30 Day Lolita Challenge : Day 1

Hello, friends ! 

I love doing silly little challenges like this, so what better way to reintroduce regular blogging into my daily life than to do one ! Of course, I wanted something lolita-related and Alanah had recently started the 30 Day Lolita Challenge - perfect !

It starts with 10 Things in Your Lolita Bubble.. enjoy !

1. I was introduce to lolita through three of my very favourite and, in my opinion, some of the best artists ever to grace the online community - recently posting under TheCandyButcher, Antique and Saturnine but who I originally knew as Lee*Lee, Kaz and Kur, respectively. This was roughly ten years ago now ! I wasn't able to get into actually wearing lolita for a long time after that however, mostly for financial reasons, which I'm actually quite thankful for because it means I spent about five years doing online research and ultimately bypassed my ita phase completely haha. As a downside tho, this does mean that there are lots of old-school dresses that I am desperate for from back in the early 2000s which are now incredibly rare/impossible to find.

eg: Meta's nurse OP ;__________; one day !

2. Yes, as previously mentioned, I never went through an ita phase ! As much as this sounds like a shameless brag, it really isn't ! I love when people tell me stories about their awful first coords with clashing colours and other such disasters, I wish I had some of my own to tell ! I think making mistakes and learning from them is a really big part of putting successful coords together in the future. That being said, I only managed this because I literally knew the fashion inside out by the time I actually had chance to wear it and was hugely aware of what mistakes could be made for a first time wearer. This also doesn't mean I never make mistakes in lolita ! I look back at coords all the time and spot tons of things I wish I'd done better. It's all about improving.

3. I'm a really, really huge hoarder and I love starting collections. I think for me this is one of the major appeals of lolita fashion - hunting out different dresses and items to build up your own personal collection.

4. Outside of lolita, I really enjoy wearing other styles such as dolly kei, mori/black forest mori kei, cult party kei, hime gyaru, pastel goth and more recently I've been dabbling in fairy kei, but I like experimenting with all sorts of styles and mixing them up from time to time.

5. I love crafting, which comes in very handy for a lolita ! I often spend my time knitting, sewing and doing crochet and sometime in the not too distant future I'd like to expand these skills to include dressmaking //rubs hands together greedily.

6. Another trite lolita thing that tickle my interests is tea. My housemates often make fun of how much tea I have, and my friends like to remind me of that particular scene in Scott Pilgrim on a fairly regular basis. I've recently had to upgrade and dedicate an entire cupboard in my kitchen to my tea collection. In the same vein, my mother and I collect vintage teasets together, so a teaparty at my house is always quite the occassion !

7. I don't own Sugary Carnival, but I really wish that I did ! I don't think my wardrobe would be truly complete without it haha. If I see it on the comm sales lj anytime soon and I'm not saving for any other dress I will definately be snapping it up.

8. Dresses I currently am saving for are Angelic Pretty's Wonder Party JSK in either red or sax, Wonder Story JSK in red and Marshmallow Bunny JSK in pink. I'm in the middle of a bit of a love affair with Angelic Pretty at the minute after loving Baby for so long 

 Images found on Hello Lace

9. I nearly always buy my items second hand, I own very few pieces which I have bought directly from the brands themselves. I pretty much spend all my time stalking the comm sales page, facebook selling groups and Closet Child. I love finding a good bargain ! I recently purchased Angelic Pretty's Happy Garden OP set for around £100 which I was very pleased with.

10. Finally, some of my favourite lolita inspirations : Pixie Late, Xylia-X, Realistic Sweet, Cadney, Alanah, Lanii, Josephine, Mina, Peachie and of course Misako Aoki !

image from : http://egl.livejournal.com/17015985.html

Day one down ! This challenge has lots of interesting questions and opportunities to talk about lolita-related themes, I'm very excited to finish it all ! Please do let me know if you are taking this challenge too

Next Challenge : 10 Things You Love in Lolita

HAPPY NEW YEAR (in March !)

Hello sweethearts 

Well, it's been nearly a whole year since I wrote a post here - where does the time go ? - and I've been having a pretty hardcore love affair with Tumblr ; a ; It's just so easy to blog things super quickly over there, but then it doesn't have the same feel to it when you want to write really in-depth blogs. So, one of my New Years Resolutions this year was to get back into blogging in a serious way !

A pretty major thing that has happened to me since I last blogged has been moving away ! I packed up my things in September and left my North West home for the cosy Midlands, where I began a degree in Game Art Design at university. This is probably the //biggest reason I feel like I haven't been able to dedicate quite so much time to being online lately, it's SO much work - but it's also a whole bunch of fun, and I feel way blessed to get to do such an awesome degree which is based in something I've loved for so long. Becoming a full-time student has actually also given me lots of ideas for things I would like to blog about.. All I have left to do is find the time between all my projects to do so ; A ;

I also have embarked on an adventure of living a completely clean lifestyle. While this defiantly includes diet - I'm now 100% vegan since New Year, hurray ! - I'm also attempting to apply this philosophy (filling myself only with good things) to all aspects of my life. I suffered quite a sever anxiety meltdown towards the end of 2013 and so this year I'm focusing on positivity - anything in my life with even the slightest vibes of negativity is getting kicked to the curb. I've been learning a lot about the benefits of yoga (something else I've also found myself addicted to since the new year), eating clean and even things like chakra cleansing and crystal healing. It's all super interesting, but I still have so much to learn ! No doubt I'll have lots of updates in this area, too.

Finally, a project that myself and two fellow artists have been working on for 18 months is about to launch and I couldn't be more excited ! Watch this space for more info in the next few weeks ;3 I have a few projects of my own up my sleeve which is also very exciting and I can't wait to be able to share some ideas with you all !

I've missed blogging a lot, and I can't wait to get back into the swing of things again ! I'm also going to be having a giant layout revamp over the next couple of days ! It is a brand new year so I think it calls for it. If anyone is interested in finding me in any other spots on the internet, I'm over at :

chemicalteaparty.tumblr.com
facebook.com/xo.amylestrange
twitter : @amylestrange
instagram.com/amylestrange

Adventures, Health and Other Such Things !

Hello, everyone !

Well, after promising I'd start updating frequently again in February, I've come to realise that it is now, in fact, May. Unfortunately, because I don't have enough on my plate at the moment as it is, I've had an incredibly bad bout of health recently. I've suffered for a long time with arthritis of my joints which often makes it difficult for me to do things or get about as well as other people (it also makes the things I love doing, namely art, crafts and gaming respectively, very difficult which isn't fun at all) and recently it's been much worse. I've also had a lot of other health problems spring up on top of that, so I'm feeling pretty in the wars at the moment (。┰ω┰。)
I have been trying to keep up the things I enjoy doing though.. here's some little bits of adventures I've been up to lately, from my Instagram !

 

I thought it might be helpful to post some links where you might be able to catch me a little bit more frequently;

♡ tumblr - scrapbook of inspiring j-fashion images and other lovely things, and occasional personal posts
♡ twitter - I'm super active on twitter, live tweeting is my fave !
♡ instagram - I also use instagram frequently, follow for lots of daily photo adventures.
♡ pinterest - mood boards of all things that inspire and fascinate me.
♡ ravelry - knitting and crochet community I frequently find lots of adorable craft inspiration.

 

 

Happy February From a Very Neglected Blog !

Wow ! When I decided to take a break from active blogging at the end of last year, I didn't realise one bit how difficult it was going to be to get back into the swing of things. The last half of 2012 really tested my ability to juggle tasks with college, work, living on my own, personal projects, relationships and university application deadlines, honestly it was a total nightmare ! Unfortunately because of this, blogging had to take a backseat. Happily, things have settled down a whole ton in my life this year already, so I have lots of posts planned already ! Here's some things you can look forward to seeing over the next few weeks :

Dark Dolly Kei Feature

A Closer look at Dolly Kei's darker sister. One of my favourite styles, I can't

wait to outline what this entails and post some fantastic examples 

Deco Jewellery Box How-To !
DIY tutorials are a new blog feature I'm planning for this year ! They'll be posted
once every two weeks, and the first of these is how to make your own
deco jewellery box.



NI NO KUNI GAMEPLAY AND REVIEW !
Of course, I have been so excited to finally be able to get my hand's on Level-5/Studio
Ghibli's collaboration Ni no Kuni : Wrath of the White Witch. I purchased it on Friday and I cannot
wait to share this with you guys. I know you've all been as excited as I have.

Alongside this I will mostly be giving the layout a general revamp (it feels so dated now !) and playing around with add-ons and things. So nothing too big ! If you saw my last post you may remember that I was contemplating moving to a different hosting site, but have since decided against this idea. I've played around with Wordpress and Tumblr, but nothing is as versatile for me as Blogger, so here I will be staying ;3 That being said, for anyone who doesn't know, I do already have a tumblr blog as a kind of scrapbook of inspiring images, if anyone would like to follow that blog too ! I'm much more active there than I am here. 

So, please do keep checking back. I know it's been a long hiatus but things will be picking up from here on in. Until next time !

Hello everyone ! It's been far too long since I last updated here. College, work and life in general is eating up lots of my free time at the moment, but one of the main reasons things have been quite over here is because I've been contemplating moving to another blogging site, and I'm having a lot of difficulty deciding which one ! So, just to keep you guys updated, I do have new posts planned and hopefully will get back into the swing of things soon ! 

Another big reason I haven't posted much is my tv which I rely on to run all my consoles through completely died half way through last month, which means all the games I had lined up to play and review (including Dishonored  which I've been waiting for forever now) are sitting unplayed on my shelf ;______; happily though, I've now got a new and working tv so things should be back to gaming normality soon.

I love you all for your understanding and I'm still overwhelmed and thankful for the interest shown here on a daily basis. You guys are awesome !

Love, Amy Lestrange

xox

Game Review: Gravity Rush

I wanted to write this kind of in tandem with a review for the PlayStation Vita, because this is the first game I've played on it and I just loved it so much and I was so excited, I wanted to share it with you guys ! However, I don't think I'm really qualified to review it being as I have only played one game on it thus far, and also it was released a while ago now so there is probably lots of better, more experienced reviews out there. 

As I'm sure you noticed over the last few months, I've been incredibly excited to play Gravity Rush ever since it was announced. Everything about it appeals to me; the wonderful cell-shaded art, a strong female lead, a steampunk feel and the sandbox gameplay. It didn't disappoint ! As the plot unfolds, you'll be introduce to a plethora of rich environments, challenging gameplay and engaging characters. Gravity Rush tells the story of Kat, a girl who wakes up in the strange city of Hekesville with a mysterious power she knows nothing about; the power to control gravity. A tap of the right shoulder button will send you floating up into the air, often taking surrounding objects - and people - with you. A second tap, and Kat will fly through the air and gain the ability to run up vertical walls, hurtle towards enemies with vicious flying-kicks and even walk along the underside of the floating city. The graphics and sheer depth of the art and environments, offered to the player in Gravity Rush is surely unmatched by another other game on a handheld console. It is worth playing just to experience that alone. 

Something else to get to grips with is the idea of controlling gravity itself; something that make take a little while to master completely. Even towards the end of the game there were a few moments where I had to really stop and get my bearings. Luckily, Kat's scarf is immune to her gravity-shifting powers and can be used as a marker for which way is the "right" way up whenever you're feeling a bit discombobulated. Using these powers, Kat embarks on her mission to help the people of Hekesville by returning the missing pieces of their city and also to answer several intriguing questions; where did she come from ? How can her powers be explained ? And who is the mysterious dark-haired girl who also shares Kat's gravity-shifting abilities ? Gravity Rush consists of 21 missions; most of which involve helping out the residents of Hekesville with anything from finding missing schoolgirls to protecting sacred items, and also fighting off hoards of Nevi - weird, liquidy creatures which inhabit the city. 

Of course, there are plenty of side missions and the game uses these to takes full advantage of the PS Vita's touchscreen abilities. By pressing the two bottom corners of the screen simultaneously and tilting the console, Kat can use her "Gravity Slide" ability; a little bit pointless for anything combat-wise, but super fun if you're participating in one of the racing-based side challenges. You can turn the motion controls off altogether if they're not for you, and if you do opt to do this then the traditional controls are extremely easy to grasp.

Getting to play Kat herself is also an absolute pleasure; she's badass,

 funny and adorable all in one ! 

The only faults I can stick to this game are the long loading times and also the combat system. For the latter problem, I can only put this down to the fact that virtually all of the combat you will be encountering will be aerial and you only have the option of manual targeting. While this might not be a problem for some game players, I find that games with automatic target lock-ons much, much easier - I guess I've just gotten lazy over the years ! That being said, while it's not super difficult to land hits this way, trying to do it while simultaneously controlling the camera angles as you fly through they air can be frustrating.

To conclude; if you already own a Vita you should defiantly be thinking about adding Gravity Rush to your collection. The package of outright fun gameplay, intriguing storyline and captivating art aside, Gravity Rush is delivering a package to game players that has been promised but not necessarily received for years; a unique and exciting superhero.

Lolita Lifestyles: Lolita and Dress Codes at Work

      

Hello everyone ! Sorry for being a bit M.I.A, I've got a lot of really big exciting plans in the pipeline at the minute so I've been super busy. Hopefully I'll have lots of news for you in the coming months though and all this hard work will be paying off ! As you guys know, I'll be attending an art & design course in college come Spetmeber. I'm super excited to be doing this, and also dressing up every day ! Dressing up is one of my favourite activities. On the other hand, at weekends I work in a local cafe and what I am allowed to wear to work is very strict (honestly, I've tried convincing my manager he wants to turn it into a maid cafe, but he's having none of it !) and this is no fun at all. Being somewhere I can't fully express myself visually is incredibly draining to me; it's a big part of who I am. So, for myself and others who feel the same way, I've developed "The Guide to Lolita and Dress Codes" !
Of course, while my job is quite strict (I wear a uniform, I must have my hair tied back, etc) this will obviously vary from job to job. Some places you may be allowed to dress in full OTT-Sweet Lolita any day that you please (aka dream jobs !), whereas in other areas of employment even the sight of a lacy hairbow would raise eyebrows. Obviously you don't have to incorporate all of these pointers into one work outfit; just adding one or two elements is sometimes enough to make you feel like you've gotten your personality back ! I'll leave it upto yourselves to work out how far you can go with things like uniform customisations, accessories, the makeup you wear, etc. Here are some tips ! 

1. Add Small Pieces Slowly.
If you are starting a new job, don't turn up on your first day wearing your favourite AP headbow and a thousand two-way clips. Take it slowly ! This doesn't mean you have to dress all boring on your first day (or on days where you might be extra busy and so don't want to have to look after several different accessories). One of my favourite ways of sneaking some loli-accessories into a work outfit is to wear my hair in two buns - messy or otherwise - and just wear simple, smallish bows clipped into each. You don't have to wear bows; you could also use small flowers, or your favourite plastic hairclips. You can get really creative with hair ! Overtime I like to add a few more accessories and become more and more adventurous with what I wear to work (believe me, it will come as less of a shock).

photo from Pixie_Late's facebook fan page

  

2. Be Adventurous With Your Makeup
I understand that not everyone has time in the morning to put on a full face of makeup before work (I'm guilty of getting up stupidly early to do this, but I know that is not everyone's cup of tea). However, if you're starting your shift later on in the day, or if there's one day of the week you feel like getting up and having a go, wearing some fun makeup is a great way to brighten up an otherwise monotonous work outfit. Fun eyeshadows and glitter liners, natural fake lashes, pink lipsticks and if you can get away with it, small stick on jewels are great. A great company to buy inexpensive, colourful makeup from is Barry M ! Their Dazzle Dust is fantastic for adding an extra touch to your makeup. I personally love fake freckles (especially in pink !), drawing on small fake lashes on your lower lids and Cult Party Kei-inspired blusher ! 

How could anyone not adore Cult Party Kei ?!

I think a lot of what bothers me the most with work uniforms and strict dress codes is losing so much of your personality and blending in with everyone else - exciting makeup is a great way to combat this, especially when paired with a cute hairstyle/hair accessories like in the point above. Another tip I like to use is before I go to bed at night, set out the makeup I plan to use the next morning on my dressing table. Deciding the look and colours you're going for the night before saves so much time in the morning ! Investing in a good primer is also a good idea to prevent your makeup wearing off throughout the day. 

3. Ask Whether Skirts are Acceptable
In my current job, it was default for everyone to turn up to work wearing black pants. For a while I adhered to this before it occured to me that maybe we didn't HAVE to wear them, it was just that everyone DID. So, I asked my manager - and, to my intense relief ! - I wouldn't be breaking any rules by wearing a skirt instead (of course, it had to be knee-length but generally in lolita this is standard). It's ALWAYS worth asking if you aren't sure about this. If it's possible for you to wear a skirt to work, perhaps consider a kuro-lolita inspired skirt ? Something high-waisted ? Maybe even a subtle print if you think you could get away with it. This also opens up the possibilities of cute tights - you can almost always get away with wearing patterned tights, even if printed skirts aren't an option - frilly ankle socks or even OTK socks, altho the latter is a bit risque if you do a lot of bending over in work ! Sometimes this is all it takes to make you feel more like yourself in a work environment. With the possibility of skirts comes the even more fun option of shoes ! 

      

images from hellolace.com

       

4. Shoes !
Even if wearing a skirt to work isn't an option, some cute shoes can still really brighten up your work outfit. Tea Party Shoes are an obvious choice; they're flat, practical and adorable ! Shoes are something I would be careful with; if, like me, you work in an environment where you are on your feet for a 5 hour long shift, something like RHS (as much as I love love love them) would just simply not be practical. Also, if you're running in and out of a kitchen in a more restaurant-based job, you need to consider that the floor may be slippery and safety will become a problem, so remember to keep this in mind when deciding which shoes to wear. Many high street retailers sell some very lolita-esque flat shoes which would be acceptable for you to work in if you didn't want to put your favourite tea parties through hours of hard labour. 

5. Accessories
Probably the easiest way to incorporate your personality into your work outfits ! Its fairly easy to get away with wearing whatever you like accessory-wise to work and its also easy to pick up inexpensive pieces which could be used in a lolita work outfit from places like Claires and Primark. Having lots of inexpensive pieces means you can mix and match them more ! The first obvious choices are rings, necklaces and hairbows but also maybe consider things such as wrist cuffs, cardigans, brooches, belts and also headdresses. Headdresses are a favourite lolita accessory of mine, but I know that they can go downhill quickly when paired with a black x white coord, so maybe try to stick to a kuro coord instead to avoid looking a bit too maid-like. Another fun way of REALLY shaking up an otherwise boring work outfit is to include a wig. Obviously, not all employers will be best pleased if you turn up in a full split wig in pink and lilac with pigtails but maybe something toned-down and cute. In the next few weeks I plan to wear a wig from GLW's Dollight collection, in blonde (my hair is currently a dark teal, so this will be a big change !). Maybe something to consider if you want to switch your look around a lot !

I'm going to be incorporating this blonde wig from GLW's Dollight collection
into my work outfits soon. It's not too OTT but enough
to make me feel dressed up still ! 

6. Customisation !
This is really only for jobs where you feel you can REALLY push some boundaries. My current work uniform consists of a branded black button-down shirt, a black skirt and whatever accessories I feel like wearing in the morning. While I couldn't get away with wearing a shirt without the name of the cafe somewhere on it, there is no reason you couldn't wear a lolita blouse to work. One of the things that makes lolita so easy to get away with in work is that it's very modest, and things like blouses usually adhere to work dress codes, no matter how strict. If, like me, wearing a lolita blouse isn't an option you can always customise the uniform provided for you (however, DO be careful when doing this and make sure you OK it with whoever is in charge - some businesses view uniforms as company property even when it's handed over to you as an employee !). I took my work shirt in so that it fitted me much better, and also changed the sleeves so that they were puffier and more loli-esque ! I'm also thinking of adding some very small and simple lace around the sleeve edges and along the front ! It's really easy to frill up a shirt in this way, you don't even need to be a pro with a sewing machine. 

 

  

Even if you can't customise a work uniform, or are allowed to wear
your own blouses, plenty of lolita brands (and, of course, non-brands !)
have lots of work-suitable pieces !

Hopefully this has been helpful to some of you ! I plan to resume blogging fairly often this week. I recently finished playing Gravity Rush (the first full game I've played on the PS Vita !) So I have a review to write for that !