OOTD: Sunday Hearts and Horses

I went out to the mall with my family (from my Mother's side) last Sunday (May 26, 2013) and yep, you guessed it! I was the only one from our pack sticking out like a sore thumb hahaha! 

Blurry pixel-y photo sorry! Ipod's camera is sucky D:

With my short copper-colored hair, I wore a purple polo blouse that had these weird galloping horse prints from Odille, a spiked cuff from Dark Sweet Soul, a pair of denim tattered shorts, a pair of tattoo tights that had "tattoo hearts" above the faux thigh socks parts (baaah I don't know how to explain it) from my online shop, Tofu's Ulzzang Shoppe, a small black Prada backpack, and a pair of maroon creepers from New Look SG (which you can buy at a much much much cheaper price in Taobao, btw).

Oh and here's a bonus: a photo of me with my sister who doesn't look like she's my sister at all! :D

Taobao Mini Wishlist #1

Taobao is the Chinese equivalent of Ebay. While Ebay caters to almost everyone in the whole wide world, Taobao on the other hand likes to keep itself to its motherland, China. It doesn't have an English version and majority of the sellers there accept the Chinese version of Paypal which is AliPay (aside from accepting deposits to their Chinese bank accounts). People who don't live in China still have other options if they really want to buy from Taobao (like me!!). You can use a reliable Taobao agent to buy the items for you.

Why is Taobao trendy these days? It's because they sell China-made stuff at DIRT-CHEAP PRICES. If you buy the same China-made stuff in your country or other countries, they jack up the prices, sometimes outlandishly.

Anyway, I will be featuring items from Taobao which I plan on buying within the next few months once I have extra moolah~ >w<

Green Dolly Platform Shoes

Price: 34CNY (5.54USD/230php)

Colors: Green, Pink, Beige, Black

You can check the listing HERE. 

Kyaaaaaaaaaan I want all colors! o>w<o 

Red Kitty Platform Shoes

Price: 59CNY (9.62USD/395.70php)

Colors: Black, Red, Green

You can check the listing HERE. 

I really want a pair of red kitty platforms ^3^

Apricot Bow Platform Shoes

Price: 50CNY (8.15USD/336php)

Colors: Blue, Apricot, Pink

You can check the listing HERE. 

I'm torn between apricot and pink </3

Avant Garde Paper Lashes

Price: 12CNY (1.96USD/80.48php)

You can check the listing HERE. 

I want a pair for my creative photography shoots O:

Green Peter Pan Collared Blouse

Price: 23.75CNY (3.87USD/159.29php)

Colors: Green and White

You can check the listing HERE.

Blue Sailor Mori Dress

Price: 79CNY (12.88USD/529.33php)

You can check the listing HERE.

This one is pricey but I really want it ;^;

Grey Laced Sleevless Mori Dress

Price: 79CNY (12.88USD/529.33php)

You can check the listing HERE. 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH THIS JUST SCREAMS "BUY ME!!!!" TO ME DX

That about wraps up my mini wishlist AKA selfish material wants. >_>

By the way, if you don't know how to use taobao, you can google how; there're tons of tutorials on the internet now teaching you how to navigate taobao on your own.

My recommended taobao agents?

• Taobaoring
• Pruany

Both are okay but be aware of slight chances of miscommunication. They're based in China, all customer representatives are not too fluent with English and sometimes they will annoy the hell out of you because they will do stuff without your reply to finish the orders faster (but that happens once in a blue moon only though).

Looking for fashion related stuff in Taobao? Leave a comment and maybe I can help you. ^_^

Defrizzing and Detangling a Wig

Note: THIS IS MY FIRST TIME TO FIX A FRIZZY AND TANGLED WIG BY MYSELF.

It took me 3 days to get the wig to its condition now (which is 75% back to perfect condition).

Look at that tangle monster ;A;

I actually got the wig from a trade and boy, was I in for a big surprise! I didn't have extra cha-ching to spend on hiring someone to fix the wig for me since it's summer and all, so I decided I'd try to fix it by myself and prayed to all the Gods I could call out to that I don't ruin it even more!

What I used:

• Bowl/Bucket
• Water
• Fabric Conditioner
• Hairclips
• Lotion
• Spray bottle
• metal toothed comb
• wig brush
• hair iron

What I did:

1. I flipped the wig, lace cap seen outside, and dipped the wig in a big bowl (i have no extra buckets, i used a big fish bowl XD)  filled with at least 500-600mL water mixed with 1 cup fabric conditioner
2. Let it stay for 3-5 days (people recommend 5 days; I let mine sit in the bowl for 3 days only since I was getting grumpy haha)
3. Take it out, hang the wig and leave it to air-dry for the next 12 hours or so
4. Make your homemade wig conditioner! It can either be the 1/6 lotion (any kind) + 5/6 water or you can just use what's left over of the water+fabric conditioner concoction you used to dip the wig in
5. Get your hair straightener, turn it on and set it to the lowest possible temperature, leave it for a few minutes to heat up (but keep an eye on it PLEASE)
6. Start spritzing the wig with your wig conditioner and slowly finger comb it from the bottom going up to the crown of the wig
7. Spritz with wig conditioner again and slowly and gently comb it with the metal toothed comb (or any large-toothed comb you have) from the bottom going up. Once you're done detangling, you can start defrizzing the frizzed up parts
8. Time to section the wig! Separate the wig fibers into 3 major parts using the hair clips: BOTTOM, MIDDLE, TOP; start with the bottom and start doing little sections
9. Spritz the wig with wig conditoner and with a quick and light movement, slide the hair iron starting from the part you spritzed with conditioner down to the tip. Make sure to do this with the frizzy parts! You'll know if you're doing it right when you hear the hair iron hiss when it touches the wig fibers and the frizzy fibers straighten
10. Do this until you reach the top part and leave the wig to dry
11. Use the wig brush and slowly brush the wig from bottom to top
12. You're done!

I was only focusing on the frizzy parts, so the wig not being straight-straight-straight wasn't much of an issue. The wig was supposed to be curly/wavy in the first place.

It's still mediocre but at least the wig's back in good condition! XD

WIG REVIEW! TSN, VRC, Kyouko brands

Yep, I am not a stranger to wigs. Wanna see me wearing wigs? Hahaha! XP

(WARNING: Photo-heavy post)

During a promotional shoot for my shop~

Meh. Just bored at home.

Just... alskddhslkfhalhr;L

OKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Enough of my face. Let's continue with the review.

I will be reviewing 3 different wig brands in one post. Why? I'm too lazy to create one post for each brand. I mean, I have to think of sassy awesome lines for you to read so you won't get bored. You know it's true!

I will be reviewing 3 wig brands, namely, VRC, Kyouko and TSN. For VRC, I have a 100cm black wig; for Kyouko, I have a 60cm 3-toned fashion wig; and for TSN, a 100cm grey wig.

Because I'm awesome, I give you photos! XD

lookie teh colorzhzhz~

FIRST WIG BRAND: VRC

VRC stands for VOGUE ROYAL COSPLAY. This brand is based in the Philippines. It has the same supplier as Alice/Ywailisi from taobao. They offer wigs that are good for cosplay, gyaru, harajuku, lolita and ulzzang. They also sell Lolita and Punk apparel.

 Here's a collage of the stock photo with close-up photos I personally took of the 100cm black wig; 2nd photo without flash, 3rd photo with flash.

Vogue Royal Cosplay 100cm Black Wig

Softness: 8.5/10
Thickness: 6.5/10
Anti-shine: 8/10 (LOL I don't know what word to use. I'm actually rating it's non-shiny-ness)
Manageability: 9/10

Overall Quality:  8/10

Comments:

• The first thing I noticed was how not-so-thick the wig was. It's not thick but it's enough to cover the lace net inside. Plus a super long wig with average thickness can be more manageable than a thicker one. 
• It's shiny but not SUPER shiny; like, commercial shampoo and conditioner shiny. I mean, it's black so I guess it's supposed to give off a natural kind of shine. If it wasn't shiny, people would say your hair/wig is dead lol!
• They said it was 100cm. It's only 95cm actually (I MEASURED IT!!!). :)))))
• The wig looks thicker in the stock photo
• The wig is cheap and affordable. Normally, very long wigs tend to reach around 1,500+php (35+USD) but I bought this one for 950php only ^3^
• Customer Service is good, they respond very quickly and they ship items ASAP.
• Anyhoo, I like VRC hahaha! ^_________________^b

If you want to check VRC out, you can take a look at their available designs at Vogue Royal Cosplay.

SECOND WIG BRAND: KYOUKO

Kyouko is a budding wig shop in taobao. It currently offers harajuku and lolita wigs and is slowly adding more cosplay wigs to their list of for sale items.

Here's a collage of the 60cm 3-toned wig's stock photo and the close-up photos i personally took; 3rd photo without flash, 4th photo with flash.

Kyouko 60cm 3-toned Harajuku Wig

Softness: 9/10

Thickness: 8/10

Anti-shine: 7.5/10 (LOL I don't know what word to use. I'm actually rating it's non-shiny-ness)

Manageability: 9/10

Overall Quality:  8.4/10

Comments:

• First and foremost, they don't accept paypal payments. Well, they did, for me because I insisted. But that was a HUGE mistake on my part because the transaction was such a hassle. I had to wait for more than two months to get my wigs from them (because they kept moving the date of shipment) and one of the wigs was out of stock (which I didn't know about until the package arrived). They can't speak English and I kept relying on google's Chinese translator.
• The wig's bangs part has less of the blonde fibers and more of the brown (yes, i'm particular with stock photo designs hahahaha! I want to get what I paid for; who doesn't right?)
• Fortunately, it's soft!
• It looks very natural in natural lighting but it has the HQ wig shine when it's hit with flash and when it's hit with indoor lighting at night :<
• The price for this wig is around 1400php (33USD), international shipping and tax included. 
• I'd still want to buy another wig from Kyouko but I think I'll stick to buying via taobao agent instead of personally going thru a transaction with them again.

Check out their Taobao Shop, Kyouko Wigs.

THIRD WIG BRAND: TSN

TSN stands for The Second Nachname. For Spongebob's sake, what does Nachname mean??? Is this some kind of german word for something sweet? I don't get the brand name. Because I am a technical freak, I googled it and YES IT IS GERMAN! It's German for "surname/last name." THE SECOND LAST NAME. So it's your middle name. I still don't get it. They mostly offer cosplay wigs, wig tools and a few small cosplay props. Anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, here's the stock photo of the wig I recently and personally bought from them and close-up photos I took; 2nd photo without flash, 3rd photo, with flash.

TSN 100cm Grey Wig

Softness: 7.5/10
Thickness: 9/10
Anti-shine: 9/10 (LOL I don't know what word to use. I'm actually rating it's non-shiny-ness)
Manageability: 8/10

Overall Quality:  8.4/10

Comments:

• THE COLOR. I DON'T KNOW IF THEY SENT ME THE WRONG COLOR OR THE STOCK PHOTO IS JUST TOO CONTRASTED. I know, I know, there's what you call "different monitor settings" but man. The one that arrived is just a tad too light than the one in the stock photo. It's more of a silver-white rather than a silver-grey. Not what I expected. SAD.
• It's VERY thick. Seriously. It weighed about 1.1kg and I had to pay for shipment which was almost the same price as the wig.
• It's not shiny at all! Well, except when you point your camera's flash closely at the fibers then it would show shiny-ness.
• You can comb it easily however, I'm having a bit of trouble because it's really long and really thick.
• It's not as soft as the other brands. ;3;
• It's not 100cm. It's 105cm! (YES, I MEASURED THIS ONE TOO) :)))
• Customer service representative was nice and helpful. ^u^ Oh and they accept direct paypal payments! Hooray! \^_____________^/
• The price. Ugh. This brand is expensive but the quality is worth the price though (and it may have been expensive because I paid for express shipping for 1 wig only). It cost me around 1,900php (45USD) for just ONE wig, shipping and tax included. But then again, local resellers of this brand place this at the 2200php-2600php (52-62USD) price range.

If you wanna check their wigs out, you can visit their Taobao shop, The Second Nachname.

WOOT! This post is alarmingly long. ;A; I hope I helped you guys in one way or two with this mashed-up reviews of VRC, TSN and Kyouko wigs!