Q-pot Cafe with Ada, Alice and Aviva

Hello dear readers, how are you?

Today I'm relaxing and doing housework, but yesterday I had a very fun day with some friends. We went to the Q-pot Cafe in Omotesando. 

Outside the cafe.

The Q-pot Cafe opened last year and it was my first time to visit it. It's a very popular place, but as we went on a Monday it was actually quite peaceful and we didn't have to wait to get a table.

Q-pot glass!

The staff are kind and let you freely take pictures inside. There was lots of cute merchandise and the decor was really nice too.

They only serve sweets, but they all looked so nice it was hard to choose! I ended up going for the one that wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing but seemed the most reliably tasty- strawberry jelly.

It's served on a plate depicting a fancy lady's torso so it seems like your dessert is the pendant of her necklace. I also had the Afternoon Breeze tea which was a kind of Earl Gray. It was really nice too!

Inside the cafe. Q-pots hanging from the ceiling!

The loos were tooth-themed for some reason; the design was cute but it made me feel guilty for eating sweets! Anyway the lighting was nice so I vainly snapped some pictures of myself....

I made the headdress myself. I wanted to wear a chocolate-y outfit to suit the occasion.

I got an outfit shot inside the cafe! I wish my house looked like this. Thanks to Aviva for taking the photo.

Headdress: Handmade

Lace collar blouse: Vintage

Jumperskirt: Innocent World

Others: Offbrand

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the pictures. See you next time!

Sapphira

Popteen x Cando Collaboration Lashes

Hello dear readers! How are you today?

Just a small post this time about a new range of false eyelashes I came across the other day.

I expect many of you will know the gal magazine Popteen. They recently produced a collection of false lashes, eyelid stickers and lash glue for 100yen shop Cando. That's the 100yen shop I most frequently visit since it's closest to my house!

There's lots and lots of different styles in the range, including top and bottom lashes, half type and full type. I decided to try out the half type lashes because that's my favourite style but I can seldom find much variety. These are styles 03 and 04.

The lavender on the left is 04, the yellow on the right 03.

I've yet to try 03, but here are the results of 04 (top left is before putting lashes):

In spite of being half-type they are actually quite huge, and I felt a bit self-consious of them when I went out. Having said that the actual sensation of wearing them is comfortable because they are on a clear, flexible band and the lash hairs are soft and feathery. They do have a really nice impact in photos (in my opinion anyway) so maybe I will keep them for photoshoots and big meetups.

As for the quality, obviously it's not fantastic but for 105yen it's fine. I have a lot of those Daiso lashes that come in pink boxes and I think the quality of those is kind of better in that they are sturdier and shed less fibres, plus they come with glue and I think the Popteen ones didn't. I use a different glue anyway so it doesn't make a difference to me but it's worth noting. 

However, I really prefer the style and variety of the Popteen ones. Although the quality is lower they mimic the look of more expensive eyelash brands with cute and imaginative styling and matte, natural looking lash fibres. 

 I'll show you the other pair next time, they are smaller so I think I'll prefer them. Do give this range a go if you see it, these lashes are definitely worth a try!

Nikko

Hello dear readers! How are you?

Today I will show you photos from my trip to Nikko last year. I went in early November, so the autumn colours were out and it was very beautiful.

We went only for the day, travelling from Tokyo, but we maganed to see a few different things. 

The first place we went is the usual place where tourists go, which is Toshogu.

It's a Shinto shrine dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. We learned a lot about him from the tour guide on this day!

The buildings are highly decorated and detailed with bright colours and lots of gilding. It was certainly impressive, but also suprising to see this kind of decoration in Japan where the temples and shrines are usually so peaceful and simple-looking.

The was also a huge torii gate made of metal! Very unusual.

My favourite thing I saw was this cat that was sculpted as if it had just jumped over the fence:

My cat at home looks the same when she jumps awkwardly off the window sill! 

We also visited the former imperial summer palace, which is a beautiful wooden structure. Personally I prefer this to the fancy shrine buildings, as pretty as they were.

The only thing was, it was freezing! Must be nice in the hot summer though.

One of the displays in the palace was a pair of life-size dolls of an Emperor and Empress dressed in Heian era clothes.

They were really fun to look at! They had put false eyelashes on the Emperor as well as the Empress so he looked very pretty too. I won't post his photo because it didn't come out so well, sorry!

One last picture of the palace garden:

I hope you enjoyed the photos! Nikko is a very unique place so I hope you'll have a chance to visit some day.

See you next time,

Sapphira

横浜人形の家 Yokohama Doll Museum

Hello dear readers! How are you?

Today I'm going to share some photos from my visit to the Yokohama Doll Museum. I found out about it by chance wandering around Yokohama one year ago, but on that occasion it was closed! I'm glad I managed to make it back there in a day it was actually open.

First of all, here's my outfit:

Headbow: Ange

Cutsew: axes femme

Jumperskirt: Innocent World

Bag: Metamorphose

Others: Offbrand

My petticoat looks so flat again! It seemed fine in the morning....

I feel like this outfit is a bit different from my usual style, perhaps the colour combination and the cardigan? But I'm pleased with how it turned out! 

Being a port, Yokohama has an interesting history of cultural exchange with foreign countries. The first exhibit we came across was a doll illustrating a sad little story from Yokohama's history- the little girl with red shoes. 

She was a girl from Shizuoka whose mother gave her to be adopted by American missionaries, thinking this was the best thing for her. They took her to Yokohama in order to travel overseas, but before they left they discovered she had tuberculosis, and she died without leaving Japan. Her mother didn't know this but went on thinking about and sadly missing her daughter.

You can read more about it here:

http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/japan/attractions/AkaiKutsu.htm

A song that was composed about her going away in her pretty red shoes is a very well known nursery rhyme in Japan (it's the first song in this video). 

Well, on to happier things! The next room was dolls from around the world. It seems like every civilisation that there has ever been has made dolls, and there were cases and cases of dolls from Japan alone, all of them varied and reflecting the different regions where they were made.

Apparently this one is the Japanese version of me!

We certainly have similar legs.

I really loved the Thai dolls! Thai costumes are so beautiful and I love the elegant way they turn out their hands and feet. I want to visit Thailand some day!

On the next floor there were Japanese dolls on one side and European dolls on the other. This pretty doll was very interesting, because though she is Japanese she was made using French doll-making techniques. I really like her cute expression and her elegant height and slim figure. She's wearing an outfit for a particular dance which I've forgotten at the moment!

There was also a Japanese doll's house with such cute accessories! I have a doll's house at home that I'm still working on (I will take pictures sometime) and now I really want this Japanese one. Just look at all the perfect little plates and cups and squids!

On the European side, there were some examples of automata. I'm really interested in them but they are quite rare so there's not often a chance to see them. They had a couple here and they also had videos of them in motion. This writing pierrot was my favourite!

He was very lifelike and very dainty at the same time. There was also a dancing Rococco couple but they just turned round and round and made you giddy.

This last case showed the difference betwen the way that Japanese dolls and European bisque dolls are made. Both girls are very cute! I was suprised to learn that the Japanese dolls usually have human hair. There are some creepy stories about the hair continuing to grow....

As we left the museum, there were a few more things on display,  dolls that have been made very recently. I liked this one because he reminds me of Közi!

 Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I think this museum is well worth a visit. Hina Matsuri is coming up next month, so it seems like the perfect time to go!

See you next time,

Sapphira