Bitter vs Sweet

I was going to make this post a few weeks ago, but ended up pushing it off. Then last night an outfit of mine was posted online leading to much debate as to what exactly is bittersweet?

Bittersweet lolita is a relatively new sub-style. Some people claim it is not a style at all and should simply be labeled under sweet, others feel it's different enough to deserve a name of it's own. But honestly, most sub-styles have fairly blurry lines. Is Country or Hime all that different from plain ol' Sweet lolita?
The biggest gripe I've heard is "It's just a black colorway of a sweet print". I can understand this sentiment. To me, in order for an outfit to be bittersweet, there's got to be a little more "bitter" to it than just a black colorway. I would define Bittersweet as having strong contrasts of pastels and black, in relatively equal proportion, occasionally intermixed with gothic themes such as skulls, bats, eyeballs, etc.

To illustrate, here I have two sets I made on Polyvore, involving the same AP print Toy Parade in a black colorway, as well as some example co-ords I've found.

Bittersweet

This is what I consider Bittersweet. It's coordinated primarily with black accessories, and there's an extra "punky" touch with some cute Doc Martens. The other two examples also have a darker edge to them than most Sweet lolita- heavier make-up, funky hair, big boots, etc. You can also use a non-black colorway if there's elements in it that let you coordinate it with black (one the reasons I love Fantastic Dolly so much).

Sweet

The second set is straight-up Sweet lolita. Simply a black colorway with traditionally sweet accessories. The overall feel of the two examples is still Sweet, and lack a "bitter" twist to them.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't think bittersweet even has to include a black colorway. Or a print at all (for a non print example, there this post I made about adding Bittersweet to a Gothic wardrobe last year).
Here are some examples I've worn. Have I mentioned I'm obsessed with Fantastic Dolly?

Basically, if your coord floats somewhere in a candy-coated netherworld between Sweet and Gothic, it might be called Bittersweet.

Happy International Talk Like a Pirrrate Day!

Avast, me lovelie lassies an' charmin' gents! If ye weren't aware, today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, one o' me favorite occasions te break out me seafarin' lingo.
I 'av fer ye, fer this most auspicious holiday, a proper pirrrate gettup o' the Rococo perrrrsuasion. I hope ye'all enjoy- an' grab yerrrselves a buxom wench or a dashin' seadog and parrrrrrty like ye rum'll 'nere run out!

Ye Have Stolen My Hearrrt <3 by opiatevampire

Frilly Halloween Costumes: Part 1

I've decided to do a series leading up the my favorite holiday- Halloween! There are infinite possibilities for costumes to lolify, and personally I'm a little weary of unicorns and vampires (yes, even I'm tired of seeing vampires at Halloween). Designing lolita versions of popular characters is a guilty pleasure of mine anyway, so I'll be doing several segments with a theme for each post. This one, as you can see, is video games.
For most of my coords, I chose to keep them fairly toned down. You could always make them more costume-y by adding accessories and props.

First off we have everyone's favorite elf, Link!

This one I think is pretty wearable in general, not just on Halloween/to conventions. To nerd it up, add a sword and shield, potion bottles, elf ears, and other touches.

Next up, Mario!

Mama mia! I considered also doing Princess Peach, but she's already so frilly, it's too easy. But I think it would be absolutely adorable to see a Mario lolita and a Peach lolita together.

Next, we have a fighting game femme fatale- Morrigan from Darkstalkers.

I just love AP's new mermaid print in the black colorway. But obviously, it could easily be replaced with a plain black jumperskirt, or another black/purple design.

Finally, Kirby!

I used another AP jsk because of the food theme, and Polyvore's lack of solid pink dresses. Like with Morrigan, a solid is just as good as a print.

If you have any suggestions for other costumes, let me know!

Edit: Added a new set :3

Outfit Post: Retro Lolita

Well, my absence has been longer than intended, and for that I apologize. But the past two weeks were unexpectedly awful. My boyfriend of 5 years and I broke up (on our anniversary), then two days later, my beloved pet hedgehog Grendel died an sudden awful death, and then to top it off a friend I turned to for help tried to use my vulnerability to take advantage of me. So, I sort of quit life and spent the past few days in Michigan with my brother, pleasantly drunk and doing whatever I pleased. I danced in a river at 3 am, walked around barefoot, painted in graveyards, and lost all sense of time. It was rather nice. And now I am come back, and am trying to pull myself back together again. Part of feeling like myself is getting dressed up, so I have taken great pains in looking my best every day, and it does make me feel better.
Before all this happened, I bought Dream of Lolita's Fantastic Dolly replica in red off the EGL sales community, on a bit of a whim. It arrived right after I got back, so I decided to throw together a retro-inspired coord. I was rather pleased with how it looks, despite being out of my comfort zone! And I had an excuse to break out the red lipstick and heels.

JSK: DoL

Sweater and belt: H&M

Necklace: Handmade

I then went out and ran some errands, my outfit received a particularly enthusiastic response at Home Depot, for some reason...

Mini-Post: Little Miss Darkness Incarnate

Little Miss Darkness Incarnate by OpiateVampire featuring beaded jewelry

a CoF inspired coordinate, ha!

Call me a mallgoth if you will, but I still rock out to Cradle of Filth. They're one of the small handful of bands from my middle school days that I still listen to on a regular basis. How can I not love them? It's überdark, over the top, cheesy black metal silliness.
I got the inspiration to confess my love for this band, whose songs can usually be described as "raunchy with virgins in graveyards" when listening to every album from "Dusk...And Her Embace" to "Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa" today.

As the sun slips the tearaway stars
Into the scented scheme of night
I kissed her mouth like a dark red rose
Set upon a marbled dream of white 

- CoF, Lovesick for Mina 

Ah, be still my bombast-loving heart!

(Also, I have a tumblr now. )

Blood and Roses, a book inspired coodinate

Blood and Roses by OpiateVampire featuring glamour tops

So, this past weekend I was in Los Angeles visiting family, and in my adventures I found my way to a particularly lovely bookstore. Dark Delicacies, located in Burbank, caters exclusively to horror and fantasy novels, used and new. They even have books categorized by type of monster! Needless to say, I was in heaven.  Seeing as my 158+ collection of vampire novels has felt a bit lacking lately, I was happy to pick up several new additions, including a Blood and Roses by Sharon Bainbridge.
Reading it on the flight home, I was fully expecting another historically inaccurate tawdry vampire romance (not that that's necessarily a bad thing). However, don't judge a book by it's cover! I was pleasantly surprised to find a charming Victorian romance, a mix between Pride & Prejudice and Dracula. While sticking to classic horror elements of older vampire novels, overall, it's rather lighthearted. I supposed the packaging and cliche title is a product of marketing, since it does not match the interior at all.
So, in my a state of post-good-book-euphoria, I made this little virtual coordinate based on one of the two heroines, Elaine. Auburn haired, clever, and independent, she prefers wearing jewel tones and velvet. I couldn't find any colored JSKs to my liking on polyvore, so I stuck with the classic black (she spends a good deal of the book in mourning attire anyhow).

Some of my other vampire books.

Laser Tag Meetup and recent coords

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Last weekend my local comm met up at Shadowland in Gaithersburg for a rousing night of cheesy sci-fi war games and cheap pizza. 
It turns out that I kick ass at laser tag. I ranked #5 and #8 in two games of 20+ people!

My boyfriend and I's outfits:

Outfits from other days this week:

I cut all the ruffles off of a F+F Meta replica. Ruffles all over the bust and shoulders really do not flatter me! I like it much better more form fitting.

JSK, Blouse: F+F

Boots: Na Na

Accessories: Online/Thrifted

This coord features an previously lumpy and ill-fitting cardigan that I turned into a bolero. Much better! 

Cardigan: Lady Heather's Fashions

Necklaces: Random (raven skull is from BillyBlue22 on Etsy)

This week I've also been doing a ton of sewing. So far,  I've made 2 JSKs, an OP, 2 skirts, 3 pairs of bloomers and a hard bonnet. I will post about that sometime this weekend, one I get a few more things done! Here's a preview, one of my JSKs:

Happy Holidays!

Well, I'm a bit late on the Christmas posting train, but I took today and boxing day to really start my vacation. I laid in bed with my new purple velvet comforter and my cat, Ophelia, and I did nothing but watch tv shows online and read my new vampire novels! And it was awesome.
Anyway, I had a very nice Christmas. I hope everyone else did too.
Christmas Eve, my roommate, boyfriend, and I made a nice dinner and burned a pumpkin pie. Afterwards, we watched the Christmas episodes of various TV shows, like the Addams Family, Munsters, and Invader Zim.

I got all fancy for the joys of grocery shopping and cooking. Luckily, I have an apron that goes perfectly over cupcake skirts.

My boyfriend spent the night so we could spend Christmas morning together, since it's my first Christmas at my own place (!). Bright and early he woke me up, but I wouldn't stop grumbling/swearing at him until he agreed to let me shower before opening presents. It was kind of sweet though, he has an enthusiasm that I lost a long time ago.

I gave him an aristocrat shirt, a button up shirt I painted spiderwebs on, a life size bat skull necklace, a leather-bound copy of The Divine Comedy, a victorian top hat, and coffin and bat belt buckles.
He gave me an Alice In Wonderland tea pot/cup set, a couple vampire novels, a tattoo book, Hello Kitty socks, a Nightmare Before Christmas pajama set, and TrueBlood season 2.
I wore red to make my family happy, since I almost always wear black. My OP is from F+F, but I've modified it a lot (original here). I think I might make a post about modifying dresses, something I do pretty often (one of the reasons I don't buy brand, no guilt altering them to death).

 

Around afternoon we parted ways to go have dinner with our families. My mom and new stepdad got me some nice things, most notably a red jacquard trenchcoat and a beautifully illustrated copy of Dracula. I gave them a huge pile of crossword books. My brother gave me a bottle of Cupcake wine (though the label is adorable, it's actually a good wine too).
It was a pretty hectic visit over at their place, everyone seemed to show up at once. But I got a chance to take a long walk to talk with my brother, away from everyone else. It's something we like to do when we get together, because the past 4 years, he's been living in Los Angeles and Ypsilanti.


So, in total, not a bad holiday at all. In fact, better than it's been in years :)

Mini-Post: Full size hats in Lolita?

Mad as a Hatter by OpiateVampire featuring a thigh high hosiery

Lately I've been pining after the Prince Philip Victorian Top Hat at Uniformal Warehouse. But do full size top hats work with lolita?
Hats and I have always had a strained relationship. I want it to work with us, but things just never feel right.
Edit: Well, I went ahead and ordered myself a top hat. Let's see how this goes!

Halloween Outfit Post

So, the weekend of festivities it over.
Friday night, I went out to a club and was kinda sorta a gothic ballerina. I just wanted to wear my tiara, really.





OP: F+F
Corset: Timeless Trends
Shoes: Bordello

On Sunday I hosted a tea party at my apartment. I was a pirate :F








Blouse: Bodyline
Pendant: Midnight Moon
Coat: Tripp NYC
Corset: Timeless Trends
Skirt: F+F

Sunday evening, my boyfriend had to work so I stayed home and gave myself a hime haircut. Hope you all had a spookyfun weekend!