A meeting of interests

**Turn down youtube's volume before listening!! Or else the audio quality will be worse than it already is!!

Fractale is an anime airing this season and it's probably my favorite so far. It's based on an award winning light novel series by the same name. The ending song is a traditional tune "Down by the Sally Gardens" by W.B. Yeats, sung in both English and Japanese.

I really love this simple tune and I realized I have to start practicing violin again after about 3 years of absence. I also was out in lolita (Baby's Red Riding Hood) today, like usual except I forgot to get a pic (D:) But I was wearing it whilst playing to add a point of interest to a very short video.

Notes: I did record it with a camera phone (I should buy a mic one day ;_;)
I also had the mute on, so that's not the true sound of my violin. When I played without the mute, the phone mic made it way too shrill. It's still a little shrill, so listening it at half volume would probably improve it or something. I should figure out how to do that to the video itself...

Do you play any instruments?

Have a good week guys ~!

(W)International Lolita Day 2010

Celebrated my first winter ILD by dressing up~ Rundown:
Skirt: Baby
Blouse: Yolanda
Socks: Innocent World
Hairpiece: Handmade by someone else

Pretty basic, I love this skirt to death and really should wear it out more. For lack of company as well as an excess of finals coming up, I went by myself to my favorite bakery/cafe/lunch place, Hot Cakes, and got a quiche and early grey and studied for my Japanese final this Monday. It was quite nice. Also, this morning before I got dolled up I cleaned the whole apartment with my housemates. Our floor was getting really grody, so it was definitely much needed. In addition I abhor showing a messy room in pictures, so I knew I had to clean up ;D



Make up shot. Make up is really the bane of my existence. I have to practice contouring more (getting a good brush would be a nice start) and I'm cursed with hidden monolids... meaning that most of the time, eyemake up just kind of disappears when I have my eyes open, hence the closed eye shot. I'm not big on falsies and I didn't even put on mascara because I find with my uncurlable eyelashes (this list of grievances is getting really long) the mascara just ends up on my face and its generally unpleasant.

But I tried! And I'll get better, in time. In the meantime, does anyone have any links for people with really asian eyes (ie me?) It's been killing me, but I won't resort to eyelid tape/glue/surgery.

Lolitas, what did you do (if anything) for ILD?

Baby x AatP x Kuragehime

OMG
Dying a little bit right now. Baby and AatP is doing a collab with Kuragehime, currently on reserve: heeeere(how did I miss this??)

St. Mephisto Cathedrale Print

So this reserve is long gone, but that doesn't mean we can't wish it weren't. I've been really busy in between my move and becoming a mad interior decorator (not a very good one mind) but Baby's / AatP cathedral print is something I wanted to post about. In the black OP, with a all over pattern cross motif, it comes across as a very sweetxgothic print. Other brands have done cathdrals, perhaps most famously Moitie.

But if one isn't quite gothic enough to wear Moitie, Baby's take on it is a nice, softer alternative. The design itself is balanced out with book and musical score motifs. I have to admit the iris colorway is very striking, and unsurprisingly completely sold out. It's a more mature take on lavender colorways in sweet lolita, creating a more jewel tone hue than pastel. It also complements the color of the print. In ivory, the print disappears and the pink is a little too harsh. Definitely black and iris will be the most popular colorways.

In a perfect world I would have... the iris JSK, despite not having anything in that tone in my wardrobe.

Leatitia・Raseine jumper skirt and others (BTSSB)

Let's talk about Baby, baby. A couple days ago a new jumperskirt went up as the new item on Baby's website, the Leatitia・Raseine jumper skirt There's a milk tea beige, mint, and pink colorway.

I do like the delicacy of the print, featuring roses and rose lace trim. It has a three tier skirt, a corseted back, and a faux halter strap (in that there are shoulder straps as well). Baby seems to be taking a little different direction, this subdued sweet is actually growing on me.





Another new JSK line is the Cyndrina Rossa, featuring the same fabric used in a new moite dress. It has the same straps and halter combo, but a shirred front for more size flexibility. This line has an ivory, pink and black colorway. If the Leatitia is a classic inspired sweet, I would say the Cyndrina is gothic inspired sweet, if only because the fabric is shared by the Moitie brand of EGL fame.

A good match for the Cyndrina Rossa would be these Papion ribbon head bow, a new OTT esque headbow design from Baby. It has lots of extra lace and that pointed satin trimming. I'm actually curious to see what it would look like on an actual person.
In a perfect world, I would have... the Cyndrina Rossa JSK in black

Happy Independence Day, to Americans

Hide and Seek with Missin' Alice (BTSSB)

This is Baby's reserve print~ You can see the other colorways here. It is another alice themed print, but I do really like the JSK design. The scalloped bust is an interesting design choice.

The offwhite may be my favorite colorway, although the brown is quite charming too. I know black Baby prints usually end up being their most popular, but I have to say, the black looks sort of... sinister, to me? It might be the red on black. Am I just crazy or do you see it too?


So, I suppose there's suppose to be a story with this print. Alice has gone missing, so the rabbit must find her again? That's certainly how the 2010 Tim Burton film started out. I have to say, asia/japan/lolita brand's minor obsession with the Alice in Wonderland franchise/series/novels/imagery is impressive. I can see a lot of clear connections, with the victorian elements tied with the fantastical imagery of Carroll's original stories. Some may say it is an overused motif for lolita, but considering how this is part of the Alice and the Pirates brand, it cannot be helped. But I would like some more pirates, baby!

As you can see, the OP design is very simple, nothing too much going on there. However, if I somehow magically obtained this piece, the first thing I would do is take off the bows on the bottom hem. I have a vendetta against randomly placed bows.

Really digging this offwhite colorway. It is such a gorgeous print from the AatP series.

In a perfect world I would have the
JSK in offwhite or brown