Thursday 15 October 2015

My Harajuku Corner

Hi lovelies! I'm sorry for my prolonged absence - I recently have been working full-time and I haven't had very many chances to update my blog or take outfit pictures sadly.

Today I'm going to be showing you a very special corner of my apartment, the one where I keep all my cute Harajuku and J-fashion related accessories and other items. It's a very colourful little area in home, and I'm very proud of how I've built it up so far!

(I apologize for the shadowy lighting in some of the pictures; I took these in the late afternoon while the sun was slowly escaping!

The corner consists of a bookcase and shelf unit (both from good old IKEA!!), plus the mermaid vanity I thrifted earlier this year and my Charmy Kitty rug which I was suprised to find in a local shop in my town. Even living in the UK, so far away from Japan, I am still often surprised to discover things with Japanese characters in the strangest places! I also keep my TsumTsum collection along the bottom of the shelves, as well as the mini Kotori birds I fought to win from a UFO catcher on my recent trip to Japan! Can you tell that I like birds...

I have a lot of coats hanging up in my apartment, so I decided to save room by hanging some of my cute bags off the side of the shelves; the balloon print bag I sewed by myself using JustforyouMiranda's Youtube tutorial, which was super easy and fun! I also have bags from H&M and WEGO hanging here.

In the white shelving unit I keep the majority of my accessories, which are organised mainly by theme; I have a section for Decora style, one for Spank! style and so on, although most of my accessories are Fairy Kei-related! I also have some of the vintage toys which wouldn't fit into the bookshelves displayed along the top so that they can guard my accessories for me ◾(n˘v˘•)¬

I found Moosel the Wuzzle in a charity shop down the road from me this year, and didn't know what kind of toy he was when I saw him, but the colours reminded me a lot of Pop Kei and of Bundiess' outfits, so I knew I had to pick him up! It was only when I got home that I realised he was an 80s toy; the Wuzzles are hybrids of two different animals, so Moosel is a Moose/Seal! The wuzzles were made by Hasbro, the same company that made My Little Pony and so many other toys ~

I have tried to make the top shelf of the bookshelves as pink-themed as possible, although other colours have crept in to! I have a number of toys from my childhood, including Polly Pocket, Barbie and My Little Pony, as well as some older toys from the 1980s like Keypers, Care Bears, Mattel's Little Pretties, Fairy Tails and so on! Most of the vintage toys in my collection are either from my childhood, the occasional lucky charity shop find, or bought second hand from eBay or group sales on Facebook.

The second shelf down is made up almost entirely of toys from the 80s and 90s which I have bought over the last few years. There is a definite purple-theme going on here, since I love the colours lavender and lilac and they feature a lot in my wardrobe as well! There are also a couple of pieces of stationery, like my Penguin note book from Swimmer and vintage Tuxedosam sticker-book I picked up in California (I have a very soft spot for Tuxedosam, and all penguins for that matter ◾(。♥‿♥。)).I was super excited to be able to get hold of two Cupcake dolls by Kenner/Tonka, one large cake playset and one milkshake/sundae doll. They remind me of the 80s soda float trend so much!! Ever since I saw Mannequin (Dreamy Mel Mel)'s room online, I have always wanted to build up a collection of different pastel-coloured vintage toys of my own ◾(◡‿◡✿)

At the moment I am trying to build up a little collection of Mattel's Little Pretty Kitty dolls from the '80s - I love their sassy little poses and the cutie marks they have which remind me so much of My Little Pony. I found this white Kitty in the vintage toyshop Spiral in Tokyo in a rather worn state, with her hair all chopped off-I think it makes her look tough with a little Mohawk though XD Behind her is Daddy Bright Bouquet, who I found along with two other G1 MLP dolls in a local charity shop for only 50 pence◾(☞゚∀゚)☞

On the bottom shelf I keep all of my fashion magazines and some of my anime movies, hidden away behind my Popteen and WEGO lookbook, as well as a lot of accessories which didn't fit into any of the other areas!

My mermaid dressing-table is also loaded with my accessories (are you noticing a recurring theme going on here?). On it I have a couple of shell jewellery-boxes which I picked up in the W*C shop in Harajuku (one of the cutest shops you will ever see in your whole life) which house my earrings and the colourful heart clips I got in WEGO. I also keep my little collection of Angelic Pretty rings here, as they are so detailed and adorable, I like to be able to look at them easily ◾( ´∀`)☆ I also keep my frequently-won bracelets in a Barbie bowl I have had since I was about 3 years old!

I keep large badges, rosettes and hairbows in a little pink tray I bought during my trip to Japan this year; I bought about 5 different sized storage boxes from Daiso, all in this cute light pink colour with French writing/designs on them. They're turning out to be so useful for storing accessories and cosmetics, as well as being super girly! This tray is currently perched on top of the vanity stool, though I'm hoping to find a more permanent location in the future (where I'm less likely to knock it off!!!)

That pretty much sums up my little Harajuku-esque corner of my apartment! I hope I can expand it in the future when I work out a good storage/display solution. I will also be getting my Pokemon collection cabinet moved into my apartment from my family home really soon, so I can't wait to share that with you all too ~

I hope that you all enjoyed this little insight into my new photo backdrop and where I keep most of my vintage toys; I have a lot of other plushies which live in a different place, but I will show you all those when I make my next apartment tour!

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening ◾(n˘v˘•)¬

Love, MyPastelUniverse x

Ps. Halloween is coming...