LBC: A Lolita Coordinate Based on a Constellation.

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival topic was one I was super excited to do--a coordinate based on a constellation! I wanted to make sure I used a dress I own (in this case, I have ordered and am just waiting on), so I did some digging for constellations visible to the naked eye that tend to come out around this time of year and settled on Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia is a gorgeous constellation that is supposed to represent the mythological Greek figure sitting on her throne, or some of the points on her crown.

Cassiopeia Coordinate by avinastar featuring tights

LBC #25: Three lolita beverages and outfits to match!

It's been a while since I participated in my last Lolita Blog Carnival! This time a topic came up that I just couldn't resist doing and made me immediately think of Sakizo's beautiful illustrations of personified food and drinks.

One of my favourites! "Milk."

Here are the beverages I picked and the outfits to match! I hope you enjoy~ I tried to use dresses that I have owned/tried on at some point.

Chocolate & Matcha Frappé. After I thought about doing iced matcha tea, I remembered that Sakizo had drawn a beautiful illustration for a matcha latté, so I decided to do a little twist and do the chocolate and matcha frappé. It's something I order when I feel like indulging myself from coffee shops that offer matcha tea (and thankfully that is becoming more common, rejoice!) and it is probably one of my favourite flavours in general.

I used Mary Magdalene's St. Claire one-piece in olive as the central point, and tried to go for a warm, kind of scholarly, look. The boots are from Victorian Maiden, and the hair piece is from this Etsy store! The photo of the frappé came from this lovely Flickr.

Lavender Lemonade. I love this delicious recipe for lavender lemonade, and knew immediately I just had to add this to my list of "lolita beverages." Aside from the lovely colour, it has a great aroma and taste too! Adding herbs to traditional beverages is such a great idea.

The jumperskirt and bolero are from Angelic Pretty, shoes from DreamV, and the tights are from this store. I purchased them using that same listing two years back and I recommend the store from my experience! The beautiful flower crown (what is pictured is actually the back of it!!) is from this Etsy store.

Spiced Mulled Wine (Game of Thrones Style). Probably my newest obsession, I recently brewed up a batch of mulled wine (slightly modified from the official "modern-day" recipe provided in the A Feast of Ice and Fire, the official Game of Thrones cookbook) during the last cold snap, and the spicy flavour and warming sensation was perfect for cold weather. I highly recommend it to everyone! It's not very alcoholic at all--and it has a strong taste besides so normally I only drink about half a cup at a time--maybe even less--but still, drink responsibly!

Because it's a staple for cold weather, I used another long-sleeved one piece by Victorian Maiden (I own an Olive & Ting replica of this, it's beautiful!), and coordinated it with deep golds and browns to mimic the cinnamon that is so prevalent in the recipe. I also wanted to add hints of orange representative of the oranges that sit in the brew! The fascinator is from this Etsy store, the beautiful crochet scarf is from here, and the flower pin is from here.

Hope you all enjoyed this topic, check out what the other creative bloggers did this week!

American Born Chinese Lolita ★ Geisha Baby ★ Loli Dreamland
The Bloody Tea Party

Lolita Blog Carnival #16: 1 Piece, 4 Seasons.

Considering I live in one of the hottest places in the U.S. (when I recently left home to come to California on some family business, it was a whopping 28°C and winter had pretty much come and gone), I may not be the best choice for this Lolita Blog Carnival topic, but I couldn't resist doing another similar piece after the last wardrobe challenge.

This time I took another favourite Metamorphose jumperskirt of mine, my Candy Star Rabbit JSK. I asked my boyfriend to photograph it for me on his iPhone since I was out of town this week, so it won't be done quite the same way as my last wardrobe challenge, to my dismay. ;A; All the items I'll be using I own or look very similar to something I own, since a lot of photos are going to be the stock images. I wasn't able to find one for this Jumperskirt surprisingly, so that's why I had to call in a favour. ;D

Generally prints make it so easy to make multiple coordinates out of, just because there are a wide variety of colours that can be picked out of the print. Metamorphose always goes crazy with their colours too, which just makes it more fun!

Lolita Blog Carnival #8: Wardrobe Challenge

I was really thrilled to hear that a topic I suggested for the Lolita Blog Carnival to do was selected by popular vote this past week! This week, all the participants of the blog carnival will be getting together and picking out one lolita piece from their wardrobe, whether it is a skirt, jumperskirt, or one-piece, and challenging themselves with making five different coordinates with it.

As a quick detour, my outfit has nothing to do with the coming post because this Wednesday was the Hindu Festival of Lights: Diwali! I went for a slightly belated pooja (it's like a Catholic mass, for lack of a better way to describe it) yesterday, and just never had time to wear the outfit I was planning to introduce this post. I wore a traditional sari worn the North Indian way (despite me being South Indian--Diwali is celebrated as a New Year's celebration in North India, and I kind of felt like mixing things up), and had a great time. =)

Hope you enjoy the photos, they become progressively darker because the sun set as I worked through the challenge the day I took them.

Before I show you the pictures, I want to share a few tips on how to get the most for your money when looking for lolita items, and what kind of pieces you can look for to know that you have a dress you can wear many times in many different ways. It get's boring when you realise you can only wear a dress a certain way!

1. Ask yourself "can I layer things with this dress?" It's much easier to make a lot of different outfits if you buy a skirt or jumperskirt because you can wear a different blouse underneath it each time, or even wear something over it (or both)! Plus, you can even fold over a jumperskirt and use a waist belt to turn it into a beautiful skirt. No one will ever know the difference, trust me. ;D
2. Buy something in a solid colour that has a similar base tone to the rest of your wardrobe. If you tend to wear muted colours, buy pieces that are in that same realm because you can do colour combinations a lot easier this way. If you have lots of pastel yellow pieces, you probably don't want to buy something a cool blue because they are just on two different levels, and you'll realise you end up spending more money on new items to match the dress than the dress itself!
3. Detachable pieces, button-up fronts, removable collars: these are all FANTASTIC additions to a dress that makes it that much more worth it to buy. Simply purchasing a jumperskirt that has a couple of detachable bows is already begging to be coordinated in so many fresh new ways! Brands like Metamorphose and MAM Maxicimam sell dresses that often have detachable ruffles, so you can make a dress that had an OTT sweet feel suddenly look toned down and classy.
4. When buying prints, use this as an opportunity to add different colours to your wardrobe without straining your budget. This is a bit of a strange tip to explain, but basically, say your wardrobe already has a lot of mint in it. And then WHAM, Baby releases this gorgeous print in pink, that you really want! But that seems to be a bit painful on your wallet because you don't really have anything else that's pink. But ah! Look closer and you will see that the print actually has quite a bit of mint interspersed within. Suddenly it's a lot easier to coordinate with it and add a new colour to your wardrobe you don't have a lot of! Even though solid colours are great for coordination, prints can be even better sometimes. 

Finally, in terms of brands that I think are best for flexibility--I definitely think Metamorphose is great for this. All their bows are usually detachable, they release things with detachable ruffles all the time, and you can get a lot of wear out of it. I've also found Innocent World is pretty fantastic as well, especially since they make some gorgeous solid-coloured pieces. Now, onto the pictures!

Mahou-kei Photoshoot

Mahou-kei Photoshoot by avinastar featuring long necklaces

I want to do a really nice, high-quality photoshoot in my apartment soon featuring vintage toys and my new vanity for my good friend Candy over at Starlight Deco Dream and Mahou-kei! I have loved her products for such a long time, and her wigs are amazing to boot! Can't wait to work on this project~