Why haven't I been wearing lolita more often?

Remember when I said I'd update my blog more often? Fun times. 
As for this week's video, I'm continuing with the Lolita 52 Challenge, question 8:

Why don't I wear lolita more often? 

There are times when I wear lolita multiple times a week, and then there are times when I don't wear it for three or four weeks at all. Usually the reasons for the lack of frills are the same, no matter what the time of year is. And those are:
- I'm working too much, and it's a hassle to wear lolita on a work day unless it's a special day
- I haven't been able to go to meetups (usually because of work)
- I haven't bought anything new recently (it's always fun to wear and coord new items, I can wear it on workdays for the novelty feeling)
- I've been inspired to do different things.

As for now, I've been in love with our winter! It's nicely frosty so that the snow stays, but it's now super cold; and because it's cold, we have lots of snow! I had to get my long winter boots out because the snow was getting into my ankle high boots :D Lots of Finns suffer from depression during fall and winter, but it's my favourite time of the year, so I'm spending time outside, marveling at the frosty landscape. Winter also means that Christmas is coming, so I've been making cards, crafts and presents. I work in retail so there's no way in hell I'm going shopping in December (I get enough of stressed angry people at work, thank you very much) so I have everything ready for Eve by the first of December. ... Which means less time for lolita.

I've started working on four tutorials (one of which is a skirt from scratch) but I haven't finished them yet... I also have a vest + skirt unboxing coming as soon as they arrive, so you'll have at least those videos to look forward to ~ I'll be taking December off from making videos (like I did last year), so some of them will have to wait till January, but I'll post videos on Wednesdays for November. ^^

10 facts about my lolita wardrobe

I haven't done one of the Lolita 52 Challenge questions is a long while! Today's post is about 10 facts about my lolita wardrobe, I'll put them here shortly and open them more in the video. :)

1. My first ever non-hand-made but bought coordinate was all Bodyline and white, and I've sold everything you can see in the photo except the shoes :D

Trip down the memory lane! Spring 2013

2. I've gone more to a classic feel with my new big purchases. I did not plan this, just noticed it a while ago. Accidental classic?

3. My most expensive dress is my Innocent World Blanche JSK, for which I payed 180€. Second hand, and that price includes shipping and tax since I had to pay them ^^'

First time wearing it, still love it <3

4. My first attained dream dress (and still my favourite dress is everything I own) is Juliette et Justine's Cartes du Lapin. It was $180, which I think was about 150€ or even 140€ since Euro was strong.

Couldn't easily find a good worn photo, here's this yellow one~

5. I have one organza petticoat, two tulle ones and two hoop petties.

6. I only have to OP's since my shoulders are s hard to fit in them...

7. I've only ever sold two dresses, two blouses, and one pair of shoes, which means that my "wardrobe turnover" (which is another question in the L52Ch) is quite small. :)

8. I don't have a single brand blouse!

9. I have a JSK with a broken zipper which will be a future tutorial

10. In my future purchases, I want to focus more on ouji. I feel that I have a nice range of dresses and skirt so I'll  try to avoid buying those, and instead get more printed vests <3

Speaking of wanting to wear more ouji, here's the coord of the video! It's a very classic ouji look, black and white gothic, and it's the sort of look that made me fall in love with boystyle. ^^

Excuse the blurryness of the left photo, timed photos don't always have the best focus... Damn

Yes, noes and favourites on items

In this week's video I talk about different items and brands. I have longer answer in my video, but here are the short ones. :)

46. Parasols: Vital or frivolous?
To me, frivolous since I consider them a bit too costume-y to wear if I'm not in a meet.

28. Bloomers or no bloomers?
No bloomers. I wear longer skirts and dresses so modesty is not an issue, and during winter I wear other warm things.

6. My favorite Lolita brand
Print wise, Alice and the Pirates. Cut / length wise, Innocent World.
(If I could only combine the two...)

49. My favorite Lolita print
Every brand (indie, taobao, "real brand") has some prints that I love, here are just a couple examples. Note that most of them have a cut / design I do not like / would not wear, we're talking just about print here.

Let's start with Angelic Pretty! Yes, I'm a mostly gothic lolita but they have some awesome prints in certain colorways. 

 Cameo Window

Chess Emblem

Cinema Doll

Too long name

Drosselmeyer's Wonder Box

Seriously why the long names

And lastly, my dream dress: IW Gargoyle dress in grey and the long cut. This would be easy to coord either gothic or classic and I really love the print, cut and color (cut is similar to Blanche which I own in black long)

Love the dress but still too long names wtf

About lolita trends

This week's video is another of the Lolita 52 Challenge, and this time I picked trend themed questions. I wore boystyle since I couldn't access my petticoats... Also this is a new wig, I got it for ouji. Now I have a brown, black and grey short wigs! My collection grows :D

Disclaimer: I don't really "follow" lolita trends (and never have), so I'm working with what I know since I didn't have time to do a trend research :) I rant more in the video, but here's the short answers ~

18. Trends I thought I would never get into, but now I love
- Wigs
- JSK's

19. Trends I thought I loved, but now I'm not too keen on
- Music note prints
- Renaissance themed prints (especially ones with big faces)

(Rant about trends I don't think I'll ever get into: sceptres and sashes)

11. Three trends I wish would come back
- Minihats!
- Fat soles shoes
- (I didn't come up with a third one...)

37. Something that's not my style, but I love anyways
- OP's
- Shiro / all-white lolita

51. Predict the next lolita trend!
- Weirder hair accessories (or accessories in general)
- Shorter hems, nontraditional cuts and materials 
- Eventual return from OTT to toned down / more natural lolita styles

So if you watched the video, you saw the random background and heard the noise. The window dudes were frolicking upstairs... It was a bit odd way to film, but I didn't want to skip two weeks in a row. :/

I'll finish the skirt tutorial when I can, but as you can see, my sewing table... kinda had a couch on it ^^' The windows are now changed and big furniture moved back to their places, but with heavy work hours, I still haven't moved all small things (clothes, books etc) back because I want to organize them well...

Meetups and lolitas IRL

Today I'm continuing the Lolita 52 Challenge, this time with meetup and IRL questions! I ramble quite a bit in the video, but here are short answers. I also tested a new lamp my boyfriend got me as a gift! I'm still learning how to use it though.

13, Lolitas I have met in real life.
Well, my lovely local comm ladies! I'm so happy to have met all of you <3
Aside from them, I was really exited when I first met Shadow! I had stalked her blog for so long and have met her a couple times now :D She's still an inspiration for me ~
I saw Maki and Asuka at Hellocon but to be honest, I don't really care about meeting "celebrities", especially since I had no idea who they were as a person. 

14. Lolitas I would love to meet.
Well, being socially awkward I would probably just stand far away and wave and call "Hi" before awkwardly leaving. That being said, I would love to meet:
Miss Lillith, she's such a gothic inspiration for me! And so cute <3
Lovely Lor, she inspired me to do videos. I love her positive and encouraging attitude. ^^
Lost Prince Mar, I adore her ouji and kodona style. She seems like such a fun person!
Deerstalker pictures. I love their videos (both serious and silly) and though I would stand across the room, I would love to see them. ^^

17. My first meetup. It was in March 2013, I don't have any photos for some reason, but here's a link to Saija's post, she hosted the meetup. ^^ It was about two hour drive away, and when I got there, I was late because I got lost! Agh! I'm still embarrassed =.=' I still had a lovely time meeting all the lovely ladies. I wore the second dress I ever made and since it was my early lolita days, I wouldn't have coorded the outfit quite so, but don't be too hard on me ^^' As you can see, it was from a time before my "never show knees EVER" syndrome.

41. Fondest meetup memory.
Our first wine meet <3 We've decided to make it a yearly thing now. I loved how it was such a relaxed meet since we were at a home instead of cafe, and we had yummy wines and foods, good music and lively conversation. It was such a happy and relaxed meet, it's still one of my favourites.

Lolita 52 Challenge, part one

I've been thinking about doing the lolita 52 challenge from F Yeah Lolita for a while now, but since it's quite a massive project I've been putting it off. However I realized that I can do this in parts and choose the questions I feel like answering at the moment, and without further ado, here is the first part! I chose questions that I thought were good to start with and answered them in my video. :)

10. How I first found about lolita?
35. What I thought when I got my first real piece of lolita?
15. 3 things I wish I was told when I was a new lolita
30. How long it took me to build a complete wardrobe
7. Why I wear lolita?