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!

Resin Cat Charm Video

Resin videos or resin tutorial videos have been taking up a lot of my instagram browsing recently, so I decided to try and make a little video of my own!  I couldn't find a proper surface to stabilize my camera so the view changes between cuts, but I hope it is still clear!

Resin Cat Key Charm Video

I've posted it over on my new instagram @resinate.my.heart (am I punny yet?) and hope to make more videos!

Though the video is short, it's because I had to cut out so much of the fiddling around with the colors of resin.

For reference, this is the cat I was making:

Miyoko trying to be a part of our role play group

The charm is a gift for my friend who hosts the role play groups with her boyfriend (our game master) and I hope they like it!

While I used to do YouTube videos on the computer with editing program, the instagram video is edited on my phone, which is why there is a watermark in the full view, but on instagram it is cropped out due to the size limitation.

Miyoko was a fairly simple hesign because she's black and white and the colors don't mix anywhere.  I was thinking of doing one for myself of Natto, but he's gray on gray with a touch of white O_O

Sleepy boy

Why does Natto look so grumpy here?  He's NEVER grumpy!

My handsome baby! He doesn't mind accessories around his neck so that's awesome

I feel like a gray on gray look is above my abilities right now!!!

Thank you for reading and commenting!  Do you have any favorite resin video accounts or resin artists?  I'm always looking for more!  The tags can get a bit crowded on instagram though, so there's a lot of sifting through!

Artist Spotlight: Miki Takei

Happy Lantern Festival! I was unable to really do anything this year other than have fun with lantern riddles, but I do want to post today to wish my readers a lovely festival and also share this artist I newly discovered!

Image from LINE sticker store

I discovered Miki Takei while browsing the LINE sticker store and saw this set which reminded me a bit of ECONECO, but whimsical in a different way...

Image from LINE sticker store

At first glance, both seem to be sweet and pastel styles, but Miki Takei uses fewer patterns and such on surfaces, creating a more "realistic" image compared to the totally dreamy and cartoon fantasy style of ECONECO I previously shared here.  While browsing her instagram, I thought to myself, "It's like a pastel filter put on our world." There are so many cute baby animal pictures to look at! I can't help but smile when I scroll through her page.

Image from LINE sticker store

There are also some jewelry pieces in 3D molded metal that I really wish I could get *u*

Short post today, but thank you so much for reading and comments! ^u^v

What's your favorite color scheme? Jewel tones? Earthy tones? Dusty? Pastel? Bold? Neon? I think it's obvious that I like pastel best :P But I also really like Neon!! And... NEON PASTEL (that is a thing)

Artist Spotlight: Caramel*Ribbon

Time for another artist spotlight! My recent resin adventures reminded me of this resin artist I really admire. I first ran across her work at a handmade market in Taipei, which had Japanese artists invited as well. 

If you are a fan of magical girl and pastel glittery styles, you will love Caramel*Ribbon for sure! While I believe the shop only sells to Japanese residents, her instagram is definitely some lovely eyecandy~

Check out some of her works!

Beautiful pendants~
Pic from website

I especially adore the magical key items! At the market they were available as necklace, pin, and hairpin. In person they are even more beautiful, if you can believe it!

Pic from website

The works are a bit large, so I would personally only wear one as an accent piece on a necklace or maybe as a bag pin.

Pic from website

Her work inspired me to order some key-theme metal charms recently to create small magical keys (and cat keys... maybe?) for charms myself! Cannot wait for them to come in!

Do you have any favorite resin artists? I'm looking for more to follow!! Drop some names below if you know any! Thank you~

Artist Spotlight: Sebastian Masuda

The last artist spotlight of the month!  Sensational kawaii artist Sebastian Masuda (website)(instagram) is immensely popular, with international shows and probably best-known for fashion brand 6% Doki Doki (instagram)!

Za X Sebastiam Masuda powder compact

I bought this Za X Sebastian Masuda compact just for the art, but it turns out I really enjoy the powder foundation too and bought a refill for it before I left Taiwan.  His art is usually super cluttered and detailed.  The more you look at an arrangement, the more you see!

Some people may find it too messy, but I sort of enjoy that messy kawaii aesthetic when it's a small item like this ^u^v  I'm not sure how I'd feel in one of his installation art rooms!

Is this heaven or hell to you?

Image from his instagram

If you're ever in Tokyo, visit Kawaii Monster Cafe (instagram) for a taste of what it's like!  I was so exhausted when I visited that I fell asleep there and missed the performance show T^T  But have some photos to share!

The lighting inside is rather poor, so if you want to take prettier photos, bring an extra light with you!!

Kawaii cake!

Artist Palette Pasta!

He also made the art of "Yoshi's Crafted World" in the TV commercial (side note: that game is ADORABLE!  I played the demo!)

Image from instagram

As for the 6% Doki Doki style, I enjoy the busy prints as accent pieces, but I don't know if I'd dress head-to-toe in Doki Doki?  Of course, the shop staff all ROCK the sensational pop kawaii style!

Image from 6% Doki Doki instagram

Image from 6% Doki Doki instagram

Do you enjoy this style of art?  It's different from the previous artists I've posted about, as he is not an illustrator, but I really enjoy this as well!

Artist Spotlight: Meredith Dillman

Today's artist spotlight is on fantasy and fairy artist Meredith Dillman (website) (deviantART) (instagram) who is from Minnesota! If you are a fan of Art Nouveau, fantasy, fairies, and Asian aesthetics with highly-detailed clothing and backgrounds, you'll really love her style!  I appreciate the watercolor and colored pencil look especially.

Work in progress
Image from instagram

In addition to prints, she also produces enamel pins, charms, books, coloring books, and has an oracle deck, all available on her website.

Image from deviantART

Image from deviantART

Personally I adore the attention to detail in the folds of the fabrics and how there is depth and color variation in the light and shadows.  There are probably too many folds to be realistic, but I really enjoy the draped effect it gives! 

High Priestess
Image from website

My love for fantasy art came from the days of Amy Brown and Nene Thomas fairy art at Hot Topic ages ago.  While I do still enjoy those artists, Meredith's style has more whimsy and fantasy that I find so alluring!  I do also recommend Nene Thomas for more photorealistic artwork and Gothic aesthetics though~

Do you have a favorite fantasy/fairy artist?  I've named my top three here but I'd like to see more!

Artist Spotlight: Zihling Huang

Time for a smaller artist spotlight~  Today is a Taiwanese artist named Zihling Huang (Instagram)(website)  I first found her art through her collaborations with my friend's Lolita brand Little Rose Planet and fell in love with her style!

Image from her Instagram

Described as "a mix of sweet girls with some weirdness added," her girls are "doll-like creatures walking a line between human and inhuman."

Similar to Yoh's Monochrome World, whom I previously wrote about, she does very detailed lines with some yami-kawaii (sick-but-cute) elements as well as dark or Gothic designs.

Image from her Instagram

The proportions and faces of her characters are much more human and less exaggeratedly spindly, though, which I think adds a more kawaii charm to her style.

Image from her Instagram

If you'd like to wear any of her art, be sure to visit Little Rose Planet (JSK, SK, tights are all available!) and support two local Taiwanese artists!!

Do you have any local artists you are a fan of?  Please share if you do because I really want to know more small artists!

Artist Spotlight: ECONECO

It should come as no surprise that ECONECO (Instagram) (Art Shop) (Products Shop) is one of my favorite artists!!  Her dreamy pastel colors and deco'd canvases are totally my style *u*   Of course, I've previously blogged about meeting ECONECO when she came to Taipei  (1st time)(apparently I didn't blog the second time, only post on Instagram)(3rd time) and now own a few little things with her art!

Flashback to the first time I met and purchased ECONECO!

There is a whole series of cosmetics and home goods in collaboration with ECONECO available in Taiwan as well.  I miss it!  I did purchase the BB cream for the packaging, but it turns out to be a good BB cream as well!

From ECONECO Instagram

On LINE you can add the ECONECO TW account to get a free mobile wallpaper each month.  I cannot seem to link the account on the webpage, but if you use LINE you can do a name search to find it I'm sure.

2019.07 monthly wallpaper

 She also visits Taiwan quite often, and did again in July!! (Crying because I missed out!)  She even did a special wallpaper using four Taiwanese animals:

Formosan Blue Magpie, Formosan Black Bear, Formosan Clouded Leopard,, and Formosan Macaque 

The blended pastel colors, canvases with strass crystals and peals, and whimsical settings I think would be popular with Lolitas!

From ECONECO Instagram

I think the deco canvases are really a cute and unique touch.  If I had art skills I would want to attach sequins, pearls, and jewels to my artwork, too!  It reminds me of a puzzle I had as a child that came with a glitter pen so you could decorate the completed puzzle.

Let me know what you think!  Also if you have any similar artists that you are a fan of, I want to know!!

Artist Spotlight: Yoh of Yoh's Monochrome World

I'd like to start sharing some of my favorite artists on my blog here!  I enjoy a variety of styles and mediums, and artists both internationally famous and small-time deserve to be seen ^u^v

Today I'm sharing one of my absolute favorite artists, Yoh of Yoh's Monochrome World. (Instagram) (Shop) Many of you may be familiar because he's been featured in Lolita bibles before, which is how I originally discovered his art, and there was also a collaboration with Alice and the Pirates!

I own the book Gothic Lolita Punk (Amazon link) which includes his artwork as well as a variety of other wonderful artists (including famous artist Kira Imai who often does Angelic Pretty illustrations)

His style is very detailed and almost always just ink lines on paper (hence "monochrome world") though occasionally there will be some color.

The pictures usually depict spooky-cute dolly girls and boys.  I especially love the hair and eyes!

Some of the artworks are very sweet-themed too~

I really enjoy the clean lines and hatching/dotted shading.  The illustrations seem to be sort of dark fairytale or dreamy, like the colored illustration above.  Even the dark Gothic pictures don't rely on gratuitous blood or gore to make it seem sinister.  It's more like a creeping shadow than a bloodfest, if you will.  This style appeals to me a lot more, as if you are being gradually drawn into the details and cannot look away.

As for the collaborations with Alice and the Pirates, there are cutsews from 2009 and can be found on Lolibrary (Princess Grape, Princess Pear, Princess Raspberry).  I believe there were collaborations with Tokyo Rebel as well, but don't really know much about that one ^^;

If you use LINE (messaging APP popular in east Asia) there are also LINE stickers you can purchase!
There are currently six sets, three in Japanese and three in English here if you are interested~

The example

Do you enjoy this style of art?  I will try to share more artists regularly, so stay tuned and thanks for reading!

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

Kawaii International Kawaii Reporter!

Hello readers!  The secret mentioned before is now on air!

You can watch the episode we are in live on the NHK website episode #61 at [UTC] May 5 (Fri.) 0:30/6:30/13:30/18:30 or as Video on Demand for up to two weeks after broadcast date.

Xiao Lu, Neco, Me

After swapping!
DORO, Shiyo, me, Neco, Xiao Lu

We actually made that eye patch on a whim out of random stuff at my house (felt, rose pins, ribbon) because Xiao Lu's contact was bothering her eye and had to take it out.  I think it looks awesome.

Big thanks to Kawaii International for asking me to be a Kawaii Reporter and to my coworker and friend, Kenny of Images by Kenny, for filming for us!

We had a lot of fun that day and plan to do another style swap just on our own for fun.  I want to try Chinese-style Lolita XD  Or even just Hanfu (traditional Chinese clothing)!

If you watched this episode, please let me know your thoughts!!!!!   I am still so anxious about it and how it'll be received as I've just watched the first broadcast and it's very short but seems OK?

Edit:

Full video available on my Google Drive here