Automatic Honey Unboxing

Glorious stock photo. 

I had the thrill recently of pursuing an item from the indie jewelry brand Automatic Honey. My first experience with the brand was seeing the Orion's Spell necklace at Frill 2013. Only a few of the necklaces were left by the time I entered the dealer's room, but I sadly couldn't afford the item then. Not knowing the rarity of the brand's items, I figured I would happen upon the necklace again one day for sale. Oh, the bliss of that ignorance. Tinged now with regret at not getting that adorable piece, I was determined to get the recent release of Moonlight Pegasus necklace. I had seen plenty of photos on instagram and the Automatic Honey Facebook page of girls at Fairytale Boutique getting the exquisite necklaces in person. I sat determinedly in front of my computer on the night of the release monitoring and refreshing for the necklaces. At the exact moment of release, I struck, going straight for the Moonlight Pegasus in navy. After a rush, my Paypal order successfully completed and I sat back in wonder that I had actually succeeded. To give an idea of the rush, within 10 minutes of release on the site, all of the pieces were gone for now, with the brand hinting at a potential re-release in the fall.

I spent random moments in the next week twitching around. I was nervous that I hadn't really won the item at all and that my order would turn out to be null and void due to some programming eccentricity. I was very relieved when a week after the order, the item arrived. I opened the bubble wrap envelope to find a small white box wrapped in a black ribbon. 

Within the box in bubble wrap, I started to see a faint glimpse of hooves and a shining brand label. 

On the back of the Automatic Honey tag, the details about the piece were listed out. I appreciated listing out some basic care instructions for the item so that I can safely keep the pegasus gleaming in the years to come. 

I was somewhat surprised to see that the brand's named even got molded onto the back of the pendant. I can appreciate the level of attention to the little details and even help with identification of the item many years down the line if my memory were to grow fuzzy.

And finally, a good picture of the necklace itself. I posed the item on top of my Day Dream Carnival tote which seemed appropriate continuing the horse theme. I like the hints of lavender throughout the horse's powder blue mane which flows onto silver glittering wings. The metal is very sturdy, and I'm not nearly as worried about the item breaking in the future as I am with acrylic pieces in a similar price range including many of the Angelic Pretty pieces that I see glued back together on lolita sales groups. I would love to be able to match the necklace with Crystal Dream Carnival, but I unfortunately didn't pick up that release and I don't see myself grabbing it any time in the near future. I do anticipate wearing the item to work often as a lovely accent piece to the abundance of dark colors in that part of my wardrobe and as a nice lolita token that can be incorporated in with normal clothes. <3

BtSSB San Francisco Online Mini Review

I won't deny the truth: up until now, I've had very limited interest in Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. While I've admired some of their releases in the past, no one in my local community regularly wears the brand for in person inspiration, and while I have the Kuma Kumya fleece blanket, I've just never been trapped in the mystique of the brand. With the announcement of Masumi Kano attending Anime Weekend Atlanta 2014 and the hosting of a Baby, the Stars Shine Bright tea party, however, I've been taking a much more in depth look at the brand and seeking to expands its presence in my wardrobe while also devouring any interview or video I can find to get a better idea about the brand.

The anticipation was real. 

Anyway, back to the main point of the post, I decided to order an Usakumya Mini-Mini Rucksack in pink to help with sweet look I'm putting together in anticipation of AWA. However, I've been intimidated by the layout of the Japanese website for a while now, so I was glad to discover that BtSSB has a great American based store front. I found the site really easy to navigate and figure out what I wanted to order, so I placed an order on the 4th of July in a fit of patriotism which oddly made me buy Japanese goods. The shipping was amazingly fast. By the 7th of July, I already had my item even with the initial order day being a Friday.

I may have a new favorite plush. Ssssh, don't tell my other plushies, though. 

3 Lolita Youtube Channels For A Lazy Afternoon

If you ever end up at home with some extra time to kill (or you're just deathly bored in class), I've rounded up some of my favorite lolita channels to check out while on your break.

KAWAII PATEEN

I've been completely engrossed with KAWAII PATEEN lately. The channel is updated regularly with interviews from people directly involved in the lolita fashion scene such as a lolita substyle primer with Misako Aoki: 

Or a video series featuring Yumi Fujiwara, the designer of Innocent World:

The film channel of the quality is great, and as a Western lolita I especially love hearing from the models and owners of lolita brands when they seem so distant. Videos like the above really illuminate personalities and help to keep me up to date with what's happening with kawaii fashion in Japan. 

Deerstalker Pictures

Deerstalker Pictures is a must watch for their series of quirky and fun videos showing the lives of lolitas in general such as with their "Shit Lolitas Say" series: 

Cooking with Arpakasso which can actually help with cooking while watching an adorable plush: 

Or their beautiful collaboration videos with the indie lolita brand Haenuli:

The channel doesn't have the most frequent of updates, but the films are creative and imaginative, and I truly hope to continue to see more fantastical films and quality content in the future. 

Princess Peachie

Finally, if you're looking for a personal Youtuber rather than a big channel, I can't go wrong to recommend checking out Princess Peachie. Especially for new lolitas, myself included, she's a positive inspiration with videos featuring herself in a primarily Bodyline based wardrobe while looking amazingly cute. I particularly love her older sweet lolita transformation video which gave me an idea as to what went on with assembling a full lolita coordinate. 

I was incredibly happy in one of her most recent videos to see her finally getting her dream dress and all the excitement she so willingly displays to the Youtube viewing community. 

Her enthusiasm is contagious, and I can't help be give a small smile whenever I see one of her new videos cropping up in my feed. 

Thank you for reading through some of my Youtube recommendations. Who would you recommend to check out on Youtube? I'm constantly looking for new lolita content to browse, and the lolita Youtube community is so small that I feel like each vlogger really brings something new into the fold. 

Sukoshicon Montgomery Fashion Show Recap!

Sukoshicon Montgomery weekend was a complete whirlwind for me. Between being in the fashion show directly, eating at a delicious local sushi place and then hanging out having fun into the night, I actually didn't manage to snap many photos to convey the atmosphere of the convention or even remember to take a good full outfit photo! My fiance managed to snap a photo of the group after the show along with a number of other con goers and organizers also getting photos of our group.

The event was a really small local convention, so we pulled from our wardrobes to represent various styles of lolita to a fairly packed room of people interested in learning more about the style. Strawberryxpain did a lot of the leg work needed to organize the show itself with con directors followed by inviting us to participate in the show, and hellostrawberry (my lolita mentor <3) worked closely with planning everyone's outfit and helped with doing makeup before the show along with making the super cute 'Alabam Lolitas' sign that we're holding up in our group photo. Since the convention sold out of pre-registration tickets, I hope that we'll be able to meet up again next year for a good weekend.