Happy New Year! Where have I been?

Hello you lovely people! Firstly a very Happy New Year to you all and I’m sorry I’ve been away for so long. 2017 was a very stressful, challenging, busy and upsetting year. A lot happened but I will cover the main things below.
It’s not far off a year since I last posted on here. So, why have I been away so long? Well, last year so much happened and everything changed very quickly. The last post I did was about a tea party I attended and on the evening of that event my Dad went in to hospital and never made it home again. He’d been ill for a few months and had only just come out of hospital before having to go in again. It had taken forever for doctors to decide what was making him ill and eventually we were told he had cancer. He only lived for a week after the diagnosis. It came as a massive shock and I still don’t think it’s really hit me.

The second huge change of the year came at exactly the same time. I’d been living at home due to struggling to find an affordable way to move out on my own. My Dad came across a housing scheme the year before that would help me and typically that coincided when all this was happening. The house viewing actually took place the day after my Dad died. He was really excited about the whole thing but sadly never even managed to see the photos of it. I had to delay it by a month because I couldn’t cope with all the stress. Those few months just after his passing were unbelievably stressful and there was so much to do and it was all so sad that I just couldn’t face posting here about anything. In fact I pretty much became a recluse altogether.
I did attend one meet-up a little while after but it just reminded me of the last meet I’d been to and what happened that evening so I haven’t been to one since. Therefore I didn’t post about it and eventually I decided to leave lolita and this blog alone for the rest of the year. It’s now a new year though and I want to make more of it and of life in general. I therefore hope to get back to posting and to wearing fun fashions again. Last year was awful and everything changed so much but it made me realise that I needed to live more now because you really never know what will happen.

I’ve had notifications come through from new people following my blog and posting things and that’s really lifted my spirits during this time. It’s partly why I haven’t decided to leave blogging for good. I really enjoy blogging about different fashions and sharing tips and info with you all. I’m sorry this is a depressing post but I just feel I need to voice it and start to move on. Here’s to 2018 and thanks for sticking around and continuing to follow my blog ❤

 

 

 

Fancy Tea-party

Last Saturday I attended a fancy afternoon tea party for a friends birthday. There were just under 40 of us! It was amazing, everyone looked so pretty and there was so much cake. The theme was Hime (Princess) lolita fashion and ouji/kodona fashion for the guys

We went to Henry’s tea room in Lincoln where we had sandwiches, crisps, unlimited tea and a whole load of cakes. Look at how pretty it is:

Happy smiling faces:

Outfit rundown:

Pirate ship fascinator: Handmade by made
Wig: Coserstudio on ebay
Blouse: Souffle Song
JSK: Metamorphose ‘Voyage in Memory’
Tights: ebay
Shoes & Accessories: offbrand

Slightly clearer photo of the fascinator which I made to go with the dress as there’s a fancy ship in the print.

Bonus fancy shoes pic:

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Little Booteek – Review

Little Booteek are a UK based company selling Gothic and Alternative clothing, shoes and accessories. I’ve bought from them before a few times as their prices tend to be good and they also have a lot of offers on. You can find my previous posts in the reviews section.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlebooteek1/

Website: http://www.littlebooteek.co.uk/

Recently they started stocking bat shoe wings, I LOVE shoe wings and bats so I really wanted some. Just by chance I spotted a very special facebook post by them offering you the chance to win a pair but more exciting than that you could get them for free! You just had to pay postage. They often have offers on certain items that you can claim for free and just pay postage on. It was one free pair per order and I was so excited I placed 3 orders. I bought a few other items too as I felt guilty just buying the wings even though it was totally fine to do that. The wings retail on their site at  £7.99, these were free but postage was £3.99 so it was like getting them half price. They come in a choice of pretty colours and there are glitter ones too!!

Other items I bought: pink unicorn ring £1.99, skull spoon £1.99, paw gloves £2.99 and Nightmare Before Christmas t-shirt £4.99. Postage was £3.99 on each order.

The items only took a couple of days to come and were all packed in strong card boxes. Unfortunately the unicorn ring was out of stock but they had refunded the money straight back to my paypal.

Parcels:

Here are the items:

Bat Wings:

I really love the bat wings! The bat wings are made from a thin piece of foam with metallic fabric sewn on either side. The glitter ones only have glitter on one side which makes sense so it doesn’t rub on the shoe. They are fairly flexible and soft enough that they shouldn’t rub or damage your shoes. I’m not sure they are worth £7.99 really but they are a novelty item and all the shoe wings I’ve found tend to be that or more so they aren’t overpriced just seems a lot for something to decorate your shoes.

Paw Gloves:

The paw gloves are quite cheaply made. They don’t fit your hand well and lose a lot of fleece bits but they are quite warm and have a lining. £2.99 isn’t too bad but there may be better gloves to buy in that price range.

Skull Spoon:

I’m not sure how well the spoon would wear with regular use but it feels better than I expected it too. It’s quite thick and heavy, I don’t know if the silver coating may chip or tarnish but I bought it for decorative uses so for that it should be fine. It’s totally worth £1.99 though, look how cool it looks!

T-Shirt:

The t-shirt is quite small for a L, it is also fairly short in the body. I don’t think it’s the best quality and I doubt it will wear and wash well but I could be wrong. The website states it should be about £15 RRP which it’s definately not worth, they are selling it at £4.99 which isn’t bad but I’ve had better things for around the same price.

Sum Up:
Overall I can’t fault Little Booteek. They sent the items really fast and they were all well packed and as described. The wings were an amazing deal and the other items I chose were all cheap and so I knew it was a bit of a gamble as to what the quality would be like. I wouldn’t recommend the t-shirt or gloves personally but other people may be quite happy with them, it’s down to personal preference. I will definitely be buying from them again in the future.

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Claire’s – Stealing is not ok!

Hello lovely readers, I hope you are well. Today’s post is not a happy one but I became aware of an issue today that I feel I need to share with you.

Claire’s Accessories have recently released a unicorn necklace that is pretty much a complete copy of one produced by a small UK business called Glitterbomb. I’ve bought jewellery from Glitterbomb quite a few times because it’s well made, cute, original and supports an independent artist over a large commercial business. It’s very sad that large companies regularly steal work of small artists and designers to use for themselves. They are large enough to either pay indie designers to use their work or to employ decent designers who don’t steal. They also have a responsibility before producing/buying items to make sure it’s not stolen work.

Claire’s Accessories Necklace:

Glitterbomb’s Necklace:

Claire’s have been in trouble for this before when they stole a necklace design from small jewellery business Tatty Devine. It’s not ok!!

One of many articles about it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2105807/Claires-Accessories-accused-copying-trendy-jeweller-Tatty-Devines-designs.html

 

Please do not buy this necklace from Claire’s, share this information and support small designers and artists.

Buy from here: https://www.glitterbombjewellery.co.uk/collections/necklaces/products/unicornzzz-lilac-necklace

Curiology – Review

Hello gorgeous blog readers, I hope you are all well. Today I want to introduce you to a small business based here in the UK called Curiology.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CuriologyUK/

They create beautiful gothic and alternative jewellery in a wide range of original designs. Their Halloween collection in particular featured some amazing pieces and I’d been very tempted to buy but for various reasons I resisted. Anyway last week they launched some special ‘Lucky Dip’ packs that contained 3 random pre-packed necklaces for £15. I missed the first batch but when I saw they were doing more I couldn’t resist this time so I treated myself to one. They do a wonderful skeleton unicorn design and I was really hoping to find one in my pack, I wanted that one more than anything.

Anyway the packs went live at 8pm and I was online and all set up to buy, lucky I was because they sold out within the hour. I received a confirmation email about my purchase and then 3days later it arrived. The jewellery was packed in a strong box and sent signed for too which is good.

Inside was a business card and the jewellery was in a pretty paper bag and well wrapped up  in tissue paper.  Each necklace was also in a clear bag to protect them. So, what did I get I wonder…

These are the 3 necklaces that I received:

I received a lunar moon necklace, a black glittery dragon wing necklace and the item I really wanted a skeleton unicorn. The pendants are fairly small but I’m used to buying larger more statement pieces so I think I just thought they would be bigger. For reference the wing is approx 3cm x 5cm, the unicorn is 5cm x 3.5cm and the moon is 6cm x 6cm. They are really nice though, the chains are great quality and the designs are wonderful. I think they are made from laser cut acrylic – I can’t check because the website is down for now. I would definitely buy from them again, the items arrived very fast and were well packed. They are also well made and feature original designs.

Curiology have shut their shop until March 2017, though they are launching some special pieces for valentines day, check out their facebook (see link above) for up to date info.

 

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ILD Winter 2016 – Outfit Shot

I joined the lovely Leeds comm on a boat to celebrate last years winter International Lolita Day back in December. We had afternoon tea on a canal boat,  took part in the cruelest version of secret santa ever and held a raffle where I won a beret! It was really fun.

Outfit Rundown:
Bat crown – Pendulous Threads
Wig: Bodyline
Blouse: Infanta
JSK: Magic Tea Party ‘Castle Under The Moon’
Bag: punlitashop on ebay
Tights: Blossom (bought on ebay)
Shoes: Amazon (can’t remember which store)
Accessories: offbrand and Alchemy Gothic

Cute beret I won in the raffle:

Secret Santa Gift:

For the secret santa if we wanted to take part we had to buy and wrap a lolita suitable gift worth £5. On the day the gifts were all put togther and then each person taking part was given a raffle ticket. The person with the lowest number started first. They chose a gift, opened it and showed what it was then went to sit down. The person with the next raffle ticket number could then either steal that gift or open a new one. The next person could then choose to steal a previously opened gift or open a new one and so on. If your gift was stolen you then went and opened a new one until everyone taking part had a gift. It was so cruel! One girl had her present stolen 3 times, really not in the Christmas spirit. It was fun overall, but it’s sad if you get something you really like and someone takes it 😦

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone and Happy 2017 to you all! I know it’s a bit late but work has been crazy busy so I haven’t had chance to get on here. I’m not setting any New Year resolutions for myself, have any of you decided to make any changes? I just intend to carry on as I have been, try and make more fashion meet-ups, do things that make me happy and hopefully post on here more often.

I have a review and ILD outfit shot to share very soon, I just need to upload the photos 🙂

Elfster Gift Exchange

Hello Everyone! So sorry for the lack of posts recently. I was sick for around 6 weeks and now work is busy. This is a really late post as it’s to do with Halloween BUT I like to think of this period as The Nightmare Before Christmas period so it’s still relevant, right? Also, for some of us, it’s pretty much Halloween every day so it counts!

I took part in a gift exchange for Halloween. It was set up by a friend using the website Elfster. She posted on facebook to see which of her Halloween loving friends wanted to take part and then set it up. It was super easy to use and lots of fun to do. My person didn’t fill in a wish list or give much info away but I knew they liked cats so I created a witchy/black cat themed gift box for them. I wanted to make them smile so I tried to put in a lot of effort on the presentation as well as the gifts. I hope they liked it!

This is their gift – I had some Halloween themed wrapping paper so covered a box and then tried to wrap the gifts in pretty paper or coloured tissue paper to look fancy. I added a few random small items in as well as the main gifts I bought. The main gifts featured cat artwork by Lisa Parker on a mug and notebook.

This was the gift I received:

I got fancy chocolates, bat lights and a set of cookie cutters. They drew cute things on the packet and I think either printed or drew bats on the brown paper too. The cat shaped chocolates are too cute I don’t want to eat them!

The whole thing was lots of fun and I’d definitely take part in one again. These things always carry a certain amount of risk as you need to trust that the people taking part will actually send the item. As this was a small thing involving friends I felt safer taking part and it all worked out! If you fancy doing one then Elfster works great.

Elfster Website: https://www.elfster.com

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Etsy, Snixy Swoons – Review

As it will soon be Halloween I’ve been searching all over for lovely themed items. During my search on etsy I came across the seller Snixy Swoons who had all sorts of cute items, including some sale bargains. Although these are not really Halloween themed I couldn’t resist them, especially when they were just £1!!

Store: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SnixySwoons

The necklaces were £1 each in the sale and shipping was £3. The items shipped a couple of days after I ordered them and they arrived very well packed in a box. Also, cute mermaid sticker!

On top of that the packaging was very cute and carefully done. I always like sellers who take a lot of care in the presentation of items. It makes you feel special and like they really care about and value customers. The items were even bubble wrapped for extra protection. The necklaces are well made and nicely presented on card, I’m really happy with my purchases and have already worn the dinosaur. The kitty is actually going to be a gift for a friend. I was really surprised that they went to so much effort for £1 sales items and I would definately buy from them again.

Go check out their etsy, they still have sales on!

Happy Octoberween!

Tis the season to be SPOOKY!

As today marks the 1^st of October and Halloween is fast approaching I thought I would share this recent purchase with you. I love Halloween and everything Gothic so I always get a little carried away around this time of year. When Drix Productions (who I bought some items from last year) released this adorable bat design for Halloween this year (I LOVE bats) I just couldn’t resist. I decided to purchase him as a keyring (you can also get stickers) but I also bought the Halloween mug too because it was so cute! I messaged Drix Productions via their page on facebook about what I wanted to buy, paid via paypal and they posted the following day. The mug came in a strong box and was protected with bubble wrap. Inside was also this cute narwhal sticker and a few Halloween confetti pieces. Excellent service and the items are all finished to a high standard and well packaged. They use a special printer to add designs themselves to mugs – so clever! I’m really happy with my purchase and can’t wait to enjoy lots of hot drinks in it over the Autumn period.

Drix Productions: Facebook Page
Drix Productions: Etsy