What I Would Like to See in Lolita Next

Hello, lords and ladies!

Lately I've taken a habit of writing different kind of positive lists into a notebook dedicated for this. I list things that inspire me, things I would like to do, places I would like to visit, things that I am thankful for, and so on. The most recent list I wrote under the title "What I would like to see in lolita next". I thought I'd share that with you, too. So, here we go...

♥ More natural, but still gorgeous make up styles
♥ Relaxed (e.g. curly hair kept loose) hairdos made of one's own hair
♥ Practicality, wearability, comfyness
♥ Dainty, elegant outfits with some historical influence - "old times" feeling
♥ Old school lolita influences
♥ Having fun with colours
♥ Luxurious details (such as lace, bows, frills)
♥ Great quality fabrics (e.g. cotton velvet, silk, linen) and shoes (real leather only)

I long for this fashion to move towards more relaxed, wearable direction. I wish to see outfits that are easy and comfy to wear, but not boring in the least. Oufits that are of great quality and coordinated with care and love to detail. Outfits that you can wear for a trip to your local library, or a nice cup of tea at your favorite tea shop. Outfits that even on a hot summer day feel good to wear. In short, I would like to see outfits that are less costume-like and more natural. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I am getting tired of this trend or always more, always bigger, always better. I would like to see something more simple for a change.

All that being said, I'd like to introduce you to a small, starting clothing brand owned by two Finnish ladies, Twin Flower. They make beautiful lolita clothes using recycled materials whenever that's possible. Their brand just happens to have just the kind of look that inspires me right now. All of the pictures used for this post are from Twin Flower (and posted with their permission) - so please do check out their Facebook page, and if you like what you see, remember to show your support to them. 

What would you, dear readers, like to see in lolita (or fashion in general) next? Feel free to discuss in the comments!

P.S. Since someone is most likely going to ask this, if I don't say it, I spill it out now; no, this blog post is not sponsored or suggested by Twin Flower. All of the opinions, as well as my adoration for this brand, are purely my own and genuine.  First I wrote my list by hand, then I thought about making it into a blog post, and only after that I had the idea that Twin Flower's pictures would go greatly with this post. They are saving me a lot of trouble by kindly letting me use their pictures, and I like to promote Finnish design whenever I get the chance, so this is a win-win situation all around.

P.P.S. To those (foreign?) readers that might not know about this; in Finland there is actually a law that forbids bloggers to do co-operation with brands without clearly stating it in their blog posts. So if I ever get a chance for a co-operation with a brand that I actually like (Hello, Twin Flower!), you can rest assured that I will most certainly tell it very clearly. ;)

The Greatest Source of Inspiration

What inspires me most right now is the nature, and especially flowers. The lilacs are in full bloom, among with many other flowers and plants. Rose has long been my favorite flower, but lately I've been really drawn to the smaller and more delicate flowers, especially wild ones.

It all started with this adorable little bouquet that my Mom had left for us when we came home from Rome. I was so happy to be home anyway, and it was even nicer when this was waiting for us. This bouquet helped me realise how lovely a simple jar with some small flowers can look, and so I kept the jar...

...and occasionally filled it with flowers...

 ...and since devil is in the details, I also added some white lace to uppgrade this cute jar into even more cute.

Finland really is at its best during summer. Everything is so fresh and green. This picture is from a walk with my Mom and Chico. Chico is clearly smiling. ♥ The road originates from the World War I era and was used to move cannons. This forest was an important air defence base during Finland's wars. It also happens to be one of my dearest places in Helsinki, so I take a walk there quite often.

Last weekend I went for a long, peaceful evening walk with my fiancé. We found a cliff full of wild violets. It is a magical place that I will definitely visit again.

We also took some flowers home. Lupines are considered to be weeds, but I think they look just lovely and make a wonderful bouquet, too. We found three different shades of lupines and I picked a couple of flowers in each shade.

I'm also enjoying the occasional blue skies! This is a rare sight in Finland during the long winter months (and sometimes in summer, too), so it's really refreshing. I just love Helsinki in summer, the city seems to come more alive.

What inspires you at the moment, my dear readers? Please share it in the comments!

Cherry Blossoms

Good afternoon, lords and ladies!

As I said earlier, I missed hanami due to having a flu. I still have it, but today we visited the Roihuvuori Japanese style garden anyway, because I really wanted to see the cherry blossoms before they're gone. There were far less people now than during the hanami (of course), so it was really nice to walk there in peace and quiet, listening to birds' sing (and they sang a lot!). It was a really lovely date, a little bit different to what we usually have.

Besides cherry trees, there are other types of gardens in this park, too. All the other gardens have Finnish plants, flowers and trees, which is really nice. I especially loved this path among the mossy rocks. Moss is something that most Finns just want to get rid of in their gardens - which I can not understand, as moss is really beautiful - so it's a nice change to see it appreciated as a part of Finnish nature and garden. The atmosphere in this part of the garden was very fairytale-like. If you ever happen to visit Helsinki, and want to see something that's not so typical tourist attraction, I can warmly recommend Roihuvuori garden for you.

My shoes for the day. I'm still feeling rather anti-fabulous because of my flu, and didn't bother to put on any makeup. But one can always wear nice shoes so easily. These shoes are extremely comfortable and easy to walk with. They have been with me to London, Barcelona and Praque already, and soon they'll travel to Rome.

Besides cherry blossoms and flu, my life consists mainly of studying right now. I'm so busy and stressed out because of my studies. One more week to go, and then it's off to Rome! A much needed and very deserved holiday indeed. This spring has been crazy, and I'm looking forward to summer when I can fully concentrate on my work.

Have a lovely week end, all of you! ♥

Life Via Instagram: Hellocon 2015

Hello, everyone!

So, Hellocon is now over and - a little inside joke, if you don't mind - I survived it! I didn't take that much pictures, because I wanted to concentrate on enjoying the event itself. I used only my phonecamera, because it fitted so cozily into the pocket of my Angelic Pretty dress and was therefore easy to whip out when needed. I will share photos of my outfits and our fashion show later on, but here's some pictures for you already.

1. Ancelic Pretty's dress form with a beautiful outfit.

2. Sweet and Tiny's table. I loved all these, they were so real-looking! It's too bad I don't wear cake jewelry that much anymore...

3. They had really put a lot of effort to decorating the venue this year. There were balloons and banners, which were really pretty. Then there were these adorable little cups of popcorn which the guests could enjoy free of charge. What a wonderful idea!

4. Here's what I got at the event; a book mark, an awesome bunny fascinator (I already forgot whom I bought it from), a bunny brooch and bow by Charming Girls, a super adorable pegasus phonesharm by Illves, Makis's and Asuka's message to Hellocon guests and of course their autographs.

5. A closeup of the phonecharm. Her name is Stella (each Illves charachter has a name) and she looks really lovely with my Baby purse. I already regret not buying more of these cuties, I could have one for each of my purses... *-*

 The event was really great. The programs I organized went quite smoothly, and the other programs that I had time to see were really good, too. I did miss out quite a lot because of my own programs, so I'm considering the opportunity that next time I would go there as a guest only and not organize anything. At least right now it seems like a very good idea indeed.

How many of you, dear readers, were at Hellocon? Did you have fun? Please share your experiences and thoughts in the comments!

Life via Instagram: Easter Holidays

Hello, everyone!

I hope you all had nice Easter holidays? I lost a dear, old fluffy friend on Monday, but apart from that it was a relaxing holiday. I have mourned her in a calm manner; not much tears, remembering the good times we had. Of course I am very sad, but crying won't bring her back and will only make me feel worse, so this is a good way to go about it, I think. Well, anyway, here's some (more happy) pictures from Easter...

1. An Easter surprice for my fiancé. I filled it with his favourite Belgian coconot chocolate pralines and hid it inside my bunnybearbag for him to find.

2. We ate lots and lots of chocolate.

3. I wore this outfit to see the Cinderella movie. I really liked this colour combo.

4. My "official" Easter shoes. I wore these last year's Easter, too, and thought that well, why not.

5. I bought pink tulips again.

6. What would an Easter be without our own Easter bunny? Nothing. ♥

P.S. I changed my nickname in Instagram into maricaranette. I think it suits me better.

Reasons to Travel from 1932

And they are still valid today, I think. I could have almost written this same list myself, I agree so completely.

Source: this isn's happiness.

Lolita Blog Carnival: How Would You Re-Do Your Wardrobe

Hello, everyone!

This week's Lolita Blog Carnival topic can be interpreted many ways. I took this approach; how would I re-do my current wardrobe, or how would I like to do things as a beginner, if I knew then all the things that I know now.

Well then, how would I like to re-do my current wardrobe?

 Re-do is quite a strong, almost chaotic word. I wouldn't want to re-do anything. I'm quite happy with my wardrobe as it is; most items match with each other (or don't match, but still work together nicely, when I don't feel like being all matchy). I have been building this wardrobe many years (about nine, to be exact), and I believe I have already found my own style in lolita. One of my friends described it very fittingly, saying "Your lolita style is very champagne shaded." I wouldn't dramatically change anything, but of course there are always those little things.

I would like to add more non-print dresses to my wardrobe, for example. I especially like old school pieces, or else pieces that have old school feeling to them. Applique, embroidery, ruffles, laces and bows are all lovely details, which you get less in printed garments. To be honest, I've grown a little bit bored with print dresses, or at least I have so many of those that it'd be a nice change to have more dresses without print.

Those just seem to be very hard to find! I would also like to sell some dresses that I don't wear that much anymore (and actually I have sold and swapped some dresses during the least year or so). The biggest single flaw in my wardrobe is the absence of a nice, roomy chocolate brown bag! It's not that I mind mixing different shades of brown, but it just would be a nice thing to own. The problem with this is that I'm very picky, and nothing is quite what I am looking for (not even the bag pictured!).

Okay, what would I like to do differently now compared to what I did nine years ago?

The short and simple answer to this is: nothing.

And here comes the long answer for those who care to read it; I wouldn't do anything differently. I made a lot of mistakes, and I looked quite horrible for the first years in this style. Things were very different back then. There really was no brand, neither new nor second hand, available outside of Japan. Almost none of the brands shipped abroad, and even if they did, I couldn't afford anything from them. There was not many indie brands, either, and certainly not Finnish ones. So we had to make-do with flea market, goth shop and offbrand finds that were even remotely loliable. It does tell something about the passion behind the fashion; people really wanted to wear lolita so badly, even though it was so hard!

I have also tried almost every lolita style there is (such as wa, ero and hime, too). I started as a (wanna-be) gothic lolita, as that was The Thing then. After that, I fell in love with sweet lolita, quite possibly because I wished to forget my "gothic lolita" days. Then, after some years in sweet, I started to crave for more mature, elegant, yet still cute look, and started to change my wardrobe more towards classic and sweet-classic, the state it is now in. In the past nine years, I have re-done my wardrobe three times. I think this is it.

 Me in 2009.

And yet, I'd like to do nothing differently. I can see now that the mistakes I made all thought me something and helped me work towards the goal of being a good lolita. Now I am one, even if I say so myself. And all the style phases I went through felt right at the time. I certainly didn't like classic lolita nine years ago, so why would I want to tell my younger self to buy classic instead of gothic lolita? My younger self, being even more stubborn than I am today (having worked on that, too) would simply tell me to shut up and let her wear what she really wants to wear.

The most important thing; even if I  - and many of my friends, who still are here after all these years! - were not very good lolitas, we were still having fun. Even though we did everything wrong and didn't realize it, we had fun. I would never change that fun, those moments with my precious frilly girls, for anything. What's happened is in the past, in the memories, and I'll let it stay there. Now I'm mature enough to smile at my mistakes, too. And the sense of style developed eventually, too.

What would you, dear readers, like to change about your wardrobe, current or past? Feel free to discuss in the comments!  

P.S. Check out the other LBC participants this week, too.

Courtly Dreams For Burgher

P.P.S. Happy Easter holidays, everyone! ♥

Life via Instagram

Good afternoon, everyone!

My life has been really hectic lately, and so I'm a little bit behind the schedule when it comes to blogging. The good news are I'm just on schedule on my studies, though! It's been a while since I bloggeg about personal matters (and not of those regarding the fashion show I'm organizing with Mimi for Hellocon 2015), and I decided to share glimpes of my Instagram account - and incidently, glimpses of my life recently - with you. Instagram is a pretty convenient diary of what's happening around me, as it's so quick and easy to use. So, here we go...

1. Last Saturday Sanni dear visited me. We both happened to wear Innocent World's flower prints! There will be a proper blog post about this day later on, so stay tuned. ;)

2. I bought some new clothes, including this cardi dress. It is very warm and cozy - one of those clothes that feel like you are wearing a night gown all the time, but luckily don't look like it.

3. A detail shot. The dress has cute little bows on the sleeves and golden threads alongside the grey colour, giving it a little bit of sparkle.

4. I bought a scrapping album for our travel photos and a super cute makeup pouch, both with the Eiffel Tower theme.

5. I finally found a perfect place and purpose for this lovely photo frame that Mimi gave me years ago. It now holds our engament picture, standing next to a matching jewelry box which has been in use all along.

6. Me penpal sent me this cute unicorn card, which looks so lovely on the pink frame.

7. I bought us a huge bouquet of pink tulips. The colour is just wonderful and makes me dream of Spring. *-*

8. Besided scrapping photo albums, I have also done some other craft projects. Flower theme is persistent, as I am looking forward to Spring very eagerly (please, come here already!).

9. Odessa is as lovely, cute and darling as ever.

10. Right now I'm taking care of these two lovely girls, Nelda and Tara, while their owner is in Japan. It's been wonderful to take long walks together in the sunshine.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! ♥

Some Outfits

Hello, everone!

Here's some recent outfits from newest to oldest. The first one's from yesterday, when I visited my friend Lauren.

 {Dress - handmade by Mimi / hat, necklace - vintage / blouse - H&M / boots - second hand}

And a closeup of my vintage fresh water pearls necklace. I have been thinking (for the longest time) about turning this necklace into a bracelet, or maybe a choker. But I felt hesitant cutting up a necklace that's in such a beautiful, pristine condition. So I decided to give it a go, and now I think this necklace looks pretty good with this kind of blouse. So maybe I'll just let it be and wear it like so. What do you think, my dear readers?

The next outfits are more casual. This one I wore to my friend's birthday party. I tried to get some vintage-y feeling to it, but I'm not completely happy with how it turned out.

{Skirt - KappAhl / headbow - Innocent World / shoes, blouse - second hand}

The last outfit I wore when I took my fiancé out for a belated birthday dinner. By the way, if you have been wondering why I look so weird in the mirror shots, that is because this mirror makes people look fatter and everything else it makes look wonky. I noticed it too late but I still love the frame so I'm keeping this funhouse mirror anyway.

{Cardigan - Seppälä / skirt - H&M / hat - handmade by a old lady / shoes - second hand}

Since the weather's been less wet lately, I have dared to wear my Minna Parikka bunny boots also. Actually I've worn them quite a lot, but it's usually too dark to take mirror shots when I get home from school. I have noticed that when I wear these, people stare at my feet a lot. Maybe they are not used to shoes that are this quirky. :D

Lastly - my fiancé gave me this rose on Friday. There is no particular occasion, he just wanted to give me a rose since he knows how much I like them. I think that's so adorable. ♥

All in all, there are good sides and there are bad sides in not having a proper camera. The good side is that now that I have a better phone, I've been much more active in taking outfit photos of my casual outfits also. It's just so easy with a phone. The bad side is that of course the quality is not as good as it would be with a real camera.

P.S. If you want to get more regular updates, you should check out my Instagram account. I'll post more pictures there, as it's much easier and quicker than blogging. Of course I'm not giving up on blogging, either. I also find that Instagram is a more suitable forum for lifestyle things; some of my readers have been asking for more lifestyle things here in my blog, so you can now find that on Instagram now. ;)

P.P.S. My blog just had its 6th birthday yesterday! What would be a good way of celebrating yet another year of blogging? Any suggestions, my lords and ladies?

Something New, Something Old

Good afternoon, lords and ladies!

It's almost Christmas, isn't that exiting? To me, it still is! I love Christmas - and not the least because for us students it means a long holiday! Summer holidays are not counted because most students work during Summers (and that includes me, too), but I like to keep my Christmas holiday as a real holiday. Hopefully I'll now have more time for blogging also.

This time I decided to blog a little bit about home decor. I am a great decor enthusiastic, but as a student I don't have the funds to purchase all the things I would like to. And when I finally managed to drag my fiancé - not so much enthusiastic - to Ikea, he was the voice of reason and said that there's no point in buying any new furniture to this apartment, as we are soon going to move out anyway. I have to admit he was right, and so we only ended up buying some new textiles. But even so, it's far better now! And as my fiancé graduated, we have real flowers in every room. ♥ The Villeroy & Boch bowl is his graduation gift also.

So, I changed the colour theme in the living room & kitchen area a little bit. I've been having a crazy dark blue period, and I still love that colour, but it made our little home look a bit gloomy. Now the colours are mainly white, light grey and just a little bit of dark blue. I like it very much, it's a really calming colour combo. The lace curtains are from Ikea, but the curtains with the grey flower pattern are Luhta Home's, a second hand find of mine.

These pillows are so old I can't remember where they are from, but they finally found their rightful place.

As you may already know, I'm very happy with our bedroom, which has been a pet project of mine (as fiancé agreed I can express my girly tendencies there, I have been able to decorate it just the way I like).

The mirror table is an ideal place for flowers (and candles too), because the mirrors create an illusion of many more flowers.

The next two things aren't actually new, but I just took them out after a long time of not using them and that makes them feel all fresh again! First, the cow alarm clock (it has an alarm sound of a cow mooing).

Second, these colourful lanterns. They are adorable and give a nice, festive athmosphere when lit.

Some Christmas decorations my Mom gave us (Stockmann, Perfect Home).

And our teeny tiny, totally fake Christmas tree with pink and silver ornaments. My view on the matter is that if one goes for a fake tree, it might as well be fake all the way, and thus I chose white over green, because the green ones never look real, either.

Okay, I guess that was all for the time being. What are your thoughts on decorating, dear readers? Are you an enthusiastic as I, or not so much? What are your favourite colour combos when it comes to home decor? And if you happen to celebrate Christmas, do you have a tree, real or fake? Feel free to discuss in the comments! It will be nice to see if there are other decor freaks amongst my readers. :3