Toy Parade Review

I recently purchased the Toy Parade OP in lavender from the Angelic Pretty store in San Francisco. I had intended to buy the JSK, but the OP was so cute that I changed my mind.  Plus all the girls in the store convinced me that this one looked perfect. ^^

I'm completely in love with the scalloped edge across the chest on the OP.  It almost looks like a JSK with a blouse underneath.

The print has an assortment of stuffed bunnies, bears and elephants with candy and balloons.  The print has a mix of pink, mint, yellow, and severals shades of purple.  The lighting in my dining room isn't as nice as the professional photo above. XD

The scalloped edge continues around onto the back.  The dress has a zipper and no shirring, so only smaller girls can wear it.  I have a 33-inch bust and am just about maxing it out.  The JSK is also super cute and the straps can be adjusted for additional length.  The JSK has cute star lace on the straps which I absolutely love!

As usual, the lace is super cute.  The sleeves have stars and the collar and skirt hem have teddy bears with balloons.  The lace on the color is a lighter shade of lavender than the lace around the bottom of the skirt, which is a little pinker (not shown).

I met my twin at Fanime right after we both got our dresses.  She's wearing the JSK and coordinated it with pink and white accessories.

I have the matching head bow, but wore the lavender sweetheart OTKs.  The mint, yellow and pink colors on the socks match the dress perfectly!

Love it!  This is my favorite dress and I'm inspired to buy more in lavender from now on. d=(*^_^*)=b

Happy Hollow Meet-Up

For International Lolita Day, I met up with a group of local lolitas at Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose.  Like usual I came late because I was working in the morning, so I missed the picnic but arrived after the walk in the Japanese Gardens had started.

I was eager to wear a BTSSB bonnet that I found at FanimeCon last weekend.  It's a little off-white and doesn't match perfectly with anything I own, so I used the extra bow for my Miracle Candy skirt and attached it to the bonnet to balance the coordinate.  This is my first bonnet, I love it!

Several of the girls were interested in how to make a good bodice for a dress, so Allegra gave a little tutorial at a picnic table.  I didn't pay too much attention since I lack the patience for this amazing skill.

After entering Happy Hollow, we took a ride on the carousel (no photos ^^;) and then walked around the zoo. In these photos everyone is looking at the monkeys.  They were just as curious about us as we were about them!

Next we took a ride on Danny the Dragon.  This is part of our group waiting in line.

Our group took up more than the front half of the dragon.

Finally, we went to the petting zoo.  Wendy was particularly excited about petting the animals! ^^

Afterwards, the majority of the group headed to Japantown for dinner.  An even smaller group stayed for desert at Banana Crepe and drinks at Bamboo7.

For more photos, clicky clicky!

Nail Bling

I went to a co-worker's wedding this past weekend, so I decided to decorate my nails (mostly because I just wanted a reason to).  I was initially intending to glue on nail tips and then decorate with nail polish and acrylic decor, but after I finished painting my toe nails I realized that my nail tips were melted together! I'm guessing that the nail polish remover leaked in the basket and destroyed the tips.  I would have gone to buy more, but my toe nails were wet and it seemed like a pain.  So I improvised! I had a set of press-on nails that I bought at the drug store forever ago.  I glued them on with Krazy Glue and then added a little personalized bling.  Not bad?

I used Nail Artist 3D Charms from Kiss that I found at a local drug store.  They can be purchased here.  I bought out the entire selection since charms this cute don't usually appear in stores.  My favorite is the white acrylic bow, but there's a donut and heart-shaped cake that are adorable!  The charms come with crappy glue in a tube that can't be squeezed, so I usually use Krazy Glue instead.

The wedding was in Chinatown, San Francisco so I spend some time window shopping before the reception.  I haven't been in Chinatown for several years and I was surprised by the large amounts of Japanese goods being sold (Hello Kitty mostly).  I found a super cute teddy bear ring! ^^ 

I'm going to do a review of the Toy Parade re-release, but I feel too lazy to take photos right now.  I'll take some this weekend during Fanime and post next week.  Stay tuned! 

Domo My ♥

I'm devoting this post to my favorite mascot, Domo-kun. ^^  Domo has become increasingly popular over the last decade, with paraphernalia appearing all over the place.  My favorite campaign was the Slurpee cups, which I bought in abundance for an entire summer until I had a substantial collection of large, plastic Domo cups (now looking extremely loved).

Watch Domo 7Eleven Slurpee Full Set Episode in Funny Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com 

I'm celebrating an awesome find at Zumiez this week, a shirt I've nicknamed "Domo My Heart".

I don't know what I'd really do if I had Domo-kun instead of a heart, but I figure that he just makes things more lively.  In my opinion, the meaning of this shirt is that Domo-kun sustains life.

Even my cat loves Domo.  (=^_^=)

I don't really know much about Domo-kun's background.  He reminds me of a square Kogepan, but was born from an egg? (O_O)

♥ Visit Domo-kun's Adventures for a cute photo album of Domo traveling (mostly in SF)! ♥

And just one more pic to remind us that all great things come in pink!

Daring to Lash Out at Work

Women have it tough in the work place; we are expected to be well-groomed and attractive but also strong and competent.  Unfortunately, these two characteristics seem to be at odds with one another and if you portray too much of one aspect it is likely that co-workers and/or clients automatically associate it with an insufficiency in the other.  For example, long acrylic nails are the signature of a secretary and not a CEO.

In my profession, geology, there is little room for make-up and dresses.  I frequently work outside in the dirt, sweating and being...well, manly.  Every pair of jeans I own has dirt stains and I keep numerous cheap T-shirts that I can wear to work and get mud and sunblock on.  Going home and putting on my face is one of my favorite ways to relax, even though I have to take it off only a few hours later so that I can go to bed.  Recently I've been working my way up the ladder and now spend most of time in the office writing reports and managing others.  Now that I'm spending more time in the office, I've been trying to add a feminine touch to my daily wear.  Although I still can't wear dresses (in case I have to go out to the field unexpectedly) I first started wearing pink on a regular basis.  No biggie, everyone knows I like pink.  Then, I started wearing hair clips; I started with stars and small flowers, but gradually progressed to Hello Kitty clips and pink bows.  This week I dared to do something I had never done before - wore false eyelashes to work.  This was really terrifying for me and a huge step from my mud-stained jeans.

To make the transition less obvious, I bought the Natural Dolly eyelashes from Dolly Wink (#9) and wore only top lashes and no contacts.  These eyelashes make your lashes look longer and thicker without looking unnatural.  Of course, I couldn't leave the house without asking my sister what she thought, but she hadn't noticed that they were fake.  At the office, only one person even commented - he asked, "do you usually wear mascara?" as if he knew I always had but couldn't understand why my lashes were so much darker.  Success!  No one else even looked like something was amiss but I spent most of the day avoiding eye contact with everyone.  I was really filled with dread that my co-workers would change their opinion of me because I wear fake lashes, even though they've had five years to determine whether I'm competent or not.  I'd love to hear about any experiences others have had trying to wear gyaru or lolita-style make-up to work.

And for a quick review of these lashes: Here's a picture of the top lashes (pretend the contacts and lower lashes aren't there...).  I trimmed very little off these lashes because they look good extending across the entire eyelid.  They don't have too much flare on the outer portion of the lid that makes some of the other lashes look fake.  Also, the criss-crossed pattern seems to make them look more random, and therefore natural.

From afar they look dramatic but natural! ^^

Lolitas in the Rose Garden

I attended a lolita picnic on Sunday at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose.  My sister and I were about an hour late (my shift ended as the picnic was starting) but everyone was still nibbling.  Everyone was asked to bring food to share and there were some delicious treats including petits fours and my favorite cookies, snicker doodles.  \(^o^)/ I didn't post all of my photos, so follow this link for more! ^^

In this photo I'm wearing my new Pony in Sweet Dreams JSK from BTSSB (see my previous posts).

I had to cut Bouncy Brown from the close-up because her eyes were closed. (T_T)  She wore Milky-chan the Fawn from AP.

< photo deleted at Bouncy Brown's request XD >

Bouncy Brown and Katie have matching heart-shaped sunglasses! ♥ It was super bright and we had a hard time keeping our eyes open for the photos.  Katie (right) is wearing a red coordinate from BL.

Katie blends well with roses. ^^

Ashlyn is wearing My Favorite Things from BTSSB.  The red is beautiful!  She coordinated it with her new socks (pink bows at ankle).

My sister Erica (left) is wearing a JSK from BL.  She's holding a cute pink x white parasol I found at a local English tea house.

Pony in Sweet Dreams

My most recent purchase arrived in the mail the other day, the Pony in Sweet Dreams Babydoll JSK in white.  I obtained the set (including head bow and socks) second hand from the EGL Comm Sales.  The prior owner indicated that there is a light stain somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. ^^  This print is a 2009 release from Baby the Stars Shine Bright that came in black, white or pink.

This is a shot with the entire set.  See my earlier post for the AP blouse with the pink jabot.  I thought this JSK would make an excellent casual summer dress that I could wear without a blouse, but the dress is too low under the arms and exposes the top of my bra.  It can be worn without a bra, but it doesn't seem conservative enough for lolita. (T_T)

My little brother isn't so little, 6'5" (O_O), so I had to crop this one so that I fit in the frame.  He makes me feel small... ^^;

I love the look of the dress, though, and it can be worn without a petticoat for a more casual look.  I've already coordinating it with my new pink AP blouse and cardigan, both which are super cute!

Here's the top of the dress.   I really love the lace across the neckline, but I need to iron one side (it keeps folding down from being shipped that way).  There's a detachable bow that I removed because it was too busy with the cardigan.  It's in one of the shots above.

The JSK has pink bows and pink in the print, but there are also blue and purple accents in the print that will be fun to accessorize with.  The fabric seems durable and feels like thin canvas; the lace is also thicker and less prone to wear.

Note the purple nails - I was excited for the dress to arrive and had them already decorated in matching colors when it came.  Overall, this dress is very comfortable and cute without being OTT.  It's something I could use as daily wear.  I think this is my favorite dress yet!

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