My pic in Sucrerie Magazine!

For those of you who have never heard of it, Sucrerie Magazine is an online magazine for/about Lolitas, specifically western lolitas. They have some really great atricles and features. They have recently converted to blog format, which is cool because they can put out articles whenever they want instead of having to have everything ready to go at once. It's a really good resource for western lolitas. They also do a feature called Western Lolita Style Watch, which showcases outfit snaps submitted by real lolitas. I submitted my outfit from the Alice in Wonderland movie, and they used it! I'm very excited! I worked hard on that outfit, especially the skirt, and I'm so happy to see it being showcased. Check it out here. I encourage you to submit your Lolita outfits too!

I Love Chanel!

I am absolutely in love with Chanel's spring 2010 ready-to-wear line. Chanel has always been so classic and pretty, and this season's collection is no exception. White, black, and cream were used heavily, as well as other neutral tones. There were a few splashes of color as well, but nothing too loud. There were a lot of fitted tops with poofy skirts, which I'm sure Lolitas will love. Here are some pics:

Aren't they all so lovely? I'm not a huge fan of clogs, I think that pumps look better, but that's just me. I love to see the high fashion ready-to-wear stuff because even though I may not be able to afford head to toe Chanel, Givenchy, or Prada, seeing what the designers are putting out gives one a good idea of what will be available in the upcoming season. Check out the rest of the pics (and other designer's spring collections) here.

Contest: Lolita Charm & Mouse Market Giveaway

Lolita Charm (a Lolita blog by Victoria Suzanne, one of my favorite lolita blogs) and Mouse Market (an etsy shop) are having a giveaway of some adorable fruit jewelry. Just click on the link here for more detail on how to enter!

Outfit Post

I went to see Alice in Wonderland of Friday with Nick, Himemiya, and a couple of our other friends. It was so wonderful! I grew up reading Alice in Wonderland, it was my favorite story. I also grew up watching Tim Burton movies. So when I found out that he was doing an Alice in Wonderland movie, my weird little goth inner child said "squee"!
I wore an Alice inspired casual-sweet Lolita outfit to the movie theater. (The finished product of the outfit I wore to Himemiya's tea party). I love how little kids like you so much when you wear sweet lolita. I told this to Nick, and he said it was because I looked like a Disney princess. Isn't that sweet?

"Drink Me" tee- Hot Topic

Skirt, Alice Bow, and bloomers- handmade by me

Socks, Necklace, and petti- Fanplusfriend

Shoes and Bag- Bodyline

Cardigan- off brand

You can't really see the cuteness of the socks, so here is a close-up!

I twisted my ankle leaving the theater, these shoes are really cute an comfy, but they are ankle twisters!

Here is my outfit from yesterday. It's not much, but I thought it was cute and so I had Nick take a picture.

All offbrand!

We couldn't get the lighting right, so I kind of look like a zombie. Those are also the most super comfy boots in the world. I have had them for years, and I have worn them in mud and snow, and they are still cute and in one piece.

New items I got from Fanplusfriend!

Yay! My order from Fanplusfriend finally showed up today. I placed the order on February 18th, and they shipped it out on February 26th. In all fairness to them, they were on holiday until the 21st, so they were probably a little backed up. The good thing about ordering from them during the holiday was that everything was discounted (either 10 or 20 percent, I can't remember). It took 5 business days after they shipped it for it to get here, which is about what I expected.

Here is what I ordered:

Petticoat:

I ordered this steep prop pannier. After I placed the order, I asked on the main egl community if anyone had it, and I got some not so good reviews from people. However, I think it looks pretty good. It's not so fluffy that I'm worried about knocking things over, and there is a layer of some kind of mesh fabric on top so that the steep prop doesn't show.

 

In the package

This isn't a great picture, but I couldn't really get a good one.

Here it is under a skirt.

Overall, I'd give it a 6/10. I like it, the shape is good and it feels very light. The steel prop isn't really adjustable like they say on the website, you can adjust it a tiny bit, but any more than that and it pops out of the piece that connects the ends together, and you have to push it back together. I have to wear it a few inches lower than my natural waist because it's a little short, but that's really my fault, I probably should have ordered the medium length on instead of the short one. The waist allowance is very forgiving, which is nice. It's easy to sit down in too. 

Socks!

These are so adorable!They are cream colored, which is nice because my wardrobe has off-white instead of white. The little roses are so pretty, and I especially love the ribbons printed on them.

I got these for my Alice in Wonderland outfit. They are a soft blue, and the detail is medium blue. They match really well with the skirt. 

Lace Gloves

These are just some simple off-white lace gloves. They are really cute, but a bit big on me, as gloves almost always are. (I have really tiny hands). They are cute, and would be good for a spring daytime outfit, say a walk in the garden or a garden party.

Bowknot Present Necklace

It came in the sweetest little box!

Unfortunately, no matter what I did, I wasn't able to get a decent picture of it. It's so cute though, it's a little present box.

I've been a little busy lately, but I do have some new things coming up. My cucumber sandwich recipe/tutorial is coming soon, and I am going to have other tutorials, I promise! I also want to start doing more outfit posts, not just Lolita stuff, but my regular outfits too. 

Alice in Wonderland comes out tomorrow, I can't wait! I will post my Alice movie outfit soon!

-Mariko

Tea Party at Himemiya's House!

Last weekend Himemiya hosted a late Valentine's tea party at her house. We had to postpone the original party because of all of the snow we've been getting! (I am so sick of snow at this point. I can't wait for spring!)

It wasn't a strictly Lolita tea party, it was just a fun fancy party with cute outfits. I wore a super casual Lolita outfit, emphasis on the casual (I didn't even wear a petti, gasp!). I was lacking a few items because my Fan + Friend order hadn't arrived yet. I'm going to be wearing almost the same coordinate to the Alice in Wonderland movie, but slightly less casual. (Still casual though, Because I'm wearing a tee instead of a blouse). So here are pics!

 Himemiya had such a lovely spread! She decorated beautifully. We had super yummy food, cupcakes, cookies, chocolates, cucumber sandwiches (which I made, my cucumber sandwich tutorial is coming soon!), lots of tea, sparkling lemonade and strawberry lemonade, and a bit of wine. Everything was super tasty!

 

  

  

Mmm, cupcakes!

Here I am, drinking some really tasty tea! We had Earl Grey milk tea, and this lovely flowering green tea. It comes in little bulbs and when you put them in the hot water, they bloom like flowers!

 

Here's the full outfit. It will be complete for the movie, with a petti and socks and all that. The rundown:

"Drink Me" tee: Hot Topic

Skirt: Handmade by me

Alice bow: Handmade by me

Shoes: Bodyline

Bag (not pictured): Bodyline

Cardigan (also not pictured): offbrand

 

Nick and I, being cuddly. (Nick spent most of the time reading comics and napping on the couch. He's not really the tea party type of guy, lol.)

 

Himemiya looking adorable! I am jealous of her pearls!

 

Bec! I love her little hat, she looks very aristocratic.

 

Monica! I love this photo, she looks so classy and glamorous!

 

Aren't they so sweet!

We had such a fun time!  I left with a bit of a tummy ache though, from all the cupcakes and cookies! We're planning a garden party for spring next!

I also wanted to add that this was my first time going out in public in Lolita (or Lolita-esque clothes). (Except for one terrible outfit I wore to school years ago, with a poofy white hippy dress that was Lolita-ish and a black apron, it really looked costumey. ) I had to go to Walmart to pick up a few things, and I must say that I really had a positive experience. I was having a good day already, which helped, but I felt very confident, I had a spring in my step and I was smiling at everyone. One man told me that he liked my outfit. I had to ask one of the workers where the tea was because I couldn't find it, he was an older gentleman, and he smiled and said "You need a spot of tea milady?" He was very nice. I am glad that I had such a positive experience. I got looks, of course, but it seemed like it made people smile, not shoo their children away from me. It was very fun!

-Mariko

Product Review: Hard Candy Concealer

So, I've decided to write my first product review! I decided to review Hard Candy's "Nobody's Perfect" Concealer palate.

Nobody's Perfect Concealer Palate:

I love love love this concealer! It is cream concealer, and it comes with a concealer brush. I would recommend getting a better concealer brush, the one that comes with it isn't very good. It's usable if you don't have a better one though.
There are six different tints, and I use four of them. I use the palate with the palest shades. It comes with three different shades of skin tone colored concealer, depending on how dark or pale you are. The palate I have has a really pale one (the one I use), a medium-pale, and a more medium shade. You want to use a concealer that is a couple of shades lighter than your skin. I use the skin tone shades for under eye circles and blemishes. There are three other tints. The green one is for places where you have a lot of redness. I put it on the corners of my nostrils and the tip of my nose, I have redness there. Don't be freaked out by the green color, when you apply it and blend it in, it doesn't look green, it just neutralizes the redness in your skin. The really pale one, located under the green, is the highlighter. I use it under and in the inner corners of my eyes after applying the skin tone colored one, it really brightens up your eyes. I also put it on my brow bone, just under my eyebrows. The last one is the pinkish tint. It is used in areas you want to brighten up a bit, to give them a bit of a glow. I put it on my chin, you can also put it on the bridge of your nose, but I don't because I have too much redness there.
This is a really great product, I love the creaminess and the shades are really good. Knowing how to apply concealer properly can really make a difference to the way your makeup looks. Michelle Phan has a great tutorial about liquid, stick, and cream concealers, I would recommend watching it, especially if you plan on using more than just the basic skin tone concealer.

I would really recommend this product, it really helps cover under eye circles and blemishes, and just generally helps to brighten the complexion.
I hope my review has been helpful!