Hello 2015!

A bit of a late hello, but finally a greeting to the new year at long last!

I got back from my trip to Japan a couple days ago, and am still feeling the faint withdrawal of not being able to get yummy drinks at vending machines and walking everywhere.

I honestly wish I could walk everywhere because I have been getting so. much. fatter. since I got back. It's unbelievable how fast I'm gaining this weight ;;;


Anywho, I thought it would be appropriate to do a bit of a new years resolution post, so here goes!

In 2015:

• I want to travel more! Not sure if I will be going America at the moment, but it's still a possibility at this point~

• I want to succeed in my graduate programme. I know it's not a competition, and I don't want to face it like a task or something but I want to do well and be rewarded. Graduating is a big change in lifestyle and I want to start off healthy!
  
• I want to maintain all my friendships. This is a difficult one, because there was so much more time in university. Even if people's schedules were different, they were still fairly flexible. Now that most of my friends have graduated it's going to be a lot harder to get together. At least most of us are still in the same city!
  
• I want to stop buying from taobao. It just aint healthy how much stuff I have and how little of it I can actually use. I think I still have some accessories and stuff at my shipping proxy hmm...should probably get those shipped over soon....
  
• I want to maintain nice nails all the time! It's a lifestyle, not just an accessory! I do make a resolution like this every year (keeping myself tidy/makeup done), but so far I've slacked off every year. I found out in Japan that it wasn't actually that much of a hassle to just put aside a little extra time to do my hair and makeup every morning, so hopefully this will actually keep up this year!
  
• I want to be able to do full sculpt long nails, and improve my nail art skills! This is purely out of interest :3
  
• I want to stay fit. So I can actually fit the clothes I bought in Japan and look good in them. >>;

^yeh gonna need some luck with that last one aye hahaha......

7 is a good number, so I will stop there :3

I'm halfway through washing all the clothes I bought from Japan, and one/multiple haul videos will be up on my youtube sometime. I took a look at all the stuff I bought and it just wasn't feasible to do photo haul post lol. I've literally stocked up enough clothes for the entire year if not for next year too x'D



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Early Christmas shopping - b/c we don't have Black Friday

Actually, the title is semi-inaccurate. We didn't traditionally have Black Friday, but apparently England is starting to do the whole black friday shebang and as a British colony, NZ is starting to adopt Black Friday too. Saw a few ads for Black Friday sales this year, and probably will see more next year.

Anywho, mom and I decided to go to a cafe far out west for brunch today. Black Cottage Cafe is literally like 20 minutes out west and sooo out in the middle of nowhere. They made really good egg benedict though. I ate mine too quickly so here's a photo of mom's (with smoked salmon)

yums

Anywho, onto what I bought today!

RRP $150 or something

RRP $150 or something as well

The above shoes: $40 total! Wild Pair does this deal at Christmas of 2 for $40 on some items and I got a steal last year. So happy they started it early this year so I could catch it before I go on holiday!

Comfy underwear. 1 set for $25!

I'm really lazy so if I like something I will literally buy multiples

Just like this blouse. Bought 2 because I hook blouses so easily -0-

Nice details!

The blouses were 2 for $60 ok. I stopped at 2 because as tempting as 3 for $80 is, I could not justify buying three of the same blouse -0-;

Camisoles - nice lace detail~~~

Not the cheapest, but left three for $15 and right two at $10 each or something

One can never have enough camisoles. I found the first two lace ones later at Glassons and had to buy them cause really, when in the last decade in NZ have there been $5 camisoles?

That's it! Hopefully I shall keep my paws away from new items until I leave for Japan ^^ sooo happy with my purchases today though - the entire trip I spent under $200!! For so many items! Hehehehe bargain hunter yeaahhhhhahhahahaha

Since our inventory of rose petals is getting pretty big so rose bath tonight yay! 

The pink bath salt thing is the popular Japanese 'weight loss' bath powder thing in soda scent ❤



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Liz Lisa haul arrived! + First outfit / Penderie

Hiya!

Sorry it's been a heck of a long time since I last updated! I've finally moved all my 2000+ travel photos onto my computer, so hopefully I can upload the posts soon since I've already typed them out like the eager beaver I am *v*

My Liz Lisa package came in on Friday, unfortunately in the very early morning (as they do), but I was so excited because it literally came three or four days after I received the 'item sent' email from Tenso!! They are SO FAST. I cannot stress how amazing Tenso's service has been throughout the entire shipping service process!

Here are my lovely items in all their packaged glory~

YEEEEESSSSSSSS :D

My shoes came in the shoe box perfectly stuffed with huge balls of paper (as expected of Liz Lisa), and all the clothes were acting as cushions in the package for my friend's snacks. There were also other random pieces of paper stuffed in the box to keep his snacks safe -0-

The amount of packaging and the space they left in the box is insane. The over-packaging is probably the only problem I have with Tenso tbh.

Yes. My friend B bought snacks to be shipped over with me. No, the snacks were not worth buying after the shipping cost was added. Moral of the story: buy things that are expensive compared to their weight. ie. just clothes.

Of course, no haul post can be uploaded without an outfit!
I actually wanted to take photos of all my clothes before doing this post, but I don't think I will be wearing some of them for a while because the temperature suddenly dropped last weekend, even though we are supposedly heading into spring. Lovely typical New Zealand weather yeah? xD

So anyway here's my Penderie dress, which was a whopping 70% off or something!

Ripped off my instagram @snowrii because I've lost the original photo :'(

The quality is seriously amazing for ~20USD. Brand items are so worth buying when they go on sale fufufu *v*

My face for that day

I haven't really had a chance (or the will) to put on proper makeup the last two weeks, what with uni life really catching up on me, but I'm finally getting back to it! The fashion season is coming up in New Zealand, so hopefully there will be a lot more local content to blog about ^^

Stay tuned for my other Liz Lisa outfits and travel tips for Europe & Japan!


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Tokyo Kawaii Life July Secret Sale Haul!

I was really mad at myself after coming back from Japan, for buying a bodyline dress instead of stocking more Liz Lisa (or checking out sales on lolita brands QAQ). In fact, I haven't even had the chance to wear my bodyline dress yet!

I bought a dress and a top at the Liz Lisa 109 store, both were bought very quickly but I still super super love them to this day! But anyway, moving on because this post isn't about what I bought in Japan hehe :P

I was going to place an order for the items I wanted at 20% off, but then I thought I'd try my luck with their secret shop sale. The Buy 2+ and get 60% off your order deal is too good to pass QAQ

banner for the sale!

Unfortunately I only jumped on it on Saturday, and of course by then, heaps of stuff had already sold out. The pair of shoes I wanted the most was down to the last size and color too! Thankfully I snagged one in time though~! So glad I tried for the secret sale, because I saved a lot of money! Well I saved them from the items I wanted, and then proceeded to spend them buying more items LOL but that's ok xD

To enter the secret sale, you need an account on Tokyo Kawaii Life which took me a couple of minutes to set up. Since I had an existing Tenso account, I had a shipping address ready for use. I think you must set up an address to start using the account?

Anyway, here are the stock photos of what I bought:

top

dress

cardi (much needed for my wardrobe)

skirt w/ detachable suspenders

skirt

dress

wedges (pink colorway, though the photo doesn't make it look very pink at all)

dress

The last dress is actually from the outlet, not the secret sale. It was so cheap anyway that it didn't matter lol. Also that dress is Penderie, and everything else is Liz Lisa.

There were also some other cute items I really wanted, but was too late to buy T_T they're sitting in my wishlist right now, but I don't think I'll ever get them. The stock status says they're sold out :'(

dress

dress

dress

dress (Liz Lisa x My Melody collab ❤)

These were 57% off outside of secret sale anyway

Similar design to the shoes I bought, but the pink seems to be more pink o.O anyway it's cute!

Now that I look back on what I bought, only 2 items were things I always wanted. I actually just wanted to buy dresses but somehow ended up with all sorts of random stuff lol. I'm still pretty sad that I won't get the dresses in my wishlist, they're just so beautiful QAQ

Everything is going to take a few days to arrive at Tenso, then comes the dreaded international shipping lol. I think the package will be around 4kg, and Tenso shipping is nowhere near as cheap as the shipping service I use for taobao...><

Hopefully everything will arrive mid/late August, just in time for spring in NZ! Yay!!~
edit: I may put up a post when all my items have arrived, but I don't have a mannequin and I suck at layouts and I just feel like my outfit photo quality is shoddy so I may not. I'll see ><

Now, my broke ass needs to get back to work. Uni work calls!


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Taobao Haul April / May 2014

Hiya!

Today I am going to post about my recent haul from taobao~

I purchased the items on two occasions - the first for the clothing, and then separately for the phone and hair accessories and miscellaneous items. My original post of the clothing I bought is here, and the wishlist which became reality (wwww always wanted to say that) is here! There's nice stock photos on those posts so if you want to see the items worn or nicely arranged, there ya go :)

These are in complete random order, and some are collated. I would like to apologize beforehand about the inconsistent exposure QAQ anyone have tips about how to keep the brightness consistent between photos of light color items and dark color items?? Please share!

As always, I am happy to provide links if there is anything you like (just don't ask for everything cause it takes a while to dig out all the links QAQ)

Well without further ado, here is the photo spam!

Key pack thing which is pretty cute,  but unfortunately not big enough to hold my car keys.

6 cases, 1 bumper case thing, 3 stickers and 3 dust plugs for my phone. 

 Ok I have a little rant for these phone accessories. First of all, I strongly suggest you don't buy anything with white 'faux leather' like the blinged case on the left. There are so many marks on it when I received it, it's not even funny. Worse still, because it's plastic-y faux leather I'm too scared to even try and scrub it off!

The phone sticker sets are the best things I have ever bought from taobao. The sticker quality on the whole is not too shabby, though the back camera is starting to come off the tiniest little bit since there's a part that gets caught in stuff easily. On the whole, a very good purchase. Did i mention the stickers even include glittery pink strips for the sides of the phone??? (I will post photos of it on my phone later in another post)

Hair accessories, necklaces, and rings!

 Ok I bought a whole heap of these tiara clip things (what are they called anyway?) because of the hairpieces pictured below! I wanted to style it as himekaji, so these will hide the gap between my hair and the hair piece ^^ So keen to look himekaji in my travel photos at the end of this semester ~~

The rings are for lolita - one can never have enough lolita rings :D

I only bought 2 long necklaces this time (they're about waist length), it's for smart casual looks with some of the clothes I bought which you'll see later in this post.

Two ponytail hair pieces, and lolita tights!

These hair pieces have huge nets, so I bought some wig/extension clips off ebay, and I'll be sewing them on here to make these half-wig pieces. Hopefully it works out, as I've never tried to do that before! These hair pieces are super soft (a little too soft to look like human hair) but on the whole, they're pretty convincing. Did I also mention they're really warm?

The hair pieces look really shiny here, but I've left them out for a few days as per suggestions online, and indeed after collecting some dust (sounds gross, but it's the truth >>') they really de-shined a lot! lol

These are the tights from above, aren't they the cutest!? The fibre is not very good though

Cats. There are fluffy cats with bows, and crosses, and crowns, and diamonds on my tights. *v*~~~

On the left are restock of my favourite double eyelid tape, and the rest are nail tattoos

So I found out recently that the nail stickers refer to the thick plastic stickers, and these sticker things which you soak in water are actually called nail tattoos! I had so much trouble hunting down this type of nail deco, now I know why hahaha. Search nail tattoos - these are sooo much better because they don't lift anywhere near as easily as the cruddy nail stickers!

Princess Melody replica *v*

MA*RS replica *v*

OK so in hindsight, I could have left the above dresses off till after my Japan trip. But I bought these first because I wanted to see how the quality is, before checking out the actual originals in Japan - after all, the original items didn't look like they used extremely good fabric, so I wanted to get these first and see if it's worth buying the true MA*RS. Funny thing is that the MA*RS replica printed fabric is actually a different fabric to the princess melody one (even though I think I bought them from the same store...?) - the MA*RS dress fabric is much more stiff, which imo is good. The PM print fabric is the thin limp kind that gathers a lot of static. ><

I haven't worn either of them for more than 5 minutes, so I don't know how they'll fare with NZ weather and just being worn out of the house in general, but we will see. Also, the fabric puffs at the waist a little bit due to the gathering - I don't know if the original dresses do this too. All in all, considering each one is perhaps $40~60 shipping inclusive, it's not a bad purchase. Dresses in NZ are about this price for this quality too.

Cute blouse with sheer flower adorned sleeves

Problems: the big bow was overlocked on the edge, the collar puffs out which I'll have to fix, the buttons are a little wonky, the fabric is static-y, and the top is generally smaller than I expected (around the bust particularly). Also the top is a little see through which clearly the shop decided to photoshop out of the stock photos. I've bought better items for the price I paid for this, but it was from the shop that I bought a cute lace blouse from before, so I thought it would be good quality :/

Short sleeve blouse with sheer lace. chiffon-imitation fabric that's opaque!

Pink sleeveless top, chiffon-imitation fabric, also opaque!

Button closure plain white shirt, for kogal style.

black cardi, don't like the buttons so perhaps I will find new buttons to replace these. Fabric also, is way cruddier than what I expected looking at the stock photo...

Off-white sheer blouse with beaded collar detail. Worn in the outfit at the end of this post.

Lilac lace sleeveless dress with ruffle collar. Fabric is not great, and I haven't tried it yet. Looking forward to wearing it for travel :)

Pink with off-white overlay salopette with ruffle strap detail.

Funny story with this salopette, I accidentally managed to lose one of the buttons that the straps go on at the back. Replaced it with another one I dug out of my button treasure trove, but it's still a little disappointing that I managed to lose a button within the first 10 mins I wore this. Also, not sure if you can see but they managed to screw up the stitching front and centre left. All in all though, the design is adorable and the buttons are cute. I spent about $40 shipping incl. on this I think (it was on sale, down from about $80).

High waist denim jeans. Worn in the outfit photo at the end of this post.

They're a good length for my legs, and for ONCE my butt actually fits in Asian jeans wtf. However, as per usual when my butt fits, the waist is too big. I'll be adjusting the waist soon.

Gifts I received with this order.

I think out of the gifts I received this time, the hair clips on the right are the ones I've used the most. They're legit really good quality haha. On the bottom left is a ring, and 2 dust plugs. I have no idea what that white thing furthest right is... any guesses? ^^;


So finally the haul post is over! Here is the first outfit I put together from this haul.

Not too bad for casual clothes I hope?

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More shopping / wtf I'm going broke QAQ

I don't remember if I mentioned in my last post that I had also placed an order for clothing on taobao? I wanted to try the replica Ma*rs items before I consider buying the real product - after all, the replica price is far more acceptable and perhaps it's a little more un-asian-sized?

Here's a quick snap of the items I'm ordering

Some of the items are a different color to the displayed image

Didn't order too much, but this still came down to about 250NZD QAQ
OK tbh 250 isn't much for 11 items of clothing and 5 accessories, but I'm just so used to bargains on taobao that spending over 100CNY for an item of clothing is weird .-. #toostingy

There are a few other items I want, but aren't ordering yet. They're mori style clothes, and wig pieces for dark hair. Since I'm not ordering them yet till probably May or June, I'll post them up as a wishlist post later :)


Anyway today I went shopping again, because a few friends' birthdays are coming up and I needed presents. But while mom and I were in the mall, we found more clothes that were cute and on sale! These are my buys:

belt I spotted in Pagani!

Pagani again, size 14 lace blouse which I trimmed the sides off into a long top

Dress from Forever New. I finally have a black dress *v*

Seriously I have been searching for a simple-ish semi-formal black dress forever, so I was super happy to find this today! For 70NZD, this was a pretty good find *v*

Now I have 2 dresses from Forever new in the same style, except the other one is white and doesn't have this chiffon skirt outside... Well, it looks good so whatever ~

Oh and I appear to be sick with some kind of bug fml. Not so much runny nose / sore throat / hacking lungs out, but I'm half asleep all the time, super uncoordinated, tired but not sleepy and just overall feeling really meh. Did I mention a literature review is due in 2 days? yippeeeee.......

That's probably why I've been shopping like crazy this week. Retail therapy to make up for being sick and the work that's piling up hahahaha

OK time to sleep this bug away. night night~

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