May Favourites & Blog Update

The last day of May brings the end of Autumn and soon the beginning of winter. However it's been freezing cold here recently so it could've been winter already. Nicer weather the past few days, so hopefully it stays that way for a little while. Anyway, time for my monthly favourites! I've also written a little update on the blog at the end of this post about my plans for future posts.

Gaming
Goes without saying, been playing New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star of course! Managed to get a few new customers in my boutique recently and I've seen the chased the story line girls off for a while thankfully. Besides Style Boutique, I'm still grinding away at Disney Magical World trying to craft all the items. I'm stuck at the moment trying to obtain rare items like the Rainbow Clover and Fairy Diamond Bubbles to make some items. Other than that, I collected all the Easter set and just waiting for other holidays later this year to get more items for the 100% collection. I took this funny photo from the game that I thought was amusing as it wasn't Easter in the game anymore. Easter started in-game after Easter had occurred in the real world. Excuse the camera photo as you cannot move photos from the game off the 3DS as they aren't stored on the SD Card.

It's not Easter anymore!

Besides 3DS games, I'm looking forward to a game on Steam called House Flipper. It was released recently, but I'm waiting till it comes on sale during one of the many Steam sales to pick it up. I find it quite fascinating and interesting as the game lets you basically remodelled a house and decorate the interior. Sounds right up my alley!

Music
Got a bunch of new singles and albums this month which I've posted about before so I've been listening to them. Besides those, I've really been into E-girls latest release Showtime. Haven't got the new album just yet as I'm saving up to get the top version, but I've been streaming the album on Spotify. No stand out faves just yet, but Showtime is definitely on that list. 

Another song I've been into this month was (G)Idle's debut song Latata. Loved it from the first listen! Looking forward to seeing what their future releases are like and I need to make time to listen to their debut album as I've seen people raving about it.

There's a few more new tracks that came out this month that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet like AOA's new release Bingle Bangle. Really need to work on getting some new music on my MP3 so I can listen to them at the gym and in the car.

Television
This month I've been super invested in watching Produce 101 China. I'm so obsessed with this show and personally I prefer this version over the Korean one (season 1). I find the China one is a bit more positive and less drama. My fave girl so far is Gao Qiuzi because of her upbeat personality and hilarious antics. Plus she's actually quite talented in singing and dancing. I'm actually quite fond of all the girls on a show so it's hard to narrow down my top faves. Yamy and Sunhee are pretty cool and I've become more interested in Meiqi who is from WJSN. I'll definitely need to look her past performances up! I've linked the theme song MV below and be sure to look up the episodes (they are subbed too) if you are interested in watching this amazing show.

Shopdo Update

This week's Shopdo update features once again a new boutique interior layout! I tried going with a basic and minimalist look this week. More on that later on in the post, but first here are the three new outfits available at my Shopdo! 

The first outfit is a simple basic outfit to match the new look of my boutique. I'm quite fond of these camisoles from Basic U so I decided to use one of those in my outfit. Unoriginal name with Simple Style as I'm lazy at thinking of names. Second is a lively get-up similar to an outfit I used in my recent Autumn Lookbook. I slightly altered parts of the outfit and I think it looks a bit more put together than the original outfit. Titled this outfit Blue Monster after the bag from April Bonbon. Lastly is a cute girly outfit perfect for the warmer days of Autumn. The flower crown was a last minute addition as I felt it looked a bit boring without a hair accessory. You can visit my Shopdo at ID 0006271056 if you play Style Boutique (EUR/AUS version).

Autumn Lookbook - Eastern Style

Final day of the autumn lookbook and there's only one style left to post which is the eastern style. The main brand for this style is Kanokoi and the brand features an array of beautifully patterned pieces and gorgeous yukata items. I went with a casual look from the brand for this lookbook outfit. This outfit has always been my go-to outfit for the eastern style and I used to wear this all the time back in Fashion Forward. And can we please talk about the cute rice ball earrings which are new to the brand? How adorable are they? Super pleased that they showed up in the photos quite well.  For the hair accessory, I went with the cherry blossom hair clip from Purple Moon as it matched the theme of the outfit.

That brings us the end of the Autumn Lookbook. I know I posted it quite late into the season, but I wanted to get it out before winter arrived here. I will be posting a winter lookbook in the next month of two.

Autumn Lookbook - Sporty Style

The sporty style is another style that was cut from the Style Boutique series along with glam/flirty. Honestly I quite liked the style and its main brand Streetflow however it always seemed to get the short end of the stick content wise in the series. Items from the brand look super cute and active wear is quite hot right now so it's a shame it was removed. You can find items from Streetflow at other brands now, so I searched through them to create this sporty look for the lookbook. It has a cute baseball image to it and uses one of my favourite pairs of socks (the cute butterfly motif ones).

Autumn Lookbook - Lively Style

The lively outfit for autumn lookbook turned out super cute! The colour scheme and accessories turned out perfect. I used a few new items in the outfit with the bear face suspenders, star earrings and giant hair bows. The shoes would be the only thing I would change about the outfit as the colours on the shoes just aren't right. There is a small hot pink colour on the shoes that just doesn't work for me. But they look quite good besides that. Love that you can see the cute star earrings in the photos!

Autumn Lookbook - Girly Style

Finally my favourite style in teh game, girly! This is my favourite style as it's the closest to what I like in real life and its main brand Marzipan Sky has so many gorgeous pieces. For the lookbook outfit, I wanted to use my favourite pants item from the brand which is the flower printed pants. I went with the pink toned ones, but I'm quite fond of the blue ones as well. I didn't use them as I thought the blue would blend into the photo studio background which is the same colour tone. The rest of the outfit is themed around the colour white and pink with a cute flower crown.

Autumn Lookbook - Purple Moon

Now Purple Moon doesn't have specific style linked to it and stocks mainly costume style pieces that fit within all the styles in the game. I still wanted to create a autumn themed outfit from the brand as it's a unique part of the fashion in Styling Star. I created this Alice in Wonderland inspired outfit that is perfect for the warmer months. I used the Dress Of Hearts set from Purple Moon and some other random items from the brand. The shoes are from a different brand but still have a costume look to them.

Autumn Lookbook - Glam Style

Bit of a throwback here to the older games with an outfit from the glam/flirty style. This unique style was unfortuntaly removed in Fashion Forward but items still remain from the original brand Miss Ribbon and can be found at other brands such as AZ-USA. Whilst I wasn't a huge fan of the brand or style back in the day, I'm quite fond of it nowadays. Once you can find the perfect items that match, you can create some amazing outfits. For the glam outfit for the autumn lookbook, I went with a light purple colour scheme. I could not find any shoes that matched the outfit perfectly in my opinion, but I settled with these ones from AZ-USA as I thought they matched the black edging/piping on the clothing items. These new necklaces from AZ-USA are perfect for the style and give that layer look.

Orange Caramel やさしい悪魔 Yasashii Akuma (My Sweet Devil) - Single Review (CD+Photobook Edition)

One of my favourite music groups is Orange Caramel and I thought it was finally time to review one of their singles on Marzipan Wonderland. The group is the subunit from After School who I've reviewed a few J-Pop albums from. Unfortunately the group (and After School) has pretty much been abandoned by their company and hasn't released anything in a long time, so they are no longer active One member Lizzy (who is my favourite) left the company recently but there is no word on whether the group is technically disbanded. Anyway negative points aside, let's take a look at Orange Caramel's single やさしい悪魔 Yasashii Akuma (My Sweet Devil).

やさしい悪魔 Yasashii Akuma (My Sweet Devil) is Orange Caramel's first Japanese single released in September 2012. The single is available in four editions: CD Only, CD+Photobook, CD+DVD (MV Edition) and CD+DVD (Live Edition). There also was an exclusive CD+Earphones set released in December 2012 with a special remix edition of the title track. The CD Only edition comes with bonus tracks, the MV Edition comes with a DVD of the music video and the Live Edition comes with three live performances from the group. I have the CD+Photobook edition which is the Taiwan edition which is the same as the Japanese one. The CD+Photobook edition of やさしい悪魔 Yasashii Akuma (My Sweet Devil) comes with the following contents:

• CD- 2 Track Album
• Photobook - 32 Pages
• Photocard - Random from 4 types
• Taiwanese Lyrics Booklet
• OBI Stripe
• Plastic Sleeve

Single Front Cover in Plastic Sleeve

The single design of the CD+Photobook edition features this quirky candy land style landscape with the girls in cute devil outfits inspired by the song title. The single is about the size of the book and is quite thin. The single is mainly the photobook with the CD being placed in a slip sleeve cover slotted into the back cover. The CD has a cute dotted pattern and features the group logo.

Autumn Lookbook - Preppy Style

Time for a preppy style outfit which is one of my favourite styles in Styling Star. I don't wear it often, but I'm a fan of the preppy style in real life and enjoy brainstorming outfits with the Brooke Bridge brand in the game. The preppy outfit for the autumn lookbook is perfect for a day of golf or other sports. These socks are always perfect for a preppy outfit and I love the little motif on the side.

Autumn Lookbook - Feminine Style

I've noticed the feminine style is becoming quite popular amongst players. It seems most players avoided the brand in the past but are beginning to warm towards the brand. I think items from the brand work quite well with other styles such as girly, chic and gothic. Went with a peter pan collar for this feminine outfit because it's my favourite style of top of all time. From that, I built the rest of the outfit based off the lavender and black colours of the top. I love how you can actually see the dainty earrings in the photos as sometimes earrings don't show well in photos.

Daiso Haul - Needle Felting Supplies

Recently I've become interested in needle felting. It's just fascinating the creations people make with needle felting and how lifelike some of the products look. Sometimes I've been scrolling through and seen a post of a Shiba Inu and clicked on it only to discover it was actually a needle felted Shiba Inu and not a real life. It's just amazing what people create!

So I was in Daiso recently and decided to pick up some needle felting supplies to do out the craft. The Daiso near me only had a few items in stock so I got the ones that were available which was a starter set and two packets of wool felt.

I just wanted to get a small selection of stuff first to try out needle felting to see if I like it or not. It doesn't seem too difficult, I've watched a few tutorials on youtube and understand the concept of the craft. Daiso didn't have any sets with instructions and just these two packets of coloured wool. I thought I'd try making a small item first before attempting something like the cat and dog pictured on the packet. The needle felting starter set comes with a mat and one needle. It looks like a great set to start out with and was super cheap. The needle looks easy to use and hopefully won't hurt too much if you accidentally stabbed yourself.

Autumn Lookbook - Chic Style

This chic outfit from Enid Chen and ARIANNA is perfect for the business woman on the go during the autumn season. I absolutely love this aqua colour scheme and I applaud the developers for getting the jacket and skirt to match in colour. These sparkling jackets from Enid Chen always look amazing and are perfect for the autumn weather. Big fan of the glasses as they look super cute and sophisticated.

Shopdo Update

Continuing on with last weeks Gothic themed Shopdo update, this week's outfits feature two more Gothic style coordinates and one girly theme for Autumn. The first outfit is a cute navy striped themed outfit featuring a pannier skirt. I love these outers in the game so I wanted to build an outfit around one of those. I found this navy striped skirt and decided to go with an outfit themed around that colour. The second outfit is a girly outfit perfect for Autumn. I ended up calling it 'Here Comes Fall' because the word Autumn wouldn't fit in the title. I wanted to use this quirky overalls from Marzipan Sky and ended up going with this green toned outfit. The final outfit is another Gothic coordinate and this time I went with a stylish sophisticated look. The outfit has a slight music theme as I used the skirt and bag from Raven Candle which both have a music note print. I think these items are well designed and worked well in this outfit. My Shopdo is available to visit if you play Style Boutique at ID 0006271056.

Autumn Lookbook - Rock Style

Next style for the Autumn Lookbook is rock style! I quite like the brand Stage Dive as they have some nice patterned pieces and it's easy to create an entire outfit with a good colour scheme. And who could forget the headphones which are new to the brand in Styling Star? I incorporated a pair of headphones into the rock outfit and used one of the sweatshirt dresses from the brand.

Autumn Lookbook - Bold Style

Bold isn't a style I use often in Styling Star, but it was fun to create a bold outfit for this lookbook. I went with this playsuit style outfit in a navy and colour scheme. The glasses and earrings are from Enid Chen and the other items are from AZ-USA. The hairstyle my character had on looked amazing with this outfit. This outfit is perfect for a night out on the town or if your heading to a party.

Autumn Lookbook - Baby-Doll Style

Time for the baby-doll outfit of the Autumn Lookbook! Now baby-doll is always a popular and fun style and I usually spend ages trying to create the perfect outfit with this style. Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out the perfect coord that matches colour and pattern wise and looks nice. For this outfit, I created a similar outfit to one I used in a Shopdo Update this month, but this time in the colour pink. Wearing my favourite pair of shoes from Marble Lily of course and who can't forget those amazing brooch berets from the same brand. I love the pink one, it works in so many outfits!

Autumn Lookbook - Gothic Style

Quite happy with how the gothic outfit turned out for the Autumn Lookbook. I've made a similar outfit like this before so I tried to replicate what my memory could recall the original one looked like. I used one of the new skirts from Purple Moon and items from Raven Candle. The colour maroon always looks good in outfits and this outfit is ideal for the cooler months as it features tights. I just love these new jackets from Raven Candle and the similar designs at other brands like Brooke Bridge.