July - September 2015 Haul

Hi all,

What happens when you have a steady income, you have little to do in terms of recreation and the Internet...you go shopping!

One of my New Years resolutions was to create a more cohesive wardrobe so in keeping with that I stuck (mostly) to easy-to-coordinate pieces in either ivory, navy or brown. It was my first time shopping at many of the places as I tend to buy from EGL Comm sales and Facebook and have nothing bad to report (phew). So now that most of my stuff has arrived I would like to show you.

These are all my Lolita purchases for the past few months:

The story begins when I broke my spending drought by purchasing the bonnet from the Belle Époque series by Baby the Stars Shine Bright. I refused to pay full-price as it cost over ¥10 000 so I got quite excited when I saw it was on sale on the BtSSB website. 

It was my first time buying from the site and it went really smoothly, which is good because I've heard of the blacklisting horror stories. I definitely recommend reading an up-to-date tutorial before you buy from there.

A friend was selling some AatP ouji pants and I've wanted to try ouji-kei for a while. The sales were really in my favour so at the same time I was able to purchase an AatP Prince Conrad blouse in white and a vest on the second hand market for an excellent price.

This story is stamped to be continued, however, as the materials are of a different thickness and they don't match. My neck also disappears in the generous frill of the Prince Conrad blouse so putting together a first coordinate may take some time. I think I may have discovered the anguish of the ouji-kei wearer.

Another friend from my community was selling some items and I couldn't go past the navy Phantom of the Opera JSK from Krad Lanrete and the brown Wonder Party skirt from Angelic Pretty that she was selling. I've had the Wonder Party series on my wishlist for a couple of years and I love Phantom of the Opera (actually musicals in general) so I'm really excited about making a coordinate with both of those items.

Thinking about my upcoming trip to the city in mid-October (I live beyond the black stump at the moment) I was hoping to buy a dress in my colour-scheme that was suitable for warm weather. Then, I came I came across Collection Chocolatier Douce in sax by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright whilst on Usagiyouhinten. 

This was also my first experience with Usagiyouhinten. Although initial contact took a while, as they close mid-week, I was very pleased with the communication and the packaging of the item.

Also on my list for my trip in October was a petticoat. My current petticoat is on its last legs (and in storage in Japan) so I decided on a new petticoat from Chiffon Rose. I went with the Classical Puppets everyday A-line petticoat figuring if I needed more poof I could layer it with my older petticoat when I get it from Japan next year. They were closed for the month of September but as soon as it became October I received a shipping notification so it will arrive within the next week.

I naively signed up for Lace Market and was suddenly overcome with a terrible need for blouses. I wanted to get cool fabrics which would tie-in with my wardrobe and I managed to find three great lolita blouses. 

So at the close of September I've ended up with the following:

Two dresses: 

Collection Chocolatier Douce Praline JSK in Sax by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Phantom of the Opera JSK in Navy by Krad Lanrete 

One skirt:

Wonder Party Skirt in brown by Angelic Pretty.

Three Lolita blouses:

Stand Collar Chiffon Blouse in navy by Angelic Pretty

Stripe Pattisier Blouse in mint by Baby the Stars Shine Bright 

Etoille Blouse in ivory by Baby the Stars Shine Bright (in transit)

One bonnet:

Belle Époque Bonnet in Brown by Baby the Stars Shine Bright 

An (unmatching) ouji-kei outfit:
Prince Conrad Blouse in white
Unknown AatP vest in black
Unknown AatP pants in black

Classical puppets everyday A-line petticoat (in transit)

As for the next few months, I'd like to focus on purchasing accessories. I really lack in this department and I know how important accessories are for making your wardrobe more flexible, bringing balance to a coordinate or putting a new twist on an oft-worn item. I'm particularly interested in making a "set" of accessories, that is, a few accessories in the same colour or similarly themed to make coordinating easier. 

Until next time...