The Ever Elusive Lifestyle Lolita

In today’s society where it seems that people will stop at nothing to be accepted, it can be very refreshing to see people who dare to be different. So can definitely be said about us Lolitas. But while we may dress the part, we are still just normal human beings. But what about those of us who chose to be not so regular? What about those of us who would rather live a more extravagant, classic lifestyle over one ruled by popularity and technology?
I have always liked the idea of calling myself a lifestyle Lolita. But as I spend the day on my computer, listening to my Zune, and playing with my Nintendo DS, I begin to wonder what exactly it is about my lifestyle that separates me from the rest of society. Is it my obsession with the Victorian era? Is it my love for tea and antiques. This has been puzzling me for so long now. So I decided to do a bit of research.
The first stop on my quest for the truth was Vie Quaintrelle, the Live Journal community formerly known as Lifestyle Lolis. It was in this community that I found this:
“Quaintrelle style follows the "quaint" aesthetic. It is unusual or fanciful, with a sense of old-fashioned charm and prettiness. A quaintrelle takes elements from old fashioned costume and life from around the 18th century to the early 20th century and mixes it into her modern life. Elegant, frivolous, and intricate.”
Ha! Aren’t I just amazing! I took what I had originally planned to be an all night project and was able to complete it in less than twenty minutes! But now it is time for part two of my epic adventure.
You see, I often find myself sighing to myself and thinking that I was born in the wrong era. I mean, wouldn’t it be great to live in a more elegant time? Spending my days reading and taking long walks in the country side without having to worry about so many distractions? To answer this question for myself I turned to the Quaintrelle page of Fancy Girl where I found this:
“The 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries hold a special fascination for the modern day quaintrelle. Was she born into the wrong century? No, she's never had it so good. She takes the beauty and best of the past and melds it with her modern life. She has an old world elegance, frivolity, and a modern independent sprit.”
Once again my question was answered much more quickly than I would have imagined. I now realize that I am perfectly fine in the era I was born in. I have the conveniences of modern technology, but whenever I feel like it, I can easily take myself on a trip back in time and just relax with a nice cup of tea.
Sometimes I have to wonder what it is about the Lolita lifestyle that people don’t like. I mean, of course we all have different tastes, but don’t we all have days where we just want to relax and be pampered like a little princess? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m happy with my Lolita lifestyle.

Time Well Spent

So, you have a few days off for Winter break. After a few days, you just don’t know what do to with yourself anymore! Here are a few ideas for how to spend your time!
1. Spend the day watching all of your favorite childhood movies. (For me this would include Hercules, Anastasia, and The Great Mouse Detective.)
2. Clean your room. Organize your closet and sort out old junk. You never know what you might find!
3. Decorate your room! Search through your attic or basement for old things you can repurpose for use in your room.
4. Call a friend you haven’t talked to in a while and catch up.
5. Go out window shopping! Or if you’re stuck at home, do a little online window shopping.
6. Spend your day on the internet looking for pictures that inspire you. Save them on your computer in a folder titled “inspiration.”
7. Research one of your favorite actors. It’s really fun to learn what other things they do. For example, I searched for Tom Felton and found out that he also sings and plays guitar! I just downloaded a few of his songs!
8. Write a story with yourself as the main character. Maybe you’re a warrior princess, the damsel in distress, or the star act of a traveling circus! It doesn’t have to make sense! Just make it fun!
9. Go back to your childhood and spend the day with a coloring book and crayons! Or you could find some coloring pages online! (Angelic Pretty coloring book anyone?)
10. Dance around your room singing to super happy music, or just music that brings back happy memories. (For me this would include NSync and the Spice Girls. XD)

11. Make a Lolita wishlist using wishlist.com! Use it to tell people what you want for your birthday or another holiday, or just to keep track of everything you want to save up for!

12. Look for new songs by your favorite band and spend the day watching music videos.

13. Flip through a cook book and try a new recipe.

14. Memorize to lyrics to your favorite song. Or if you play an instrument, you can try to memorize how to play a new song.
15. Start a new sewing or craft project or finish one you already have started. Don't know how to sew? Try learning!

16. Go to a tea house or the tea aisle of a grocery store and try a tea you havn't had before.

17. Research your favorite historical figure. (I would most likely research Marie Antoinette or Fred Abberline.)

18. Listen to different language translations of Disney songs on Youtube. (My Favorite)

19. Go to polyvore.com and put together some fun co-ords!

20. Go online and read some Lolita related blogs. Maybe Painting The Roses Pink would happen to be one? =D

There! Now you have no excuse to say you have nothing to do! Have fun~!

Happy Holidays~!

Hello all~!

I just thought I would wish you all a Happy Christmas or other holiday you may happen to celebrate! (Why "happy" Christmas you ask? No, I'm not British, I just think it makes more sense. =P)
And guess what! You may remember my first post (if not you can go back and look if you'd like. lol) where I mentioned wanting Ducan from Dream of Doll. Well, I got him~! he hasn't arrived yet, but as soon as he does I will be sure to post pictures!

ITS.... is CLOSING?!

It is a sad sad day my lovely Lolitas... American Lolita brand, In The Starlight is closing.
This is really sad for me because I bought my first Lolita outfit from ITS. ITS has always been a great place to buy Lolita and has always been one of the first places I direct beginner Lolitas to when they are looking to buy their first dress.
But the world will continue to spin. I just thought I would share this sad news. Here is a link to the official announcement for those of you interested in reading it:
http://inthestarlight.com/closing.html

Lolita Spotlight #1

Hello my dears! I'm trying something different today! I am doing a Lolita spotlight! This is a spotlight of a Lolita whom I admire and whom I think deserves recognition. Those of you who have accounts on Live Journal may recognize her from the EGL or Daily_Lolita community as faunkegin. She was nice enough to let me interview her! So here it goes!

1. Q: How long have you been interested in Lolita fashion and how did you first meet the fashion?

A: I've been interested in lolita for about 5 years (Since 2004 or so) But I've only been dressing in the fashion for about 3 years, since early 2007. I first found out about lolita while searching on the internet for a gift for a friend. I somehow stumbled across Baby's website & fell in love! Then, when I moved away to go to college in 2005, I met a lolita walking down the street of a big city, and she took the time to explain the fashion to me!

2. Q: What is your favorite Lolita brand?

A: Angelic Pretty! I also love Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and many others. But AP really takes the cake for me!

3. Q: What is your favorite thing about Lolita?

A: Umm...this is a hard one! Everything, I suppose! Am I allowed to say that? Haha! I think, though, if I had to pick a certain object of clothing lolita related that I liked, it'd be the shoes! You can't really find anything like them anywhere much outside the fashion.

4. Q: If there is ever a time that you can’t wear Lolita, what do you wear?

A: Hmm...I kind of dress weird all the time! Usually I dress in flowy, baggy clothing, usually pastel colored. The accessories I wear for my lolita coordinates and with "normal" outfits are also the same. I really like a style called "Spank" or "Fairy Kei." Here's 2 examples of normal, everyday coordinates.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/jupitercrashes/newcam/7-18.png

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/jupitercrashes/newcam/3-37.png

Sorry about the crappy images...I'm not too serious when I take photographs outside of lolita!

5. Q: What was the first Lolita item you bought? How did you feel when you got it?

A: Technically the first item I bought was a pair of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright Heart buckle shoes...in pink! But the first item that actually arrived to me was a blue floral dress from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. I felt so happy when it arrived, it was so perfect!

6. Q: Is there anything you don’t like about Lolita?

A: Hmm, there's nothing about the actual fashion itself I don't like, I suppose! Sometimes I think some lolitas can be overly mean to other lolitas. But honestly I think there can be drama in any niche community, and just in life in general, so I don't pay much attention to it. There's not really much I don't like about this fashion!!

7. Q: What is the best comment you have received while wearing Lolita?

A: I can't remember a particularly comment actually, but in general, people saying things like "Wow, you really brightened up my day!" or "It's nice to see some people still care about proper coordination." or "You're such an inspiration!"

8. Q: What is the worst comment you have received while wearing Lolita?

A: Haha, actually, I've never gotten that many rude comments! More often people tend to give lolitas funny looks, I've noticed. But I do get "Haha, you look like Little BoPeep!" from lots of people before, who heckle as they walk off, thinking they're the first genius to this of that comment. Not realizing, however, that they're about the twentieth person that day to say that. I actually appreciate funny comments, when they're creative!

9. Q: What advice would you give to beginner Lolitas?

A: Hmm, there's so much to say I suppose! But for the most part, just be who you are, and dress how you want. Someone says your outfit isn't "lolita" enough? So what! It might not be perfect "lolita," but I think feeling comfortable with how you dress is the most important thing. When it comes to looking perfectly lolita, I think these are a few good tips: ~Make sure to have a proper outfit--Lolita is about modesty! ~Make sure your skirt or the skirt of your dress has enough poof! ~Make sure your colors are balanced. Wearing a mint dress with pink as the second color? If you wear pink on your head, make sure you wear pink on your feet, too! Balancing like this really grounds an outfit and makes it POP! ~Make sure to put effort into your hair and makeup! You don't have to look like you just won a beauty pageant, but just rolling out of bed and putting on lolita just won't do! Lolita is fancy and over the top, paying very careful attention to all details. You should pay attention to your own details as well, don't you think~?

Ahh, sorry for the long interview, everyone! I really hope you enjoyed my interview. Thank you for watching!~

Thanks again to faunkegin for allowing me to do this interview! Also thanks to her wonderful photographers (In order of photo appearance)Ryan Reeve, Issac Viel, and Dorothy Siemens!

If anyone would like to be featured in my next Lolita spotlight, or knows anyone who might, please send an email to painting_the_roses_pink@yahoo.com with "Lolita Spotlight" as the subject. Please include a picture of yourself wearing Lolita as well as why you think you should be in the spotlight!

Thanks for reading!

Movie Recomendation: Julie and Julia

Considering the mood I have been in lately, I have quite surprised myself that I'm not blogging about the new Harry Potter DVD that I am obsessed with. (*fangirl sigh* Oh Tom Felton~ My love~) But no. Tonight I am blogging about a very different movie that I have just finished watching with my mother, Julie and Julia.

Julie and Julia was to say the least, adorable. Meryl Streep played a perfect Julia Child and both stories told in the movie were simply amazing! To tell the truth, I didn't think I would get as into the movie as I did, but when Julie got off the phone and they cut to a scene with Julia I started freaking out wanting to know who the special dinner guest was going to be!

This movie was adorable, funny, and charming. It also inspired me to want to improve my blog! It got me thinking about ways to make my blog better and more popular. Of course though, there are far less Lolitas in the world than there are people who cook, so I'm sure I will get alot less readers with a blog about Lolita than Julie did blogging about cooking. But that's enough about me!

If you havn't seen this movie yet, I would highly recomend it! I hope you will love it as much as I did!

Being Your Best Princess

"I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags. Even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us."
I have no idea where this quote came from but I am in love with it! When I was little I always used to pretend that I was a princess, my mommy was the queen, and my daddy was the king. Eventually I grew out of that phase though. I stopped wanting to be a princess and started wanting to be a Pokemon trainer.

When I was little I was the girliest little girl you could find. I had a ton of Barbie dolls and loved to play dressup. But eventually I decided that I would rather play video games and watch anime. But then something happened, I met Lolita. Slowly I began to morph back into this little girl who wanted nothing more than to be a princess. Of course, I still play video games and watch anime, but at this point I would much rather watch Kuroshitsuji than Naruto if you get what I'm saying. (I prefer pretty-boy Victorian butlers over loud little ninja kids.)

What is it that girls find so appealing about being a princess? Is it wearing pretty dresses? Finding your prince charming? Or maybe living in the lap of luxury? For me it was all of these. I have vowed to myself to be the best princess I can be. But how exactly would one be the best princess? Here are a few tips to being the perfect princess.

~Act like a princess~

The virtues of a Princess are grace, courage and kindness.

Now I know that some of us (myself included) are not the most graceful creatures ever to set foot on God's great Earth, but even if you are a clutz, you can always play it off gracefully. You tripped over your own feet? Pick yourself up, brush it off, and laugh politely. It's much better to have people laughing with you than at you.

As for courage, this does not mean you have to run headfirst into the dragon's lair. Courage is much more than bravery. To have courage means that you are not affraid to stand up for what you believe in. If you see a peer being bullied, stand up for them! You don't have to pick a fight, just tell the bullies to leave them alone. If you see something wrong, try to find a way to fix it.

(Kindness should be pretty self explainatory...)

~Look like a princess~

Make yourself beautiful! Whether you wear full Lolita, or just a cute sundress. Or just doing your hair and makeup can do wonders! Dress in a way that makes you happy and lets your inner beauty shine through!

~Treat yourself like a princess~
It's okay to spoil yourself sometimes! You don't have to go out and buy yourself diamonds and pearls though. Maybe treat yourself to a sweet treat from time to time, or take a nice warm bubble bath to help you unwind. Or just light a few candles and curl up with a good book! Take a little time every day to pamper yourself just a little bit!

~Live like a princess~

There are so many ways to make your living space fit for a princess! You don't even have to spend alot of money. Search online and in magazines for decorating inspiration. Do you want to live in full Rococo luxury, or just something cute and shabby chic? Stop by stores like Target or even TJ Max for good deals on decorations. Or maybe stop by an antique store and see what you can find! Decorating my room is one of my favorite things to do!

That's about all I have for you right now. Remember, every girl can be a princess. Even boys can be princesses if they really want! All you have to do is ask yourself, "What would a princess do?"