ModCloth Stylish Surprise Review - Positive!

Image belongs to ModCloth

"Are you ready to take a chance? The rewards could be huge! For just $10, you might get anything from a terrific top or sassy skirt, to a dazzling dress or cute coat. There’s a beautiful bevy of mystery items with retail values from $29.99 to $299.99 - now that's what we call a real deal! Ready for some fashion fun? Simply select your size, then add a chic secret to your shopping bag. Hurry - supplies are limited, so snag a Stylish Surprise while you still can!"

As soon as I got an e-mail from ModCloth presenting this offer, I was immediately like "take my money!". I know it was a gamble, but I'm a sucker for these mystery deals (I do them all the time on TeeFury haha). I was lucky because most sizes were sold out by the time I ordered, but my sizes were still available! I was a wee bit nervous about what I'd be getting because, although I love sooo much of their vintage 50s style dresses, they also have plenty other style dresses that are totally mehhhhhh.

Shipping: I ordered on Saturday night 3/22 and they shipped out the dress on Wednesday 3/26. They said typical processing time is 1-3 business days and it was accurate (it took 3 business days). Estimating shipping time was 4-9 business days and I received it on 3/28 (so it took only 2 days!) Impressive since it was from CA to NY!
Total wait time: 6 days.

Super cute packaging!

Packaging: The item was packed up really nicely! The package is instantly recognizable and sealed up really tightly. Inside, you find your invoice (receipt), your item and a little postcard prompting you to post pictures in your stuff on the modcloth style gallery or hashtag it in social media sites.

Finally The Dress: So as you can see, I received a dress! It's not something I would've picked out for myself but quite cute! It's from the brand Little Mistress London and their dresses are in the $100 range so I definitely got a great deal (I paid $10!) Specifically, it's  their Little Mistress Dress with Metallic Jacquard Bodice. I'm also very happy to say that it fit like a glove! I was worried because according to the size chart (which I failed to check beforehand) I'm  size small, but the size medium feels perfect! (Now I'm a bit worried to receive my second Stylish Surprise in size small... oops!)

Not a great outfit, but I was impatient to try it on!

Overall: I'm happy with my Stylish Surprise! It's a style I wouldn't have otherwise picked, but got lucky! I also got major bang for my buck. I know others don't have great luck with these things, but I'd still recommend trying. You never know, you could get really lucky for only $10!

Spottie Dottie - First Finished Embroidery!

Omg... I can't believe I actually finished! It took me around a month, but I actually did it! (Leave it to me to pick a fairly complex design for my first project) It wasn't easy since I decided to embroider this little sucker on canvas (ouch, I've regained calluses in my finger like back in my jeweler days!)

I satin stitched the spots,the nose, the bow and the background. The center of the bow was done with a french knot. The headband and heart outline were done with split stitches. The outline for Spottie Dottie was done with stem stitches and back stitches.

In case you were interested in the pattern for this, I made it from a phone background I had saved on my computer. I've decided to attach it here in case anyone wanted to try it!

Sebastian Masuda's "Colorful Rebellion" -Seventh Nightmare

Yesterday I was determined to catch the last performance Masuda-san was hosting in his exbition. It starred  Yuka from the famed accesories line 6% Doki Doki and I really didn't want to miss it!

Here I will leave you with Masuda-san's description of his work:

"I have created this work as I was writing my own autobiography. Struggling in this confined space of confession, I battle with the waves of darkness washing up against me in a night without end. I am not trying to express the grotesque through kawaii elements; rather, the essence of kawaii exists in the process by which individuals are attracted to, and become dependent on, kawaii things. The process by which young girls become adults is full of twists and contortions, potentially resulting in colorful mutiny. The distortion and strain of the process of a young girl maturing into an adult. The colorful rebellion of girls. That I have created a safe haven for disobedience is my most cardinal sin. The installation has 6 zones. The seventh? It's entrusted in your hands."

The first zone is “Lust” - a waking dream that is lost at the same moment it is grasped; the second zone is “Future” - hopes and dreams; the third zone is “Delusions” - a complex that expands endlessly; the fourth zone is “Fate” - a muddy stream drawing near; Zone 5 is “Wounds” - trauma that still remains; and Zone 6 is “Reality” - above the rubble of anxiety.

We were not allowed to take video of the performance, but were allowed to take pictures! I took so many haha. Also, I know not everyone will have a chance to see it, so I've narrated down below the performance from the show. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved watching the performance!

The performance was beautiful. Yuka played the part of a girl that was in a lucid dream. She explored the room in disbelief, touching everything to see if it was real. She looked around in awe at the colors and toys, the teddy bear, the bed... She sat down and she suddenly looked quite sad, her eyes seemed to be holding back tears. She must have realized that this is not reality, but just a dream (in the background a song about Cinderella called "I'm just a poor Cinderella"). The girl takes off her white nightgown and tosses it aside and falls asleep. Shortly after, she wakes up and reaches for some children's books set on the bed. She leafs through them, smiling at the pictures. She puts on a mint green nightgown and brushes out her hair and later stands on the bed. She starts dancing and sprinkling pink feathers throughout the bed and stops. She slowly climbs down and with a very sad expression she lies on the floor, her head in the teddy bear's lap and falls asleep.

Click here to see loads more pictures of the performance over on Facebook!

(And don't forget to like my page~)

Finally I got to take a picture with Masuda-san himself! (And get this, our outfits kind of matched!)

Polka dot fans!

The exhibition was great and I'm so glad I decided to go to the last performance. If you're in NY this month, be sure to go see it! The exhibition is on until March 29th and, for further details about it, you can go to their Facebook event page.

In the mean time, enjoy this short video of the exhibition from Yani's instagram!

2014 Goals (a bit late but better than never!)

I never properly posted a list of goals for 2014 (mostly because I never really make any and when I do I don't stick to them!  ). In the past few weeks though, I realized that I once again made a few goals to accomplish this year. Maybe I should make a conscious effort to accomplish them!

☆Learn to embroider already! I mean c'mon Aleks, you bought 2 embroidery hoops in December along with who knows how many different colored embroidery flosses. It's time! (Actually, I just started my first piece :D)

I've had this pic saved since 2010 and can finally read what it says!
(It says "kawaii" in hiragana)

☆Take Japanese classes. For my Bachelor's degree, I have to take 2 foreign language courses. I am already fluent in Spanish and English and want to challenge myself with a totally different language. People told me to just take Italian or French but those are way too similar to the languages I already know! Besides, I love Japanese culture, so why not try out the language too? (I also have already started this goal!)

Earrings I made in 2012

☆Make more jewelry. Ever since I graduated from Jewelry Design, I am ashamed to say I haven't made anything new. I kind of didn't want anything to do with jewelry after those stressful 2 years of my life, but I took a semester off from jewelry and that's enough. Time to get back to it! (I have a goldfish brooch in the works)

☆Take advantage of NYC. I've been living in NYC for 2.5 years now and I feel like I have definitely not taken much advantage of that! I have not really done any intense exploring and definitely have not gone to many of the free events that float around. Time to change that. I'm starting by going to Sebastian Masuda's exhibition this week. Also I should probably do more things off the Free in NYC this Week list...

☆Learn to cook more things. I hate cooking, but what I hate more is the fact that I waited to learn to cook until I moved out! Now I'm living on my own and can cook maybe a total of 5 things (that might actually be an overestimate...) I want some variety!

I need it!

I think this set of goals is nice and tangible. It involves lots of things that would be really good for me in all aspects of life! They're also goals that can get as complex as I want/can and I really think I can stick to this one! Wish me luck xoxo

Blogging for the love of blogging, NOT the views

Today I read the most inspiring blog post I had read in quite a while over at Scathingly-Brilliant. She wrote about How to be a Happy Blogger. I have obviously been a very bad blogger and pretty much just stopped posting all together for quite a while now.

The biggest reason I stopped is because I was trying to box myself into a very narrow category of blogging: lolita blogging. Problem? I've been slowly losing my interest in lolita for a while now. I'm still super into kawaii culture, but I've found that wearing lolita doesn't provide me with as much joy as enjoying it on others did. 

I felt that expressing this and giving up lolita would make me lose my followers but is it worth it to continue something just for the views? How can I be a happy blogger if I force myself to continue blogging about something that doesn't make me happy anymore?

I've decided to keep my blog and from now on blog about what I want to blog about: my life, hobbies, wishlists, college, kawaii-lifestyle etc! I want to write about what I love and be happy and document my life/interests through this blog.

I understand if I lose a few of you now that I will probably stop blogging about lolita, but I wanted to thank you for giving my little blog your time! Thanks for sticking with me as I finally tried out the fashion after admiring from afar from years. I appreciate the support you have given me and hope a few of you stick around