Every Lolita has a (little) wishlist of dresses somewhere. Whether it’s saved to her computer or printed on a piece of paper that she hides under her pillow, so she can dream about them at night. And she promises herself: one day I will own every single one of these dresses on this piece of paper!
Of course, every Lolita’s list is different. I have seen lists consisting entirely of black Moitié dresses to lists filled with Innocent World pieces.
My personal wishlist consists almost entirely of Angelic Pretty print dresses (beside two Baby, the Stars Shine Bright jumperskirts), like many other Sweet Lolita lists. I am often looking through the pictures, making up coords or occasions to wear them. To be honest, I think my list is a bit too big (‘One print in four colours!?’ No, calm down, this just means I love the print in each colour!), but there are always those absolute dream pieces, the dresses I like to call the Ultimate Dream Dresses.
I can say that I have been
extremely lucky these past two months, since I somehow managed to buy
two of my Ultimate Dream Dresses! Can you believe it? I still can’t completely comprehend it. Of course I worked hard and paid for them myself, but it still feels like someone has send me some wonderful gifts, although it didn’t go without any trouble. Follow me in my flashbacks, if you like to~..!
Since a couple of months (I think only a few weeks after I returned from Tokyo. No, I am not done with my reports, I know. I’m sorry! T___T) I have been hooked to Japanese auction sites. Although I can barely read anything other than prices I still love looking at what people offer. And Google Translate helps a lot. Some things are up for ridiculous prices (Chess Chocolate for more than 500 euros/650 dollars!?), but often there are some really tempting offers.
Around Christmas I noticed a Jewelry Jelly jumperskirt in mint (my favourite) with head bow for a price I thought was pretty fair, but I didn’t think about buying it. Yet a couple of days later the dress still hadn’t left my mind. To be honest, I had expected somehow that I would find a Jewelry Jelly dress in Tokyo. Before I went, I tried to have no expectations and just go with the flow, but somehow I was expecting there would be some Jewelry Jelly at Closet Child, but I haven’t seen any other than a skirt. I looked at the dress again and after some doubting I decided to just go for it!
I used the wellknown shopping service Japonica Market, a service that buys or bids on Japanese auction sites for you. I used them once before, but unfortunately I wasn’t very familiar with their services yet and I lost the auction, which made me a bit wary. The Jewelry Jelly dress wasn’t up for auction though, but for ‘buy it now’. I decided to read Japonica Market’s services thoroughly again and just went for it.
Japonica Market bought the dress for me and a few days later they sent me another invoice for the shipping costs. I could track my package and it came to me in exactly two weeks. When I saw a big white van stopping in front of my house, my heart skipped a beat and I ran downstairs. My mom opened the door and wanted to take the package from the mailman, but she couldn’t take it just yet. First we had to pay the custom fee! When I heard the price, I screamed ‘What!?’
I can’t even tell you how high the price was. God, I was so angry! I searched the entire house for money and we managed to gather the amount, but oh was I pissed! I didn’t even open the package until the evening, I was so upset! We tried to get the money back, but it didn’t work out. I was so angry with the system!
Anyway, in the evening I sat down on my bed, breathed the anger away and carefully opened the package. And I’ll have to admit that my fury melted away as soon as I saw the dress and took it out of the package. It was perfectly folded and wrapped in plastic, together with the head bow. And you may call me crazy, go ahead, but it smelled so nice too! It had that typical Angelic Pretty dress-smell on it and I instantly flashbacked to trying on dresses at Closet Child. I swear, Angelic Pretty dresses smell so nice!
I hung the dress on my closet and admired the beautiful print, that even has glitter on it! When other Lolitas described their Jewelry Jelly dresses, the always said it has glitter, but cameras can’t really capture it well. Now I could finally see it for myself! Of course I took some pictures of my new, beautiful dress too!
Did I mention I got a new photocamera for my birthday? I love it to death and I’m trying to take more creative pictures with it. ^^
The pictures were taken in the evening, so the light isn’t perfect, but oh well. When I see pictures of Jewelry Jelly, the print often appears slightly orangey to me, but I think my pictures do it justice.
I finally have my beautiful Jewelry Jelly and in the exact colour I wanted! It’s absolutely gorgeous and I’ll make sure I will wear it in a beautiful coord!
So that’s Ultimate Dream Dress #1. Let’s continue with #2!
If you follow me on Tumblr you might have noticed my love for the print Milky Berry. Ever since it came out I am in deep love with this print, especially with the mint version of the halterneck jumperskirt. I just love the striking red of the print at the border with the soft colour mint. Every time I look at a picture of it, my heart pounds a little faster. I don’t see this print worn very often and if someone posts pictures of it, 90% of the time it’s one of the other colours. Milky Berry is really on the top of my list! In Tokyo I bought the barrette in mint, as a promise to myself that I would buy the dress one day (I was hoping for good luck, just like the time with my Star(ry) Night Theater jumperskirt).
I had seen Milky Berry for sale on one of the auction sites two times already, but I didn’t buy it. But when I saw it in an auction last week that lasted only a couple of days, I started doubting. It also had the headbow! Since no one had made an offer on the dress yet, I decided to buy it after all. It was the day before the auction ended, so writing a mail to Japonica Market and sending the money gave me some trouble and stress. I didn’t want to be too late! Luckily, Japonica Market helped me wonderfully and really fast and I ended up winning the auction!
One of my Lolita friends on Facebook told me to ask Japonica Market to mark the price down. I had heard of it before but I didn’t know what it meant at the time (‘Marking down? Is that like bargaining?’ Yeah, that’s what I thought). She told me that Japonica Market could just write a different price on the package, so the customs wouldn’t know how expensive the dress really is. Of course, when the pakage gets lost, you don’t get much money back. Since the system works differently here (refunding is based on weight, not value) I didn’t really mind and I asked Japonica Market to mark the price down. I received my tracking code and they sent the package on the 21st of February. I received it yesterday, only five days later!
When I heard a car and saw it was a big, white van I asked my mom to open the door (it’s not that I was walking around in pajamas and bathrobe or something) and I listened behind the door. When she was talking to the mailman my heart was racing like mad! But…
no custom fee! When my mom walked through the door, she smiled and handed me the package. Which was, by the way, really small and light! I was a bit shocked to be honest. Did a dress really fit into that small packing? But, as my mom said: ‘Well, Asians know how to pack things small right?’ XD I was like ‘I guess.’
I opened the package (with some careful effort) and there it was: my beautiful mint Milky Berry halterneck jumperskirt with headbow! Oh my God, it’s so pretty~! I love it sooo much! Of course, I hung it on my closet, examined it, posted a happy message on Facebook and Tumblr and then grabbed my camera to take pictures of it!
I think the pictures came out surprisingly well! It must have been an interesting sight to see me lying on the ground to take pictures from a lower angle.
I guess buying the barrette gave me good luck indeed. ^^ You have no idea how beautiful it is… Although the pictures really do it justice, it’s even more beautiful in real life. I can’t wait to wear it!
I am in absolute love with both my dresses! I told myself: ‘No more dresses for a while now!’, since I am saving up. I haven’t told you this, since I am still working on my reports (I
am working hard on them, shush now!), but I am probably going back this year! My mom told me she really wants to go too after seeing our pictures and listening to our stories! So I’m really hoping the plans will continue…
I really want to wear Lolita in the streets of Tokyo, it’s like a dream come true! Milky Berry in the streets of Harajuku… Jewelry Jelly in the Angelic Pretty shops… ♥
It’s truly like a dream!
