Japan trip Autumn 2015, Part 8 - Liz Lisa & Other shopping purchases
Now that I'm done with the "travel diary" portion of the blog posts, I can move on to the purchases!
I usually have to do two separate posts with my Liz Lisa purchases and then my other random purchases, but for this trip, I bought so few things, that I think it can just be condensed into one :O
Let me tell you though, it was not for a lack of trying that I purchased so few things for myself. I honestly feel like I tried really hard to find things that I wanted, but late autumn just isn't the season for me for clothes or accessories for the most part! And if I hadn't even loosened my standards a little bit, I would have come home with a lot less lol. That being said, I hope you still enjoy this post even though I don't have much to show! (Also, sorry, I had some lighting issues but I didn't want to delay this post! I may retake the photos when I have better sunlight and more time later.)
I'll be really honest and say that I didn't think this dress was for me at first. I wasn't sold on the print and it's long sleeved so that just meant automatic pass since I rarely wear long sleeve dresses at home, if at all, and I don't like to buy items I won't be able to wear, no matter how much I like the print. But as I saw more and more pictures of real people and shop staff wearing this OP, I realized that it created a really, really nice silhouette because of the cut and then I just really wanted it lol. Rebby had bought the dress for herself and assured me that although it had long sleeves, they were sheer and quite light. I watched the listing carefully online and almost purchased it several times in the weeks leading up to my trip, but I held out and eventually bought it on Day 2, the first shopping day (since Day 1 was spent entirely at DisneySea). Since the print wasn't all that important to me, I went with the color I liked best overall which was pink.
I'm glad I purchased this dress to wear on the trip. Otherwise, I really don't know what I would have ended up wearing on Day 6 lol. After seeing it in person and actually trying it on, I am glad I bought it and I do really like where the waist of this OP sits on my body. Since I'm just slightly taller than the most ideal height for free size, the "waist" of dresses often hit me at the bottom of my ribs rather than my actual waist/the smallest part of my torso. This one actually cinches at the right place and is more flattering because of that imo. I would like it a lot better for myself if it was short sleeved and I'm not sure how much I'll end up wearing it at home, but for what it is, I do really like it.
Liz Lisa Houndstooth check floral skirt in pink (152-4025-0) 千鳥チェック花スカート
I had liked this skirt when I first saw it online. I thought the length was nice and appropriate for me and I didn't mind the houndstooth because it's reasonably subtle in the pink print. I knew that if I needed something to wear while on the trip, this would do well and match with either of the tops that I had brought with me. When it was Day 5 and I still didn't have anything to wear for the last day of the trip, I just quickly picked this up from the Abeno 109 Liz Lisa just to be sure that I would have a 7th outfit lol.
Even though I purchased it just because there wasn't anything else in particular that interested me, I do really like it. I would have rather picked it up at a sale price since it's not a must buy item for me but I'm certainly not unhappy that I own it. I think it will be appropriate for many different occasions and a good addition to my wardrobe while I slowly transition to something slightly more adult while still maintaining a bit of cute.
One Spo Heart cut out cropped knit in pink & Check trapezoidal mini in pink
I bought this top and bottom on Day 6 from the Shibuya 109 One Spo store and intended to wear them together for the last day of the trip. I had somewhat remembered briefly seeing them on the One Spo online shop before leaving but didn't really think twice about it until I saw it in the store. The shop staff was wearing this exact combination and it was also displayed as a set. I asked to try it on, and wasn't sure what to except. They're both knits so I thought it would be ridiculously hot, but with the AC in the mall, it wasn't so bad and I really did like the look. This kind of skirt is really popular right now! The set up reminds me a bit of Cher from Clueless.
I don't know when I'm going to find the opportunity to wear these items at home, but I do love the outfit to death and hope that an occasion will arise somehow lol. I'm not sure if I will really have the guts to wear the two items together at home (since it really does scream colder weather too much and just seems ridiculous), but I'm sure I'll find some sort of way to work them in.
This was the number one item I wanted to find and purchase during the trip, and I bought them on Day 2.
Shoes can be expensive to ship, and I wanted to take advantage of my
being able to shop in person. These were listed as "Web Limited" on
Tokyo Kawaii Life, but fortunately they were also being sold in one
physical location - the new Primevere Liz Lisa store in Lumine EST in
Shinjuku. I was worried they would sell out, and I think some sizes and
the navy color did, but fortunately they had exactly what I wanted. And
just in time too, because my feet were going to die if I needed to wear
the OTK boots for another straight day in a row.
Check out these shoes in the second coordinate with the Liz Lisa closet OP and the coordinate with the One Spo top and skirt!
I love these shoes! I've been meaning to get an all white/very light
neutral color shoe from Liz Lisa for a while and these fit the bill
exactly. I like them both with and without the pom pom, but I see myself
wearing them without the pom pom most often. For picky buyers, it may
be worthy to note that the platform and the main part of the shoe are
actually two different shades and it's not exactly the purest white, but
I'm not the most careful shoe wearer so the slightly greyer platform
doesn't bother me. The pom pom is also slightly more yellow in tone. The
fit is fantastic on these as well. It really feels true to my foot size
(US size 7) and it's one of the best fit Japanese shoes that I own.
They are also pretty comfortable imo! This isn't the most innovative
design that Liz Lisa has come up with (and the lace up back motif can be
seen on many of their shoes), but I think I'm going to really enjoy
having these shoes as an option. Samantha Thavasa [Miranda CM series] Samantha Azel Rafi small (pink) 【ミランダ ＣＭ着用商品シリーズ】サマンサタバサ アゼルラフィー 小（ピンク）
There are a few other versions of this purse that look really similar in the online listings, but after matching the product ID, I know this is the right one lol. (However I'm really not sure how the item name is supposed to be translated to English except that the Miranda part probably refers to Miranda Kerr who models for the brand.) I purchased this purse at the Samantha Thavasa store in Haneda Airport while walking to the gate about an hour before my flight out of Japan on Day 7. By about Day 5, I realized I really wasn't spending money as I usually did and had made a mental note to allow myself to buy something that would usually be considered a bit more of a splurge. I had anticipated making more purchases from Liz Lisa, but since I didn't, I took the opportunity to last minute shop at the store in the airport. A very similar style purse initially caught my eye but I ended up picking this one because I liked the color best. I also bought a charm with it because at that point I was just thinking, "why not??" lol. I haven't purchased a charm from ST before but I've always admired them. This seemed like a good opportunity to just bite the bullet and go for it.
Check out this purse in the first coordinate with the Liz Lisa closet OP and the coordinate with the One Spo top and skirt!
Would I have purchased it if I had shopped less conservatively throughout the trip? No, probably not. And did I kind of just buy this bag because I felt like I was bringing home too much cash and it was kind of a fail if I didn't spend it? Yeah, maybe. But it's still a bag I like and I don't have another exactly like it. I do have a Kate Spade New York bag that's a somewhat similar size and shape but it's a completely different color and style. And I do have a few other pink purses but none are this particular size or shade, so that's how I ended up picking. I really like the way Samantha Thavasa executes leather purses and consider them good investments. The charm was a little less practical, but that was my "treat myself" moment since I really hadn't bought much else and I liked it. Plus, ofc it can easily work on other bags as well! Doll Kiss ankle socks
I really wasn't finding anything I was too interested in in Shibuya 109, but ankle socks are always useful and not season specific thankfully, so I stopped to pick up three pairs to meet the set price. I bought two white pairs for my "himekaji" wardrobe and the black pair to wear with my new black Nine West ankle boots. (Sorry no "worn" photos of these because I haven't "opened" them yet and don't plan to until I actually have an occasion to wear them.)
And everything else!
With a few exceptions (identified below), these are mostly food items meant to be given away as omiyage for family and friends. This includes (but not limited to): corn candy, Sour gummies, various flavors of KitKats, Panda ramen, konbu, yatsuhashi, kinako mochi, momiji tempura, hi-chew, Tokyo Banana and Black Thunder chocolate. Some of these things were specifically requested and some of things were seasonal and I thought would be good to try. This picture is extremely poorly lit, but I unpacked and laid out the items as the sun was setting and then quickly distributed them to the intended recipients and couldn't wait until I had better lighting, sorry! Kind of sad in comparison to my omiyage haul from summer.
DisneySea ShellieMay pouch
I mentioned this in my Day 1 blog post,
but I purchased this ShellieMay pouch from the McDuck's store at
DisneySea pretty much at the very end of the night, just about an hour
before we left the park lol. It was pretty frivolous at that point since
I don't know where or when I will use it outside of a Disney Park, but I
hadn't purchased anything else for myself at that point and I wanted
just a little something special that was specific to DisneySea. I had
seen many other park guests with this and the Duffy and Gelatoni
versions throughout the day, and I knew I wanted a Duffy or ShellieMay
product to take home, so I wish I had just decided on it earlier lol.
Magazines and laundry bags
I purchased the magazines from the small book store in Shinagawa station on Day 6. I knew I wanted to get the newest issue of Larme and one other magazine but I had a hard time deciding. I ended up picking Seventeen because it's the magazine that I have the most of at home from previous visits or gifts lol. A selection of pages/spreads were scanned and posted here for personal use!
The laundry bags are from Daiso but I honestly can't remember which day or which Daiso location. For this trip, I kept very good track of my receipts and finances but did a terrible job of taking a photo of what I bought each day (many days not even taking a shopping items photo at all lol). Most of the Daiso locations have this type of mesh laundry bag anyway. I already own quite a few, but whenever I come back from a trip, I need to use a lot of them if I want to wash everything at once and they don't last forever, so I picked up a couple more because they're cheap anyway lol.
Kaiyukan whale shark pouch
I purchased this little whale shark pouch from Kaiyukan on Day 5. I really wanted something for myself as a small souvenir for visiting (my fourth time wtf) but didn't want it to take up valuable real estate in my suitcase. This pouch was the perfect solution because it could hang on the outside if I needed it to and also encompass small fragile items if necessary. It similar in color and print to the whale shark plush I got during my last trip and they look super cute together lol.
Not the best trip haul, but I do really love the One Spo set which I could have only gotten (and worn) during this season and also the Samantha Thavasa purse which I really wouldn't have purchased if not for the lack of other items lol. Maybe not the best trade off considering I bought 19 different Liz Lisa pieces during my summer trip (in addition to other things) and about 19 pieces during my spring trip as well (in addition to other things). I suppose it's not a fair comparison because Liz Lisa was running at least some kind of sale during both prior trips which encourages me to shop more in general, but seriously this time I only bought three things from Liz Lisa! And the rest of the items can be counted on my fingers lol. It's a sad time for my Liz Lisa wardrobe but I guess my wallet is okay with it, and I did my best not to buy too many things just for the hell of it (barring the purse and charm in the last hour of the trip, but seriously without that purchase, my haul would be dismal lol). And I think this helped prove that I don't need to spend a lot of money on shopping or bring back a lot of things for myself in order for a trip to be worthwhile and fun. Although, of course that doesn't hurt! ;)
If only the damn shoes were in stock in size S! I could imagine shopping around that time being super difficult for you, but I still really like what you got. Also the whale shark is super cute!
If you look at the picture of the back of the skirt on the mannequin you can see how much shirring there is. It's not much compared to some other Liz Lisa skirts and I wouldn't consider this one especially stretchy although it does have some give.
I really like the OneSpo set - it's really Cher from Clueless inspired but I love that movie so it's okay. The Samantha Thavasa bag is so nice - the colour is cute. So glad the Liz Lisa Wardrobe Print OP worked so well for you - you look great in it ^^
If only the damn shoes were in stock in size S! I could imagine shopping around that time being super difficult for you, but I still really like what you got. Also the whale shark is super cute!
ReplyDeleteLol as soon as they went down a little bit, the stock went too. I paid full price anyway but I'm not complaining because I like them.
DeleteIs Liz Lisa Houndstooth check floral skirt is stretchy on the waist? I was thinking of buying it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the picture of the back of the skirt on the mannequin you can see how much shirring there is. It's not much compared to some other Liz Lisa skirts and I wouldn't consider this one especially stretchy although it does have some give.
DeleteI really like the OneSpo set - it's really Cher from Clueless inspired but I love that movie so it's okay. The Samantha Thavasa bag is so nice - the colour is cute. So glad the Liz Lisa Wardrobe Print OP worked so well for you - you look great in it ^^
ReplyDeleteNot very many items but still good I think! Thanks!
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