Lucky Packs!

While the rest of the country has been suffering terrible weather and large amounts of snow, Missouri's winter has remained... uneventful.  A few days of frost, light flurries briefly, and beyond that?  Nothing.  It's 7 am here and the temperature gauge reads 57F.  I'm baffled by this, honestly.  It's nothing like the ice storms and unending snow that I remember.  It's nice, but I'm afraid the weather is going to backlash come my birthday in less than two weeks.

The holidays have been distracting with family, but that's finally over.  This time of year is my favourite for a completely different reason, however.  Lucky packs and winter sales!  Most lolitas are familiar with the concept of lucky packs and it's always a great chance to get great deals to fill out your wardrobe.  With more brands accessible overseas now as well, all the lucky packs have been painfully tempting. 

What I have on the way:

Contents?  Complete mystery!  This was the most expensive of the packs that I bought and also the one I'm most excited and nervous about.  I've been "researching" the contents of similarly sized lucky packs and the contents look rather promising.  Usually it's a good variety of everything.  In the past people have gotten 2-4 dresses, 1-2 skirts, a purse, at least one pair of socks, a couple tops, and other accessories.  But you never really know, which is the exciting part.  I've seen somebody get a rolling suitcase in theirs one year, and during the summer people got yukatas too.  Apparently there have been shoes included in the past as well.

These don't ship out until early January so maybe it'll be here in time for my birthday!

Right now this is "inbound into customs" so hopefully I get it by tomorrow!

This one came with two colour options: light ("off white, white, pink, and so on") and dark ("black, brown, gray and so on") and I selected the dark in order to avoid pink.   I'd be happy with any of the dark possibilities, but part of me is hoping for grey. 

The contents of these LPs are a bit more straightforward.  Although the exact colours and styles are unknown, the types of items you end up with is revealed before purchase.  This will include a jsk, a long sleeved blouse, ribbon barrette, bloomers, and accessories (socks+jewelry).

They're also including a special original bag, as they did during the summer round of lucky packs. 

Hopefully I get the black version, since I got a pink one during the summer.  These bags are awesome, though.  They're the perfect size for an airplane carryon and fits under the seats perfectly.  I also imagine they'd make great beach bags but I don't live anywhere near a beach.

During the summer I bought two of Meta's luckypacks, a dress one and a skirt one.  The contents were surprisingly nice although I didn't keep much.  Meta's sizing runs a bit larger on me than I'd like, so I'm not too hopeful about the blouse fitting.

Lastly, a friend and I both ordered a shoe pack from the "Winter Special Sale"!  They were on sale through the website December 21-24, but I think they sold out before then.  They also had a pack of two purses and a small accessory pack with a hairbow, a pair of socks, and a ring.

This pack comes with two pairs of shoes and you only get to pick the size.  I went with M because the L size heart buckles I wore for the PMX fashion show were a bit large on me.  I think I'm between M and L so hopefully these aren't too small.

I'm really hoping that the two styles of shoes pictured are the ones I get.  I've had my eye on the Odette Toe Shoes for a long time.  I'd be happy with black, pink, or white, although red wouldn't match anything I own.

These don't ship out until early January so I'll have to remain patient.

Once things start arriving, I'll take pictures of what I get for those curious.

ETA:
Also, Angelic Pretty's USA online store is going to be releasing 4 LPs right at the new year (PST). 

I'm considering trying to order this salopette set.  It's very summery.  It comes in black, pink, and purple, and unfortunately you don't get to choose.  I love the purple heart purse.

The premium set looks like an awesome deal for everything included, but I'm not interested in pink and I've spent enough already.  Still, that coat is very cute.

Review: Secret Shop Shoes

After five months of patiently waiting, the two pairs of shoes I ordered from Secret Shop through taobaonow finally arrived.  The delay wasn't the shopping service's fault, but they kept me periodically updated. 

Both pairs were Innocent World replicas, as I had been needing more classical styled shoes which other cheap alternatives (bodyline) didn't really provide.  After fees and shipping, I paid about $50 per pair.  I don't think Secret Shop is allowing individual shoe orders anymore, however, and you have to go through some distributor for nearly $50 a pair before shipping. 

The bordeaux pair I was most anxious for, as I have a few pieces in my wardrobe I was hoping they would match.  Unfortunately the shoes are slightly redder than I had hoped, but they'll still look nice.  The little rose bouquets are adorable, though they're only one-faced so you can see the grey underside. 

I found it amusing that they used an Angelic Pretty logo for the inside of the shoe.

The scallops are nice, though the edges are not as clean as on the black pair or the pair from IW that I own.  It's also not one continuous piece, but at least they put the break to the inside.  You can also see the material is slightly wrinkled here, it's not as strongly enforced as the toe or the back.

These impressed me with the quality.  The straps on these are thicker and sturdier than the other pair.  Bows are luckily nondetachable (as I always manage to lose those).

The heels on both pairs are the same.  They seem secured well and nonwobbly, unlike a pair of bodyline heels that I've had.

They used their own logo for the inside of these, which I prefer.

Decent grip on the soles, so I don't have to worry about sliding around.

I've never had a pair of shoes that clasped quite like these before.  The closures are hooks that you slide the strap into, and the adjustable "buckle" part prevents the strap from sliding through.  It's faster than buckling, sure, but it doesn't seem as secure...

For comparison, my pair of Innocent World shoes have a normal buckle. 

The secret shop shoes next to my Innocent World shoes.  It's difficult to compare since I don't own the originals of the replicas, but overall I'd say the Innocent World ones are better quality in terms of little details and construction.  The material on the replica shoes is a bit rougher, but it doesn't detract from their appearance.

Here they are worn with the pair of Secret Shop socks that I threw in with the order as an impulse. 

I love that Secret Shop put out some classical shoes, but the waiting time was slightly irritating as it kept getting delayed.  I'm very satisfied with these and can't wait to incorporate them into my wardrobe.  It's just a shame ordering from Secret Shop is more difficult and expensive now.

Motifs: Horses

Despite my fascination with the furry legs of Clydesdale horses when I visited Busch Gardens over a decade ago and an army of My Little Ponies as a toddler, I was never a girl that wanted a pony.  The number of times I've actually been on a horse can be counted on one finger, and while it was fun for the day, my desire to have a horse still remains minimal. 

However, somehow I've developed a fascination with prints featuring horses and carousels.  Go figure.

It all began with my first order from Taobao- this dress from Rose Melody.  This dress is also responsible for my obsession with OPs, but I digress.  At the time it was a (far less elegant) replacement for my first dream dress, Merry-Go-Around by Innocent World. 

While I still have not managed to obtain this dress (if you're selling it, contact me?) I did manage to purchase the skirt version. 

Printed on chiffon, the Innocent World's carousel is quite elegant and intricately detailed while only utilizing two colours.

At PMX I purchased my third horse print, the Gertrude JSK in blue.

While it breaks away from the carousel theme, it has a very similar feel to it.

The print is once again on a flattened plane with the horses at strict profile, though this print has more of a sketchy quality to it.

I've joked making it a personal mission to deliberately collect horse related prints now, but it would be too expensive of an endeavor to ever seriously consider.  There's been quite a few released from different brands, and it's interesting to see how each approaches the same concept.

Angelic Pretty alone has a wide collection of prints with horses.  The first that comes to mind is the extremely popular Sugary Carnival.

I chose the black version to show the details better, since a lot of Angelic Pretty's pastel prints lack a lot of contrast, but personally I find the lavender the prettiest. 

There's also Starry Night Theatre, although I couldn't find a larger image or print detail.  The horses are much less prominent in it so you may have to squint.

Pony Applique, for simplicity's sake:

Probably my favourite of the bunch, Carnival from 2006.  It's old and expensive, but there are plenty of replicas floating around.

 

And then just recently, a couple more!

That was more than I anticipated, and I didn't even include a few of the rocking horse prints...

Metamorphose also has their own Merry Go Round dress:

And of course the recent Twinkle Journey... though they're technically pegasus...es.  I think Meta, being the innovative deviants that they are, deserve some credit for breaking profile format with having the mother pegasus twisted.  It's also the only one where the design extends beyond a single plane with an established fore and background.  So while it's not my favourite of the bunch, bravo for doing something a bit different.

Not wanting to be left out on the fad, Bodyline also produced a carousel print that's been quite popular and sold out rather quickly in everything but yellow.

So if you made it this far, which horse print is your favourite?  Did I forget any important ones?