Kawaii Box January 2015 Review

Subscription boxes are all the rage lately! It seems like there's a subscription box for every interest, but there are very few for the kawaii lover. Enter Kawaii Box, one of the only subscription boxes filled specifically with cute things. I personally subscribe to this box and pay for it with my own money, however, for January I was chosen as Kawaii Box's reviewer of the month, and was sent a free January box for review.

Kawaii Box arrives in a, well, kawaii box! With their cute logo printed right on the box, so you know exactly what you're getting when you see it in the mail. Everything in the box is packaged very well, small items are in little baggies and everything is covered nicely with pink tissue paper, all fitting snugly into the box. While my box was a little squished in the middle, nothing was damaged.

I love cute flyers like this, and Kawaii Box includes a few, including a cute handwritten note and a Blippo flyer, which I believe is their parent company, with a discount coupon on the back.

What I've definitely noticed in the boxes that I've gotten so far (and comparing the previous boxes listed on their site)  is that the contents are generally similar, each month I have noticed you tend to get a snack, a couple keychains, some stationery items, a mini pouch, and a few cute accessories, making each box more or less predictable (at least for the moment!). That being said, this is the selection of cute accessories in January's Kawaii Box. The nail polish glows in the dark and the bracelet is a soft minty green and would be a cute addition to any mint-based Lolita outfit! Personally, the thing I look forward to the most in these boxes are the little pouches. They're so cute and I always feel like I can use more little pouches like this!

This month had 3 different straps in it, including one gigantic plushy one! It's far too big for a phone strap, but would still look cute hanging on a purse. The little deco strap has a mirror on the back and the upset looking emoticon one is squishy!

The snack in this month's box were these little Rilakkuma crackers, they were light and fluffy and tasted a bit like savory corn chips. They were tasty, but most importantly probably, the packaging was totally adorable.

Another thing I really look forward to in these boxes are the stationery items! I only recently started to get in the habit of keeping a planner, and having cute stickers and pens really helps me get excited about writing stuff down in it. Kawaii Box is a quick and easy way for me to build up my collection of cute stickers and stationery!

Kawaii Box is 18.90 a month, including shipping, and I personally think it's a pretty good value. If you have an import store near you, even small items like this are going to end up adding up to around $30 or more. For me, the best thing about boxes like this is the surprise and the fun of getting something cute and usable in the mail. All of these things (except for the glasses, because I wear prescription glasses!) are things I can regularly use and enjoy. Kawaii Box is definitely something I look forward to getting!

Panda Fuzz Review

Over the summer I was sent a few items from the Fairy Kei shop, Panda Fuzz, for review. Since my blog has been on a long hiatus since then, I'm only now getting the chance to post the review!

Shortly after being contacted by Panda Fuzz, I was sent a package that was sent priority and only took a couple days to arrive. Packaging was very neatly done and everything was wrapped in pink tissue paper and the accessories were confined to baggies to keep them from rolling around the box. Panda Fuzz surprised me with a very high quality printed tee shirt that I was totally not expecting (The shirt is the image in the background of the review header!). I was very impressed with the print quality on this shirt, as it appeared to be screen printed, and the illustration on it was just adorable! Anyone familiar with the style will tell you that cute and unique tee shirts in pastel colors are an indispensable addition to a Fairy Kei inspired wardrobe. 

 The rest of the items were Fairy Kei essentials, such as this kandi styled charm bracelet. It's on an elastic cord, which feels strongly secured and comfortably stretchy, and look extra cute paired with pastel lace wristcuffs in Fairy Kei x Lolita coords!

I thought that this heart lollypop cell phone strap was particularly cute and a subtle way to add a little bit of kawaii to your life. Unfortunately, I was afraid of the fragility of this piece, as the lolly pop stick is the real deal and the resin set so that it was more rubbery than plasticy. The rubbery resin isn't necessarily a flaw, it was by no means sticky, just something to take note of and I believe has since been worked out. However, all of the other resin pieces were perfectly set!

My favorite piece was definitely this very excited star hair clip! The face on the star is too cute and the color gradient was very cute. It featured a pink glittery plastic chain and charm dangle, that would look extra cute mixed in with your curls!

 The final item I received was a large statement charm necklace, featuring the same pink glittery plastic chain as on the hair clip. My favorite part about this was the little heart and star charms, as they reminded me of the sort of linkable charm necklaces that we used to make growing up in the early late 80s/early 90s. Definitely the right kind of nostalgic for Fairy Kei!

Overall, the items I received from Panda Fuzz were well made and were just what you would expect from the photos and the price range. The designs are cute would be a nice addition to a Fairy Kei inspired Sweet Lolita wardrobe!

You can find Panda Fuzz a few places online:
Etsy

Storenvy

Facebook

Book Review: Kawaii! Japan's Culture of Cute

Recently I've been accumulating books about Japanese pop culture, particularly ones that reference the Lolita fashion in one way or another. There aren't a ton to choose from, but there have been a few releases that seemed worth checking out! 

The first one I'd like to review is Manami Okazaki and Geoff Johnson's Kawaii! Japan's Culture of Cute from 2013. Of the few I've recently picked up this one is probably my favorite of the bunch! I had actually almost skipped over this one completely because the cover made it look like a much more shallow book than it actually was. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was insightful as well as authentic, showcasing some things beyond just Hello Kitty bento boxes. Kawaii! contains a number of interviews with a variety of different creators about their own take on the kawaii lifestyle. The book is divided into six different aspects of this kawaii lifestyle!

The first section of Kawaii!, "The Roots of Kawaii" is probably the most wordy, even though it's composed of almost entirely interviews, just as the rest of the book is. There's really just a lot to be said about the early days of kawaii in the 60s and 70s! I love the kawaii characters of the 70's and it was really cool to get to see some pictures of the "fancy goods" of the era, in addition to the totally iconic shojo art of the era!

Interviews in this section include the curator of the Yayoi-Yumeji Museum, Eico Hanamura, a couple different researchers with the Kyoto International Manga Museum, Macoto Takahashi, and Yumiko Igarashi. 

The second section was entitled "Cute Design Overload" and focused on kind of "iconic" Japanese kawaii, from cute merchandise characters like Hello Kitty and Gloomy Bear, to cute shops like Swimmer, to cute public works, to even Itasha which is an otaku fad of tricking their cars out with anime character decals.

This section was one of the largest in the books and very photo oriented, but still had a fair number of interviews with the Gloomy Bear creator Mori Chack, Swimmer designer Hiroko Sakizume, and Nameneko creator Satoru Tsuda.

The third section in the book, "Adorable Eats", was very brief and all about cute foods! This section was mostly devoted to pictures, but it did have an interview with Miki Ikezawa, a rep for MaiDreamin.

The fourth section was called "How to Dress Kawaii" and was tied with the chapter on kawaii designs for largest in the book! There were tons of interviews and street snaps in this section, pretty much all of which I found very interesting (which is fantastic, because it was the reason I bought the book in the first place!). While most of this section is devoted to street fashion and designers, there is, of course, a few pages devoted to cosplay and Comiket. Books like this almost always inevitably will talk about cosplay, and I'm thankful that this book kept it very short and kept the focus on fashion designers and lifestyle wear rather than costume and otaku culture.

Interviews in this section included Shoichi Aoki of FRUiTS, Kumamiki of Party Baby, Takuya Sawada of Takuya Angel, Yuka and Vani of 6%DOKIDOKI, Toyoko Yokoyama from Conomi, Lolita models Rin Rin and Chikage, and Gashicon of h.NAOTO's Hangry & Angry line.

The fifth section was "Cute Crafts" which is pretty self explanatory! It featured a number of different Japanese crafters, of both modern cute things as well as traditional Japanese cute things like kokeshi. This section was brief but packed full of pictures and interviews with various crafters.

The final section is called "Kawaii Visual Art" and is a bit different from the design section because it featured artists who create art for themselves rather than as part of a larger merchandising business. This section was also brief but packed full of pictures and interviews. A lot of the art in this chapter was trendier and edgier than the design section and was a refreshing end to a book about all things kawaii.

Interviews featured in this chapter include Chikuwaemil, Junko Mizuno, Osamu Watanabe, and a handful of others.

Overall, while the actual Lolita related content in this book is minimal, I really enjoyed this book. I particularly loved the different takes on the kawaii culture, and even the different creators very definitions of the word!

I actually recently put together a list on Amazon of all the English language books about Japanese street fashion that I could find! I have a handful of them but I'm hoping to work my way through the list and eventually get them all. Especially while I'm anticipating the possible English translation of Shades of Wonderland!

Steampunk Inspired Lolita & Victoria's Clockwork Emporium Review

I've been asked a few times to do a post about Steamlolita but I've been putting it off for a while because I'm by no means a Steampunk expert! Recently, however, I was asked by Victoria's Clockwork Emporium to review one of their gorgeous steampunk pieces and it has once again made me a bit intrigued by this odd combination of Victorian elegance and futuristic fantasy.

First up is the review piece from Victoria's Clockwork Emporium! I was sent a lovely hair clip with the iconic steampunk cogs and gears. The hair clip was sent very quickly, within a few days, and was packaged securely in a bubble mailer and slipped inside one of the most awesome bags I've ever seen.

The piece itself is very well made. The first thing I did, of course, was try to pull it apart. Well, maybe not, but I did test it a bit to see how well it was held together. Try as I might, none of the various little cogs fell off, it looks like they are held on with a pretty industrial strength glue, which is incredibly important on a piece like this, where all the more pieces mean all the more opportunities for something to fall off.

  I loved the packaging! The piece was in this awesome skull covered bag!

The gears and cogs are in a variety of different metal colors: silver, bronze and brass. Making this piece easy to coordinate with other pieces of jewelery you happen to be wearing because you really don't have to worry so much about the metal colors matching.

I was very impressed with how beefy the piece was, this wasn't just a couple small cogs glued together, it was practically a layer cake made out of broken watch parts! It is by no means at all a heavy hair clip, but it's definitely substantial, which makes it feel all the more sturdy and unbreakable.

 One thing I particularly like about the clip was that that the clock hand moves around! It's not exactly like I'm going to be fiddling around with it while it's clipped in my hair, but it's definitely a little touch that I really liked.

Victoria's Clockwork Emporium has a lot more to offer than just Steampunk pieces, although Steampunk clockwork pieces are their specialty, but they also offer a fair amount of pieces that are perfect for the Victorian inclined Classic Lolita.

Mixing Steampunk with Lolita

As I have mentioned, getting my hands on a cog-covered Steampunk piece really piqued my interest in this unique style mishmash. I certainly didn't magically transform into a master of steam-powered Victorian aircraft in the past week and a half, but I have spent much more time oogling Steamlita coordinates than I have in quite a while. Personally, I don't ever find myself too enthusiastic about the completely over the top Steampunk outfits, the ones that involve props and elaborate costume pieces (Although I would love to be able to try my hand at making some of them! I've secretly always wanted a steam-powered Pip Boy), as cool as they may be, I just prefer outfits that are more day-to-day wearable, despite how far out from the norm it is. Which is why a Classic Lolita with little Steampunk details- cog jewelery, utility belts, spats, aviation hats, etc. is definitely my preferred mixing of the Steampunk style with Lolita.

Some of my favorite Steampunk Lolita outfits are by AyraLeona on Deviantart. Her Steampunk outfits definitely have the balance of wearability and creativity that I really love! It doesn't look like she's in a costume, it looks like this is just what she wears. I feel like she's taken the Steampunk style and really made it her own.

I think that the Victorian nature of Steampunk lends itself very well to mixing with Lolita, and even if you don't want to go all out and build yourself steam-powered leather and brass gauntlets, you can still add a very obvious Steampunk touchs to your Lolita outfits that really adds something different from the generally girly and cute touches that you often find with Lolita.

Again, I am by no means a Steampunk expert, so I don't think I could really give any great advice on how to successfully mix the two styles other than "moderation!", so instead I'd like to ask how other people mix the two styles. Do any of you also participate in the Steampunk hobby/lifestyle/fashion? If you do, do you mix it in with your Lolita wardrobe? Where on the Lolita to Steampunk spectrum do you personally feel like is the ideal Steamlita? I might not be an expert on the style, but I do know that it's a somewhat hard style to get right. Go too much one way and you just get a Steampunk outfit with a shorter skirt, too much the other, and it's just Classic Lolita with maybe a pair of goggles.

Gothic & Lolita Bible 39

It's hard to believe that the Gothic & Lolita Bible is almost at issue 40! I remember, when I first discovered it, volume 10 or 11 was fresh off the press and getting excited about finding scans of it!

I definitely enjoyed this issue a lot more than the previous 2 volumes! The photos were all gorgeous and the patterns and crafts look fun. As for patterns, this volume contained a whole dress and a few random crafts that basically involved gluing cute things to accessories, but looked cute none the less!

When volume 38 came out, I had noticed that there were a lot less OTT coordinates and sparkle covered photoshoots than there had been in previous volumes. I wondered if this could be the beginning of the end of the OTT trend, which, while alive and well in the English language Lolita communities, seems to be fading a bit from popularity in both Japanese street snaps, and the Bibles. Fall/Winter volumes of the Bible (and many other fashion magazines!) have always been darker and more subdued than other season's volumes, so I wasn't exactly ready to make any bold statements, but the Spring/Summer issues often use the bright colors of the new season as an excuse to design some rainbow prints and bust out the glitter brush in Photoshop, so I was actually a bit excited to see that in this volume, instead of bunnies and unicorns I noticed much more pale pastel florals! So, I think I am ready to call it, as far as the Gothic & Lolita Bible is concerned, OTT Sweet seems to be old news now. Even Angelic Pretty, the brand that pretty much started the trend, has been releasing bold colored, almost ETC styled prints and simply designed "Sweet-Classic" prints.

Even the street snaps only contained a handful of Sweet Lolitas, and most of them were quite toned down, or even wearing very old school styled outfits, although, there was one girl who looked like she was trying to make up for the lack of OTT all by herself! Overall, there were much more Classic Lolitas, Gothic Lolitas, and regular old Sweet Lolitas in these street snaps! There was also something I don't think I've ever come across before, that sort of makes me feel a bit hopeful:

Mary Magdalene clones! Well, not quite, but while pictures of groups of Sweet Lolitas wearing the same Angelic Pretty print are a dime a dozen, I don't think I've ever come across a picture of multiple girls wearing the same Mary Magdalene dress!

I am sure you're sick of me rambling about my "the future of Lolita trends" predictions, I know you probably are all just interested in seeing some pretty pictures, so here are my favorites from this volume of G&LB. Click on the thumbnails for larger pictures!

So what do you think about this possible trend of more elegance, less kawaii? I think it's pretty much inevitable, many people feel a bit burnt out with OTT Sweet Lolita, and if you pay any attention to the online communities, you've probably noticed that for the past couple years people have been hoping for a return of the Classic Lolita. So far, I'm enjoying it, although I am sure, just like any trend, too much of a good thing can be bad. I think that a lot of people still have a bit of the Over-the-Top bug in them and I can easily see Classic Lolita going the way of the Sweet Lolita. Everyone having to have the next big Innocent World print, everyone needing to have the same wig with those little braided loopy pigtails, loading up their Classic Lolita with tons of must-have accessories, and I can even imagine some wacky OTT trend happening in Classic, like instead of cake hats we all want to wear hats that look like stacks of books. Hopefully though, the need for OTT will restrain itself with Classic Lolita, or will simply begin to become less and less the norm.

I Do Declare's Giveaway, Some Sold Out Lucky Packs, and 500k Hits

A few weeks ago Kelsey of I Do Declare was having a give away on her blog. I commented on the post not expecting much, since I never (and I mean never) win giveaways. But about a week ago as I was going through my blog roll I saw she was announcing the winner. I almost skipped over it because I thought "Oh, well that has nothing to do with me XD" But I clicked anyways and was quite surprised to find that I was the lucky random winner of a couple totes and a tee shirt, all of which are screen printed with I Do Declare's unique designs!

The prize, all bundled up and pretty! I loved the card, it was so elegant and fit Kelsey's designs perfectly.

I promptly tore into the package to see what I got! Even though I already knew what it was XD I was still surprised to find two totes in the package (only 1 pictured, the other is identical, I just didn't have room in the picture for it).

The screen printing is awesome. On the totes it's thick and gorgeous, and on the tee it's much lighter and sort of vintage looking, which suits tees much better than thick printing, as thickly screen printed tees tend to crack and shrivel the first time you wash them. The design, as you can see, is an amazing unicorn. Angelic Pretty can keep their plump little carousel unicorns, I love badass medieval unicorns!

The tote bags are really great, if you want one for yourself you can pick them up at the I Do Declare Etsy shop. The very first thing I did with my totes? Filled them up with a dozen packages. What was I shipping out? Why, Ophanim lucky packs! I was completely prepared to announce them on my blog, I even made a fancy graphic and everything....

But, as you may have guessed, the lucky packs are all sold out. They actually sold out within a half hour! Something I was definitely not expecting! These were so successful I definitely plan on doing some more lucky packs once it gets a little closer to Christmas. If you want to grab one the next time I put them out, follow me on Twitter, since I'll be tweeting about them as I make them and when they are posted!

In keeping with this post's hodgepodge of awesomeness, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for reading my blog :D You might not notice it, since it's aaaall the way at the bottom of the page in a tiny little font, but my hit counter hit 500,000 sometime two nights ago. I tweeted for people to be on the look out for that then went to sleep, the next morning I got a few screen shots of counts reaaaally close to the 500k, including one of 499,999 by Zeloco of the Etsy shop Eat Me Ink Me. I figured the 500k went unnoticed until later that day Neena commented on my lucky pack sales post letting me know that she actually got the 500k but couldn't send me a message on Twitter about it! She sent me a full page screen shot, but I've cropped it just to show you the magic number.

500,000 hits :D That's half a million! Thanks again to everyone who reads F Yeah Lolita!