Shopping Services and Taobao

Here is my confession.

I'm scared to use shopping services. During all my years in Lolita I used one exactly once, and that was only because I was determined to get my hands on the Twinkle Journey OP by Metamorphose (which I ended up selling a year later, but that's besides the point). I didn't get scammed or end up waiting for ages. Nothing was damaged or needed to be tracked down during shipping. But. I was very, very anxious the entire process, and I couldn't feel truly relaxed until I had the dress in my hands. From that day forward, I vowed never to use a shopping service again.

Naturally, this limits quite a lot of things I can buy from taobao stores. For the most part I've been okay with this. My-Lolita-Dress is offering more and more from many of the popular indie brands, and there are so many beautiful things to be find from second-hand sales I never felt like I was really missing out.

Then the other day I was reading over at Luna Rain's  blog, where she recently posted a review about her newest taobao order. I was instantly stricken when she showed two beautiful cutsews from one particular taobao store and I could absolutely not get them out of my head. For what feels like a ridiculously long time I have been searching for simple, but elegant knit tops to wear with casual, Lolita-inspired coords and have grown more and more infuriated by the lack of options! I honestly can not believe the lack of cute details in just about every place I have searched, except for-of course, Korean or Chinese sellers on ebay where anyone with a 96cm is listed as a 2XL (and the garment is probably STILL too small).

But as I'm browsing this shop (and per the review discovered these tops would likely fit quite comfortably), I have to admit, I'm wondering if it's time to give the ol' shopping service a try once again. Just take a look at these!

How can you say no to that! I have to admit, every day I am more and more tempted, and once I buck up the courage I may finally attempt my second ever taobao order. Wish me luck!

Doll Wishlist Meme

As I last left off introducing my sweet BJD Isaiah to the blog, I thought it appropriate to continue the trend a little longer. I had originally intended to briefly introduce the rest of my collection first, but instead I came across this Doll Wishlist meme over on My Doll Adventures, and I thought it looked like fun. So onward with the meme and my crew can be brought in next time.

1. How many dolls are on your wish list currently? 

I currently have three dolls on my wishlist.

1. DIMDoll Marcellina 
2.DIMDoll sleepy eyes Bellosse 
3.DIMDoll Kassia 

Technically my wishlist may constitute as four as I do have one floating head, a DIM Robel (no longer sold on the DIM website), who I do intend to purchase a body for. However, as I'm still undecided on the body and it's not a full doll, I count the wishlist as three.

2. How many Larger (65cm+) dolls are on your list?  
None. The tallest dolls in my collection are about 62 cm and this already feels like an unwieldy height for me.  Although there are some beautiful dolls out there in this size, I already know they're simply too big for me so I know to avoid them from the start.

DIMDoll Marcellina

 3. What about 1/3 sized dolls? 
All of them.Dolls ranging from 55-60cm are my favorite height for dolls, especially those closer to the 55 range. I don't intend to buy full dolls from DIM as I like hybrids (almost all of the dolls in my collection are hybrids of some sort), so I am leaning toward finding shorter bodies for the heads on my wishlist if possible.   

 4. And 1/4? 
Also none. While I prefer this height to larger dolls, I don't really want to accumulate any more. While they're not super tiny, they tend to feel just a bit too delicate for me to handle comfortable, and just a couple inches too small for me all around. I think if they were closer to 50cm rather than the usual 42cm, I might be more keen on them.

 5. 1/6 and smaller?

So there are no smaller dolls on the wishlist either, but I admit not to being completely opposed to them. While I have no plans at this moment to acquire, I can't deny that they don't intrigue me, particularly the pet BJDs. While I don't see myself actually purchasing a human doll in this size as I have no character for one, a pet or animal is a different story as I feel it can be easily separated from the rest of my dolls while still giving me the freedom to dress it up and freely explore the options this size has to offer.

 6. What is your grail doll?
I don't have one and I actually never have. I don't really see the point in coveting a doll that is so expensive or so rare that I have an extremely slim chance of ever really acquiring it. All the dolls that I fall in love with enough to want for myself must fit within a certain set of perimeters, otherwise it's just a very pretty, expensive paperweight that I have no emotional connection to which is an important aspect for me when it comes to dolls. I don't have time to waste energy on pining over something solely because it is beautiful.

7. What is the most expensive doll on your wishlist?
This one's tricky. Because I do plan to hybrid I am admittedly looking at cheaper bodies for the heads as I'm no longer in a place to spend an excessive amount on what will constantly remained covered up with clothes anyway. For the boys (Marcellina and Bellosse), I don't know which head will recieve which body at the moment, so it's up in the air who will wind up as more expensive. For the Kassia head, as she will be the only girl in my collection, I see myself giving in and splurging a tiny bit more on a nicer body for her, so of the three she will likely wind up the most expensive.

 8. What about the most inexpensive doll?
Same as the previous answer, it's a toss up on the twin boys as to who will wind up with the cheaper body in the end.

DIMDoll Kassia

9. Which doll do you most look forward to getting in the future?
Oh gosh, this is so difficult to say because I really do love all three of my future planned dolls. I suppose if I absolutely had to choose, it would be Kassia, as she will be the only one of the three who will actually remain a female while the other two will be turned into males. She will be my first and only girl doll, and for years she continues to remain the only  girl I have remained interested in. She's perfect.

 10. Lastly, can you list all the dolls on your wish list?
 Certainly! I just did for the first question and three isn't a lot to remember ;)

 Tag some people to keep it moving!

Sadly I don't know anyone in the BJD blogging universe to tag! But if you're interested in writing out your own answers, please feel free and let me know, I'd love to read!

A Tale of Two Underskirts

I've been wanting an underskirt for a pretty good long while now, and like most other basics I've been continually putting it off. Well, with this new re haul of my wardrobe I've decided no more! It's time to buckle down and focus on those not-so-exciting staples because ultimately they're going to be the elements that really pull my outfits together and give them that spark I'm really looking for.  Many of my skirts I feel fall just a bit too short on my leg to give off a truly elegant and classy look, so an underskirt really should have been in the works a long time ago.

I knew right off the bat that I wanted a chiffon underskirt. An extra ruffle of chiffon peeking out beneath the hem of a dress just looks so delicate and pretty to me, so that immediately cut down on a lot of my choices. But nevertheless, after a bit of searching and asking around I have ultimately settled on two choices, either The Floral NoteBook or HMHM.

A suggestion from another Lolita led me to checking out The Floral Notebook, an indie Vietnamese brand

which sells through facebook. I'm a huge fan of indie brands as I really love knowing that the garment I'm ordering will absolutely fit me, and the design of their chiffon underskirts are absolutely beautiful and exactly what I was looking for. Not only that, but because the skirt would be tailor made for me, I had hopes to ask the seamstress if the skirt could be made with a drawstring waistband rather than  elastic as I find them so much more comfortable and no one would ever see it beneath my dresses anyway.

However, then I realized I had run into a little problem. In light of my gorgeous new Chess Story dress in cream, as well as my new found resolution to begin adding in more colors into my wardrobe, it occurred to me that perhaps I might do best in ordering a second underskirt in white. Unfortunately, as I'm not made of money two underskirts from The Floral Notebook will be a bit pricey if I don't wish to wait in between ordering them, so I decided to look around a bit further and recheck my options.

That's when I returned to this lovely HMHM chiffon underskirt which is available in both black and white. Like TFN underskirts these skirts can also be made to my specific measurements (though no drawstring),  are very pretty, and are delightfully less expensive!

Unfortunately, the time for their production is considerably longer so once again I would have to wait a decent amount of time before they arrived. Additionally, the hem of the skirt troubles me, since although I find the skirt in itself very pretty I worry that if too much of it peeks out then the double ruffle will wind up looking silly whereas TFN would look a bit more natural. Still, the price point is definitely something to think about, especially since I'm aiming for two skirts now instead of only one.

It definitely seems I'm in a little bit of a conundrum! I certainly intend for an underskirt or two to be my next big purchase (crossing fingers I don't get sidetracked!), so I need to put a bit more thought before making the final decision. What do you think? Do you like underskirts? Wear one yourself? Which of these choices would you prefer?

A Wardrobe Reimagined

 I've decided I need to jump into July with some positivity! I noticed that in June I started to get really hung up on the flaws in my wardrobe and all of the things I didn't like about it. I felt really uninspired by the lack of variety, and irritated by the items I never wore that were taking up space. Even more so, I was frustrated with myself and my own waning confidence in owning the style and daring to wear something that I know could make me feel elegant and beautiful. I didn't feel like I was doing the fashion justice, and that despite my many years in Lolita, I still didn't know how to properly coordinate or wear anything that solid black from head to toe. Simply put, I forgot where I stand in the fashion and what exactly it means to me.

But then I took a step back and really began to think about things. And I realized that how I feel about Lolita is actually not very complicated at all. In fact, it was the topic of one of my very first blog posts!  Plain and simple, I love Lolita because it's beautiful and it has the potential to make me feel lovely and magical. 

So in order to reignite the passion that has begun to simmer down over these past few months, I tried out something a little creative and made a collage of where I'd like to see my wardrobe headed.

So here's a quick snapshot into my future wardrobe! Obviously not everything I have saved to my wishlist is here, but I thought these pieces presented a pretty good idea as to what I'm hoping to accomplish with my style. My aim is to acquire a more classic look, and as far as my current wardrobe is concerned, that certainly means adding in a lot more color. My favorites are wine reds, dark blues and some dusty grays and pinks, though I highly doubt I'll ever completely end my love affair with black. 

Colors aside, I'm also hoping to explore more in terms of prints and accessories, namely tights. Although I've never been huge on prints (except for a short four month stint when I acquired my beloved Unico in Bloomland skirt I never wear), I do think some pretty, delicate flowers or small, understated prints might add some visual interest. I would also love some new tights, both in new solid colors (I'm thinking wine red and possibly cream), as well as perhaps even some printed tights. I really adore the look of printed tights, especially those with soft, muted florals, however I am nervous about purchasing any as I have a lot of issues with the fit of tights and I don't want to waste a lot of money trying to find something that is comfortable.

Even though the process will undoubtedly be long, I'm excited at the possibilities! For the longest time I feel as though I've forgotten how to even shop, scared to purchase anything that wasn't solid black for fear that it wouldn't match anything else. But now, especially with the encouragement of my boyfriend who just happens to be a wonderful dresser, I'm feeling ready to step it up and wiggle a little out of my comfort zone.

Thanks for sticking by my side lovely readers, I look forward to sharing where my new direction in Lolita will take me!