Review: Etsy Fake Nails (Aya1gou - Harajuku, Big Bows, 3D Bow, Kawaii Nails...etc)

Hi! It's been a while~ ^^; But I'm here! And I have a review for y'all! Now, I had been looking everywhere for some affordable, but still super cute and hopefully durable, fake nails. And I think I've found some...!

These things are adorable, long, lengthening, and have some acrylic bows/hearts along with some adorable polka dot nail polish and little tiny nail rhinestones! Every nail is decorated with either a bow with a rhinestone at the knot, or two little hearts with two rhinestones in between~ And then, of course, they are all painted with a french style manicure with bright pastel colors and white dots!

Now then, how about you walk with me through my unboxing?

Now, these were packaged super cutely, except for the cardboard box, but even that was taped shut with cute little utensil tape~! Also, for those wondering, I am able to type and game with these on, as I have typed this entire post with them on, and thus, I should be able to press, like, five letters to game. And they are super flattering on my totally fat little fingers~ Make 'em look long and thin!! XD

Here is a link to the shop, not to the listing I bought these from as that listing is now invalid... yeah, one only! :D (For now, at least...) https://www.etsy.com/shop/Aya1gou?ref=l2-shopheader-name
But I promise that you'l find something cute! She has a lot of nails and they're all awesome and rather cheap, averaging around $20, but going as low as $9!

Also, if you enjoy lenses as well as nails, then  you're probably no stranger to this warning, but please be careful when putting in your lenses, especially with longer nails like these!!

Fairytale Boutique's Website~ My Experience

Now then, for Christmas, from my gracious uncle, I got $100... Naturally, I immediately started scheming as to how I could get the biggest bang for my buck. I settled on buying two books/mooks that I'd been wanting for a while and, because it was there and said 'buy me!', a signed Misako Aoki 2015 calender. With shipping, it only cost me $2, and it cost my uncle the full $100. So, to put it simply, this was a LOT OF MONEY! And so, I ordered, all gleeful... And within the normal 2-3 business days, I got my 'your order is complete' email. But then almost a week passed, and still nothing.

I realize that I live on the east coast, and that they're on the west coast, but still, I had never had a package take that long when it was shipping from the USA... maybe when shipping from China, but never the USA! And so, I decided to contact them.
Did I mention that I bought it a few days before the new year? 'Cause personally, I think that that's where everything went wrong...

But anyways, I contacted them, and within 24 hours, they got back to me, asking for my order#. So, of course, I gave it to them right away! Then came the waiting... again! It almost reached the 48 hour mark when they emailed me back, giving me a tracking number. And, of course, I immediately tracked my package, and the tracking number said not only that my package was coming today, but also that it hadn't been given to the post office until the day they had asked for my order#. Soooo... Imma assume that Fairytale kinda lost my order/thought that they had shipped it out, but they hadn't? Either way, the new year is most likely to blame... But I was still upset, and thus, even though I am BEYOND HAPPY with the products, I am sorta complaining.

Unboxing below~

Something I'm Thankful For... (Belated Thanksgiving Post)

As you all may know, I'm not exactly 'normal'... In my hobbies or my fashion style. But, my family has almost always supported me in my weird endeavors. And if they didn't at first,  they eventually did, simply because they're nice people. 

Even my extended family, whether I'm talking about grandma/grandpas/cousins/aunts/uncles/ or my super close friends (who I consider family), even they accepted it, even though many of them didn't fully understand it. 

A part of me thinks that the only reason they accepted everything so simply is because they, themselves, already have enough weirdness to deal with... but another part thinks that it's also because they really do love and care about me. And so, for that, I'm thankful.

One of my cousins is a complete comic-book geek, not manga, comic-books. And, he actually works as a letterer for some comics (Nothing big... yet). He also has a business of making things out of old comic-books, like a cute bracelet he made for me one Christmas, though he normally makes things like wallets and buttons. But I digress, my point is that he was already in the 'otaku culture', so he knew about cosplay. So, but of course, when I came to him, dressed in lolita, he decided that it was cosplay, and still, to this day, I think, believes that it's a costume/ me pretending to be someone else. But, he accepts it as part of me. Even though he doesn't fully understand it.

In a somewhat related note, my grandparents also don't fully understand it, but, sadly, I think have a better grasp on it than my cousin. I think this because my grandparents were alive in the 50s and stuff, an era in which petticoats and big skirts were a normal thing, though the skirts weren't quite as big as ours. Also, my grandparents are able to see the influence of past eras in lolita fashion, For instance, one time, I came down in lolita while my grandparents were over, and my grandma exclaimed, with stars in her eyes, "She looks like my grandmother!"

And then, there are my otaku friends. Some of which almost fully understand lolita, very few of which are actually into lolita fashion, but are scared to attempt it, and some of which view it as a form of lolicon... UGH. Naturally, I have the most difficulty with the last ones (and aren't really friends with them...).

And my lolita friends/community are for a whole other thing.

And here is a ramble-y video that seems to tell my entire infant lolita life-story

Half Educational/Half Kawaii NYC Haul~

Yep, just as the title says, when I went shopping, I successfully split it in half between educational stuff and kawaii stuff! YES! While I spent more money on the kawaii stuff, of course, I did manage to buy two cute/lolita things and two educational things! And that was all of my money... I'm poor... :(

Hehehe... Anyways~ ^^;
My haul video is below!

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright in New York City!!! :3

Alright, trip's over!

I will now share my experience at the one and only: Baby the Stars Shine Bright store in NYC!

The first day we got to New York, we went to the store immediately after we got to the hotel in NJ, rode a bus to NYC, then took the subway to the Baby store! Needless to say, for those of you that saw how I planned on dressing to go to the store, y'all can probably figure out that I was SWEATING TO DEATH! D:

"Why is this important?" you may ask... Trust me, it's important.

SO! We got to the Btssb/TokyoRebel store about 30 mins before closing or so (I wasn't paying attention to the time) I was drenched in sweat, so, of course, I didn't dare try anything on, but if I wanted to, I could've tried up to 5 items! (Which, duh, isn't that much in America, 'cause, I don't know about you, but I try on, like, 10 things minimum at most stores(Then again, most stores have a lot bigger selection than Baby-san))

Anyways! One of my best friends, who accompanied me on the trip, and is a complete gothic/punk/raver/sometimes lolita/whatever chick, she fell in love with the TokyoRebel side of the store... that's right, the store is one store with half the store in pink, and the other half in black, this confused the crap out of my mother, who thought for sure that it'd be two stories. XD

But, like I was saying, my friend tried on a SEX POT ReVeNGe shirt. White with black straps/buckles around the chest and arms, and with detachable black sleeves! And all along the bottom were these cool lace-y, tulle-y, netting stuff, that looked all torn up. IT WAS SWEET :D

Sadly, though, I've no pictures... 'cause no pictures are allowed in the store, my other friend learned that the hard way when she tried to get a picture of my gothic friend in the shirt and the Baby-san shop-girl put her hand in front of the camera, much to the horror of my other friend XD
EDIT: Actually, here's a picture of her shirt, 'cause I've finally looked it up on TokyoRebel's site... ^^;

It's called the 2-way bondage gauze cutsew

Back to me, yes?

While my friend was trying on the shirt, I was trying out the Usakumya-chan pochette. I'm pretty sure that the shop staff thought I was nutty, since I immediately went up to the counter, asked to see a usakumya pochette, then asked to rip it's hood off and stick my hand down there. 

You might be yelling at me that I'm a tactless idiot, but I was spending almost all my money at this store, on this thing, and I wanted to make sure that my hand could even fit inside!

But the shop staff, if they did think I was nutty, it didn't show. The TokyoRebel shop-girl was at the counter, so she dealt with most of my craziness, and she was soooo nice, and cool-looking! She just asked me what color I wanted, to which I replied, "Pink!" She knew which on I wanted since they only had the one type that had any pink on it, and she grabbed it and handed it to me. That was when I asked if I could open it and see if my hand would get down there. Her smile faltered, most likely because she wasn't sure if she was going to make the sale anymore, but she nodded, pulled the hood off for me, unzipped it, and handed it back to me. The only thing? My hands were VERY SWEATY...

But I tried! I stuck my hand as far down as it would go! And it didn't go past the neck 'cause my hands were sticky! D:

That's when my mom stepped in, took it from me and stuck her hand all the way to the bottom, and I knew that her hands were either bigger or the same size as mine, so I went ahead and asked to buy it. The shop-girl asked me if I wanted the one I had been messing with, or a new, shrink-wrapped one, I felt bad that I had stuffed my sweaty hands down into the display one, so I took the display one!

While my mom was paying, I chatted to the Baby-san shop-girl, she was nice, though she gave off a slightly elitist air, but that easily could've just been my paranoia since I was wearing a 'lesser brand': Bodyline. Which upped my self-consciousness at the 'big brand' store. But she talked with me,and we chatted about the only remaining headdress in stock. And the moment I said, "I'm cheating," while talking about my head accessory ('cause I kinda DID cheat since I didn't use something meant for the head on my head...) she jumped right in and said, "No you aren't, it's just different from our stuff!" Which really made my paranoia go down some...

And she was really cute... 

Back to the pochette!

My mother had bought it, and passed it back to me. I began trying to stick things in it immediately. 

NOTE: Things the size of or bigger than a large-ish wallet will NOT FIT!

My phone, thankfully, did. (And I think I gave the shop staff a heart attack when the tone of my voice became gruff and I muttered, "If not even my phone fits in here, we're gonna have a problem...")

While my friend was buying her shirt, the Baby-san shop-girl helped me put the pochette on and loosened the strap for me, so I could wear it across my body. Then my mom kept asking me if I needed a drink (which I'm pretty sure aren't allowed in the store, so I said 'no'), and then she asked the TokyoRebel shop-girl for a tissue. The shop-girl replied that she didn't have any tissues, but she had paper towels! So I took one and blotted my sweaty face, and when I was done I asked where the trashcan was, and to that, the shop-girl said, "I'll just take it for you." AND SHE TOOK MY GROSS AND SWEATY PAPER TOWEL AND THREW IT AWAY! HOW NICE IS THAT?! I mean, I'm pretty sure that the trashcan was behind the counter, so she couldn't let me back there of course, but still! It was nice that, without a single flinch or groan, she took something so gross and threw it away for me!

SO TL;DR: 

I LOVE THE STORE!

The shop staff (for that day, at least) were soooo nice! And didn't seem to be completely disgusted with my super sweaty self, and didn't seem to really care that I wasn't wearing Baby! And while I was there, I saw lots of people that weren't even wearing lolita coming in and looking around! And the shop staff were nothing but nice to them!

This be the kind of adorable usakumya-chan pochette that I got! 

Biggest Trip of My Short Life... :D

Okay, as many of you in the lolita circuit know, the one and only: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, has opened a store on the east coast, which happens to be where I live. 

Of course, however, being broke, and young, and living in the south, and all, I was unable to attend the grand opening... :(

BUT! My wonderful mother offered to take me and two friends up there~ We leave this week! "Why the heck do I care?" you may be asking... The truthful answer? You probably don't care! But I'm excited... Thus, I am sharing!

Another question you may be asking is: "Why the heck is this so exciting?"

Answer? Because I've never been inside (Or directly outside) a lolita store!

This isn't even my first time going to NYC, in fact, it's, like, my sixth... But I feel like this is going to be the most exciting trip yet! I've got it all planned! Maps and all! Coords even!

My makeup for the trip was carefully crafted over many test-runs, and many outfit changes... ^^;

My most recent, and probably official, test-run is below~

Wish me luck and fun~! <3

How Much Do You Know About Lolita? Dear Sister?

Yo! ^3^

I recently made a video with my awesome and hilarious sister, Rebecca! It was the ever fun 'how much do you know about lolita?' Lolita Quiz! I forgot a few questions, but, eh, no harm no foul~ ^^;
I also added some questions of my own! (More like I tweaked the 'name the print' section of the quiz...)

And, like I said, she is HILARIOUS! And, no, it wasn't scripted, thus my shaky and nervous voice... I just had the sheets of paper with pictures and questions on them, other than those, I was on my own! (And my sister doesn't count as support, since she just kept flustering me with her hilarity...)

Right. so... HERE YA GO~!

Here's the first part, which lags horribly and actually chopped up the audio for a few seconds at one point... but, hey, like my sister said, my laptop is a toaster... ^^;

Second part below~

Again, I apologize for the quality... but at least this one doesn't lag nearly as bad as the first part!

Reveiw: Angelic Pretty Etoile Twins/ Twins Etoile Bustier JSK

Uhm... Hi? Again, I feel that I must apologize for neglecting my blog for so long... But I'm back, with a much overdue review of AP's Etoile Twins~!

Etoile (star) is actually the highest level that a ballerina can attain, higher than even prima ballerina, though, this term is generally not used in many ballet companies now... Except for the French, but, hey, it's their term, so... I digress. 

My point was that, well, of course it was going to be a ballet themed print! In fact, I probably would've been very disappointed if they had literally taken twin stars and stuck them on the dress. NOT. CUTE. (To me at least... Ballet, however, I LOVE) ...Again, I digress. 

Let's begin, shall we?

 Now, I was very skeptical as to how much nicer a 'big brand' dress could be...and I'm still kind of skeptical. I mean, without a doubt, it's nicer, for starters, it has lining! But, I do have one complaint, and with Bodyline, I didn't really have any complaints on my favorite dress by them... But anyways, the ZIPPER! It just simply FRUSTRATES ME to no end. I know that I shouldn't expect perfect zippers from everyone, but this is one of the biggest brands in lolita! And I know that it's not not going up because of my size, because I can easily stretch the dress more. My point is that I HATE the zipper. Not just because it's difficult to zip, but because it's past being difficult! Every time I wear this dress, I get a blister on my finger where I was holding the zipper! (Hey! Beauty is pain!) But other than that ZIPPER, it's a absolutely gorgeous dress, made of a lovely and light chiffon-ish material, perfect for summer!

The bustier bodice with fake corset lacing

The skirt

This bow is removable

The print, isn't it cute~?!

I can only assume (most likely correctly) that these would be the etoile twins

The Angelic Pretty within the ribbons of a pair of pointe shoes

Le derriere

REAL corset lacing, with shirring

My attempt of showing the evil side zipper

The ends of the waistties

The button that allows you to remove the waistties

Super soft AP lace~ w/ crowns

Selca!

Here's it in motion and another review I did on it:

So, all in all, lovely dress, evil zipper, removable waistties and bow, fake AND real corset lacing, twins, swans with crowns, pointe shoes that turn into Angelic Pretty, bubbles everywhere, and... I'm running out of things to say... just watch the video to see whatever I might've forgotten to say here~!

Review: Bodyline l179 OP with Rose Hat in pink (pik)

Behold! Le bonnet!

Alright! Got new dress! (two new dresses, really, but... 9.9 )
Anyways, this is Bodyline's l179 OP with Rose Hat, but the weird thing is...there isn't a hat, I mean, the stock photo looks like a hat, but...IT'S A BONNET!
Right, so...yeah. ^^;

Quality: Pretty good! Considering it was only $33, I think this is excellent quality! It's not shiny or particularly cheap-looking.

Color and Design: Nice pink, not exactly my fave shade of pink though, it's kinda salmon-y...which I don't like, but regardless, it's still very nice color-wise. There is not pattern, it's a solid color so... let's take this dress apart (metaphorically, of course) and stare at it. Starting from the top!

Comes with neck straps/ties/thingamajiggers.

Three bows on the bodice along with some...lines? (IDK, I don't really speak fashion)

Shirring along the whole back, allowing it to stretch A LOT

Please note that, while these sleeves are gorgeous, and would've stopped around my elbow; there is no elastic! Thus, I COULDN'T EVEN GET IT OVER MY ELBOW! And, it wasn't even because I have fat arms or something ('cause I don't) It was just them being ridiculous! Luckily, as seen over here ->

The sleeves are detachable! <3 So I quickly and easily removed them and put the dress on! Now, these aren't attached like the other Bodyline dresses I have, the others were attached using elastic (and the sleeves had elastic) these are just put on using normal 'button-through-hole-in-cloth' technique :/

They're so pretty! I was truly heartbroken... (i have a thing for bell-shaped skirts and sleeves :9 )

Side zipper~

Lovely skirt with a scalloped hem- Beautiful! <3

The waistties have a ruffle on the ends of them that matches the ruffles along the hem of the skirt

It came with 4 removable flowers (I know, I lost one of them already)

Full-length Selca

Normal Selca showing off the bonnet

So, I think I can sew?

These last few days, it seems that I've been bitten by the sewing-bug... :/ I've been sewing almost three-days straight; about an hour at most each time. I've made three things, a jsk, a bolero cardigan, and a blouse/cutsew/okay, it's a frilly shirt! All without the slightest idea of what the crap I was doing other than that I had a design in my head and, twice, I created what I imagined. I AM CONFUSED. I mean, I know that I'll sound like I'm bragging, which of course, I kinda am, but...I seriously am confused. How am I doing this?! D:

Lemme just show you what I mean:

One: IT ACTUALLY FITS! How did this happen?

Two: Behold my attempt at a peter-pan collar!

Three: The creepy thing, the lace I used/found is the same lace that my Bodyline l140 skirt has.

Looky-loo~ ^ The lace!
And NOW looky-loo below.

Now, I also made an ill-fitting jsk out of some lovely fabric:

And a bolero cardigan as well after a couple days:

Note, I did NOT make the jsk in this picture

Sooo~ I THINK I can sorta sew...I mean, I know I need practice, but... Yay? ^^;

Review: Bodyline l388 Detachable Sleeve Princess OP w/ choker in Purple (pul)

OK...Bodyline dream dress time~! ^o^ Yesh, this is my dream dress from bodyline!

It's one of the more expensive ones from Bodyline, at $67, but I think that it's worth the price. :9 Especially when the brand clothes are sooo much worse. XD

Quality: Solid quality, especially compared to the other dress I got. This one is made of cotton and polyester, the other one was just polyester...so...naturally, this one is going to be a nicer quality. ^^;

See? No shine! ^^

 

Color and Pattern: Purple, it's purple...not a normal lolita color, but the color was just so beautiful on the website, and they were out of pink, so...^^; I bought it! And I do not regret it at all! It really is a gorgeous color! C:  (The great thing about it is that it goes with my pink gloves AND my blue parasol...not at the same time though...)I hate blue, but the blue was so pretty, I almost bought that one...just a little unneeded information. Basically, the colors for this dress are really nice :3 And...well, there is no pattern, it's a solid color...so... :P I guess I'm done with this section...

Design: OMG, this design is so detailed and complicated, I don't even know where to begin! So many ruffles! So many frills! SO much lace! So, let's just take it from the top down.

 It comes with a matching choker. (which I use as a headband) It has the same laces as the bodice, which are very soft and wonderful :3 Not itchy at all!

Detail of the laces

The bodice had three bows on it, and lots of lace!

detail of the lace on the top of the bodice, which matches the choker

Partial shirring along the back with corset lacing

Side zipper, nice and easy to zip

Sleeves have laces going down it, with a bow. They are detachable

A look at the bell-shaped sleeves, very intricate. :3

Detail of the bottom of the sleeve

Looks a little shiny...but let's focus on the pretty frills, yes? :P

Detail on the skirt, big bows and lace!

A look at the lace and ruffles on the bottom

And the back of the skirt!

 

Fit: Yet again, my bust was the max bust...actually, my bust was a bit bigger than that, but it had shirring AND corset lacing, so... 9.9 I bought it...AND IT FIT! :D The waist fit as well, although it was a tad too big (again) but again, the dress has waistties, so, it's all good! :D Now this one can handle some puff! It can handle a whole lot of puff! More puff than i have petticoats for! (which of course, Imma have to fix) Complete cupcake shape, it's wonderful! :3

See? Puffy! And look at those sleeves! :D

Selca wearing the choker as a headband

Update: Since I wrote this... like, a long time ago. I have gained fifty pounds, due to medicine I'm on, a went up two bra sizes, and it still fits!