My J-Pop Collection 2022

It's not too late into 2023 to post my J-Pop Collection for last year! Finally got some time to write out this blog post and I was shocked at how long my list of J-Pop releases has gotten! Only 9 new additions to the collection in 2022 and all came from this Zenmarket order. Picked up a few new artists however so let's get to know them! 

First up is one of my favourite groups of the recent year which is MAX. I just love their sound and influences of Eurobeat as I love that genre. I would've love to have gotten more from Japan of their stuff but I settled on their first album MAXIMUM and the most recent best of MAXIMUM PERFECT BEST in the 3CD edition. The best of was a steal and brand new for a great price. MAXIMUM was harder to track down as the CD is from the mid 90's and I wanted one in good condition. Amazing album and highly recommended for a listen!

I've combined these two together as they are quite similar with their quirky concepts. The single on the left is ニッポン笑顔百景 Nippon Egao Hyakkei from Momoiro Clover Z. I came across this songs MV on YouTube and thought it was super fun. Ended up getting the single as who doesn't love a single and it has quite a few tracks on it but the title track is my favourite. The other CD is the second album from Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu who were a random find on Spotify for me one day. Good old Bookoff purchase and it contains 2CDs inside. I absolutely adore the outfits these girls wear and they always have cute concepts.

More 48Group releases because why not? I've branched out to groups outside AKB48 in the recent year and picked up the first albums from both NMB48 and SKE48. Enjoyable albums and I was able to get them super cheap for 100JPY because there is a billion copies floating around. The NMB48 was brand new which was a great deal and I couldn't decide which edition to get for SKE48. I settled on the Regular Edition as it was the cheapest and had the two extra tracks that I liked. I love the original AKB48 Ponytail to Shushu so I wanted the SKE48 version.

One Year Challenge Week 30: Under $100

I seriously thought this challenge of making an outfit under $100 would be a tricky one but it wasn't actually that bad. Had to put my thinking cap on and also thank the game for informing me how much the entire outfit costs. Originally I thought it would primarily be basic styled outfits as that is the cheapest image in the game however I ended up with three different themes! First off is actually a basic themed outfit haha! I went for a simple inner and skirt look which is super cute. Next off is a bold outfit that is perfect for a night out. This dress was quite cheap and after some searching, I found some cool shoes to go with it as well. Would've looked way better with some accessories but it looks pretty good for under $100. Finally we have a boho-chic themed outfit which isn't something I do too often. This dress is quite nice and looks more than $100! Found an excellent pair of shoes that matched the colour tones of the dress to finish off the look.

One Year Challenge Week 29: Pastels

I was super happy for this weeks theme as I've been a fan of pastel tones for a while now. No idea what happened but one day I was like 'I really like pastel tones' and now I buy everything in pastel. Especially this beautiful lilac colour shown in this first outfit. This colour always looks stunning in Style Boutique and these girly themed items are no exception. Second look is a cute lively themed outfit with pretty blue tones and I swear I always pair these shorts with this outer. It is clearly the best outer from April Bonbon and I used to use it stacks in Fashion Forward. The final look is a baby-doll inspired look as I felt that was appropriate for a pastel themed week. Marble Lily has a nice range of pastel items and I went this pink coordinate. The gloves are an item I don't use too often so I wanted to try some new things with this outfit. Paired all three looks with the beautiful blonde hair and the flower shop has a great pastel themed interior to it for the photoshoot. Apologies for the zoom icon on the second photo as I didn't realise it was there until now :(

One Year Challenge Week 28: Retrobeat

I still find it amazing that there are items at Retrobeat that I haven't used! Thank heavens the game displays the little 'new' on items that I've never touched. So for the Retrobeat themed week, I wanted to focus on using items that I've obviously avoided for some reason or another. First up is this green egg themed outfit I guess we will call it. These egg inners are quite amusing and I feel like they would look good in crochet if they existed in real life. The pants in this look were something I had never used which was because I just don't like the look of this style of pants with the large part at the bottom. In the second outfit, it was the dress that was a new item and it turned out cute. Worked well with this fancy looking heeled shoes! Lastly we have a very vintage looking brown ensemble and I like how comfy it looks. No idea where on earth you would wear this or any of the other looks, but at least they are fun.

One Year Challenge Week 27: Camo

Now camo is one of those pattern styles that I'm not a huge fan of. I think it has to do with the fact that I don't wear it in real life. There was a short period where it was trendy in the 2000's and I recall wearing it a lot. Nowadays I tend to avoid it and there aren't any camo items in my wardrobe. No clue if camo is something that I've used a lot in Style Boutique and I reckon bold outfits would've been the time when I would use it. AZ-USA has stacks of camo printed items and its the perfect brand for it. I put together three outfits featuring the print and I did struggle a bit with these. Turns out there isn't enough items to make a large variety of looks. That is why all of these look similar and if I had to pick a favourite, I would go with the second one. I quite like the purple tones and the outfit looks rather cool.