Wednesday 25 June 2014

Bodyline Review: Shoes 224

Last Thursday I received a pair of black Bodyline boots in the post. They took a few weeks to arrive as I used AIR shipping, but I didn't mind-- there was a free shipping deal going on and I had to take advantage of it! I didn't get hit with customs which was another bonus.

Bodyline shipped them in a bag, but this was fine because they were very securely wrapped in layers of bubble wrap. The boots were stuffed with long, stiff foamy stuff to help them retain their shape, and the toes of the boots had balled up tissue paper as well. The boots came with zero damage whatsoever. Thanks, Bodyline!

Well, here's the outer side of the left boot. You can see where the ankle creases due to movement. I don't mind this too much, and it's inevitable with sturdy, non-leather materials. The boots make your feet look really tiny!

Here's the inner side. The zip isn't the smoothest to do up but it's manageable. The creasing only seems to affect the outside of the boot, but this will probably vary depending on what your walk is like.

The traction is pretty good. The soles feel hard yet slightly rubbery, and they are rough to the touch. It seems unlikely you would slip over in these, unless you were on ice or something! I plan to wear the boots on wet or cold days rather than snowy conditions anyway (not that where I live has seen snow any time recently).

And here's a front view of the boots worn! I really like the bows as they are well constructed and cute, though none of them are detachable which might bother some people. These boots do not have a very forgiving calf size. My calves are about 37cm around, and I really think that is the maximum size for these boots. Otherwise, the laces won't be long enough and the sides of the boots won't really meet the tongue. It's a shame they didn't make these boots larger to fit more people.

Overall, I really like these boots. However, they lose points for their general solidness, which I can imagine could get uncomfortable if worn for an extended period of time. Also, these boots run a touch small. I would recommend getting 0.5cm size up from your regular measurement if you plan on wearing socks with these. I will only be wearing regular tights with them so hopefully they will remain comfortable. To explain, my feet are something like ~24-24.2 cm (I find them so hard to measure) so I always get size 245 in Bodyline shoes. For these boots, I think 250 would have been right for me. 

Finally, I have a pair of lolita boots! I will update you on their comfort level once I've worn them for a day.

EDIT 30/1/15: These boots are incredibly uncomfortable for tasks such as simply walking down stairs!  The material is so tough that it isn't flexible enough to accommodate the bending involved in that basic process, Where the tongue meets the top of the toe is quite bulky and you have to carefully readjust this to avoid it digging into your foot. I cannot in good faith recommend these boots for anything more than a photoshoot, They are simply not soft enough for extended wear.

I hope this review was helpful. Let me know what you think in the comments 

Friday 13 June 2014

International Lolita Day Summer 2014

Last Saturday I organised a lolita meetup in honour of the summer edition of International Lolita Day. The weather was set to be rainy and stormy, so I decided to call off the picnic I had meticulously planned. But whilst I did wake up to thunder and an intense rain shower, by around 11am it had completely cleared up, much to my frustration. My replacement plan was to go for a meal at Wagamama.

The day became really warm and summery. We posed in the now fully bloomed area of the park which made for some lovely photos. We couldn't help trying to pose with all the flowers!


Silly photos and yet Luna and Sammi still look totally adorable! 

After a rather cloudy start to the proceedings the sun came out and all of a sudden it was boiling! I had dressed for the apocalypse only to be greeted by some sort of summery paradise?! 

We managed to get a nice photo of the entire group.
Such a lovely meetup setting!

After taking lots of photos, we headed off for our meal. I ordered yaki udon like I did last time and I was disappointed by how sour it was. Oh well... this time I got TWO whole prawns instead of one, haha.

During the meal I handed out another one of my quizzes! This time it was a print name/dress name test, where you had to decide which prints were real, and which ones I had simply made up. Luna, being the lolita knowledge champion, won the quiz again with 13/20, and Fern came in second place with 11/20. I awarded both of them with flowery hair accessories. Most people only got 4 questions right! I can't say I'm surprised... you probably wouldn't have expected Ruby Gloom and Dobby Cherry to be actual lolita brand dress names!

Sammi's test paper turned cupcake plate!

After our meal we ended up back in the park again to eat the cupcakes someone had been generous enough to provide! There were also donations of chocolate chip cookies, and really adorable goodie bags that day, too. We all had a souvenir to take away from the day.

And finally, a picture of me, chilling with the roses of course. The blouse is my trusty Anna House one, and the jumperskirt is actually a Sai Sai, Camden find. The label says Pyon Pyon which I believe is a Taobao brand. I need to wear it more often! I quite enjoyed my venture into kuro lolita!

I hope you enjoyed seeing what my local comm got up to on International Lolita Day! Did you celebrate? :)
Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment! 

Bonus:
I couldn't resist making a little dress-up game version of my kuro coord! XD

Tuesday 10 June 2014

Cute Lolita Dress-up Game!

Hi my lovely readers! I somehow managed to go on a hiatus. It wasn't intentional, but it's been hard to get inspired for blog posts (and to find the time for them) at the moment. 

I have been super stressed out lately with coursework, exams and scary looming deadlines. On top of all this I decided to host a lolita meet last Saturday! Things have been ridiculously busy lately but fortunately, things will have calmed down by next week when my spring term ends. I can't wait to have a break!

Anyway, sometimes you just need something lighthearted and cute to cheer you up after a long hard day. I recently found out about this really adorable Doll Divine dress up game in lolita style!

It's super easy to customise and has quite a lot of options as far as making prints go. I would definitely recommend it if you're bored for a fun, simple creative boost.

Here's one I made to match my Enchanted coord!


What do you think? It's not an exact recreation of my outfit but I think it's close enough!

Do you turn to the world of kawaii when you want to de-stress? Have you ever played this game before? Let me know in the comments