San Francisco Adventure

Yesterday was amazing for quite a few reasons and I am quite sure I will remember this day for a while. Would you like me to share why? Yeah, well, even if you don't, here goes:

Thursday night, I was on Facebook and noticed someone posted that MAC Lightscapade was already sold out on Nordstrom, MACcostmetics and everywhere else and that it's on backorder and blah-blah-blah. I didn't even know they were re-releasing Lightscapade, as I have not been following their releases for a while because of work. But Lightscapade is so cool and pretty! So I went off to Nordstrom's website and they had an option to see if any stores around still had it in stock. So I enter my zip code, and Stanford shopping center has one! So I put it on hold, pay for it and hope that it really is there.

Next morning, I receive a call that they are waiting for me to pick it up at any time! So before going off to San Francisco to hang out with a friend of mine, I stopped by Nordstrom and picked it up *excited*

The veining on it is great. I love it - it's nice and shiny:



So like I mentioned before, I was on my way to meet a friend in San Francisco (someone I worked with, but after we quit, I hadn't seen since). We decided to meet up in Japantown, because both of us are in love with cute and awesome things. Also, we have not been in J-town for quite a while, so YAY! First thing we did after eating lunch is PikaPika fun times. We ended up picking a glitter-background machine and it was super cute:



Of course, after we got hungry again, we went off to Sophie's Crepes and got some delicious dessert! I got the kiwi and Nutella and my friend got strawberry and Nutella. Both were so delish! I wish ice cream did not make my teeth hurt so much, otherwise I would also add ice cream!



That's Tina, taking photo of our PikaPika photos (yo dawg, I heard you like photos...) to post on FB.



you know, I haven't really ever gotten the hang of taking photos of myself with my arm stretched out (as in...I constantly get a wrong angle and end up cutting off someone's head...), but Tina has gotten it down to a science, so here's the two of us :3



This is taken at the New People building. It's pretty neat, I've never been and it's quite a clean building, I love it. This sign made me happy. If you don't know why, this meme may help you understand my crazy.



Another big reason for going to San Francisco today was my appointment at Asako's Nail Art House for a CalGel nail art set. I've been contemplating going to get my nails done by her, but since it is in SF and you need an appointment quite a while in advance, I decided that I will just compile a lot of things into one day whenever I end up going.

For a while now, I've been taking care of my nails, mostly as an experiment on a few products and trying to get them all stronger and longer. Judge for yourself:



And this is where trouble comes in. The Nail Art House is in the same place as Baby The Stars Shine Bright. I've semi-purposefully avoided visiting it, because I knew that just a touch of the clothes would make me want them. I was right. Sort of.

I saw it. A JSK (Jumper-Skirt) from the Night Fairy Fantasia collection. In a beautiful 'Cloudy Sky' color (brown x ivory). It was on a rack near the entrance, away from rest of the frilly things and next to a mannequin dressed in a teal dress.

It was beautiful, it was perfect, not too frilly, quite classy, and $295. GACK!
Okay, breathe. It's fine. You don't need it. Not like you wear that stuff anyway...right?

Wrong. I put it on hold, as I was going to come back in a few hours to get my nails done, so I was going to think about it.

After taking my time to think about it and weighing pros and cons, I ended up buying it. I'll pay off the credit card eventually *sigh*

Another great thing about the shopping experience is that the shop girl was super nice. She's not only knowledgeable in the product, but also passionate about the brand. If we did have the same sort of thing here as they do in Japan (where the shop girls for such big brands are somewhat of idols), I am sure she'd be great at it! We got to gossip and talk about the brand, other Lolita brands and just random chit-chat. Yay for making friends! She also has a blog, so check it out if you'd like~

I love the way she packaged everything, too. Reminds me of being back in Japan.
The classy black shopping bag, with a beautifully printed logo, and a little tie to keep the bag closed up together:



I had a choice: whether I wanted a black or a white tie. I chose the black one, because it matches the bag so well. Could totally use this baby on jewelry. So much love~



Half-open bag, with beautifully wrapped dress in tissue paper. Dark blue, matching the theme of the line. Meticulously wrapped:



A few small things tucked in carefully in the tissue paper folds. Business card, Alice and the Pirates sticker, and a frequent buyer-type thing card.



My photo of the dress did not turn out as beautiful as I wanted it to, because of the light, so I took this one of the BtSSB website. A total beauty *squee* It really makes me think of Steampunk things. Well, kind of. I realize that Steampunk is not anywhere close to this, but the colors make me happy just looking at it.



This is the dress, carefully unpackaged, but still folded up. I really did not want to un-fold it. It looks so nice that I want to preserve it forever. *freak*



See why I did not use my photo to show off the full glory of the dress? My photo is not nearly as amazing as the official one. But still - I want to take a photo of it before I actually wear it.



And this is the back. The laces on the back are nice, too. Although I may need someone at all times to lace up the back. So much detailing.



This is the lace front. That's probably the biggest frilly part on this, which is quite a little amount compared to rest of the dresses. It makes me happy - kind of classy, no?



The bow is removable, so I can make it as frilly or un-frilly as I want. The shop girl suggested that I can use it as a head bow when not using it on the dress front. That's pretty sneaky!



The ties on the back are connected to the sides with plastic stars:



Bottom detailing. Looks like ivory roses. Very subtle!



Small amount of gold trim makes the dress magical, which goes with the Peter Pan theme and the little Tinker Bells on the print.



Even after thinking about it for a long time after the purchase, I really don't regret it. I am glad I did not spontaneously purchase it as soon as I saw it. I definitely needed the few hours to process it, but I do not regret the purchase. I will need to make a petticoat for it, though. And a blouse. And some accessories. I am thinking it will become my project - make/coordinate at least five full outfits with this, which will make for a fun and creative spending of my time!

Okay, enough about the dress. After my nail appointment, I rushed over to a friend's house for a party in honor of two of our other friends' birthdays. Although party was fun and remember-worthy, it's not something I am going to talk about ;p *tease*

And here ends my long and picture-heavy post
Until next time,
Frowne