Belle Epoque Rose

I keep saying I'll stop buying lolita clothing as I never wear it and feel stupid in it, but then Angelic Pretty keeps twisting my arm. All. The damn. Time.


After resisting Belle Epoque Rose during the Japanese release, I decided to try for it in the US one. I missed the JSK and bonnet, but scored the skirt! I'm not really a skirt person though, so oops!


The fabric is that beautiful soft one they used for Romantic Rose Letter. The print is busy, but quite elegant.


And lots of ruffles in the back! Hoping to get a navy blouse in similar fabric to coord this with.


I also got the matching tights, which I'm sort of regretting now as the print on the skirt is much whiter than these are so they don't really match. Hopefully they will be cute with other pieces though!

This piece is definitely a contender for my Regalia outfit, but I find skirts so difficult! Hopefully it works out though.

AP Fukubukuro 3 & 4: Candy Sprinkle & Omekashi Doll

When I heard that Angelic Pretty USA would be stocking lucky packs, I just had to try to get my hands on the Omekashi Doll set. I also impulse bought a Candy Sprinkle special set!


They were released on the 26th of December, and arrived on the 13th of January. Unfortunately AP USA decided to mark the value up by $110, making my VAT & customs bill £142. Fuming! I will try my best to avoid using AP USA from now on if I have alternative options, as I now have to go through the stress of making a claim with customs to get some money back. Also the shipping/insurance cost a whopping $80.


But anyway, onto the packs!


I love how all the different packs had different colour print on the outside!


First up, Omekashi Doll set in black. It cost $130, which isn't a bad deal even with the extra costs I think.


I was sad to see that there is a bustle on the back of this, as I wanted it as a really casual everyday JSK. It is really cute though with the ruffles, even if I'm not keen on the shirred straps!


The matching headbow. It's actually really huge which is a shame as it won't look right on me, to be sure.


I was worried about this blouse due to shirring being heavily features, but it actually looks like it'll be really cute. It has detachable sleeves and lots of lovely lace.


Another little disappointment as the details on the socks are grey and not white, so they don't match. They will be cute in casual outfits though, and feel soft and warm.

There was also a small black heart bag the same as in the Candy Sprinkle salopette set, which I am selling to a friend.


And this is the big one - the Candy Sprinkle special set.


The JSK! It's a shame that it has full back shirring, but that means that it has 2 pockets!


Print detail. I fell in love with the swans, which is the main reason I got sucked into buying packs this year. The colours of the print look so much nicer in real life compared to the stock photos.


I love the bodice details on this version of the JSK. The buttons are really sparkly, and the collar is a unique touch!


The bonnet! It looks a little silly on me, but I'm hoping I can make it work. I wanted this set for the bonnet, although I'd like to pick up the headbow some time too.


The blouse has no shirring at all, so I don't know if it will even fit me yet as I haven't had a chance to try it. If it does, it'll probably a bit of a squeeze! It also has detatchable sleeves, along with detachable ties at the top and a jabot.


Cardigan, which I kept forgetting about. Looks very small, and has a line of discolouration running down the back. Love the buttons though, and the bows on the cuffs!


The coat! It's really heavy and thick and warm. It looks odd from the back when worn, but it has to be big to allow for the petticoat I guess! Which reminds me, there was no petticoat in this set this year, which is a bit of a shame.


Big heart bag! Soft fabric, couple pockets inside and one on the outside, nice size for all your bits and bobs. I'll probably use it quite a lot, but I guess the shape is a little impractical.

There were also socks the same as in the salopette set, which I will be looking to sell.

Overall I guess I am happy with these sets, although the customs was a bit of a blow.

Falling Down the Rabbit Hole: Wonder Story

The last few days have been very stressful!

The parcel disappeared off tracking twice, and then it claimed to have been delivered on Thursday and it wasn't here when I got back. Cue panic. Thankfully it turns out that Parcelforce left it with my neighbour. I only found this out however by looking at Parcelforce tracking (I'd been using the USPS link Angelic Pretty gave me) and noting that there was an unmarked cell which had a 4 in it. My house is number 5, so I just had to figure it out for myself. They didn't bother leaving me a note or anything, so I'm still pretty annoyed at Parcelforce!

Anywho, on to the interesting bit!


Once again, packaged nicely. And this time I have a big Angelic Pretty bag containing the order details! It was just a small sleeve bag last time.


My items! Getting excited at this point.


The apron skirt! I was worried that I didn't like this colourway as much as the blue and black, but I remember why I picked this one now...it's stunning!


Adorable card suit buttons! I love the velveteen ribbon...I wish they'd included more velveteen on this piece.


Print and lace details. I didn't even realise that it was an Alice In Wonderland print until I looked again. 'Eat Me' cakes, bunnies, pocket watches, books and cups of tea...so adorable! There are also beautiful keys, so I'm going to search really hard for a matching necklace as I've always wanted a key necklace anyway (so I could pretend it was one to the secret garden ^_^'). Also I think the rose petal in the tea looks like a little birdie!


I don't think these are the proper matching socks, but they're cute and go really well anyway!


I find it odd that the bow doesn't have white lace like the rest of the dress does, but I love the new placing of the label! As it's a little more understated, it means I should be able to wear it with other red items once I can acquire them.

Once again the USA website was easy to use. I was really lucky, the items I bought all disappeared from the site the second I placed my order! However customs were a nightmare and are unavoidable when using this webstore (buying from Japan often works out cheaper as shopping services may mark the items down...but after that lost item scare I'd be unsure of doing it!). The total cost was just over £300, which is pretty steep. But the items are gorgeous and the apron being detachable means it can be worn in a few ways so I think it was worth it.

The only trouble is, I want the matching bag which would be another £80 + shipping + customs. I've always wanted a book bag though, and I have items waiting to be shipped from Japan anyway so I could ship it with that stuff. However, I can't decide between blue and pink! The blue is cuter and matches the dress better, but I have a lot more use for a pink one as I have pink shoes etc to coord with it. However, the pink on the print is much darker than on the bag. Such a tough decision!

I'm so happy with my purchase! Did anyone else buy anything from this series?

Wonder Story! And a Spot of Shiro.

I just ordered it!

I'd been unsure whether to or not for a while, but I've decided I really REALLY want a dark red piece because I know red suits me and it's just a gorgeous colour. I was really looking for a BTSSB or AATP print, something a little more mature, but every time I bid on something on Japanese auctions I get outbid, or my bid gets turned down. I posted a WTB on egl_comm_sales, and a girl said she'd be happy to get Wonder Story for me next weekend when she's in San Fran.

I was a little torn between the collar JSK and the apron skirt, so I posted Rob a link and asked him which he preferred. So I was checking Facebook to see his reply (skirt, because he 'likes the shoulders'...I suppose it must be as there's a bit of a maid vibe to it. What a perv haha) and was writing a reply back to the girl saying that was what I wanted. Then I scrolled down Facebook...and there was a little status from AP USA saying they'd just put the items up!

So I dashed to the website, shoved in the skirt, headbow and socks in wine, logged in, changed my addresses, put in my payment details...the whole while my hands were shaking like mad and I felt like I was about to have a heart attack. But I got there! When I'd finished checking out I looked back and all the items I had just bought were gone. So I must have gotten the last set of that! I was paranoid they'd email me to say there was a mistake, but I've had a confirmation email so hopefully that won't happen. I'm so lucky!




I've only now realised that those aren't the matching socks. I didn't have time to inspect closely...oops haha. But the colour matches, so that's all good! It's just that I have Rose Lace socks instead of Sealing Stamp ones (which weren't even posted onto the US site yet). No biggie. I'm not sure I like the headbow, but it'll do until I can get a matching bonnet =3 I'll post photos and a mini-review when they arrive (although they'll arive when I'm away! BOOOOO).

Definitely have to start saving up some money though. I'd like to buy the book bag to match Wonder Story when it comes out, but I said I'd be happy once I had a bordeaux dress so I'm going to try to stick to that. Once my last few items have arrived with my SS I'll ship out and then no more of that nonsense either! Look forward to that post, it'll be EPIC.


Also yesterday I went to Gloucester to meet up with Sophie! Sadly Annie didn't turn up, but it was good fun nonetheless (though I was a little miffed that I'd stayed up until 4am finishing her birthday present and then didn't get to give it to her!).

We went for a chinese buffet first, which was delicious! Irritatingly I wasn't very hungry (this is something that only ever happens at all-you-can-eat buffets D=), but I got to try new things, such as some yummy noodles and pineapple fritters (I don't even like pineapple but YUM).

Afterwards we went to see Harry Potter! Even though we'd both seen it already. It was still really good though, and I'm glad I got to see it on the big screen again. I noticed things I didn't notice the first time around too (like the fact that Lilly says 'always' as well!...and the fact that Percy is randomly there in the background despite the fact that he hasn't had a line since the first movie). And I still cried like mad ^_^'

I was supposed to have been going to Cheltenham afterwards for Annie's party, but since I don't know my way around Cheltenham and don't have Annie's number I decided to just go home. This turned out to be a wise decision as my headache ended up getting worse. And as evening approached I began to feel ill...it was either food poisoning or a really strange coincidence (I'm never sick unless there's been dodgy food or masses of alcohol beforehand). But it only lasted the night so I'm right as rain now, though still a little shaky!


Nosy herring gull at Gloucester station.

On to the outfit! I tried shiro for the first time. I'd always thought the look a little boring, but now I love the simplicity of it. I had to mix in a bit of gold as I had no white bag, but I feel it balances out the rocking horse shoe wedges.


Close-up! I was wearing gold eyeshadow, but it doesn't really show.


Standing on a toilet like a boss (I really need to buy a mirror for this place!). Can you see the big bruise on my knee? I got it going down a fireman's pole xP


I ought to wear these shoes more often, they're so fun!


Details! My nail varnish ended up looking really green next to the gold things.

My dress and blouse are Angelic Pretty, necklace is Metamorphose, bird hairpiece by Now, Voyager, roses from H&M, bag by Vivienne Westwood, socks and gold jewellery from unknown (I found all the gold in my jewellery box, I guess it must have been passed down to me from someone) and the shoes by Montreal.

I'm definitely going to do more coords with this dress! White is so versatile. I'll just have to remember to keep a napkin handy when I'm eating and drinking. I only got away with it this time as I had one, used a fork instead of chopsticks and stuck to drinking water.


I set off for Reading festival on Wednesday, so unless I manage to scavenge those photos off of Rob between now and then this will be the last post from me until I get back. So until then...

Angelic Pretty USA Review ~ Dream Sky

Please forgive the blogging spam today...still have yesterday to cover, my Dream Sky arrived this morning and I picked up my Taobao order from the Post Office depot earlier too and it's all too much for one post I feel!


So my Angelic Pretty USA order arrived bright and early this morning! Their website was easy to use, especially since I had already made an account with them. The only issue I had (other than almost everything being sold out already) was that the black skirt (my first choice) still came up on there but was apparently out of stock. When the other colours sold out they were taken down completely, but the black wasn't =S No biggie though.




Quite well packaged, nice sturdy box and then sweet pink tissue paper. In the AP bag is the order summary!


The barrette! (Yes, I took a photo of it upside down haha). It's actually pretty big which I am glad of. Will look cute in front of a high side pony.


The skirt! I fabric is lovely and the print is gorgeous, although it doesn't show up very well on this colourway (black was my first choice, then navy, then lavender, then a tie between pink and sax). I'm glad I love it so much as in addition to this pink one I got the sax one using a Japanese shopping service (they said that they had been unsuccessful. Then they changed their minds *facepalm*). I was surprised that the ribbon wasn't attached though, which means I'll probably end up losing it or being too dumb to figure out how to tie it!


The tags are in Japanese. I'd half expected them to be in English and priced in dollars, so I was a little surprised.


I love the details AP uses!


Small shirred panel in the back and the cute little AP label (tempted to get it as a tattoo but can't decide where or what colour!).


Little bit of built in pouf.


The outer fabric isn't sewn at the zipper which is a shame, but it won't notice when worn and I was expecting it to be like this as Powder Rose was the same.

The most disappointing thing was the lack of socks, which will be impossible to hunt down (I asked my Japanese shopping service to get them for me but they only got them in sax...at least I got the pink barrette as I was unable to get the sax one).

The order ended up being very expensive, which should come as no surprise. The skirt was $216 and the barrette was $35.50; shipping to the UK was $40.65; import taxes and duties £65 *ouch* - total cost in the region of £245. Confirmation by email was quick and it was arrived reasonably swiftly. I ordered on the 29th of May, the item was shipped on the 2nd of June and tracking number followed later that day (it didn't work for another few days but that isn't AP USA's fault). Arrived on the 14th June. Took a little longer than it should have but that was due to customs and Parcelforce chosing to try to deliver it the one time no one was home.

The whole experience was pretty pleasant. I would say I'd order from them again, but due to the cost of getting the package out of customs I'd prefer to use a Japanese shopping service next time as the value could be marked down to avoid them. However I probably will use them again nonetheless, if they have something I really want (their choice is always limited, the Japanese website stocks loads of things that don't even make it to the International website, let alone the US one) and if I have a lot of money to burn.

Sorry for not having a worn photo yet, all of my lolita clothes are either back at home shoved wherever I found room, packed up waiting for the same fate or in a big box heading to Rob's house! So I haven't even tried it on yet. Thinking that because it's more casual I might risk wearing it over the Summer to try to get my parents used to the idea of me wearing pink patterned things.

Stay tuned for Dream of Lolita review!