Mid-April Updates! Shopping, Study Days, Cherry Blossom Festival, and Lunch Meetings

Hello guys! Long time no speak yeah? So for awhile I was a bit occupied with school. I had a project, exams, a couple of essays. Some of you know the routine and general madness that comes with being a college student. 

First off, I've done a TON of shopping this past month. I blame having a really tiny income but finding really good sales on things. It's good to treat yourselves after exams you know? It's my motivation to do well!! The better I do in my classes the more justified my spending habits!

The first purchase I made was a new laptop. For awhile I was borrowing the family laptop and it just came with a ton of problems because my family isn't computer savy. While this isn't some decked out laptop with a ton of features or a fancy MacBook Pro that all the bloggers and cool kids are sporting, I did end up compromising with myself to get a Dell Laptop that was on sale. It's pretty basic. I know a lot of people like the touch screen features that come with the newer laptops and like Windows 8. I kind of loathe it and it isn't too compatible with this laptop. But the memory was good and it was a decent price. It's for school, socializing, and blogging. It's pretty big and light. An upgrade from my 2009 Gateway Netbook and an upgrade for the laptop I was borrowing from the family. So I am satisfied. 

The next purchase was such a steal! My inner hime gyaru squealed in delight. I have been such a huge fan of Jesus Diamante and La Parfait since my high school days. The thing about hime gyaru though is that it is literally the 'princess' life style. Those girls bust serious bank. They're not afraid to blow cash on their brands and life style. That was what drew me away from Hime Gyaru as much as lolita because they're not only essentric but incredibly expensive. Regardless I have always loved the bling, big hair, dolly lashes, the baby doll cuts and frills on dresses...rose embellishments. When I saw that someone was selling Jesus Diamante Japadoll Mules in white for 30.00 I had to grab at them. It's not a dress. One day the GOAL is a dress but for now, I'm incredibly happy with my heels. I plan to coordinate them with a lolita dress that I have that's white. I've had it just sitting in my closet for the longest time because I've had no proper shoes to match it. When I saw these I had to have them. Originally I wanted the coveted and very popular heart heels from Yumetenbo that I already have in black because they're also equally as adorable and a great alternative for hime/princessy shoes. But that didn't work out so I guess I kind of upgraded to the real deal and went for the grown-up brand Diamante. I'm so thrilled with them. They're so delicate and beautiful. I can't wait to wear them out and feel like a true princess!!! 

A couple days later I went on Sephora and bought a back up of my Kat Von D foundation that I use for everyday. I LOVE this stuff as heavy as it is. It gets the job done for someone like me who has incredibly troubled skin. I've used it for a good two years and it's never failed me. I also found out that Urban Decay's Ammo Palette was being discontinued and was 16.00. That was such a good deal. I already have the older version of this palette but because I use it so much I decided why not? It's 16.00 and supposedly the eye shadows are reformulated. I'll go into detail in another blog post with a proper review of this palette and how to utilize it into Japanese Fashion! It's a beautiful well rounded palette. 



Later on the next few things I bought was from Forever21. I ended up having to buy birthday gifts so while I done that I tok advantage of their frees shipping and decided to really treat myself. I kept looking at this top for WEEKS. Eventually I said 'fuck it' and had to get it. It's so nice and detailed. I've seen a lot of the Black Diamond girls where these off the shoulder type of tops in brighter colors. I decided to try the trend out for myself. I love the sleeves and the lace. Along with the top I ended up buying a crescent moon necklace. For any of you who know, I've always had a thing for Sailor Moon and even before that I adore moon and star jewelry. It's such a hard rare thing to find. Apparently moons have been a trend because Forever21 had moon things!!! I snatched that necklace up so quick! I love how the chain is dainty and long. It's very much so on trend and I've been wearing it a lot!!

Now onto this the past weekend. 

This weekend was a plethora of things. As most of you know, I've stopped going to events due to personal reasons and just a lot of financial and emotional struggle. As personal as that sounds, I can't stray away from the truth of it. Actually going out this weekend and doing things was the first time I had done that in a good couple of months. I have literally been a hermit only going to school and home with a couple of friend visitations in between. I have literally felt grounded. 

The first trip really isn't a trip but I have made a friend at school! I would have never thought that to be possible due to my interest and general dislike for people my age usually. Not to say that all twenty-somethings are awful. I know a good portion that are lovely. But they are hard to find and very few in between because yeah...I'm really reserved and don't do a lot of the things people my age do. My idea of a good time is going out for tea, shopping, run way shows, fashion...fooding...exploring new areas...deep conversations....movies. Those things. So when I made a friend I was very thrilled. :) We are in Psychology class together and decided for our group project (oh god don't get me started on that and how much I *hate* group projects) to meet up on Friday to plan and discuss it. We went to Starbucks, got Tiramisu frappes (you guys those are done for!! I'm so glad I got one before they were no more! I checked on Tuesday to see if they had it and they said nope!) and worked on the project as much as we could before calling it a day. Without the other group members input or information we couldn't do much but tried to do an outline. So eventually said friend and I decided go to Ross to kill for some time before we went to go have lunch. 

The JFashion related find was ANNA SUI. Anna Sui is all over the magazines over in Japan. Gothic Lolita Bible and Kera specifically. :) All the girls dig it over there for Anna Sui's amazingly cute packaging. Her cosmetic line is a hit just as much as the fragrance is. I ended up finding the summer edition of 'Rock Me' for TEN DOLLARS. I shit you not it was a huge size Anna Sui perfume and it was TEN FUCKING DOLLARS. I flipped my shit and grabbed at that so fast. My friend got the mini set of a couple of Anna Sui's different perfumes. They all looked like potion bottled. Mine clearly looks like a guitar and I adore the purple to blue gradient on the bottle. It smells amazing. My friend said it smells androgynous but that's okay because androgyny is pretty sexy ;D 

We ended up eating Hawaiian BBQ and called it a day. It's pretty funny because my friend got to see my double life. At school I don't dress as crazy with circle lenses and lashes. So I really gave her taste of how I really am outside of a school setting. My look was Popteen inspired. I'm wearing the Dollywink 11s with Dollywink 3s ontop because the 11s lacked some serious length! It's pretty natural looking and framed my eyes. It supposedly made my Princess Mimis look a lot more natural. These are 15.0 mm contacts in comparison to 14.5 and apparently they didn't look massively huge. Perhaps it's also because they're a natural color and my eyes are light anyway. It basically just enhances my eyes and doesn't really change the color. I DID test run the Diamantes that day because why the fucks not?

SUNDAY WAS A SURPRISE VISIT! Holy crap! I was so thrilled and happy. I wanted to cry. The last two times my friend Tammy has came up to NorCal from SoCal I have missed out seeing her. I'm always talking to her online and I really feel like I've connected to her as a friend. It's really difficult for me to make girl friends. Not sure why and because a good majority of my friends are guys and have been for most of my life, I've turned into looking like a lady but being crude in terms of how I talk. It depends on my company. But Tammy is just as crazy and I love that about her. With us there are no boundaries...well maybe there is but you get my point! We have beauty, tea, and Sailor Moon in common. 

I couldn't believe she was up here this weekend because it was totally out of the blue. She even braved the drive up to come and get me. Because the last couple times she has been here she hasn't gotten to go to San Francisco, I decided this past weekend would be the perfect time to go! Past weekend was the first weekend of Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan Town and that is always such a huge experience. The stage performances were way too crowded to go into and get seating but I at least wanted her to at least enjoy the feel of Japan Town. Usually because it's pretty empty in comparison to a festival weekend. 

So with that said, we braved San Francisco traffic and SF together. <3 The GPS helped but eventually we made some wrong turns and some how I knew how to fix them. I love San Francisco so much because it's my home away from home and I was really eager to show her why it's so great and why I felt so at home here. 

Look wise I really wanted to go all out since this was my first event in a long time. I ended up going for a summery casual gyaru look. I didn't have the patience to curl my hair so I ended up wearing ti straight. The top if from Forever 21 and my shoes and shorts are offbrand. I wore Ageha 115s and Diamond Lash bottom lashes. My eye shadow is a combination of the Brigette eye creams in pink and white, the Urban Decay Ammo palette for a natural nude and a copper countour, the Urban Decay Naked 3 for pink hues, a brown crease line for a deeper 3D look, and creamy brow bone high lights. Eyeliners I used was Dollywink pen eye liner, the Etude House Pearl Tear Drop Eyeliner, Dollywink Point Lame Eyeshadow Pen for teary white inner corner high lights, and Urban Decay gold glitter liner for extra shimmer. Blushes are yet again a combination of Nars Angelika and Super Orgasm and a dark rose red Revlon blush for a countour. Nars Super Orgasm for face high lights and an over all summery glow. My circle lenses are the GEO Princess Mimi's in Sesame Grey. 

I has also the night before made my FIRST NAIL SET IN TWO YEARS. I was really thrilled because by far it was the best nail set I have ever done but for some reason the day off the nails felt like gel or flimsy so my best judgement was not to wear them but look how pretty they are!!! This is my first set that I ever have done for myself!! 

First stop was Ichibankan just to troll around. We ended up getting yummy cakes to eat. I THOUGHT Benkyodo was going to be open but fuck that. They weren't. So we ended up eating the cakes and buying little Takoyaki skewers from a stall to enjoy and hold us over until we could get lunch since none of the actual food places were open for business. We went around Shibuya SF, the Faceshop (I have a Faceshop product to try omfg thank you buy one get one free. Tammy and I got matched face mask thingies) and Kinokuniya. I was kind of sad over how lacking Kinokuniya was in fashion magazines and Sailor Moon items. I was REALLY hoping that they were going to have a lot but maybe things had been picked over on Saturday in terms of magazines. 

After looking around we went to Mifune Don and thankfully got the last seating there for awhile. I've never sat outside to eat  there and it was actually quite nice. The lighting is good for selcas, I ran into friends like my cosplayer friend, Len who is in the picture here with her equally as adorable friends, and I got to people watch as I ate. It was really nice. I ended up getting Okonomiyaki....for the first time in a year. I've had it from Oto's admittedly since but i hadn't had *thick* pimped out with octopus and everything Okonomiyaki in the longest time. Not since last Cherry Blossom Festival so I was super excited to have it. Tammy ended up getting soba! We ended up taking a lot of pictures and I ended up getting a lot really cute animal stickers put on me by Tammy. ahaha...

We ended up afterward, going to the New People building where I was going to show Tammy what real lolita fashion is. It's one thing to window shop online via official websites or Lacemarket but it's a totally different experience going into a store like Baby the Stars Shine Bright, which is cutely decked out in pink and gold with friendly shop girls..and all the dresses, blouses, and accessories you could ever want. Tammy was going to actually get to feel and see the quality of the dresses that I kept raving about.

I'M INCREDIBLY ENVIOUS... Tammy as such a cute rounded baby face. She naturally looks young so Baby the Stars Shine Bright suited her so well. I'm a little older looking in the face and even so I've always liked their darker gothier sister brand Alice and the Pirates. Tammy tried on her first dress which was the 'Salon de thé Minette Macaron Jumperskirt'  in the blue color way. It really suited her well because the print had tea pots and cups on there along with sweets. Tammy is very fond of tea and the color blue is really nice on her so the dress suited her well. There are a lot of rules that go with lolita fashion like not just wearing a JSK but a blouse underneath the JSK or a cardigan and bolero over the dress. A petticoat is a necessity for the full shape of the dress, the head bow to accessorize the top, socks, and the right shoes. Lolita is a crazy investment but with the right set of shopping skills, budgeting, and coordinating I think anyone can catch on. Tammy for sure got a glimpse of what it was like to be an elegant lolita. I'd love to see her in a full coordinate that suits her style one day. 

After browsing around the New People building, we decided to get dessert after our lunch. This was my chance to take her to Tan Tan Tea Salon. If I had known she was coming up I would have reserved Crown and Crumpet the day beforehand because it was going to be busy that weekend and usually unless it's a slow day you can't get a table without a reservation scheduled before hand. Tan Tan is more Japanese than Crown and Crumpet which is clearly European. Both are great and have their own flair and style that makes each place unique. 

Tan Tan is pretty hidden and very relaxed. I love this place a lot. The have the sweetest and cutest owner who puts so much effort into making the teas and desserts. Recently I think she gained a helper to help her out. I've never seen him work there before out of all the times I went. Yay for help right? She's always working so hard and as fast as she can to get all the items out. Perhaps he was just there to help her during the weekend's festivities. Regardless it was an experience for Tammy who told me that trying to get to tea salons in SoCal was difficult and quite a drive. This place has a good array of European and teas and delicious Japanese teas and desserts. 

I ended up ordering a Matcha Green Tea Float (thank you for always giving me sugar. I love the texture of matcha but I'm too much of a wuss to do full on matcha by itself. I love love love when the lady gives me sugar water LOLOLOL I'm so lame) and Anmitsu which is a combination of jellies, fruit, and red bean. All are delicious and glorious. Tammy seemed to enjoy the place a lot too. Next time we'll need to try both places in one go so I can see what her preference is. I love both tea places in Japan Town equally. 

After tea we went down to the Kabuki Hotel's lobby because my iPhone 4 is shit and the battery lasts about an hour before crapping out. I can not WAIT to get an upgrade. Regardless my ass had to go hunt for an outlet because my phone's camera is always in use to document my adventures as much as I enjoy them. If I didn't document we wouldn't have the blogs now would we? 

I ended up making over Tammy! Blush and eyeliner make such subtle but nice differences. She looked a lot more colorful and sported Chanel lipstick as well. Making our way to the car  Tammy came bearing gifts. She's a huge supporter of Lupicia teas because she used to be an employee there. I do have to say that their teas are absolutely amazing. She ended up giving me Strawberry and Rose Royal (which I like to fondly call alcohol tea because it seriously smells like alcohol LOL), There was also a really pretty flower tea as well. Yet again, thank you so much Tammy. You're truly having me appreciate tea to the fullest extent. I've never been such a tea enthusiast until this! Well not making your own. I go to other places for their own custom blends with tea leaves and stuff but I didn't know you could get really good quality tea from home and it be attainable. 



Anyway, eventually Vale, Jett, and Miguel joined us! Yay gang's all here. We explored Japan Town and ran into Charmie and her  really badass friend. Beforehand we had ran into Charmie before but this time we made it a deal to sit down and spend time with each other. <3 <3 We all shared crepes and acted extremely derpy. It was really really fun. I enjoyed it a lot. I always love seeing my friends together. I hadn't had a crepe from Bellygood since 2013 so it was a bit crazy. Wahh thank you so much Miguel for treating.... ;_; 

Eventually we parted ways and took PuriKura. Another tradition I left behind since last year. I really wanted her to experience PikaPika plus I love doing PuriKura. PuriKura is a very normal thing to do in Japan. It's not really even a 'gyaru' thing but I've always somehow associated it with gyaru. Maybe it's the models who used to be all over the machines. Maybe it's just the fact that every time I see old school PuriKura it's these girls with their massive collections in albums. Regardless, I've loved PuriKura since my high school days and whenever there's been a good event or good memory I've always tried to make an effort to take some with friends. I know the guys aren't too fond because it's kind of girly but honestly I like it a lot. I always write what day it's on and who I was it. The machine we used was the Baby3 which is one of PikaPika's new machines. The lighting makes you flawless and I love the frame layout. Tammy got to get them blown up for herself. She said there were some in SoCal but they all quickly die. I keep wondering why that is. Perhaps it's because PikaPika has been the longest PuriKura machine here in SoCal and while I've seen some pop up in San Jose/Milpitas it does exactly that. It doesn't last and close down. I think PikaPika has their marketing down and it helps that Japan Town is tourist central. When there's events it's also super crowded. If you want to do PuriKura JTown in San Francisco is the place to be. I'm kind of hopefully waiting for them to get the really fucking crazy ones in Japan that do amazing outfit pictures and make you skinnier/adds make up to your face if you choose. 

After raiding PikaPika we went downtown to show Tammy the glorious Westfield Mall. I'm not too fond of that mall honestly because the sales people on the carts HOUND you. I hate it so much. I usually take the escalators up and walk at a fast pace. I am not interested in your lotions or make up lady.... However, Tammy's old boss worked at the Lupicia store in San Francisco so she wanted to pay her a visit. Lupicia in San Francisco is so nice. The staff is hardworking and friendly. If I hadn't spent tons of money that weekend and need to make my cash stretch I would have easily busted bank on yet again, more tea. At least I know where this place is to get more. It was nice seeing Tammy so happy with what probably would be considered at old friend. 

We looked in the other stores like Sephora and a couple other clothes places. We didn't want to bore the guys too much. I haven't been in this mall in ages. Since November of last year. It's so expanse and I actually REALLY LIKE taking pictures here. I remember back in my earlier days of cosplaying raiding this mall fittingly as Sheryl Nome and Luka Megurine just because they have a couple of really nice places to take pictures at. We never had a fancy camera here to know if we'd get told off but regardless this place holds a lot of memories. 

The guys were amused by these TV things that made colors moved. They tried to do Avatar shit or whatever. LOL I dunno..

I would have liked to show Tammy the real Union Square and stuff but holy fuck it was cold and Jett was pressed for time. So went went back to Japan Town instead to have Korean food at a tofu house. The food was okay at that place but the service yo... =_= smh... This is why I stick to the places I know kind of. The food was really good regardless but at the end of the meal they lost business with me for sure. I'll stick to my place on Filmore that's open until 3/4 am. Afterward we separated our own ways. I was really sad to see Tammy go. It was fun and I hope her and everyone else got full and had tons of fun even if it was for part of the day for some of the people who went. I ended up doing a favor for a friend who forgot something at a karaoke bar in Japan Town (that place had really cool steps LOL) and had already went out of the city and then we trekked back to drop me off. It's always a long ride back. I feel bad for my friends because I'm so far and inconveniently located in the middle of nowhere. We always have deep convos on the way back or just whatever. Regardless of who I'm with the ride is always a part of the journey. 

It was fun. It was the most fun I had in a long time and was the most at home and comfortable I had felt in the longest time despite feeling like we were missing pieces to what once was a very connected puzzle. 

Tuesday I had met up with a friend for lunch... It felt like old times and I just realized how much I had missed them direly. I can't go into too much detail on my feelings or the details of that day because I rather keep that day all to myself..ahah

BUT we did have really yummy Japanese appetizers, went for tea at T4 which was a new experience, and went around an old hang out spot to walk around.... Recently they had came back from Japan and I wasn't expecting them to come back with gifts due to a couple of reasons and things but they did and I was so shocked.  Not over it being gifts but how well they pay attention to my interests or favorite things. Okonomiyaki to last me for two lunches from my favorite grocery store a couple cities over, and Sailor Moon gashapon charms from their trip to Japan. I'm wearing one of the charms as a necklace right now. One is the little elegant silhouette charms that look like necklaces. Knowingly enough they got me Usagi which is my favorite of the original five Sailor Senshi. The other charms were a full set of amulets for Usagi and Chibiusa from the R and S seasons of Sailor Moon. They're so cute and I can't believe they got me a whole set. ONE CHARM was sweet enough but they got me a full thing. They're so cute and I can't help but kind of just fondly look at them because they're so special to me mainly because I cherish gifts from people a lot especially this person, and they're Sailor Moon which is by far my favorite fandom and has never phased out of my life since I was seven years old. 

I plan on displaying them when I'm not wearing them on bags or jewelry. <3 

ANYWAY this has been one massively long blog post and I hope you guys didn't mind me covering things all in one go. It's been a really crazy nice couple of days. Perhaps it's a bit personal to say so good that I'm bracing myself for something horrible to happen because I feel like there's always a catch. I dunno! We shall see yeah?