Since I'm trying to downsize my things at home I tried not to go overboard on shopping this time.... well tried might be the keyword here ^^; In reality there were a couple of basics that I still needed in my wardrobe, and then a number of impulse buys that I just couldn't help myself in the end.

Closet Child

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Hello internet! It's been a long time since my last post. Life popped up as it will sometimes and I ended up putting fashion on the backburner for several months. My spring and fall wardrobe both stayed pretty stagnant while I worked on things like my career as a developer and writing the first draft of a novel! Anyway, now that things are settling down a bit, I've been doing more thinking on my wardrobe and have started planning my winter wardrobe!
The first thing I noticed was that I had virtually no long sleeved shirts, which posed a real problem for a winter wardrobe. So, I decided to treat myself.

When I was looking for inspiration on himekaji outfits with long sleeved shirts, I found that many of the ones I liked the most for casual wear involved ribbed mock neck and turtle neck shirts.

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Daiso

eBay

Thrift Store

So, it has been well over a month since my last post and I owe you guys an explanation! Unfortunately, my explanation isn't very long or dramatic. School has been piling up and I've been focused on getting it together in that regard, so fashion and blogging have fallen a bit by the wayside. I also felt that I had been spending too much money, between cosplay, Halloween, my wardrobe, and dates with my boyfriend... plus eating out and other impulse buys, I decided to go on a spending ban for the month of November. All of this combined means I haven't had much time to blog or much to blog about. In hindsight I probably should have written a small update like this last month, explaining that I'll be on a brief hiatus, but every day I thought "I'm busy today... but tomorrow I'll definitely have time to write something!"
That being said, I'm still here. I have a backlog of crafts and projects I'd like to try (as well as a pattern-making book I got for my birthday sitting on my shelf begging for me to make some dresses and things). I have more wardrobe building tips and a considerable shopping list for my winter wardrobe. So, I haven't stopped blogging! I've just been really busy. You can expect my regularly scheduled weekly blog entries to pick up again in mid December after finals. In the mean time, although I have been busy I've been staying relatively active on instagram with my outfits and other little daily stuff.

Anyway, spending ban aside, I had some gift cards sitting around from my birthday so I decided to put them to use and find some things for my winter wardrobe. (Gift cards don't count as spending, right? Right.) Here's a brief run-down on what I bought.

I think the skirt I found has a cute old school gyaru feel to it while not being too over the top. I'm thinking of bringing in more browns into my wardrobe for winter, and going for a mostly strawberry-chocolate color scheme. I think plaids work really well for winter, and it looks like some kind of a flannel material which is even better, but I won't know for sure until it gets here. I may have to replace the lace at the bottom, depending on the quality when it arrives. I might go with a light brown or tan lace trim instead of black.

Almost every other outfit I put together these days, I keep thinking how much I wish I had a long dangly pink necklace. I love how long necklaces look with sweaters, and a splash of pink would help to tie together some of my less finished looks nicely. I really like the princessey feeling of the carriage. I'm thinking I'll add a small velvet bow to the top like I've seen on some Liz Lisa necklaces. Especially for winter, I really like the idea of having some soft fuzzy textures even on shoes or jewelry.

Speaking of soft and fuzzy, I didn't even realize I needed a fuzzy infinity scarf until I saw the listing on Amazon. I really hope the color is similar in real life to the picture because that dusty rose color is exactly what I need in my life. Either way I'm looking forward to having something soft and cozy to wrap around my neck as it starts to get colder.

Thanks for bearing with me guys! See you in a few weeks.

Hello again! I promise promise promise that I'll start doing reviews of all the stuff I've bought lately. My dorm building is so run down, there aren't any pretty backgrounds to take photos in front of around here. It's easy to lose motivation. 
So, here we are, mid October already, but amazingly we're still in the middle of this heat wave. It has gotten a tiny bit cooler since I last complained about it, but it's still definitely summer weather. We don't really get a Fall around here, the leaves turn red while the weather continues being sunny and hot, then somewhere in November it will suddenly start being cold and gloomy. Well, it doesn't get that cold even then really. I live in a desert!!
Anyway enough about the weather, since I know I have at least a few weeks left of Summer, I've been focusing my purchases on items that might be useful for both summer and winter.

Liz Lisa Stuff

Lizmelo Sweater	Lizmelo Shirt Set
Liz Lisa Sukapan

I'm actually very excited about this sweater! It was my first time bidding on something that was kind of competitive. There were a few other people bidding on this and I was really worried that I wouldn't get it!  To make matters worse, I was on a road trip when the auction was set to end. Lucky for me, my boyfriend agreed to help me and we won! I love the color and I think the bows on the shoulders and lace are so cute, even though it's toned down enough that it can be worn very casually as well. I think it'll look nice with jeans or a skirt alike.

Off Brand

Dusty Pink Bow Sandals	Hello Kitty Jumper
Roses and Pearls Necklace

These bow sandals have been on my to-buy list since the very beginning of my wardrobe shopping. I kept putting them off because I figured I should get some more main pieces before buying shoes... but now I'm at the point where I can put together several outfits and have barely any shoes! So I went for it. I think they're a good mix of things, they look really cute and princessey but they're still just flip flops so I can wear them daily and no one will give me a weird look for it.

Yesterday I ventured into Little Tokyo for my friend's birthday! It's always kind of tiring trying to get to and from downtown, but it's always worth it. We browsed a lot of shops and restaurants and then visited the Barcade, a bar filled with retro arcade games. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of arcade games, but it was still a really unique place, and we found some pretty fun games as well.
Most of these are from Michael Levine's remnants room, a magical place where fabric is sold for only a couple bucks a pound. I love that place so much, I can't even put it into words. I wish I had found some pastel floral fabrics, but I really didn't find any that suited me, so the search for cute florals will continue. However, I did found some good stuff. The pink gingham sheer is so floaty and airy, I think it's perfect for summer! And I don't know yet what I plan on using that sparkly blue spandex for, but it was so glittery that I couldn't resist. Maybe it will fit into an idol cosplay I do in the future, or I might try and take it in a soft grunge direction with some kind of cut out crop top... that one won't be able to fit into this Summer's wardrobe for sure, but sometimes you see something and just have to go for it regardless!

Today's Haul

Cute fashion has been something I've chased after for several years now. After a lifetime of being the homely nerd down the street, it's difficult to break out of my shell and try to become cute after all. But little by little I've been making small steps forward, and I'm finally ready to commit to a casual princess lifestyle!
As I explore beauty and fashion, I've become interested in the capsule wardrobe. Many other fashion bloggers have talked about this concept extensively, and I'll also write about how I see it applying to certain j-fashions in the future once my first real capsule wardrobe is complete. The basic premise of the capsule wardrobe is a 37-item wardrobe good for one season (including shoes but not including accessories). What I love about this idea for someone who is new to fashion like me is that it limits my wardrobe to a number which is manageable, and forces me to be creative with what pieces I choose to add to my collection. My choices are small enough that I can compare each piece to the rest of the wardrobe and easily identify which pieces fit to create a cohesive style and which pieces stand out. This is a skill that I want to improve, and I hope that building capsule wardrobes will help me with this goal.

Enough talk, onto my purchases! I did some research into the himekaji (literally casual princess) style and tried to determine what would comprise a basic himekaji wardrobe. After collecting all of my cute frilly, lacey, and floral clothing, I decided that I'm really lacking in dresses, skirts, and cute blouses, and also that most of my T-shirts are not really appropriate for this fashion. I did some window shopping and found some cute items to fill in the gaps in what I already owned, and determined what I will buy and what I will make myself. Of course, skirts mostly fall into the second category! I thought I would buy a lot of blouses, but I actually couldn't find many offbrand blouses which were appropriate for the style, so I'll be modifying some thrifted blouses instead. After all was said and done, these were the 8 items that I settled on for my first summer himekaji haul.

Item 1: The Dress

Pink Liz Lisa JSK

This is the purchase I was most excited about, and also almost half the cost of my total purchase on its own! ... Don't freak out guys, it was under $30, I'm just a poor college student. I knew I wanted a cute dress that I could dress down and wear casually or dress up and wear in a more dressy coord. I actually found a dress similar to this at a thrift store in earth tones which I love and wear all the time, so when I saw this dress I was instantly in love with it!

Item 3: The Lace Summer Cardigan

Offbrand Lace Summer cardigan

I'm a sweater kind of girl. When I go outside without anything covering my shoulders, I feel absolutely naked. Unfortunately for me, I also live in southern California, and it can't stay winter all year long. I've been wanting to get something thin and light like this. My hope is that I can wear it and feel like I'm wearing a sweater even when it's boiling hot outside.