♡~Tips on Starting a New Wardrobe!~♡

Hello everyone! Today, this blogpost is basically an update of a blog post that I wrote about 2 years ago (that I have since deleted!). I'm going to give a few tips about how to start a new wardrobe if you want to change around your clothing style, add onto it, or completely do away with your current style for a new one! All of these tips are my personal opinion and you can absolutely add onto it or take away whatever you please c: I hope you like it!

Now the first topic that I think is important is what you can do, or what you want to do with your current clothing/closet! Personally, I tried to pick and choose through what I had to see if it could be used with the clothing style that I wanted! For example, if I had a navy blue cable knit sweater and I wanted to dress in a more simplistic, princess-y style I would most likely donate or try to sell the sweater because the color doesn't really match well with the style that I want (for example, white, creams, beiges, pinks, pastels, etc.)! I sell my gently used clothing items on my Storenvy here! If you do make a purchase, please only pay by Paypal c:

COLORS ARE IMPORTANT 

While it's easy to just pick and choose clothes that you like even though they don't fit into the same style category, (if you do this do your thing c:!!) sometimes it's always easier to know what colors that you wanna wear and that you like to wear to better visualize the style you want! Fashion inspiration sets and/or people really help!

BASICS ARE GREAT

Getting the basics of your wardrobe down is always the best thing you could do to start a revamp of your style! Basics are usually quite cheap and easily found in many different clothing stores!

Basic wardrobe items are the best things to build up, in my opinion, when you're starting a new wardrobe/style! Simple colored tops, cardigans, or skirts are great items to make more than one outfit.

♥ Cardigans & Sweaters
My mother always tells me that you can never have enough cardigans, and I take that advice to heart! Cardigans are easy to find, come in various colors, styles, and thicknesses! I usually wear a cardigan anytime I wear a dress with straps, no matter the weather because I can easily take it off if need be! 

This is my favorite cardigan because it's a neutral color, goes with many dresses/outfits, the style is super cute, and it's not too thin or too thick! It can be worn all year round~ ♡ 

♥ Skirts

All of the skirts pictured above are from American Apparel! They're really versatile and they come in a lot of different colors and fabrics, denim and corduroy beings the two I have! They're a bit pricey, but some can be found on AA's big sales every once in a while (that's how I got the mint one~!) or bought preowned from other people on selling apps like Depop (I use this!), Vinted, Storenvy, etc.  

♥ Tops

Above are some examples of simple tops that you can use for a myriad of outfits also! T-shirts, long sleeve shirts, and crop tops are some of my favorites! Cute prints and styles are things to pay attention to when buying cute basics c: 

Also, I love buying t-shirts just for lounging around in or for my lazy days! I have a lot in black and white, but some can easily be worn with my skirts and a cardigan! I find some of these shirts just as versatile as my skirts ♥

♥ Blouses 

Blouses are tops that seem more flow-y and can be worn during more formal occasions, job interviews, or casually! These are the clothing items I have the least amount of, but I'm doing my best to build them up! I mostly get white blouses so they can match with any of my skirts! 

♥ Dresses

My favorite items to wear are dresses! Since my style is pretty light-colored, I only have a few dark dresses, but I'm starting to incorporate monochrome combinations into my style since it's pretty simple!~ It's easier than I thought it would be! Anyway, dresses are super easy to dress up or down, and some can be super comfortable! ♥

♥ Bags

I don't have many bags or purses, but the ones that I do have are neutral so they can match with lots of outfits! I really want a pink or lavender purse, but I'll get one eventually! 

♥ Shoes

(sorry about my dog being in the photo, he refused to leave haha!)

Shoes are the most important part of an outfit, besides the outfit itself! If you don't have shoes to match an outfit, sometimes it can be harder to make an outfit look better! Shoes make or break an outfit, in my opinion. I try not to go overboard on buying shoes because sometimes it could be a waste of money if there's nothing to match it with! 

So if I like a pair of shoes, I try to make up at least 3 outfits in my mind from my closet to match them with. If I can't really make a match, then I hold off on buying them. 

My favorite places to shop are listed below and I'll be sure to link them and give a short description as well!

American Apparel: The basics are really nice here, but can be pricey! I really recommend the skirts I talked about above, but you could find cheaper, good quality basics elsewhere ♥ 
ASOS: I like getting shoes here, especially on sale! Items are reasonably priced here and you can get all sorts of things!
Taobao: I'd recommend this if you want to buy in bulk and if you have experience buying from here! I have a tutorial on how to shop on Taobao on my blog if you wanna give it a try c: 
Forever 21: This is an ok place to get some basics to start off with, but quality can be subpar and I don't like shopping here unless the items are really cute! There are some cheap, cute clothing items here, but some items can be priced more than I believe they should be worth. 
Aliexpress: I love shopping here very much for clothes and shoes, but especially for American Apparel dupes (blog post coming soon!!!!). This is similar to eBay, but most of the prices are closer to Taobao pricing (which is super cheap) than eBay is! Pay close attention to feedback/reviews like eBay and it's smooth sailing ♥
Dollskill: This has a good selection of different clothing styles! And it divides them up by the clothing style you like! (I just hit up the 'Coco' style tab!) Some items can be very expensive, so I just usually roam the clearance! They frequently have sales and I haven't shopped with them for a while since my style has become more subdued honestly, but it's still fun to look around ♥
Modcloth: I really love Modcloth!! It's a more vintage online shop, but some of the items are super adorable and simple! It takes some look throughs since some items are more expensive than others, but you can sometimes find really cute deals on here c: I got my black and light pink collared dresses (pictured above) from Modcloth a few years ago! 
Storenvy/Depop: These stores/online shopping platforms take some serious look throughs, honestly. If you're fairly confident in your search skills and don't mind buying preowned (and sometimes new) clothing (which I don't mind sometimes!) online shopping apps and platforms would be the best for you! You can sometimes find hidden gems! I found my beige cardigan (the one I called my favorite above) from a seller on Storenvy for less than half the original retail price! I'd wanted it for 2 years before and it sold out before I could get it so I was extremely lucky to have gotten it on Storenvy! ♥ 
eBay: I also shop on eBay for clothing or shoes! eBay sells a lot of different items, but I love looking for shoes on here because I find Chinese shoes more adorable than shoe stores around me (girly styles and bows are KO's for me let me be honest)! You can also find basics on this site to start you off with! HERE is an eBay seller who's main goal is pretty much selling clothing basics like crop tops, long sleeve shirts, cardigans, etc. ♥ I've purchased from them before and they were really quick with shipping and I got my package really fast c: ♥

Cotton On: This is a really good store for basics also! Most of the style (in my opinion) is very simplistic and there's a lot of denim here, along with simple patterned tops and dresses c: I've shopped here once before and it was really nice! The clearance prices are pretty decent and I'm eyeing a dress in there now!~

H&M: I love online browsing on H&M's site, especially since I don't have a physical store near me! When I browse I like to use the filter to look through clothes only with a specific color (and I always choose white and pink). Most of the clothes are very reasonably priced and they have lots of good items in their sale/clearance! I already have 3 dresses in my cart that I'm waiting to purchase ♥

Of course, you can always shop around at your local stores! I don't do this very often because I don't have many stores tailored to my style needs, but you might have more stores than I do locally! 

This is the end of my post and I really hope it was helpful to you a little bit! I'm sorry if you found it to be very selective, but this is mostly coming from my own style, opinion, and closet! ;w; 

If you have any questions feel free to send them here or leave it down below! ♥

Thank you for reading!!  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Cute D.I.Y. Dividers!

Hello!! Today's blog post is a do-it-yourself blog post! I've been trying to get more ideas on what to blog about (because I've had this blog for so long and don't wanna give up on it completely) and some of my wonderful Twitter followers/friends gave me ideas! More do-it-yourself blog posts was one of the things suggested, so here is today's blog post c:

I know not everyone uses a planner or has a binder planner/Filofax like I do, but I was so excited about making my own dividers for it I thought I should share this easy process just for future reference for anyone else c:

Like I told you in a previous blog post, this is the planner I purchased for myself! The Patent Filofax Pocket in Duck Egg Blue! 

I happened to come upon these adorable document holders in the Target dollar section! The mint green and white polka dot pattern is just so darling that I fell in love with it instantly! I looked around on the Internet to see if I was crazy to want to make my own cute dividers, but it turns out it's a really common thing! 

Personalization is so important!

Materials needed: 

-Planner/Binder stock dividers (optional)

-Single hole-punch (easy to find!) or 6-hole puncher (optional)

-Folders with a cute pattern

-Scissors

-Pencil

I tried to make sure I was using up as much space as I could make dividers because I didn't want to waste a single bit of it even though it was $1! This divider making process is much easier if you have the stock dividers that come with the planner or binder that you already have! If not, you can easily just manually measure everything yourself c:

Step 1: Taking the stock divider, try to line it up on the part of whatever folder or cute pattern you want to use! Using a PENCIL trace out the shape and also go back and trace in the hole punches! You'll need them for reference later!

Step 2: After tracing everything, cut out the outer shape! Try to get it as close to the line you drew with pencil as possible! Next, take a single hole-punch (or specialized 6-hole punch for planners, I bought mine here for pretty cheap!) and line it up with the traced circles! 

Make sure you're careful with the hole-punching!! 

Finally, you should be done with the first divider! You can do what I did and use the other stock dividers in order as bases for my new ones to go into my planner! It saves a lot of time and whatnot! 

Here's the end result: 

I'm getting super excited getting my planner all together to show you guys c: It's almost complete, but I'm still trying to decorate it and see what I like or don't like (page-wise) inside! When it's fully complete I'll be sure to write a more detailed blog post about everything!!

Like I said before this D.I.Y would be very easy!! I'm looking for more D.I.Y. ideas and hopefully I can find something cuter and more accessible for everyone another time c:

Thank you for reading and as always if you have any questions/comments leave them below or at my ask.fm!

First Taobao Order Pt. 4 : The Haul~!! (Pic Heavy) ♡ ♡ ♡

HOORAY!!! So the haul is finally here!! This is the end of my Taobao series!! I'm so excited!!~ 

What I'll do in this post

1) Talk about the package and how everything was packed inside~

2) The items and small reviews/outfit photos

3) Taobao order timeline/pricing

4) Shipping time and advice for what to choose!

5) 15-minute video haul overview!! (wow so amaze my first video oh)

Ok first things first: the package! Bhiner had a few options that you could do for the package! One of my favorites was about the shoes! Bhiner tries to packages everything in as small a package they can, and to help make the shipping cheaper for you they have a checkbox that you can choose so you can just add your shoes (if you order any) WITHOUT the shoe box! I chose that and I'm sure it made my package lighter and in turn it made shipping cheaper :3

The package came to me on March 19th and I signed for it! This is the package box unopened c:~ It was a nice size!!

After I opened it I laid out all my items c:~

Since I opted out of the shoe boxes, Bhiner placed my shoes in super thing bags and added them in the box with my package c: if you wanted to know my package was 2 kg!! (roughly 4.4 lbs)~

NOW ON TO THE REVIEW/PIC HEAVY PART OF THE POST!!! :-)

The first thing I opened up was my American Apparel Cities bag replica! Obviously, it's not the actual American Apparel one! It's $36 on AA's site, but I got mine for around $6-7!! c:

AA Cities Bag Replica

The bag had two different sets of cities on each side, but it didn't bother me at all! I have no idea if the original has it this way, but I prefer it with two different sets c: 

The entire bag is a heavy, thick canvas along with the strap which I was extremely hopeful for! There were no loose threads and the strap is a good length (around 15 in/38 cm) and the bag itself is pretty deep!

All in all I give this bag a 5/5. 

Sailor Moon Case // Pompom Purin Case

The next two items I opened up were my iPhone 4S cases! They were both from the same seller and after finding the Sailor Moon case I've been wanting since I spotted it on JList (for $22, crazy right?) I found a Purin case!! The Sailor Moon case is a knockoff of the official release! It was a little less than $5, while the Purin case was around $4! 

The print on the SM case is pretty nice and I'm extremely happy with it! Here it is on my phone!

There's not much to say about either of these cases! They're pretty good quality and cheap! The seller did include a few extras like screen protectors and home button buttons c:~

I happily give these cases a 5/5!!

AA Polka Dot Crop Top Replica

The next item is one I've seen from some of my fellow bloggers who've shopped on Taobao! (Thank you babes Beckii & Kiyomi!!!) This top has GREAT quality for the price (which is around $5?)!! This is meant to be another American Apparel knockoff and the original is about $30! I am super happy I bought this since I've wanted it for around 2 years or so c:~ 

I bought a Large size because Chinese sizes tend to be smaller than US sizes! I suppose the equivalent size to this Chinese large is a Medium? No idea! But this fit me perfectly and was quite stretchy and thick!~

I was expecting this top to be thin and super long like the model's photo on the actual product page but it wasn't! It was the perfect length! (I got the shoes from Taobao too, I'm covering them in a bit :3)

I give this top a 5/5!!

The next two items were my white and pink blouses! They were super cute and a little less than $8 each!! The quality on each blouse was pretty good for the price, but the buttons are a bit wonky/loose? Easily fixed, but I might just change them into heart-shaped buttons altogether c:!! The blouses obviously came with a few extra buttons c: 

I bought a size Large in both blouses and the fit was nice! Wearing any sort of push-up bra made the buttons open up super easily, so I wore my simplest bra (a demi!) so it'd fit more comfortable/natural!~

 (my puppy in the background)

White/Pink Blouses

The shirts were quite wrinkly out of the bag but I didn't bother ironing them in the photos c:! 

I give these blouses a 4/5!! 

The next items I got were blue and pink gingham skirts!~ As you can see above there weren't any tags and it came with a sort of slip! I'm still gonna wear my safety shorts underneath them though! 

These skirts were pretty ok for the price that was paid for them (a little less the $10 each!) and the print was very, very cute! The band was elastic so it was easy to take off and put on, plus many sizes can wear them! The taobao product page has each size and sizing details to go along with it! I bought a size Large in each skirt! I could've bought mediums, but I didn't want the skirt to be too short!! 

 (yes, the shoes have wings, cute right?!?)

 (it was SO windy today!!!)

Pink/Blue Gingham Skirts

I loved the length of the skirts! They were super comfortable and they didn't hike up in the back much! They were also quite poofy by themselves! It was super windy today which is why they're so full, but they were plenty poofy alone c:~ 

I give these skirts a 4/5!!

The final item I got from Taobao were these Winged Cross Platforms! I've wanted them for a very long time but never got them because eBay sellers and Storenvy sellers tried to sell them for around $45 with $15 (or similar) shipping! These were on Taobao and I got them for less than $20 and I'm in love with them! c:

Winged Cross Platforms

The wings were kinda bent in from the trip but they were securely on otherwise and extremely adorable!

I wore them in the outfit photos above so go check them out and see them on c:! They are platforms so they were a bit heavy, but I have a few platform shoes already so it wasn't hard to get used to them c: 

I give these shoes a 5/5!!

Here's the video overview of all my items :3 sorry in advance for my awkwardness haha!

(if the video doesn't load for you please let me know!! i'll add a direct link to the video below!) ♡

Now it's time to break down the order timeline and price!

 February 28th: Added items to cart to get quoted (Bhiner asks seller if items are still in stock).

March 1st: All items confirmed quoted by Bhiner and moved to checkout cart. 

March 1st: Paid for items and domestic shipping

March 2nd-March 11th: Items arrived to Bhiner and they weighed it (2kg).

March 12th: Paid second payment (shipping to me)! I used EMS.

March 13th: Bhiner shipped my package and gave me tracking number.

March 19th: Package arrived!!!

That's a rundown of my entire Taobao order! Bhiner was a wonderful service and while the message replies were a bit slow at times, they were EXTREMELY fast when I messaged them on Skype c:~ My first experience with Taobao and a shopping agent was a complete success! 

My first payment was $88.23

My second payment was $53.38

____________________________

Total Taobao Order: $141.61

I would definitely recommend Bhiner as your shopping agent of choice! Their website was super easy and on Skype they were a wonderful help! I can't wait to shop on Taobao again c:

To learn how to also shop on Taobao using Bhiner I broke it down into a 3 part tutorial! Links are below :3

Part 1

Part 2 

Part 3

Taobao Haul Video Link

If you have any questions/comments/concern about my Taobao order or tutorial, please feel free to ask them here!! I would be happy to help you c:~

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Now selling some clothing from my closet for cheap!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Please leave comments about your favorite items or any questions c:~