Merry Christmas! & 2 small Liz Lisa orders :3

 

Hi all!
For some of you it may already be 12/26, but it's still Christmas here, so Merry Christmas!

 Wtf. I bought this little holiday dress 4 or 5 years ago for who-knows-what-reason, and obviously it doesn't get much use, so I make sure I bust it out every Christmas to snap a picture or two to make it seem like I didn't waste my money on it -__-

My family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve so today it hardly feels like Christmas at all! I got this really cute Betsy Johnson/Betsyville floral animal ear (cat? bear? idk) headband from my aunty :3

 

Sorry I don't know why the lighting is so dramatically different and gross in all of these pictures lol. Maybe I'll get better shots later. 

I also got a pocket bunny mist from Tony Moly!

 

I already owned the white one on the right, but my aunty gifted me the pink one on the left. I've been meaning to do a post about the Tony Moly items I have (Tomatox, Bunny lip bars, Brocolli cleanser, face masks, etc)...would anyone be interested in that? I'll definitely take better pictures if I do a whole post lol.

Earlier I posted about going to the Flag J Hawaii store and buying a pair of shoes :3 Here's a couple more pictures -

I'm super lucky and received a second pair of Flag J shoes from my brother's girlfriend for Christmas!

 

 

I also received this dress from the Marilyn Monroe collection at Macy's -

My mom bought me these necklaces also from Betsey Johnson/Betseyville -

 

I'm not very good at accessorizing with necklaces and need some styling advice, especially for the chunky pearl one! Please let me know what you would wear them with :3

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Order 1 (12/25/2013)-
I got an email from VENT about the surprise sale (buy 2 items, get 13% off) for Liz Lisa, Tralala and Liz Lisa Doll, and the prices are already reduced so I couldn't resist nabbing a couple -

Scallop U-neck cardigan

 I think this is the knit that came with last year's Liz Lisa's 2013 white Ribbon Boston fukubukuro. I wear my white cardigan all the time, let me tell you, it's falling apart. This couldn't have been on sale at a better time.

Check romper

 

 This is also from Liz Lisa's last year's autumn/winter collection, and I hardcore debated getting it then and then again and again and again (yes that many times) when it was relisted at a sale prices but this is the cheapest I've seen it! It was only available in this color but this is the color I like best anyway.

I had a few other things in my cart, but decided I wanted to keep the total as low as possible as well as the weight so the shipping fee shouldn't be too high and ended up with only these two at checkout. A pair of boots I really like was on sale for $45 (originally $150ish) but all sold out in my size. Still in stock in size S if  you have small feet.
I anticipate it being money well spent, especially because they're so cheap! My total for these two items was $35 and the shipping within Japan was free! The shipping (domestic within Japan and processing with Tenso) might be kind of slow because of the holiday season but I'm not really in a rush to get it. Since I didn't order a fukubukuro from VENT, I decided I could spend a little now :3

Order 2 (12/31/2013)-
Ah, omg VENT emails sucker me in every time. I wake up in the morning to see this

Of course, I am immediately interested and go over to the website to check it out. The tote's listed contents are a top, bottom and an OP for 5250yen. The Big Bag's listed contents are an outer, top, OP and a miscellaneous item for 10500yen. Both are pretty good deals, but I decided to go with the 3 item tote because I really really don't need any more outer wear.

I also quite like the print on this bag. I guess I'm glad I didn't order any fukubukuro from VENT because I didn't really have to think too hard about whether I wanted to spend additional money on this gamble. The description says Web Limited, and I'm a little worried that it might be old stock from the website while simultaneously hoping very hard that it's actually stock generated especially for these particular happy bags. I guess I'll see in a week or so (I anticipate some shipping/processing delays)!

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  How to order from Liz Lisa and Tokyo Kawaii Life video and photo tutorial here!

Liz Lisa (and other VENT brands) 2014 fukubukuro reveal

The long awaited reveal of sample contents of the 2014 fukubukuro/lucky packs!

Liz Lisa 2014 fukubukuro (click to enlarge) -
See here for the source of the images.

[This post is mainly for record for next year if people have questions.] The fukubukuro were released for order on 11/30 and VENT revealed the sample contents on 12/20. VENT also restocked multiple fukubukuro this year including the trunk carry which was different from last year. These pictures are really only samples of what will be in the packs. Since VENT restocked some of the bags, it's entirely possible that there are slightly different contents in each listing of the lucky pack.
It seems that the 109 limited color trunk and the brown trunk lucky pack that VENT is offering will have the same contents! One coat, 1 OP, 3 tops, 2 bottoms, 1 inner, blanket (9 content items). That is not what I anticipated at all. Even the blanket is likely the same print.
The My Melody collab trunk (available in-store only), on the other hand, is completely different (as expected due to the price increase). One coat, 2 OPs, 2 tops, 2 bottoms, blanket and pouch (9 content items). I like the coat in this one and both of the bottoms!
If I ordered the Liz Lisa Rich Vintage Rose Carry from VENT, I'd be super stoked right now, and I know I'm going to be super jealous when I see all the gals modeling their stuff in 3 weeks. I really like the outer piece and the bottoms and the print on the blanket.
I'm always extremely lukewarm about long sleeve items since I do not like to have them in my wardrobe (simply because I live in Hawaii and for no other reason) and it seems all the lucky packs except the Ribbon Boston have long sleeve OPs :|
I'm not sure how I feel about the outer in the Heartful Monogram tote which is the lucky pack I was going to order from MARUQ (if they offer it)...Of course there's a chance that I wouldn't get that outer piece, but I feel like it's really slim. If anything, the OP and the top or bottom would be different. Judging solely on the sample picture, I don't think I'll order it because I only really like the bottoms. Maybe I'll order the Ribbon Tote from MARUQ instead since I really like that white coat...what to do, what to do.

Other VENT brands 

Tralala and Penderie 2014 fukubukuro -

 

 

 Liz Lisa Doll 2014 fukubukuro -

Christmas Shopping and Flag J Hawaii

My mom and I did our last minute Christmas shopping at Ala Moana yesterday! There are still a few people we need gifts for, but our arms were struggling with all the bags we had and our feet were sore because we didn't pick our shoes wisely/we didn't know we would both be out all freaking day -__-. Gilly Hicks was having a "semi-annual sale", but I believe they're also closing Jan 11, so they're trying to get rid of stock. Almost everything is 50% off and the underwear is $2.99 so we snagged some stuff to give away and for ourselves lol

You probably can't tell, but there's 5 really soft pajama bottoms ($11.00 each), 2 pars of leggings ($15.00 each?), and then there's 7 pairs of underwear ($2.99 each) and 2 bralets ($9.99 each). They ran out of boxes at the store, so the girl gave us lots of Gilly Hicks shopping bags instead. They ended up adding a lot of weight lol.

Next, we went to LUPICIA for tea for my grandparents. I wanted to report which we ended up buying them but the shop staff already gift wrapped the teas so I also don't have a picture lol.
I also wanted to look at Nature Republic because it just opened this past week! Previously it was only in Waikiki.

I like the design on the big shopping bag! Initially, they only gave us the smaller, plainer one on the right, but my mom was worried that it wouldn't be able to support the weight of the products we bought, so she asked for another one. The Aloe gels were buy 3, get 1 free, so of course my mother bought 4 ($5.50 each).

She also bought nail polish and polish remover for my cousin's wife's daughter ($1.40 each) and two for me lol. And the two yellow boxes on the left are lightweight sunscreens. They were like $18.00 each, but my mom wanted something that absorbed quickly that can be used under make up. She also got one for my brother's gf's mom.

Okay, so the whole point of writing this post was about the Flag J Hawaii store! Flag J is an accessories/shoe store in Shibuya 109. I remember passing it the day I shopped there like 2 years ago now, but I convinced myself I didn't need any more shoes so I didn't go in. Here are some photos of the 109 Flag J store from the Shibuya 109 webshop site -

I think it's so cool that we now have one in Hawaii! It's not going to be exactly the same or nearly as grand, but the option is there! I hope it survives. It's not in the best location for the kind of clientele they need to bring in, but I'm crossing my fingers for them. The store has been open for about a year now, & I've been in the store before, but I just haven't been able to pick something to buy or feel comfortable enough in there to ask to try on a shoe. Since I was with my mother yesterday, and she was also interested in the shoes, we took our time trying on like 6 different pairs lol. Here's some pictures I snapped inside the Flag J Hawaii store -

Display at the back of the store

From the back of the store looking toward the entrance

Shoe display

Red heart shaped seats to sit on while you try on shoes/wait for your gf to try on shoes

Behind the register

Me looking grumpy af for who knows what reason,
probably since it's like 8:30pm and I left the house at 6:00am lol

Round display with white/light colored shoes

Cute or not? I like the motif of the store. I especially like the heart cutouts that hide the support beams. It definitely reminds me of being in Shibuya 109 with the bold colors and elaborate staging. I wish I got one of the cake display at the entrance where the $29.99 shoes were, but I guess I just forgot lol o_o. Sorry the pictures aren't great quality. I was just walking around, pretending to browse and snapping photos, haha.
The insole of the shoes have the Flag J Hawaii logo on them with the hibiscus. I'm happy that the shoes still have the snap closure (rather than the buckle) that I love on Japanese shoes. The other thing that carries on from Japanese design is that the shoes come in Japanese shoe sizes (S, M, L). My foot is really right in the middle of M and L, where I can fit M, but my foot hangs off the back or I get the L but the straps a bit loose. At the Flag J Hawaii store, the shop staff will add an extra hole in the strap for you free of charge! If you buy a pair, leave the store, start wearing them and then realize you need the strap to be tighter, that's also fine. They will add the extra hole on their shoes if you just bring them back.  
Here are the shoes we bought (hers on the left, mine on the right) -

I believe our total was around $140. The original price of each pair was $98.00 but they were having a 30% off sale for the entire store (except the $29.99 shoes). The original price is a little more than the Japanese price, but that's to be expected. The stock is also different than the Japanese store, but, again, I expected it to be since the shoes at our Flag J store are manufactured as "Flag J Hawaii". I don't think we're getting the reject or extra stock from Japanese stores, but instead having Flag J Hawaii specific stock. (<-- I don't know that as a hard fact; that's just a guess)
My mom said she was giving me my shoes for Christmas, so better pictures of my shoes later! The Flag J Hawaii shoe boxes are kind of obnoxious and not great quality (they don't need to be great quality shoe boxes, but I usually keep my shoes in their boxes, and I won't be doing that for this pair). I'm not a huge fan of those, but the shopping bags match the decor in the store perfectly -

Overall, I'm happy with my purchase and the experience I had at the store. The shop staff are really friendly and after you check out, they will walk you with your items to the exit like some Japanese stores have their staff do. I think once I wear my shoes for awhile I can comment on the quality, but I think I will probably go back if the store stays in business :)