Liz Lisa (15th anniversary) x My Melody 5th collaboration items (Tokyo Kawaii Life order 9)

I am always excited about new releases from Liz Lisa, but am especially happy to see the items for the Liz Lisa x My Melody collaborations! This is the fifth collab and it coincides with Liz Lisa's 15th anniversary! I absolutely love the strawberry theming.
When I first saw this advertisement, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted besides the phone case. I still consistently use my LLxMM 3rd collab phone case, and haven't had any issues with the image rubbing off or pieces breaking off (despite dropping it) so I knew I wouldn't be wasting my money if I got another (especially because it's still for the iPhone 5/s! lucky me).
It wasn't until about a week before the release of the first items that I decided I really liked the dress as well. I wasn't sold on it at first despite the really cute print simply because it's long sleeved. However, the more I looked at it on shop staff, the more I wanted it - at least to just try it on lol.

Similarly to the 4th collab dresses, I woke up at 01:35am for the 02:00am HST release (around 21:00 Japan time). The way they released the collab items was a little differently than last time, but I was able to add the dress in white to my cart at around 01:58am after constantly going back and forth trying to add it to my cart. After quickly adding the phone case as well, I started the check out process but was tripped up by a server error when trying to continue with the payment page, and let me tell you, I was freaking the freak out lol. I didn't want to have woken up at 01:35am for nothing, especially considering I DID have it in my cart and it had probably sold out while I was going through the check out process. But after trying to go back and forth a few times, I eventually got through to the confirmation page, yay!

Liz Lisa x My Melody meromero strawberry flower OP (in white) (142-6013-0) -

   The print is soooo pretty and makes this dress purchase completely worth it. I love everything from the gingham at the bottom to the bows and then the flowers and the strawberries! I'm also quite glad I decided to go for the white color option instead of pink. Even though I like pink, I do think there's a limit to how much I want to wear personally, and the print stands out very nicely but not obnoxiously on this ivory background. The collar is interesting - like two bows. Mine are asymmetrical in color with one having a pink center and the other having an ivory center. I don't mind this since it's not like the first thing you notice and actually think it makes it a little more unique (although I'm sure there are a lot of other collab OPs that ended up like this, in general for clothes I feel like it's not super common?). I am also a fan of a ribbon tie back which helps fit the dress to my body better. I think the fit on this OP is a bit better and more forgiving than the last OP which didn't have a ribbon tie. Thankfully the material its made of is not too heavy, so if I'm standing in front of a fan on at least a medium speed, it's not too bad to wear lol (my house doesn't have AC wtf).

 with my Liz Lisa x My Melody coat from the 2014 LLxMM collab fukubukuro

& with the 2014 LLxMM collab fukubukuro suitcase 

Lol I couldn't resist posing with this trunk since it's also a LLxMM collab. I feel like there's a lot of print going on, but they match reasonably well!



Liz Lisa x My Melody iPhone 5/5s cover (142-9911-0) -

Lol this was the one item I knew I wanted from the beginning because it was a small investment in comparison to the dress and other items and I knew I probably wouldn't have to wake up super early to get it because the phone cases don't often sell out very quickly. If I had only purchased this case, it would have been my way to get in on the strawberry theming at least a little lol! In the end, I think it's good that I also purchased the dress because it would have been quite a waste to just ship this phone case by itself internationally lol.



 

It's very similar to the 3rd collab phone case except for the strawberry theming and a few details of the image ofc. Otherwise, it seems just as sturdy and made of the same materials. The print on the phone case matches pretty well with the print on the dress! I do wonder why they make the phone cases with such a yellow tone (the 3rd collab one was that way as well) instead of more white, but it's still really cute, and I'm using it already!

Overall, I'm glad I made this purchase. I do still question a little if I want to keep this long sleeve dress in my wardrobe if I will barely ever wear it (if at all??) but for now I think I just want to stare at it. I know that if the time comes when I need to sell something, it will be near the top of my list though just because of how few times I will actively wear it. I am very happy that I was able to get my hands on it and try it on at least though!

As a small reminder (and I'm sure those of you who actually read my posts are tired of reading these blurbs, but I am constantly getting blamed for not warning people of this, so here I go again) - I am extremely uncomfortable with my personal photos being used for the profit of others especially without a simple source link. In general, I would prefer for my photos not to be reposted without my permission at all, but if you feel the extreme need to do so, I simply ask that you just include a simple link back to my original post. Regardless of whether I watermark every single photo, I do still own the copyright to these pictures and you finding them on Google Image does not mean I do not own them anymore?? (There has been some confusion on that front apparently. And to be clear, Google does even warn you when you click on a photo that the image may be subject to copyright, and Google does not sever the photos from their original pages, so it's easy to find their source if you choose.) I do not blog and post these photos so that others can sell their products that are not associated with me in the slightest. And the response I get when I just ask for my photos to be sourced really discourages me from sharing and continuing to blog. I mean this in the least aggressive way possible, but I'm not just going to throw 80 smiley emojis in this to "soften the tone" because I am serious, and I honestly feel like you should be able to read a paragraph like this without emoticons and not be offended by its message.

First inspirations: JELLY February 2008 & August 2009

I've decided to continue with a few more first inspiration Jmag scans! This post includes two issues of JELLY from 2008 and 2009. These aren't necessarily my absolute favorite JELLY issues, but I did want to pick one with more Autumn/Winter fashion looks and one with more summer.
Like I somewhat mentioned at the end of my first First inspirations post (Popteen January 2009), these posts/mags/scans don't necessarily reflect my current style, but were huge factors in developing my interest in Japanese fashion.
I had these issues back when I was in high school, and I absolutely loved the sexy, confident look these models had. I don't really have any outfit photos from that time, but I definitely wore a lot more black and darker colors and imo, there was a clear JELLY influence on my personal style. I wasn't trying to completely copy the looks in this magazine but I did think about how these gals were dressed when I went shopping at American stores.
(Scans are for personal use!)

JELLY February 2008

 

 

Super love this boots spread

 

 

 

 

 

 

JELLY August 2009

I think the scans for this magazine came out a lot better overall because I found a better technique lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Mama Jelly insert featuring Tsubasa was also including in the August 2009 issue!

  

Nice two-page Liz Lisa ad spread right at the inside cover of the insert

 

 

 

 

Btw the make up scans are more for readers who are interested in that! I included them because I wanted to show what was suggested for make up at the time, but I do not personally (attempt to) do "gyaru" make up now nor have I ever lol.

Anyway, this is the second in what I hope to be a four or five-part blog topic show-and-tell! I personally find the old jmags to be really interesting and also how different my style used to be lol. I don't really have a lot of commentary to go with these, but I do just love looking at what was popular at the time and how the spreads were organized, and thought that it might be interesting to share with you all as well.
I do not claim ownership of any of the scanned images. Please purchase and support where you can!