ColossalCon 2016!

This past weekend was ColossalCon, one of the bigger, more popular conventions in Ohio, and I go for at least one day every year. This year, I was a little sad that it was only one day, because all of the Lolita events were spread out across the four days: panels on Thursday, fashion show on Friday, tea party on Saturday, and I think there was a swap meet on Sunday.

I chose to go Saturday, because I prefer social events to the fashion shows, and the tea party was lots of fun! I even got pictures, something that I'm normally bad at remembering to do.

The food was good-- I was really appreciative of the fresh fruit at the pancake bar. And we had another game that we also played last year-- print design! This time around, I chose "Starry Rose Perfume," inspired by a scene from The Princess Diaries. I wasn't able to finish it, but I might try again in my own sketchbook.

Here are some shots of the other Lolitas at the tea party (I forgot to get a photo taken of my own coord, oops!). The lighting was sort of terrible inside, but everyone still looked really cute!

There were so many chocolate prints. The center right Lolita was
the winner of our coordinate contest! I'm in love with the custom-
made headpiece.

Two of the lovely ladies I sat with

The other two lovely ladies I sat with!

We went outside to take group pictures, but candids are my favorite.

Finally, what's a convention without con swag? I won these bows and this gorgeous veil from the tea party raffle; both were made by Elegy!

Sweet Mildred had a table with all of her lovely headpieces and accessories. I was excited to see her rings made of keys, and picked one up for my Time Lag World JSK, as well as the teacup necklace just to have something cute to wear with my normal wardrobe.

Finally, I snagged a bunched of little accessories from the RawrTiger table, which is run by one of the Ohio EGL mods. She makes lots of sweet accessories and tights. I've been wanting some of these traditionally OTT Sweet accessories for a long time, and was happy to find something strawberry-themed for my berry prints, so they came home with me! She also does custom-colored resin items, like her popular macaron necklaces and shell clips (which I dearly want).

All in all, it was a fun day, though I was exhausted for the rest of the weekend. I can't wait to go again next year, hopefully for more than one day.

Did any of you go to ColossalCon 2016? Attend any of the Lolita events? Let me know in the comments below!

10 Things You Can't Live Without in Lolita

1. Gothic & Lolita Bibles

Even in the midst of a bad day, month, or season, in which I can't bring myself to wear Lolita, I have my Bibles within arm's reach to look through and get my fix of beautiful things.

2. Cardigans and Boleros

I hugely prefer these to blouses, especially since I have a taste for full-coverage prints that I often want to break up and tone down with blocks of color. When worn in just the right way, they can also be used to help define your waist and smooth out your bodice.

3. Over-the-Knee Socks

These are by and large my preferred leg wear. I find tights to be uncomfortable, and anything knee-length or shorter usually doesn't look flattering on my legs.

4. Petticoats

Because, with very few exceptions, what is Lolita without the silhouette-shaping underfluff?

5. My Makeup Arsenal

Disclaimer: this isn't my makeup, I pulled this off of Google

I almost never leave my apartment without at least minimal makeup, and Lolita absolutely feels incomplete to me if I decide to walk around with a bare face.

6. Bloomers

I know this keeps making its way into my lists, but I'm just super dependent on bloomers! They're perfect for modesty in windy weather and guarding against thigh chafing.

7. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

I don't think I would have fallen nearly as hard for Lolita as I did if it hadn't been for my all-time favorite brand! Baby is just so classically Lolita. If someone asked me to define Lolita for them, all I would have to do is direct them to the Classic Series page on the BtSSB website.

8. Metamorphose temps de Fille

On the flip side, I don't think I would have been able to really build up any confidence in wearing Lolita if it weren't for Meta! Their clothes are comfortable, easy to wear, and often found cheap on the secondhand sales, and my first brand dress was a Meta JSK that I still have and love.

9. Lace Market

I know it's a love-to-hate website, but it's frankly the easiest secondhand selling site that I've used. Most of my transactions, either buying or selling, have taken place here, and I'll definitely continue to use it.

10. Other Lolita Bloggers

Lolita bloggers have always been my #1 inspiration and resource for Lolita fashion: Parfait Doll and F Yeah Lolita! in particular are the two I first found, and still go back to when I'm feeling uninspired. Being able to hear from and see the Lolita world through different people is absolutely invaluable, and you should never stop searching for new blogs to check out. You never know who might spark an idea in your mind for your next great coordinate!

June Style Theme - Strawberries

For me, June has always been the true beginning of Summer - the weather is hot and sunny, school lets out, and I have Colossalcon to start it off (two more days!). This year, I have something extra special to bring in the new season.

Strawberries come into season this month, and that includes my special Pineberry plants. These are a sweet way to kick off your summer, and easy to incorporate into your Lolita life!

1. Wear a Berry Print

This one's the most obvious. Every year, the brands put out berry prints, usually in spring. 2016 has so far seen Baby, Angelic Pretty, Meta, and Innocent World release strawberry-covered dresses, most of them featuring strawberry desserts, but you can almost certainly find plenty of older releases on the secondhand sales.

2. Go Berry Picking, or to a Farmer's Market

A lot of Lolita comms have berry-picking meets in the summer, but don't just restrict yourself to meetups! Picking your own strawberries, and even getting them at a local farmer's market, is often cheaper than buying them at the store. Besides, you usually find better-tasting berries that way. Just be sure that, if you choose to go to a Farmer's Market, you go early-- strawberries are one of the fastest-selling items!

3. Dress Up Your Outfits With Strawberries

If you don't want to shell out for the hottest strawberry print, then don't worry-- strawberry accessories are everywhere, and come in many styles. It's easy to throw them into any Classic or Sweet wardrobe, even if all you have are solid pieces.

4. Learn How to Cook or Bake With Strawberries

Of course, if you're going to go out and buy strawberries, you might as well learn fun things to do with them! Besides making a great, easy snack, you can throw them into all kinds of recipes, from pies and cakes to salads, spreads, and drinks.

5. Wear a Strawberry Scent

Even in mainstream fashion, strawberries are popular summer themes. Cute, cheap lip gloss or perfume are easy to find anywhere, and add a touch of the berry craze to your outfits even outside of Lolita.

Meta Brings the Retro

It's not a secret; I love Metamorphose. Usually. Mostly. I mean, we all know that Meta has questionable taste at times. There's a reason why they're called "the eccentric spinster aunt" of the Lolita brand family...

Listen, I know we all want to forget about
Jewel Leopard

... but when they get it right, they get Lolita really, really right. Everyone loves their grandma-couch florals, and the velveteen pieces are becoming a staple for everyone wanting to revisit the Old School roots of our fashion. Many of the people in my home comm have Meta prints on their wishlists, and with good reason-- Meta puts out cute stuff!

Mermaid Princess was a fun take on the jewelry print

Recently, during another late-night peruse through the Brand websites, I found that Meta is really pumping out the border prints right now-- Happy Balloon, Majestic Princess, and, the big one right now, Koi Koi! Floral Invitation. Between all of these bright colors and interesting designs, it was easy to miss this gem:

I'm so glad I clicked on this thumbnail, because I've fallen in love. Hard. This is the Candy Bottle OP, and it looks like something that Emily Temple Cute would put out if they went full-stop Lolita. The print is definitely bringing back the 1950s inspiration that sometimes gets tossed to the wayside in a style that likes to default to the Victorian era for inspiration. It's not the only one, either-- around last fall, the Candy Bar print was put out, and it, too, had very vintage-looking sweets.

 

Between the brightly-colored corner store candies and the traditionally Sweet cuts of all the dresses, the red and white colorways have a very Country Lolita-like feel to them, which the advertising is happy to point out. Maybe that's why I'm so enamored of it-- I love Country Lolita!

There are three colorways (Red, Off-white, and Green) and three styles of dress-- the OP, which is certainly my favorite, the Ribbon Shirred JSK (the standard Meta fully-shirred option), and the Lace-Up JSK, designed to look more like a matching bustier-and-skirt set. There are also matching hairclips, and OTKs that sort of got shoe-horned into the collection.

This print ran itself straight to the top of my wishlist! I just can't decide on which colorway I like best-- all of them are so pretty! The green is an unusual emerald that we don't see much in Lolita, the red is just so fun, and the off-white works really well to showcase the print. Either way, I just know that this is a print that I could stare at for hours.

What do you think of this new Meta print? Is it Jewel-Leopard tacky, not bad, or something you've got to have? Did you already purchase it? Let me know (and share pictures!) in the comments below!

Urban Garden Update!

A while ago, as part of a 365 Lifestyle Lolita Challenge, I showed you all my new garden, having been freshly planted. Since plenty of time has passed, and my pretty green things have changed significantly, I wanted to show you updated pictures!

First, all of my plants were moved to our large communal balcony, rather than the little private one in my bedroom and a railing in our other window. This makes everything a lot easier to get to and water, and now everything is in one place!

We also had these old planters with old soil and dead plants from a previous resident taking up a bunch of space, so I emptied them out, cut out some holes for water drainage, and planted a bunch of spare strawberry bulbs I had lying around. I know, it's very late to be planting strawberries, and I might not get anything out of them, but it's worth a shot.

Speaking of strawberries, look at what I've got already! One of my pineberry plants is already starting to bear fruit! This one will be ready for eating in another day or two. A quick note about pineberries, about a quarter of any berries your plant produces will be red like a regular strawberry! The rest will be the white variety.

I forgot about the strawberry's tendency to grow out like this-- oops! It should be okay, though this might mean that my downstairs neighbors could have a few red and white surprises on their patio next month.

I'm so excited about my lavender finally blooming! I never had much luck with lavender before, so this makes me especially happy.

Lemon thyme is a favorite of mine, and I'm just so pleased to have it in my little garden.

How are your gardening projects coming along? Did you have any early-blooming flowers, or are you waiting on tasty vegetables to grow? What would you like to plant in your garden that you can't?

The Bedroom of a Victorian-Rococo Lady

The challenge for May 16th involved describing your ideal Lolita interior, and a thousand things flooded my brain: daybeds and loveseats and four-poster beds with chiffon curtains, collections of tea cups and bouquets of flowers on top of lace-covered end tables, absolutely everything in my favorite shade of powder blue.

There's a particular bedroom setup that I'm head-over-heels in love with, and it comes from Versailles:

The private sitting chamber of the Queen that inspires me so.

This room is known as "The Cabinet of the Meridian," and was a part of the Queen's private chambers in the palace of Versailles. It was used as a setting in several scenes of the Kirtsen Dunst movie Marie Antoinette, and I was enchanted with how cozy it seemed!

A modern-day take on the Cabinet of the Meridian!

Now, I love the idea of having a bed or daybed set directly into the wall, with decorative curtains for privacy if needed. The biggest downside is that this setup might make making the bed a little more difficult, but I'd be willing to put up with that. The rest of the room would be dedicated to living comfortably. I spend almost all of my time at home in my bedroom, but I don't want to always be sitting in a desk chair or on the bed.

Personlly, I'm partial to a Rococo-styled chaise longue or a Victorian loveseat, but other (probably cheaper) options include antique armchairs. Luckily for me, Rococo and Victorian can be easy to blend together in the same room.

Other things to dress up a room with a Victorian or Rococo theme are chandelier lamps, decorative, four-legged end tables or coffee tables, and fancy tea cup displays!

Even if I can't decorate an entire bedroom this way, I'm absolutely determined to have a sitting or relaxing room with this theme of Rococo-Meets-Victorian. What kind of room style is ideal for your Lolita world? Are you a Rococo, Victorian, or some other kind of interior design enthusiast?

365 Lifestyle Lolita Cluster!

It's been a while since I posted something from this challenge! A lot of the things for May weren't really bloggable, or were things that I was unable to do for whatever reason, but there are plenty of little ones that I can combine right here!

Day 117: Look through photographs from before your time

Tracking down old photographs of my ancestors is a great personal joy of mine, part of my lager hobby of building my family tree. Getting to see images of the people who allowed me to be sitting here typing this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Here are some of my favorites:

Circa 1890; my great-great-great grand-
parents, Joseph and Louisa. They both look so stately!

circa 1900: My 4th great-grandfather,
William. I'm in love with how decorative
the framing is!

c. 1900 - The second wife of William;
I think she's an aunt? Mostly, I wanted to
show the matching frames.

1961 - My grandmother and her family when
she was a child (right). I really enjoy my
great-grandma's knowing smile.

Day 124: Photgraph Your Online Handle Handwritten

I tried my best to make it look nice

Day 127: Photograph Your Room

I won't take you through my whole room, especially because I share it with someone else, but here are a few snapshots of my favorite spots!

That's about it for this post. Have you blogged about any of the recent 365 challenges?