Bodyline Haul

Late last week, I got a haul from Bodyline that I want to share!  It's possible this will be my last order from Bodyline, because in the last year, they have hardly restocked or added any new lolita items.  It seems that they are phasing out their lolita line, at least on their international store.  At this point, there really isn't much left in the right sizes or colors on their site that I like.

So, for this (possibly last) haul, here's what I got!

I got 4 blouses, a headdress, 3 pairs of socks, and 3 pairs of wristcuffs.  All of these are things to fill out my wardrobe, and I'm happy with every item I received.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

 l474 blouse in blue.  I got this because the color is so unique, and if Bodyline stops selling this blouse, I don't know when/where I could get another like it!  It seems to be cut for use with pants and possibly skirts, but I think it will work with JSKs and well if tucked in under my petti.  It also comes with a detachable jabot and cameo chain, which are nice details.

 1575 blouse in white.  I wanted this blouse for several reasons.  For one, I wanted a blouse that would go with oldschool coords, and I think the detachable sleeves with tie ribbons at the bottom contributes to that look.  Also, this blouse is pure white.  Most lolita blouses are off-white, so I thought it would be nice to have one blouse that is truly white for the handful of pieces I have that require it.  Since it can be worn as short or long sleeves, it's very versatile.  One complaint I have about this blouse is that the lace is kind of shiny.  However, it is soft so I consider this blouse to still be wearable.

 l402 blouse in black.  I already have a black long-sleeved blouse, but I found that it didn't go very well with sweet coords and was more suited for gothic and possibly classic looks.  I think this blouse will work with sweet.  The lace on the collar is eyelet lace which works with the look I was going for, and fortunately it is soft and a good quality.

 l375 blouse in black.  The main reason I bought this was because it was only $6.66!  This is a blouse I would buy in a heartbeat if they ever restocked it in different colors because of the adorable strawberry details!  I don't actually have any main pieces that are black and strawberry themed.  I would like to have Meta's strawberry crown skirt in black to go with this blouse, but I've never seen it for sale (and I actually want it in green even more, haha).  I may have some pieces I can wear with this, but with how much I LOVE strawberry-themed stuff, it seemed worth getting for when I do have something.

 Here are the accessories I got.  I really wanted a black and white headdress to go with old-school coords.  This one always looked so ita to me, but it was really the only one I could find for super cheap.  I already have this headdress in many other colorways, and the black and white version looks less ita in person than I thought it would.  The black and white wristcuffs are made from eyelet lace and will work better for old-school and country coords than the ones I already had, which are more for classic or non-OTT sweet.  The lace is way softer than I was expecting and compared to other eyelet lace I have felt.  They were very worth the price!  The white and pink wristcuffs are just something I thought would be nice to have.

3 pairs of strawberry socks!  These are the colors that Bodyline still had in stock, and they were only $1.99 a pair!  The white and pink colors would have been great to have too, but actually the main reason I made this order was for the sax socks to go with my Infanta Strawberry Kitchen Maid JSK and the mint ones to go with my FigliaXHANAKO Strawberry JSK (which I reviewed in a previous post).  Luckily, both pairs match the colors of the dresses close enough to work!  I got the black pair too, even though right now it really only goes with the black strawberry blouse I showed above.

I paid a total of $108.61, after shipping, for these items and it was incredibly worth it.  I'm sad that Bodyline is phasing out of lolita because they just can't be beat on their prices on socks, wrist cuffs, headdresses, etc, and their blouses are nice enough for the price to be serviceable.  Also amazingly, this order took only 2 1/2 weeks to reach me (I have waited over 3 months before)!

Strawberry Coord #1

In my previous post about the Mary Rose coord, I showed at the end all of the strawberry coords I put together to wear this spring.  Today I wore the first of these, and I plan to show all of them!

Skirt, headdress: Diamond Honey

Blouse: Yilia

Socks: MuFish

Corsage: Innocent World

The skirt I am wearing is actually originally a JSK.  It is Diamond Honey's Strawberry Garden JSK, which I fell in love with at first sight, and was actually one of my early dream dresses.  When I got the dress, I was devastated with how short and tight the bodice was, with no possibility for adjustment (without major alterations).  I still loved the strawberry embroidery so much that I couldn't give up on it or sell the dress, and since it wasn't an expensive or rare dress to begin with, I decided to ditch the bodice and turn it into a skirt!  As you can see, this worked out well for me...it makes for a skirt with a nice length!  As-is, the waistband sits below my natural waist, and would require more skilled alterations to make it sit correctly, but that would also mean a shorter fit.

I also bought the matching headdress from Diamond Honey, which features the same strawberry embroidery as the skirt!  The blouse is from Yilia, but I bought it from Lolita Collective at Tekko (the Collective doesn't seem to offer this blouse online, so they may have it for convention sale only).  Normally I wear shoes for my coord pictures, but I wasn't planning to go outside in this and I love so much how the bottom of these socks looks.  Shoes kind of ruin the look!

A. Gato Designs Butterflies on Cream JSK Review

Today I am going to review a JSK I just got from A. Gato designs that I purchased during their spring sale!

You can check out their site and store here: http://www.gotg-designs.com/

I actually saw this JSK for sale at Tekko.  It was $70, and I was tempted by it, but the waist measurement was a few inches too big for me, so I didn't bite.  Shortly after Tekko, they had a sale and the JSK went down to $40, and at that price, I knew I couldn't resist.  I think the butterfly design is beautiful, but one of the main reasons I wanted this dress was because I thought I might be able to wear it out normally, possibly even to church, without causing a fuss.  And I was right!

First, when I opened my package, I found out that they had included some free gifts!

I got hair clips and a ring, which was way beyond expectations, considering the dress was already so inexpensive!  I don't do rings, or items with sweets, so I will have to pass the ring along to someone who will appreciate it, but I still think it's really cute!

Here is the dress!  One thing I noticed is that the dress, while it didn't have any flaws whatsoever, didn't really have a "brand new" feeling either.  I suspect this was probably the same exact JSK that was at Tekko, and has possibly been to other cons as well.  I don't think that really decreases its value, just something to note.

 Here is the back of dress, you can see how the back is fully shirred!  I do wish this dress had waist ties, since it is about 2 inches too large for me.  the straps are attached with a button, so they adjustable by moving the button, which is always a big plus for me!  The dress sits above my natural waist, but the length of the dress is so nice already that I don't feel the need to adjust the straps.

And here's what it looks like tried on!  The dress is not lined, so I chose to wear a short (50cm) underskirt to add lining and just a bit of volume.  I am going to try to source a belt that would go with this dress, but it works really well as-is with the tie cardigan.  I wore this out shopping around town today and I felt perfectly comfortable.  I paired it with a pair of cute white sandals, and while I was super dressed up compared to everyone else I saw, I felt really casual and comfy in this outfit!

Overall, I would really recommend A. Gato designs.  The price was unbeatable and amazing, but I think this dress would have been worth the full $70 it was selling for at Tekko.  Watch out for their sales though...they offer lucky packs sometimes that look like a really amazing deal!

Metamorphose Spring Set

Today I got my Metamorphose Spring Set in the mail!  The ad for the set is shown below.  The only thing I was able to choose was the cut and color of the dress; the rest of the items came in random colors, except for the tote bag which only comes as shown.  Let's see what I got!

I choose the off-white puff sleeves OP dress as my main piece.  Here's what I hoped to get from the rest of the set:

Cardigan:  The blue or green.  Last choice would be white
Socks: The cream or white
Hat: The red-ribboned version
Necklace: The red version

Along with the dress set, I also ordered two of their Elegant Necklaces, which were on sale, in pink and blue.

These necklaces will get alot of use, since my lolita necklace collection is very small right now. That's something I need to work on, and these necklaces will help get me there!

Now, let's see what I got! (Aside from the dress)

As you can see, I was sent blue stuff!  I was super, super excited about the blue cardigan, since that was one of my first choice colors, and was the part of the pack I was most interested in!  The fabric is just amazing, it's so soft and comfy and it is sparkly which makes it so unique.  I loved the uniqueness of the green cardigan, but blue was one of my top choices too since it will match several pieces I own.  I also got the hat and necklace in blue, which weren't my top choices, but I do have a beautiful cardigan to pair them with now!  I was excited to see the socks were white because I know I will get alot of use out of them.  I have a similar pair from Bodyline that I wear all the time, but they aren't that nice so I've been wanting a fancier pair.  The tote bag is pretty big.  I'm not sure yet what I will use it for.  The bow with the daisy on the hat is removable, so it can be worn with just the blue ribbon, which increases the number of coords it could go with.

After admiring my new blue stuff, I tried on my dress!

Here it is, the Candy Bottle Puff Sleeves OP in off-white.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the dress and realized that the off-white color is actually a light dusty pink.  It doesn't appear that way in photos (and is not listed as such), but it goes alot better with the pink ribbon details, which I thought clashed in the stock photos.  In fact, it is because of those pink ribbon details that I didn't buy this dress when it was on Meta's 50% off sale (and now I'm super glad I didn't cause of the Spring Set)!  The dress has tons of shirring and is really comfy.  The fit is a tad loose, but it does have ribbon ties in the back which make it just right!

Next, I tried the full set together!

I don't think I would have chosen to coord this dress this way, with all the blue, but as far as sets go where there are many color possibilities to get, it's not bad.  I would prefer to see the dress with a pink cardigan and accessories like the necklace I just got with the pink stones, and these accessories together with a dress with more blue in it, but there will be plenty of time to use these items that way!  For tonight, I decided to just enjoy my dress set as it came!

Overall, I am very happy with the set I got!  It was definitely worth it, and I am just in love with the cardigan.  I wish I had it in every color!

Super Simple Coord: IW Mary Rose OP

Yesterday when I got home from work, I knew I wanted to put on a lolita coord, but I didn't have anything planned out, and I wanted something super quick and simple.  At times like that, I usually want to reach for a one-piece dress instead of a jumperskrt, but I really don't have many OPs at all (and 2 of the ones I do have are too short...and I'm still waiting on an underskirt to arrive!).  So, I reached for my trusty Mary Rose long-length OP from Innocent World.  I own this dress in both the purple and green colorways, and they are always what I go for when I'm feeling kind of lazy.  They are also super comfortable!

OP, headband, socks: Innocent World

Cardigan: Bodyline

Shoes: offbrand

Even though this dress is officially purple according to the brand, it never looked purple to me.  The hair accessory I am wearing is shown with the dress I am wearing in its stock photo from Innocent World, but the ribbon on the hairbow is actually a true purple!  At any rate, it's a great choice for when I don't really want to think about what to match.  The socks I chose have "purple" flowers that match the odd purple of the dress.  I wanted to go outside to read, but it was chilly so I threw on the Bodyline cardigan for warmth.

The reason I didn't want to spend long on my coord last night was because I wanted to do something I've been looking forward to for months....getting out all my strawberry coords!

These consist overwhelmingly of items from taobao, with 2 Innocent World dresses also in the mix, and some Bodyline items as well (1 blouse, and several of the headdresses and socks).  There is also a bolero from Dreamv and some socks from Anna House!  I may post and break down these coords more when I actually wear them!

Old School Acquisition: Meta Music Note Skirt

Today I got in the mail an old school piece from Metamorphose, a music note skirt in sax from 2003.

 The skirt was being sold as a set with the matching headdress, which is in excellent condition, and the matching bag which is very heavily stained.  The bag was included for free since it is in such poor condition.  I will try to spruce it up, but I'm not getting my hopes up.  At any rate, the skirt was listed as being in very good condition, but in reality it is quite faded.  This is especially noticeable when compared to the headdress, but especially when compared with the fabric sample (which the seller still had, somehow!), as seen below.

 I was really disappointed by the fading, but I really didn't spend that much on this set, and I still think the price was fair given it came with the headdress in such nice condition, and given that it is 14 years old.

The reasons behind why I wanted this set are somewhat personal.  This is now the oldest piece I own, trumping my Innocent World music notes embroidery JSK by about 4 years.  I am an older lolita, and I just got into the fashion last year.  However, I am a hardcore otaku, and I have known about the fashion for many years, since high school or maybe junior high.  Had I gotten into lolita when I first found out about it, this set may have been one of the things I would have worn.  It came out around the time when I think I would have been ready to start buying brand.  I was starting my first part-time work and getting started with my first credit card and checking account.  I think this is the kind of coord I would have worn as a high schooler.  I am the same size as I was then, and my hair is the same too, so with my face blocked out, it's not hard to imagine that this is about how it would have looked.

The shoes may not be accurate for the time.  I have a pair of rocking horse shoes, but they are black, so they wouldn't match.  The skirt is on the shorter side on me, and also includes a built-in hard tulle petti which I think looks like the right amount of poof for a street fashion lolita piece of the era!

In reality, I didn't have many cute clothes as a teen.  I had no means of transportation to get to conventions, so I had no need to cosplay or dress up.  Perhaps me buying this set is me trying to make up for lost time, but regardless, I love these pieces and even with the fading, the skirt is wearable.

My Lolita Bracelets

Today I thought I would show the bracelets I wear with my lolita outfits.  They are all handmade, using Stretch Magic cord, and beads from Michael's, Joann Fabrics, Etsy, and Sophie & Toffie.  I got a bracelet bar at Bed Bath and Beyond for $24.99 so I could easily see all my bracelets at once.  This is super helpful when I am figuring out what kind of new bracelet to make!  I would say that most of these were made with a specific main piece in mind, but the majority of them can go with multiple pieces I own!

Here they are!  I try to keep them at least somewhat arranged by style.  I'm thinking I might need make something with mint colors next to go with the new FigliaxHANAKO dress I showed in my last post.