Caring for Velvet Shoes: an adventure with Vivienne Westwood x melissa Cat Paw Pumps

 Recently my apartment had a termite infestation.... and they got into my shoeboxes!!  A pair of my Vivienne Westwood Anglomania x melissa Caw Paw Pumps got their nest material on it which clung to the velvet flocking and even dissolved a part of the velvet.

As these are my first pair of velvet shoes, I contacted customer service to ask how to best clean the shoes and the email I received back said:

Dear [Sparklewolfie],

Thank you for contacting Vivienne Westwood RoW Online Store Customer Service.

We are sorry to inform you but we do not have official information on how to clean the product at the moment.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Customer Care team for any further information.

Sincerely,

Miguel

Vivienne Westwood Online Store Customer Service

Well, that is unfortunate {{{(>_<)}}} 
I am assuming it is because this is a collaboration series and not a purely Vivienne Westwood design.  Instead, I searched online and most sites seem to just be quoting each other.  The provided recipes of baking soda and water or lemon juice and the tips are word-for-word copies.  

Eventually I did find a shop that sold velvet shoes which had similar tips, but wasn't a copy-paste, and had more detail about knowing the TYPE of velvet your shoes are.  Unfortunately, I closed out the window without bookmarking the site and now I cannot find it again, but if I do I will link it here! 

Key tips I remember from the site include how cotton/silk velvet should be taken to a dry cleaner, while polyester/blend velvet can usually be cleaned at home unless the stains are REALLY bad.  They also explain more about the nap of the velvet and recommend brushing off velvet shoes after each wear so nothing has a chance to build up.

So, on to the pictures!  Warning: the damaged shoes image might be a little gross for some people!  The way the termite nest material is built sort of icks me out as well.

Soda Can Upcycle

How many of you purchase things 100% for the packaging?  I definitely fall for packaging a lot, and back in 2016-2017 or so, a Taiwanese soda water brand, Ocean Bomb, collaborated with Pokemon to create limited-edition cans.  I don't drink soda water, but I sure do like Pokemon!

I've been moving the cans around with me from place to place, and finally, one of the cans accumulated enough air inside to misshapen and explode. Given that I cannot get these cans any more, I wanted to save it!

Explosion!

Paperless Flyers

Last year I made a post about using Paperless Post to send event invitations, and now they have a new function I just used: Flyers!  It didn't appear to cost me any coins to share my flyer via facebook, either.  I'm working with Paperless Post again to share this information with you (non-sponsored) if you are environmentally conscious but still like "official" invitations and flyers.

The flyer was very simple to make and can even have animated text, which we obviously cannot do on traditional paper flyers.

Personally I love invites and flyers as they seem more creative and personal than the general "facebook event" where many people don't RSVP or respond with the dreaded "maybe."

Sharing some online cashback

Here is a quick and unrelated post for those of us who are addicted to shopping online!  I've been testing out this website and extension for about four months now to make sure that it is legit, and it is!

I'm sure some of you have heard of Ebates, but if you haven't and you shop online, definitely sign up now, especially if you live in the USA!  Most of Ebates stores are in the US but there are some that ship worldwide too, such as eBay and Aliexpress, where I have been shopping.

To make a quick introduction, Ebates is like the cashback on credit cards, except this is for online shopping.  Before you go make a purchase at Sephora or eBay or Amazon, you can check the Ebates website to see what percentage cashback offer there is.  If you sign up using my link, you will also get a bonus US$10 when you make your first qualifying purchase.  I signed up through a Youtuber's link and yes, I DID get the bonus US$10!  I will get a bonus US$25 for each person using my link and making a purchase so if you'd rather not get the $10/give me $25 you can just google "Ebates" and sign up on your own.

Random Photo Break!

Lolita Wedding, Behind the scenes

Previously I'd written  about a secret we attended after our Swan Princesses meetup. I'd been hoping to get the professional photos sooner, but since they have yet to deliver, I just use my own!  We attended a Lolita wedding!

The entire wedding planning process was extremely time consuming as the bride, Kamiko, did much of the designing herself.

About a year before he original wedding date in November, she started making polls for the invitations to see which designs people liked better.  The winning result (with Eevee covering their names) was this splendid creation:

Front

Back

Easy Changeable Custom Phone Case

When my old phone died back in April/May, I bought a new phone but was unable to find many cases for it. In the end, I decided to buy two clear cases and customize them myself. One I intend to do decoden, and the other I am using as a "changing" case by making custom inserts.

It's a very easy project so this is not so much a tutorial as sharing my process :3
This is an affordable way to be able to change your phone to match your moods (or outfits if you are really into a completely matching aesthetic??)

Cinderella Solutinns~Affording Fancy Meetups

Despite the large, online community, Lolitas are still few and far between in real life. How often do you bump into another Lolita on the street? Not very, I assume. Thus whenever there is a Lolita Meetup happening, most of us tend to get very excited to meet new friends, share interests, and maybe do something fancy!

While it is obviously not required to go to a tea house or something similarly "stereotypical" of the Lolita lifestyle, oftentimes it is fun to take afternoon tea with cute cakes and sandwiches or go somewhere for a photoshoot. We don't get all dolled up just to watch a movie and then go home, you know!

However, fancy places usually come with a fancy price tag too. And many of us are still students trying to pay for school, food, rent, gas or public transportation, and of course, our Lolita dresses! How is one poor Lolita supposed to afford such fancy things?


Oh you gorgeous towering tea tray, GET IN MY BELLY!


The first few meetups I went to here cost from NT$300-600 for afternoon tea. While it was very fancy, gorgeous, and enjoyable, it simply wasn't realistic for me to do this every month!

Recently our local group has begun to have cheaper meetups in new locations found via the magic of... Groupon!

Click on the link to learn about Groupon and how it works! Basically, it offers local coupons that you can purchase and then use at the advertised location. It is a great way to discover new cafes and eateries nearby while saving money! After you select your location it will give you daily coupon offers with huge discounts (around 50-90% savings). What a wonderful way to try new places without spending too much!

There are other, similar sites such as Living Social, though Groupon is the only one I have had experience with. After we started Grouponing, the meetup cost averaged out to about NT$150, or about US$5 for a meal. Now that, I can do!

I hope this little tip helped some of you out :) Do you know of any other couponing sites like this? Please share in the comments if you do!

Nail Art/Cinderella Solutions~Daily Nail Polish

Lolita fashion is all about the details. Detailed prints, embroidered lace, fabric quality, accessories, and of course, nails. While it is not necessary to have an extravagant design, it is nice to at least have a matching color. Nail polish, however, lasts for about a week to 10 days. Instead of coordinating your nails to your outfit, you would have to coordinate your outfit to match your nails!

Oh, but you can simply remove the color with nail polish remover, right? Of course it is possible, but that is pretty damaging to your precious nails! Not to mention time-consuming and costly (especially with glitter polishes, which must be soaked first!)

I personally love to do my nails, and my recent obsession is a Glitter French. A shimmer base coat with glitter piled on the tips where the white of a regular French manicure would go. After the first time I did this though, it took a few days and a quarter of a bottle of mild remover to get all of it off, despite soaking and rubbing. My cuticles became very dry from the treatment! So, I found a better way that is cheap, and allows one to change nail color and design daily - no remover required!



Here is the culprit - Anna Sui nail polish 302. Beautiful pale pink with a shimmer
Also (not pictured) Shiseido silver glitter polish. Anna Sui actually had an almost exact same glitter, but didn't come in a mini bottle like Shiseido so I went with that ;)


Polish on (two coats). No photo of the completed French, but even this requires soaking already!


The hero of the hour! Yes, that is plain white school glue. How can this school glue help, you ask?
It is your base coat. Just put some glue in an empty nail polish bottle and apply a layer of it before your regular polish! Allow the layer to dry (it does not have to be very thick) and then polish and decorate your nails as usual

When it comes time to take off your polish....


Just pick at the edges, and then peel it off!


The silver glitter portion was a bit stiffer and harder to find an edge on, but still comes off quickly and easily


Perfectly clean

Now you too, can change up your polish without damaging your nails! And save some money on remover, to boot ;)

Cinderella Solutions~Cleaning Silver

Last Christmas my sister got me one of the items off of my "Lolita Dream List", the BABY Ribbon Lace Up Ring. It is silver, and has unfortunately begun to tarnish. Today I am going to share how I managed to clean my ring and also my mom's VERY tarnished silver amulet necklace.


Before. Can you see the tarnishing the folds of the ribbon?

All you need is:
Baking Soda
Water
Soft Cloth


Mix up a thick paste using the ratio of 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water. I used 1TBS to 1tsp proportions

Using a soft cloth, buff the silver, and see how shiny it becomes! Very easy and extremely cheap.



Yay!

Cinderella Solutions~Ah-ha Uses for Beauty Products

Welcome to the first post in Cinderella Solutions!

Cinderella did a lot of housework, cleaning, serving, and had no money. This mini-series will show frugal tips and household chore suggestions to keep your Lolita Princess spirit high even when doing mundane chores or low on funds!

Here is a list of emergency household use for common beauty products! Double tasking your products can save you some time and money in a pinch~