A New Year, A New Effort...starting with 福袋 (fukubukuro) ２０１４ feat. Spiral Girl

It has been such a long time since I uploaded a post on my blog. Looking at my post list, my last post was at the end of September. I don't really know what happened that made me lose interest in posting...actually it may have been due to my obsession with the Game of Thrones series and I abandoned everything to read the books lol. I'm reading the fifth book called A Dance With Dragons and interestingly enough, I'm having a difficult time getting through the book. 

Anyways, I'm trying to get back into blogging again so I'm therefore making it  resolution of mine to do so. And what better way to start of the new year with a fukubukuro purchase! I was incredibly happy that I was FINALLY able to snag a Spiral Girl bag since I failed to get one last year. This is what the bag looked like:

It was a pretty huge bag! What's also great is that it's a good reusable bag with a zipper on top. This was the $50 bag that had a value of $200, which is absolutely wonderful. I ended up adding the original prices of everything in the bag and it came out to more than $300! Maybe next year I'll try for the $100 one hehe. To be honest, I thought this bag was worth it because of the great stuff that they put in here and I liked 90% of it. So here are the items!

Striped Neon and Heather Grey Peplum (MIIA): Yes, I'm kind of over the peplum trend, but honestly, peplum shapes look flattering on me. I really like this one because it's not so form fitting. It reminds me of this other peplum that I have from Free People and I kind of prefer this style over the form fitting style. I had seen this on the rack during early summer (?) and I had really liked it but I wasn't about to pay $49 at regular price. In the end, it still found its way back to me :).

Light Grey Shift Dress: Looking at it in the bag, I wasn't sure if I would like it. I'm not a major dress person at all since I prefer separates. But after putting the dress on and adding some pieces from my closet, I felt much more comfortable and made it more appealing to my eye. I would love to show you all how I would style this dress. Perhaps I can do a lookbook? The material is quite thin, which makes it quite sheer. I need to find a slip that will go well with this dress before I wear it out!

Hot Pink Cami Dress (Spiral Girl): This is probably my least favorite piece because it's definitely not my style of dress at all. What I'm thinking of doing is cutting it into a top so that it could be used for layering as an under piece to something or other. Or I might give it away lol.

Light Grey Dolman Top (muse muse): I may or may not have seen this when this was on the rack, but when I tried this on at home, I fell in love with it. I've always appreciated the draping effect of dolman cut tops on me, so to add this to my closet was an absolute delight! I love the neutral color, which will definitely make it flexible piece. The material is a little heavier than usual, but the feel of it is luxurious.

Lace Detailed Dress (muse muse): This was definitely an iffy piece to me while I was browsing through my bag. I thought it was going to be one of those boxy dresses that would look way too big on me. I ended up loving it a lot. It kind of had this Free People boho feel to it, which I like a lot. If you look carefully, a slip was included in my bag as well, but it seemed to be sold as a separate piece. The slip alone was $39 and the dress was $89. I got really lucky because the dress was really sheer and the color of the slip blends in nicely with the dress. I don't know if the people who put the bag together put these two pieces together on purpose, but if not, I'm super lucky!

Floral Leggings (Royal Party): I don't have leggings of this sort in my collection, so it's nice to have one handy for the upcoming spring season. To be honest, I've been really boring with my legging collection and picking out monochromatic patterns or just basic black. Hopefully, this will inspire me to add a bit more color to my life.

Neon Yellow Tights (Royal Party): And if that doesn't work, I'm pretty sure these tights will do it! I need to figure out a coordinate where I can wear these tights without it standing out so much. I'll probably need to research some inspiration for this piece ;)

Fabric Chandelier Earrings (Spiral Girl): Now these I'll definitely have to give or sell because I don't have pierced ears nor do I plan on piercing my ears. I wish I had gotten a necklace, but I'm not complaining with all the other awesome stuff that I got!

And that's the end! I'm absolutely ecstatic with this bag since it was quite worth it despite not liking one or two things. I'm already looking forward to next year's batch. I wish we could have semi-annual fukubukuro events hehe!

Thanks for reading!
-LAUREN

TAG: Colors of the Rainbow

Hello lovelies! I wanted to blog about something different before bombarding you with end of the month posts. Actually, it's basically the end of July but I'll stick this post in anyway! I wanted to do a fun tag and so I decided to try out the Colors of the Rainbow tag. Basically, you take each color in the rainbow and pick out some of your favorite beauty and fashion items that correlate with the color. I'm not that major when it comes to makeup. I tend to go for a very natural look with most of the emphasis going to my eyes, which is just eyeliner and mascara. So, I stuck with fashion goods! Some colors were tricky, but I think I got my picks down. Here it is:

1. Red

Miss Sixty Booties: I got these around 2008-2009 when MS was still at Ala Moana. I believe Jason gave these to me as a Christmas gift. I was absolutely in love with the color and I like the texture of the leather. The only downside is that your feet do hurt after walking in these. I need to insert some sole support. Also, I tend to ding the heels hehe. To be honest, because these aren't the most comfortable shoes to wear, I haven't worn them in a long time. That being said, I'm going to try wearing them again!

2. Orange

Orange Tone Salopette: I'm not sure how to describe this pattern. It's kind of damaskish or it reminds me of something Mediterranean. Anyways, I got this from Spiral Girl in 2011. When I was studying abroad in Japan earlier that year, I saw this exact piece at a store and I wanted to get it but I didn't. Then a couple months after I came back, my dad took me shopping and I saw this at SG on sale, which was cheaper than in Japan. This has great shape because you don't need a belt to emphasize your figure. A belt will go nicely with it, but I usually don't wear one :).

3. Yellow

Funky Geometric: This is one of my absolute favorite pieces from MS. I bought this around 2008 or 2009 and when I first saw this, it was love at first site. I was attracted to the vibrant color and it just oozed happiness and sunshine. Also, this was around the time when I was digging billowy sleeves, so when I wore this, I felt like a total hipster hehe! I still get good vibes whenever I wear this.

4. Green

Bon Lapin: This is a purchase from Forever 21 after I came back from Vegas last year in October. I'm a bunny lover, so anything bunny-themed I'm there. I immediately grabbed this when I saw it and I was lucky that I snagged the last size small. I probably would've gotten it in a size medium if they didn't have my original size. In theme with the color, I love this shade of light olive. Olive tones are some of my favorite shades of green.

5. Blue

Blue Plaid Shirt: This is a more recent purchase from Guess at Ala Moana. I had such a hard time deciding which blue item in my wardrobe I wanted to post since blue is my favorite color at the moment. I was surprised that I ended up picking this because while I do admire plaid, I don't think it particularly looks good on me, but I definitely love this piece. I like the studs and the fact that I can wear it as a cover up or an accessory around my waist.

6. Indigo

Billowy Tie Top: Indigo was probably the hardest to find in my closet. I'm not even sure if this really counts as indigo but whatever. It's closer to blue on the violet-blue spectrum. This is another top from Forever 21 that I instantly fell in love with because of 1) the color, 2) the tie, and 3) the buttons bordering the top asymmetrically. Also, I love how the buttons trails down the back!

7. Violet

Lace Floral Plaid Tote: This is definitely an older item of mine that I still love. This was when Betsey Johnson was still under Betsey Johnson and not being overtaken by Steve Madden. I had gotten this a little after Black Friday for only $34. I absolutely love the pattern. I still have this bag but I haven't used it since I graduated from college. I must say it held up for a very long time. It's sad that the quality of Betsey Johnson goods have really gone down the hole, especially with their bags.

8. Pink

Light Pink Ribbed Peplum: I know this color almost borders on nude, but honestly it is my favorite top in a pink shade. The trend for peplums have somewhat subsided but I'd still rock one any day, especially from Topshop. The darts and the basic shape of this top is super flattering and makes you feel like a rockstar any day!

9. Multicolored

Summer Lightweight Stole: When it comes to multicolored items, I tend to gravitate to colorful stoles. This stole came in a set from Ingni when I was in Japan two years ago. Lightweight stoles are still a staple for me during the summer, although to be honest, I haven't been wearing them as much this year. But because the weather is somewhat straightforward in Hawaii, this can be worn throughout the year. The way I like to incorporate stoles into my outfit is to wear something basic and simple so that the stole is my center piece :).

I hope you all enjoyed reading this post. I had a lot of fun picking out items for this tag and you should do one too if you have a blog or a Youtube. Pretty soon I'll be uploading my monthly posts which will be including a shopping, instagram, and outfit of the day!

Thanks for reading!
-LAUREN