Paris 2017 Day 1: Angelic Pretty & Japan Expo

I am back from a small trip to Paris, I spent 3 days with my dear friend Marie-Lou to visit Japan Expo, Disneyland Paris and participate to the Angelic Pretty tea party. I will write an entry for each day, and we'll start with friday July 7th.

So on that friday, I had to wake up very early... 4:00AM. It was hard. Haha. My train for Paris was leaving at 6:14 so I didn't have much time. I dressed up, took all my stuff and left for the station. Marie-Lou joined me directly in the train at the next stop and the 3 hours trip to Paris was actually quite short as I slept most of the time. Once arrived, we first stopped at our hotel to leave our luggage and then we headed to our first destination: the Angelic Pretty Paris boutique!
We were quite early and the shop wasn't open yet, but nobody was waiting already so we just went to buy something to drink and came back. Some girls had arrived and they had tickets. We then wondered how? We didn't have any ourselves and didn't even know how to get one, but in the end it wasn't that important as only 7 girls had tickets and could enter the shop first.

We are so lucky to have an AP shop in Europe!

 Before leaving for Paris, I spotted a super lovely rain coat that I loved, but it was already sold out on the Japanese website so the day before I asked Paris' staff to put the coat aside for me and paid it with Paypal. So, I didn't care that much to enter the shop first as my item was already secured and paid!

Marianne coat, perfect for rainy days!

I tried on the lovely skirt from the Sweet Bakery series. It fitted me, but it was not super comfortable so I didn't buy it in the end. I was a bit disappointed because I had so many coords ideas with this skirt already!

Oh dear skirt, why weren't you 2cm bigger?

 Marie-Lou found two pairs of socks for herself and in the end I just picked up my coat and of course, my invitation for the tea party! As I spent more than 100 euros, I could choose a novelty gift as the shop had fairs for their first anniversary! I decided to take a lovely cherry magnet, but I secretly hoped it was a badge... Maybe I could glue some safety pin at the back of something? Haha!

I want this to be a badge... It would go so well with my French Café JSK....

After spending quite a lot of time in the Angelic Pretty shop (I had to wait to try on the skirt actually). We took our tea party tickets and new purchases and left for lunch. Marie-Lou wanted to eat in her favourite Japanese restaurant nearby so we went there. I wasn't very hungry, but well I always have some space for Japanese food! Haha. I took Shoyu Ramen and they were actually really really good, even if I couldn't finish my bowl...

A thing that I really wanted to try in Paris was a bubble tea. I consider myself a bubble tea expert as I am manager in a bubble tea shop and often prepares tea and tapioca. When travelling, I like to taste different teas and compare it to the ones I make. We had a bit of difficulty to find the shop, Zen Zoo, but it was worth it as their bubble teas are quite good! I took a small one with a lime flavour. It was delicious and refreshing, the only "bad" thing was that their tapioca bubbles were a bit too soft for my taste. Anyway, if you're in Paris and want a good bubble tea, you can definitely go to Zen Zoo!

Time was running fast and we were a bit late on our schedule. We went back to our hotel to rest a bit in our room and then headed to the Japan Expo. We arrived there around 16:00 and god, oh god... I immediately told myself "why are you infliciting yourself this?" It was SO HOT and SO CROWDED. Definitely I am too old for this shit. Haha! How can people spend a full day there? Or worse 4 days full days there?! I stayed less than 3 hours and I was dead already! I used to do it ten years ago, but I can't imagine how I could now!
Last time I went to Japan Expo was in 2008 and I actually wouldn't have even planned to go again if my friend Marie didn't have a stall with her brand, Kawaii Style! I really really really wanted to support her and see her dream come physically true after all her hard work! We went directly to Kawaii Style booth where I hugged Marie immediately and then browsed what she had for sale. She had plenty of amazing Liz Lisa items and I fell in love with their Choco Dip Cherry series. The white dress was just adorable and I couldn't resist buying it! Yay, my very first Liz Lisa item! I also bought the necklace from the same series for Marie-Lou as a gift!

Liz Lisa items at Kawaii Style booth!

Kawaii Style had the cutest socks too!

The dress I bought ♥ Choco Dip Cherry!

As I bought for more than 100euros of Liz Lisa products, I could have my picture taken with the beautiful model Ripanyan who came all the way from Japan! She was so pretty! I was so happy being able to have a picture with her!

I love this picture so much! ♥

After talking with Marie a bit more, we left her with her other clients and went to browse some other booths! Marie-Lou also really wanted to go to the Sailor Moon shop, so I went with her even if I'm not really a fan of Sailor Moon myself. I tried very hard not to buy all the Fallout 4 goodies on the way... It was hard, really. It's one of my ultimate favourite games and I love everything that is Vault-Tec related (you'll see, one day I'll make a Vault Boy inspired Lolita outfit! Haha). In the end, I still bought a Fallout 4 lucky bag for 10 euros and got a super nice keychain and badges inside, so I'm quite happy with it!

So many Fallout 4 goodies!

What was inside my Fallout 4 lucky bag! Quite happy with it!

There also was an Hello Kitty/Sanrio booth where you could make wishes and hang them on a (fake) cherry tree. I wrote one for myself (that I will keep secret of course), so I hope it'll come true :) We got a free sample of an Hello Kitty perfume, that actually smells quite good!

Cute wishes! I hope they'll all come true!

The day was slowly coming to an end and we were dead tired, so we went back to Kawaii Style booth to say goodbye to Marie and left for the train station........ except that everybody was leaving for the train station too and it was clogged. There was REALLY no way to even get into the station and we didn't know what to do. We first waited for a while, then walked to see if we could cross the train rails somewhere else, gave up and came back to the station where we eventually found a way to go to the other side where we could finally enter the station easily, took the first coming train and even had seats. TOTAL WIN. I'm still praying for people who are still stuck there! Hahahaha. I swear it was an ocean of people. I wonder how long did some of them take to go back home? Awful.

Sea of people... and that's only part of the queue....

At the hotel, we quickly took a shower and as we were too tired to do anything else we just went to have MacDonald's. Well, Marie-Lou and I then quickly went to bed but couldn't really sleep as some lady was having a lot of fun somewhere in the building if you know what I mean... she was moaning loudly and we didn't really know what to do! That was so awkward!!! We could't close the window because the room wasn't air conditoned so we just waited until she (they?) had engouh.... ^^'''''''''''

That's it for this first day! Let's continue in a another entry with our journey to Disneyland Paris!!!

8 years of Melty Chocolate!

I will start this entry by saying: I feel old. I feel old because I realized today that Angelic Pretty Melty Chocolate series was released 8 years ago, back in 2009 already. WHERE DID THESE LAST YEARS GO?! Melty Chocolate has a very special place in my heart as it was the dress that really made me fall in love with the fashion. I remember I was staying in Paris for a few days in 2009 and went to the Japanese bookshop, Junku where I randomly bought Japanese fashion magazines. One of them was an "Alice Deco à la mode" magazine and inside were advertising pictures for the new Angelic Pretty series, Melty Chocolate. I exactly remember how my heart skipped a beat when I saw the beautiful print and dress (worn by Maki herself on the pictures). Back then, I had no idea what Angelic Pretty was, but I was determined to know more about it and to find that dress for myself.
Back home, I googled "Angelic Pretty" and found their international webshop where I found the Melty Chocolate series. Unfortunately, everything was sold out and I didn't know anything about Lolita secondhand market or what. I was just desperately looking at the website everyday, trying to find a solution to get that dress I was dying to buy..... until one day, only one JSK was suddenly available again! Just one JSK, in pink. I bought it right away and some weeks later I got it at home. This is how I bought my very first brand Lolita dress and it's been one of my favourite since then.

That's the ad that literally made me fall in love with Lolita!

Well, now I had a dress but nothing more. I made more researches about the fashion and bought some basics such as blouses, socks, accessories etc. and some months later I was ready to wear my very first Angelic Pretty coordinate. Honestly, it was ugly as hell. Hahahaha. I wore the dress many times since I bought it so let's make a little retrospective of these 8 years spent with my beloved Melty Chocolate pink JSK!

2010

 

I actually bought the dress in November 2009 but never wore it until March 2010. I am glad I kept pictures for almost all my coordinates. It feels weird to see them all again now, seeing how much I have changed. I wore Melty Chocolate 4 times in 2010 and one time was for my very first Angelic Pretty tea party in Paris! I was so excited! I made a collage of these outfits, first one on the top left is from March 2010, the top right from May 2010. The one taken outside is from the tea party and the last one is from October 2010. I am a bit ashamed to show these outfits now, but well, I liked them back then and they helped me to build the Lolita I am today so no regrets :)

2011

 

Also wore Melty Chocolate 4 times in 2011. I was a bit more experimentating, trying to wear it with yellow or mint. Looking back at them now, I don't like any of those coords (except maybe for the last one that I wore for my birthday that year), but I actually had totally forgotten I had even tried Melty Chocolate with mint once and would love to make a better outfit with mint again!

2012 

 

With time,my closet was getting fuller and of course I had more and more dresses every year, meaning I started to wear my old dresses a bit less often. I only wore Melty Chocolate 3 times in 2012 and one of these time was to twin with a friend I visited in Paris! I still quite like the outfit on the right, but I wouldn't wear those tights though!

2013 

 

Only wore it two times in 2013... Honestly, I was gaining a lot of weight due to depression and stress and the dress didn't fit me so well anymore. My father was very ill at the time and the whole year was a bit rough. But all in all, 2013 is still my Lolita golden age and most of my best coords are from this year... just not with Melty Chocolate maybe! Haha
I should totally wear again that "Chocolate Princess" sash that I made myself!

2014

 

Time is passing and Melty Chocolate is sitting more and more in my closet. Only wore it one time in January that year. I still quite like this coord. I was trying to achieve the perfect gold/pink coordination, but I was very far from it. It's still one of my current goal! I don't even know if it's possible to make "the" ultimate coordination you have in mind with a specific dress? My style is always changing and I can hate a coord I loved some years ago. 

2015-2016

 

I feel bad.... but I have nothing to share for these two years. I didn't wear Melty Chocolate at all, simply because it was now too small and it was very uncomfortable to wear it and not pretty at all. I decided to keep it anyway, hoping to be able to fit in it again one day! I could never ever sell my Melty Chocolate!

2017

 

And here we are in June 2017. I can gladly say I lost a ton of weight and can wear my dear Melty Chocolate again. I made a cute summer outfit yesterday that I can now share with you!

♥ Angelic Pretty Melty Chocolate - June 27th 2017  ♥ 

   

Barrette: Angelic Pretty
Blouse: Offbrand
JSK: Angelic Pretty
Badge: Angelic Pretty
Socks: Angelic Pretty
Shoes: Bodyline
Bag: Angelic Pretty
Pompom Earrings: Spinns
Bracelets: Angelic Pretty & Claire's
Rings: Angelic Pretty

I felt so good in that outfit! For the first time in years, I can really say I love how my body is looking right now and I can wear all my dresses comfortably again! I am happy I kept my Melty Chocolate JSK all these years, I have so many memories linked to this dress. It made my feel good, it made be feel proud, but also sad and fat. It grew and it changed with me! It shows some signs of wear now, after more than 8 years in my closet. The lace has some yellowing and I had to sew the buttons back some times, but it's still a gorgeous dress with the most beautiful print! It's the dress of my heart ♥

Mademoiselle de Paris

Hello! I just got a new dress today: Angelic Pretty Mademoiselle de Paris JSK in white! And I love it so much that I wanted to share some details pictures of the gorgeous print!

I really love prints that have a retro vibe, such as Fantasic Dolly, French Doll, Dressy Rose and so many more! I sometimes wish my wardrobe was only filled with retro themed dresses! So when Mademoiselle de Paris was released it was love at first sight! I hesitated a bit about the colour, because (and that's pretty rare!) I think I liked all the different colourways. I first wanted the pink one, but in the end I went for the white one as it looked more mature and was the only one to have red hints. The other colourways have pink details, which make them softer while I think the white colourway look more bold and contrasted!

Mademoiselle de Paris JSK in white!

I wasn't so sure about the poodles at first as, as I already mentionned it on this blog, I usually dislike animals prints. But I think they are really discreet and don't stand out more than the other elements. Poodles are definitely not the main point of the print, they're just part of it. So all in all I think the print is really well balanced and also makes me realize that I really prefer all-over prints over border prints.

Isn't this print super gorgeous? ♥

I didn't try the dress on yet, but I can already tell the bodice looks quite short so I hope it won't look ridiculous on me. I love the design of the bodice, it features beautiful lace and buttons and as much as I like wearing cardigans in Lolita, I'll try to wear this dress with a blouse, so I won't hide all those pretty details!

My favourite detail ♥

You can't really tell but the bottom lace features tiny poodles! How cute ♥

I also bought the matching socks!

I already have an outfit in mind for this JSK: a red beret, a black blouse with a bow tie, the matching socks, black rocking horse shoes and maybe some black gloves to complete the perfect retro look! I hope I'll have some time this week to try this on!

Do you like this print? Did you also get it? In which colour and how will you coordinate it?
Let me know! :)

Angelic Pretty Osaka Shop

During my last trip to Japan, I spent some days in Osaka and was super happy to be able to visit the local Angelic Pretty store! I can't really explain why, but when I think of the perfect Lolita shop, I have this one popping in my mind. I visited several Angelic Pretty stores (in Harajuku, Shinjuku, Paris and now, Osaka) and while they're all super cute and girly, Osaka shop definitely has an advantage: its famous pink storefront.

Let me tell you that I was more than excited that day! I planned a pink and white outfit to match the storefront and make the cutest photos.... Even if, shame on me, I didn't even wear any Angelic Pretty, but the day was rainy and we also visited Osaka Castle later that day, so I needed a comfortable and not too delicate outfit.

I'm carefully checking the window! Haha

Sweet Cream Princess series ♥

Sweet Cream Princess series was displayed in the window and while I didn't like the print that much when I saw it online, the pink colourway definitely grew on me! It's not a baby pink shade, but more like a raspberry/dark pink shade which I think is super pretty!

After admiring the shop from the outside for a while, I finally went to browse the inside. No picture there, as pictures are not allowed inside any Angelic Pretty shops. Sometimes I still try to take sneaky pictures with my phone, to keep a memory... but the Osaka shop is quite small and I didn't want to be rude so I didn't even try. I already had tons of pretty pictures from the outside anyway! I was hoping to find the Sweet Cream Princess brooch in ivory or pink as they didn't have it anymore in Tokyo, but it was sold out here too. Well, it was not meant to be then.... Creamy Cherry series was released the day before and apparently was quite popular as the only thing left was the navy OP. I didn't plan to buy anything except the brooch and nothing else caught my eyes, so in the end I just bought the summer catalogue ( I love catalogues!!!) for 800 yens. Cheapest AP shopping ever! Haha!

Posing with my purchase!

So happy to have pictures in front of the store ♥

Well, this entry is about the shop, but I really loved Osaka as a whole too! It was my first time there and I definitely want to go back. I spent a lot of time in Tokyo already and would love to visit some different places in Japan now! Maybe I should plan a trip to visit all the Angelic Pretty shops across Japan? Haha!

Metamorphose Garden Tea Time Set details

I said in my last entry that I would take and share details pictures of the dresses I recently bought during my trip to Japan and as I have some days off for Easter, I had time to quickly take some pictures today!

Metamorphose Garden Tea Time Set, which includes a JSK with an overskirt and a matching hat, was especially released for the Flower by Laforêt event and was only sold there for a limited time, making this dress quite exclusive. Many Lolitas didn't even actually notice it I think which is a pity because it deserves lots of love! 
Before going to Japan, I already had spotted this gorgeous set and fell in love with it. I was afraid it would be sold out already by the time I would have been able to visit Laforêt, but luckily it was still there! Let me tell you that I didn't hesitate much before buying it!

As usual, I can definitely say that the stock picture doesn't do this dress justice. Colours are brighter and bolder in real, while they look dull on the official picture. I hope my details shots will help the ones who didn't like that dress on the stock pic to change their mind ;)

Stock picture from Laforêt website

I especially like how versatile the dress is. First, it features many colours and I will be able to wear it with dusty pink, cream, ivory, white, green and even why not, yellow! The big front bow is also detachable, and so is the overskirt. At the shop, they actually had put the bow at the back with the ribbon from the overskirt dangling at the front. It was also quite pretty worn this way! The dress seems quite fancy, but actually if you remove the bow and overskirt it also makes a nice casual dress! I can't wait to think about new coordinations!
But first here are my details pictures:

I can't get over how gorgeous this dress is ♥

The matching hat is AMAZING too ♥

The overskirt lace is so pretty and it also has pearls!

Oh I can't wait to wear the whole set, but honestly I think it deserves to be worn for a nice fancy event and I actually don't have any planned soon :( so maybe I will wait a bit before wearing it... I would love to go for a Marie-Antoinette look with this set!