A Swimwear Brand for Lolita Girls: Mermaid Closet

Lolita fashion is often emphasizing elegance and modesty, with many layers and not much skin showing.  Swimwear on the other hand, often focuses on "sexy" and revealing designs, with the options for "cute" adult designs few and far between.  Sports-focused swimwear seems to be the best option for coverage, but without kawaii options.

Enter Mermaid Closet, a new brand of swimwear designed with lolita aesthetic in mind!  I only just found out about this brand this past Saturday, and am tempted despite the fact I don't swim.

 The designs look like they would be perfect for a beach party!  This dress, which is my favorite design, comes with a dress, bottoms, lace sleeves/legwarmers, lace collar, and matching headdress/choker.  

 

There are also drawers available separately if you would like more coverage on the bottom in case of the skirt washing upwards.

 They would be nice as regular bloomers as well!

Curating and Culling My Handmade Dresses

 A few posts ago I mentioned I wanted to get rid of some of my handmade dresses.  There's really some problems with several of them and I'm on the fence about whether to keep or toss a few.  So here is a collection of my dresses and what my current thoughts on them are!

I actually forgot to include this dress.  I'm keeping it though!

I decided to take photos of them all and list what I love and hate about them, and think about how I feel when I wear them.

Recent Shopping Gets!

 Earlier this year I did a random shopping spree on taobao... or two!  It's mostly Lolita things and some daily items as well, so I thought I would do an old-school haul post!

Sash and waist charm

A Rollercoaster of a Day

 Have you ever had a day that seemed to alternate between good and bad things repeatedly?  Such was my Wednesday!  Let's run through my day (and start with my outfit for the day!)

Hair clips: Tila Bunny Sweety (local brand)
Necklace: Angelic Studio (local brand)
JSK: Metamorphose temp de la fille

Curating My Wardrobe: Bags

Recently I have been thinking of curating my wardrobe to make it easier to make coordinates and downsize my closet.  While I'm not sure whether I'll document the whole process, I thought I'd share the bag portion at least! 

First I categorized my bags, and then went through each group to see which ones I should keep or donate or bin.

Big Bags

Clockwise from left: Swimmer Japan, Hello Kitty, Kreepsville

First up is my big bags.  I use all three very regularly, so I will be keeping all three!  One for sweet outfits, one for spooky, and one for both/casual!  The Hello Kitty one is starting to peel and fall apart, so it'll lose its life soon enough I'm sure 😿but I'll keep using it as long as I can!

Second Floor Cafe

I'm not a very sociable person and it is difficult for me to ask others to hang out, but I mustered up the courage and asked my friend Doro to hang out!  It's been both hot and rainy recently, which does make wearing Lolita a bit risky sometimes.  I brought an umbrella though only needed it briefly, and dressed casually.

So I guess this post can also be an example of wearing Lolita when it's hot and humid out!

Recently

It's been a while since I posted!  I haven't been taking photos of my regular coordinates when I go out.  Recently I went to eat with my friend a few times, and remembered to take a photo one time only haha!

 The blouse is new :3  It's my first time getting a blouse with this style of sleeves and I think it ended up looking nice! I also got it in black.

I think this outfit is a good example of my daily Lolita outfits.  It's quite simple and easy to wear (the back is fully shirred) and comfortable.  The dress is from a BTSSB happy pack!  It's got little bunnies on it :3

Long Distance Lolidate

 This weekend I had a long-distance Lolidate with my two best friends!  We are in 3 different countries (USA, Taiwan, Japan) so virtual tea party was our only solution.  If you are in a country that is in a tight lockdown still, virtual tea parties can also be a great way to get together with your Lolita friends.

Our party was Saturday evening for USA and Sunday morning for Taiwan and Japan.  It was a lot of fun to put together a coordinate (without needing to worry about shoes or transportation) and put on some makeup again!

Hopefully we can do this monthly from now until we can travel to see each other again, but here are some tips for having a successful virtual tea party:

Prepare some teatime snacks and tea to show!  A theme would be the most fun.  Originally I wanted a strawberry-theme tea party, but things did not work out so we all just grabbed whatever we had.  I bought these two slices of cake from a cafe downstairs.  The one on the left is a Sicily coffee mousse with lemon and the one on the right is black sesame.  The lemon-coffee was a bit strange together, so I ended up eating the lemon portion separately from the coffee mousse.  The black sesame has mochi at the bottom of it too!

If you have the time, a proper teatime setup including sandwiches or salad and fruit would be nice as well!  Take out some cute and elegant dishes to elevate your at-home experience.

Get fully dressed and try something new!  Now is a good time to try out new coordinates or makeup since you are at home and can easily change it partway through the tea party!  I changed my headdress repeatedly because I didn't know what to wear and just cut my hair recently, so I don't know how to style the face-framing pieces yet.

Kawaii Face Masks!

A bit of a late post now, what with my poor Natto baby's health these past weeks, but I am still happy to share these lovely Lolita face masks!

Face masks are quite common in East Asia, so I'd wondered previously why there were no reusable Brand masks from fashion brands!  We do have fun disposable ones, but they tend to be cartoon characters, animal print, etc.  Now you can truly coordinate your entire outfit by having the same fabric!

I first saw some Innocent World masks on Misako's YouTube channel, and went to instagram to see more!

Atelier Pierrot posted some contoured masks with a really sweet strawberry print I love~

Even the ear hooks are ruffled!

Gyaru brand Secret Honey has some cute masks that would work with Lolita outfits as well.  Cherries are always a good motif to have!

My favorite, hands-down, is the adorable mask from my favorite brand BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT which features not only cherries and flowers, but Usakumyachan and Kumakumyachan!!!!

Unfortunately it seems you cannot choose the mask print for BABY's novelty fair... maybe they can make more masks in the future, though!

Restrictions are lifting as I write this, though some places still require face masks.  Social distancing, though voluntary, seems to be enforced at the shops I have been to.

The weather is improving, and I find myself wishing Natto had lived just a bit longer so I could have gotten him a harness and let him  outside again.  I'm certain the ground squirrels and birds in the yard are glad that I didn't let him out though ^_~  He's a hunter!

How are things where you are?  Hope you are all staying safe!

Lolita Crossing: New Designers

As a fashion-obsessed girl, I tend to add fashion and style to any games I play if at all possible!  From collecting all the outfits in Pokemon to being a "fashion hunter" in Monster Hunter.  Now, I got my very first Animal Crossing game (special thanks to lNightsidel, HentaiSpyder, and UnclePointy!) and you can design your own outfits in there!

I've decided to try and make my Lolita wardrobe in-game so my character can wear my clothes XD  Of course, with such a small frame of pixels to work with, prints will be extremely difficult.

My Friend Usakumia Judy JSK

Because of how small the space to work with is, I couldn't get any shading to work, so I had to change the color of some things to create contrast.  There is also no JSK pattern, only OP, so I just make up the sleeve part ^^;

Most of my Lolita pieces are JSK because I find them easiest to coordinate and most flattering on my body type (hello wide shoulders!)

Prints, of course, are HUGE in Lolita fashion, and nigh impossible to recreate on ultra miniature pixel pattern, so I modified this next JSK and combined the colors of the kumyachan with the heart lace motif into the print...

My Sweet Mates Kumya Strawberry & Lace Millefeuille JSK

I also added ribbons at the top as the bottom is warped more. That's another challenge for designing pixel are in Animal Crossing - it doesn't actually stay in a grid format!  The pattern will be slightly stretched and smoothed when it becomes a dress, so what looks good as pixel art may not even translate well onto the clothing!

So, if prints are so difficult, what about solid-color dresses?

So glad you asked (or that I asked for you, in case you didn't wonder this at all)

While most of my Lolita dresses are prints (and mostly of Usakumyachan or Kumakumyachan or just Kumyachan), I DO own one plain dress which was a gift from a friend (who also received it as a gift from a mutual friend)

Waist Ribbon Scallop JSK

OK I know this picture is more zoomed out, but I wanted to show my Easter room!!  The Easter event started on April 1 and you can find and collect eggs all over the island, including inside trees and fishing them up from the water!  I've already made an egg bed (yes, that basket is my bed) and wallpaper as well as some decorations.  I digress...

Again, I changed the color of the waist ribbons to create more contrast.  The pattern is also warped close to the waist, so when I drew the pattern it looked a bit strange, but I think it looks OK when it is actually on the dress.
The scallop neckline was very difficult, and you can barely see it here anyway ^^;
I did try to zoom in and crop the image to see the neckline, but it just ends up blurry.  I'm sure nobody is going to pay attention while she's running around anyway!

What outfits have you designed?  Or have you seen any fun ones online you'd like to share?

Also, if you have this game, please comment and let's be friends!  Everybody who visits my island gets two tries at a Mystery Digging Game I created, inspired by a similar game on fellow streamer Remedy's island ^u^

Afternoon Tea at 春日甜 Bistro Cafe

Happy Sunday everybody!  The weather has been cold and rainy recently T^T  But today I went out for a lovely afternoon tea with my friend Kamiko!  We went to 春日甜Bistro Cafe near 中山 Zhongshan Station.

It's pretty inside, and their desserts vary a little with the seasons!  This time, we got little piggy mouse desserts for Year of the Pig!

OP: BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT
3-Tier dessert: NT$1300 + 10% service charge

Overall it's a pretty nice place and there is a two-hour eating time limit, though if it is not crowded I don't think they will enforce that strictly.  The desserts are handmade in-house, and the kitchen (and bathroom) are in the basement floor, where we were seated.

This is pretty much going to be a food post.

Mintaiko mashed potato gratin (?) with egg on top: Virtually no mintaiko flavor, but otherwise OK
Cold soup: Slightly savory, slightly creamy, not much flavor

Forest Fruit Tea: Fragrant and good!  Free if you check-in on facebook

Matcha cake with red bean filling and raspberry(?) cream on top: Very good!
Blueberry milk jelly: Yummy!

Nuts chocolate cake I think?  Quite good!

Strawberry douhua (dessert tofu): A strange combo.  Not bad, but I'm not sure?
Passionfruit mousse pig: Tangy and good!
French gummy: Good soft texture, smooth, extremely sweet!  Drink tea!
Macaron with pearl: Close the macaron for 3-5 minutes for best flavor! Is yummy!  Pearl is white chocolate.

We were both wearing casual Lolita today and it was good because it was rainy!  The one-piece I am wearing is from this year's BTSSB Happy Pack that Laina picked up for me while she was in Japan!  The coat I wore is also from BABY.  I was a very pink Lolita today ^u^v

Simple Lolita Makeup for the Lolita Market

Yesterday there was another lolita market! I made better sales this time for some reason - better than any I'd previously done.  I filmed my makeup process but because I was trying something new, the footage did not come out as well as I'd have liked.

Fairytale Meetup

On the 14th we had our July Lolita Meetup (and oh goodness was it hot!) with the theme of fairytale/children's stories. Only Doro and I showed, and we both chose Alice in Wonderland as our story!

Small meetups are nice because you can chat more, so we had some yummy food and lots of chatting, and then went to buy drinks from a tea shop and look at UV protection items for Doro's mom.

Tokyo Disney Sea

I kept this in drafts for so long because I didn't know what to say so I'll just post it now for memory's sake

Hydrangeas Photoshoot

A while ago Kamiko and I went with a photographer to a hydrangea garden in the mountains.  I just got some of the photos back so here they are!

Hair: Disney HongKong
Top: Little Dipper
JSK: Handmade by me

Happy White Day!

We actually didn't realize it was White Day, but we had a small get-together yesterday just for fun!  Of course, most of us are daily lolitas so it ended up being like a casual Lolita meetup anyway ^_^

JSK: BABY THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT
Top: Little Dipper
Bag: Swimmer Japan
Necklace: handmade by me

 We went to woosa, a place that specializes in pancakes.  It's not as good as the Japanese style pancakes we had at previous meetups but it was still pretty good.  Just not very filling ^^;

LOOK AT MY FLUFFY PANCAKE

Why I've Been Gone

Happy Lantern Festival!

Stay warm!
Wig: handmade by me
JSK: BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT

Sesame tangyuan and sweet potato and taro mini tangyuan in fermented glutinous rice with egg

Not Even a Review: Vivienne Westwood Anglomania X melissa RHS

The original Rocking Horse Shoes by Vivienne Westwood are a Lolita staple, with many Lolita brands having come out with their own versions over the years.   I've wanted to own a pair of RHS since I first fell in love with Lolita fashion, but just browsing the website is enough to give your wallet a heart attack!

When the collaboration with melissa brand came out, I nearly bought a pair as they'd be waterproof (melissa specializes in plastic shoes) but couldn't reasonably afford them. I even went to a local melissa store to ask if they had any, but was told they were not going to import these designs.

Good luck struck as over the weekend I heard about an insane sale of Vivienne Westwood (among other brands) goods from one of our Lolita friends.  I went with Kamiko and found the very shoes I was looking for! Better yet, they were 90% off. That's right; I bought two pairs for one tenth the retail price!

Red and Black

Sadly, work has not been good to me so I was unable to pick up more colors (white, gray, and limited edition Rose Gold were also available) but I'm happy with what I got.

 The logo on the bottom is at the tip of the shoe, which doesn't touch the ground much when walking so I expect it will last a long time!

Logo at the ankle

That's one more thing off my Lolita bucket list! Given how often it rains here, maybe it's fate that I got the melissa collaboration rather than the authentic wood sole ones, which would suffer in the rain.

Word traveled fast and I visited the sale a total of three times, running into different lolitas each time. I wore the red pair the very next day to a lolita meetup, which will be in an upcoming post, so stay tuned to see them in action!

Closet Child x2, Alice Cafe, and Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo

On the second day of our Tokyo trip, we visited two Closet Child shops and I bought a LOAD of stuff, including an overcoat because it was so cold!!

DIY coffee at the Family Mart!

 We also picked up hot drinks from vending machines and had fun taking fake advertisement images for them because they were our saviors haha!

Am I ready to make advertisements yet?

 The main event of the day was the Alice Cafe! I wore my Disney X BTSSB Alice JSK to match. It also happened to be Violet (Taiwan Teddy)'s birthday so we sang her a little song

Trying to look like a snooty queen

 The food choices were limited, but came is such large quantities that neither Neco nor I could finish everything on our plates.

Everything turned out looking white! It was such a big portion as well

 Happy Birthday to the birthday bear!

Happy Birthday to Violet!

 For dessert, I got a cup of ice cream in grape and vanilla flavors. This was my first time having a grape flavor ice that didn't have rum flavoring as well and I liked it!

We went to Don Quijote (sp?) to get slippers for indoors as well as some necessities. I spotted a collab between Econeco and Little Twin Stars and bought the hand cream because I just really adore Econeco's style of art!

Econeco! One of my favorite artists!

 At the Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo I didn't buy as much as I did last year; just two Mokuro, a Shiron (snow Vulpix), chopsticks, and this gachapon!

Got Pikachu with his short little arms doing Z power!

 We got a simple dinner in the department store, which was still very yummy.

Simple dinner

I did my eye makeup in a new style to match my dress. I guess you could call this a floating cut crease in red and gold?

Makeup of the day
Medusa's makeup red shadow
Eyescream gold liner
L.A. colors gold glitter
Essence Princess Lash mascara

Purchases of the day:

Went a bit crazy with the shopping

Some of the purchases I made:

Alice Auaa dress

Slit up the side

Back

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BTSSB My Favorite Things JSK

How cute is this?