Juliette - My Volks SDGr Nono

It's about time that I introduce my newest addition to my BJD family! Juliette has appeared in pictures and some of my doll collecting friends have already seen her in person too, but I opted to not introduce her yet since I had not paid her off completely. 

Her back story is quite long and holds a special place in my heart. Juliette has special meaning to me and my sister, and she was adopted into my small BJD family with a bit of luck and fate. (^__^)*

Juliette, a Volks SDGr Nono

 Nono used to belong to D.ark who I had the pleasure of meeting a couple times during a visit to London and in Japan. Although I didn't know her very well, from my first impression she was a lovely person with a kind soul. The stories my sister would share with me when she met up with the doll collectors in London left me inspired because she was such a vital part of her community. 

It was during our trip to Japan in last May (2012), that my sister got the news that D.ark had passed away from her long term illness. It was so shocking and hard to accept because we had just seen her a few days before at the Volks Dolpa. 

Her husband, Fransgaard, decided to list her dolls for sale and I never knew her collection was so vast and diverse. I was a bit overwhelmed! My sister helped him one weekend while she was in London to piece together all the components and sets for each doll and showed me the listing for her dolls. I saw Nono and I knew I wanted to adopt her, but her cost would hold me back. It was based on sentimental attachment since it was the first doll I saw D.ark with when I met her and if it was possible, I would want to have her in my doll family.

I messaged Fransgaard about her price and told him I would think about it because it was quite a lot of money. I got back to him too late, as there was another buyer interested in Nono and she was sold. I was disappointed but I chalked it up to fate telling me that "It wasn't meant to be."

A month later I received an e-mail from Fransgaard asking if I was still interested because that buyer flaked and never made a payment. After initially spazzing out in surprise, I agreed to adopt Nono.

Juliette

 During my trip to London in November, Fransgaard was kind enough to let me pick her up and bring her home while I still had to complete my layaway. (I also went through D.ark's extensive amount of fabric to see if she had anything I could also use. The amount of lace and trim I brought home is a bit shocking (>o<); ) Bringing her home myself had good benefits since I could avoid shipping and customs fees.

I spent a long time trying to come up with a name for Nono. For months, that's what I called her anyways since I had not come to any decision. For some dolls, you just know what to call them when you receive them, while some, it takes a bit longer to that name to appear. In the end, I settled on Juliette, but I will probably still have a habit of calling her Nono. ^__^;

Winter Smile Nono

I can't do a traditional box opening post for Juliette since I didn't bring her her box with me. The SDGr box was too big for the suitcases we brought to London, so I left it at my cousin's apartment and I'll figure out when to bring it home...in the future. @_@;

Juliette is a Volks Grafitti Girl Winter Smile Nono, she's shorter than a SD16, but taller than a SD13. Her stringing and her joints are quite different from my other smaller dolls, and she can pose a lot better than I thought. Nono comes with high heel feet and optional flat feet. I have not changed her legs since I'm not 100% sure how, and I like that she can wear high heel shoes anyways.

Nono's default outfit

 I just changed her into an outfit that coordinates some of her default pieces with other items, so I did not feel like documenting her clothing pieces. We'll use the booklet images instead! Haha.. (>x<;)

I really like her default outfit, it's something I would wear! I love her twin-tail hairstyle since I have a soft spot for pigtails. Also, a couple of my smaller girls have pigtail wigs. The skirt doesn't fit that well along the waist band. I feel like instead of being a curved waist band, they just cut a straight waistband...so it doesn't fit nicely. 

The ankle warmers are a bit ridiculous, and I've opted to put them on as hair accessories as D.ark had styled her during last year's doll meet. (That meeting was the first time I met D.ark and the first time I saw Nono!)

By far, one of the best items of her default wardrobe are her shoes! They're super adorable and cute! My sister also has this same outfit and one day I'll make her dress up one of her dolls to twin with Juliette. Hehe! ( * v * );

Being my first large scale 1/3 doll, I initially didn't know how to pose her or play with her that well. At some point I'll need to get a stand for her since she does not stand well in her high heeled feet. Having a large resin doll fall over on their face is not ideal at all! 

I don't have an extensive wardrobe for her now since I'm trying to save money, I'll have to make some things for her to wear! Or I'll just borrow some items from my sister since she has so many outfits for her Dollfie Dream dolls. (*o*@)!

That's all for now, I'll try to take some more pics and catch up on the rest of my blogging in the next couple months! 

Until next time!

♥

Lolita Closet: IW Henriette Vest

I have not blogged about Innocent World at all in my series of Lolita Closet posts. I recently just made a small order from the company, so I'll share my experience with their ordering system and what I bought from them (*o*@)!

Innocent World is one of the few lolita brands that ships world wide and their english website is very easy to navigate and understand. Their shopping cart system is a bit odd, as there isn't one! Every clothing item has a listing on the side of the quantity in stock in their respective colourways. You have to submit an order form with their special item codes and wait for the company to either reply to you, or be invoiced by paypal for your purchase. My normal e-mail and my paypal e-mail are not the same, so I did not notice I got invoiced until almost a week after! (>_<;) Oops..! 

Innocent World order

Those who know me, have known of my long outstanding quest to find a nice vest to go with my everyday clothing and for lolita. I could not find anything when I was shopping at the mall and a lot of the regular priced vests that I like from Alice and the Pirates are just too hefty on my wallet! Fortunately, IW was having a sale and I saw this vest...and decided to buy it. It was still expensive in retrospect, but I don't regret getting it!

Keiko was over one day, so I asked her for her opinion about the vest and she told me to buy it if I liked it because she knew how frustrated I was about finding a vest. While she was looking at their site, I asked her if anything caught her interest and I'd get it for her birthday (^_^;)

The smaller package is hers, while the bigger one is mine. I asked Innocent World to gift wrap her item and they wrapped them both! Haha..! The packages came with a hand written note thanking me and hoping I would like the goods. I rather like how simplistic it is and makes it feel more personal, and the stationary is beautiful!

Small details for gift wrapping

 They definitely don't go overboard, like how BtSSB or AatP gift wraps their items, but I still appreciate it. I think I'm picking too much of my mom's taste lately, because I really like the floral print of the wrapping paper they used to 'blind package' the items!

Henriette Vest

This vest came in three colourways; navy, brown, and black. I chose black because it coordinates well with a lot of items in my wardrobe. (I apologize if the lighting in the picture is off, when I uploaded them on flickr, it just made all the images darker! Bah! Plus the lighting is all over the place >_<;;) The vest is very simple, there are three non-removable bows in the front and is a round neck vest. Initially I was not sure where the closures were, but their is a zipper on the side seam. Putting it on is a bit odd because you have to pull it over your head and then zip it closed. Not the conventional way to put on a vest...but it does not bother me too much. 

Details

They used a simple rose lace along the collar and princess seams. I wish they placed the top bow a bit lower because it's covered by the lace. If I feel like it, maybe I'll move the bows one day.

Back

Removable ruffle

 The back is very simple, not too many details to talk about. The tail ruffle is removable, and I bought it because I thought it was cute and would look nice with a skirt. There is no shirring on this vest, however the measurements on Innocent World's site are quite accurate and it fits me very well. I find it rather flattering and hopefully I'll get a chance to wear it this weekend!

Little Birds Cameo Ribbon Clip

My experience with Innocent World was a positive one. Their customer service is great and they do respond to you quite quickly if you send them inquiries. I e-mailed them back informing that I had received the package and thanking them, they were sweet enough to say that in the future if I needed anything gift wrapped again, to give them the names of the recipients so they could include personalized notes in their packages. (*o*)! How sweet is that...! ♥

~~~

If any of you are wondering what I ordered for Keiko, I got her this barette.

I obviously don't have pictures of it since it was her birthday gift and it would not make sense for me to open her package! I did see it when she opened it and it is very beautiful...and she can wear it anytime too!

So, until next time!
♥

Lolita Closet: Metamorphose Fancy Egg

Ever since Metamorphose announced their Fancy Egg collection, I was obsessed. There something about the print that I loved but at that point I didn't have the money to be ordering anything from Metamorphose, so Fancy Egg ended up on my wish list. 

(The pics for this post were a bit dark since I was loosing light, so I apologize for that!)

Another Metamorphose order!

However, in February while perusing their website, I noticed that they still had the shirred version of the skirt in pink and blue! From what I knew before, they only had pink left, so I chalked it up to being unfortunate. After I discovered that blue was still in stock, I went ahead and bought the skirt along with the matching diamond print socks!

Metamorphose was having their Spring Fair and were offering a cute notebook to be included in orders that exceeded a certain amount of yen. Along with the notebook, I also received a paper Metamorphose bag! I usually get the hot pink plastic bag, so this was a pleasant surprise, but it was a bit dented from the shipping process.

Spring Fair notebook!

The notebook has Fancy Bunny as the cover, which was another release Meta had in Jan/Feb for their Crown Label collection. It's cute and I'm not sure when or if I'll use it because I have so many other notebooks that I have to use!

Fancy Egg OTK socks

The over the knee socks have the blue diamond print that runs the length of the socks and at the bottom you see the lovely Metamorphose swan 'egg' and logo. The design has some gold threads woven into it so it glimmers a bit at certain angles. I thought it was funny because they called these socks "Pale Pink" when the only pink on the socks is isolated on the eggs. The socks are white and blue. . . Metamorphose, sometimes I don't understand you! Haha! 

(Thankfully I could read the Japanese and it said light pink and ice blue...)

Fancy Egg Mini Skirt

The skirt and print were exactly what I expected and the print really exceeded my expectations. This is the "ice blue" colorway and I also thought the green colorway was beautiful too, but I preferred blue in the beginning when the collection went up for reserve. This is the "Mini skirt" version. They had another skirt but the waist band was not shirred at all. The waistband it fully shirred for the mini and stretches very wide. It is lined with light blue polyester lining and the fabric is a medium weight cotton material. The lace is gold and more subtle and fine than some of the other skirts that I own. I like how it's understated and allows the print to shine more!

Fancy Egg details

The Faberge eggs and motifs in the design are so lovely. There are swans incorporated into the eggs and lots of intricate details with the gems and jewelry pieces. The top portion of the skirt has the harlequin diamond print motif (not shown in the picture above) and the bottom has a subtle print of swan lace for the hem.

A carriage egg! >_<!

I noticed on a small jewelry case there was a unicorn! How cunning of Metamorphose to add that in since it's one of their trademarks besides their swans! I especially love the jeweled teddy bear and that carriage egg.

I'm really happy that I decided to purchase this skirt and even though I still feel I would like to get a JSK of this design, I can settle on having this skirt! I can't wait to wear it!

Until next time!

♥

Lolita Closet: AP Wonder Story Round JSK

It's been awhile since my last post! I must apologize for that since I began a transition between jobs and what not. I also didn't feel like blogging too much since some posts take awhile to type up. I digress and today we'll look at Angelic Pretty's Wonder Story Dress! The 'Round' version of the jumper skirt!

AP Wonder Story Round JSK

This dress isn't part of my own personal collection, rather it is a gift that I purchased for one of my closest friends as a belated birthday present. (My sister chipped in too!) We're both pretty hard to shop for..so I gave her an IOU when her birthday passed because I had not come to any kind of decision to what to get her. While we were in Japan last year in May, I saw this for sale and my eyes bugged out from their sockets. I just knew it was hers! 

Bodice Details

The fabric has a heavy weight to it and is quite soft. I was quite surprised of the print, because it is really crisp despite being printed on gabardine fabric. There are many details on this dress and I regret not spending more time to stare at it more closely! I love how they took the time to have the "A" centered on the waist bow and the lace used on this dress is gorgeous. It's dyed perfectly to match the saxon blue. 

Custom Lace!

I especially loved the lace on the hem of this dress! The teacups with the AP design is just too much for my lolita heart to comprehend. I thought it was so amazing!

Wonder Story print

I apologize for the odd quality of the photo (>_<;). My camera isn't that great and the twill lines on the gabardine messed up the overall quality of the photo...but you get an idea of the print! I love the Alice in Wonderland theme (which is quite prevalent in a lot of lolita designs) and all the cute details really make the design cohesive. The text on the pages of the book were almost legible, and from what I recall, it was an excerpt of Alice in Wonderland in French. 

I secretly love the falling macarons..it's reminds me of AP's Dreaming Macaron print...

Wonder Story details

I love how the print has many hidden gems in it. The blue and pink book are titled "Angelic Pretty" and "White Rabbit", respectively. The spines of the other books read, Wonder Party, Wonder Cookie, and Crown Trump, which are other print designs by Angelic Pretty! 

Back of Wonder Story

The back features a full shirred panel and adjustable shoulder straps. The waist ties are removeable. The dress has some tulle built into the skirt to add some volume and it is lined on the inside.

And one of the most interesting surprises I found when I was taking photos of the dress before I gave it to my friend, was that . . . 

This dress has pockets!!!

This is the first dress that I've ever known personally to have side seam pockets! None of my other dresses have them and I'm rather disappointed that they don't! 

 My friend loved the dress and she really likes to wear it...which reminds me that we should get together soon for some high tea! 

And that concludes this post about this dress! 

Please look forward to my next Lolita Closet posts!
♥

Lolita Closet: AatP Princess JSK Shirred

My first Alice and the Pirates post, even though it is not my personal Alice dress from my own closet! My sister recently ordered a dress set from Baby's online site and even though she had it for a week, she didn't open it. She knew that I would like to document everything about it, so I ended up taking it home with me one day last week and opened it in my room.

Initially I helped her put the order through on Baby's site because their shopping cart is a bit ridiculous and she could not be bothered to try to read the 'help' page on their site. I have to say, it is a bit nauseating to look at and it helps that I can read some of the Japanese kanji...

If you ever order anything from Baby, the wrapping tissue they use is pink, and if you order from Alice and the Pirates, the tissue will be blue. Something cute that I noticed ^__^"

Alice and the Pirates

They wrapped the dress beautifully and I love the ribbons and stickers...so I added the sticker into my collection. (Haha, I'm such a dork >__<;; ) The package included the plastic and paper shopping bags as well. I love the attention to detail...♥

AatP Princess Jumper Skirt

The JSK is really nice and simple and I quite like the floral print. It looks really busy in the picture for some reason, but when you look at it up close or in person, it is very pretty. The neck ties are not removable but since they are just ribbons, you can just tuck them on the inside of the JSK and it won't create any bulk. The dress is made out of cotton and has a polyester lining.

AatP Princess JSK front

The front bows are really cute, but they are not removable for washing, however the ribbon for the corseting is. The trim is nothing extraordinary or custom, but it's simple, neat and adds some visual texture and highlights some of the design lines in the dress. I like how they've used it to accent the hemline and it also matches the headband.

AatP Princess JSK back

One of the reasons my sister purchased this dress was because the back is a fully shirred panel and it stretches quite wide. One of the not forgiving things in the lolita hobby is that not all the dresses are made in different sizes and can be somewhat limiting. (-__-")

The waist ties are removable and I really like the ruffled tiers on the back of the dress. It's quite adorable and gives the silhouette some extra poof. It's definitely princess-like ^__^"

Headband

The matching headband for this set is quite simple and versatile. You can use it for a lot of other coordinates and it's always nice to have headbands (in my opinion~). The bow has a wired structure so you can shape your bow to your liking and it is made out of cotton.

I really like this dress, when I opened it I was really taken back by how nice the floral print was. I looked nice on the site, but in person, it just really grows on you and it's really lovely. The construction is not as detailed as some other Baby or AatP dresses but I suppose it's because it is a simpler dress. Overall, it's simple and has some lovely elements and I can't wait to see my sister wear it! ^__^

Until my next closet post!

Take care~!

♥

Metamorphose Winter Lucky Pack 2013

Metamorphose recently posted up their sale for Lucky Packs last month! This year, they only had skirt options available (instead of the skirt or JSK options), but they had the choice between a light or dark lucky pack. 

Since all lucky pack items are unknown, it's always a matter of luck for which items you will receive, but their picture posts usually give you an idea what will be inside a pack! From this year, I gathered that each pack would have this combination:

-Skirt

-Pair of bloomers

-Blouse

-Socks

-Accessories (headbands, barrettes, bracelets or necklaces) 
 

I opted to get the darker version of the pack because the example picture had the Sweets Street skirt which is one of those prints that I had previously obsessed over. However, looking at other people's posts of EGL and the variety of prints they have shipped out, I'm a bit disheartened that I didn't opt to get the light version of the luck pack also! (>__<;) 

Lucky Pack time!

 As usual, Meta packages their bags within a bag and included in the package was a thank you note and instructions for how to return the package if there was something defective with it, or an incorrect order.

Unfortunately I got charged with customs for my package and the ransom I had to pay was insane. I pretty much cursed the whole time in my head because the duty was so much. Almost 50% additional for my purchase, so I'm not really happy about that. Plus there's all these ridiculous fees they add on to bring up the price. 

Not. Impressed. 

Let's get onto the good stuff! I took a peak inside because I started taking pictures of everything so I knew I had not received Sweets Street, but from the color and print I knew I wasn't disappointed!

I received the shirred skirt of the Masquerade Lady print!

Masquerade Lady SK

Masquerade Lady Bloomers/Drawers

And to my surprise, I also received matching bloomers for the skirt. I was just expecting plain bloomers from Meta, but this is something different! I don't think I should wear them as bloomers and would look nice with a kodona styled outfit. I'm not really sure what to do with them, but I am amused that I got them in the pack.

Masquerade Lady Print

Since the skirt doesn't include the border design, I think it's a very versatile skirt to pair things with. I don't own too many skirts, but I do enjoy mix and matching them with things in my wardrobe. (Also, they are also very easy to travel with since they don't take up too much space!) The skirt has some lovely soft cotton lace along it's hem and it is lined on the inside. The fabric has a lovely feel and touch to it. You can see the texture that runs along the weft weave of the print in the above picture.

Shirred Ribbon Frill Blouse

 I'm not sure of the name of this blouse, I just read what was on the tag, but it's a simple normal blouse without too many embellishments. Oddly, I almost wish I had this in white since I don't have any plain white long sleeve lolita blouses. The back has a lot of shirring, so it can span a variety of sizes. It has waist ties at the back and has a modestly sized neck tie (that I personally really like!)

Heart Bracelet

My last item I received in my lucky pack was a cute heart bracelet. It has a heart charm and Metamorphose logo charm and when I took it out of the package, I thought if I tweaked it a bit, it would look better as a necklace. . . Hmm... Ideas!

Besides the hideous fees I incurred from customs, I'm rather happy with the items of my lucky pack! I'm glad I didn't decide to get two since the fees would have been an extra burden on my wallet. Because I received the Masquerade Lady drawers instead of plain bloomers, there were no socks or hair accessories includes in my lucky pack to compensate for the price of the drawers. I'm fine with that decision since I have enough bloomers and although I like socks, I rarely wear the brand ones that I own. 

If you ever decide to get a lucky pack, it's usually worth it and helps you build your lolita closet with some staple items. I paid 10,500 yen for this pack, and the retail price of all these items together was 36,645 yen. So there was a huge savings! (*o*@)'!!

Until next time, Metamorphose!

♥

Volks Sumika Times ft. Sora

Volks' Sumika Times blog accepts owner pictures of their Volks dolls and my sister has submitted quite a few of her Dollfie Dreams that have popped up on the blog before. Sora has made a cameo appearance before when I gave him to my sister to bring to the LA Volks showroom to find a new wig for him. 

They updated this awhile back in November and I'm just getting to blogging it now, but better late than never! Sora got his big feature on the blog during his trip to London. My sister was kind enough to bring him along on one of her business trips and snap shots of him with some iconic buildings and architecture around the city! She was the one who sent in all the pictures to Volks to have him showcased.

Sora, a Volks YoSD Kakeru

You can check out his feature here on this page to see the other pictures and commentary. (^__^;)

After Sora appeared on the blog, I brought him to a doll meet the week after and some of the attendees recognized him because of his showcase! I thought that was amusing~!
Sora, you're getting lots of love!

♥