Paris, Day 5 – Angelic Pretty Tea Party

On Mondaymorning, July 9th, we had a lot of trouble getting up. We were still tired from the previous night, so we stayed in bed a little longer. Despite my tiredness, I was still excited: today was the day of the Angelic Pretty Tea Party!
Since the Party would start at 2:30 pm and we would pick Emilie up at her hotel a little before, we had plenty of time to do something in the morning, so we decided to go to Montmartre. We had breakfast, got dressed and went on our way!

We only took a picture of my mom’s outfit, since I just wore a
temporary, simple outfit. Red and beige for this day!
We arrived at station Abbesses and walked around the streets a little. We knew where to go this time, so we quickly ended up at the foot of the hill with the Sacré Coeur on top. We looked at some souvenirshops, to see if there were any things we wanted to buy (later).

I love the Parisian souvenirs!
We discovered, to our great happiness, that the chocolate shop close to Princess Crêpe also had a shop here in Montmartre! We also went into the incredibly colourful candy shop from last year. The colours were even brighter than I remembered. We bought some caramel candy and cookies (the caramels were nice, the cookies… not so much. Very sand-like).
We decided to walk up to a little shop at the foot of the Sacré Coeur hill, since they had lovely umbrellas last year, but that meant we had to get past the string guys. The string guys are black man (sorry, they’re always black, I can’t help it) that try to tie a string around your wrist and than demand money from you. They are the worst kind of sellers, because they won’t leave you alone and they touch you. Sydney told me you just have to tell them you’ll call the police, so when we walked up to them I braced myself. Since they always go for young girls, naturally I became a target. One of the guys walked up to me and offered the string, so I said no. He tried again and wanted to touch my shoulder, so I got mad and said if he touched me, I’d call the police. Then he became mad, grabbed my upper arm and started yelling and laughing at me. He did let go right after, but he hurt me quite badly. I was so angry there wasn’t any police around and after they couldn’t see me, I started crying. I swear, next time I’ll start screaming really loud. Like, at the top of my voice. Let’s see what they do then! God, I hate those guys so much! Writing about it makes me feel uncomfortable again.
Anyway, back to happier stuff!
We sat down on one of the stairs in front of Sacré Coeur to take pictures.

Despite my make up-less face, I like this picture. ^^
Then it was time to go back. We slipped past the string guys easily this time and we walked through the tourist shops street back to the metro.
Back at the hotel it was time to get dressed! First I took a shower and did my hair and make up, which took a long time. It’s not easy to copy the exact same style you did before to find the perfect outfit! It must have been an interesting sight: me in my Hello Kitty pajama with a tiara and roses on my head! Then the outfit and the mountain of accessories (in my opinion, I’m not used to the pile of bracelets, bangles and wristcuffs on my arms! XD) and done! Okay, it sounds like I did it all in 10 minutes, but the contrary is true! It took me ages, which caused me to be later than planned! I had told Emilie we would arrive at her hotel at 1:45 pm, so we had plenty of time to get to the Tea Party. I had calculated our metro would take about 30 minutes to get to her station, but that was a total mistake!

My outfit from the side! I don’t look too happy here yet: I realised we were late already, haha!
The metro ride took much langer than predicted and I felt terrible, because I told Emilie how I hated to be late! We had to be at the other end of the city, we even crossed the station where the Tea Party was! After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived at the right station, but when we got out I had no idea where to go! I called Emilie and suddenly, I saw a pink and yellow girl quickly crossing the street a little further away. I was so relieved! I felt so bad for being so late (it was past 2 pm now), but she said it was okay (I’m still sorry Emilie! T_T).
Emilie looked absolutely stunning in her yellow and pink Powder Rose coord. She is great at coordinating anyway. We walked back to my mom and we wanted to enter the metrostation, but a woman walked up to us and asked if she could take a picture of us, because ‘we looked like fairies’! Oh, I loved it when she said that! ♥

We are fairies, yay!
We walked into the station and went on our way to station Tuileries. I felt so nervous: I really hate being late. But Emilie managed to calm me down a little: we had received an email from Dominique, asking not to be too early, since we would probably be sent away by the hotel staff because of the superfancy hotel.
We finally arrived at the station and walked along the Rue de Rivoli. We drew quite a lot of attention. My mom, who was walking behind us, snapped some pictures.

I love this picture! We are like the rainbow in a dark sky!
We passed a lot of expensive shops and arrived at the famous and fancy Place Vendôme, where the Ritz Hôtel is located. It was awesome to walk on the big square, surrounded by everything posh, in our colourful Angelic Pretty outfits!
Suddenly, two girls walked up to us and asked if they could take a picture with us. Of course we said yes!

With the sweet girls! I like it most when people ask to take a picture together.
After the pictures, they asked us if we were cosplaying (first time someone asked me that)! I know many Lolitas get upset over this, but to be honest: I think it’s great they get so close to Lolita! Both are a way of expressing yourself though clothes, coming from Japan. Of course we explained them briefly we were wearing Lolita and what it is, but I didn’t feel insulted at all.
Then, it was time to enter the hotel! Cocotte was waiting for us, wearing a lovely coordinate with Royal Cards in navy combined with a black jacket. Since it was about 2:35 pm, we were allowed to go in (I was so glad we weren’t that late after all)! We said goodbye to my mom and entered through the fancy revolving door, handled by a female doorkeeper.

Princess Mode: ON! It was like entering a palace!
We were told to go right and we quickly saw Dominique standing behind a small table. He looked through the envelopes in the box in front of him and took two out for us. We didn’t even have to show our invitations! ♥ The envelopes had a little pin on it with our names on it. Inside, there was a piece of paper with a number (mine was 26) and a little letter with explanation.
We entered the salon where the Tea Party was held. I immediately saw Maki and Asuka! Maki wore a beautiful blue coord with AP’s newest print: Little Bird’s Symphonia (she wore the most beautiful blouse I had ever seen), while Asuka was dressed in pink Glass Bottle of Tears. Both looked stunning as usual! ♥ I also saw the woman everyone calls ‘Madame Pretty’, the owner of Angelic Pretty. She is so sweet! There were two tables filled with prizes! Emilie told me this was quite unique: the previous Tea Parties didn’t have much prizes, but this time there were so many! ^^

The prizes! Wristcuffs, totebags, ponybags, even whole dress sets!
Picture by Emilie
The salon was absolutely stunning! Beautiful paintings, curtains, windows, a chandelier, everything was gorgeous! Two dress forms were wearing a Chocolate Rosette jumperskirt and salopette. The light in the room was perfect for pictures!
To my great surprise there weren’t many people yet, we were actually early! Emilie and I chose a table next to a beautiful fireplace and dropped off our bags to take pictures.

My dear Emilie looked so beautiful! And her posing is always flawless!
Of course, Emilie and I played photographer for each other again, so we both have pictures of ourself and with other people. I used quite some pictures of Emilie in this post too!
Suddenly, a huge group of Lolitas walked in, including Sydney! It turns out they were earlier and indeed sent away for a while by the staff. Suddenly, the room was filled with Lolitas in all the colours of the rainbow!

I loved how many different dresses and styles were worn!
Picture by Emilie
We gathered around Maki, Asuka and their translator and they welcomed us. They told us about the planning: first there would be cake, then there would be a raffle. Since there was a theme, there were also prizes for best dressed! Everyone had a number and before a certain time, you had to vote for your favourite.
Although there was a translator, I did have to ask people what was said, because it was only translated in French. I’m glad my friends could translate the things I didn’t understand.

Maki and Asuka. ♥ Oh, just look at Maki’s blouse, so pretty…
Picture by Emilie
After Maki and Asuka were done talking, we walked around a little and talked to people. Asuka walked around too and asked people for pictures. Of course we took pictures too!

Asuka taking a picture of the always stunningly twinning Vief and Annso!
It was so much fun to just walk around and see what all the girls were wearing! Everyone looked so wonderful and some had really put in so much effort to fit the theme! Every outfit was a new surprise for me.

Emilie and Emeline, two beautiful princesses!
Emilie and I went looking at the prizes again, when we walked into Kitch! We talked a little about things and also about the prizes. Emilie told me that Kitch is ‘Jesus’: when she hopes for a prize she gets it! This time she was hoping for a set with a Polkadot Chocolate skirt. Emilie, me and some others took her hands and we all hoped to win something. You never know! ;)
Then, it was time for cake! A round table with a spotless white tablecloth was placed in the room and then two cakes were brought in: one with strawberries and one with chocolate!

The wonderful cakes! Aren’t they gorgeous?
Maki and Asuka walked to the table to pose with the cakes (hihi!) and then some other girls joined in too. I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of this, but luckily Emilie did!

Lolitas love cake! ^^
Picture by Emilie
Emilie and I decided to get some juice first, since we had gotten really thirsty! We walked up to the juice bar, where we could choose from four different kinds. Now, don’t think it was just orange juice! No, there were really interesting tastes like carrot-ginger, pineapple-banana-apple-berry and my favourite: orange juice with mint. I usually don’t really like mint, but this was delicious!

Even the juice bar looked amazing!
Emilie and I went to get cake (we chose chocolate) and sat down at our table. I was so afraid of spoiling my dress, I ate my cake in a very interesting way! XD But with succes, because I didn’t drop anything!
After our cake, Emilie and I walked around again and asked people for pictures. ^^

With Marie in her beautiful Memorial Cake coord! 100+ points for the
awesome bonnet and bow combination!
Maki and Asuka were walking around again (I wonder if they had any cake?). My picture with Maki, which I took before, didn’t turn out so great. ^^’ Luckily I do like the one with Asuka!

I think Asuka looks so sweet on this picture. ^^
Emilie and I decided to walk into the little courtyard to get some fresh air and to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Emilie and the amazing Libellule! ♥
It was nice to get some fresh air for a moment. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, so I knew my mom was probably enjoying herself too (yay, that rhymed)!
After a little while, we went back inside. Since a lot of girls were walking around, the salon had become a little more quiet, so we took some more pictures (surprise, haha)! I asked lovely Tiya for a picture together! ^^

Tiya looked so wonderful in Milky Planet with her cotton candy hair!
I was really happy to see her again and of course we couldn’t resist taking a stupid picture together!

I think we both deserve a prize for our magnificent faces! XD
We had a lot of fun just talking to some people, when suddenly we were asked to gather around. All the girls who had their birthdays in June were asked to step forward and a special cake was brought in for them! So sweet!

Sydney was one of the birthday girls! ^^ Doesn’t she look sweet?
Picture by Emilie
Maki and Asuka took a picture of the girls and they all received a small present: a phonestrap with a horse and three stars, so cute! ♥
In the meantime, some girls (who I knew would be later) arrived, just in time for the raffle! First we were asked wether we had filled in our form for best dressed and of course I was one of the people who hadn’t yet! I took a look at the girls who had just come in and looked at everyone else too, but I had a really hard time: everyone looked amazing! In the end I wrote down the number, but I’m not telling whose it was. ;) She knows it.
Then it was time for the raffle! All the girls’ faces became really focused, haha!
The idea of the raffle is really simple: everyone already had a number for the Best Dressed competition and this number was also your raffle ticket. Maki and Asuka drew numbers from a box and when they got your number, you won a price! ^^ They started with the small prices, so the later your number got drawn, the bigger the price would be. But the chance also became smaller.
The raffle started! First, the pairs of Polkadot Chocolate wristcuffs. Two times three people were drawn, since there were six pairs. Asuka, Cocotte and a photographer took pictures of all the winners each time! The other Angelic Pretty shopgirls put the prices for the girls into AP shoppingbags.
Then, differently coloured totebags and a pair of socks were on. The second time numbers were drawn for the totebags, number 44 was drawn: Emilie’s number! She won something! ^^

Emilie, Tiya and another sweet girl with their prizes!
When you got drawn first, you also had the right to choose your favourite colour. It was so much fun to cheer and applaud for the girls that won things! ^^
Then the cute t-shirts with a necklace were up, which resulted into more happy girls! ^^
Then it was time for the ponybags! When the third number was drawn, it was number 26. My number! For a moment I couldn’t believe it! I won a ponybag… I freaking love ponybags! I let out a cry of joy! ♥ There wasn’t a choice of colour anymore, since there were four ponies and only one had a different colour (which took me a moment to realise, haha!), but I was so happy! Emilie quickly grabbed my camera from me to take pictures of me!

Me and the other winners! Look at my happy face, haha!
I have always loved ponybags, but I thought they were too expensive. Now I won one! Maybe it was thanks to Kitch after all..?
After the ponybags, the bigger gifts were on, starting with the Polkadot Chocolate set, which was won by…? Kitch! She truly is our Jesus! XD

Kitch, the lucky Polkadot Chocolate winner!
Picture by Emilie
Then the ‘huge’ prizes were up: full dress sets with headbow and socks! The first was a white Strawberry Parfait set, which was one by a girl wearing an adorable casual APdress. The second set was a pink Glass Bottle of Tears set, won by Marie! The ultimate, ‘special’ set was a black Little Bird’s Symphonia set, won by a sweet girl I didn’t know.
All the girls who didn’t win anything received a copy of Angelic Pretty’s newest catalogue. After the raffle, we had some time to talk again. I could finally ask for a picture with Lunie, who looked stunning as usual!

I love this picture so much! ♥
The girls who had just arrived had the opportunity to have some juice and cake now, haha! I had another glass of juice too, I loved it so much! *_*
We were asked to gather again, as they wanted to take a group picture in the garden! It was a lot of fun with the huge group. I’m hoping to receive the picture soon.
When we got back inside it was time to announce the winners of the Best Dressed competition. I must say I wished they had translated in English too, since the 2nd prize winner, Hoa aka Harlyharlekin who is German, didn’t understand she had won 2nd place at all!

Hoa won 2nd Best Dressed!
She received a special AP mug. ^^ Then it was time to announce the winner! *drumrolls*

1st prize: Marijke, in her Marie Antoinette-inspired coord! Look at her shoes! ♥
Marijke won a special novelty item: an Angelic Pretty cake (I hope it was fake, hihi)!
Maki and Asuka told us the Tea Party was coming to an end (awww!), but everyone received a last gift: a blue Little Bird’s Symphonia tote bag and two French tinted pins. ^^ So sweet!
While Maki and Asuka took their places at the door, Emilie and I walked into a hall next to the salon to take pictures. The light was beautiful and some girls we wanted to talk to were there too!

With Lunie and Kitch, my two idols!
It’s funny to see how different the light was in this second salon, don’t you think? ^^

With Bloody, who was wearing a gorgeous red and white coord!
We decided to thank Maki and Asuka for the wonderful Tea Party. We also received our present. ^^

Me, Emilie and Sydney with the wonderful Angelic Pretty designers!
Since no one was really leaving yet, we walked back to the salon we just came from. Some girls were taking a group picture with each other and I took a picture of the picture.

A picture in a picture: pictception!
Dominique walked up to us, so we talked a little with him. I had to promise again I would come back to the shop, haha! ♥

With Dominique! I was so happy to have met him, he is so kind!
I also talked with Vief and Annso. Despite the fact we speak the same language, we kind of forgot and spoke English after all, haha!

With the adorable Chess Chocolate twins. ♥
We went back again to the main hall, where Maki and Asuka were. I told them I had been to Tokyo last October and they asked me wether I liked the Tokyo stores more or Paris. I honestly answered I liked the Japanese stores more, because they are so big, haha! Then we were asked to leave by the staff, for the Tea Party was really over. =( I asked for one last picture of Maki and Asuka (they are sooo patient and sweet)!

Bye bye Maki and Asuka! See you next year..?
We joined Sydney (who had changed clothes and was wearing the Polkadot cutsew one piece she had bought in black, the one I liked in red) and we went outside. I already saw my mom standing in the distance and she walked up to us. During the Tea Party, she had had a really great time! The sun had shone all the time and she had been (expensive) windowshopping! ^^

Back to my mom’s pictures! ^^ Group shot!
We said goodbye to some girls. Most were already gone (some were partially undressing in front of a car =S). I showed my mom my ponybag, she thought it was amusing, haha!

Detail shot of Sydney’s present and her cutsew one piece.
Now that the Tea Party was over, Sydney and Emilie could finally unwrap my presents. ^^ I had given a little gift to each of them, which they could only open after the Tea Party. Since they know what it is now, I can tell you too: they both received a small glass jar with a little Eiffeltower inside covered in glitter and a little personal letter. ♥ I’m so glad they liked it!

Me with Lou. ♥ She looked so perfect in Milky Berry!
When everyone had left, an American guy walked up to us and asked us if we were dressed in Lolita! He was really funny and sooo American.He told us he was with his mother and he had said to her he wanted to talk to us, because he recognised the style. His mother was in total shock, because she though we were like 13 years old. XD We talked for a while with the guy and he thought I came from Boston, USA, because I had a Boston accent, whaha! He was kind, but also a bit strange (but in a good way). He was staying at the Ritz, which is about 1500 dollars per night! O_O But there were Marie Antoinette-like suites, so we would probaby like it he said. XD After a while, we said goodbye and went on.

I love feetpictures so much and this one is just perfect!
We bumped into a group of people who asked us to take pictures, which was fine of course.
Then, it was time to say goodbye to Sydney. =( This was her very last day in France, so it was a very emotional day for her.

Bye Sydney! =(
Sydney left to see some other friends for the last time and after some doubting we decided to go to Jardin des Tuileries so my mom could take some scenery pictures of us.
As soon as we entered the park, a woman walked up to us and asked for a picture together. And I can tell you, there were many more to come!

With my dear. ♥
While walking through the Jardin, several people came up to us, asking for a picture. We stood out a lot, haha, but it was so much fun! Girls were jumping up and down while waiting impatiently for their turn to be in a picture with us and an Englishspeaking woman said: ‘For my little girl at home.’ So sweet! Posing with Emilie was really so great!

Emilie and I were like tourist attractions together!
Walking through the pretty gardens in our beautiful outfits made me feel like a princess!

In front of the ferris wheel. I love how different we look but still suit each other!
Walking through the Jardin des Tuileries with Emilie and my mom was my utmost favourite part of a fantastic day! ♥ I felt so happy and pretty and princessy!

Two princesses relaxing in the garden of their castle.
We finally left the Jardin des Tuileries again and headed back to Emilie’s hotel. We were quite tired, so sitting down in the metro for a while was quite nice and we didn’t have to transfer lines.
We arrived at Emilie’s hotel, where we talked for a while. An old man walked past me and suddenly lifted up my skirt to see what was underneath it! He walked on while shaking his head, leaving me in utter surprise! I’ve read about other Lolitas who had this too, but somehow it seemed too strange to be real! Let’s hope his hands were clean…
Then it was really time to say goodbye. We hugged several times and then Emilie went inside. My mom and I went back to our hotel.
I’ve found my Lolita Sister and Lolita Soulmate in Emilie. ♥ I really hope I will see her again soon!
We arrived at the hotel, where I took all my Lolita things off and put on comfortable clothes. It had gotten quite late and I was pretty hungry, so we had diner at Café d’Albert across the street. I had a cheeseburger (which was very heavy) and my mom had salmon salad with chips (how awesome is that?).
We returned to the hotel, read a bit and went to bed. It had been a magical day. ♥