Ok clearly I haven’t been cam-whoring enough lately because you girls have actually been asking for outfit photos! I suppose I have been doing a lot of crafts

I think it’s because I’m trying to use up a lot of my supplies before we move so I don’t have to bring them with me!

So a couple of weeks ago Nuffnang threw James and I a going-away party

This was my outfit for the night…

I hope you weren’t too distracted from the outfit by the hideous carpet!

Outfit details:

Shirt- Nuffnang- “I’m famous in the blogosphere”- modified by me
Skirt- Vintage from Blue Velvet Vintage
Shoes- Bodyline
Stockings- Myer
Bow- Made by me
Jewelery- random

Heehee I made a new hair bow from the left overs of the Nuffnang shirt, it says “We <3 Bloggers”!

Of course it was a fairly small turn out because for some reason Brisbane bloggers don’t like hanging out! We had a blast though! Below left to right is Wouter, me, Tash and James is taking the photo.

I’ve been trying to take more effort with my make up lately too and try out looks I wouldn’t normally wear. The next day I tried out this purple/pink eyeshadow combination and I really like it!

I’m loving anything with glitter in it at the moment ^_^

I’m wearing my green lenses here. I love how much they contrast!

And one without the flash to show the sparkles:

The biggest news I have today is that in 10 days James and I are moving down to Melbourne! EXCITING!

What this means is that for the week leading up to leaving and the week we get there I am going to be crazy busy trying to find an apartment and setting everything up there. I’m still going to be posting as usual and I’ll schedule posts for when we’re driving down but it means I won’t be able to reply to comments and emails as quickly as I do now because we won’t have as stable internet.

Don’t worry I promise I will answer every single comment and email eventually, it will just take me a little while!

It’s a really big move for us and hopefully it will lead to lots and lots of really exciting things in the future so please bear with me for now! We are driving all the way down so I’ll bet there are going to be lots of silly road trip photos and videos for you soon

Have you guys ever moved city before?

Outfit details:

Dress- Target

Cardigan- Gift

Stockings- Myer

Shoes- Wittner Modified by me

Hair Bows- Leopard Print made by me

Today’s post is short because I am editing the video for a Make Up Tutorial

]]> http://violetlebeaux.com/2010/04/outft-post/feed/ 20 http://violetlebeaux.com/2010/04/sneaker-sunday/ http://violetlebeaux.com/2010/04/sneaker-sunday/#comments Sun, 18 Apr 2010 04:00:57 +0000 Violet http://violetlebeaux.com/?p=1028

Sneakers are the best thing in the world and for those of your who have been following me on Twitter, you are probably really sick of me going on and on about something called “Sneaker Sunday”…

Sneaker Sunday is an invention by the super awesome Valerie from Dweam.com and the general idea is that for one day a week we all give our feet a rest from high heels and the ridiculously painful (but super pretty) shoes we tend to wear through out the week! I am totally on board with this because for the most part hime style demands over the top decorated heels, but I think that with the right outfit totally over the top decorated sneakers can be just as good!

I have been an advocate of sneakers for the longest of times, my livejournal username was even “Chucks_bitch” in homage to high top Converse Chuck Taylors which I practically lived in for several years. I even own Baby the Stars Shine Bright’s Lolita take on the high tops!!

So what’s Sneaker Sunday?

Basically each week Val and I will post something related to Sneakers each Sunday, we will also feature photos of our Sneakers and great ways to co-ordinate them, tips and tricks etc.

Our motto is “Looking cute without crippling foot pain!”

This is my first Sneaker Sunday Co-Ordinate!

My sneakers are plain old cheap ones from Big W, they were originally completely white but I wanted something cuter so I deco’d them! The pink sections are completely opaque with shiny shiny glitter now, there are diamantes, pearls, bows and ruffles. Perfect for when I’m on the run doing lots of things but still want to look adorable ^_^

This is where you girls come in, we want to see your Sneakers!

Every Sunday we want to see your posts involving Sneakers If you make a post about it we will add your photos to the new  Sneaker Sunday Gallery (which also has a place on my Snapshots page) with links back to your blog. If you’ve got a Twitter account use the hashtag #sneakersunday so we can find your posts!

If you want to submit your own photos just email them to me at: VioletLeBeaux@gmail.com!

Go have a look at Valerie’s first Sneaker Sunday post and I can’t wait to see yours!!

This is an outfit from earlier in the week when James’ childhood friend from Holland came to visit us!

I baked macarons that day which were an unfortunate failure. I was too overambitious and I doubled the ingredients and ended up with… one gigantic tray shaped macaron. Epic fail.

Outfit:

• Floral dress- made by me
• Jacket- Angelic Pretty
• Shoes- Wittner, modified by me
• Bow- by the awesome Susie!
• Jewelery- random places, described below

I made these earrings with some little cake charms I bought in Melbourne

I love the details on this jacket, it’s the perfect thickness to take out on nights when there is a bit of a chill but not too cold!

James bought me this ring. I told him if he ever wanted me to marry him, he would have to find something at least twice as big for my engagement ring mwahahaha!

I completely love this hair bow. I want one in every colour!

This little crown is my favorite detail on the AP jacket but I always find that because it’s so heavy it can swing around and damage things >_<

These shoes were my back ups for the Nuffnang awards ^_^ I bought them for $40 but I thought they were much too plain so I added the bow, flower, pearls, pleated ribbon and the diamantes around the buckles! I’ve had a request for a how to on a hime-style shoes tutorial out of normal shoes and I definitely want to do it but at the moment I can’t find any good shoes to start off with >_<

Bonus picture: OooOOOooOOOoo I’m a spooky ghoooooost!

Morning everyone!

First off I wanted to tell you all about a guest post I did for the blog “All Women Stalk“. They do lists of various things and my list is the 15 Must Have Items for Hime Girls, go check it out

But today’s post is mostly an outfit post so let’s get to that now!

Outfit-

Dress- Target
Stockings- Myer
Cardigan- a gift, maybe from Myer?
Shoes- Bodyline… yes I’m wearing them yet again because they are so good for lots of walking. The black shoes in the other pics are oxfords from Payless.
Scarf- Op shop

The story behind these photos is that whenever James wants to try out a new photography technique I get roped in to posing for him so he can practice. This time he was making a tutorial on how to do “dramatic cross lighting with only one strobe”. This is the end result of that:

I always feel like such a wanker posing so seriously though!

Look I am all dramatic because photography is SERIOUS BUZINESS.

This is definitely more my style! We’re back to Popteen rather than Vogue

Go team gigantic scarf bow

That’s enough pic-spam for now ^_^ Last thing before I run off to the shops to get some more false nails to decorate… I want to get your opinions on a couple of things about the blog and the direction it’s going in so please take my quick poll! It’s only 3 questions long <3

Quite a while ago I placed an order with Bodyline Japan for quite a few items as a belated Christmas present from James ^_^ A lot of you asked for a review of the items so here it is!

Website:

The site is very easy to use with a standard shopping cart and the ability to pay via Paypal or credit card. Shipping is offered via DHL at a flat rate of US$20 or EMS with a rate depending on your country. The site has a huge amount of items to choose from so it was a little hard for me to stay in my budget!

Shipping:

I chose DHL shipping to save money. DHL has a rather bad reputation from other people I’ve spoken to, depending on what country you live in *cough*America*cough* they have been known to expedite your package through customs and then several weeks after delivery present you with a bill for doing so. As far as I’m aware this doesn’t happen in Australia and it definitely didn’t happen to me this time. That said if I was ordering again and I was in a hurry I would spend the extra money for EMS because even though the “estimated arrival time” from Bodyline was arriving on a Friday the package didn’t arrive until 4:30pm on the Monday. The package made it all the way from Japan (via a bunch of other countries) to Australia in around a day and a half and cleared the airport customs very quickly and then it spent the better part of 3 days “on route” to my house. Considering my house is around 30min from the airport that was kind of irritating! Anyway not a big deal!

Here is the package that arrived:

Inside I ordered the following (not the real names but I can’t find half of the things on the site anymore):

• Music note JSK
• Argyle beanie (for James)
• White bow shoes
• Black hunting hat (for James)
• Short Ruffle Socks
• Spotty Headband
• Various eyelashes
• Stripey Candy Tote

James’s mini review of the beannie and hat is “very soft and nice”

Ok let’s do the individual reviews!

Spotty Bow

Price- US$3

Made from average quality ribbon, finished quite nicely.

On the site I thought it was a side bow but it’s actually right in the middle, now looking at it I think she’s just wearing it to the side. The plastic band it’s on is a little flimsy.

Over all: happy with the quality for the price. I’ve worn it several times now.

Short ruffle socks

Price: US$5

The lace is nylon but it’s still very very soft. The actual socks are incredibly soft. I’m really happy with these especially for the price, they are adorable!

Music Note Dress

Price: I think it was around US$35-ish I can’t find it on the site now but it was very cheap.

This is the packaging. Something about Bodyline’s international packaging has always made me happy.

The dress:

I fell in love with this print. It’s not top notch quality, up close the print gets slightly pixeled and one thing that irritates me is that some of the treble clefs are backwards… but unless you’re staring at it from 2 inches away and are a music nut like me I don’t see it as a reason not to buy.

The quality of this dress is fantastic for the price plain and simple. No it’s not the same quality as AP or BtSSB but it’s still better than the average dress you would pick up at Supre or even Target. All of the seams are finished well and though there is no lining every stitch is in it’s place. *edit* I also forgot to mention that this jsk comes with bow ties for the back and shirring with ribbon so the size is quite adjustable. The bow ties are not detachable unlike other brands.

The quality of the lace was as good as any brand piece I’ve seen, no nylon at all.

It came with 2 detachable bows on the collar which I totally love. They are the perfect size to use on my beret or just in my hair. The only problem I had (and this is really nit-picky) was the clips were put on backwards compared with everything else I own so I put them o upside down a few times out of habit ^_^

Eyelashes:

Price: US$1-3

I was really happy with the lashes, here in Aus lashes are usually $8-10 which I think is quite unreasonable. These are a great price and decent quality. They also offer many many different styles.

This was my favorite pair:

Diamantes!

Shoes with bows

Price: US$37

I can’t express how happy I am with these shoes, they are exactly what I was hoping for! I bought them so I would have good walking shoes for Melbourne, the reason I chose these ones is because the front platform is almost as high as the heel so there isn’t as sever slope as appears. Apart from rolling my ankle once they did their job fantastically and I didn’t have any major dramas.

I picked the non-shiny version. They are very sturdily made and surprisingly light. I went through two airports with them and didn’t set off security so I imagine they are made of hollow plastic.

The heels are thick and the bows on the back are so cute!

One feature I really liked was the fact that the top buckle is on a snap closure. This means when you have ridiculously long nails you won’t have problems with putting your shoes on

The tread on the bottom was a nice touch too that a lot of these style shoes seem to miss out on.

The only problem is that being white they do scuff quite easily. That’s not a design flaw, it’s just how white shoes are so if you’re going to get some you should get some shoe polish too.

Stripe Candy Tote bag

Price: US$6

I was a little disappointed with the colour of this one, on the site it looks like a very pastel blue but in reality it’s about half way between my photos and theirs.

The pattern is so cute!

For some reason the straps are made from a shiny slightly stretchy almost cheap vinyl fabric. It’s a very strange choice because it feels so much more flimsy than the rest of the bag. That said I used it to carry my heavy laptop to and from Melbourne and all around the place and it still hasn’t broken. It hasn’t broken yet but I still think I want to replace the straps just to be safe.

It’s lined with pink cotton. For $6 you can’t really go wrong though.

So what does it all look like on? Well it looks like this…

The skirt of the dress has lots of room for a good sized petti. Without the petti it is the perfect shape for hime style.

And co-ordinated slightly differently. Also don’t worry I haven’t forgotten that you all want a tutorial on this hair style, I’m just a bit behind at the moment *_*

Overall I’m happy with my purchases. I think it was great value for money and I was able to buy a lot more items than I was expecting.

Bodyline had such a stigma in the Lolita community because of quality issues many years ago, since then they’ve worked hard to change their image. Yes you will still find maid style items and no not everything there is good BUT if you are prepared to do your research and study the pictures carefully it can be a great place to pick up well priced lovely items.

I will definitely be ordering from them again

Yay Bodyline!

Today’s outfit was very stereotypical French inspired. The kind of France that’s in my dreams… where everyone always carries a baguette all the time and has a poodle permanently attached to their arm. Yes that may be the kind of France that doesn’t exist but so what, I love my outfit anyway!

Dress- Target
Stockings- Myer
Cardigan- Angel Sissi
Heart Ring- I made it
Hat- SkyLine Vintage
Shoes- Modified by me
Other jewelery- random places

This outfit was for James’ birthday which was last Thursday! None of the pieces were very expensive at all but it comes together for a very sweet look and my hair is super curled/teased.

Make up for the day! I wish the camera captured how sparkly the pink was ^_^ I’m wearing the green lenses from my previous review.

Later that night we had a small family party for James but it was really hot that night. Instead of brushing out my hair I just pinned it up on the back of my head and added a bow.

Getting in the festive mood!

Here’s a bonus pic because I love you all

So this is going to be my big Melbourne post I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about it by now! There is one more post coming up about something we did down there but it’s a surprise so I suppose you’ll all just have to deal with hearing about it for a tiny bit longer ^_^ I’ve actually got a lot of other photos from down there to be used in tutorials and the like as well…

But on to the photos!

So on the first day we mostly just rested because we had to be up at 2am that day for the flight. Sight seeing on 2 hrs sleep really isn’t very fun, so we took it easy and just had a little wander around Box Hill shopping center. That night we went out for a yummy dinner and got our first taste of Melbourne traffic, 2 1/2 hours for a 45min trip LOL apparently no one told us that there happened to be an ACDC concert on that night… oh wait that’s not true we were stuck on the flight with a crazy ACDC fan! He had been waiting in line to check in with us and struck up a conversation about how awesome ACDC were and how he was flying around the country to see every concert, we were polite and then somehow we ended up next to him on the flight as well >_< Most awkward 2 hours  of pretending to be asleep ever.

We also met SuperKawaiiMama‘s adorable children Miss 5 and Miss 2 who have more energy than anyone I’ve ever met! On the Friday we also went shopping… ok yes we did a *lot* of shopping! You’ve already seen the photos from the tea party on the Saturday so now we’re up to Sunday which was Valentines/Chinese New Year!

We went down to China Town for CNY and saw the dragon dances as well as more shopping…

James bumped into Mr Gadget outside and 5min later we bumped into Fashion Hayley! It was so strange to keep bumping into people we knew in a city we didn’t live in!

Our outfits for the day:

People kept asking for photos as well which was quite amusing. Some guy even wanted us to take photos with his kids >_< The strangest part of that day was being hit on by a skeezy old asian guy who apparently thought I was 15… Gross and all kinds of illegal!

Delicious lunch that day:

Mr SKM enjoying the delicious lunch:

Ok yes there was a lot of cam-whoring that day!

The dragon (edit apparently when there are only 2 people it’s a lion) eating up some yummy looking watermelon:

Those fire crackers were so loud!

Of course the whole time I was trying to keep up with you guys online as much as possible!

Including making fun posts like our Valentines Day Entry to the Nuffnang competition. This was taken while I was getting ready ^_^

SuperKawaiiMama’s yard also made a great backdrop for all of the photos. So pretty and green!

And we had a lot of fun being ridiculous!

James demanded I include this because he thought it was hilarious

Miss 5 decided my make up wasn’t pretty enough one day so she gave me this awesome make over! Ready for a night out yes?

One day we went wandering around the city by ourselves, it was really beautiful.

That night we were supposed to meet up with my awesome old friend Steampunkerie but I managed to twist my damn ankle on the curb in China Town so we had to cut it short and had drinks instead. I had the weirdest green tea and icecream concoction I’ve ever tasted, it was really yummy though!

That afternoon we caught the train home and were surprised at how clean, easy to use and efficient it was!

Living with another creative girl with similar interests produced a lot of late night crafting sessions

That night we made hair clippies, mine is the rosette on the left ^_^

We ate a RIDICULOUS amount of delicious food there, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten out that much in my life. It was SO good!

So much food!

We did a huge amount of shopping, I loved all of the imported Asian make up stores like The Face Shop and Missha. I’ll have some product reviews for you soon from there once I test everything out

We also visited some Op Shops and got some great bargains! The highlight of which was an old guy stopping his mobility scooter and saying “An old guy like me can say it… YOU LOOK REALLY GROUSE! Really beautiful young lady!” I have to say, I’ve been described as a lot of things but “grouse” is new on my list! For the overseas readers, grouse is really old Australian slang for awesome eg. “This beer tastes grouse mate”.

James was in his element taking photos of everything, I think he really enjoyed having so many locations to shoot at and new interesting back drops!

Here’s another one of his:

On the last day we all ruined our awesome diets with a fantastic meal of McDonalds…

There was a carousel at the airport, so awesome!

After a long awesome filled week it was time for a very sad farewell ;_; (you just need to pretend that I’m not laughing in this photo ok?)

Back to Brisbane and back to the horrible humidity On the plus side hopefully we’ll be back in Melbourne sooner than you think!

Thank you so much to all our wonderful friends who made our trip so great! Special thank you to SuperKawaiiMama, Mr SKM, Miss 5 and Miss 2 for letting us stay with you and showing us such a wonderful time! It’s awesome to know that we won’t be alone when we move down!

<3

That’s right you heard it, 4 outfit posts for the price of 1! These are some of the outfits I wore while we were in Melbourne! Because were weren’t sure of the weather (which is famously unpredictable)  I focused a lot on layering. With each outfit I’ll give you some tips for dressing well while traveling ^_^

Before we get into the outfits though… I totally want to show you my nails!

These nails are very much my favorites of all of the sets I’ve ever done!

Oh no creepy witch hands!

Unfortunately this is the best photo I got of them the whole time and it was taken by Aurora Hime!

Basically they are alternating light blue and pink with silver glitter, then white stripes over the top. They have then been decorated with a mix of diamantes, stars, tiny gold/silver balls, and gigantic 3D pearls (look on the blue thumb, gigantic right?). You can’t see a lot of the details here but these babies were spectacular in the light! Doing them reminded me that bigger is definitely better and inspired me to do more insanely big nail art Funnily enough because everything was rounded they were one of the least annoying sets I’ve worn because they didn’t catch on anything!

Outfit Number 1:

Skirt: Angelic Pretty
Singlet: Some cheap store
Cardigan: Ally
Shoes: Bodyline
Stockings: Myer
Necklace: Little Waltz
Hair Bow: Uncaring Kitty
Other Jewelery: Random places

This outfit was for a day that started with a chill in the air and ended being very very hot! This was the day that we flew back to Brisbane so I picked an outfit that was cute but still comfortable enough for the plane. While the skirt is big, it’s not so big that you can’t move easily through the plane’s aisles and the cardigan sits flat so if needed I can add a thin jacket over the top for extra warmth

With outfits like this, its really all about the accessories! If you took the bows and jewelery away you would have something quite plain but adding the bling makes everything stand out more When I travel I will always scrimp on the actual clothes and take a lot more accessories. Something always gets lost or ruined on holiday so I would rather have enough accessories that if I have to re-wear an outfit I can make it look completely different with the accessories!

Picking pieces that can coordinate with pretty much any outfit is good too, for example, this bow on my hair is a white/cream so I can wear it with any colour dress because it doesn’t have a strong colour.

Outfit Number 2:

Dress: Target
Cardigan: Present from my Mum
Blue bow: Angelic Pretty
Scarf: Some shop in Bugis in Singapore
Beret: Portmans with a bow taken off a Bodyline dress
Stockings: Myer
Shoes: Bodyline

This outfit is a good example of one that can handle several different temperatures each day. The cardigan has an open weave patten so it breathes in the heat BUT it still provides warmth against a breeze. The scarf is so thin that when worn loose like this you can barely feel it but if it gets chilly you can wrap it several times and stay warm. The beret gives you a chance to rest your hair from all the spray/teasing and keeps you nice and warm, if you get too warm… take it off!

Outfit Number 3:

Skirt: Vintage from Blue Velvet Vintage
Shirt: I think it was from Temp or some store, its just a v-neck t-shirt with a small puff sleeve
Cardigan: Myer (I think… it was a gift)
Hair accessories: Bows are from a Bodyline dress and the roses were made by me!
Blue Bow: Angelic Pretty
Stockings: Myer
Shoes: Bodyline

This outfit was another example when we didn’t know what the weather would be like, the shirt is pretty enough that if it got too warm I could just lose the cardigan. This was my Chinese New Years/Valentines Day outfit

Outfit Number 4:

Dress: Bodyline
Cardigan: Op shop
Stockings: Swimmer
Jewelery: Little Waltz and some randoms
Bow: Uncaring Kitty

Ok let’s talk about shoes… I took 3 pairs down for the week and the whole time I only ended up wearing these ones. The other two I took were both high heels, what’s the difference? This pair has a platform base on the front so if you actually measure the *real* height difference from your toes to your heals it’s only a few centimeters… this means that I can walk ALL day in them without getting horrible blisters but they still look awesome! I picked them in white because as well as lengthening the look of my legs (with the white stockings) they go with pretty much anything at all

Taking several pairs of different stockings is another way to change your co-ordinates easily without taking up valuable suitcase space. Pattern stocks are awesome for any occasion as long as you pick the pattern carefully. I’m wearing cupcakes for out tea party

So what’s there to take away from this? Small objects can make a big difference to an outfit!

P.S This is on a completely different note but I am looking for a new hairdresser! If you can recommend anyone in Brisbane (or even Melbourne so I can add to the list of reasons to move) then please let me know. They need to be awesome with colour and possibly extensions because I’m interested in that too. If you’re a hair dresser in Brisbane/Melbourne either leave a comment or contact me at VioletLeBeaux@gmail.com <3 <3 <3

So the back story to this review is all about how for years and years and years of being teased with Lolita jewelery and dresses with macaron themes without ever tasting one… they were just so damn pretty but living in Brisbane I didn’t think that I would ever get the chance to try one so I stopped looking and tried to put the idea of deliciously cute sweet treats out of my head.

But I didn’t do a very good job and one day I was complaining on my second twitter account about how much I wanted some and one of my friends Roundragon did some research and found that there was a bakery called Twist n Roll who specialize in macarons! When I found out I almost fell off my chair in shock!!

They have a stall at the New Farm Farmer’s Markets (at the Power House) but it’s only on every 2 weeks so…. today we ventured out to New Farm to find them!

It felt like it was a million degrees out in the sun today so James and I kept cool with ice green tea with honey and mint and a lemon slushie thing. Yum!

After we explored for a while we managed to find the stall.

Cute right? I loved the little Eiffel Tower and the gigantic tree of macarons ^_^

I decided to be cautious and try a large Raspberry one for $3.50 so I could see if I liked them

Here is a nice close up…

And the insides…

So the verdict? OMG YUMMY!

The shell was crispy and the insides were gooey. It tasted very fresh and packed with raspberry flavor. The man and woman who were running the store were lovely and chatty, they were both French and super bubbly and friendly!

In fact I enjoyed it so much that I went back…

And bought 6 small ones ($2 each) in each flavor! They had sold out of caramel and pistachio so I got raspberry, chocolate, coconut, lavender, lemon and an orange one which had chocolate filling like a Jaffa.

They started out like this…

And very soon turned into this… I have to say that the only reason I didn’t take a bite out the raspberry one is because I took it home for James’ Mum to try!

James tried the coconut one and loved it and Oh and James got a German hotdog thingy which he greatly enjoyed…

So my final thought is that macarons are freaking awesome and I’m going to be visiting the Twist ‘n Roll bakery next time I’m over in Rocklea! If you are in Brisbane, you can see all the locations here. Looking at their website I’ve just found out they deliver… Oh this is going to be so bad for my bank balance!! ^_^