Retrobeat Challenge

Time for a new challenge and this one is themed around the psychedelic and quirky themed brand in Styling Star, Retrobeat! This challenge is just a quick one with only seven themes and I will be doing similar challenges with the other brands in the game.

Rules of the Retrobeat Challenge are as follows:

• Only items from the Retrobeat brand can be used.
• Any style can be used - not just psychedelic.
• Interpret the theme prompts as you like ❤

Presenting the seven themes of the Retrobeat Challenge:

1. 1960's Theme
2. Disco
3. Patterned
4. Black & White
5. Sporty Style
6. Out Of This World
7. Animal Print

Now that we've got the basics covered, here are my seven outfits for the Retrobeat Challenge!

1960's Theme

I knew the exact dress that I wanted to use for a 60's mod look, the hard part was picking a colour. I experiment with all the different colours of this dress, but a lot didn't match the two-coloured toned tights I wanted to use. I ended up with the blue dress as I could easily find shoes to match. Looks pretty 19060's inspired doesn't it?

Disco

These gaucho pants which are new to the Retrobeat brand in Styling Star are perfect for a disco look. First time I've actually noticed them in the game, I guess I just brought them and never used them. They actually look really good! I quite like the blue/purple toned ones which I might use in a future Shopdo look maybe. I went with the orange ones as I felt orange was a disco-inspired colour. Shame shoes as the 1960's look, just in a different colour as they were platform style ones which is very disco.

Style Boutique 3: Play Journal - Customer Confusion

Just a small play journal for Styling Star this week as I don't have many pictures to share. Mainly I've just been doing outfit challenges in the game which are super fun and the main thing holding my interest in the game the last few weeks. I'll be posting them all on here so keep an eye out for them or if you have any challenges you liked to suggest, please leave a link/info to them in the comments!

A few weeks back, I had a gothic theme set up in my boutique and it managed to attract a number of gothic styled customers to my shop. I had saved these pictures of these customers as I particular liked the outfits I created for them. For once the colour scheme was ideal for a gothic style outfit, usually one thing is slightly off or something like shoes isn't in stock in that colour. I'm not one for asking customers to wait while I stock up so I usually just give them whatever instead. But this time, I had nice items in stock for the outfits!

Had some success with baby-doll style customers as well. Here are pictures of two of my favourite outfits from some recent sales. Both are just too cute and I managed to get rid of some Purple Moon items quickly! It was actually the same customer for both outfits, she just seemed to visit my boutique a lot when I was playing.

Outfit Of The Day - Elegant Yukata

Finally caught up on the backlog of outfit pictures I had saved from Styling Star. These pictures are from a recent look my character was wearing for my Shopdo. I haven't posted many or any yukata looks on here so I thought it was time for change. 

The inspiration for this outfit was the eastern interior of my boutique. It would've been nice to have some yukata exclusive poses for taking photos in as I enjoy yukata exclusive stuff in Fashion Forward with posing mannequins. Used my favourite rice balls earrings from Kanokoi and the beautiful cherry blossom hair clips from Purple Moon. It's a shame that no new yukata designs were added in Styling Star as there as so many possibilities of patterns and colours. The make-up that my character is wearing is one of the pre-made Make-Up sets available in the game.

Shopdo Update - Lively Interior

My Shopdo has a new theme this week which is the lively style! All the outfits this week match the new theme so let's take a look at them. The first outfit is inspired by the character Rainbow from Fashion Forward (hence the name). I used the vest and skirt that she often wore in my game and added in some new pieces. I feel like Rainbow totally would wear headphones if given the chance. The second outfit is called Icecream Galaxy as it's a mix of a colourful colours and patterns like rainbow icecream. I tried to stick with a pastel colour scheme with the outfit which turned out great. The final outfit is a casual look for lounging around the house.

Here's some pictures of the new lively interior of my boutique. This one was super easy to design as there are quite a few lively and colourful items available to decorate. There are heaps of tables and shelves to pick from, I would've put more down if I had room. I quite like this design as it reminds me of a room I designed at the Caprice Chalet in Fashion Forward. My assistant has on a new lively outfit of course and my character is currently wearing a lively get-up from a recent secret photo-shoot that I'll be posting here soon.

Simplicity 8418 Review

Haven't done a sewing post for a little while and I wanted to get one up before the end of the month. In previous Monthly Favourites posts, I mentioned I had made a jacket using a pattern from Simplicity so that's the focus of this review. This review will be about the Simplicity pattern 8418.

Pattern Description
The pattern is described on the packet as a lined bomber jacket with fabric and trim variations. The pattern has two styles of jackets: View A is a jacket in one tone and View B is a jacket with contrasting sleeves and appliques. The neck, sleeves and bottom band are made of ribbing or stretchable knit fabric. The jacket has lining on the interior and I have seen some people on the internet make the jacket reversible instead of lining. It also has pockets which is always a plus!!

Sizing
The sizing of the pattern is 4 to 22 and comes in two packets (4-12 and 14 to 22). I made the size 10 of the View A pattern which was a good fit for me. Doesn't look super fitted but the arms are long enough for me and the bottom band isn't too tight.

Instructions
There is no skill level marked on this pattern like some Simplicity ones are and I would have to rate it as intermediate skilled as there are some tricky techniques. You could make it as a beginner if you had worked with commercial patterns before and understood the steps. I found some steps difficult to follow and the instructions weren't detailed enough. Step 18 is where I got stuck as you need to anchor the lower band seams together but when I had attached the lower band to the jacket in Step 14, I had pressed down the seam. So when you get to doing Step 18, the fabric wants to go upwards and a different direction from the way it currently is. The problem I was having was that the fabric was bunching in the front corner part and flipping over. The fabric I was using was quite thick and heavy so I guess if you used lighter fabric, you could easily press this down (however there is quite a few layers here). 

Designer Item - Chocolate Banana

Starting a new series of blog posts here on Marzipan Wonderland where I share a new item I've designed in Styling Star. I haven't posted much about designing items on this blog so I thought it would be fun to post a item I've created. All the items I'll post on here are available to download from the Design Centre for players with New Style Boutique 3 (EUR/AUS Region).

Here's the first item to start off my collection! Recently I created this stage costume called Chocolate Banana. Originally I was going for a brown colour scheme with the outfit, but I selected this yellow colour which reminded me of bananas. Hence the word in the name. The rest of the outfit stayed a brown tone to give the appearance of chocolate. You can download Chocolate Banana at the following details:

Item ID: 0000161427
Region: EUR/AUS Players - New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star

Outfit Of The Day - One Of My Favourite Looks

Time for another outfit post for Styling Star! This is an older outfit that my character was wearing last month, but I finally had time to post the photo shoot of the outfit. Honestly this is one of my favourite looks in the game as it's closest to my style in real life. All of the items used are some of my top items in the game so it's the perfect outfit! Headed to the Cake Shop for the photo shoot as I thought it would the perfect location to match the colour theme of the outfit.

Animal Crossing New Leaf - Public Works Projects

I thought it was time to take a tour of my Animal Crossing New Leaf town and look at all the town projects I have built. I've been playing New Leaf since it came out so I've had plenty of time to develop my town. There are still a few projects I've never been able to unlock because of the whole silly random request thing. But I've built lots of lovely projects to fit different themed areas in my town.

First off is one of my favourite areas in my town which is a little garden area with a variety of flowers in different colours. The top part of the area has a metal bench for relaxing and I've placed stone paths down as a footpath. I have these stone paths in my town along with a pink/blue main footpath pattern. It took a while to get some of these hybrid flowers and when I placed them in this area, I tried to have a random look to their placement and not place the same colours next to each other. Here's some cute pictures of me and Dotty sitting on the bench.

Just near the metal bench there is a well which was one of the earlier town projects I unlocked. I placed some of my favourite flowers around the well and some patterns on the ground. I love these drain patterns as they look great around public works projects which are water themed.

Take a short stroll down the footpath to discover the water pump. How great does the drain pattern look next to this? It actually looks like the water is flowing into the drain. I've moved this project a few times due to villagers moving into certain locations and it's stayed here for a fair while now. I'm obsessed with leaving mushrooms around my town and they look so cute placed around public works projects.

Across from the water pump is the drinking fountain which is another early unlock project. This is one of my favourite locations as it just looks so perfect with the patterns placed around it and hybrid flowers. You can see one of my water streams behind the trees which I created with some water tiles and drain patterns. I have these all over my town as they add a natural look to the areas.

Shopdo Update

Keeping the eastern themed boutique for another week so I'll have a new theme with next weeks update. The outfits for this week are some stylish ones with a hint of pink! The first outfit is an eastern one to match the boutique theme. This outfit is one that I often wear in both Styling Star and Fashion Forward when I want a eastern style outfit. It's a comfortable look featuring items from Kanokoi named Cherry Blossom. The second outfit is a pink ensemble featuring a girly theme. For this outfit, I used items that are some of my favourites in the game, such as the hat, shoes, socks and inner. The bad was a difficult choice as there were quite a few that matched the outfit but I went with this one from April Bonbon as it matched the polka dot socks. The final outfit is a chic look which is a style I rarely do on Shopdo. This outfit features hints of the colour pink in the accessories and jacket. I couldn't find an inner that was perfect so I just settled for this shiny one from Enid Chen. So if you play Style Boutique (EUR/AUS), be sure to visit my Shopdo at ID 0006271056!

MOMOLAND BBoom BBoom (Japanese Version) - Single Review (Limited Edition B CD+Photobook Edition)

BBoom BBoom is the debut Japanese single from Korean Pop group MOMOLAND. The girls are off to conquer the Japanese market with the Japanese version of their hit song BBoom BBoom. The physical editions of the single was released this week and I received a copy of the single in the mail this week so let's do a review of it!

MOMOLAND's debut Japanese single BBoom BBoom with member sticker.

BBoom BBoom was released in June 2018 and is available in three editions: Regular CD Only, Limited Edition A CD+DVD and Limited Edition B CD+Photobook. Both Limited Editions and First Press Regular Editions come with an event ticket. No photocard is included with the single however if you ordered or purchased it from certain retailers in Japan, you got a member stick. I purchased the Limited Edition B which contains the following contents:

• CD- 4 track album
• Photobook
• Member Sticker
• Event Ticker
• Plastic Sleeve Cover

Close-up of the front cover.

The design of the photobook is themed around the tropical look of the MV. The front cover has the girls in the beauitful white outfits and the photobook contains photos of this same outfit as the t-shirt look from the MV as well. The back cover has a photo of the girls enjoying a sunset and information about the single. I think the back cover is quite pretty and well designed. One thing about this single is that its giant! I thought it was going to be the same size as most k-pop albums but it's actually about the size of a piece of A4 paper. It's taller than MOMOLAND's Welcome To MOMOLAND Mini Album but much thinner. I was amazed at the size of the single when I got it in the mail. The single is a nice quality paper and is not a hardcover photobook. Kinda reminds me of Orange Caramel's やさしい悪魔 Yasashii Akuma (My Sweet Devil) photobook which I reviewed recently. The CD is housed in a slip sleeve cover at the back of the album. My CD was in perfect condition with no damages and I wish companies would stop with these unprotected covers, one speck of something in the sleeve and your CD is done for. The CD has a green tone to it which matches in with the look of the single.

Back cover.

Front cover.

CD sleeve at the back of the photobook.

BBoom BBoom CD

The main reason I got this edition of the single was for the photobook. MOMOLAND is currently my main group that I follow so it was worth getting this Limited Edition first. The photobook is stunning with a variety of sized images of the girls. Each member gets a selection of images and they all look great. Ahin's page with her in the white dress is my absolute favourite in the entire thing. Enjoy these photos of the photobook!

Amazon Japan Haul - MOMOLAND, Girls' Generation & Books

This is the first order I've received from Amazon Japan for a fair while and it probably will be the last for a long time. This is because the government is bringing in new GST restrictions for online stores and Amazon has decided to cut Australia from using their overseas site. Not entirely sure what will happen on July 1st when the changes come in effect, but as soon as I heard the news last month I placed an order straight away on Amazon Japan for some items I was after. So here are the items I received in my recent order! 

I got a Chara Parfait キャラぱふぇゲーム magazine which is the 2018 Winter Special released in December last year. The main reason I got this magazine was for the ガールズモード 4 Girls Mode 4 content, but you also got a cute Sumikko Gurashi playing cards set. The cards come in a nice steel case which I haven't set up yet, they're still in the cardboard box. I'll blog about the ガールズモード 4 pages on here soon as there are some great pictures of the game in the magazine. I have an older issue of the Chara Parfait magazine which was devoted to ガールズモード  3 Girls Mode 3 and I've written a detail blog post about that here!

Sumikko Gurashi playing cards.

ガールズモード 4 pictures of brand representatives.

Picked up this adorable needle felting book because I wanted to learn how to make animals. Also mainly because it has the cutest Shiba Inu's in it and I need to know how to make like a million of them.

The next item was kind of a random purchase as I originally wasn't planning on getting it. Since Amazon is changing soon, I thought I'd look through for any cheap items I could add to my order. When I was going through artists that I'm looking to collect albums of, this Girls' Generation single came up for only 300JPY. It was on sale from about 2000JPY and no clue why it was so cheap. So I thought why not for only 300JPY plus 300JPY shipment fee per item.

Winter Lookbook

Winter is a time for dressing up in warm jumpers, scarfs and fluffy beanies. New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star has an excellent range of clothes that are perfect for the cooler months. I've put together this lookbook featuring outfits from all the fashion styles in the game that designed for Winter. There's even some special outfits featuring removed brands and designer items. In case you aren't quite ready for winter, why not check out my Autumn Lookbook!

Lively
April Bonbon features some crazy looking fluffy rainbow jackets which are new items to the brand. I thought this jacket would be the perfect item for winter and designed this casual outfit for the lookbook. This outfit is ideal of catching a movie or hanging out at a friends place. I was always quite a fan of these pants in Fashion Forward and they matched the jacket quite well.

Eastern
This style features a more refined and sophisticated look for the season. It took a few tries to find an eastern outfit I was happy with and ended up with this one. It features my favourite boots from Kanokoi and a long length jacket. I think darker tones work best in eastern style outfits as it's easy to find pieces that coordinate together.

Basic
This style for me in winter months is all about layers! I pretty much just chuck as many items on as I can sell or wear. Here's the combination I came up with for the lookbook and this is actually a copy of an outfit I recently sold to a customer. The skirt is actually a overall item from the dress category and all the items feature a brown colour scheme.

Daiso Adventures & Haul

Visited Daiso a few times in the recent weeks and picked up some new cute items. So I thought I'd put them all into one big post to share what I found. First off, Daiso finally got my all time favourite stickers back in stock! I've been waiting to see if they got them back in and they finally did. I was so happy when I saw them so I picked up two packets this time so I have enough to last me a while.

Found them!

Daiso had some other adorable stickers in stock over the last few weeks. The store has this range called Animal Party that is available in a variety of items such as post-its, stickers, note paper and letter sets. I took a photo of the Shiba Inu ones as that breed of dog is my all time favourite animal. Haven't picked these up yet as whilst the illustration is cute, it's not the normal style of Shiba illustration that I'm drawn towards.

Style Boutique 2: Room Address Update

Keeping with my plan to update my Room Address in New Style Boutique 2, here is the new room that is available for download during the month of June! The room for this month is a stylish sewing room featuring a mixture of fashion styles. You can download the room at the Room Address 180-239-9851 in either New Style Boutique 2, Style Savvy 3 or ガールズモード３(Girls Mode 3).

I designed this room a few years ago and thought it was time for a change with my Room Address which is normally boutique themed rooms. It's actually kinda tricky to get the exact amount of correct miniatures in the room in order for the game to call it a sewing room for customers. There are some necessities you need such as a sewing machine, clothing displays and a chair. This isn't the only sewing room I've designed, but this was the only successfully rented one as a sewing room. The others are more just done to a certain style. I've posted a handy guide on my Style Boutique 2 blog if you interested in learning more about designing this type of room. Here's some pictures of the room from different angles, I just love the framed pictures as they match the tone of the room.