my own coords, which are usually more old school sweet, country, or classic. Kind of like how, while some of the colors are also similar, I wouldn't wear the same necklace with one of my Sunday dresses. I think this should be common knowledge but sometimes I'm surprised.

I think combining fashions is really best done only when you are very immersed in both fashions. I think that Peachie does a great job of combining elements of Fairy Kei with elements of OTT sweet. I however, would not be able to do the same thing with near the amount of success, because I don't know very much about Fairy Kei. I would love to apply some Mori-girl or Aristocrat elements to my lolita (there's a girl in my comm who I believe does Aristocrat as well as lolita and her coords are fantastic and elegant and wonderful) but, again, I'm not as familiar with those as I am with lolita, and I think it would definitely show.

If you want to add elements of something into your main fashion of choice, but you're not very familiar with that "something," look around for pictures of people who have done it successfully. Learning from them will give you a start, and then you can learn more about that other fashion and begin successful forays into combinations!

... Oh wow, this is actually a decent length, yay!

30 Day Lolita Challenge: Day 28-30 CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

Day 28: A picture of the perfect lolita location:

Okay, this is just taken from Google Maps Streetview, but this is Patty Cakes Bakery, here in Galveston. I picked here because a) it's a bakery, and no matter your style, a love of sweets is one thing that most lolita's share, and also, it's old fashioned and cute! Check them out here

Day 29: A picture of a lolita you would love to meet for real:

I don't want to take one of their pictures without permission, so I can't do a picture, but I would love to meet Peachie or Lovely Lor! I watch their videos a lot, and they're a big part of how I got up the courage to start wearing Lolita in the first place! 

Day 30:  A photo of yourself taken today and 3 good things that’s happened over the last 30 days

You do not want to see my face today. I have been in bed sick all day and it is not a thing of beauty. Would a fairly recent non-lolita selfie do the trick?

Good Thing #1: I made new friends on Tumblr.

Good Thing #2: I finished an essay and felt good about it. 

Good Thing #3: My "Intro to Museums and Conservation" class went on a field trip to the Texas Seaport Museum and I got to walk on a tall ship for the first time. 

30 Day Lolita Challenge: Day 20-27

Day 20: A picture of a lolita friend

Here, have multiple friends! This is from a meetup at the art museum!

Day 21: Your favorite fictional lolita

I don't have one yet?

Day 22: A picture of your room

Here's pictures of my dorm room? 

Day 23: A picture of your handwriting

Why do you make me do things? 

Day 24: A picture of you from a meet

This was right before I left for the meet, so it still counts ^_^

Day 25: Your favorite lolita themed artwork:

Uhhhhhhhhh...

Day 26: Your Facebook profile picture

It's literally just my face from the picture above ^_^

Day 27: One song that fits your lolita style:

Not really sure what this means! I'll just say "START: DASH" by μ

So... Challenges... Right...

Did I say that I would have time to blog this summer? Surely I didn't say that...

Ooooohhhhhh boy, I have let this blog slide a lot! My summer was very busy, with illness and online classes and volunteering, and so while I was active on Tumblr, a lot of my "blogging blogging" kind of went by the wayside. Also, I've been working on an original novel, and so if I had time to sit down and write something, that's usually what I was working on. Or I was doing character research, and ended up on Tumblr anyway.

Also, these challenges are, well, challenges! I'm very bad about keeping up with trends, and even in lolita fashion, I tend to ignore trends completely, unless it's something that I like, and even then my notice of the trend will be more of a "hey, it's magically easier to find people selling that thing I like, hooray!" So weekly topics like "3 trends I wish would come back" "Trends I thought I would never get into, but I now love" "Trends I thought I loved, but now I'm not too keen on" and etcetera, are very hard for me to do, because I'm sitting here like "um... what's been a trend? Oh, solid tights were a trend? Okay, I like those, that's all the leg wear I own..." As I mentioned, I'm very practical with my fashion choices, even in a very impractical fashion like lolita.

So, I'm deciding how finishing off these challenges is going to go down. I've started my new semester of college, and I now have an on-campus job (I'm a TA for my favorite professor!) so I'm likely not going to have as much time to really blog as I did last semester (which wasn't much in the first place, I know) but I will try to keep going at a steady rate. With the "30 day" challenge, there's a lot of pictures in there, and so I might do a post that just has "30 Day Challenge: Day 20-25" and a bunch of pictures. With the "52 week" challenge, I'm just going to do the ones that I have something to say about, because we don't need a bunch of "uh, trends... right" posts from me. So if I go from week 19's topic to week 32's topic, you haven't missed anything!

And that's pretty much it. I think I might try to finish up the 30 Day challenge today, and figure out what post I'm doing next on the 52 week, so expect an update soon!

Review: Dreadful Darling Art

So, I've had a package waiting on my desk for me for a week or a little over now, and tonight I finally got to open it! The package was from Dreadful Darling Art, and I'd been waiting to open it because it was my reward for getting through a really rough week of school work (I'm taking an online Spanish class this summer... I've gone through about half the class in a week! My own personal decision, cause the class itself was kinda stressful, but still...) and I'm absolutely over the moon in love with everything! 

I've ordered from Dreadful Darling Art (her store is on Etsy) once before, and while I haven't used any of her pieces for Lolita (although with this new order I think if I put together a Halloween-themed coord I definitely will!) But I think that a lot of her stuff lends itself very well to OTT sweet, Fairy kei, and a bunch of different street fashion styles. I always get lots of compliments on my jewelry when I'm wearing something of hers! 

Communication

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Angie has fantastic communication. With this order there weren't any shipping problems, she let me know when she shipped it and I got the package really really quickly and all was fine. The first time I ordered from her I had it sent to my campus, and our mail is a little weird, and so even though everything is fine, it always gets marked as "undeliverable" on tracking. She sent me a message telling me what had happened and saying that she would try to get it figured out, and while in reality there wasn't a problem, I was just really happy that she was that on top of it all. Plus she's always really nice and friendly in her Etsy messages!

Quality

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Dreadful Darling Art is the only store I've ever bought resin jewelry from, so I don't have any "in my hand" comparisons, but from what I've heard about good v.s bad resin jewelry, I can definitely say that this is really good quality. Resin aside, it's just plain good quality jewelry. The attachments for the chain (on the necklaces) are really secure, and I can now say that the ring backings are as well. The jewelry itself is nice and smooth, and it's hard like you'd expect from a good resin piece. I can be kind of hard on jewelry, especially jewelry that I wear a lot, and my first necklace from her is still in the same condition it was when I first bought it.

Likeness to Picture

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Her pictures on Etsy are absolutely fantastic. I have so many of her necklaces in my favorites list, it's a little crazy. All of her pieces are unique, and so you don't have to worry about any kind of photo difference, because what's in the photo is what you're getting, and she's very good about describing the size and everything you might have questions about in the item description.

In General

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I could recommend Dreadful Darling Art forever. I'm absolutely in love with her jewelry and whenever I wear it I can't stop staring at it and playing with it. Her prices are really reasonable, especially for good quality resin jewelry, and as a seller she's one of those perfect people who just make you want to buy from her again and again! 

And now comes the part where I show pictures and gush about everything! SHE PUT A TON OF EXTRA STUFF IN, I'M SO EXCITED!

To start off, look at the precious sticker on the package! I'm keeping it, it's so cute and happy!

Everything was packaged so nicely! The tissue paper is a nice touch, and everything was really protected! You can kind of see it in the package, but I got a handwritten note and a business card ^_^

EEE! Look at it, it's so pretty! She puts everything in these precious little bags, isn't that adorable? BUT LOOK AT IT IT'S SO PRETTY!

She gave me extra things! My eyes about popped out of my head when I saw this second bag!

Everything together! Ah, it's all so cute! And she gave me TWO necklace chains! I can't decide which one I should put it on first!

I'm keeping all these stickers! She closed up the tissue paper with them, so there's the lollipop from the outside, and then the cupcake and milkshake that were on the paper. I put them in one of the little green bags so that they won't stick to anything else ^_^

It's so pretty! I can't get over it, I keep staring at it! I fell in love with it just from her picture on Etsy, but I'm even more in love with it in person!

SHE SENT ME A MATCHING RING! Oh my goodness, I squealed when I saw this! It's so cute and fantastic and I'm so happy!

Little ghosties! These are so precious, I've been playing with them pretty much every moment that I'm not typing this out: they're tiny and cute and adorable and pretty much everything I like all rolled into one thing!

Since I mentioned it so much in the review, I thought I should also take a picture of my other necklace! It's got little dinosaurs in it! And the glitter in the back is pink and orange and it's just so adorable! 

52 Week: How I first found out about Lolita

This is going to be a short one... I don't actually remember! I know I started hearing about it around my senior year of high school (that was the "Lolita" dress that we don't speak of anymore...) and I guess it must have been via the internet, but I can't remember ever doing the "Lolita? What's that?" thing. I just know that at some point before my sophomore year of college I was doing some serious research that led to me buying my first coord.

30 Day: Day 19 : What’s in your make-up bag?

There's actually quite a bit in my makeup bag! I have two things of makeup: one in an actual bag that is pretty much all I need to grab for anything, and a bigger kinda squareish case that holds extra lipgloss, eye shadow, blush that I don't use often... pretty much everything I don't use a whole lot. I'm just going to do the bag, since there's enough in that already!

1. "Rosebud" strawberry lip balm (in a little tin)
2. "Lipsmacker" strawberry banana lip gloss
3. Carmex (in a tube)
4. Neutrogena skin clearing mineral powder, classic ivory 10
5. A pad for my foundation that came from my mom's old semi-solid foundation, it helps make it an even tone
6. Covergirl blush, it's kind of a rose color
7. Neutrogena skin clearing liquid foundation, classic ivory 10
8. A blush brush
9. Ulta plush drama mascara
10. A pack of makeup brushes: contouring brush, sponge tip, and eyeshadow brush
11. Covergirl "bronzed peach" lipstick
12. Este Lauder "frosted apricot" lipstick (my favorite!)
13. Bonnie Bell lipgloss: two shades, one is "super bronze" and the other is a clear one that smells like vanilla and brown sugar (it's a two headed thing)
14. Ulta "amped lashes" mascara
15. Covergirl concealer (it's in a tube like lipstick)
16. An eyeliner pencil sharpener
17. Ulta charcoal colored eyeliner
18. Un-labled black eyeliner pencil
19. Perfume from Magika Perfumery, the scent is "Renaissance Romance" and it's the only perfume I'll ever buy ever.
20. 3 bobby pins

So yes! That's my makeup bag... I told you there was a lot of stuff in there. It's great cause it's literally everything I need. I actually could have sworn I had a thing of waterproof mascara in there but maybe it got put somewhere else...

52 Week: 5 keywords that describe my personal Lolita style

1. Simple

I'm not a big fan of complicated things. Out of Lolita I wear my hair down, usually, or in pigtails; something I can do myself in about five minutes. My haircut is always something that doesn't need to be styled... I haven't even used my hair dryer in over a year. My non-Lolita clothes are either simple feminine or something that I can easily wear to the barn and not care if my horse rubs his muddy face on. I don't even like complicated shoes.

Simplicity extends to my Lolita style. I own one print, and even then it's a nice consistent floral all over the dress, and my solid colored dresses are my favorite: the most complicated they get are pintucks and maybe a fancy collar. Maybe. My accessories are usually pretty minimal, a low-key necklace, the occasional brooch, and even more rarely, a ring. My hairstyle is, as always, something I can do myself in about five minutes (I have a curling iron... I haven't used it yet.) See me in a group, and likely mine will be the most simple, low-key, coord. It's not that I don't like elaborate coords, in fact I gush over them just as much as anyone, but at the same time I know, even if I did the exact same thing I admire on other people... it's just not me!

2. Practical

Harkening back to that first paragraph, my simple tastes are also practical ones. I rarely wear makeup out of Lolita because on the average day... I just don't care. Even when I wear Lolita, sometimes I just decide that it's too hot and I'll only sweat it off anyway (this happens the most when I'm in Galveston and it's humid... in Dallas I usually don't feel that out of it.) My favorite shoes are my walkable, flat, shoes, and even my heels or RHS' I don't mind walking in (although let's maybe save those for the indoor meetups or when I'm running errands that don't include walking around a mall...) All my dresses can get wet, and I keep my jewelry minimal enough that I'm not worried about anything breaking while I'm out (I'm careful with necklaces, but rings and bracelets... watch out!) It's not like I'm going to go to the barn or go babysit a room of two-year-olds while wearing Lolita... but I make sure that all my coords are something that I'm comfortable going about my daily life in.

3. Doll-like

I absolutely adore dolls (I don't have a BJD but I want one) and I have a small collection of them, and they're what I tend to base my overall look on. Simple makeup, solid (or mostly solid) colored dresses, and minimal, dainty, jewelry... and I have to admit that one of my dolls has a dress that I'm thinking of replicating for myself.

4. Storybook

This word comes from one particular "nice stranger" story of mine. It was the start of the fall semester (Fall 2013) and I was bound and determined that I was going to wear Lolita the first day of my classes. Well, turns out it was raining on the first day, so I changed that plan to the first week... but I was determined! Lolita, in August, in Galveston... bad plan. I was absolutely miserable every second that I was outside. The only legwear I had (the only legwear I still have...) was tights. I was wearing a sleeveless OP with a cardigan. I had put on makeup. It was awful. I didn't change, because I was determined that I had put forth the effort so far, and I was going to make it through the day. And I did. I even wore it when I made a trip to Walmart after I was done with classes. At Walmart, I was tired, I was sweaty, I was sure my hair looked like a wreck, and I was wearing heels, and had been all day. And then, while I was trying to get my bearings in a store I hadn't been in in months, an employee came up to me, and said "I just wanted to tell you that you look beautiful, like a character in a storybook!" It absolutely made my day, heck, it made my week. I STILL think about it every time I wear Lolita out, and it is a massive confidence boost.

5. Mom-approved

From the time I started dressing myself, my dad has always urged me to ask my mom if my outfit looks okay. I love the way my mom dresses, she always looks nice. While we're at home, or at the barn, yes of course then it's holey barn jeans or a stained sleep shirt, but when we're in public, she looks amazing. And so from elementary on, I've always asked my mom if I'm unsure about an outfit; even now that I'm in college I'll text her pictures or video call her so she can see what I'm wearing, and tell me "yes that shirt does clash with the blazer" or "no, that pin isn't too much I don't know why you're worried." And so my mom has had a hand in all my major Lolita pieces. When I bought my first dress, I narrowed it down to four, and she picked the one I was leaning towards the most (it's still my favorite dress.) She bought a dress for me for Christmas. She helped me make my brown skirt. I showed her my blue dress before I had even considered buying it to check on her opinion. So I would definitely say that my Lolita style is definitely "kid tested, mother approved."

30 Day: Day 17 : What do you want more than anything right now?

What I want the most right now is what I JUST MISSED getting from the actual website, so I'll have to see if I can find it secondhand. It was going to be my next purchase, and hopefully it still will be:

The Sleipnir JSK! 

52 Week: Why don't I wear Lolita more often?

Ahhh! It's been so long since I've posted! Well, if I tell you that I just finished up with my finals, that'll explain all of it ^_^; At first I was going to try and catch up with what I missed, but it's really easier to just start where I left off. So, hopefully I'm back to posting Monday's (well I'm off to a great start...) Wednesday's, and Friday's!

I think the reason I don't wear Lolita more often can be best summed up with the fact that I'm a little fearful of getting my dresses dirty. I got a stain on one of my dresses while in a friend's car and it almost completely ruined the evening, and I literally felt sick until I got the stain out. I don't wear it if I know the weather will be bad, either, so down in Galveston sometimes that knocks out a good chunk of time. And, at home, honestly there's a great deal of potential for stains: we have two dogs who are barely over 2 years old, and still act like puppies (which includes running around in the mud and then jumping all over me) and shed a ton. So I tend not to wear Lolita unless I'm going out, and then I don't really get dressed until shortly before.

It also needs to be said that Lolita is not a very practical fashion (I don't think anyone would argue that) and so it's a little hard to want to wear it for anything besides meetups, going to class, trips to the mall, or other special things during the year like concerts, haunted houses, or conventions. My family lives a fairly practical life; I'm the "collector" of the family and I really don't have large collections of any particular thing, but we have lots of animals, from turtles to my horse, and so for an average day, Lolita just isn't practical, and while I think that the "lounging princess" sort of thing is fine for other people... it's just not me.

I love Lolita, make no mistake, and when I wear it I feel completely comfortable and happy with life, but with a fear of getting my dresses too dirty... with my house, I'll never be a "lifestyler," that's for sure.

52 Week: Why I wear lolita

Okay, yes you can't see any of my coord (I'm on the right) but this is part of the reason why I haven't been updating ^_^ I went to a B.A.P concert (my first full concert!) over my (extended) Easter break, and studying after I got back has kept me from updating!

But I wore lolita to this concert, because B.A.P means a lot to me, and lolita does too. And while I was waiting for the concert to start, I kinda started thinking about this post a little bit.

My lolita style (sweet-classic blend) is, essentially, me. My mom helped me pick out my first dress, after I had narrowed my choices down to four, and she picked my favorite of the bunch, telling me it "looked like me." This is the style that I had been looking for without knowing I was looking for it, and even my non-lolita clothes look very similar to what I wear in lolita, either in color, general look, or both.

The day of the concert was the first time in a while that I'd worn lolita, simply because I hadn't had a chance to, and when I was ready to go I looked at myself and thought "this is good. I feel good, I missed this." For various reasons, I sometimes struggle with body image issues, but when I wear lolita, even just a casual coord, I really genuinely feel pretty and for once I don't compare how I look with other people.

I wear lolita for that reason, and that's why I get excited about other people's fashion choices, cause it means the same thing to them.

30 Day: Day 15 : A picture of your last lolita purchase

The shoes (my favorites!) and the wig in the second photo were (along with a black blouse that's absolutely wretched) my last Bodyline order, but the last major thing I purchased was:

My St. Tears OP!

30 Day: Day 14 : A picture of your dream item.

I'm studying archaeology, I'm a classic/sweet lolita... I took a class that was heavily focused on the development of ceramics and food ware in Colonial America...

Innocent World's "Delft Lotta" is my dream dress!