vrijdag 4 november 2011

Review: Fanplusfriends "Lolita in Ball:Detachable Sleeves Dress&Peals Chain Choker"

I lacked updates past weeks, but I still read blogs every day.

At first I didn't notice it, but apparently quite some Lolita sneaked into my reading material.
Mixed with my growing fondness for secondhand clothing (rather low budget for frivolities like brand alternative clothing), it caused a new addition to my wardrobe. Before I bought it, I searched for a review or pictures not made by the brand itself, but I couldn't find any so I decided to make a review by myself. :)

I have to say I was a bit overwhelmed when I had a first good look at the dress back home. From the pictures I expected it was much less Lolita and more Goth than it is in reality. Maybe my own mind deceived me?

DISCLAIMER: I do not consider myself as a Lolita or have plans to become one, so my acknowledge is limited. I am not Lolita advisor, if that's what you're looking for you will find plenty people to help you out at other blogs. ^^ I don't have any experience with other Lolita items, I'll review just this one dress.


Brand: Fanplusfriend
Current price: €95,68 ; $132


Description from brand:
" made by cotton, lined;
detachable sleeves;
flower embroidery laces and cotton laces, wide lycra laces trimmings at the bottom;
choker with peals chain;
pin-tuck pleated in front;
the huge bowknots and matched smaller ones are both detachable;
a waist belt in the back, easy to tie tightly to emphasize waist curve;
colors available: black, lilac, pink"

About my own dress:
the former owner wore it only twice because the size was too large.
For myself the size is also too large, but I am going to make some adjustments.
I own the black version.
 
Attachable parts: two long sleeves, a choker/headdress, pearls chain, one large bowknot, four smaller bowknots .
 
The fabric:
it's black cotton and looks like it's a very good quality. It is strong, but smells a little odd (didn't dare to wash it yet). I have a bit doubts about the colour retention.
 
The lace:
five (!) different kinds of lace are used.
They look good, except the kinds used at the half of the skirt and the small bowknots. These are pretty, but the edge is cut and I don't know whether they might raffle after a while.
 
Figure:
the size is too large for me to have a clear vision on this, but with the waist belt the large size isn't that visible.
The decolletage is too low and I am not sure this is only because my dress is too large.
 
Bowknots:
very pretty! Tough the safety-pins are of poor quality and can't hold the weight of the bowknots up. Some simple sewing will be sufficient to fix this. ^^ 
 
Choker/headdress:
as a choker it's a bit too big (would they adjust the size of the choker to the size of the dress?)
I am not willing to try it on as a headdress. ;)
 
Pearls chain:
the pearls are ridiculously large. Very plump.
 
Additional:
there is a small sewing mistake made at the skirt part, but I am sure no one will mention.
 
Overall view:
there are some remarquations, but it is a very pretty dress and I believe the quality isn't that bad!
 
When I am not broke anymore I will search for an underskirt. :)
 
Find this dress online here:
http://www.fanplusfriend.com/servlet/the-840/Lolita-in-Ball-cln-Detachable-Sleeves/Detail

A sign of life

I have been procrastinating a blog update for weeks,
time to change that!

Currently I attend high school for a month and a half. It's quite heavy because I have a permanent lack of sleep. The good news is that after three years wondering I probably found out which job I want to practise! :D The bad news: it's not what I study currently. After a lot of doubts, I study a bachelor to become a secondary school teacher biology and Dutch, but more and more I get convinced primary school teacher might be really something for me. But I am too stubborn to change studies. So if this years exams succeed, I might study two more years to become a primary school teacher. At least, that is "The Plan" for now.

At the bright side: the past weeks haven't received any name calling, gossiping, ...
I added some color streaks to my wardrobe, but usually I wander at school again like I fell in the black dye with my clothes on and no one pays attention. :)
[though I have to be careful, I heard already some people gossip about others...]

Few weeks back I attended a lovely party, which turned out to have some sharp edges.
Together with certain other happenings, I was reminded to this part of Jane Eyre.

You shouldn't try to catch the truth in jar like a butterfly

 

[To those who aren't familiar with Jane Eyre: you'll find the clue in the first seconds of the next part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUt5yzwFykg&feature=related 
I know this story is quite light-footed but I really like the adaptation by the BBC.]

maandag 5 september 2011

Last week's shopping

The title says pretty much. :)
Appels (R)

Appels (R)
Actually I am not so fond of Appels because of their cheap quality, but I decided not to care that day.
And yes, you might have noticed I joined The Smurfs hype! Well no... Within two weeks I will have my first classes in "higher education" and I decided it might be a good idea to dress a bit more "colorful" then I did in the past years.
Tamaris (R)

Tamaris (R)

Tamaris (R)
Dressing down or not, I picked some adorable boots. These cuties led to much discussion at home, whether I could keep them or not. Though I think they have found a definitive new home at my feet. :)
One thing keeps me doubting: I am 1.73-1.76m tall and the heels are 8 cm.
Do you think I will look way too tall?

woensdag 31 augustus 2011

Tutankhamun exhibition

Last week I visited the exhibition of Tutankhamun in Brussels. It was impressive, tough I was a bit disappointed when turned out that from the first to the last object everything was a replica.


Treasure room


This coffin contained a few other similar coffins.
Check its height! Reference: I am like 1.73 m tall.




Statue of goddess Sekhmet

Location and ticketprice can be found here (Dutch):



Note: who remembers the cartoon series Papyrus?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAgke_fzUeE
When I was eight years old he was my hero! XD


vrijdag 26 augustus 2011

Stories to read before bedtime: Chris Priestley

Who here likes scary tales? *counts hands*

Today you are at the right address, this post is about Chris Priestley.
Never heard from? Shame on you...

Born on 25 August 1958, this British author decided already at a young age he wanted to become a writer.
His scary tales are actually meant for children from ten years old, but believe me if I say they are very enjoyable too if you are older! I have only read the Dutch versions of following books, but I can say the use of words isn't too childish and the letter size isn't annoyingly big.

I especially recommend:
Tales of terror from the black ship (De verschrikkelijke verhalen van het zwarte schip)
Uncle Montagues tales of terror (De verschrikkelijke verhalen van oom M.)
Tales of terror from the tunnels mouth (De verschrikkelijke verhalen van de vrouw in het wit)

My favourite: Uncle Montagues tales of terror.


Edgar is an only child with rather unpleasant parents. This is why he likes to visit his "great-uncle" Montague, which lives next to his house. (actually Edgar shortens how many times it has to be "great") Montague is an eccentric man who lives with his, never seen, butler Franz at a decreasing villa. They meet always at the same room of Montague's house, which is filled with curiosities Montague collected during his travels. Each of this objects seems to be connected to an obscure tale. Of course those tales aren't suited for little children, but couldn't a brave boy like Edgar stand more than an average kid?

All of these frame stories are wonderfully spooky illustrated by David Roberts.

Check out this website for more: http://www.talesofterror.co.uk/

Any other sinners here which read children's books too?



Sources:
http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/artists/chrispriestley/biography
"De verschrikkelijke verhalen van oom M." by Chris Priestley

After all: dear U.K. II...

My holiday at the UK:
I was very surprised, in the good way, about the people in London!
Everyone was so unbelievable kind and polite!
In Belgium I am often considered being (sometimes to much) polite, but I felt rude compared to the people over there. Also I saw a few lovely gothcouples at London, but not as much as I had expected.

We visited in London: the Palace of Westminster, the Towerbridge, Harrods, the London zoo and the British museum.
Especially the British museum is worth a visit, it is free and HUGE...!
They have a pretty Egyptian collection and, as turned out when we arrived, the two headed snake. The snake seems not to have an "official name", but it's a known piece of Aztec art of which I am fond since I was about ten years old. I am so happy I have seen it!

At the Towerbridge, with typical English weather. ;)
The second week we stayed at a small village and visited the coast, some churches with lovely graveyards (some headstones were almost 200 years old!), some Victorian houses (I adored this part of our holiday ^^) and many, many, many ... sheep! XD

We took a break during our travel back to Belgium to visit Stonehenge, and then our holiday was over...
This was our best holiday in years and I hope to return within a while, because there is so much left to see and I definitely want to pay a visit to those famous Camden shops.

After my holiday I had back my old spirit which had left me the past weeks. :)

So, it has been a while

My title says pretty much. Past weeks were busy and I kept on reading blogs, but writing...
I was a playground moni, went to Marktrock to see Zornik (Marktrock is a free festival in Leuven, Belgium), have been sewing, tidying up and go on.
Because I already wrote a post about my trip to the UK and just waited for the pictures I will post it anyway.
Probably I will resume blogging for now.

Btw someone taught me how to play chess yesterday. I suck, harshly, but it is something which is on the loooong list of "Things I want to learn someday". :p