Amaranth Opulent Review

Over the summer, before her shop, Amaranth Opulent opened, I had the chance to do a photoshoot with Miss Lumpy and got a sneak peak at her upcoming line. The instant I saw her open up her box of goodies I knew I would be ordering something from her when her shop opened up! Fast forward a few weeks to the grand opening of her shop, shortly after which I contacted her asking if she would be making brooches anytime soon, or if she is open to commissions. While Miss Lumpy isn't exactly taking specific commissions she was intrigued by the idea of a dual brooch so we worked out something of a semi-commission. She would make a dual brooch with me in mind and if I liked it, I would buy it. If I decided it wasn't for me, she would put it up for sale in her Etsy shop or keep it for herself.

A little bit later, I see this gorgeous picture on her DeviantArt gallery, with the following description:

The pendant features a small blossom of Everlasting Pea ... a silhouette that reminds me of a bonnet, which I thought would be perfect for a milliner. The pendant is also backed by a pieces of antique newspaper; I found this in a drawer in an antique vanity over the summer...

I knew right then and there that Miss Lumpy was some kind of magical Lolita psychic wizard who had been reading my mind this whole time, because with a "make it however you want!" she managed to pretty much make, not only exactly what I had in mind, but also something that was just so me. Shortly after seeing this up on DeviantArt, it was mine!


It came packaged beautifully, in a little brown box wrapped in ribbon with a lovely tea-stained tag with a little note on it.


Nestled in the box with the brooch was one of her business cards. The brooch was even more lovely in real life, as these types of magnifying cabochon pieces are always a million times more impressive in real life. Construction wise the brooch is just perfect. The findings are all glued on neatly with a strong glue and the jumprings are very tightly put together.


And here it is worn! There are many ways to wear dual brooches like this. You can pin them to either side of a bow, wear it asymmetrically, pin one side to either side of an unbuttoned cardigan, or even pin it from your head piece to another hair accessory, but my favorite way to wear them is on the bodice of a dress or blouse. I think it gives the dress even more detail and looks like you're wearing a long necklace, only you don't have to worry about it being lopsided or getting stuck under your collar weird or anything like that.

Overall I would give this a 5 out of 5 all around! While it was a very laid back "commission" with no real deadline it was still a very speedy process, especially considering that she works with organic materials that have to be dried and preserved before they can be used.


"Named after the Grecian flower of immortality and mixing hand-picked, hand-pressed local wildflowers with findings bought from small businesses that reflect a vintage, old-world style, Amaranth Opulent is devoted to creating a mix of the natural and the luxurious."

While my brooch was a special order, it is very much in the same style as the other jewelry she sells. All her pieces feature hand picked flowers, findings with delicate details, and other very classical feeling materials. Items range from rings to keychains to necklaces and more. Her pieces are priced very fairly and range in price depending on the size, you can pick something up for a mere $4, or you can splurge a bit on something, as the shop name implies, a little more opulent. While all of her pieces follow a similar theme, there are pieces that would be perfect for pretty much any kind of Lolita, the Classic Lolita will have no trouble finding something by Miss Lumpy to suit her, but there are also things for the Sweet Lolita, the Gothic Lolita, as well as the Steampunk enthusiast and the Mori or Dolly girl!

Miss Lumpy's Blog
Miss Lumpy's DeviantArt gallery
Amaranth Opulent Etsy shop
Amaranth Opulent Facebook Fan Page

Bunka Dolls

Bunka dolls are sort of my current obsession. I just can't get over their vintage style, cute side-glancing eyes, and great big bonnets! While they may look like the perfect Lolita, this style of doll was actually very popular in the early to mid 20th century in Japan. Although I am sure many of the modern Bunka dolls draw inspiration directly from the Lolita image, as modern Bunkas tend to look a bit different than than vintage ones. There are a number of emerging Bunka doll artists, and the Bunka doll image is making a come back as a symbol of cuteness and finding it's way into fabric prints, jewelry, and anywhere else a touch of cute is needed. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright has even released a Bunka doll complete with one of their most famous prints.

I can imagine Bunka dolls scattered throughout a Lolita's room. Dressed to match whatever your favorite style is. A couple resting on the bed and one sitting on the vanity, among a collection of pretty perfume bottles. Or maybe three lined up on a shelf, one in Classic, one in Sweet, and a final one in Gothic Lolita!

Where can I find more of these?
Bunka dolls are a bit hard to find here overseas, but there are a lot of places to look online if you just want to browse galleries full of Bunkas and dream about them. There are a few places scattered around who will make you custom, one-of-a-kind, Bunkas though, Pink Gun Dollhouse being one such place. Besides occasionally finding a real vintage one on Ebay, you're probably going to have to hunt around or learn to make your own if you are interested in a Bunka doll of your very own. The internet is, sadly, pretty much devoid of good bunka tutorials and patterns, besides this one Japanese tutorial. Or you can pick up a Japanese book that includes a pull out pattern as well as some fantastic Bunka photography. If you just need some good eye candy, there is a Bunk doll pool on Flickr filled with all sorts of different kinds of Bunka cuteness, from vintage, to hand made, to Bunka inspired art.


Big Bunka and tiny Bunkas by Chizuru.


An adorable Bunka by Natsukashii Araka.


PinkGunDollHouse makes adorable Bunkas on commission.


Tanpopo0118 on DA makes beautiful Bunkas!

As I have said, I'm pretty much completely smitten by these adorable little dolls! I even got a hold of the Japanese book I mentioned in this post and have been staring at the patterns in the back! I think when I get a few more sewing projects and experiments out of the way this is definitely what I want to try out next!

And just so you know, Intravenous Sugar recently did an interview with me! So check that out if you want to hear me babble about things like how I keep loosing bloomers and stuff like that XD. Since it's been a whole week since my last post, in this time I've also been interviewed over at Lolita Weekly!

Wish Lists & Dream Dresses: Angelic Pretty

Dream dresses are something most Lolitas have. They are often rare or expensive items that for the most part they can only dream about owning. Wish lists, on the other hand, are simply the dresses that you would eventually like to get your hands on. They might be rare, they might not be, you just wish you had them.

While most Lolitas make lists like these, in the past I have never really bothered with it. My tastes change a lot and I can never stick to whatever kind of Lolita shopping list I make. Recently though, I have put a little more thought into making up a list of things I would seriously love to have hanging in my wardrobe. Instead of doing them all at once, I will be doing an occasional post about the pieces I want most of all. Today's post is a rather short one about Angelic Pretty. I'm not typically an Angelic Pretty fan, I don't get excited when they release new prints, I just generally don't care all that much for them. It's probably just because I'm not very good at being a pastel rainbow of a Sweet Lolita, I like my Sweet Lolita to be a bit simpler. But there are a small number of Angelic Pretty dresses that I really do love and would love to be able to call my own.

Rose Toilette

My #1 Angelic Pretty dream dress, completely overshadowing the other two on this list is Rose Toilette in red. Either the OP or the JSK is what I really want. What is it about this dress that I love so much? A lot of things. The print is gorgeous, I love how simple it is compared to recent AP prints, nothing is tipped over, there are no unicorns barging in, just a row of perfume bottles along the hem. I am also a huge fan of the vertical stripes! I'm a sucker for vertical stripes with Lolita, and if I didn't restrain myself my whole wardrobe would be nothing but vertical stripes. They just look extra pretty and delicate in this design. As I said, red is my dream colorway of this dress because the deep red is just gorgeous. AP rarely releases red dresses, and it's very nice to see Sweet Lolita in red. Besides the print and the gorgeous color, the cut of the dress is just lovely. It's not overly simple, it has a cut and style as detailed and lovely as the print. I am a huge fan of the solid gathered top, and I think it balances nicely with the wide print on the hem.

Secret Garden

Secret Garden is a rather old AP print, from around 2006, when they were still doing screen printing but just before they moved to multicolor screen printing, so it still has the look of a much older AP dress. This is on my wish list because I have loved this print for a long time! Back in the day Fan+Friend used to sell a rather crappy knock off of this dress, that was always extra long and the images weren't so much screen printed as they were iron-on-transfered onto the dress, so they always looked yellowed. That is where I originally saw this dress, but once I found that it was a real Lolita dress I realized that it could be so much better than the F+F version. I have actually never seen the original dress for sale! I'm sure it goes on sale originally, but I have always missed out completely on it.

Wonder Party

While I've always liked Wonder Party, for a lot of the same reasons as I liked Rose Toilette (the neat and even print, the vertical stripes) I never really thought too much about it until I went looking for pictures of it. It really is a beautiful print, as well as a unique cut and style. The black colorway is very pretty because it's black and a blueish gray, which is very unusual for AP's black colorways. I've come to realize that this print is sort of my "substitute" Rose Toilette because they look so similar but this one is a little cheaper as well as sold a little bit more.

These are the handful of Angelic Pretty dresses I would just love to have. What about the rest of you? Do you keep detailed and ever-updated wish lists? Or do you just have a preferred color or theme that you keep an eye out for? What specific Angelic Pretty dresses (not just prints!) do you wish you had? Saying "All of them!" doesn't count XD

Petticoat Woes, And Why I Don't Have Them

If there is one question that is guaranteed to stump me, it is "How to I fix a deflated petticoat?" I simply don't know, because I can honestly say I've never had to deal with a deflated petticoat, or the hassle of wearing 3 or 4 pettis to get extra poof, nor do I have any opinion in the great debate over hanging a petticoat upside down or storing it in a special bag. Why have I never had to bother with this? Because I have never really worn anything other than a chiffon petticoat, and they simply don't deflate. Pretty much ever.

A petticoat is a staple of any Lolita wardrobe, and is sometimes the only piece of clothing separating a coordinate from the dreary and unfluffy world of not-Lolita (the horror!). So why be cheap about it? Besides, if you're going to have to wear 3 pettis at once, not to mention have to constantly buy new ones because the tulle ones just never hold up for very long, you're going to end up spending more on tulle petticoats than you would on one chiffon. As a wearer of chiffon petticoats I can say with confidence that they last. I wear mine on a near daily basis and just chuck it in the washer on gentle and it's still just as fluffy as the day I bought it.

Where can you buy these miracle petticoats?
The easiest place to get a hold of them is from Candy Violet. The one I own is the "fluffy petticoat" which is the fluffiest one, the "lace petticoat" is a slightly less fluffy version with lace on the trim. The petticoats sold on Candy Violet are not actually part of her own line of clothing, the secret behind them is that they are simply Malco Modes petticoats, which is a square dance company. The "fluffy" is Malco Modes 582, and the "lace" is 580. If you're thinking of being clever and cutting out the middle man (or rather, lady) and just go straight to the source, good luck with that! You actually aren't going to find these significantly cheaper anywhere else. Although if you have a square dancing shop in your local area you can probably luck out and find the exact same petticoat there and not have to pay shipping.


Candy Violet's "Fluffy Petticoat"

I hear you have to modify these petticoats to make them work?
It really depends. The one I have at least was a little long, about 21 inches, which is exactly as long as many of my skirts, so it was bound to peek out, especially when I sit down. For the first few weeks of wearing I simply rolled the waistband a couple times to get it shorter. But, the waistband is actually adjustable for different lengths. The elastic has a button on it so you can unbutton it and slide it out of the petticoat, and there are actually a number of lines of stitching going along the top that means you can slip the elastic through these channels and make it as long or as short as you need. It only takes about 5 minutes to do this quick mod and it makes a world of difference.

$60 is still expensive! I don't want to deal with tulle, but I don't want to spend a ton. What can I do?
Okay, okay, so if you want to cut corners you can. But, you get what you pay for and it's not as good as the Malco Modes pettis. Sock Dreams sells a Leg Avenue Layered Tulle Petticoat for $35 that is similar to a chiffon petticoat. While not as good as the Malco Mode version it is still typically fluffier than tulle petticoats as well as the fact that it stays fluffy no matter what. As I said though, it is not perfect. First of all, it's short! At about 16 inches long there are a number of bare inches between the end of your petticoat and the hem of your skirt, so if you wear it with a skirt with thin fabric it's going to drape very strangely. The best way to deal with this is to wear an underskirt between the petti and your real skirt. This is going to weigh down a bit on the petti and even out the shape, in most cases making the gap completely unnoticeable. The other downside to the Sock Dreams version is that it is scratchy, so you better plan to wear some bloomers with it, or it's going to be annoying you all day. I have found that my black one was, for some reason, a lot less scratchy than my white one though.

So, there you go, why I have no idea what people are talking about when they discuss how to breathe some life back into deflated petticoats. What about the rest of you? What kind of petticoats do you wear? And what do you do when a petticoat gets deflated?

A little petticoat update: In terms of looking for a good chiffon petticoat on the cheap, since writing this article a very good source has popped up! Victoriangirldress on Ebay sells chiffon petticoats in a rainbow of colors for about $24 shipped. But there is a catch: they are only sold in children's sizes, but most could get away with wearing the largest size available (listed as for 13-16 year olds). While I haven't yet had the chance to get my hands on one of these pettis, I have heard from many people that they are indeed very good! Please keep in mind that I am only referring to the petticoats they sell not the dresses in the clothing section, despite how Lolita they may look, they are still children's fancy dress clothes, and unless you're incredibly petite (Pettis stretch quite a bit! Dresses, not so much) I wouldn't suggest trying to use them as a cheap dress source as well.

Lolita Hairstyles: Ode to the Spiral Curl

One of my favorite Lolita hairstyles is the spiral curl, or ringlet. It's used to be one of Lolita's must have looks, but now it's nearly never seen. Which is understandable, it is very hard to pull off without looking like a Little Bo Peep cartoon and it's even harder to maintain if you do pull it off. One little slip-up and you can end up pulling your perfect curls apart never to be able to get them back together without busting out the curling iron yet again.

I can't really decide what I love most about the look, perhaps because it is a perfect example of the porcelain doll aspect of the Lolita aesthetic, or the wave of nostalgia I have whenever I see them, reminding me of a time when Lolita was still new to me and I would have given anything to get my hair to behave in such a manner.

The most classic spiral curl for Lolitas is the tight, highly styled spiral curl. These are typically perfect looking. Shiny strips of perfectly flattened hair curled into an impeccable spiral and held that way with lots and lots of hair spray. Or, probably more often than not, a very well cared for wig. This is the most "doll like" of the spiral curl, for it's perfect and near artificial look. Often seen down, but also in a pair of pigtails, this style is more suited for Classic Lolita, Gothic Lolita, or any kind of old school style.


Another variation on these curls is the "form all the curls into big curls". In which, you guessed it, you carefully form all the curls into a couple big curls. You most often see this with 2 big curls, either in ponytails or worn down with one across each shoulder, but you can have more if you feel like it. This kind of spiral curl can easily go with any of the Lolita sub-styles and makes a good, toned down alternative, for the big huge pigtails that are so prevalent in Sweet Lolita. It's much lighter on maintenance too. So long as your hair can hold a curl you need not worry too much about this getting stuck on long fingernails, buttons, headbands, or anything else that might get too close to your head as you can easily reform the curl so long as it still has some spring back in it.

One other variation is to soften up the curls a bit by going easy on the hair spray and fluffing them with your fingers. It creates a much softer and fluffier curl that is also relatively light on maintenance, since you can easily hide any accidental unravelings in the volume of the hair. This is another variation that can easily go with any of the sub-styles. As seen in the pictures below, it's perfect for hair that's too short for the other versions of the spiral curl.

How do you get these perfect curls you ask? There are a number of ways, the easiest is definitely to get a wig or a pair of clip-in extensions. You don't have to spend a couple hours carefully balancing a hot curling iron over your head to get those hard-to-reach spots, all you have to do is tuck your real hair up and pop on a wig. These curls are also pretty much never going to go flat, they'll always remain springy and perky.
Bodyline sells a rather nice looking spiral curl wig in a variety of colors. I'm seriously considering getting the reddish brown one!

You can also style your own hair by using a very thin curling iron and a whole lot of hairspray. I can't tell you the best thing to do for your type of hair, but typically what you want to do is start off with a very thin curling iron, work with small sections of hair, hold the iron vertically and gently shake the curls off of it once they are set, then spray it with hair spray. There are tons of tutorials and videos about this online for lots of different kinds of hair, so look around and experiment to find the best one for you and your hair!

I know these curls are either a love-it-or-hate-it sort of thing, but I can't help loving them, I have to admit I even like the ultra-shiny fake looking ones. But what do you think? Is it a trend you wish would come back? Or do you cringe every time you see them?

Metamorphose's Nostalgic Chess & Victoria Princess

Metamorphose has a couple new prints out in their winter line, and I think I'm in love with them! First up is Nostalgic Chess, a design reminiscent of their Old Emblem series, only featuring huge bold chessboards at the hem.

This print is fantastic! It reminds me of more indi Lolita brands such as Excentrique. This design will come in quite a number of different options. I am counting 3 JSK designs, a vest, and 2 skirts, as well as 2 different matching headdresses and a really awesome pair of socks.

Their other new print is a bit less bold, it's more of an all over floral print, called Victoria Princess

I am all sorts of in love with this series! I love the delicate antique-looking print, as well as the princessy designs. The Victoria Princess print also comes in quite a few different design options, a JSK, a short sleeved dress, 2 different tops, and 3 skirts as well as a bonnet and a rose corsage to accessorize with. My favorite piece is definitely this very princessy top. Tops like this used to be a standard Lolita design, but they have faded in popularity in the years so now they are quite a rare and refreshing sight! I don't know about the huge lace on the pink version (which doesn't seem to be there for the worn picture?) but it has it's charm, and is definitely very Metamorphose looking.

In keeping with their old school roots, Meta has also released this skirt in the Victoria Princess print:

*Gasp* It's not the standard Lolita shape! This style of skirt is another thing that was much more common way back when, before bell shaped skirts became the standard. The question "Is something like this still Lolita?" has always been debated, or at least, it has been in the past 6 or so years, but really, right now I don't care if it's Lolita or not, because I know that it's gorgeous.

In blog related news, sorry to bother everyone yesterday with a couple technical updates, but I am in the process of doing a lot of stuff to the blog and I don't want anyone to get horribly confused if things start looking weird! Comments should be back to normal in the next couple of days, I have Disqus migrating all my old comments to the new domain name (haha, I hope that's what I did at least!) and that usually takes a while. I have noticed that people have still been able to comment, bravo to them because I can't figure out how to right now XD

Some Technical Difficulties :D

F Yeah Lolita now has it's own domain name! You're not going to need to do anything special with any old links, as fyeahlolita.blogspot.com will still work, but so will fyeahlolita.com, or at least, fyeahlolita.com should work in the next few days. These things take a few days to work, I guess, I haven't owned a domain name in years, so I have to relearn everything!

Because of this, I'm having a few technical difficulties with the updated URL when it comes to comments, some widgets, and individual blog posts. So for the next day or so things might be a little off. Everything's still readable, of course, but comments & widgets might not be showing up.

Hopefully things will be back to normal in a day or so!

New Layout and Sponsors

Finally! My new layout is up! It's been so long since I've had a new one. So thanks to everyone who put up with a few hours of text drifting too far off to the side, eye-bleeding half-finished colors, and all the other stuff I was messing around with.

The new banner is an image I've been working on for the past couple of days. I hope you like it :D I tried to cram as many over-the-top motifs into it as possible. While it's a pastel rainbow clusterfuck of a design, and I made it intending it to be ridiculous, as I was drawing it I found myself growing more fond of it and eventually thought that it would make an awesome print. Who knows, maybe one day I'll get to wear a super special Fuck Yeah Lolita dress XD

You may have noticed the new sponsors section over on the side bar.. Having paid advertisements on my site is something I've thought about for a while now. I've signed up for a couple systems, one on Amazon, and one with Google, but I really dislike the way I have no control over what I am advertising on my own blog. So instead, I decided to sell individual buttons and links to those who are interested. I will only be selling a small number of these advertisement spots, check out this page with prices and information if you are interested in advertising on my site.

This is a bit of an experiment for me, I have no idea how many people (if any!) will be interested, and I hope some of my readers wont be annoyed too much to see a couple buttons in the side bar.

I have also added a contact me page, because I realized my blog was lacking one completely!

New Layout In Progress

Just a little notice that though out the day I'll be giving this blog a much needed makeover. I haven't updated the layout in months! So if things start to look funny, that's why.

In Lolita news, I'm sure all of you have heard that Angelic Pretty is opening a store in San Francisco, apparently it's opening next month! This was announced sometime yesterday I think, I'm just surprised that they plan on opening so soon. When BtSSB opened there were rumors that AP would be opening shop next, and all of us East Coasters had our hopes up that it would happen in New York, but sadly, I guess that wont be happening. We're just going to have to settle with Tokyo Rebel.

My Dream Outfit of the Moment

A few other blogs have been doing coordinates of their dream outfits, so I figured I'll do mine. Of course, mine is sort of an "of the moment" outfit obsession because I never really have a static Lolita wish list. But, currently, I've been really obsessed with Angelic Pretty's Rose Toilette print, especially in red!


So this is my current dream outfit with that print. I was really trying to play up the classical elements in the print instead of the sweet ones, the rich red, the vertical stripes, the elegant theme of the print. Do you think this style works okay with this kind of print? Or do you think it just looks like a Classic Lolita stole a Sweet Lolita's dress? I have been very intrigued lately with the idea of forcing other styles onto prints that seem like they are specifically made for a completely different style. Trying to turn cute Kuro dresses into something Gothic, and turning Sweet prints Classic are my current favorite things to try.

I probably won't get this print any time soon! As it seems impossible to find as a JSK or OP, especially in the color I want, at the moment. And even if I did find it, I don't know if I could spend that much on it! Maybe one day though this beauty will make it's way into my closet.

The other blogs that also featured their dream prints are Savage Lilly, La Vida Frills, and The Weekend Lolita. Actually, I just discovered that these dream coordinates are part of a contest hosted by La Vida Frills that I didn't even know I was participating in until just now XD So what is your current dream outfit? Is it something simple that you already love to wear? Or is it a rare print that you've been pining away for for years?
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...