Fancy Lolita Tea Time - AnnVita Tea Room

It's been quite time since I've blogged, my last post being in 2013, but I think it's time that I come back to this in order to record the things that happen in my life. So many things have changed in the past 3 years, so let's get blogging!

I find with lolita, you have ups and downs. You are passionate for the hobby and then after you're satisfied with your wardrobe, you decide take a break. I took a break and when I came back to it earlier this year, I saw many things I had missed in the past few years. I never stopped loving lolita fashion, but with other things happening in my life, I just didn't have a chance to wear it very often and lolita took a back seat.

My friend, Whitefrosty, kept suggesting that I organize some meet ups so that we could wear our outfits. Dust off the frills and be fancy! 

It was also a coincidence that one of my other friends, Hiroko, was interested in lolita...but had no lolita items, so I told her to come over and have fun with my wardrobe. I said, "Pick whatever print interests you and I'll dress you up!" 

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Previous AnnVita visit with my friend.

My brunch!

I organized a meet up at AnnVita Tea Room since I knew they had a lovely ambience and had some very nice drink selections and offered two types of afternoon tea sets. It was also around the time of Whitefrosty and Keiko's birthdays, so I figured it would be fun to celebrate in lolita.

I had previously came here on casual dates with my girl friends and with Whitefrosty before. I'll try to find some pictures of the tea room. It's quite lovely. One side has lots of natural light that streams in, which can be harsh on your eyes depending on the time of day and the amount of sunlight, and there is another side near the entrance that is a bit more secluded. For our meet, we were seated behind the entrance wall partition, which provided a bit more privacy for our group.

Scones!

When we arrived, they were serving brunch! I was really surprised...(and hungry). So the few of us who were there early decided to order some food while the rest of the group arrived.

I ordered the classic breakfast set for brunch and it was a generous portion and the price was quite reasonable. (I believe it was around $10-12?) I find with AnnVita, their tea and drink list is quite expensive, but the amount you are served is quite deceiving. The cheapest drink you can order is $11.99 if I recall. It looks like a little amount, but 4-5 cups later, you're bursting! On this occasion, I ordered the rose milk tea. It has lovely hints of rose and a creamy texture to it. It was served with a cute dessert...that none of us could figure out what flavour it was. Guava-mango?

Their afternoon tea sets are around $40 per person. One is the Victorian tea set and the other is the Jane Austen tea set. A few of us ordered the tea sets to try, but since I had brunch, I opted for an order of scones instead, they're small, but so filling!

Rose Milk Tea

Victoria Tea Set

If you're looking for a place to spend a comfortable afternoon at, AnnVita is a lovely choice. They take reservations and the staff are very friendly. They do not rush you or give you a time limit on your seating. I do prefer their teas and the a la carte menu for scones or biscuits. The tables are small so you have to be careful when moving your plates or pots around while in lolita.

At this meet, I wore a coordinate featuring Metamorphose's Happy Ending Story.

This is a first of a small series of group meet ups for tea time and wearing lolita.

Let's be fancy!

Until next time <3

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All photos were taken by Archangeli.

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Bonus:

 Welcome to the dark frilly side Hiroko... ;)

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...! ♥

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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!
♥