LBC: Coord Based on a Halloween Creature and a big I'm Sorry!!!

I. Am. Back, gals and guys! And I'm so sorry for being away for so long!
Everything has been hectic! The Halloween party I planned went great, and I got my costume done (I'm gonna add a picture to the post when I get to that. I was Wednesday Addams for an evening! I love that family so much!)
Also, my project this semester is coming along just fine. I'm not gonna bore you out of here by saying too much, but it's about Johann Friedrich Struensee whom you might remember from the movie "A Royal Affair". That is such a fascinating time in danish history, and not just because of the drool worthy fashion.

To close the door on Halloween properly, I'm gonna share this coord that I made, right before Halloween came and went. Last week's Lolita Blog Carnival topic was to create a coord based around a Halloween Story or Creature, and it came to me pretty quickly. Probably because of my current fascination with feathers in Lolita fashion. 

I decided to base my Halloween coordinate around the harpy! They are winged women in Greek mythology, who snatch people away on Zeus' command. They have also been described as wind spirits. In later times, they've been seen as vicious monsters, half bird and half woman.
I chose BtSSB's Cogwheel of Time JSK as the centerpiece because of the cut and length. The layering makes it kind of fluffy, which I think matches the bird theme well. I chose various feather accessories, for obvious reasons, and the fang earrings to bring in the predatory reputation of the harpy creature. The boots and the blouse add a touch of femininity and elegance, but I still think the boots are both practical and badass looking. The gold detailing make them look sharp and streamlined, and bring out the gold accessories.
I think this coordinate is quite original. We don't all have to be witches and vampires next year, even if the sirene calls (another good Halloween theme) of their elegance is hard to resist!

I hope you had deliciously spooky Halloween nights, and that you're all as excited for the upcoming Christmas as I am! If not, you may have to be, because in my mind, November is just the boring pre-Christmas month, and we need to get started!

Want more inspiration for next year's Halloween (oh my! Just 362 days left!) check out the links below!

The Cute Lifestyle

LBC: How Your Style Has Evolved

Okay, you guys! I've tracked down as many bad and good photos I could, to document my Lolita style evolution, in honor of this week's Lolita Blog Carnival theme!

You're in for a rocky ride. Don't say I didn't warn you! I'm gonna take you as far back in time as I've been able to. Which would be around 3½ years back in time, for starters. The timeline is from left to right, for each year.

2011

I have no pictures of my first half a year or so in Lolita. Those dissapeared along with the first Lolita message board I was on. We'll have to make do with the earliest pictures I could find. The first one is from when I'd acquired my second Lolita first (and my first serious addition to my collection). It's taken at my second or third meet up, in the early summer of 2011. Not too bad for a sweet Lolita coordinate, actually. But I really needed some work in the make up and hair department. The second one is from a Lolita fashion show I participated in at the anime convention, J-Popcon. My style was kind of all over the place, that year. Except for OTT sweet Lolita, which was too sugary for me.

2012

 Now we enter 2012. As you can tell from the badly cropped photos, I didn't really bother with actual outfit photos, except for the ones taken at meet ups. I continued down my path of Gothic Lolita with Bad Make Up and Hair. Because hats are of course a good excuse to not try and do something about that (nope)
The second outfit was my first time wearing Lolita with a wig. I decided that wigs were not for me, because it washed me out completely. I felt uncomfortable about the way I looked all day, which was actually unusual for me, in Lolita. The third photo is unfortunate. I refuse to believe that my petticoat was that sad!
From the fourth to the fifth photo, was a dramatical change. There's half a year of a US trip and a massive weight loss between them, and I actually became inspired to try and put my hair up in (tiny) bunny ears!

2013

We're edging closer to a style that I kind of recognize as my own. The first photo is kind of the last time I've worn Gothic Lolita. From then on, it was a slow transition over a less-than-sweet Sweet Lolita, to Classic Lolita. My make up skills slowly evolved a bit, but I still stayed away from fake eyelashes or anything of the sort, which of course is not a necessity in Lolita, but none the less, a part of my current style. I don't know how it happened, but I feel like something went down in 2013 that took my style up a notch. 

Now prepare for a massive photo spam..

2014

This has been my 2014 so far, and if anything, I think I can truly say that even just this year, I've come a long way (even if my bad quality outfit photos don't show me clearly)

These days, I'm in love with a very princess-like Classic style, and I have never been happier with the way I look. I'm slowly selling my old Gothic Lolita wardrobe, and I'm not looking back. I don't think the only change is that now I use false lashes and wigs and such, even if to me, they're the cherry on top. I've simply just learned to coordinate, with a little room for experimentation.

Back in the day, I had no idea where Lolita was gonna take me, and today, I'm still not sure where I'm going. It's an exciting journey!

I hope you guys will follow me, as I continue into 2015, and how many years there may come!

Wanna see more Lolita-volutions? Check out the other participants below!

The Literary Lolita
Breidholt
New Vogue Children
A Heart's Sound

LBC: Your Usual Lolita Make Up

Goodmorning my lovely ones! I'm sorry about my quietness as of late. I promise to be back soon. I've had a very busy time, with my mom getting married, LARP'ing and P&P roleplay nights, meet-ups galore, and getting back to my studies. This month has been the longest month ever, but hey, October is upon us, which means Halloween, and plenty of new Lolita themes to talk about!

But first: A belated Lolita Blog Carnival post.

This week's theme is one I went back and forth about whether or not I should participate in. My camera sucks, and it probably is gonna suck for a while still, until I get the cash moneys to buy a new one. But then I thought "Well, why not? It's fun! Let me show the world my usual Lolita make up!"

There you go! Me sans make up, before the transformation. Are you guys the "put clothes on first" or "put clothes on after make up" types? I tend to be the first, because I'm kind of paranoid about getting make up on my dress while pulling it over my head.

Here you've got my make up arsenal! 

(I love my pretty pink "Doctor's make up kit" of brushes. They were about 5 dollars on ebay, and are soft like baby kittens.) 

Of course I always put on my circle lenses first (I use "Barbie Girl" circle lenses from Jihoshop), and put on some nice smelling moisturizer. Then I start out with concealer, on my problem spots. I swear by Rimmel London's "Hide the Blemish" concealer. It's easy to use, gives good coverage and also doubles as my highlighter. For foundation I usually use Maybelline's liquid "Dream satin" foundation. I find that it's simply very easy to manage, and blends in with my skin quickly. I finish the "canvas layer" of my make up with the powder from Maybelline's "Dream" series too, which I put on using the big brush. Using a brush instead of the sponge gives a nicer, lighter coverage, I find.

A closer look at the next important stuff. The blush is one I bought in Wallmart back when I was in the US. I don't remember the brand, but there's a "CG" on the lid. It's a nice, kind of peachy pink. I use plenty, all the way from behind my eye along the bottom of my cheekbone. After that, I use 5 different shades of pink for my eye. I start out with a shimmery layer of light pink all over my eyelid (the one you see in the Rimmel London box), move on to a slightly darker shade of pink all over my double eyelid, and gradually shade towards the outer corner of my eye with the dark one in the Rimmel box. Then I use the two shades of brown in my "Body Shop" eyeshadow box at the outer corner of my upper and lower eyelid, blend, and finish up with a light shade of pink shimmer below and across my entire eyelid once more. I find that using a bit of pink shimmer below my eye gives a dreamy effect. In the end, I use the white eyeshadow on my "Rimmel" palette or a more stark white I've got, to highlight the inner corner of my eye, and along a third of my lower lash line.

That's when I move on to my falsies. This is my (almost entirely used up) arsenal of extremely false-looking false eyelashes. They're very nice quality, and also a cheap ebay find. They cost about a dollar, but are very sturdy and lovely. I find that most pairs I can use two or three times, (if I have the patience to clean them). They're my go-to lashes.
I finish up with eyeliner, a pretty bubblegum pink lipstick by "Coolcos", and a coat or two of Rimmel's "Scandaleyes" mascara. I'm looking for a better choice of mascara, though. One that gives more volume and seperates the lashes. What would you recommend?

 And this is the finished look! I'm very fond of it, myself. It really has become my "usual" Lolita make up, as it matches most of my outfits. If you want a better picture, I used the same make up in my photoshoot this summer.

Want more make up inspiration? Check out the posts below!

Breidholt

Little Coffee Shop

Masquerade Doll

LBC: 3 Things You'd Tell Your Young Lolita Self

Me ca. 2011, about a year into my Lolita life. 

I love when the Lolita Blog Carnival topics bring up a sense of nostalgia or deeper reflection over the fashion. You can say a lot about how Lolita is just a pretty fashion, but it takes effort, and whether we like it and recognize it or not, there is probably deeper reasons about why we started dressing the way we do. I know that "3 Things You'd Tell Your Young Lolita Self" doesn't necessarily have to be 'deep and mentor-like advice about the Lolita Force', but I can't help it: Stuff like this just hits me in the philosophical spot. Bear with me.
Here are the 3 things I'd tell my young Lolita self if I had a time machine, from the deep stuff to the basics that would just have made me look a billion times better.

1. Do not buy replicas!

Granted, there are one or two replicas I might actually, at some point, in the far future, get to tailoring to fit my current body type, but wow, do I have a closet of replicas now that I just do not wear anymore! Some of them have moved on, but had I just dealt with it, made more of an effort with my excersize earlier on to lose some weight, or just bought some pieces with full back shirring, I would've had a much bigger closet of beautiful, better quality, better fitting and much loved pieces now. I picked the easy way out, and I thought I had some pretty good excuses: Replicas can go in the washing machine, and I'm a tall girl, and nothing is gonna change that. Many brand pieces are gonna be high waisted on me, but that's OK! It looks cute! And underskirts are actually a thing if the length starts bothering me at some point!I missed out on a lot of really cute releases because of this, that cost hundreds of dollars more on the secondhand market today.


2. Experiment more with make up and hair!

Lolita was the beginning of my journey towards becoming a girly-girl. Before Lolita, I just threw on whatever and headed out the door. I did start experimenting with make up when I started Lolita, but I never went out of my way and did something big and eye catching. A bit of eyeshadow, mascara and powder, a headbow on my head and out the door. Today I could've been much more of a "kawaii make up guru-chan" (never typing that out again) than I am, and I would have had some much more flattering photos to look back on!

3. Keep going strong! Lolita is gonna be with you for a long time!

I don't really have a number 3, so this is just gonna be words of encouragement. I actually did pretty well, as boring as that sounds. My ita phase was more of a learning process than me obsessing over lacemonsters, and I had long since shed my cat ears. Looking back, I know what worked for me, and that's what I share with every new Lolita that is confused about where to start when they first drop in on the Lolita Fashion Mentoring group on Facebook, or EGL. Research, research and more research, and trial and error. Those are the only things that moves you forward. I was aware that you need to crawl before you can walk, and walk before you put on false eyelashes, wigs and bunny ears and try to rock it. Start out small, figure out what works for you, and what makes a good Lolita coordinate. If you're passionate about something, take your time to learn. You don't become an expert over night. 

Time and time again, I doubted if Lolita was actually for me. I was just finding my feet. I looked up Steampunk and Goth and other fashions, but Lolita stuck with me, and I returned to my favorite blogs and EGL to read some more. I was a sponge back then, and I still am. 

Lolita is evolving, and so are we, as it's wearers. 

I'm wondering what 3 points of advice I'd give myself today, if I look back in a 5 years time?

(Wow, that became very deep, very fast!)

What 3 pieces of advice would you want to give your young Lolita self, if you could? 

Also, if you're new to Lolita and want some pointers, I'm open to questions this week!

Check out the blogs below if you want more Lolita nostalgia.

A Heart's Sound

LBC: My Most Prized Lolita Piece

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival topic has us choosing between our children.
Haha, just joking! But kind of not, anyway. As difficult as it is, we have been asked to choose between our pieces to select our most prized Lolita piece. I suppose there are a couple of different ways you could read the word "prized", but I thought it over and decided that the way to go about this would be imagining which piece I'd be most sad to see ruined if there was a flood in my house while I were gone for something.. And I was surprised to find that it turned out to be a bit of a tie between one very expected, and one very unexpected piece.

(Excuse the boring lighting in the picture. I couldn't get access to my photo editing tools for some reason)

I was torn between the most beautiful piece I own, which is my BtSSB "Memory of my first Soiree" and the simple BtSSB Babydoll JSK. I was certain It'd break me the most to see my Soiree dress go, but well, I just adore the Babydoll JSK too, apparently. 

The soft lace and pretty detailing on the JSK makes me so happy every time I look at it, and I feel just adorable wearing it. And that's kind of the point, isn't it? It's how you feel wearing it, not the dress itself. That's probably also why my first Lolita skirt is not one of the two. While it was the first skirt I got, it didn't make me feel anything in particular as it was just an impulse purchase, back when I didn't know anything and just "Wanted something Lolita right now!"

My Soiree JSK is pretty enough that I almost don't think I'm gonna feel half as beautiful in my wedding dress when that day comes.
I suppose I equally enjoy feeling adorable and beautiful.

What piece is your most prized Lolita piece? Please leave a link or something in the comments so I can check it out! I'm madly curious!

Also, if you'd like to read about some other much loved Lolita dresses, check out the other posts below!

The Literary Lolita

Classical Doll

The Bloody Tea Party

Usamimi Tea Time

LBC: 3 Favorite Hairstyles

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival has me dreaming of more, more and more wigs to style. My own hair is just untameable, and my heart beats faster at some of the most elaborate hair do's in history.

1. Reach for the Sky, Rococo style!

The extremely elaborate, Rococo style hair has a special place in my heart. It speaks of ultimate indulgence and dedication to beauty. And it's so over the top I can't help but love it. Stick whatever you want on there! Beauty has no boundaries, and this shows it to a T!

2. Braids Galore!

I have a soft spots for braids. Loose braids, elaborate braids, milkmaid braids. I love them all! A braid is a simple, quick 'do, and it's so versatile! It can be casual and cute, elegant and stylish, completely depending on where on your head you put it, how tight you make it, and how many you make. I'm especially fond of the "just wrap it over your head and pin it" style. It's very nature girl-ish. 

3. The "Rhapsody"
Made popular by Gothic Lolita Wig's "Rhapsody" wig, many other wig makers have since followed and tried to make their own, cheaper alternative. I love the fluffyness of it! It's cute and elegant, and exceptionally doll like! You don't even have to do anything with it, in my opinion, if you succeed in getting the wavy look without any frizz. It looks great as is!


What are your current favorite hairstyles?
I didn't mention my all-time favorite, the classic ringlets, since I've dedicated an entire post to that particular
 style before. You can check it out here.


Want more hairstyle inspirations? Check out the blog posts below!

The Literary Lolita
Doll Life
A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That Too

LBC: Things I Could Never See Myself Wearing in Lolita

I'm back on the Lolita Blog Carnival carousel with this week's topic, which is all about things in Lolita fashion that I could never, ever see myself wearing. I'm into a lot of strange Lolita trends, and some of it is stuff that's grown on me as time has gone on, but there are still a couple of things that're just not my thing, and probably never will be.

1. Baby Toy Prints

Rocking horses, building blocks, rattles. The list goes on, and I'm saying "Thank you, but no thank you!"
I like dollhouse inspired prints, and stuffed bears are cute, but these are also collectors items and not just childrens' toys. I honestly do not think that AP made their "Dreamy Baby Room" print with ageplay in mind, as some people obviously do find baby stuff cute in a very innocent way, but I'm just not really feeling it. I'm not really fond of babies, either, so that may have something to do with it.

2. Juliette et Justine's Portrait Prints

This is at the completely opposite end of the spectrum compared to the "Too Much!" AP baby prints, I know. But I've just never been a fan, and this is coming from someone who adores classical art, have and want several to adorn my own walls! And I would love these dresses so, so much if the dresses themselves matched the oppulence of the gorgeous artwork! Too often I find that painting dresses, especially Juliette et Justine's dresses, make the entire design all about the painting, and forgets everything else. There are no excuisite details, no pretty sleeves, barely any lace.. Not even an interesting cut! The painting stands completely alone. It's too simple and frankly lazy for my taste.

3. Animal Ear Headbands (No, not even Brand!)

With this, I mean the actual headbands, or clips, or other "stand alone" fluffy animal ear and tail accessories. It's a complicated category, as I do like certain animal ear themed things, like the pearl cat ears that were popular at one point. But it wasn't made to look like costume ears! I think hoodies with animal ears are cute, but in that context, they're more of a "design detail" than costume-y. I think they're sort of cute in themed easter coords, but I couldn't wear them myself. It may be because I were "brought up" as a Lolita with animal ears as a big "no-no!", and part of an ingrained embarrasment from my otaku "Nyan~nyan!" days. I wore cat ears on a daily basis. Oh, the memories..
By the way, adding bunny ears to something doesn't automatically make it cute! Just throwing it out there.

Apart from the ones above, I'm hard pressed to find something that I couldn't see myself wearing. I was thinking about simple Classic Lolita pieces, and Gothic Lolita, but I do find those to be aesthetically pleasing, and who knows where Lolita is gonna take me in the future? I was also considering plastic jewellery, but while I may not wear it with Lolita, I do want a bunch of it for my everyday wardrobe!

What could you never see yourself wearing in Lolita? Do you have any boundaries, or do you just love it all, from parfait rings to gleaming silver crosses?

Want to see what other Lolitas stay far away from? Check out the links below!

What the Fluff
Under the Parasol
The Literary Lolita
New Vogue Children

LBC: A Coord Inspired by your Favorite Movie

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival post is another one that encourages to think out of the box. Not every movie is exactly Lolita material! Mine isn't for instant.

I had to think long and hard about what my favorite movie is, since my taste in movies is so broad. I enjoy a lot of different movies, from historical ones, to creepy ones, to action movies and comedy. I settled on two very different movies, but one was a lot more difficult to do than the other. How would I do a "The Fault in our Stars" coordinate?
So, I settled for "The Avengers" and "Iron Man" instead. For these it was a tie, but they have a lot in common. Especially the brilliant Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.

"It is I! The king of New York!"

I would have done a coordinate with red and yellow armor if I could. That would have been epic! But I decided to celebrate the character of Tony Stark instead of Iron Man. It was a lot of fun mixing and matching the little details of Tony Stark's very polished but practical wardrobe, to find what could be succesfully Loli-fied. I wanted to keep the practical, raw vibe.

I chose Victorian Maiden's Box Pleated JSK as the center piece because of it's polished simplicity. It's a very fitted JSK, which resembles the sleeveless t-shirts that Tony favors. The box pleated skirt is elegant, but practical, and balances the badassness of the simple leather jacket. In his everyday wear Tony's outfits are very understated. To get a little sparke in there, I played up the arc reactor elements. The tights were chosen as a hint to the Arc Reactor energy, for instance. The boots are practical, as close as I could get to sneakers, and also bring an air of power to the ensemble. You could totally kick some ass in these!

Do I even have to explain the "Dora" watch? If I do, what are you waiting for?! "Iron Man 3" came out a billion years ago!

Jokes aside, I hope you like the coordinate. I like it a lot myself. It's very subtle and elegant, but also good for a mature casual day.

Want to see how the other participants Lolified their favorite movies? 

Check out the links below!

Breidholt

LBC: A Coordinate Inspired by the Sea

I felt suddenly inspired when I saw the theme of this week's Lolita Blog Carnival challenge! But actually I didn't end up doing the theme I had first wanted to do. My first thought was "Atlantis Coordinate!" but then summer vacation hit me, and as I'm currently sitting in the cozyness of a small danish holiday town, I was overcome with the desire to do something inspired by the idyllic, danish summer by the sea in Skagen.

What came out of that, was a coordinate inspired by the history of the Skagen's Painters, specifically Marie Krøyer. 

Marie was a  very talented painter, but never became as famous as her husband, P.S. Krøyer. She was a passionate woman, who suffered from bad self-esteem. None the less, she held her own, despite the victorian age she was born in, got divorced and re married for love.

Her paintings were truly beautiful.

However, I'm basing my coordinate around some portraits off her, by the ocean.

And here's a still from the new movie, "Marie Krøyer"

And here's the coordinate I made!

I decided to make a very simple coordinate, cased on a very feminine, lacey dress. I wanted a high necked blouse with simple, old fashioned lace detailing like the one she wears in the movie. The gathering around the bust of Angelic Pretty's Rose Garden JSK seemed very characteristic too. You could leave out the bonnet, but I wanted some kind of headwear. The golden rose brooch is one that Marie Krøyer wears in this darker selfportrait. A victorian updo is a must, I think! I tied in the marine theme in the bracelets, but I kept them modest, to fit Marie Krøyer's style. All in all, I think it turned out as I wanted it to. It's all about a summer in Skagen. All it needs, is a parasol, and you're ready to go for a walk on the beach!

Want to see more summer appropriate "sea coordinates"? Check out the other participants below!

A Heart's Sound

Fawn and the Frills