Shopping with ZenMarket + Mini-Haul~

Hi everyone!

Today I thought I'd write about my experience using ZenMarket!

(this isn't a sponsored post, I jut wanted to share my experience for those of you who might be hesitant about using shopping services)

So let's start!

For those of you who don't know, ZenMarket is a shopping service that you can use to purchase things from online Japanese shops! Whether it's the Japanese Sanrio site (which has a much bigger selection than the American one) or Yahoo Japan Auctions, you need a shopping service because the majority of stores don't ship out of Japan. 

I was always intimidated by shopping services because the process seemed quite complex, with spreadsheets and emails and large service fees; it just seemed like a lot to handle. However with ZenMarket it was all really straight forward; you just link the item you want (and specify if you want it in a certain colour or anything like that)!

Once you've linked the item, it usually takes around a day or so for them to process the request. Once that's done, you can pay for the item, and they'll purchase it for you! Then, once the item arrives at their warehouse, you can either have it shipped to you, or you can wait for your other packages to arrive if you've ordered multiple things.
ZenMarket charges a 300 yen service fee per item, which I don't think is too bad considering other fees that I've found~
Once all of my items arrived in the warehouse, I chose my shipping option and they were shipped out really quickly! I chose the EMS shipping option, and everything arrived safely packaged in less than a week~
On the whole I had a really pleasant experience shopping with ZenMarket, and I'll definitely be using them in the future!
And now to the fun part: the things that I got!
In my previous post I mentioned that these were the things I was waiting for in the mail, so it's not much of a surprise as to what I got ;u;
What I was most excited for was...

This Little Twin Stars collaboration cardigan from Nile Perch!!
I've wanted this cardigan for so long and I'm so happy to finally have it ;u;
The details on it are just so so so perfect ^-^ 

I love the little star buttons so much~
And the tags that came on the piece were really cute too!

I don't have an outfit photo for this yet, but I'll try to take some soon ^.^ I really like the colour of this cardigan because it's pink but not too pink; I think I'll be able to coordinate it with a lot of things!

Next up is this top from Lazy Oaf!

I thought it had a really cute retro vibe to it, and I've wanted it for a little while now so I'm happy to own it ^.^

I'm having a bit of trouble thinking of what to coordinate it though to be honest ;u; Today I'm just wearing it with a pair of taupe jeans cause I couldn't think of anything else OTL
I do still like it a lot though~

And the last item that I got was this choker from RoseMarie Seoir!

This was another piece that I've wanted for a while. I really like RoseMarie Seoir's designs, but they're quite expensive unfortunately ^^" I was able to get this for a good price though so I'm happy about that~
The seller also packaged it in a really cute bag~

On the whole, I was very happy with my shopping experience! I finally have a way to get things from Japanese shops that's not too much of a headache ^.^
I hope you found this post useful! Or that you at least enjoyed seeing the few things that I got~
Thank you for reading!
Bye-bye~

Things I'm Waiting For In The Mail~

hi hi~

Today I just thought I'd so a casual post, because I do want to write more on here~

So I thought I'd just share some cute things that I'm waiting for in the mail because I'm really excited~

I've been looking around a lot on the Japanese secondhand site Fril (it's essentially like Depop or Mercari), and I was able two find two items that I've wanted for a while now!

Lazy Oaf No Chance Romance Top

RoseMarie Seoir 'eat me' Necklace in Pink

I've really liked the Lazy Oaf top since it was first released (however I couldn't justify spending around $60 on it). I found it brand new on Fril though for a much more reasonable price so I decided to go for it~ I love the style of it!

I've also always loved the designs of RoseMarie Seoir, but they're an incredibly expensive brand unfortunately ;^; I fell in love with this choker when it came out, but it sold out really quickly. I found it in my desired colorway though, and for half the price of it new, so I happily got it!

Another item that I've honestly wanted for years is this Nile Perch Little Twin Stars Watermark Cardigan in pink!

For those of you that don't know Nile Perch, there's a popular Fairy Kei brand from Harajuku. Their clothing is handmade which I think is incredible, and all their designs are so pretty! I don't know if I've mentioned on here before, but I'm obsessed with Little Twin Stars, so this Kiki & Lala patterned cardigan is my dream piece ;^; I love how the star buttons are different colors!

Here's a photo of it coordinated~

*long rant about this piece incoming*

So I saw this cardigan on Tumblr (where else heh) for the first time a couple of years ago and fell in complete love. But then of course I forgot about it. A considerable amount of time later I found it again (on tumblr), this time with the shop name actually tagged! Excited, I went to their site, only to see the high prices. I figured I'd wait a bit, save up some money. So that's what I did. A few months later, with money ready, I went to their site again. But, tragedy had stricken. They no longer sold it. I was really sad and looked for it everywhere; but alas, could find almost no places that sold this brand second hand (this was before my discovery of these Japanese second hand sites, but that's another story). A few months after that, I was browsing the Japanese Sanrio site, and THEY HAD IT! I was incredibly elated, and it turned out they had restocked it on their own website as well! 

So finally I bought it, and now I'm impatiently waiting for my dream cardigan to arrive ♡

Those were the three main items that I'm waiting for right now. I used the same shopping service for all of them, so they'll arrive at the same time, and it'll be a very happy happy day once I get it~

I also made an order from the Japanese Amazon site, because they have much more reasonable prices for some of the things that I love~

Lululun Sheet Masks

Supposedly these are super popular in Japan, and I see them often in Japanese fashion magazines as well~

Yuzu Warming Eye Masks

I've tried these masks before in both the lavender and the rose scents, and they're quite nice! They're really nice before going to bed; I sometimes get really stressed at night so having something warm on my eyes helps with that. They don't stay warm for too long which is a shame, but I think they're a nice self-care item regardless~

Sakura Bath Salts

This company makes really nice bath salts, and they were almost five times cheaper on the Japanese Amazon than they were in stores when I've seen them ;u;  I haven't tried this scent before, but I think it will be quite nice!

Camellia Hair Water

My hair is quite damaged, and I've read nice things about this hair water, so I hope it'll help! Tsubaki/Camellia oil is supposed to be really good for your hair, it's used often in Japanese shampoos and conditioners~

Kitty Strawberry Mug

I can't resist cute mugs, and I fell in love with this adorable one~ I just find it so much nicer to start the day by drinking coffee from a cute mug instead of a boring one hehe

So, that's everything I'm waiting for right now!

And I can't wait ^.^ 

I always get so happy when I get mail~

Thanks for reading! Bye bye~

Are you waiting for anything nice in the mail right now?

♡ My Fashion Journey ♡

Hi everyone!

I'm on vacation right now and thought I'd so a bit of a chatty post~

I really enjoy seeing people's style evolutions- it's so interesting seeing how their fashion changed over time, especially if it was something quite drastic! 

So, I thought I would do a similar thing~ There aren't many years between all of these photos, but I still think that my tastes in clothing have changed quite a bit, so I decided it would be fun to share~ 
So, let's begin!

Before starting highschool my style was quite bland; I sort of just wore what everyone else was wearing in an attempt to fit in and be popular (though I never was orz)
These are from eighth grade; I wore just a lot of tank tops and skinny jeans.

It was all quite uninspired ;^; I don't dress like this at all anymore, thank goodness (although I mean no offense to you if you dress like this! It just wasn't my style, and I don't think it suit me that well...)

When I entered highschool my style didn't change that much. I shopped from places like Urban Outfitters and TJ Maxx; on the whole though I wasn't that inspired to ever dress up. I don't really have many photos from this time (mostly because I deleted a lot of old blog posts, and that's where I'm getting these photos from >.>)
But, I did dye my hair red for the first time! I really wanted cherry red hair for the longest time, so finally getting the chance to dye it made me so happy~

(my friend and I had a hobby of taking dramatic looking photos and editing the heck out of them, so there are a lot of silly looking photos like this ;u;)

In my second year of high school I still wasn't really into interesting fashions, but my style was evolving a bit! I still mostly just wore mainstream clothes, and I don't have many photos of that ;^;
I did have these cute bunny tights though, which I wore all the time x3

I went to my first anime convention this year, and got really into circle lenses!
I had a somewhat inaccurate cosplay of Lucy/Nyuu from Elfen Lied, but I was quite proud at the time ;u;

I think this sort of kickstarted my interesting Japanese culture/fahion~ I wore circle lenses a lot (although for some reason I wore them with very little eye makeup, which I think looks a bit weird)


I started reading a lot of jfashion blogs and took a bit of inspiration from there in wearing cutesy things

(I never actually wore this out because I was too nervous, but I did enjoy playing around with wigs and makeup!)

In my third (and final) year of highschool I finally made my first purchase of lolita clothing! Granted, it was Bodyline, and I didn't know much about making coordinates, but I was still super happy with it all! I had actually been fascinated with lolita clothing for years, but I had no idea how to purchase it/how to wear it, so I never bothered trying ;^; 
My coordinates weren't great (and honestly I can barely consider them lolita because of how much is wrong with them) but I was very happy in it all!

 This skirt from Bodyline was my favorite thing ever- I felt so cool and Victorian in it ;u; 
I also finally branched out and tried other styles! I wore petticoats to school and tried the whole general jfashion thing~

I became much more interested in anime and Japanese culture in general, so I had a lot of inspiration for outfits! 
I got my first proper lolita dress and felt so happy in it~
(This coordinate was awful btw but I really didn't have anything to wear it with ;u;)

I also branched out into mori girl inspired coordinates; I don't think I was ever able to completely capture the aesthetic of the fashion, but I did try! 

(featuring another Bodyline skirt, which I wore really often)

I wore lolita to my junior prom and felt like the most princessy girl there~ 

I also went to my first lolita meetup! It was such a happy day for me because it allowed me to finally connect with other people who shared the same interests as me, and it made me so happy seeing more of the beautiful dresses and coordinates.
This was probably my first somewhat decent coordinate; I finally had enough pieces in my wardrobe to wear proper(?) lolita, and not some pseudo lolita-inspired thing.

(derpy looking so I'm sorry; I just couldn't stop smiling that day)

Some more lolita outfits from an anime convention that I went to because honestly it was my favorite thing ever ;u;

I admit, my lolita coordinates were never fantastic, but wearing lolita brought my confidence up immensely. I've been incredibly self-conscious my whole life, but wearing this extravagant fashion allowed me to be more confident in myself. I no longer went to school dressed like everyone else in the hope that I would blend in better; I was wearing what I wanted because it was what I enjoyed. 

So, that moves me into my first year of college! It was more of just sort of the same thing honestly; lolita, cutesy stuff, mori girl things, etc.

This was an OTT sheep look that I wore on Halloween- I was quite proud of it at the time!

I dyed my hair several times this year, and really enjoyed doing that!

derp.

I don't really have many outfit photos from here because I lived on campus, and as such wasn't really able to take many photos due to cramped living quarters OTL. 
I slowly phased out of wearing lolita though, because it was a very high-maintenance fashion and I sort of lost my motivation for it. 

So, moving into my second (and current!) year of college!
I still wear a lot of Jfashion, but it's mostly casual gyaru and larme~ I really like both of these fashions; they're cute and girly but without being over the top, so they're quite easy to wear to school!

I'm also really into vintage clothing; I think dresses from the 1940s/50s are so beautiful, and I'm trying to expand my collection of them~

And of course, I still like playing with wigs ^-^

I want to try to post outfit photos more, because I feel like my style has sort of stabilized in place that I'm really happy with. Jfashion has become a huge part of my identity; and I would feel quite incomplete if I weren't able to dress the way that I do.

I hope you enjoyed this long chatty post! Thank you so much for reading~
Bye bye!