Goodbye 2013

So I know it's VERY late now and the last post was from November so I'm going to end my 2013 with a roundup of the last couple of months.
November included Thought Bubble in Leeds. This year I didn't buy much and didn't spend much time in the actual con compared to previous years. (I jointly bought a commission of Sophie and I and a Sailor Moon sketch.)



A beautiful group photo of my amazing comm - Thanks for another great year of frills Leeds!


Sophie and I after our wifely date to Yo!Sushi


My Panda inspired co-ord

Bow - handmade
Blouse - Anna House
JSK - Metamorphose
Cardigan - Primark
Belt - Wondertropolis
Tights - M&S
Shoes - Dreamy Bows

December

Jane introduced me to the 'Kitten Train'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS47v1j29ec

Jinnipa and I went to The Deep! (I love The Deep and it's moon jellyfish!)



I had a lovely family Christmas which involved lots of Mah Jong (of course) and LOTS of food! The only letdown to my year was the Meta lucky pack being sold out. I was too slow :(
I saw the new year in nicely snuggled up with David though so I'm happy ^^

So that's a very brief round up of the end of 2013. 2013 was a very good year for me and it was hard, but I picked out the best bits of my year.

The Best of 2013
1# Seafoam Green - I will NEVER forget!
2# The beginning of mine, Sophie and Grace's wifing adventures! I even learnt how to make a dress :D
3# The Deep - I went to The Deep for the first time with David in May
4# The discovery of Little Tokyo and the Yu-Gi-Oh! drinking game (tipsy chicken nuggets are the best!)
5# Q-Con! I'm met some amazing new frilly friends! Hopefully see you all again soon!
6# David and I went to London! It was a VERY beesee week but we saw a lot of things and it was just nice to spend the week adventuring together ^^
7# Frock On! A fabulously frilly weekend! Leeds comm is best comm - I love you all!
8# The making of my 'Best Girl Collective' and getting back into anime
9# Pumpkin carving! 
10# Seeing the new year in all snuggled up with the Little Asian ^^

I'm a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie Woooorld!

For my new project I decided to look at obsession. I'm not sure if it'll be commercial and suitable BUT...I wanted to look at a 'weird' obsession. 

Hello again, 'Barbie epidemic'!

(l-r: Venusangelic, Dakota Rose, Wang JiaYun, Anastasiya Shpagina, Valeria Lukyanova.)

There is something fascinating about this obsession with making oneself look like a perfect doll. It's a very striking look but it can't be a good influence and is probably dangerous in extreme cases. AND Photoshop MUST be involved! 

Soo...to get a feel as part of research I thought I'd try to make myself look doll-like...

Ok, so the angle isn't exactly the same but you get the idea

So dolls have flawless skin and I wanted to go for a paler colour (like a porcelain doll). However...I don't own foundation so I mixed a few blobs of concealer with moisturiser ^^'

While not perfect, it blended very smoothly. Next I applied concealer, especially under my eyes.

Using a bronzer I contoured my nose and defined my cheekbones. 

I darkened my eyebrows and then drew a cat eye using an eyeliner pencil. I then applied white eyeliner on my waterline, going slightly over to exaggerate the whites.

I WAS going to apply false lashes but failed to make them stay put ^^'

The results were fairly doll-like but not half as doll-like as Wang Jia Yun, Dakota Rose,  Anastasiya Shpagina and Valeria Lukyanova.

Next stop, Photoshop! I added circle lenses and then darkened the eyeliner. 

I then airbrushed my skin to create that flawless canvas. I then used the liquify function to alter the shape of my face.

The results are shocking!

After this I believe Photoshop can do EVERYTHING! I wonder how many of the 'dolls' have heavily shopped their photos...

I urge you all to have a go at this transformation- it's actually really fun ^^

Pumpkin Emotions

I know it's still kind of early but yay! Halloween Meet!

This must be one of the most cosy, fun, silly and dodgy meets xD featuring Lisa the Llama, monsters, a horror quiz and pumpkin carving!

Inventing monsters >:3

    

Aiya...can't see! Can't see!  I attacked Ellie...I'm sorry!!

Loli fear... Lisa was scarily durable!

Kawaii photo of Vief and I and Sophie's heart frame xD

Pumpkin time! I've never carved a pumpkin before and was amazed to see the pumpkin guts and brains as Jo lifted the lid >w<

We wooooon!!!!

Our winning pumpkin - ALL the Pumpkin Emotions!

Halloween Loli Co-ord

Blouse - Primark

JSK - AATP Clockwork Aristo Kitty

Socks - Offbrand

Shoes - Debenhams

Headband - Topshop

I don't have any Halloween themed prints (I wish I had Merry Making in the Ghost Town) so I went for a cat theme with Baby's cats and 'cat ear-ish' shaped buns! Meow!

Option in Red

On Thursday my laptop died on me so I couldn't do any research, work or continue episode 9 of Face to Fate. (sigh...after FINALLY getting everything working again as well!)

So bored out of my mind I decided to address that bundle or red polka dot fabric that I was suppose to make a dress from for Spots and Stripes meet.

At first I had a nosy at WGSN and and Vogue but there wasn't anything that caught my eye and at the moment, the highstreet is hardly inspiring so for this dress I took inspiration from the dress Usagi wears in Sailor Moon Volume 4.

I drafted a pattern from scratch based on a dress by Henry Holland for Debenhams. It turned out a bit bigger than planned to I had to take a bit it around the chest and waist. There is also a panel of shirring at the back which makes it a bit too loose for me so I added waist ties so I could make it fit better.

I was really pleased to have finished the dress in half a day. Usually I add a lace trim or ruffle to everything I sew but this time I left it plain.

Front                      Back

I really like the simplicity.

Time to play!

1. Although I have to do up the waist ties pretty tight, I really like the fit and simplicity and how it reminds me of Usagi's dress (it would be more similar had I made mine shorter). The minimalism is great for casual wear.

2. This is probably how I'd wear the dress if i were going to a wedding or party. I added a petticoat to give a fuller shape. I think it makes a nice classic semi formal outfit without losing a fun, young touch.

3. The Rufflebutt look! Had I made it for the Spots and Stripes meet, this is probably how I'd have worn it. I would probably also add a floral headdress.

This dress was fun to make and experiment with. I still have another metre or so of this fabric left so let's see what else I can create!

Dammit Mana-Sama-Banana!

So I started making unicorn dress right? I sewed the shirred panel (and VERY well might I add) and was very proud! However...I put it on and had to unpick  myself out again :( there wasn't quite enough stretch to get it over my shoulders again. That day, the curse 'Dammit Mana-Sama-Banana!' was born. The dress didn't happen. I couldn't...

However, it's not all doom and gloom!

PIRATE MEET

September 21st was the long anticipated Pirate Loli Meet! I'd been prepping for ages for this *squee*

I even woke up super early that morning (accidentally over less frilly and fabulous reasons) and I'm glad I did because when you're having a Loli day out, there is NO such thing as leftover time when getting ready. 

Trauma #2 happened when I fell over and broke my Rocking Horse Shoes ;___;

Goodbye my babies, it's been a good 5 years. They were my most comfortable shoes (I could even run in them!) so I will most definitely get some more!

 

Ahoy to all pirates, sailors and mermaids!

This meet was FANTASTIC! It was like having a giant pirate themed birthday party! Paper boat race, parrot hunt (which we all did wrong xD), food festival hunt and balloon games.

Hana won

Speaking of the food festival, I finally tried Green Tea ice cream and it was soooo good! (Followed by mango sorbet which was also soooo good!!!) 

I also FINALLY reunited with Sophie! I hadn't seen my wife since around June so it was good to finally see her again and do wifely things.

 

Wifely things like taking her hostage and killing her...very wifely...

I also reunited with Hana after Frock On! She tried her best to be sailor-y/ piratey xD

Co-ord

Headpiece - Sweet Mildred (at Frock On)

Blouse - Primark

Captain Mia Skirt - Ista Mori

Tights - M&S

Shoes - Debenhams

Remember when I used to take outfit shots? I should probably do that again...

UNICORNS VS BEARS

Loli paradise part #2 on 28th September! Due to the death of unicorn dress I was much displeased. The only thing I had that could be considered by then was the white Meta dress I bought from Hana at Spots & Stripes. Luckily, wifey Sophie came to the loli rescue and let me borrow her pink Tea Parties (I've never had or worn Tea Parties xD) so I made a white x pink co-ord and made a *fabulous* unicorn headpiece. It was so girly xD

Fabulous headpiece is *FABULOUS* 

Running late in the morning because Pettleworth #1 and #2 aren't good at mornings...

Team Unicorn because bears in Loli are derpy ^^'

Fiiiight!

 

The MOST  classy collection of Lolis xD

Co-ord

Unicorn Headpiece - Handmade

JSK - Metamorphose

Cardigan - M&S

Tights - M&S

Shoes - Sophie xD

That's the frills of September so far (not including the brollies hehe...) 

Bring on October and MORE frills!

The Birth of the Unicorn Dress

28th of September is the Unicorns vs Bears meet in Leeds and I've only just got round to making my dress despite knowing about this for ages - truth is I've been on the lookout for Meta's Twinkle Journey ^^'

But anways, I'm not a very big fan of bears in Lolita, they usually look a bit derpy or too cutesy for me. (I LOVE cute bears but I am 20 after all and I on't really keep a sweet wardrobe)

Sooo...team unicorn it is! And dammit Twinkle Journey! One day, I WILL own you!

One day Twinkle Journey...one day....

I did a browse for unicorn prints online but anything that I liked would take way  too long to get here (and was too expensive) so I decided I'd do an embroidery unicorn!

This was also my first time I drafted my own pattern. Hopefully it'll be ok and fit...

Initial sketches for the dress and embroidery

The pattern pieces for the bodice

The bodice and pinned together with the panel for shirring peeking out xD

I'm about to head out for Caitlin and Erin's bye bye meal (will miss you both so much :( ) so I'll sew this when I get back at the weekend. 

Miss HK 2013 - Grandad's Disappointment

That time of year has been again! On 1st September, the winner of Miss Hong Kong 2013 was announced! 22 year old Grace Chan (#17) won with over 170,000 votes.

(l - r) 1st runner up Sisley Choi, winner Grace Chan, 2nd runner up Moon Lau

All 20 contestants

I missed last year's pageant and I've been displeased with the outcome in previous years as they were just looking at height rather than the whole package. This year however, I am very pleased with the outcome! I find Grace to be very beautiful and photogenic. 

Now every year my Grandad predicts who he feels would win Miss HK and has always been right but this year he thought 2nd runner up Moon Lau should have won. She does have a pretty face but I prefer Grace Chan - I feel she really has the looks of a Miss Hong Kong winner.