February Favourites

Has this month felt quite long for other people? For me, it seemed like it dragged on forever. During the first few weeks, I was still recovering from the leg surgery so once that got better it was nice to actually be able to walk properly. Restrictions for COVID have been dropping here so it's lovely to visit places again and I love being able to walk into shops without signing in. We used to have to sign into every single location you went which made it hard on retail shops. I went to a Westfield the other week and got to go to all my favourite stores again! Which had no stock because there is a supply shortage on most things. Anyway let's get onto the monthly favourites for February!

Gaming

At first, I was playing stacks of Animal Crossing but I've been a bit bored of it lately. I think I got burnt out whilst brainstorming decorating ideas for my house. I always find that the hardest part of the game and even after years of New Horizons being out, my house still isn't finished. At least the front room looks ok though it's not finished. Pudge does love it though!

Stationery

I was planning on writing about all the new supplies I got however there was enough that I will post a separate post about them. Journaling is my new obsession and where all the spare change is going haha. I've also been trying to eat healthy (not that I'm unfit or anything, I just love KitKats too much) so whenever I think about buying junk food, I save that money instead to buy stationery. When I went shopping the other week, I walked all the way to Kikki.k only to find it had closed down at that location. It was the main reason I came to that shopping centre! Oh well, apparently that only have one store now near me but I never go around there anymore.

Music

Earlier this month, I received my Zenmarket order and posted a haul review here! Please check it out if you haven't already as it's an awesome selection of CD's. I'll be posting reviews of some over the next few weeks/months and I've actually been on a roll with music reviews on the blog. Hopefully I'll have a bit chunk done of my collection by the end of the year.

Since restrictions have dropped, I went to visit some local op-shops for CD's and found some good ones! I found a TLC one that a friend had been searching for and these AQUA albums. I didn't have these at all nor I did I own them back when they came out. I recall a friend having one as I remember the album cover. The hilarious thing about these is that I had a customer a few weeks ago at work requesting these and I told them they were out of print and hard to find as I had never seen them myself. AND then this happen and I laughed a lot. Ended up buying just because of that story so I hope that guy eventually found these CD's too.

Outfit of the Day - Pastel Goth

Have you ever made an outfit in Style Boutique in under a minute? Well that's how this outfit was made! I put in a bunch of search requirements and picked everything that looked liked it matched quickly. Happy with how it turned out which is a elegant pastel gothic Lolita look. The lilac matches well with the black and is a unique look for the style. I was surprised I was able to find a few items that had a similar colour scheme. As I've mentioned before, some items colour tone will be slightly different. I thought these worked well together and didn't look too out of place. Thought about adding a necklace to the look but went with this headpiece instead which had some ties in the neck area anyway.

AOA Like a Cat [Japanese Ver.] Single Review - Limited Edition Type B CD+PHOTOBOOK

Felt like posting another music review after my Orange Caramel one. I have quite a backlog to get through so it is worth posting another one! This one is about AOA's Japanese single Like a Cat which is one of my favourite songs from the group. I always love rewatching that episode of Slam Dunk where Kim Sook dances to the song. It always makes me laugh! Let's get to it then!

Like a Cat is AOA's second Japanese single and is the Japanese version of their hit Korean song 사뿐사뿐 Sappeun Sappeun. The single was released on the 25th of February 2015 and came in nine editions: Limited Edition Type A CD+DVD, Limited Edition Type B CD+PHOTOBOOK and seven limited CD Only member plate editions. I brought my Limited Edition Type B copy from Yahoo Auctions and it was in excellent condition. It came with the following contents:

• CD - 6 track single
• Media book style case
• Photobook

You can probably guess what the concept for this single is. Of course it is cats! The girls are sporting some bold cat-inspired outfits, some even look like catsuits. The front and back covers have different photos and they are quite large! I appreciate the effort put in this edition as you get some high quality photos. The back cover also contains the track listing of course along with production information. I always write that about the back covers, but I do find it interesting to read these and see how many companies are involved in the production.

Outfit Of The Day - Rainbow Parade

I'm quite a fan of today's outfit of the day as I'm into pastel colour tones lately. And who doesn't love these giant jackets that are new to Styling Star? I remember when the game first came out and being amazed by the incredible design of them. Now I feel like I haven't used them in ages so I wanted to use one for an outfit. Found this cute pastel tone dress that matched the colours in the jacket well. Sometimes it can be hard to colour match in the game as the tones are slightly different and it annoys me. Not sure what style to call this as it looks lively but feels quite girly and a bit psychedelic. It's a bit of everything!

Zenmarket Haul - 48Group, MAX, Orange Caramel & More!

My package arrived from Japan which means all my new CD's are here!!! I was so excited to finally receive this after ordering everything back in early December. This is the first I've used the surface mail option and honestly it wasn't that bad. I was worried that the package would be damaged but it was in great condition! As were the CD's which are all pictured here looking wonderful!

Usually when I place Zenmarket orders, I use the DHL method that is about 2 to 4 business days but with the disruptions in shipping methods due to the pandemic, that option wasn't available for a good price. So I went with surface mail instead which was still rather pricey. Shipping from Japan is quite tricky right now and be prepared to fork out some money to get your items. I love using Zenmarket to buy my CD's and their shipping calculator is useful to get an estimate on your shipping costs. I took some photos of the packaging from my order and it was pretty good! Plenty of bubble wrap to hold the items in place and only one item was broken. However I think that case could've been broken previously as the CD is in not the best condition. Easy fix though and all the items had a substantial amount of packaging! The two large K-Pop albums were placed at the bottom and I cannot believe the couriers found the perfect box for them to fit!

Animal Crossing New Horizons Play Journal - Villagers Terrible Fashion Styles

More Animal Crossing New Horizons content today! I've been playing the game quite a fair bit over the last month and actually finally started decorating my house! Which is going to take forever as I have no plan and I'm just winging it mostly. Let's start off this play journal with this adorable snapshot of Yuka asleep in the shopping district. Awww she looks so cute with her little glasses and detail on her feet!

Decided to clear out this orchid area of my island as it just wasn't working for me. Plus my villagers kept hiding in here and I could never find them! All the time they would just be singing in here and I'd be running around forever trying to find them. This area is prime real estate and I'm thinking of moving some villager houses here.

This play journal is full of bridge and incline openings! Yes I've had quite a few in past journals however I've decided on a layout for my island finally so that meant moving a number of bridges. Shame you can't just move them and have to waste so many bells demolishing and rebuilding them. I've relocated them to move strategic locations as I like having straight paths in my towns that allow me to run in a straight line across the entire area quickly. None of this corner nonsense haha. Done a bit of terraforming as well with some new cliffs and I'll be relocating quite a few villager houses to new zones.

Outfit Of The Day - Flirty Memories

Made a few red toned outfits in Style Boutique so I thought I'd share the first of them. I've been quite interested in using the colour recently in the game which is bizarre as usually I hate the colour. Not one I'd wear in real life but the game has some gorgeous pieces in this colour tone. Put together this girly themed look which could also be a bit glam/flirty if you think about it. The clothing items match my idea of the flirty style in the series and it looks a bit of out of place in my casual looking boutique! These off the shoulder jumpers look great with layered skirts and that's often what I pair them with. Added a cute handbag and some killer red heels to finish off the outfit. I've even changed my make-up for the first time in forever for this look! The eyeshadow looks amazing and I could never pull this dark tone in real life. I'm more of a bright colour person with lots of glitter!

Orange Caramel Lipstick / ラムのラブソング Lum no Love Song - Single Review (CD Only Edition)

My goal in 2022 is to post more CD reviews on Marzipan Wonderland and that is exactly what I'm blogging about today. Decided to go with one of my favourite groups Orange Caramel and we will be looking at one of the Japanese singles - Lipstick / ラムのラブソング Lum no Love Song! This was one of the first Japanese singles I brought so it is quite special to me. Oh how naïve I was back then and knew nothing about the tricks of collecting J-Pop.

Orange Caramel Lipstick / ラムのラブソング Lum no Love Song CD Only Edition

Lipstick / ラムのラブソング Lum no Love Song is Korean girl group Orange Caramel's second Japanese single and was released in December 2012. The single was released in 7 editions: 

• CD+DVD Lipstick Edition
• CD+DVD ラムのラブソング Lum no Love Song Edition
• CD+DVD Variety Edition
• CD Only Edition
• mu-mo CD Edition - Lizzy Picture Label
• mu-mo CD Edition - Nana Picture Label
• mu-mo CD Edition - Raina Picture Label

I brought my CD Only Edition when it came out from YesAsia and I got that edition as it was the cheapest. This was back in the day when I could only afford the CD Only editions but honestly I prefer collecting those as you always get bonus tracks such as B-sides or instrumentals that aren't on the DVD editions. The CD Only Edition came with the following:

• CD - 6 track single
• Jewel Case
• Lyrics booklet
• Photocard

Outfit Of The Day - Back To School

Decided to call this outfit Back To School as it is just that here in Australia. Well kind of as the pandemic has made it difficult for students and teachers. Whilst I am past my schooling years, it is fun to create uniform themed outfits in Style Boutique. Brooke Bridge is such a wonderful brand and I've been enjoying finding new looks within the brand.

Came up with this outfit that is a bit mix-matchy! Not idea what I was thinking matching this plaid top with this dress. It doesn't match at all but hey, at least it looks stylish. The dress is something I would totally wear in real life! I decided to go without socks or tights for this look as it is summer here after all! Went a bit out of the box and got a haircut that isn't my usual style. I just avoid the shorter hairstyles in the game and thought I'd try something different. It matches pretty well as it reminds me of those students that get a haircut the days before school. Last week before school went back, I walked past a hair salon and the line was huge!

Girls Mode 3 Glitter ☆ Coordination Book - Raven Candle Clothing Items

I was finally able to take more photos of my ガールズモード 3 キラキラ☆コーデ  book (Girls Mode 3 Glitter ☆ Coordination in English)! This post will look at the Raven Candle brand which has the same name in the original Japanese version. I wonder what groovy name it would've had if it was called something else in ガールズモード 3? As you can guess from the photo, the main style of Raven Candle is gothic and it is home to gothic Lolita style fashion pieces.

Raven Candle isn't just home to the gothic style and also features styles such as baby-doll, bold, rock, chic and preppy. Baby-doll makes perfect sense as that is pretty much the companion to gothic Lolita. Sometimes I even forget what brand clothing items belong to as Marble Lily does feature some very Raven Candle-like items. This brand being included in the ガールズモード３games makes perfect sense as the gothic Lolita style is hugely popular in Japan and is a big part of Lolita history in the country. There are some great outfit sets at Raven Candle and lately I've been checking out the short skirts and shorts from the brand and moving away from my usual pannier skirt styles. Like I love those however I enjoy seeing what new combinations I can make that incorporate the outers. Raven Candle has a great selection of outers and it takes some experimenting to find out what works with what.

Shopdo Update - February 2022

Ah my favourite month of February when I spell it wrong every single time I have to write it. One of these days I'll get it right on the first try. I'm sticking with the brown tone theme for this month's Shopdo outfits and I'm quite fond of one of these looks in particular but more on that in a second. First look is a basic looking eastern inspired outfit using some items I barely use from Kanokoi. I feel that brand has so many items I just never use or even look at! The second look is my favourite and I do love a good psychedelic outfit in Style Boutique. I threw this one together randomly with some cohesion to the outfit but the clash in items kind of works. The final outfit is a classy feminine styled outfit and I went with a softer brown tone for this look.

You can find all these outfits at my Shopdo ID 0006271056 in New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star (EUR/AUS Region).