Paris 2017 Day 3 : Angelic Pretty Tea Party

Last full day in Paris, and an important one! The day of the Angelic Pretty tea party! This year, it was held at Le Meurice, a very fancy palace hotel. Actually, 4 years ago in 2013 it was already organized there so I was a bit less amazed by the place! (Talk about being blase...hahahaha)

After our full day in Disneyland, Marie-Lou and I were quite tired so we slept late. Marie-Lou was brave enough to go out and buy croissants for us so we could have a decent breakfast. We watched some TV too, while slowly starting to get dressed for the party! I had planned an outfit with my beloved Angelic Pretty Dreamy Jewel JSK that I bought during my last trip to Japan. I made accessories with gemstones to matche the print and had my outfit slightly inspired by 1920 fashion. I was lucky enough to find the matching tights on Lacemarket a few weeks before the event so I had the perfect final touch for my outfit! I was really happy with how it turned out! ♥ Here are some pictures of my outfit when I tried it on at home:

♥ Angelic Pretty Dreamy Jewel  ♥ 

Gemstones headband: handmade

Barrette with feathers: Merveilles
Blouse: Axes Femme
JSK: Angelic Pretty
Gemstone Brooch: handmade
Tights: Angelic Pretty
Shoes: Axes Femme
Bag: Angelic Pretty Bracelets: Claire's
Gemstones ribbon bracelet: handmade
Rings: Chocomint & handmade

Did you spot I braided ribbons in my hair?

I was a bit upset while dressing up because I realized I forgot my pearls bracelets at home and also some pearls sewn on the sleeves of my blouse fell down... This wasn't really noticeable with in the end my wrists looked a bit empty...

Marie-Lou also had planned an amazing retro outfit with her white Drained Cherry JSK. I loved it too, it was totally HER style and suited her so well! We decided to go the jardin des tuileries earlier to have a small photoshoot of our outfits before the party. Weather wasn't so hot fortunately and a bit cloudly so we were not melting in our outfits!

Marie-Lou in her amazing retro outfit!

Her pink hair was also so perfect with this outfit!

We can do it!

My favourite picture of this photoshoot!

We still had plenty of time before the start of the tea party so I invited Marie-Lou to have an ice cream at Häagen-Dazs as we were quite hot after posing outside for a while. I chose a delicious brownie special cup that was delicious! 

There were still 30 minutes left before the start of the tea party, but we decided to head for the hotel already anyway. Angelic Pretty staff really asked for attendees to not come too early to the hotel, so we won't bother other clients. Marie-Lou and I arrived 15 minutes early, and some friends were already there waiting in the lobby. I immediately saw the hotel staff was a bit annoyed and asked us to follow them to a small salon to wait, where other people couldn't see us. The staff was always polite with us though, so well OK...
Actually it was better for us to wait in that salon so we could start chatting and take pictures!

This salon had a nice light to take pictures! I love this one!

With friends, Tro-Tro and Marie ♥

Many more Lolitas were arriving and after a while we were invited to form a queue to enter the actual Salon Pompadour for the tea party to start. Our names and invitations were checked and we then received a number. Mine was n°16!

Lovely Mila and a cute Japanese staff, working hard!

I quickly entered the room and joined my friend's Marie table. I was sitting just next to the tables where the raffles prizes were displayed, so I quickly went to take some pictures! I always love to see what's to win, it's so exciting! I immediately noticed the clearfiles and thought I would love to win them, but they were actually the consolation prizes for people who didn't win anything so I got them without even winning anything! Yay! Haha!

 Marie-Lou won a beautiful set with a necklace and matching bracelet! Lucky her! And as she doesn't like wearing bracelets she was the kindest and gave it to me!!! How sweet is that??! Thank you so much, Marie-Lou!

Marie-Lou and the other lucky winners!

Anyway, the tea party started with the fashion show, but we weren't allowed to take pictures so I don't have much to say about it... Nothing really caught my eyes, but I was happy to see some friends modeling :) and also the special guest, Tina Tamashiro!

After that, they announced the cake! A special cake, especially made by the pastry chef of the Meurice hotel! It was quite a beautiful cake... but I actually think they don't really get what exactly was Lolita fashion as the dress they put at the top of the cake was everything but Lolita! Hahaha!
Asüka first posed with the cake (that'sthe only picture of her I could take during the whole party...) and then we could do it ourselves too so of course I wanted a picture with it as I actually was matching it quite well!

The glorious cake!

 

Everyone gathered to take a picture of the cake!

Asüka presenting the cake. I'm sad it's the only pic I have of her...

We had some free time. Food and drinks were served and we could chat a bit. Marie-Lou quickly spotted Maki in a corner taking pictures with guests and she told me: "Emilie, we have to go to her now otherwise we won't see her again." Oh dear Marie-Lou, how smart and wise you are, because she was so right! So we ran to Maki and asked her for pictures. Well, you have to know that I LOVE MAKI. YES, I REALLY LOVE HER. Since my very first tea party 7 years ago, Maki is my Lolita idol. She is so pretty and kind! I was so happy to pose with her and she also asked for a picture of my outfit, which was quite flattering! I hope she liked it :) She also really loved Marie-Lou retro outfit, so maybe we'll see more retro inspired series in the future? ;)

Maki is an angel ♥

I was so happy she wanted to take a picture of me!

Marie-Lou was really on alert as she then spotted Mrs.Honda, Angelic Pretty's owner or "Madame Pretty" as we call her in the French community. We went to her and asked for a picture too. She was fully dressed up and very beautiful! She is also so funny, doesn't understand a word of English and then conversations with her are always amazing! Hahaha!

Madame Pretty & I. We were matching!

I also had a pic with the lovely Japanese staff girl!

We didn't have lots of free time and we were quickly asked to go back to our seats for Q&A with Tina Tamashiro. Again, no picture allowed and we couldn't ask questions either. The manager of the French shop were asking prepared questions and translating. It was great, but I honestly wish we culd have talked ourselves with Tina Tamashiro and have a picture with her at least... I like having guests, but if you can't interact with them at all, it's not so fun in the end... I used that time listening to eat scones and have some tea. We also had... interesting... pastries. The peach ones were quite original, as they was some basil inside I think?

Those scones were absolutely delicious with cream! Yum!

Then it was time for the raffle.As I already said, I didn't win anything but were more than happy with my clearfiles! The prizes were all amazing though, we are always spoiled I think! At the end of the raffle, they served us the cake which was DELICIOUS! Really, but I didn't have much time to eat it as they were already announcing the best dressed winners and then asked us to leave.

I wish I had more time to enjoy this cake. I had to eat it in like 3 sec...

That was it, the party was over. They asked us to leave like, immediately! Haha. I rushed to finish my cake and take my stuff and we were out. We stayed outside of the hotel for quite a while though, to chat and take pictures together as honestly we didn't have much time to do it during the party. It annoyed the hotel staff I think, but hey, we are on public space we can do whatever we want. Blah!!!

Picture with dear Ada, that I'm so happy to meet every year since 2010!

Cheesy picture with Marie-Lou ♥ She really is one of my best friends!

With my lovely Rosalynn, totally rocking Promenade de Paris!

Hearts with Marina and Rosalynn ♥♥♥

After a while, we decided to go back to the shop to see if we could meet Maki and Asüka there. And they were really there, inside the shop.

 We saw them taking pictures together and then disappeared... so well, that was it, no more Maki and Asüka *disappointment*
It was starting to rain quite heavily and my feet were hurting (I am not used to wear heels...) so Marie-Lou and I decided to go back to our hotel. As that was a good idea as a terrible thunder storm started as soon as we stepped in our room! It was crazy!!! Rain, hail, thunder, wind, wow!

And this is how our trip to Paris ended. We took off our outfits, took a shower, packed our stuff and went to bed completely exhausted. We had to wake up very early the next morning to catch our train back to Geneva and in the afternoon I was already back to work...

All in all, this weekend in Paris was AMAZING! I spent wonderful moments with Marie-Lou, was so happy to meet old and new friends and to take part again to an Angelic Pretty tea party (even if I have to say I miss the old parties from 2010-2011...)

Next event for me will be Dream Masquerade Carnival in London! I want to know who's going? If you are, I'll be very happy to meet you so don't be shy and come to say hi!

And let's end this entry with a picture of Maki of course, because I am sure you like her at least as much as I do! ♥ ;) Thanks for reading!
Oh and my friend Coffee Princess made this amazing video of the party, featuring me goofing around and showing my outfit, so go and watch it!!!

Paris 2017 Day 2: Disneyland

Here is my entry for our second day in Paris! Well, first, you all have to know: I'm an old lady (won't tell you my age, but I'm probably older than what you think! haha) and I have never been that much a fan of Disney movies... BUT I really wanted to go to Disneyland for some time now, but never had the occasion. So, when Marie-Lou asked me if I wanted to go, I immediately said yes! It was about time, finally I would visit Disneyland Paris!
I really really really want to thank Marie-Lou who has spent this day with a 8 years old version of myself. I was overexcited and amazed by everything basically.
For this special day, I tried something for the first time also: a Disney bound. I know some of my friends already did some amazing outfits themselves inspired by Disney characters and I wanted to try also! My outfit was inspired by Ariel, the Little mermaid. I wore a purple t-shirt, greenish/bluish shorts and socks and mermaid accessories such as shell earrings and brooches! My outfit was super simple, but I wanted to be comfortable for the day as I knew we would walk a lot, wait in line and that it was going to be a very hot summer day.

We arrived at Disney around 11:00 I guess and as soon as we went out of the train, I started to get really excited!

Yay! I'm in Disneyland Paris!

Our first stop was to have a donut and coffee as we didn't have a proper breakfast (some cookies and a juice in our hotel room). I chose a white and blue donut filled with chocolate and it reminded me of Elsa! We were slowly walking, trying to eat and drink our food when suddenly Marie-Lou told me: "there's Donald over there!" and I immediately knew we had to take a picture with him!!! Because my outfit was inspired by the Little Mermaid, but Marie-Lou's was inspired by Donald! She loves Donald, I love Donald, so we needed a picture with Donald!!! There weren't so many people waiting in line so we patiently waited. Donald had to leave twice though: the first time was because he had to pee XD and second time was because he needed to take a quick bath in his swamp. Hahahaha I think those explanations were cute!
When it eventually was our turn, Marie-Lou went first! Donald really loved her pink hair and her tiny sailor hat! Then, I went to take my picture with him and I turned into a 5 years old little girl: I hugged him, kissed him on his beak and said how happy I was.... Donald was mad at me though. Because I had pompoms in my hair that were of the same exact material as his...uh... feathers so he reprimanded me! Hahahaha! It was awkward, but then I hugged him again as an apology and he was all happy again to pose with me!

I love this pic from all my heart ♥

In the end, Marie-Lou is the biggest Donald's fan, but I was the crazy girl who fangirled really hard over him! The day had just started, but it was already amazing and so many things were to come next!
After saying goodbye to Donald, we took many pictures with Aurora's castle (you can laugh at me... I honestly always thought it was Cinderella's castle...) and visited it.

Me in front of Cinder... - uh sorry - Aurora's castle!

Marie-Lou then suggested to go to Alice's Curious Labyrinth which was fun! We had a really nice view on the park from the Queen Of Heart's castle!
Then we made our first attraction: the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups!!! Nothing really spectacular, but I LOVE this attraction. It has such beautifull decorations and colours and for me, it always represented Disneyland in my mind, that's THE attraction I had to do. I took so many pictures of it, so pretty!

 

Look at all those pastel colours! ♥

It was way past noon already and Marie-Lou was quite hungry so we decided it was time to have lunch (great we had lunch AFTER the turning tea cups! haha). We went to the "Châlet de la Marionnette", a Pinocchio themed fastfood restaurant where we had hot dogs and fries (such healthy food...)
In the afternoon we visited all the other parts of the park, including Adventure Isle and "La Cabane des Robinson" (Marie-Lou didn't know they were Swiss just like us! Yay!). I really wanted to do the Big Thunder Mountain attraction but the 70 minutes wait was a bit too much especially that it was REALLY hot and sunny. In the end, we settled for the Phantom Manor with only 30 minutes of wait which was correct. I love it and not especially because it was scary but the settings and decorations were so beautiful! Hahaha! I would have loved to steal some of their furniture!

Such a classy manor!

Day was slowly coming to an end, and we made our way back to Main Street. As people were starting to gather for the parade, which we were not really interested in, we decided to do "It's a Small World" attraction as it is Marie-Lou emblematic and favourite one! Only 30 minutes of wait, but I think in the end we didn't even have to wait that long. I LOVED THE RIDE!!! Ok, the music is a bit annonying and stay stuck in your mind for days after, but damn it was so cute, pretty and colorful! There were so many things to look at that I didn't know what to do! I wish I could have make it again, just to see all the details!

Do you spot the train coming just in time for the picture?

It's a small world after all! ♫

People were still at the parade, so I asked Marie-Lou a favor: check the Princess Pavilion to see how long the wait was. Because the princess present that day was Aurora and Aurora is my favourite ♥ The board said the wait was of 30 minutes, but Marie-Lou wasn't so enthusiastic about it but she came with me anyway, just because she knew it would make me so happy ♥♥♥ Thank you so much for that Marie-Lou! We actually waited quite a long time... way more than the 30 minutes they promised us, but after all I could meet Aurora!!! I probably looked very stupid, told her how she was my favourite princess and that I love so much. She asked me if it was my first time in Disneyland and if I visited her castle. All of that was a bit awkward, but so magic! We then took a picture together and I said goodbye to her. Now I will start a little rant: I am sorry but Aurora's dress is BLUE. I know the fairies fight to have it pink or blue but in the end it is blue!!! Now all the merchandising for Aurora features her wearing the pink dress, while her dress is blue è_é I guess because Cinderella and now also Elsa both already have blue dresses, they wanted different colours for each princess, but still... //rant over

Aurora was so beautiful!

At that moment we were dying of thirst, so we went to buy water bottles, see some shops in Main Street and then definitely leave the park. I was a bit sad the day was over, but I was also dead tired!

We still had one more thing to do though: have dinner at the Five Guys restaurant! DAYUM!!!

I took the famous double cheesburger with bacon and a peanut butter milkshake. And THAT WAS HEAVEN (and super healthy again...), so to end this entry I will just say dayum, dayuuumm, DAYYYUUUMM and leave you with this video, bye:




 (and don't thank me for having it stuck in your mind, you're welcome :o) )

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!!!