cosplay

In and Out of Lolita

/ lolitaland / 2 Comments

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What do I wear in and out of Lolita? Well, let’s start with Lolita fashion!

The major Lolita styles I have stuck with have been Sweet Lolita and Classic Lolita. This is ironic though since when I first found an interest in Lolita fashion, my favorite substyle was Gothic Lolita.  I still really love Gothic Lolita, but it has been difficult for me to find pieces and coordinate outfits for it. It’s really interesting how one’s style develops: I used to dislike Sweet Lolita, but now, I adore it! In general though, I probably wear Casual Lolita the most often. I try to keep to the Lolita silhouette when I do so. You can see some of my full-out Lolita coordinates here.

Out of Lolita… Most of the time, I dress casually and comfortably. I wear a lot of jeans, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. I like to tie my hair back into a ponytail, but if my hair is left down, I like to add a headband. Or a hair clip or two. (I adore mini-bow barrettes!) When I want to dress up a bit, I like to wear vintage clothes that my mother handed down to me. (My mom gave me all of her old clothes… For once, I am grateful that I am an only child!)

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This is one of my favorite hand-me-downs from my mom! It’s a really cute blouse and shorts set, but the shorts are really billowy and resemble a skirt. There are also adorable detachable suspenders! The material is awesome; it never gets wrinkled!

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Featured here is my favorite blouse that my mom has handed down to me. It’s a pretty peach color, and the fabric feels lovely! It’s a great thing to wear in the summertime. I adore the little details on this blouse, and I want to use it in a Lolita coord someday. I am finding peach hard to coordinate though… So maybe I will wear it with a plain white skirt in the future? We’ll see.

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I don’t have many good photos of myself wearing clothes that my mom gave me, but above is an outfit that I really like! Sorry about the terrible photo. Everything I am wearing, even the belt, was from my mom. My mom used to wear things like this! I told my mom that she should still wear them, since they still fit her, but she thinks that she is “too old” to wear clothing like this. Sigh.

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Above is another favorite hand-me-down from my mom! I love qipaos… My mom gave me a few of them. ❤ This is the one that fits me the best though! I love the sequin detailing, and the matching hairpiece is so pretty! The hairpiece doesn’t like to stay in my hair though. xD;; I have only worn this once, but I would like to wear it again someday. It feels too formal to wear on a random occasion though, so maybe I will wear to a formal event or ball of some sort in the future.

I also enjoy cosplaying, so if I wear a wig outside of Lolita fashion, it is most likely for cosplay. I also use my real hair for some of my cosplays.

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Above is one of my cosplays from AnimeBoston this year: a maid variant of Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid). I love Vocaloid music, and I would love to cosplay as more Vocaloids in the future. So far, I have only cosplayed as variants of Hatsune Miku and Mikuo (the genderbent version of Miku).

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Here I am cosplaying Enma Ai the Hell Girl (Jigoku Shoujo)! Standing next to me is my awesome Lolita friend. (I adore her coordinate in this photo!) This was the first time I cosplayed Enma Ai again in a long while. Last time I cosplayed her, I used my real hair. But this time, I revamped the cosplay by styling a wig to fit her character. This worked great since I hated dealing with my real hair last time I cosplayed her.

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[EDIT] The photos from the Hell Girl photoshoot are finally up! Above is one of my favorite photos from the shoot.

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Sorry about the terrible photo. I can’t seem to find a better photo in my photo library of my Terezi Pyrope cosplay. Outside of anime, I also really love cosplaying Homestuck! (I really need to catch up on Homestuck this summer though…) Terezi Pyrope is my patron troll, and I love cosplaying as her. ❤

I also really love cosplaying as Karkat Vantas (another Homestuck troll)! The gray troll makeup is annoying at times, but it was fun figuring out the best methods for applying the makeup and sealing it. Another Homestuck troll I have cosplayed as is Feferi Peixes. I have cosplayed as a few Homestuck kid characters as well. The above photograph was from a fun casual wintertime photoshoot. Photo credit goes to Micaiah Reid.

If you want to see more of my cosplays, you can check them out on my Tumblr through this tag! The tag has a mix of Lolita and Cosplay though… I was too lazy to make two different tags for them. xD;;

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~Be sure to read other blog posts on this topic for the Lolita Blog Carnival! 

Hello Batty, A Sweet Lolita’s Disney Life, Edible Rainbows

Taobao Experience

/ lolitaland / 5 Comments

I just received my Taobao package!

I’ll be posting reviews of the items soon. Maybe I’ll even post a video of me opening the package? >w<

In any case, I used Taobaospree as the shopping service to order from Taobao. I did a lot of research on various shopping services and Taobao stores before placing my order. The agent who worked with me spoke fluent English and was very helpful. She answered my questions clearly and promptly. At first, communication seemed slow, but it was because of the time difference. I started checking my email around 11 pm to 1 am, and usually I would receive responses around that time. (Night time here is day time over in China, I presume.) Taobaospree was a great shopping service, and I will definitely use it again if I ever make another Taobao purchase. If anyone is curious, the shipping I used was EMS. I had no problems with it – no issues, it didn’t take too long, no customs fees. I know some people use DHL, but I’ve never used DHL before. This was my  first overseas purchase, so I’m in no way, shape, or form an experienced shopper, however, I thought maybe someone will find this useful.

My Taobao shopping experience was pleasant. Although also difficult because there are so many wonderful items on Taobao that I wanted to purchase.

My Taobao shopping process:

  1. I browsed through Lolita Taobao shops. Here’s a list that I found really useful: http://egl.livejournal.com/15204857.html
    (Also, feel free to check out these Lolita items from Taobao; I posted items that I found cool/cute/nice but not all of them are still in stock: http://xiaorawr.tumblr.com/tagged/taobao%20wishlist)
  2. I emailed myself a list of products I liked. I narrowed it down to things I thought were great deals (cheap, but seem to be good quality). I added a staple (a Classical Puppets petticoat). Then I decided to browse cosplay-related items to see if I could find some deals (since I’m a cosplayer too) and decided to purchase two sets of false eyelashes (they’re so much cheaper on Taobao than in the US!) and a few wigs (also so much cheaper than wigs from the US!).
  3. I researched the companies that these products came from. I read reviews, both specific product reviews and general company reviews.
  4. I narrowed down the list further.
  5. I emailed my order form (an Excel spreadsheet) to Taobaospree.
  6. I received a response. (Sadly, some items were out of stock by this point. But the agent gave me recommendations and I looked into them.)
  7. I confirmed the order. Taobaospree accepts payment through Paypal, which makes things a lot easier. 🙂
  8. And today, I received the package! 😀

To be honest, I’d love to order from Taobao again… but I don’t think I will any time soon because I currently can’t afford it. Maybe in 2 years? (I love how cheap items are on Taobao, but the international shipping fees are REALLY expensive… I still think my order was worth it though. But I won’t be making another overseas order anytime soon)

I hope someone will find this helpful! Feel free to ask me any questions.