Paris ’18, Day 1 – Arrival and Shopping

Hi everyone!
I’m back from my trip to Paris and I had a really, really fun time, so I can’t wait to tell you all about it! Usually I prefer to write my travel posts in chronological order, but if I have to start on my Japan posts before the Paris posts, it will just take forever. I will get to them though, just a bit later. I hope you will forgive me. ^^

On Thursday July 5th my mom and I woke up at 5:30 am, got dressed and packed our last things before my dad drove us to Amsterdam central station. The day before our Paris trip last year I got very sick, so I had made sure my packing went as relaxed as I could make it, which helped a lot.
My mom and I said goodbye to my dad and dragged our suitcases to the right platform. We were 30 minutes early, so we sat down on a bench and just waited.

Our train would leave at 7:17 am.
My mom did her make-up and we chatted a bit. What a difference from last year, when I was feeling so dizzy the world just spun around me. I felt a lot better during this trip!
The train arrived after about 15 minutes, which was very nice, because it gave us lots of time to get on the train.

Posing in front of our train in my travel outfit. ^^
Our train departed right on time and our journey to Paris began!
Although the Thalys is a high-speed train, it doesn’t drive at full speed until halfway the journey. Nevertheless, it already goes quite fast!
My mom and I spent our train time talking, eating our breakfast and observing our fellow passengers. We were especially intrigues by a girl a few chairs away from us, who sounded really young and ignorant. However, she turned out to have a really young voice, but she was definitely older than we expected! Also, the couple next to us turned out to be… probably brother and sister! We had a lot of fun. XD

Our breakfast consisted of a cookie and apple juice.
We passed the airport, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Brussels and finally we were almost in Paris already! We had a delay of about 13 minutes, but since we weren’t in a rush at all we didn’t really care. Before we knew it, my mom and I stood on Gare du Nord!
We left the station, crossed the street and arrived at the hotel we would be staying. Since it wasn’t check-in time yet, we left our suitcases at the hotel and went back to the station to prepare our travel passes. As always we decided to use Navigos, because even though they only run Monday-Sunday, they still end up cheaper than normal travel cards. Unfortunately I had lost mine during my big bedroom cleanout, so we bought me a new Navigo. I decided at the moment to separately recharge my mom’s card, which was a mistake, because the machine somehow ended up refusing, saying it hadn’t charged us (turns out: it did. We’re still trying to get it back). So we visited the lady behind the desk again and finally, we could go on our way!
My mom asked where I wanted to go first, and you can probably guess it: the Angelic Pretty shop! My mom agreed and so we went on our way to station Tuileries.
We arrived there a bit before 12 pm and I was overjoyed to see my beloved pink storefront, complete with gorgeous Sweet Lolitas in front of it! The Angelic Pretty shop is located next to the beautiful Tuileries park, where they have a ferris wheel every summer, which makes for such a stunning backdrop for pictures!

I love the location of the Angelic Pretty shop so much! ♥
When I came closer, I realised the Lolitas in question were from Finland! Some I had met before, some were new to me, so I was very happy to meet them! After a bit of chatting, my mom and I entered the store.
Inside I met up with Roxane, who, being the absolute angel that she is, had waited in line for the store for me to purchase some items so I could get a ticket for RinRin’s meet&greet. RinRin and Risa Nakamura, the special guests for the Tea Party, would have special meet&greets with people who purchased items at the Angelic Pretty store for over 30 euros. I was afraid the tickets would sell out before I got the chance to get one, so I had asked Roxane to please buy two of the exclusive rosettes for sale at the store for me and my friend Emilie and she agreed to do so! I got a cute rosette and the chance to meet RinRin! I was so happy and grateful! ♥
I was happy to see some people I knew, like dear Liona and her mom, and browsed the store for a bit, which was nice. There were a lot of lovely dresses and some exclusive goods for the fair leading up to the Tea Party, like a lovely key chain, clear files and plushes. Nevertheless I was satisfied with just my rosette and soon after we left the shop again (I finally didn’t spend too much time there to annoy my mom, yay)! Of course, a picture in front of the shop was obligatory!

Posing in front of my favourite store.
While my mom took that picture, she balanced my hat on top of her own hat. It was so funny! XD
We were just about to leave when I suddenly realised… I had forgotten to ask for my Tea Party invitation! Such an important thing and I nearly forgot it! I quickly re-entered the store, got Emilie’s invitation and my own and left again. I felt so dumb, ah… x)
My mom and I decided to have some lunch, so we started heading for Japanese bakery Aki. On the way there I quickly went into bookstore Junku to ask for a specific magazine, but they didn’t have it unfortunately, so we went on. We soon arrived at Aki!

I always think Aki looks so cute!
It didn’t take us long to decide on what we want. My mom and I both love this bakery and had been looking forward all year to their onigiri and éclairs, so we both had a salmon onigiri and a yuzu éclair. My mom had coffee as an accompaniment and I chose Calpis, since I knew that would be delightfully fresh and it was quite warm.

Lunch at Aki.
We sat down outside and enjoyed our food. Ah, that yuzu éclair was so good… Just writing about it makes me long for it!
Meanwhile, the weather started changing and it rained a bit, although not for long. We sat down and just chilled for a while, because we really wanted to try and rest more during this trip since my mom had some trouble with her knees and I got easily tired in general. After we felt like we had rested enough, I made a quick stop at the toilet and then we headed back for Tuileries.
We passed a really nice store called ‘Panier des Sens’ that had a lot of very pretty-looking body care products and my mom fell in love with a particular rose-scented body lotion. She ended up not buying it, but I took a picture of it in case she ever changes her mind. ^^
We arrived back at the Louvre and Rue de Rivoli, where we briefly visited the sweets store La Cure Gourmande. I say brief, because we almost immediately ran out again because that store is always way too hot. We walked on and arrived at the cute little store where my mom had bought a beautiful necklace during our previous trip. I fell in love with a simple black hat there, with a bow at the back and a bit of a bonnet shape. I ended up buying it, it was just too perfect!
My mom and I returned to metro Tuileries and went back to our hotel.

Waiting for the metro.
When we arrived at our hotel we could of course check in and we were offered a room on the sixth floor. My mom went up with the tiny elevator first, then I followed her. When we arrived in our room, I didn’t feel too comfortable. The room was a bit dark, because there was only one small window. However, I didn’t have to say anything, because immediately my mom started sobbing! Turns out: while she was waiting for me outside the elevator, she had noticed the emergency ladder and its instructions. She completely freaked out about the idea of having to use it in case of a fire and with her knees she wouldn’t have been able at all. I immediately jumped up and said I was going to ask for a different room, so I ran downstairs. The super sweet hotel lady immediately offered us a room on the first floor and when we arrived there, it was so much better! The room felt more spacious and the window was big and gave lots of light. My mom felt so relieved! I was so happy I could help her out this time while she had done the same for me only one year before.
Also, the window looked straight upon the hotel we had stayed in two years prior! What a coincidence.

The lovely view from our hotel room.
My mom and I unpacked some things and rested some more, go us!
After a few hours, we went on our way again to have dinner. First we went to Gare de l’Est. We really wanted to visit Musée du Louvre the next day, but we wanted to buy a ticket in advance, so we wouldn’t have to stand in line. There is a FNAC store at Gare de l’Est, so we went there first.
We arrived at the station and browsed a few stores. We also took pictures in a photo booth!

Taking pictures in a photo booth is always so much fun!
We had actually planned to take pictures in photo booths every day, but this ended up the only day we actually managed to do so.
We headed for the FNAC store and purchases a Louvre ticket for my mom. In Paris a lot of museums and touristic attractions are free for young people, so I didn’t need to get a ticket (I verified with a shop member just to be sure, in French! I spoke a lot of French during this trip).
My mom and I exited the station and went to restaurant Yummy, the buffet restaurant Marina had once introduced me to. We only wanted to eat there if the air-conditioning was sufficient and luckily it was! Ah, this was such a delicious dinner. And they had even expanded their offer of desserts: they had macarons now!

I just… really love desserts, okay?
We had a lovely meal of sushi and different kinds of Asian dishes. We were quite hungry, so everything tasted even more delicious!

Bon appétit! Itadakimasu!
After our dinner we returned to Gare du Nord and to our hotel, where I already fell asleep around like 9 pm. It had been an intense and exciting day!

Purchases of the day
Thank you for reading! ~☆~

Flatlay ♥ Pastel Easter Bunny

♥ Pastel Easter Bunny ♥

Today’s flatlay coord was posted on March 31, 2017 with the following caption:

Oh my, tomorrow it's Easter! 💐
And what better to wear on Easter than a bunny-themed coord? 🐰
To bring out my inner bunny, I chose Fancy Paper Dolls as a base, this adorable bunny cardigan I bought during my last Japan trip and a bunny head band to top it off. I went with a lavender x pink colour scheme, but since I (still) don't own lavender shoes I chose these striped OTKs to bring out the lavender of the cardigan.
At the moment I am redecorating my room, so unfortunately I couldn't find the necklace I had wanted to use initially, but in the end I went with this super cute handmade cotton candy bunny necklace I received as a gift at @twinkledreamysky's and @mirageprincess's birthday party once. ❤️ I am honestly really pleased with this outfit, it's so cute and pastelly!
Have a nice Easter everyone! ✨

Aaah, I am really loving this outfit so much! It has that pastel fairy-kei vibe that I have loved ever since I started Lolita and even before that! Since it was Easter, I looked for the most Easter-like dress I owned. Sadly I don’t have Happy Garden hanging in my closet, so I went with the bunny print I do own: Fancy Paper Dolls. FPD is a super cute print and the dress has a very lovely cut as well. To bring out the colours of the print, I could basically go wild, because there are so many! Blue, pink, white, yellow, lavender… I decided to go with lavender, as I bought the most adorable bunny cardigan during my trip in Japan. It has bunny ears on the hood and a fluffy bunny tail on the back! However, to bring out the pink of the dress again, I clipped pink bows onto the heart-shaped pockets. The pink shoes were an obvious choice and these striped socks, which are some of my favourites, matched the ensemble surprisingly well.
Naturally, in a bunny-themed outfit, one must bring out the bunny even more! That’s why I chose the cotton candy bunny necklace mentioned in the caption, white pom pom earrings that look like bunny tails and a simple beaded bunny ears headband with a cute Angelic Pretty bow clip attached to them. Bunny enough for you? It sure is for me!

Thank you for reading! ~☆~

My Past BtSSB Tea Party Outfits

Hi everyone!
Today, on July 8th, I’ll be attending the Angelic Pretty Tea Party in Paris! Last year I posted a blogpost about my past Angelic Pretty Tea Party outfit and I really liked doing it, but obviously there’s no use in doing it again. So how about I talk about the outfits I wore to Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Tea Parties? What were the parties like? Has my style changed throughout the years? And would I still wear these outfits today?

2012
The first ever Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Tea Party I attended was at the beautiful Grand Hôtel, near de Opéra. I wore my first ever dress for the occasion: Millefeuille jsk. I had braided my hair the day before into several separate braids and kept them like that for a day and a night, resulting in this fun, wavy hairstyle. I basically wanted to wear as many BtSSB items as I owned, so I wore my blouse, headbow and socks from this brand. For a bit of quirkiness I added a star clip and pearl bracelets and wore the BtSSB necklace my mom had given me the
year before.
My first Tea Party was so amazing! The location was great, the food delicious and I got to meet Midori Fukasawa and have her sign a picture and book! I had a great time that day. Before the Tea Party we went to the Baby and Angelic Pretty stores and after I briefly got to meet the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu! What a day.
Although this outfit was really simple, up until this day I still really love it. Although the balance of this coord is way off with its pink x white on top and pink x pink at the bottom, I think it’s a really sweet outfit and quite cute! And just look at that smile; I was so happy! ♥

2013
This outfit is very different from the previous year! The Tea Party took place at the lovely Hôtel Marriott Opéra and I really, really wanted to wear my beautiful Pas de Deux dress, so I built a coord around it. Since the dress has a ballet print, I tried to come up with a sort of ballet/black swan coord. Usually the ballerinas in Swan Lake have feathers in their hair to look like swans, so I made a braided updo with pearls, flowers and a black feather piece. To bring out the colours of the dress I wore pink rings, pink and white pearl bracelets and pink Wristcuffs. The white of the blouse and tights and the black of the shoes also compliment the dress.
I am still not overly pleased with this outfit. My ballerina inspiration didn’t shine through and all the white in the outfit somehow didn’t compliment the dress as much as I wanted. Still it’s a decent outfit and I had lots of fun that day, so it’s fine.

2014
I went to a significant less amount of BtSSB Tea Parties, so we’re already at the last when I attended: the La Vie en Rose Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Tea Party at Fauchon. This one is definitely my favourite outfit of the three. I was inspired by Misako’s bridal outfit in the ‘Time Travel Station fashion show’ and wanted to wear an outfit that resembled hers, only with my own twist. I wore the same dress as the one for my first Tea Party, only now I went all the way with a princess sleeve blouse, veil, specially commissioned headdress and handmade necklace, bows and sceptre. I was so proud to wear items I had made myself, it’s really a very special feeling! I felt like a true princess all day and had tons of fun taking pictures with people, because I felt really pretty!



So these were the outfits I wore for the past years! Do you like them? Are there any Tea Party or event outfits you’re particularly proud of?

Thank you for reading! ~☆~

Lolita Wonderland’s Eight Year Anniversary!

I was sitting in my room the other day while the rain was pouring outside after several very hot days when I looked at my calendar and it suddenly hit me: my blog turns eight this year! Eight! EIGHT YEARS OLD!

So today it is the 4th of July. Happy anniversary to Lolita Wonderland! I’ve shared some beautiful looking cakes and cupcakes for every anniversary and for this year I chose a rose theme. Doesn’t this little cake look delicious? ♥

It hasn’t been a very good year for Lolita Wonderland up until now, hasn’t it? Although when I wrote last year’s post the situation was far worse! Maybe I’ll be able to make a bit of a comeback this year after July as well? I still have many posts and some videos left to make, so I will do my best!

A big thank you to my readers and viewers. Your kind comments always make my day! ♥ Thank you for supporting Lolita Wonderland, my YouTube channel and me. You’re all awesome and I sincerely love you all~!

Thank you all so much for reading!

Here’s to another year of Lolita Wonderland! ♥

Flatlay ♥ Romantic Valentine’s Day

♥ Romantic Valentine’s Day ♥

Today’s flatlay coord was posted on February 14, 2018 with the following caption:

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 💖
I've seen a lot of beautiful Valentine's coords the past few days and it got me thinking: what would I wear on a Valentine's date? I think I would want to wear my favourite dress in a cute outfit combined with pink!
So this is the coord I would wear: Angelic Pretty's Milky Swan with a cute bolero and pink shoes. Also, in my mind I got that cute bear from my Valentine... ❤️
Have a nice day everyone! ✨

I have been dying to wear Milky Swan since this dress is just so damn beautiful! Unfortunately I haven’t been able to wear it yet, so if I were going on a date while wearing Lolita this dress would be perfect! The colour is a very beautiful blue mixed with mint and the soft tulle(?) overlay gives it a romantic feel, not to mention the swan print filled with beautiful flowers. As Valentine’s Day always reminds me of a set colour scheme, I went with a light pink. This Baby, the Stars Shine Bright bolero has a lovely design with small polkadots and intricate lace. To bring out the pink of the print furthermore, I chose a bangle (which in hindsight would probably be covered by the bolero’s sleeve, but well) and pink high heels with not one, but two bows on them. I chose the matching head bow to Milky Swan, as it suits the dress so well in terms of colour, but also because it is a fairly small bows that looks cute in a simple hairstyle. The sheer socks have a romantic feel to them as well, but match the dress perfectly too! As I wrote in the caption, I imagine the bear would be something my Valentine could win for me, but also: its colours match perfectly and I wanted a cute accessory to top everything off.

Thank you for reading! ~☆~

Flatlay ♥ Military Cameo Window

♥ Military Cameo Window ♥

As I said in my previous post, instead of wearing Lolita myself I’ve been doing some flatlay coords. It started out as a way to keep my Instagram at least a bit Lolita-related, but I ended up having a lot of fun with it! I really love coordinating and since I had absolutely no restrictions whatsoever, like the weather or what looks good on my body, it was rather freeing. I’d like to fill my blog up a bit with posts, so I decided to talk a bit more detailed about the flatlays I did up until now. Today we start with my first ever flatlay, posted on January 21, 2018 with the following caption:

Unfortunately I don't feel very comfortable in my own skin right now, so I don't really feel like wearing Lolita. 🎀
However, I still really love my dresses and making nice coords with them, so I decided to start making flat lay coords! ❤️ My friend @josinemaaike, aka Queen of the Flat Lays, was kind enough to give me some tips, which is why this flat lay looks a lot like hers, haha!
For my first try I decided to go with the newest addition to my wardrobe: Cameo Window in wine. When I bought this jacket I knew I wanted to combine it with Lolita someday and to my great pleasure it suits my new dress so well! I decided to finish the outfit with some simple jewelry, a red velvet bow and gold shoes. 🌹

As you will be able to read (hopefully) soon, I bought the beautiful wine red Cameo Window jsk in Harajuku in Tokyo. I didn’t buy any other dresses during my trip, but was totally fine with that since I found this absolute stunner of a dress that made me very happy. The print has a very old-fashion and chic feeling to it and it’s so elegant and refined! The colour of the dress is quite a difficult one, so I was thrilled when I found out it matched this coat perfectly! I bought this coat in a local shop in town, making it an indirect birthday gift from my grandpa who had given me money for my birthday. Since the jacket makes the outfit into a bit of a more military style, I decided not to go overboard with accessories. A simple pearl choker with a gold crown and a red, perfectly matching Summer Tales Boutique head bow made just the right amount of decoration. The shoes bring out the gold of the accessories and I decided to go with no socks or tights, since the print is distracting enough as it is. The gold rose I honestly just put down for decoration, since I wanted to have one more gold item, so it’s really just for show, haha!

My first flatlay was quite a good one if I may say so myself. I hope to one day be able to wear it! I also like how the title is a bit of a joke, because usually military cameo is green and beige, but here it’s also the original print name! Yes, that is my kind of humour, I’m sorry.

Thank you for reading! ~☆~

Catching Up

Hey everyone!

As you might have noticed, this blog has been quite empty. However, I'm really trying to get back into blogging again and I'm quite enjoying it, so I'll do my best! If you still read my blog I hope you continue to do so, because there are many blogposts to come! I'm still figuring out in what order I'll be posting my travel posts, since I went to Japan back in December, but also have an upcoming trip to Paris in July. Please keep an eye out!

In the meantime I will post some in-between posts! I haven't been wearing Lolita a lot lately, but I enjoy making flatlay posts instead! I will be writing about the flatlays I've done and posted on Instagram up until now, so if you're curious about their backstories you can find them under the flatlay tag.

If you want to get more updates, please consider following my Instagram! I post pictures fairly regularly and you can follow me on my upcoming Paris trip! You can find me as lolitawonderland. See you there (maybe)!

Thank you for reading! ~☆~

London ’17, Day 5 – Last Time Shopping and Going Home

Tuesday was our last day in London and since our plane would leave in the evening, we had plenty of time to do some last sightseeing and shopping.
We left our packed suitcases at the hotel and headed for our first destination: the M&M’s store.
We’ve been to this store before, but we liked it so much we decided to visit it again. The store smells of delicious chocolate, is very colourful and has numerous fun photo-worthy spots!

Taking pictures at and of items at the M&M’s store.
I really love walking around in this store, because it’s just so colourful. It’s like walking around in a rainbow! And they sell the most varying merchandise, like t-shirts and blankets, but also candy jars filled with M&M’s of course! Several floors are filled with amazing goods.
During our previous stay in London, my mom fell in love with this really colourful M&M’s shirt, but ended up not buying it. She regretted it ever since. That had been several years ago, so we didn’t expect the store to still sell this particular shirt. However, we ended up finding it after all! And this time, she did buy it!

My mom walking down the stairs to the basement floor.
We walked around the entire store and got some things we liked. I got myself a cute M&M’s case filled with red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple M&M’s, to use it to store rings in after I had eaten all the candies inside.

One of the many very colourful walls at the M&M’s store.
After we had seen everything, we went to the checkout register and paid for our things. My dad ended up getting an cute blanket on a discount, which was very nice. When we left, we walked into a huge blue M&M walking around! We couldn’t resist taking a picture with him, haha!

How often do you encounter a wild M&M roaming around!?
We left the M&M’s shop and walked on to Chinatown. Two people managed to convince me to participate in an interview for a YouTube video, which I did. I never looked up the video though. I lost like 40% of my English because I got so nervous. x)
We crossed through Chinatown and I got some very nice bubble tea at a cute Taiwanese place.

Posing with my bubble tea.
We walked on to Covent Garden, which is this really nice roofed place filled with shops and little cafés. There often people performing their art, like music or acrobatics. Today there was a lady singing opera pieces inside.

Arriving at Covent Garden.
We went inside and looked at some shops, after which we picked a cute café called ‘Sweetheart’ to have tea, coffee and cake at. I ended up with a huge piece of red velvet cake which was very delicious. I have to admit I was a bit scared when the waitress came to bring our food, because of the incident that happened the day before. Up until this day I’m always a bit anxious when hot food and drinks are being brought over.

Time for tea, coffee and cake!
While we were sitting, the opera lady left (my mom adored her and gave her money) and a new group came in: it was a string ensemble consisting of young musicians. They were really good and fun!
We then continued our way to Artbox: a shop that sells all kind of cute items from for example Japan! After a bit of roaming around we found the shop.

The supercute Artbox shop!
The shop was really cute inside and I didn’t know where to look: the walls were covered in shelving stands with plushies, bags and other goods. The shop wasn’t very big, but it made for a very cosy atmosphere which I liked very much!

Adorable and pastel items at Artbox.
My mom loved browsing the shop, but my dad stayed outside since he didn’t care that much (which is understandable. XD). I didn’t have any money left so I couldn’t buy anything, but my mom ended up offering me the cutest little notepad, which I very much adored!

Aren’t these notebooks sweet?
We left the shop again and my mom and I followed my dad to our next destination: the Animals in War memorial. When I went to London with my school when I was around 16 years old, I had spotted this amazing scenery from our bus. I had told my parents about it and my dad figured out where it was, so we decided to go see it.
The memorial was beautiful and very touching. My mom cried quite a bit.

The Animals in War memorial.
By now it was time to head back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, so we took the bus. We bought some drinks and two cute postcards at the station we stopped at and then went on to our hotel. From there, we took another bus and a train and arrived at the airport very much on time. We couldn’t even check in my suitcase! After a bit of waiting, we checked in and entered the airport. Unfortunately the airport was really small and frankly quite boring. We spent most of our time browsing on the internet and having dinner. I did eat an amazing sandwich though! Something with goat cheese and sweet peppers, so good!
Finally, after a long time it was head to our gate and get on the plane. The plane was quite small and there were so few passengers that we could just sit wherever we wanted! My parents sat on the right while I sat on the left. The plane took off and we waved goodbye at London.

Bye London!
The flight was quite short and within no time we arrived back in our own country. The sun was setting and turned the sky beautifully orange. It was good to be home again.

Back home after a short but great trip.
When we arrived home I was happy to see our dogs again. I had quite missed them! It had been a wonderful trip, but I was glad to be able to sleep in my own bed again.

Purchases of the day
Thank you for reading! ~☆~

London ’17, Day 4 – Shopping in Camden and Phantom of the Opera

Hi everyone! Do you still remember me? It’s Rosalynn, the writer of this blog! It’s been so long since I wrote a post… Life got in the way: I am on a path of self-recovery and that takes a lot of time and energy! However, I am not completely gone, so please look outt for upcoming posts as always!
Now, let’s continue with my London trip which took place… nearly a year ago, ahem…
Let’s hope I can still remember everything!

My Lolita events were over, but luckily I had two days left to spend in London with my parents! For Monday we had planned to go to Camden!
We took the bus that stopped right in front of our hotel and rode it all the way to Camden Town, which was really nice and relaxed. We were lucky to be able to sit upstairs at the front of the bus, so I felt like I was getting a bit of a city tour as well! I also spotted two fellow Lolitas, but they were walking around in normal clothes, haha.
After a while, we arrived in Camden and my mom and I followed my dad who had done some research on where to go. We walked for a bit and soon found ourselves in the most awesome of streets, with colourful and decorated shops!

A first look into Camden!
Although it was still quite warm, I was really excited to be there and so was my mom! The shops looked very promising, so we just started walking and entered places that looked interesting. Coincidentally, the week before we went to London one of the YouTubers I watched posted a video about Camden, so I recognized some of the places she visited.
We browsed some stalls at a tiny market that mainly seemed to sell cool t-shirts and mobile phone cases.

My dad looking at some really nice wooden phone cases.
We crossed the street and walked into a store that sold beautiful Eastern products, like lamps and blankets. My mom really wanted to return later on the day to get a blanket.
We walked past a shop that sold all kinds of lace clothing, called Lily.J. The clothing really reminded me of Larme style and my mom and I browsed the clothing with much glee. We asked whether pictures were allowed and the shop girl said yes, but when my mom took a picture she was reprimanded by another shop lady. It was very confusing! Have a picture anyway, haha.

Despite the confusing staff, we really liked this shop!
We planned to return later and continued our way. We also went into this amazing shop that sold really badass boots and coats. Other shops we didn’t enter, but just admired their facades.

More cool-looking shops!
At the end of the street I spotted a familiar sights that indicated our arrival at Camden Lock. I didn’t know much about Camden when we arrived, but I did recognize the Camden Lock road bridge. There was also a big building with a lock next to it, which was such a pretty sight! We took some pictures there.

Camden Lock.
Then I spotted a shop I really wanted to visit: Irregular Choice. If you’re unfamiliar with this brand: they sell the most amazing and outrageous shoes! I recommend looking some unboxing videos up on YouTube. I’m sure you’ll get hooked!
This shop was visited in the video I had mentioned earlier and I had noticed in the background stood my absolute dream shoes at the shop, the ones I was sure were out of sale. I was really hoping the shoes would still be there, so I entered the shop with much anticipation.
The shop was as magical as the façade suggested: both the floor and ceiling were covered in crazy prints and all along the walls there were shoes, each more more crazy than the other!

Some of the stunning shoes at Irregular Choice.
And indeed, there in a corner I spotted my dream shoes: the iridescent Lazy River heels! They honestly looked like they had just come out of a fairy-tale and if there is such a thing as falling head-over-heels (pun intended) in love with shoes I definitely experienced it!

Me, casually dying over my dream shoes.
Aren’t they amazing!?
I tried on the shoes and they were surprisingly comfortable! I walked around in them feeling like a princess and I couldn’t stop smiling! There was only one problem: I didn’t have enough money to buy them. Right at that moment my dad, who had gone outside for a bit, entered the store and told both my mom and me that he had gotten some money so we could buy ourselves something nice. My dad ended up paying more than half for my shoes! I was so happy and grateful!
My shoes were packed in a lovely box and an even lovelier bo and the shop girls kept calling me cute things like ‘love’ and ‘dear’. It was just such a nice experience! Thank you so much, Irregular Choice Camden! ♥

Happy with my incredible purchase!
We went to have some drinks and food at one of the first cafés we found, which was tiny and barely had any sitting room. The counter was completely covered in writing of previous customers. I even spotted a text saying ‘Lolitas with attitude’!
I don’t remember what we were having sadly. I believe I had a diet coke, but other than that I don’t know.

Waiting to order at the tiny café.
After we finished our drinks and food, we went on and arrived in a lovely stone street filled with cute shops. There were too many to mention, however I will say we went into an amazing shop that sold the most wonderful hats. My mom really loved this one top hat, but did not buy it (which she regrets up until this day), but my dad bought a very nice one!
The next shop we entered was one I really wanted to visit: the Collectif. This shop sells pin-up, vintage and alternative clothing and I freaking love them! The shop was absolutely amazing, including their staff. The ladies looked so beautiful, with the loveliest clothing and hairstyles!
My mom and I had a lot of fun looking around. There were two floors and one of them had a lot of items on sale! We found a lot of clothing we liked. My mom fell head over heels in love with a vintage-looking bag, which my dad held for her until we were done shopping. My mom and I tried some things on while he patiently waited for us.

My dad guarding my mom’s new bag while waiting for us, wearing his new hat.
I ended up getting the most beautiful dress and cardigan (which you can see at the end of this post) and my mom aforementioned bag and a cute cardigan as well.
We were both very happy with our new clothing!

Shopping at Collectif.
The next shop we entered was the Cyber Dog. I didn’t know much of this store, except that it was supposed to be a real interesting place to visit. The storefront was already very promising: the large doors were flanked by two huge silver robots and loud music was already coming our way. My dad decided to stay outside while my mom and I went in and I can tell you: it was surreal. It’s hard to describe this incredible shop, other than it was like stepping into a video game or a science-fiction movie. The walls were lined with robots, aliens and tubed with wires. Girls were dancing at high platforms in revealing outfits. It was incredible! And even better: an escalator went down to the basement of the shop, which was even bigger and insane. Everywhere we looked there were t-shirts and cyber clothing, illuminated by blacklight. A huge wall was covered in screens with a DJ platform in front of it. The most varying things were being sold, from CDs to clothing to make up, all to make your club outing memorable. I was especially intrigued by some amazing silver foam alien girl dresses. Everything was so cool!
My mom and I went upstairs and it was then that I spotted a pair of glasses I had been looking for everywhere: kaleidoscope glasses! I had seen some around in Camden, but not the design I liked. This pair was perfect! Unfortunately, they didn’t have the clear frame I wanted, but the very kind (and awesome-looking) shop girl suggested a pair with a silver frame, which was honestly even cooler. I was so happy to be able to take an item from this amazing store back home with me!

I really recommend visiting the Cyber Dog store if you have the chance!
We made a brief stop at the toilets and then followed my dad to a shop he had spotted earlier, where he bought a cute pug statue.
We then went on to an ice cream shop that I had seen some pictures of on Instagram: Chin Chin Labs. Their ice cream was supposed to be amazing and I was eager to try it out. The shop wasn’t very big and most of it was taken up by a freaking laboratory where the ice cream was being made in front of you. It was incredible! Apparently, the ice-cream is being made by freezing it with liquid nitrogen-generated steam, which caused quite the spectacle!
I don’t remember what my mom ordered, but I think I had a brownie cookie sandwich with salted caramel ice cream (or something). I can tell you: it was de-li-cious!

Chin Chin Labs: come for the ice cream, stay for the steamy spectacle!
Although my order was incredibly heavy, I could not stop eating. It was just so good!
It was then that my dad suggested to go back to the hotel. My mom could have walked around for hours in Camden, but I agreed with my father to go back, to have some rest. My mom did not know that my dad and I had a little secret…
My mom bought some things at the Lily.J shop and then we returned to the hotel, where we rested a bit. Then, my father suggested we go to Trafalgar Square and eat at this Italian restaurant he had looked up. My mom and I agreed and we went on our way.
After taking the bus and arriving at Trafalgar Square, we decided to take some pictures.

My parents looking sweet at Trafalgar Square.
My dad lead the way to the restaurant, while my mom and I followed him. My mom had no idea what was about to come: my dad had secretly booked us tickets to go see The Phantom of the Opera, which was a dream my mother had for years and years. My dad doesn’t really like musicals, but during a previous stay in London he had surprised her with tickets for The Lion King. However, he had always insisted that Phantom would be too much for him, but together with me he had booked tickets for that evening! Isn’t that so sweet of him!?
The restaurant was almost right next to the theater! When my mom saw that, she said: ‘Oh, it’s the theatre where Phantom plays!’ and stared longingly at it. She had no freaking clue!

A picture my mom took before knowing she was actually going to enter this theatre later!
We entered the restaurant and ordered, after which something terrible happened: a waiter accidentally dropped a whole tray of red wine and cola over my mom and me, completely ruining our clothes. I don’t want to talk about it too much, since it was a really terrible experience and I still have trouble talking about it or even think about it. Let’s just say we made the restaurant get us a cab so we could get changed at the hotel and return in time for the show.
So our surprise was ruined, but still my mom was over the moon when she heard we were going to see Phantom! She was so happy, aaah! We quickly had something to eat one street away and then hurried to the theatre, where we arrived perfectly on time.

The Phantom cast for that night.
I bought a programme with my last money and we went upstairs to find our seats on the first balcony. I had no idea what to expect, but our seats were amazing! We could see the stage perfectly and the orchestra pit as well, which I always love!

Our view upon the stage.
I quickly went to the toilet and walked into some Lolitas, after which I quickly returned to my seat. Together with my mom I looked at the programme and before I knew the show started! We had some annoying people in front of us who sat forward a couple of times, but my dad asked them not to and they stopped.
Ah, I can’t tell you just how amazing the show was! When the famous Phantom started playing and the chandelier floated in place, I turned cold and I squeezed my mother’s hand while she squeezed back. The show was so amazing, the costumes so gorgeous and the effects out of this world! For the duration of the show, I felt like I was in a (somewhat grim) fairy tale, it was glorious! I cried two times!
And the Phantom… Our Phantom was played by Ben Forster and my God… I am in love with that man! His acting was superb and his singing, oh my God… Every time I look him up on YouTube again I just cry. He is so amazing! Apparently our performance was one of his last, so I am extra grateful I got to see him!
After the show we returned to the main hall, my mom and I somewhat dazed. Even my dad didn’t hate it! My mom ended up buying us both a key chain to commemorate the evening. She was so happy!

With our beloved Phantom.
So in the end we had a wonderful night and went to bed happy! The next day would be our last day in London.

Purchases of the day
Thank you for reading! ~☆~