Taobao + TaobaoSpree Review ("AP" Shell bag, "Prisila" hair pieces, F+F cape)

Recently I ordered some items from Taobao. Originally I just wanted shoes, but I thought for just ordering the shoes, it would be to expensive with all the shipping fees, so I ordered other stuff too. But then the shopping service told me that the shoes were sold-out, so I ended up just ordering the other stuff xD

I ordered 1 shell bag, 3 hair pieces, 1 chiffon cape and 1 hair accessory.

Shell bag: Link
I know the bag is a replica of AP. But I think the quality of AP bags is really bad, and it was sold out anyway, so I bought this bag. The quality of this bag is good! #Sorrynotsorry AP!

Shop picture

My picture

Hair pieces:  Link 1 Link 2
These are replicas from Prisila. I own(ed) Prisila items and I didn't liked the quality of them either. And for 6000 Yen per hair piece I should expect something better. The quality the replicas are okay. The hair is a bit shiny, real Prisila looks more realistic. Also the color is slightly different than from the original ones, so it looks a little more fake too and doesn't fit my natural hair color as good as the Prisila ones. But I still like them and with a few hair accesories, I can cover the color difference well :)

Chiffon cape: Link
This cape is from Fan + Friend (no replica, they also have a Taobao store!). The fabric is nice and soft, however it has a little chemical smell. But I think after washing it in the washing mashine, it will go away. It also looks nice with my Lolita dresses, althought it could be a tiny bit longer, since I have a large bust. But I think you can request a costum size if you order directly from F+F, so keep this in mind if you also have a larger bust :). The cape also have a clever pearl necklace, it prevents the cape from moving or slipping down!

Shop picture

Japanese hair accessory: Link
Recently I watched many documentaries about japanese culture and I wanted something traditional for my Lolita items, so I bought this accessoire which is usually worn with a Kimono. It is handmade and looks very nice! I love it.

My picture

Shopping Service: Link
I paid 116€ for the items + 60€ shipping to Germany. Yes you read right, 60€ for shipping.... I was a little shocked by the price because I expected something like 20€ for such a small package. However after the package arrived, I knew why it was so expensive. The package arrrived in ONE DAY!!! From China to my appartment, only 1 day! And 1 day means, they shipped it with DHL Express! I don't know if they have normal DHL available but if I order again, I will definitly check it before.

The service itself was very nice, they do speak english quite well and answer quickly. I can recommend them.

I hope this review was helpful.
Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

Animagic & MPS (Mittelalter Spectaculum)

This year my visit of the Animagic was quite short and unspectacular. I didn't bought an outdoor ticket because it costs 15€ only for 1 stage with bad program and 1 shopping booth. I tried to get a ticket from other persons but I wasn't lucky xD.

I went there on Saturday and I met with Ami and we just spend the day walking around at the river promenade where all the other people without a ticket were. Honestly I think it was quite boring xD. Of course I had fun talking to my friends but attending a con without a ticket is just not interesting for me, I probably won't do it again.

Here is my outfit:

Picture by Ami

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On Sunday I went to the MPS (Mittelalter Spectaculum). It's one of the biggest medival festivals in Germany I think. I wanted to go there for years but I never came around to do it. This time I decided it very spontaneously because the weather was great and I wanted to do something outside. And I read on their facebook page that you also could swim there in the lake, so I just had to go xD. I think it was quite funny going to an event and just in the middle taking a short bath in the lake xD. They had great music, delicous food and drinks and nice shows. Even if I went there alone, I wasn't bored at all. Next year I will definitly visit it again!

Source

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

Paris 2015 - Day 5 - RinRin Doll Meeting + Angelic Pretty Tea Party

Welcome to the Tea Party ^_^

On my fifth day, we visited the RinRin Doll event in the morning. You could meet her at Princess Crepe and take pictures with her and get an autograph. RinRin Doll is sooo lovely and friendly, she can really talk to everyone. She even remembered me from the Kawaii Weekend in the netherlands. I think she is one of the most kind persons in the world, and she is always so happy to meet her fans. Aaah you need to meet her in person to understand how lovely she is <3

Then we went to the AP store again to see if they have discounted their prices like last year. Unfortunately they hadn't xD. Then it was already time to go to the Tea Party location.

The Tea Party was at a VERY fancy and expensive hotel. You could really see how rich all the hotel guests were. There was a lunch buffet which cost 170€ D: The inside looked like a princess castle. AP Tea Parties are always at expensive hotels, and usually we are not allowed to take pictures outside the tea party room, but this time we could take pictures everywhere at the hotel.

No this was not in a castle, this was our Tea Party room *_*

Finally we could enter the room and I direclty reserved a seat near the stage, so I could see the fashion show better xD. On our table were sitting other people from Finland, UK and Germany (and maybe more countries xD). It was nice to talk to new people. This is what I love about AP Tea Parties, you can always talk with ALL other people, even if you don't know them, you can just join a conversation and nobody minds it.

At the beginning, Maki and Asuka hold a little speech, then it was time for the food. Before the Tea Party started, people said to me that they isn't a lot of food at AP tea parties, but I honestly can't say it's true because at the 2 tea parties I attended, there was more than enough cake! HOWEVER this year, there was really not much at all! Only 4 small pieces for each person!! I mean since the other girls at my table didn't liked chocolate (how can you not like it??? xD), I could eat more pieces, but I think it was really not enough. Remember that we paid 70 € !!!!! for a ticket! But I guess the rent was so expensive, they couldn't afford more food ?!

 The food for 10 people

Because of the big spoon and fork, I expected a full lunch xD

After this, the fashion show started. They showed 3 new prints, one of them was shown for the first time in the whole world! The other ones were already shown in the Kera. I really fell in love with the Gothic print.

Then we had "free time". We could take pictures with the star guests, however most of the time, we could only take pictures with Maki, because Asuka and RinRin where behind the scenes for whatever reasons.

 Picture with Maki <3

Another lovely girl wearing the same print and color like me :)

My friend Miriam with Honda-san (the owner of AP) <3

We could also take pictures at a lovely photo corner:

The time flew by waaay to fast, and it was already time for the raffle. This time I even have won something, a small star ring *___* For me, the best prizes were the chocolate bags. However everyone who didn't won got still a nice present, a small sheet with sugar dream dome print, my friend guessed it was a sheet for Bento box?

Table with all the raffle prizes

 Group picture of everyone who won a ring

 The pin was a gift for everyone; the ring was my raffle prize ^_^

At the end of the Tea Party, we did a group picture and then everyone got nice presents. We got a button and 3 clear folders. I think this year it was a quite generous gift, but fo 70€ you should expect something like this xD.

The tea party was over waaay to fast, last year I took a lot more pictures and I talked a lot more with other people, even if the Tea Party was 2 hours longer  this year. But still it was a very happy day for me and my AP fan girl cravings are satisfied for the next few weeks xD.

This was my last day in Paris, we travelled back home sunday morning. The trip was very amazing and I'm already looking forward to the next one ;___; I wish I could go to more Tea Parties this year but I guess this will be the only one ;___; Well I just need to make private Tea Parties with my friends xD.

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

Paris 2015 - Day 4 - Doll Classica Tea Party

On my fourth day, I meet with Shalisa in the morning at the Aki boulangerie. The Aki boulangerie is very delicious, however they are a little weird, because they have 2 prices for all their food and drinks. If you want to stay at the Café, you have to pay a higher price. Since I can speak a little french, I understood their system, but my friend didn't understood it and accidently payed the "to go" price, and when the shop staff saw her sitting in the Café, she totally freaked out about that my friend didn't payed the higher price. But when we asked her if my friend can pay the additional 20 cent (20 CENT OMG !!!), she calmed down xD.

I would have never thought that I would get to know other persons through blogging, but I actually did get to know Shalisa, because we were reading the blogs of each others! It was really nice to meet you in person <333. We were talking about the differences between UK, Germany and France, really interesting! Especially the UK system of city, village, town etc. xDDD

 Picture by Shalisa - visit her blog for her post too ^_^

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In the afternoon, we went to the Doll Classica Tea Party. I think the tea party was ok, it could have been better, but it was really not the fault of the organizers that Midori has cancelled her appearance only a few weeks before the event.

the Tea Party room

A major problem was the lack of air conditioning. In hot summer I would really try to choose a place with air conditioner. But on the positive side, there was more than enough food! The organizers even asked everyone to eat more cake since there was so much left of it. I surely did xD.

 The cake (one of them xD)

My first round of food xD

At the beginning of the Tea Party, the 3 Lolita ambassadors of France did a tutorial to show how you can coordinate 1 dress in 3 different styles. For me, it was boring, since I'm not a beginner Lolita anymore and I don't need such suggestions. And we weren't allowed to eat the cake before the tutorial was over xD.

Then the buffet opened and after everyone had enough to eat, the special guest Luna Haruna peformed a song. I think she looked so cute and she is a very good singer and dancer.

After this, we played a little game. The game was quite confusing, everyone got a picture, and you had to find other persons with the same theme of the picture. For example, my picture was a violin, and I had to find other persons with the theme "music". The first 3 groups who were complete could win additional tickets for the raffle. Every group had 6 persons, but my group couldn't find all 6 pictures, so we didn't win anything.

After the game, Luna Haruna was singing another song. But then she directly left, because "she has other stuff to do". We couldn't even take pictures with her D:

At the end of the Tea Party, we had the raffle. Sadly, many people who had several tickets also won several prizes, that means a few people got 2 or 3(!) prizes, while most of the others got none. I also didn't won anything.

During the Tea Party, you also could go shopping. Many indie-brands were announced and I thought that I can shop a lot, but actually each brand only had ~3 items?! So they couldn't even fill 2 tables with it. Of course I still found something to buy, I bought the Lolita Tokyo Shopping Guide and postcards with artwork of Sakizo.
(Btw I'm a bit disappointed by the Shopping Guide, since in the last GLB, there was an advertisement of this book with a lot of english texts, but the actual book has no english texts at all!! Except for the adress + opening hours of the store...).

 The whole shopping area...

 Original artworks by Sakizo which you could buy

Because Midori was ill and couldn't come, we could also write her something in a book. I did wrote a little message, but my drawing of the Eiffel Tower looked horrible, I'm glad I didn't took a picture of it, so here you can just see the book and decoration material xD

Now I also want to show you my outfit. I don't know what Btssb was thinking when they created the crown, but THAT DAMN CROWN WAS SLIPPING OFF MY HEAD THE WHOLE TIME >___<

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

Paris 2015 - Day 3 - Japan Expo

On our third day, we went to the Japan Expo (JE). When you enter the area to buy tickets, you have to go through a very long labyrinth (in case the queue gets very long). We needed 10 minutes (!) to walk through that labyrinth D: Then we had to wait 40min in the queue to get our tickets. Even if we had to wait long for our tickets, the JE itself wasn't too full. I think thursdays is a good day to visit the JE.

I also think this year, the JE was better than 2012+2013, because there were more Japan-related stalls. The last times I visited JE, half of the space was actually a Comic Convention, but now the space is also used for the Japan Expo, so there were a lot more stalls where you can buy stuff, but also where you can see japanese artists!

This year, they also had many japanese idols as guests, and we saw a very cute girl "Hiiragi Rio". We actually saw her one day before at the Eiffel Tower. She was singing and dancing live, and I really liked her songs!

You can find her here:
Facebook Page
Youtube Channel

However this year there weren't many Lolita-related stalls, most stuff was Fairy Kei, Gothic and Steam Punk. But I still managed to buy some items xD

Totoro and Alpaca plushies, Macaron hand cream, cat lipgloss, cat earrings and an alpaca bat (?!) pin by Moon Bunny <3

I loved the convention, and for an entry fee of 10€ (on Thursday) you really get an amazing experience!

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

Paris 2015 - Day 2 - Sightseeing

On our second day, we wanted to make some Purikuras in the morning. So we drove to the Manga Café where the Purikura machines were supposed to be, but when we arrived at the store, the shop staff told us that their machines are currently at the Japan Expo >_<

Pics are from their website, you can visit it here => www.mangacafe.fr

Since we didn't really had any other plans for the morning, I suggested to travel to the other side of Paris to find a chinese bakery and eat very fluffy biscuit cake! There we bought a huge cake roll, but we hadn't any spoons and forks to eat it, so we went to a supermarket to buy some. We needed 30min to find them, because noone in this huge supermarket could speak english D: Also, I was the only white person in this area of Paris xD. All other people were chinese, african or similar.

Pandan is my favourite flavor ^_^

After this, we wanted to meet with Loopy at the AP store, we waited for her but she didn't came, so in the end we left without her and went to buy some macarons at Laduree. Later, we went to the Eiffel Tower, and there were nearly no tourists at all! It was very hot, so there weren't even a lot of those people who want to sell you stuff. Actually during our whole trip we barely saw any of those people, in comparision to last year, were we saw them at every street corner. I guess it was because of this incredible hot weather.

In the evening, we went to a delicious japanese restaurant. Funnily, most (or all?) of the shop staff were chinese xD.

Source

So yeah we spend most of the day just driving with the Metro from place to place, but we found places in Paris I usually would never visit if I would do just tourist-ish stuff, so I even learned something new about my favourite city :)

Thank you for reading,

Miuko~ <3

Paris 2015 - Day 1 - Shopping

I'm back from my wonderful trip to Paris! I travelled together with Miriam (yes she has the same name like me xD).

We arrived in Paris on Tuesday and directly went to the AP store. We arrived at 12:45h, and the shop only opened at 12:00h, so all the great items were still left at the store. I was very impressed that they brought ALL the rare items, which were sold-out within minutes in Japan.

 These pictures are from the AP website and this is how the shop looked before anyone could enter... look at all the amazing stuff *_*

 Of course I took a picture with Maki and Asuka *_*

This year I had enough money to buy 2 dresses *__* Before I travelled to Paris, I wanted exactly those 2 dresses, and I couldn't believe they had them! I bought Castle Mirage OP in lavender and Drained Cherry JSK in dark-blue:

And some new AP postcards:

My friend and I also tried on a few Putumayo dresses, but even if they had a lot of shirring, they were weirdly cut, so they looked horrible on us D:

After this we went to Axes Femme. I was so excited to buy a lot of clothes there, because I think the fashion in Germany is sooo boring, and I hoped to buy many items for everyday-wear. BUT when we arrived, they had not a single item in size L, and when I asked the shop staff about it, she told me that french people don't request that size so they don't carry it anymore. I was SO SAD ;____; It was the only shop in the world with cute clothes for chubby people like me, but it seems only thin people deserve cute clothes ;____;

Then we went to Princess Crepe to eat a delicious crepe! Of course I spilled sauce all over my shirt. This happens every time I eat there D:

After this we went to Btssb, but they didn't had any interesting stuff for me, I only picked up an umbrella for a friend.

In the evening we wanted to go to Queens House, a shop for korean make-up, but when we arrived, the shop didn't existed anymore! D:

So yeah we spend the whole day visiting shops but barely bought anything! Okay, I bought 2 dresses, but I expected to buy much more xD. My friend really didn't bought anything!

Btw here a pic of my travel buddy :)

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3