Anime Expo 2014! Gyaru all weekend!

Last post was back in March, oh man! Lots of things have happened in the past 4 months, including conventions! Anime North, Colossalcon and Anime Expo have both passed by and they were all really amazing. In particular, Anime Expo this year was super fun! I was part of the shop staff for the Ghost of Harlem booth along with other gals in the SoCal community who were part of the Kokokim, Swankiss and Golds Infinity booths.

But a lot of these photos will probably be from Madame Tussauds (´ヮ`) After Anime Expo ended, we went to Little Tokyo for dinner (Where all the AX-goers migrated to) and then the next day we spent at Hollywood and Highland, Madame Tussauds, and Little Tokyo again. The last day, we went to Hollywood and Highland for a bit because I wanted to buy things from Muji, and went to Koreatown before heading back to LAX to go home.

Oh yeah, I also did my hair on the Wednesday before Anime Expo! Thank you James and friend for doing it for me! ῍̻̩✧(´͈ ૢᐜ `͈ૢ)˖῍̻̩

At Buffalo airport, I tried spelling out my name for the girl at the register. This is the result. It was also my nickname for the rest of the trip.

Just before landing at LAX, we saw the sunset from above the clouds (It was actually cloudy in LA so we weren't able to see it after landing)

Freshly done hair! Ash-blonde ( ˃̶ω˂̶ ૃ)

One of the only selfies I took haha! Before starting Day 2 of AX!

Sort of a picture of our booth (With Kathy's arm in the corner hehe)

Ghost of Harlem shop staff girls and designer Akiko-san!

Kathy (Kato-Kathy) hard at work at our booth!

Accessories from Ghost of Harlem

Sachiko at the Swankiss booth

Swankiss shoes and clothing

With Swankiss designer Hayashida Saaya-san!

Happie Nuts models Satomi Akane-san and Oogawa Yumi-san!

Kokokim booth

With Rei, Nino and Kathy!

Swankiss x Ghost of Harlem girls!

Shitty hotel room outfit shot before heading out to dinner on Day 3 ft. Ghost of Harlem jacket and accessories, Swankiss pants + beanie

My Ghost of Harlem stuff!

Akiko-san was so nice to us at the booth. The clothing we chose on the first day ended up being presents to us, as well as two pieces of accessories that they asked us to wear for the customers to see! GoH staff got 50% off everything so I ended up getting the suspender maxi-dress, bomber jacket and beanie! On the last day, she thanked us by allowing us to choose one more piece of clothing to take with us (*´꒳`*) I tweeted her after arriving home in Toronto and got a response back too!

Last selfie before the con ended, with Akiko-san!

Akiko-san and Ooga-san (One of the Japanese GoH staff) asked me and Wynter (Another GoH girl) to model some clothing for their global webshop on Yesstyle so when that gets published, I'll be sure to write about it!

Purchases from Swankiss

I've been eye-ing these high-waist pants from Swankiss ever since I first looked them up, and I am proud to say that I now own BOTH the designs I've wanted in my preferred colours! ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪ I regret not buying more from there booth because there was a top I really liked that ended up going for $40-$50. I should have bought it because it was from the marine collection, which isn't sold online anymore (༎ຶ⌑༎ຶ)

I can foresee myself ordering more clothing from both brands in the (Hopefully not near) future. I'm so glad to have met all the girls in Cali and I'm definitely going to try and go again next year!

Brand obsession: SWANKISS

Lately, my attention has been drawn completely to the Saaya Hayashida produced brand, Swankiss. I saw an outfit post of a shop staff member on Tumblr and immediately fell in love with the whole coordinate.

They tap into my cute, pastel, girly side of fashion and I have absolutely no qualms with it! 

What I love about them is that they're cute and girly, but with creative and edgy twists to their clothing. For some it may be a bit too much, but it's perfect for someone like me who can get bored of girly fashion sometimes.

Their high-waisted swan pants was what originally caught my attention. The scalloped waistline, the buttons, the back crochet lace-up detail, ughhh I can't get enough of it! All the high-waisted pants on their site have this design. It's such a cute twist and as someone looking for more high-waisted pants, I'm absolutely loving them.

I want them in every colour! (●´□`)♡

Their spring/summer 2014 collection is something I'd also like to get my hands on. One of the spring trends is nautical theme! Their spring collection is appropriately named Loliship Marine.

I'm loving the coordinate with the long navy skirt, ruffle top and matching navy beret! (´∀｀)♡ Also loving the second coordinate with the striped skirt and the all white OP (The white version has an iridescent see-through layer over a lace-ish base, making it look like mermaid scales and has gold starfish and seashell beads scattered!)

 

Another item from the Loliship Marine collection not pictured here, is the Marine OP.

I'd also love to get my hands on these, but at the moment they are sold out on their online shop.

Here it is, pictured on producer Saaya Hayashida:

Their summer 2014 collection is also adorable, though less to my taste. With a cherry theme, it is aptly called American Cherry.

A decent amount of denim and a lot of cherry.

Personally, I'm on the fence with the all red OP in the bottom picture (Comes in navy and white as well), but I'm slightly drawn towards it. Big fan of the cherry sweater in the 4th coordinate in the first picture! Also really liking the tied-up denim top with the heart in the center; super cute detailing!

The BEST part about all this is that after gushing over this brand for about 2 weeks, Anime Expo announced Swankiss to be a fashion guest for this year, along with Kimura U produced brand KOKOkim! (∩˃o˂∩)♡

They are both going to have booths in the dealer's room. Good-bye wallet, it was nice knowing you.

Hopefully they will announce fashion show details soon, and I hope they open up model applications to the attendees as well! It would be a dream to be able to model for them!

Quick LA and AX2013 Recap (IMAGE HEAVY)

It's been a month oh my god. As previously mentioned, I traveled to Los Angeles for Anime Expo 2013! I'll just do some quick recaps because I've uploaded pictures onto my Ameblo blog already. Super delayed but here it is anyways!

My trip was from July 2nd - 8th. AX was July 4th - 7th.

Day 1:
- Arrive at LAX around 10:30AM, wait for friend from Vancouver who arrived an hour after
- Check into first hotel (Stayed for one night only)

Daiso swag from my Vancouver friend

- Roamed the area we called 'Downtown LA to the left' (Read: slightly ghetto) and downtown LA
- Went to massive City Target to buy some booze and bathing suits. Left with $120 worth of junk food, and some booze

Sprinkles cupcake I decided to eat before kbbq

 - Ate Korean BBQ for dinner (Which was really good, had an awesome server)

- Random explosion outside our hotel??? Probably fireworks
- Lazed around cuz we were tired.

Day 2:
- FREE BREAKFAST! Pancakes, but no maple syrup...just regular syrupヽ(´□｀。)ﾉ
- Rented a car, then checked into the JW Marriott!

Our view of the LACC!

The bootiful room

Obligatory hotel bathroom selfie

- Went to Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles. It was so delicious *(*´∀｀*)☆

Best fried chicken + waffles NA

 - Walked around The Grove (Bought stuff at F21 OTL)

 - Killed 6 hours walking along Hollywood Blvd. Stared in awe at Hollywood and Highland

- Got back to JW (With many GPS troubles lol) around midnight
- Ordered margherita pizza from room service because hungry and lazy
- Worked on cosplay while watching the first episode of Free! 

Day 3 (AX Day 1):
- Got changed into Morgiana cosplay

Morgiana + Inori!

- Waited in line for 3 hours to get pre-reg passes (」゜ロ゜)」
- Visited friend at Funimation booth
- Went back to hotel to change into galaxy seifuku because too sweaty from waiting in line

- Roamed dealer's room for a bit
- Met up with people for dinner
- Worked on cosplay...again

Day 4 (AX Day 2):
- Changed into OTT gothic lolita coord (Unfortunately, no photo of this one > <)
- Went to LIZ LISA, Tralala and LIZ LISA Doll fashion show for a bit

Sorry about the shit picture, couldn't get close enough @_@

- Went to Cosplay Photographer's booth to visit friend
- Ate lunch at the Pantry Cafe
- Walked to City Target to buy more stuff
- Went through dealer's room thoroughly
- Met up with people and we got bombarded for pictures when we walked together
- CHANGED OUT BECAUSE TVXQ CONCERT AHHHHHHHHHHH 

HOLY SHIT THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING

MY TICKET AHHH pleasedon'tlookattheprice

HOLY SHIT LOOK HOW CLOSE I AM

HOLY SHIT THEY'RE REAL

THEY'RE REALLLLLL

- Went for dinner and then worked on cosplay againnnn

Day 5 (AX Day 3):
- Woke up late and ran to George Wada's Attack on Titan panel

Lol at the folder names

- Went back to hotel to change into Mikasa cosplay
- Get pictures taken at Cosplay Photographer's booth

Mikasa cosplay!

- GOT A PICTURE WITH THE TALLEST COLOSSAL TITAN 

DREAM COME TRUE

- Change out because IT WAS TOO GOD DAMN HOT
- Dinner with new LA friends
- Tried to look for room parties and failed OTL (It sucks not knowing many people in a different city)
- Got haircuts in our rooms from new LA friend???

Day 6 (AX Day 4):
- Change into Ayanami Rei cosplay and checked out

With a Shinji!

- Dealer's room, BOUGHT THE $50 OFFICIAL K GUIDEBOOK TO MEET KANAME
- Went to Evangelion photoshoot, then left because I lost my phone OTL OTL OTL
- Found phone and then met Kaname and took a picture with him

MY FACE WAS TOO DERP OTL

- Last minute dealer's room shopping
- Closing ceremonies
- Bummed at new LA friend's place, went to awesome Korean cafe for dinner
- Watched Karneval and Cabin in the Woods

Day 7:
- Caught a cab to LAX early in the morning :(
- Flight to San Fran gets delayed 3 hours
- Get to San Fran, connecting flight already left
- Get rebooked to 10:00PM flight back to Toronto
- Flight to Toronto gets delayed to 12:30AM due to flood and rain

Day 8: Finally arriving home after almost 24 hours OTL OTL OTL

THE SWAG

K Official Guidebook: A MEMORY OF KINGS

Look at dat Mikoto

Cute Korilakkuma headphones!

Okita Souji figurine <3

I didn't really buy much because I already spent too much money...

And that's it pretty much.
Last weekend was Atomic Lollipop so there will be a short post about that soon!