Saturday 19 July 2014

❤ ❤ Cute Can Kill Review! ❤ ❤ ♫ Star Lollipop and Fairy Glitter Ring! ♫


About a week ago, Cute Can Kill's shop updated and the usual mad rush ensued! If you're not familiar with Cute Can Kill, it's a super cute handmade jewelry shop hosted on storenvy that sells sweet glittery resin creations! They're very famous in J-Fashion communities for being really well-made and looking adorable with outfits! One of their most popular products are the "Dreamy Crystal Pegasus" necklaces, unicorn pegasus necklaces in dreamy pastel colours filled with holographic scraps and glitter! They don't update very often, and when they do it's a rush to try and get everything you want; I didn't manage to get exactly what I wanted, but I'm very happy with what I did! If you want to get exactly what you want, the best thing to do is probably to keep an eye on their Facebook page and jump when you see an update!

I made my orders within half an hour of the stock update, and I ordered 2 items: Magical Girls Star Lollipop 05, and Fairy Glitter Star Lavender - so a necklace and a ring! 


The necklace was $18.50, and the star was $6.50. We've heard a lot of people say that Cute Can Kill is on the pricier side for handmade jewelry, but both of us have definitely seen worse quality resin pieces on etsy for double the price! We made them as two separate orders, as we decided to throw in the ring after we were sure we'd gotten the lollipop! Within three days, the shipping for the ring was refunded as Cute Can Kill combine shipping on their orders!

We don't know when Cute Can Kill sent out the packages, but we received them on the 19th - so exactly a week after the order was placed! Considering how many orders must have been placed (I think it was a stock update of about 200 pieces, very few of which remain!), we were both super impressed with how quickly the items got here! 


The items were packaged really well, in a securely taped up padded envelope, with (as you can see) lots of bubble wrap. We especially liked the cute little gift box for the ring. 


As well as the actual items, we got a super sweet postcard featuring the owner's artwork! It's definitely going to go up in our room somewhere, it fits our aesthetic perfectly. The necklace came with a little note attached to the back; it even had a ribbon glued on top of the ribbon on the artwork! The cute little personal touches made it feel a lot like opening a present, which both of us love! I think nice packaging really adds the nicest touch to buying from a handmade seller.


We couldn't get a picture of how sparkly and nice the glitter in this ring is, but rest assured that it's adorable and is really going to add a cute touch to any otherwise boring outfits! 


The star lollipop is really sparkly and really well made; definitely worth the money we paid for it! It also came on some more adorable artwork as the backing; we both especially liked the pink plastic chain! The resin was very smooth and the eyepin was in really securely. The little details really make it seem like an actual magical girl wand!


My own favourite detail was the little fastening toggle; it's heart shaped!


A better picture of how supremely sparkly this lollipop is!

All in all, we are both super impressed by Cute Can Kill, quality wise and everything-else wise! Quick and safe delivery, reasonably priced, and extra cute to boot! I would definitely recommend Cute Can Kill as somewhere to get cute accessories to add an extra touch to your outfit - that is, if you can get there in time! 









Friday 18 July 2014

❤❤ Bodyline Review! - ❤❤ ★ Skirt L220, shoes267, and more! ★



Bodyline Review, Take 2!
This time, Nat ordered a whole load of what we both decided were "essentials" in building up our lolita wardrobe! These essentials included: 2 pairs of wristcuffs, a skirt, a pair of shoes and a new blouse! Unfortunately, we placed the order on a Tuesday, which meant we had to wait a whole week for the items to be shipped out again! However, when they were shipped they arrived in exactly 2 weeks and a day, which seemed pretty quick to us! We've made orders with Bodyline before that have taken four weeks to arrive, and when they've got here have had customs charges! :c

Another good change I've noticed is that Bodyline have started marking packages as gifts and marking them down again! This is especially useful for us as UK lolitas, as anything above £15 marked as any kind of merchandise and any gift over £35 gets hit with a customs fee that is at least £10. This order came to £62 altogether, but we had it marked down by half and it arrived with absolutely no charges! Yay! Especially nice as these essentials were bought with birthday money!

So, without further ado: The first item we ordered were shoes267 in owh! 


I originally wanted these in the enamelled version, but they were sold out in my size! :c I needed a pair of white shoes that seemed a little more hard-wearing than my BTSSB heart buckle shoes, because as much as I love them they're not really that well made! 



I was super happy with these! They're super cute and I love having the security of a little bit of a heel! The cut outs seem very clean and the little scalloping details are very cute. One thing I'm not really that happy with are the bows just being attached via elastic that stretches across your foot, because I have pretty wide feet and I'm worried about snapping it :c. Other than that, though, I really like these! I ordered a size 25.5 and they fit pretty darn well.

Next up: Blouse L364 in owh! I won't bother going into too much detail, as I think everybody and their mother owns this blouse at this point!

One thing I will say, though: for once, Bodyline's measurements on this are pretty 100%! I have the very largest recommended bust for this in 2L, and fitting it on is a bit of a squeeze - I definitely would not recommend buying it assuming there's any stretch, because there really really isn't.




I love love the cute tiny details on this - the pearls on the collar, the heart buttons, the teeny tiny bows on the sleeves. All are super adorable. I'm going to try and get this in as many colours as possible because it's so cute and so versatile!

Skirt L220!


I picked this skirt up because it was both cute and cheap, and I planned a cute coord in my head with it for a friend's summer wedding! It's very cute in real life, very casual - I think it would be super cute in the brown colourway, but I got it in pink!


The waist ties match the little polka dot bow; which to be honest was a bit of a relief as the bow did seem a bit random!


The lace on the waist ties and the bottom isn't really of the best quality, but at least it's soft! It would also be pretty easy to remove, so I think I might do that at some point.


A little surprise I wasn't expecting; detachable waist ties! This is the first Bodyline skirt I've owned with them, and I'm now absolutely terrified of losing them. The little heart buttons on them match the blouse I got!

Finally, to complete my little essentials collection, I got acc1078 (wristcuffs) in both owh-owh and pik-pik!


The stock picture makes them look very cute, if a little bit stiff and oversized! Both of these problems were indeed problems that the wristcuffs have, but they're cute and quite comfortable as well as being relatively cheap, so we're not too fussed! The pink is a little more like the dpik of the tea party shoes, or the pik of Cinderella Bunny, than it is of Bodyline's more pastel items, so be aware of that!




So, that brings another Bodyline review to a close! Both of us like Bodyline; they sell good products for lolitas on a budget, and they are very very good for building up your wardrobe. I had pretty much no problems with this order! All of the quality issues I was expecting, and none of them detract from my enjoyment, so I'm really very happy! We're both very exciting to get co-ording with our new acquisitions!


✿Love,✿
♥Haz & Nat♥



Monday 14 July 2014

❤ Our Experience with Closet Child! ❤ ★ ★ ★ First Brand Dress!!! ★ ★ ★



We recently made an order with Closet Child for our first ever brand dress! The dress in question: an adorable fluffy ruffly Angelic Pretty JSK named "Lyrical Dot"! When we looked for information on this JSK online (like official measurements, worn pictures, etc.) everything we could find was for the OP, so we thought we'd make a post about both our experience ordering from Closet Child and our opinions on the dress!  ◕ ◡ ◕


Here's our alpaca, Jehan Prouvaire, and Marie the tsum tsum preparing to open the package! We ordered on the 30th of June at about eleven o clock at night! Closet Child then pretty much automatically sent us an email telling us that they would check their stock to see if our item was still available; you're able to pay at this point if you want to and if you do pay and your item is not in stock, it's refunded! That's what we did, just to be safe.  (●´∀`●)On the 1st of July, we got a message saying it was still in stock and would be shipped out! The next email we got had a tracking number, and with that we were able to track our dress' progress to us in the UK!


'Ooh, it's so pretty and well-packaged...'  whispered Jehan to Marie.


The dress comes securely in a box, wrapped with plastic, folded prettily and neatly! It survived transit super well and arrived to us within two weeks! Unfortunately, we were hit with a very nasty almost £25 customs fee.  (•﹏•) This was especially annoying, as £12.50 of the fee went just to Parcel Force's handling charge! We received a letter from Parcel Force on Thursday 10th July, paid online the charge on Friday 11th, and had it delivered today on Monday 14th. 


Here's a video showing you just how well packaged it was! c: 


Out of the bag, the dress was so pretty Jehan fell over on it! ヽ( ゚ヮ・)ノ.・゚*。・+☆


Cute cute cute little heart buttons on the detachable waist ties! I'm terrified that we're going to lose a waist tie. ( '3' )


Instead of plain corset lacing over the shirring, there's a series of little ties that can be put into bows, all of which came tied super adorably! ❤ω❤


Detailing from the front!


This lace was so pretty and soft!  ヽ( ゚ヮ・)ノ


Both detachable waist ties and a detachable halterneck! I don't really like halterneck style JSKs very much, so I took it off, but I'm sure with the right co-ord it would look really cute! I'm quite fond of the ruffly little straps it left, though . . .  ◔ ◡ ◔


More lace close up! Teeny tiny little hearts in the lace (that remind me a bit of pawprints!)  ( ⌒‿⌒)


A worn picture featuring an ugly just-thrown-on blouse, which is becoming my specialty. . . hmmm . . . Still, cute cute dress!


Our closet is staring to get super cute! Featuring: Cinderella Bunny, a maid costume, a seifuku, more dresses than one person probably needs . . . hehe! (⊃ ´ω`)⊃♥⊂(´ω` ⊂)


Our customs charges! oAo


Altogether, our dress and shipping cost 6,200 yen - that's about £36! Even with customs charges factored in, this dress cost about £60, which is really really reasonable for an AP piece! Overall, even though we're both really sad about the handling fees and import VATs that are beginning to seem a bit ridiculous, our experience ordering from Closet Child was super positive and we both hope to be ordering from there again soon! 

✿Love,✿
♥Haz & Nat♥

Tuesday 1 July 2014

❤ ♫ Frillytime #3 - Meetups! ♫ ❤


All lolitas love attending meetups, right? Sometimes it can be absolutely horrifying getting up the energy and the courage to go out and meet new people, but it's usually very rewarding; plus you get to see other people's beautiful clothes and wear your own to an "official excuse". ◠◡◠ We recently attended - not our first lolita meetup, but certainly the largest one that we've attended so far! We all decided to meet up to look around the festival that's happening for the "city of culture" in our area; we looked at the craft stalls, had lots of photographs taken and later on went out for a little meal and drinks in a Wetherspoons! Not exactly the most lolita of locations, but definitely very fun and cosy! 。◕‿‿◕。


Neither of us took full photos of our coordinates, but here's a selfie that Haz took before heading out! She wore Bodyline's polka dot jsk (L031), a vintage blouse and cute pearl accessories! 


This post is dedicated to cute ideas for meetups, anyway is what I'm trying to say! Everybody's attended the usual meetups; picnics, tearooms, walking around and shopping - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of those kinds of meets! Just that sometimes it might be nice to break out of your comfort zone and try something new (a local lolita recently suggested we have a little knitting meet; she would teach everyone to knit and we could hold ourselves our own lolita 'stitch n bitch', which we both thought was a really fab idea!)! (。◕‿◕。)



Both of us love anything with a theme! Take one of the easiest ways to theme a meetup; for example, around holidays coming up! A Christmas meetup could take place at a place to eat like usual, but could include fun Christmas themed loli games like a pass the parcel! You could even do a lolita White Elephant exchange, with everyone getting sweet gifts to take home! ( ⌒‿⌒)

A picnic meet in April or May could take advantage of the Easter season and jazz up a picnic meet with an egg hunt! Comms could split into teams and, instead of looking for eggs, have to do silly challenges or find things around your area! 

A Halloween meet could take place inside your own home, with a costume contest or spooky movie night - or you could see if any of the rest of your local lolis might be interested in doing a ghost hunt or ghost walk, which are usually around in abundance at that time of year!


You could have a makeover themed meet, or a fashion catwalk themed meet! Anything themed is good fun!

Alternatively, you could see what local attractions you have around your area. In my area, for instance, there's a big well-known aquarium that would provide beautiful pictures for a meet, and lots of sweet museums and gardens. 

Why not go outside of your local city with your comm and travel to a little outlying village? These usually have some beauty spots, lots of quirky independent shops, and maybe even some sites of historical significance. ヽ( ゚ヮ・)ノ.・゚*。・+☆

And don't underestimate the interest in an 'experience' themed meet! Whilst these are usually a little bit more expensive, they are good fun and can often be found for good value. Some experience meets I found close to where I live (that probably have equivalents to wherever you might be!) include: 

A cute little cafe/studio you can paint your own piece of pottery and take it home! (Cute Lolita aprons definitely required!)
An "Active Lolita" day out where you could go bowling or to a laser quest or maybe even ice skating! Make sure not to dress your total best, as these could get a little bit messy!
A cultured lolita day out seeing a ballet, a theatre show, or an opera!
Or, alternatively, a slightly less cultured lolita day out where you could see a movie! Often local cinemas will show ballets or operas on the big screen, or perhaps even do specials where they re-show classic films! Here in Hull we have a "Cult Cinema Sunday" that show films that have garnered cult followings; we're just waiting for a suitable lolified movie to show up!


So there you are! Lots of ideas that could make a lolita comm more active and fun! What's been your favourite meetup you've ever attended? Leave a comment and tell us all about it! ヽ( ゚ヮ・)ノ.・゚*。・+☆

✿Love,✿
♥Haz & Nat♥