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!

A shopping day in Harajuku!

Hello! Again, I have been away from the blog for quite some time, but I had good reasons I swear!

First, I wrote a super long article which completely disappeared by mistake (thank you Blogger for your stupid autosave feature) and it made me so mad that I had to stay away from Blogger for a while!
(and you'll never see this entry, because I didn't have courage to write it all over again! Haha)
Then, I recently went to Japan for two weeks, so I was pretty busy planning my trip and doing more work hours (because money).

As you probably already guessed by reading the title, this entry will be about the Lolita shopping day I spent in Harajuku with my French friend Marie. I have been very lucky, because Marie already was in Japan as the same time as me 3 years ago so it was actually the second time we could spent time together in Tokyo :)
Before telling you about our adventures in Harajuku, I just wanted to say that Marie is one of the sweetest persons I know and she is working so hard right now to fulfill her dream: opening her very own Japanese fashion shop, Kawaii Style!
Kawaii Style website will be launched very soon and you should totally check it out because it will be filled with the most gorgeous clothes and accessories Marie especially selected from WEGO, Triple Fortune, Amavel and many many others! So you should totally bookmark those two links ;)

Kawaii Style Facebook page
Kawaii Style website

Ok, so luckily Marie and I were in Tokyo at the same time. We planned to spend March 23 together and we met around 11:00 at the old Harajuku station (I heard they want to demolish it for the Olympic games in 3 years.. which makes me so sad...) and our crazy day of shopping and fun started!
I planned to wear a quite simple and comfortable outfit for the day, I decided to wear my Angelic Pretty Sweetie Violet JSK, that I actually bought exactly there 3 years ago combined with lavender accessories!

Marie & I in front of Harajuku station!

We headed to Takeshita-dori, starting by shopping at Paris Kids! They always have the cutest and cheapest accessories and I was especially happy as they had plenty of shells/sea themed items as well as galaxy/constellations ones! 

Hello Takeshita-dori!

Some of the cute accessories at Paris Kids ♥

Now. Small digress, but I have read a lot recently about how Lolita fashion is dying. In Tokyo, many shops are still selling Lolita clothing and I didn't see any difference comparing to when I was there 3 years ago.... BUT what I saw changed a lot is the amount of tourists. In Takeshita-dori, it was horrible. As I was fully dressed in Lolita, I couldn't walk without having random people almost jostling me to have a picture, putting their camera right into my face. I hated it. Now, I'm European and I post my pictures everywhere on internet, so ok... but let's imagine a shy, protective, young Japaneses girl walking down the street suffer such harassment (because yes, it came to the point that I consider it harrassment when people dare to touch you and to disturb you while you are doing your thing). Japanese people are pretty protective of themselves, don't like to be touched and are very sensitive and polite and the consequence is that I barely saw anybody dressed up in Harajuku. Maybe Japanese street fashion is dying in Harajuku, because tourists only see it as an amusement for themselves and don't respect the persons anymore, especially the Japanese persons. Harajuku is probably advertised now in all travel guides as the place where you can see crazy dressed people and tourists go there just like they could go to the zoo. And as a Lolita, I surely wouldn't want to go to Harajuku dressed up on a regular basis.

But let's back to topic! After going to a shoe shop where we spotted amazing shoes (I bought mint shoes! Something I wanted for a long time), we headed to Closet Child!
Before going to Japan, I said to myself not to compulsory buy too many things at Closet Child because it was cheap. I sold almost all the dresses I bought there in the past few years without actually wearing them. I told myself I would only buy one dress second hand: Angelic Pretty Dreamy Jewel in bordeaux. And guess what? It was there!!! I was so lucky! Well, it wasn't my favourite JSK cut, but it was quite cheap and in the right colour so I went for it! So happy!

Dreamy Jewel is such an underrated print!

Marie didn't buy much as she was here for business and already did her shopping days before, so I felt a bit guilty buying that much... haha. Now I had a pretty AP dress, mint shoes, accessories from Paris Kids, but I still managed to buy a yellow beret from Listen Flavor (a bit expensive, but it had the perfect pastel yellow shade!) and accessories from Spinns! Allllll of this, before even go to Laforêt (better known as the vile temple of tentations).

But first, it was time for lunch. Marie really wanted to try the Kawaii Monster Café but after seeing the queue, we gave up. I'm not really the kind to wait hours to have lunch, Marie neither. We went back to Takeshita-dori to try our luck on the Pompompurin café, but it wasn't better... so in the end we crashed at the Patty & Jimmy themed café! I didn't know these two characters, but they're from Sanrio just like Hello Kitty. The café was super cute and we didn't have to wait at all! Fair enough!

Lovely Marie ♥

I ordered the cutest dish ever and an ice cream soda, but I actually couldn't eat much as I felt sick during most of my trip having nausea. It was really good though and I hope the staff didn't think I didn't enjoy it.

It took me time to realize the blue thing was actually a cap... XD

After lunch break, it was time to go to Laforêt! Yay! They had a special event called "Flower by Laforêt" and many brands made special releases for the occasion, including Alice and the Pirates, Metamorphose and Angelic Pretty.

I bought some more things at Swimmer: gifts for friends and a lovely pair of glitter shoes for myself before heading to Metamorphose shop where I wanted to buy the special set they released for the Flower event. This stock picture don't do it justice at all, because I swear this dress is gorgeous and so elegant in real (I will probably make a review with details pictures later, it totally deserves it). It was a bit expensive, but totally worth it!

Garden tea time set by Metamorphose

When then went upstairs to check Rose Marie seoir shop for Kawaii Style and I also wanted to browse Leur Getter shop! Worst idea ever as I spotted the cutest dress... but I already had spent a lot of money and decided not to buy it :( It left me a bit frustrated because I really fell in love with it and was dying to get a Leur Getter dress for some time already (..... but I can tell you that I came back to buy it the next week and it is now the most favourite thing I bought during this trip ♥ haha)

Time was flying, there was still a thing I reeeeeally wanted to do with Marie: purikura of course! So we came back to Takeshita-dori. But first, we stopped for a crêpe because you can't be in Harajuku and not have a crêpe. That is not possible. No. No way. You have to.
We went to Santa Monica crêpe, which is my favourite shop, and as I fortunately wasn't feeling nauseous anymore for now I could really enjoy it! I took a crêpe with whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate cake. Yummy!

We found a quiet corner where we could sit ant eat our crêpes and then went to make our glorious purkiura! I LOVE purikura! It is so much fun to decorate and we always have a good laugh about how non-human we are looking. We tried two different machine, but the seconde time, a Barbie themed one, was a bit failed as Marie chose the couple option by accident! I was Barbie and she was my Ken. Haha!

Aren't we the cutest? ♥

The night had now come on Harajuku and it was time to say goodbye to Marie. My feet were hurting so much after a full day walking and I still had to go through Shinjuku station all by myself carrying tons of bags, but I spent such a lovely day with a very dear friend that it was all worth it ♥ I will cherish memories of this day! Thank you Marie, until next time ;)