Cali Vacation: Meeting online friends

Pictures from my second day in California, both me and my dear friend Reba that I was staying with wore Toy Drops and I finally got to meet Desiree and Claudia! It really felt unreal to finally meet these amazing girls, they were all so nice and sweet. I will never forget the first day I met you guys.

We went to a store called Tamaya that was filled with cute san-x thing! I bought a bunch of stuff there! Mostly stuff with my favorite characters, Sumikko Gurashi.

We also went to a japanese food store where we got some snacks and then to Daiso that is kinda like a Japanese dollar store.

Later we went to get some Pho, the food was good but the people who worked there were super rude and asked if it was halloween and took not so sneaky sneak photos. We complained to the manager and got 10% of our food. All in all it was a really lovely day and I got a bunch of cute gifts from my sweet friends!

//Love Minty

Angelic Pretty: Dream Marine made to order!

As many of you know Dream Marine sold out so quickly that their webpage crashed! But lucky news for everyone that missed out on it there will be a made to order reservation! I think this dress is super cute so if I could afford it right now I would totally get it! I hope this can make all the ladies and gents that missed out on it happy at least! So gogogo preorder before its to late, tomorrow is the last day!

//Love Minty

Angelic Pretty: Belle Epoque Rose

Belle Epoque Rose is now released on Angelic Pretty's webshop! The jsk is already sold out but the OP and skirt are still available! The OP has a really gorgeous cut, the lace rufflebut and lace detailing on the sleeves are amazing!

//Love Minty

Angelic Pretty x Disney

Angelic Pretty are doing this really cute collab with disney, this cute collection features daisy and minnie! My favorite is the backpack, super cute!

//Love Minty

New Junie Moon x Angelic Pretty collab doll outfits

Angelic Pretty are releasing a new set of doll outfits in collaboration with Junie Moon. There will be two dolls wearing crystal dream carnival and two with melody toys. Since I have the mint Melody Toys I'm feeling the wants! Just wish I had a doll to wear them.

//Love Minty

Hello Dear Readers

I have been on a vacation in California for three weeks and I'm just recovering from my trip, there will be lots of content coming up soon from my vacation and other things really soon! Thank you for staying with me.

//Love Minty

Valentines J-fashion Meet-up video

Made this cute video from the valentines meet-up!

Lolita Lesson #2: Gothic Lolita

Gothic Lolita is one of the three main Lolita styles (the others being sweet and classic). It is characterized as being related to western goth style and it has an overall dark and black look. Black is the most common main color for Gothic Lolita but white, jewel tones, silver and gold. Prints often contain gothic motifs such as crosses, castles, coffins, roses and bats. Platform shoes and high heels are used rather than teaparty shoes. Gothic Lolita used to be well known for its black with white lace look but after Gothic had been the most popular style for a while all the cheap badly made clothes that were trying to be lolita (horribly) started to try and copy that look and it lots all popularity due to being associated with this failed beginner look. I think the old school gothic look still hold up though if anyone wants to try and pull it of! 

The biggest brands are Moi Meme Moite, h.Naoto, Atelier Pierot, Chantilly and Atelier Boz. Moi Meme Moite is the brand owned by gothic lolita fashion icon Mana, he is a famous visual kei artist that used to play in Malice Mizer and later in his own project Moi Dix Mois. 

I made a collage to help you get the general feel of the style visually: 

None of these are any rules of the style, just descriptions of whats common so that you can get an idea of what the style looks like, so don't be afraid to experiment!

//Love Minty

Angelic Pretty: Drained Cherry re-release

Angelic Pretty are doing a re-release of drained cherry this week! I have to say that I didnt like it at all when it was first released and I still dont like it now. There are a hundred prints I would rather see them do re-releases of. Im starting to get really curious about which prints will cone up next since I will be in their San Fransisco store in one month, hope they will have some good stuff in!!

//Love Minty

Casual Valentine

Cute and sweet valentines outfit. Sweater from Liz Lisa, bag from Michael Kors, shoes from Irregular Choice and shorts from Miss Selfridge! Comfy yet fashionable.

//Love Minty

Evelyn x Barbie

Evelyn also made a cute Barbie collab for the Laforet event, but for this one the same clothes are also available in human size. So if you want to have a matching clothes with a Barbie you should totally check it out! I wish Baby the stars shine bright would of had a clothes matching with their Barbie also.

//Love Minty

Romantic Valentines Lolita

Simple coord that would be really lovely for a valentines coord, dress and bag from baby the stars shine bright, shoes from irregular choice and socks from Angelic Pretty. I'm working on some more valentines coords!

//Love Minty

Outfit: Teppo in Visual Kei

My friend Teppo looking awesome in her visual kei outfit, always ott yet on point! Gorgeous necklace from Vivienne Westwood as always and heart purse from Angelic Pretty. All over a great look!

//Love Minty

Ice Skating meetup

Me in the middle wear Sugar Dream Dome from Angelic Pretty, I feel that it really went with the theme. I can not skate at all. But I was lucky that these lovely boys twining, Gabriel and Jacob, helped pulled me along out on the ice! (as you might of seen in my video) I had so much fun and everyone looked lovely! I'm happy that so many showed up, I'll see if I can snag the group photo that an other girl took later. I should really take the time to learn how to skate though.

//Love Minty

Lolita Lesson #1: what is lolita?

Lolita is a fashion style and subculture that started in Japan that started late 70s. The style is inspired by Victorian children and doll clothing. The style is classy, stylish and cute. Lolita is not meant to be sexy and has nothing to do with Vladimir Nabokov's book 'Lolita'. The basic Lolita shape is covered and classic on the top and with a puffy knee length skirt. Lolita fashion has changed a lot since its start and developed into a world wide subculture!

Skirts got bigger and more cupcake shaped, square headdresses changed into headbows. Prints got more and more detailed. Simple knee-socks changed into detailed print stockings. I will make a series of guides about Lolita fashion so check back here!

There is much to learn about the basics of Lolita I thought I would leave you with some great videos about Lolita to watch!

//Love Minty

Angelic Pretty: Pretty School

Angelic Pretty will be releasing this lovely dress, I think this would work great as a more casual look when you want to wear Lolita but still look a bit professional. The extra pins and beret really complete the look!

//Love Minty

Angelic Pretty: Dream Marine

The other marine print coming out, I think there is a nice contrast between this one and the other marine theme print Marine Kingdom. This print, called Dream Marine, is much more simple but I think its in a really good way. Angelic Pretty has done mermaids before but I don't remember them doing a seashell themed earlier. The colors look amazing, I don't usually like pastel prints in dark colorways but from the ones shown the navy is actually my favorite! The far right cut in navy would be my pick! (With the hat and all)

//Love Minty

Angelic Pretty: Melty Berry Princess

Angelic pretty are releasing a new strawberry collection called Melty Berry Princess and I love love love it! The strawberries look so cute and I love all the frills on the OP, its fun that they have been doing more interesting cuts for their print dresses! Its cool that they are doing a new version of their popular strawberry bag (that bodyline also did a copy of). I have the old one so if I get this dress it would be a new chance to use it. Also did you notice that headbow? Its huge!! Hope they will do more headbows like this.

I really like this dress, though I must say that the name reminds me of berry princess in Adventure Time, watching too many cartoons.~

//Love Minty

Angelic Pretty: Wrapping Heart

 

Now we know that the next print out is Wrapping Heart! I really love the look of it, my favorite is the mint OP. Highwaisted OPs look so cute, the different colored ribbions and neck bow are nice details. Who will be staying up to get this print?

//Love Minty

Angelic Pretty: Marine Kingdom

Another amazing print from Angelic Pretty, this one is called Marine Kingdom! The colors of the print are gorgeous and it comes both with ribbons and lots of extra details and more of a simple standard jsk. I'm not much for overskirt but I think it goes well with the theme. I really love the shoes with the stars in the middle, want those in every color because they are super cute! The purse with the big pearls looks really cute and fancy but I don't know if it will be comfortable or practical so I'm not going hunting for it. I think this dress is one of the better coming out, good going Angelic Pretty!

//Love Minty

Preppy Cute (x Barbie)

More cute Barbie clothes for the laforet Barbie event. The two top ones are by Dolly & Molly, the bottom dress is from OLIVE des OLIVE and the barbiedoll is by la belle Etude. I totally love the DM dresses, they would both be super cute for just casual outfits, the top left one is my favorite of the bunch! The dress for the Barbie doll is really adorable too.

//Love Minty

Feature: Deerstalker Pictures 2

What is Deerstalker Pictures 2? Good question! Its a YouTube channel that makes videos inspired by kawaii culture, ranging from funny skits to educational videos. The videos are made by Technotropism (Director) and Vysanthe (Cinematographer). Here's one of their videos:

Most Lolitas I know watch their videos and I think they have had a positive effect on the international Lolita community. They spend so much time making them and they are really good at it. They have started a Patreon and I think its a great idea, I personally at least want them to keep making videos. They give Lolita fashion a good image and if they get enough they will make a documentary, I for one really want that! So please support them, making videos takes a lot of time and money, even $1 makes a big difference if everyone gives that much. Don't you have that much to spare to get great content related to Lolita and kawaii culture? If you don't then share so that maybe someone else will contribute!

Here is a video where they talk about their Patreon:

Go here to contribute or just to learn more!

//Love Minty

New Pictures of Angelic Pretty print!

New pictures of one of Angelic Pretty's upcoming prints! The name of the print is 'Belle Epoque Rose'. This amazing dress with a print that looks like it features rocking horses and flowers comes in this amazing princess cut OP. Cant wait until the release, this looks amazing. It was number 10 in my post about the upcoming Angelic Pretty prints. I love the lace detailing on the sleeves and the bonnet looks great too! All in all this looks like an awesome release!

//Love Minty

Lolita Coord Help: Basic color balancing

This is a simple way of color coordinating that works great for basic sweet coords. You always have to make sure that colors are balanced. One color for blouse, bag and socks and an other for shoes, dress and headbow. Think of the dress as the main color and the other colors are accents, we are now working with just one accent color to make it easy. 

Above you see a breakdown of the blocks for this coord. See how the both the main color and the accent color are in all the three blocks, it makes it look balanced. Its also good that the accent color breaks of the main color. Try to get the colors one after the other. Pink headbow, white blouse, pink dress, white bag, more pink dress, white socks, pink shoes. 

Here under you see some more examples with any colors than white as the accent also. I'm trying to make this as clear as possible so comment and ask if anything is unclear so that I can fix it. I will post more guides on how to do coords with multiple colors and much more.

//Love Minty

Baby the Stars Shine Bright x Alice in Wonderland

More collaborations coming out every day almost, Baby the Stars Shine Bright has done a new collection together with Disney's Alice in Wonderland! The print is cute but I'm not much for skirts. I'm more interested in the super cute accessories,  The purse and the round make up bag are some of my favorites!

//Love Minty

Nile Perch/Faline Tokyo x Barbie

Nile Perch and Faline Tokyo both made super cute sweaters with Barbie prints for the laforet x Barbie event! I think these would look really cute with Fairy Kei or just comfy casual for anyone who likes cute pastel clothes. The retro feel in the print makes them even more perfect for Fairy Kei. I definitely like these!

//Love Minty

Metamorphose x Barbie

Here we have Metamorphose's contribution to the laforet Barbie event! As usual Meta goes for a really different and bold direction. There is something really classy about the pale pink with black combination. All in all its a really cute set! I think the print might be a little bit too simple in the shapes, I personally prefer the Angelic Pretty dress. But then again I'm always in love with everything Angelic Pretty creates. What do you think of the dress? Would you buy it if you could? More Barbie designs to come! 

//Love Minty

Laforet x Barbie

As I mentioned earlier there will be a Barbie event in laforet with 20 brands there doing collabs with Barbie, there seems to be some great stuff coming up for sales, so sad that it only will be sold there. But at least we get to see the cool designs different brands made. For those of you that don't know, Laforet is a huge shopping mall in Harajuku, they house a wide selection of brands and a lot of Lolita brands have their stores there. So its a must see if you go to Tokyo. Some of the brands are: Angelic Pretty, Baby the stars shine bright, metamorphose, Algonquins, h.Naoto, Emily Temple Cute, ghost of harlem, Swimmer and Super Lovers to name a few. Its interesting seeing brands taking the idea of Barbie and designing something that still fits their brands aesthetic. I will be posting more about the different Barbie designs so be sure to check bad for that!

//Love Minty

Baby the Stars Shine Bright x Barbie

Lots of entries in the Barbie trend, lolita brand Baby the Stars Shine Bright will be releasing a Barbie with lolita clothes for the Barbie in Laforet event. For only 12 000 yen this lolita Barbie can be yours if you can actually get to laforet. The event will take place 7 Feb to 1 Mar. 20 brands will be doing collaborations with Barbie.  I think the dress is really cute, can I have the same in people size please?

//Love Minty

Btssb Thumbelina

Baby the stars shine bright will be releasing their new print Thumbelina soon, reservations stars tomorrow. I really like this dress, the print is very romantic with the flowers and I think it will look really summery. The colorways are really lovely and the darker one offers a really different look from the others.

What do you think of it? Let me know in the comments.

//Love Minty

Lolitas on Ice

I filmed a bit at the ice skating meet we had recently and made this video, I hope you like it. Please subscribe to my youtube channel and share the video with your friends!

//Love Minty