A fun picnic meetup!

Hey everyone! Apologies for not posting in a little while, but I've simply not had the time!

I thought I would do another meetup report, this time on an Oxford lolita meetup that happened on Sunday.

We decided to go for a picnic. Luna and Sammi organised a series of games for us to play such as lolita print bingo, and a pinata, and overall, it was a really funny meetup!

We set up camp under the shade of some big trees by a duck pond.

We had croissants, cocktail sausages, sausage rolls, grapes, strawberries and cream, fairy cakes (which were amazing), Doritos, couscous and sandwiches!

This lil ducky chilled out with us for a bit. She was rewarded with Doritos after we decided she was a "cool original" sort of duck.

James ended up in a tree in an attempt to set up the pinata so I gave him my camera so he could get some cool birds-eye view photos of us! Luna's dress makes me nostalgic as it's what she was wearing the first time we properly met! I decided to wear an Anna House blouse, Bodyline macaron print (because food theme!) and a handmade strawberry clip and handmade teapot earrings!

All of us waiting around for this bloody pinata to get it together! Despite Sammi having dried out the paper mache for days, it still had a weird gooey texture and didn't quite work out properly.

We each took turns to whack at this thing for so ages before finally deciding to just tear it open already!

My shoes weren't loli at all but I didn't have my black tea parties at my parents' house where I was staying. Oh well XD

After we were done with clearing up all the pinata mess, we went for a bit of a wander around the park, getting stopped for photos, and then going on a hunt for the toilets. We then headed for another shaded area to take group photos.

And here's all of us! We had a couple of newcomers and they were so lovely. Hopefully they'll come to more meets in future!

After this, we settled ourselves down once more so we could sample Nicola's chocolate cake.

It was delicious, of course! So far, Nicola's chocolate cake is the nicest I've tasted so far. I love that she doesn't overdo it with the chocolate so it's not overly rich or bitter. It's just perfect! I regret not asking to take some home with me!

After that we headed to the ice cream cafe to cool down. And then, the meet was over!

I had such a great day! Meetups are so much fun in hot weather because the days are longer, and there's so much more freedom when you can stay outside and be comfortable.

I hope you enjoyed this meetup report! Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment! ❤

A Meetup in Basingstoke

On Sunday I attended a lolita meetup in Basingstoke. It's not a town I've ever been particularly blown away by but I ended up having a really great time there. It turns out there's a large, picturesque park area about a ten minute walk from the town centre, with a paddling area for little children, and a large expanse of pond for people to pedalo in, and ducks to frolic in (though they mainly seemed interested in sunbathing on the dry land).

The previous plan had been to have a picnic, but it seemed like the weather was going to be terrible so this was called off. On the actual day however, the weather was gloriously warm and sunny.

We decided to walk to a little bridge area to take photos of the group. 

Here's the picture I took of the group! On this occasion, Luna and James couldn't make it so we didn't have the option of using James as the photographer XD A lot of us were wearing more subdued classical coordinates this time. 

I made sure to get some nice snapshots of Ophelia's coord which was, incidentally, my favourite one of the day.

Doesn't she look wonderful? I love coordinates which include red, and I'm forever loving anything with a retro vibe.

Here's my coordinate for the day:

This picture gives me so much fringe rage! I forgot to use my comb before the picture, and a breeze blew as it was being taken so as per usual it split in the middle. So frustrating... maybe next time I'll get the perfect outfit picture. Anyway, I'm wearing Btssb's Alice's Ribbon Kingdom, and a bag I got recently from Floozie by Frost French. The blouse is H&M and the shoes are Bodyline.

After this, we decided to get something to eat, and ended up at Ask Italian, outside in a covered seating area. It was nice to have a private area for our group to eat and chat.

I had this rigatoni meatball dish. It was nice, though highly reminiscent of a supermarket ready meal I used to have all the time! Luckily, it didn't cost too much in the end because Emmy had brought a discount voucher for us.

When we'd gone through the headache inducing task of splitting the bill after using discount voucher, we headed to a wall beside a church where we ate the homemade fairy cakes that Jerusha had brought with her. 

We ended the meet by checking out a shop in the main shopping centre, which sells anime related merchandise, traditional Chinese clothing, loads of Hello Kitty related stuff, and other miscellaneous items. I'm not entirely sure who the target audience of this shop is but it's definitely fun to browse either way! I ended up buying a sparkly butterfly thing which I'm planning on turning into a hair accessory. Rosemary decided it was overpriced whilst Emmy kept pushing me to buy it, acting as the devil on my shoulder! In the end, I decided to treat myself out of the convenience of it. 

At the till, along with my butterfly, I also placed a fortune cookie from the box on the counter. Outside the shop, I snapped open the cookie then burst out laughing as a read the message inside.

Spooky, huh?

Things soon began to wrap up as we all separated in different directions to get home. 

I had a great day, and I'm glad my opinion was changed of this town. It doesn't have as many things to do there as my hometown, but I'm sure it'll suit us well for a summer picnic. 

Until next time, thank you so much for looking and feel free to comment ❤

Bag review: Angelic Pretty's Melty Moon Bag

Hi everyone!

When Angelic Pretty released their Melty Moon bag last year I thought it was pretty awesome. A bit of a strange concept, but definitely awesome. What I didn't find awesome, however, was the mad chaos that ensued as everyone tried to get their hands on it. It was stress I couldn't be bothered to deal with. I decided to bide my time instead. 

Recently I noticed someone selling the Melty Moon bag on the UK version of lolita sales on facebook. I watched as the price went down and down as the months passed, before deciding to get it before someone else did! I ended up getting it for a great price. Result! Anyway, I wanted to add to the list of reviews of this bag as there are surprisingly few of them. Let's go!

The size of the bag surprised me. It actually fits a fair amount of things in it! A phone, a camera, a small wallet, lip balm, a mirror and door keys. Perfect! One thing I would change is the writing on the star, making it white instead of silver. As it is, you can't really tell that easily that the text says "Angelic Pretty". Other than that, this bag is beautiful.

The opening is a good size and curves around with the bag.

The material of the bag caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting it to feel so soft and well, like it was really made of leather. The texture is really gorgeous and I couldn't help but spend a little while stroking it.

There are many stars to be found on this bag, from the ones printed on the front of it, to the star shaped buckle, zip chain, studs, and little star shaped dangly thing (a mini coin purse? I don't even know but it's adorable).

The inside of the bag is quite roomy given the shape, and has an AP tag and a little zipped pocket for small items.

The bag is comfortable to wear, with a strap you can adjust. The theme of it is a bit unique though, so I'll have to try to find a plainer dress/skirt to wear it with so there's no print theme clashes.

Overall, I'm really glad I got this bag! It's such a cool concept, and I'm excited to wear it. Lolita fashion definitely got me into the idea of unusual shaped bags and I look forward to adding more to my collection! I hope you enjoyed this review! Let me know what you think of the bag (and lolita bags in general!) in the comments ❤