Presenting Dentelles Fanzine 3rd issue!

Today, I want to talk about something really important to me: the French Lolita fanzine, Dentelles! It is a fanzine created by Lolita friends and I was lucky enough to be part of it since the very beginning! It's a lot of time to release a fanzine and all artists who helped making it real made an amazing!
First of all, here are some links where you can learn more about Dentelles:

Dentelles' Tictail page where you can preorder the next issues or download the old ones!

Dentelles' Facebook page

The very first issue was about all the different Lolita styles, the 2nd issue was about colours in the fashion and the 3rd one was about trends! As I am a graduated illustrator with a Bachelor degree, I was super happy to be able to share my love for Lolita fashion through my artworks, so of course when they asked me to join this adventure I immediately said yes!
For my first participation, I illustrated Classic Lolita style:

For the 2nd issue, I was super happy I could illustrate my favourite colour: yellow!

And for the 3rd issue, I didn't make only one, but two artworks! I also made most of the texts and translations (the fanzine is both in French and English! How amazing is that?)
I illustrated "Galaxy print" and "Retro Lolita", which I both really love! I am glad I could each time choose a subject that talks to me!

 

I am always a bit worried about how my illustrations will turn out once printed, as I only paint traditionally and have to scan my artworks and I never really manage to exactly get the same colours... but I recently received my printed copies of Dentelles and THEY ARE PERFECT! The colours, printing and layout are all perfect! And of course it is filled with gorgeous drawings made by Lolitas from all around the world! I shouldn't be surprised as Lolita is a creative fashion, but I am always amazed by how many talented people I met in the community!

Also, I had quite a mentally straining week at work and I wanted to relax by wearing some frills! I had some time for mysel this afternoon and decided to put an outfit together! I made a simple coordination that is great for summer I think with the crew socks and the boater hat! What do you think?

♥ Angelic Pretty Elegant Marine ♥ 

Boater hat: Offbrand
Roses: Claire's & H&M
Seashell earrings: Paris Kids
Bolero: Offbrand
JSK: Angelic Pretty
Socks: Zara
Shoes: Axes Femme
Bag: Angelic Pretty
Wristcuffs: Angelic Pretty
Bracelet: Claire's
Rings: Claire's & Zygomatics

I really think Elegant Marine deserves more love! It's such a pretty, detailed and comfortable dress! And so much poof! ♥

Highlights of 2017!

Hello! 2017 is slowly coming to an end and I have been reflecting on the year already. Let me tell you what I was thinking: 2017 was a shitty year for me, like really. I felt sick most of the time, which was scary and tiring. I spent a loooooot of time seing doctors, made lots of tests and in the end... nothing! We still don't know what's wrong with me. Fortunately I feel better recently, the worst months (the period between march and june was especially awful) are behind me!

Anyway, so as I said I have been reflecting on the year and I told myself that of course there was some really bad stuff going on but also really happy things! And I wanted to write an entry about the happy ones then!

Let's have a 'happy me' picture from last summer first!

 
- I travelled the world again and went to many events!
I was lucky enough to be able to travel a lot in 2017 again! I even started the year by visiting Vienna with my mother, which is one of my absolute favourite cities! I swear if my German wasn't that bad I would totally move there!

In march, I also went back to Japan and I managed to enjoy it even if this is exactly when I started to feel sick. I wasn't able to eat for days, but I love Japan so much and was so happy to be able to spend time with friends and with my brother's family-in-law that it was all worth it! I visited Tokyo again of course, but also went to Osaka for the first time which I really loved! I definitely want to go back to explore Osaka more as I only had a short weekend there.

I was so lucky to meet my dear friend Marie in Tokyo again!

Visiting the Angelic Pretty shop in Osaka was a dream come true!
Read about it here!

I also travelled to Paris for the Angelic Pretty Tea Party and visited Disneyland with my dear friend Marie-Lou for the first time of my life! Hope we can do that again in 2018 because it was the best trip ever!I love how easy things are with Marie-Lou! She is such an easy-going and caring girl! I enjoyed every moment we had together in Paris, even the ones when we were just litterally lying in bed watching stupid videos on Youtube!

Read about our adventures in Disneyland here!

At the Angelic Pretty Tea Party ♥

And in August I went to London all by myself to attend Dream Masquerade Carnival event. I was at first a bit disappointed to go alone, but it made me realize that I actually love to travel alone! I could meet with lots of old and new friends which definitely added magic to the trip!
I was also especially happy to spend this two-days event with Rosalynn! It reminded me of 2013 when we went to so many events together. I have so many happy memories with her! I was a bit afraid to not be able to as close to her as I used to be, but she is the kindest person on earth and she helped me have a really great time (and I hope I did too for her in some ways!)

Dear Rosalynn, Nicole and I ♥

Rosalynn and I at DMC Tea Party

-  I finally met Kira Imai, one of my favourite illustrators!
I can now happily say that I met with all my favourite artists (John Howe, Alan Lee, Range Murata and Kira Imai then). And Kira Imai is such a sweetheart that I will dearly keep the moment I met her in my heart! I also proudly to give her one of my original paintings too and she seemed genuinely happy about it! She even posted it on one of her Instagram stories!

I will cherish this pic for the rest of my life ♥

Illustration I gave to Kira Imai as a gift!

- I lost a lot of weight!
This one is a bit tough. I feel better in my body now that I can say I lost more than 17kg, but knowing that I lost so much weight because I was feeling sick and wasn't able to eat anymore is a bit conflicting. I have a BMI of 22.1 now which is healthy and perfectly normal, but I didn't ask for it and I really felt like I was going to die so I wouldn't want to go through all of that again. Though, I am more confident now and I can wear Lolita clothes that I couldn't before (Yay for non-shirred OP and skirts! And for Emily Temple Cute dresses!) That's definitely a highlight and I wouldn't want to go back to my old weight again (and don't worry, I eat normally again and I'm closely looked after by doctors).
Only downside: I had to buy new clothes as they were all 2 sizes too big now! Haha. But I love shopping, so.... xD

October 2016 me VS november 2017 me.

When I see all the pictures where I am smiling with friends, it really makes me think that 2017 wasn't such a bad year in the end, uh? I am blessed to have precious friends who always manage to cheer me up! I am also lucky enough to be able to travel, enjoy my hobbies and passions, have a loving family and a job that I like!

Now I wonder what 2018 will bring me?

What about you? How was 2017 for you?

Artworks for RinRin Doll, Maki & Asuka

OK, I am officially starting to write my Paris events related entries :)
Well, this entry won't be about the events themselves, but more about what I planned before going.
Everytime I participate in events, I always like to offer gifts to the special guests! This year in Paris I knew I would meet RinRin Doll and Maki & Asuka from Angelic Pretty. I actually already met them several times and already gave them gifts which were Swiss chocolates... so this time I wanted to give them something different (yeah, I can't give them chocolate every year! Haha!)

Maybe some of you may know that I have a degree in illustration, so I thought that making paintings for them would be a good idea :) I first was REALLY lazy, kept procrastinating and ended up having 3 illustrations to make in less than a week! It was last-minute so my paintings were quite small (A5 format) and simple, but I actually really liked how they turned out!

RinRin was the first one I could give my illustration to (I will make a full entry about the meet with RinRin later, same for the Angelic Pretty tea party). I was SO nervous that my hands were shaking when I met her (yes yes I am very sensitive...), but I think she genuinely liked it! She first asked me if I was the one who painted it and then said she would put it on her bedroom wall! It made me so proud and happy! She thanked me again and hugged me, she is such a sweetheart ♥

My painting, RinRin Doll & I ♥

During the Angelic Pretty tea party, I could also give my paintings to Maki and Asuka. I first went to Maki as she was more accessible (actually Asuka somehow disappeared during a while). You need to know that I admire Maki A LOT, so I was even more nervous to give her my painting! She smiled and thanked me and then asked for a picture with me! She then quickly went back to work as she was taking pictures of attendees' outfits so I couldn't really talk much with her, but I hope she liked it too!

Isn't it cute how she is showing my painting on the picture? :3

Ok, I then had some difficult time finding Asuka and when she appeared again, I ran after her for a while until I could finally have a moment to talk with her. She was so nice! I gave her my portrait and she said with surprise " Uhhhhhh SAME!" pointing at her face, which made my heart melt! At least she recognized herself on my drawing! Haha. She seemed really really happy, asked me if I made it and with what medium and then also asked for a picture!

All in all, I am so happy I took time to paint these portraits. I hesitated a long time, decided not to do it, but eventually was brave enough to do it and I am so glad I did! It's something so personal, something I made myself with love and passion and seeing them being happy about it really made me proud! ♥ I'll cherish these memories!