Liz Lisa x My Melody 10th collab vol 1 sweet cake OP

With all the success in the last several years, it's no surprise that Liz Lisa and Sanrio/My Melody decided to work together for another collaboration series! This 10th collab has 2 volumes releasing a few weeks apart. Volume 1 included a long sleeve sweet cake print OP (white, pink and a web/109-limited red color), fluffy iPhone 6 case, sweet cake print boston bag, character charm and character pouchette.
I brace myself for the My Melody collaborations every half year, but usually I can skip out on the winter release because it's long sleeve. I've been getting suckered in a lot lately by just convincing myself it's better to buy it and see rather than regret it and that's how I found myself frantically refreshing the website at midnight.

Recently Tokyo Kawaii Life has been offering pre-orders of the MM collab items because the actual release is such a blood bath. Well the pre-order release is just as much of a bloodbath usually.
Just for posterity, but I'm sure no one else is going to find this interesting, I woke up a 1/2 hour before the estimated release time and tried to get to the TKL website from my laptop. It wouldn't load. Refresh refresh refresh. It won't load. That was using Firefox so I switch to Chrome. It won't load. I go to my phone and use Safari. It won't load. I go to my parent's MAC and try Safari. It won't load. I try other websites (gmail, google, facebook) and they all work. I try other Japanese websites and they all work. Meanwhile I'm freaking out and wasting precious minutes. I log out of the wifi on my phone and try again - the website loads. But here's the catch - I'm really close to my data limit for the month and there's still several days left in the billing period, and I really don't want to pay overage fees for this since it's a long sleeve dress anyway. I keep trying all my other options and nothing is working and the minutes are counting down.
I decide to bite the bullet and just switch to data since it's clearly something on my home network that's blocking the website. I really don't prefer to do the refreshing on my phone usually bc my laptop is much faster. But in any case, I see the items release and I go for the OP immediately. First choice - red. And I also try and click on the pink OP at the same time. When my cart finally loads, only the pink is in there with some error that I can't translate quick enough. Thinking there's a limit, between the two, I'd rather have red so I dump out the pink and then try and add red. It still won't go. So I hurriedly (and luckily) add back the pink and check out. Not my first choice but I did like all three colors for this collab, so I'm not disappointed.

 Liz Lisa x My Melody sweet cake OP in pink (162-6031-0)
☆LIZ LISA×My Melody☆スイートケーキ柄ワンピース

At first I wasn't all that convinced about this OP. The little ruffle bib seemed to be borrowed from the spring 9th collab and the rectangular collar reminded me a lot of the book OP from a few years ago. Ofc the print layout is quite like many Liz Lisa items in the past and I much prefer this type of hem heavy detail personally (versus a uniformly scattered pattern without a focal point). That being said, all of these elements aren't a bad thing and I'm used to seeing a similar silhouette/designed dress year after year from Liz Lisa with a slightly different print, however, I just wasn't ecstatic. Of course, as time went on and I saw more and more promotional images of it, it grew on me and I figured there wasn't any particular point is missing out just trying to get it (there's no guarantee with online sales as most of you know). As luck would have it, I was able to get pink!

with Liz Lisa 3D flower pumps + Samantha Thavasa bag -

with Liz Lisa pom pom pumps and Liz Lisa pom pom earrings + Liz Lisa peplum cardigan and Liz Lisa My Melody mook vol 1 tote -

with Liz Lisa flower applique beret and Liz Lisa pom pom boots + Liz Lisa fur collar cardigan and Samantha Thavasa purse -

  + Malco Modes Angela petticoat (15" length)

with Liz Lisa (pom pom) pumps, One Spo triangle pom pom earrings + Liz Lisa x My Melody 2016 fukubukuro coat -

The fit is a lot better than I expected it to be and it feels really nice when worn. I think the sleeve length and the dress length are both great and the ribbon tie helps accentuate the waist. The pink color pairs so well with white accessories and outers for a sweet look. This is also my first time trying out my Malco Modes petticoat under a dress for photos and it works quite well in this situation IMO, although the poof might be a little too exaggerated for IRL wear. Overall, I'm really quite happy with this!

Even though I was originally aiming for the red limited color (because...limited color and red was quite popular this past year), I'm really, really, really happy with pink. It's not "super special" in the same way the red is but I think it matches with what I already own a bit better in color scheme. It will also be easier to incorporate into a trip wardrobe line-up which is what is truly important to me considering I will likely be looking to wear it when I go on vacation during colder weather rather than wearing it at home in Hawaii much. Since I typically only bring 2 pairs of footwear with me when I travel, it's best for all items to match the same color scheme so I don't need to bring a specialty pair.