Brolita basics: Makeup, accessories, and purses. O my.

Its been nearly a year since I last wrote the brolita basics. And in all honesty, I actually started writing this nearly a year ago. It was meant to be part of the brolita basics series. But my experience, or lack thereof, discouraged me from finishing. But now, its a year later and I have plenty of experience under my belt. And so I present to you the last of the brolita basics.





Makeup: When I first began dressing in lolita, I was not a makeup user. Not only did I lack the knowledge to do my own but it seemed that most of my female friends seemed hesitant and in the end refused to help me. It was not until my 2nd year at EXP con, when I was called up as a "volunteer" at a cross-dressing panel *Ironic I know. Want to know more irony? The 'guy' they picked to cross-dress was actually a girl crossplaying some character*, that I began to wear makeup.

At first, I did my best with the limited knowledge I had learned off the net. I used the top of my hand to help identify colors that were as close as possible to my skin color. And for awhile it was sufficient. But I eventually felt it was time to begin upgrading my stock and finally 'forced' my friend to help me. We picked a liquid foundation that was perfect for my skin tone and a powder foundation that would help lighten my color a bit.

Just a basic gist of what my makeup inventory looks like.

There's more to makeup though. O so very much more, as life was about to teach me. Once again proceeding through trial and error I learned how to use eyeliner, blush, eye shadow, and lip gloss. For a long while I used a "hard pencil" eyeliner as opposed to a "soft pencil" eyeliner. Glad I made that switch. Made applying eyeliner so much easier. And the blush was mostly a guess but I figured having some color on my cheeks could only help. Eye shadow has been my greatest trial and error, mainly trying to figure not only what colors show up on my skin but what colors best complement the outfit I'm wearing.

Taken just prior to going to Charleston Pride. Very simple, using everything I've learned up to this point. 

Taken way back in January 2012. Makeup job by my friend. The makeup felt so heavy but it really showed me just how much I needed to learn eye makeup

Circle Lenses: Circle lenses are contacts that people wear to either give their iris(s) a shape, a different color, or plain out enlarge the iris. This is actually a relatively new concept to me. I had known about the circle lenses for awhile but I didn't know that you could order prescription lenses. My first experience with these lenses came from a fellow Jacksonville lolita Lyla who gave me a pair of contacts to wear around for a bit, see how I would like them. Ended up loving them and ordering my very own 2 pairs of circle lenses from Pinky Paradise

http://www.pinkyparadise.com/

The very first pair loaned to me by Lyla. You can really see how large this made my iris. Unfortunately it was not the right prescription so I couldn't wear em for long periods of time.

1 of the 2 pairs of circle lenses I own. Not nearly as iris enlarging as the first pair. But still gets the job done.

Hard to tell but those circle lenses turn my eyes into flowers

handbag: If there is one thing that has always made my life difficult when I dress in lolita, its the extreme lack of pockets. And not just pockets but also a place to hang your keys. Of course, the simple answer is to use a purse/handbag. Or buy AP. AP loves pockets :P

When shopping for handbags, I like to have access to pictures of my wardrobe so that I can match as much of my wardrobe to a handbag. Some preferences I have is that a purse have atleast a few pockets for storage of key items such as my phone and keys for quick and easy retrieval. And though I like my handbags big enough to accommodate everything I want to bring with me, sometimes its just not feasible to have a big handbag.

Currently my closet includes 6 actively used purses, each with intended purposes. The Night Fairy Fantasia handbag is specifically used to match with my Night Fairy Fantasia outfit, of course, but can also be used with Bodyline's Carousel jsk in black. The small white purse was originally used specifically for a shiro outfit I put together but has since then been expanded to be used as a sweet alternative when I want something small and cute. The purple handbag was bought to match with Milky Planet when I wore it at Frill but is essentially compatible with anything lavender. The pink Tomo bag has been the go to sweet purse ever since I bought him at KiraKira con from Grace, though Tomo and I have gone out in Visual Kei too. And the Gothic Lolita society purse is what I use when I go clubbing. And the tan purse was originally my first purse that I used in lolita. And occasionally I do pull it out and use it due to its many useful pockets. But it has essentially been demoted down to holding all my backup makeup or accessories.

Speaking of accessories, I wasn't much of an accessory person early in my lolita life. In fact I was lucky to even remember putting on a headband or bow of some sort. It wasn't until I switched over to being a sweet lolita that I went accessory crazy.

The thing I love most about accessories is that they really help add so much more to the picture. I almost feel naked sometimes when i realize I've gone out in lolita w/o accessories or whenever I dress in gothic. I specifically mention this cause I have very very few gothic lolita accessories. Though I'm not the best teacher, I use the same tactics for accessory buying as I do with shoes and socks: Make the colors match. Its basic I know. But once you get some experience under your belt, accessory shopping becomes much easier. You'll be able to see things and immediately recognize its potential to go with your wardrobe. Most of my accessories were bought from various dealers and Etsy sellers who showed up at cons.

As you can see, I'm a total accessory whore. And there's Tomo!

One of my more favorite accessories has been my horn, handmade by a lolita friend. Here you see me after having just won the Frill Brolita princess contest, hence why I have a tiara and not my MP headbow on

As you can tell, my gothic closet lacks accessories. Here I just use a choker and headbow to complement my outfit.

Well this just about covers the brolita basics. Here are the first five, in case you happened to start on this one. And stay tuned for a new and updated brolita transformation post, where I show you everything that I do to go from boring old guy me to beautiful lolita :3

http://jchiong.blogspot.com/2011/10/brolita-personal-how-to-guide.html
http://jchiong.blogspot.com/2011/10/brolita-basics-hair.html
http://jchiong.blogspot.com/2011/10/brolita-basics-transformation.html
http://jchiong.blogspot.com/2011/11/brolita-basics-going-to-meet.html
http://jchiong.blogspot.com/2011/12/brolita-basics-public-perception.html