Angelic Pretty tea party 2018

This year, a big lolita dream of mine finally came true: I attended the Angelic Pretty tea party in Paris!! I've wanted to go ever since I started lolita. A blogger I follow goes every year and for years I've been drooling over her pictures and imagining what I would wear to such an event. Then last year somewhere in fall, our little group of friends decided to go! We booked a hotel and train tickets super duper early, way back around December. Two other friends joined in later, one couldn't get a ticket in time and one friend was too preoccupied to make it. In the end we were with 6 people. We were in Paris from 6 to 9 July. This post will be solely about the tea party and shopping, since, truth be told, I REALLY don't like Paris. It always smells, there's loads of tourists and it's HOT. I know many people adore Paris, but sadly I'm not one of them. What I do adore however, is Angelic Pretty! Enough to go there anyway!
(Also, the pictures on this post came from all sorts of sources, so apologies for the varying quality!)

Shopping

We ended up at the Angelic Pretty shop on the tenth of July. I intended to buy a dress for my 21st birthday and two of the lucky packs they had. We ended up being a little late, the store wasn't open yet but there were people waiting already. Turned out they already had numbers to go in, and we had to go last, without numbers. I was honestly pretty nervous about it because the things I wanted were things I expected to be very popular.
While waiting for the store to open, we met up with Rosalynn from Roselolitawonderland, who staid to chat for a little. Eventually the store opened, and I ogled everyone who went in to see if they bought the stuff I wanted. Luckily, when I went in they still had everything! I got the special set, both luckypacks, and waited for everyone else to finish shopping. (contents at the end of this post!)

Us with our purchases!

After AP, we went to Princess Crepe to get ourselves crepes, which kind of substituted lunch lol. They were very good!

Mimi, Lisa and Kim (the black Sugar Cross dress in the crepe shot) immediately changed into their new purchases. Also note my jealous face in the last shot, my crepe came last LOL

The tea party
The day of the tea party started reeaaally early. I'd promised to help the others with their make-up or hair, and I had to do gyaru hair for myself as I was going hime lolita. I think I got up like 5 hours before the tea party actually started. I got into a fight with my makeup, as my liner kept going on crooked, my nose shadow wasn't showing up properly and I needed a good 20 minutes to glue on the three pairs of lashes I would be wearing...so I feel it didn't end up being the look that I wanted it to be. Still relatively happy with it considering the trouble I had!

Some getting ready pictures! Please ignore my derpy face in the first one, it turned out to be the only one that showed off my makeup...

We ended up being a little late, so we ended up having to run for the metro, in sweltering heat, and I ended up losing the sole of my new Jesus Diamante mule :(. We did make it though, there was some kind of issue that ended up delaying the tea party for a bit. We ended up having about 15 minutes to chat and take pictures!

Pretty sugary outfit for someone who doesn't like pink, huh? I make a bit of an exception for hime because I love how the heavy makeup and nails contrast with the sugary clothes. Even so, I gotta say I didn't feel 100% 'me' in this outfit. However for a once-a-year event like this I don't mind going frillier and fancier than I usually wear!

After having taken a load of pictures together and eyeing up everyone's coords (SO many beautiful outfits!!) we were guided towards the side of the area we had been waiting at and led down some stairs. There was the room the tea party would be held in. It was BEAUTIFUL. We ended up sitting at the same table, together with a few very sweet German lolitas.

Before everything else, we had some time to chat, drink tea and eat. We were offered either orange or grapefruit juice, still or sparkling water and a cup of black tea (very nice, slightly charred tasting, perfect with a little cloud of milk). We talked and looked around at everyones coords, and before we knew it, the fashion show had started! We sadly weren't allowed to take any pictures, but the print lineup was gorgeous. We however kept waiting for our friend Mimi, who was supposed to be in the fashion show too, but she wasn't showing up. Eventually, all the models lined up and started walking back, and we were left looking at eachother, if anyone else might know something we didn't. Then, a new model walked out, in a HUGE dress with big crystals, layers of lace and chiffon, and we realized they put Mimi in a special set!! She indeed came up just two models after, in a gorgeous navy blue Space Lollipop special set (that we looked up afterwards and turned out to sell for $1,500!!!) with gorgeous AP heels, long silver gloves and a huge bonnet with a floor length veil. She looked stunning! (We lateron found out she made it into Spoon in that amazing getup!!)
After her, some more Japanese models came wearing incredibly fancy special sets, and the final model was no other than Risa Nakamura in a gorgeous pink lace dress that reminded me of a wedding dress.

By lack of fashion show pictures, enjoy this shot of a dress that was on reservation!

Edit 17/01/19, AP FINALLY put the pictures online!

The regular dresses...

The special sets- yes, those previous two were regular releases!

And the finishing wedding pieces!

After the fashion show, we had some more time to chat, and a girl with a camera came up to Centaine and I and asked if she could get a shot for RinRins vlog! No idea if we will make it on there, but to be asked in the first place was awesome. Right after, some staff of the Ritz wheeled in the special cake and everyone flocked over to take pictures. It was gorgeous, with a glittery top and real, glittery flowers! It wasn't just show too, it tasted amazing! Delicate, not too sweet, and the fondant top was actually tasty -most fondant just gets gummy when you use it on a cake.

After we finished out cake, I gathered all of my courage and asked Emilie from Ruban Rose for a picture. I've read her blog for ages and I really like her style, and seeing her in person was incredible! I hope I didn't look as goofy as I felt...Sadly I completely forgot to ask Rosalynn for a picture too! So much was going on that it completely slipped my mind. Luckily we're in the same community, so there's always a next time.

Doesn't Emilie look darling? She has such a sweet smile!

When I came back to our table, nearly everyone was gone! I walked around for a bit and found them at the top of the stairs, where Kim had found a gold divan where everyone was taking pictures on. I didn't want to waste such a perfect setup, so I joined in!

When we were done, we sat back down and watched a second table of prizes get set up! We'd seen the first table next to the podium with big prizes like dress sets and AP plushies, but I'd kind of assumed that was it. We'd gotten a goodiebag with pretty big novelties in it, including a plate, so I just figured they'd gotten less raffle prizes to pay for it. Was I wrong! They kept putting on more prizes, eventually there were three bags, like 30 pairs of socks, some cutsews and other little things on it. Lisa got super excited when she saw the socks, as they were the exact ones she'd been hesistant about buying the day before on account of them not being not versatile enough, despite loving them. Lo and behold, she won them! Actually, a lot of people at our table ended up winning prizes. I think 5 people total, out of 10? Pretty good odds! Sadly I myself didn't win anything, but we got a consolidation prize which was a pink tote bag, and I LOVE tote bags so I was very happy nonetheless.

Goodies!! I really hoped to win one of the Misty Sky bags, but alas.

Jewelry winners, with no less than two of my friends up on stage! On the right, the consolidation tote bag. I've been using this a lot!

After the raffle, it was time to announce the best dressed! There was a shared second place- a girl with a very fancy Astro Regimen coord, and a very creative coord with Jewelry Snow and a big ice cream prop! First place went to a girl with a floaty angelic coord -perfectly in theme- with big handmade wings and a cupids bow. She cried when she heard she'd won, which I completely understand!

3rd, 2nd and 1st place!

Finally, it was time for the big group photo! It was a lot of shuffling around to get everyone in frame. When the picture was taken I decided to jump off the platform I was standing on, landed on my shoe without sole, slipped and crashed and probably scared the hell out of everyone around me! Definitely a way to end a first tea party, but not one I recommend or plan to try again, haha.
(I wanna add photos here but they're still not out yet...get on it, AP!)

Group picture by lack of official group picture! With shooped in Lisa to get her in afterwards + for the privacy of the lolita in navy

We went home, got changed and went to McDonalds for some post-tea party junkfood- no pictures were taken there!

And finally, what did I get?

The jewelry luckypack, which contained these:

Cuffs will be going to a friend. I'm keeping the barette, even if I don't have the dress- it's so cute! I only would've preferred to get the white one, which I saw some people get.

Not so stoked about the set on the left- I have nothing to match them and can't wear earrings. The set on the right I got in white (with necklace but I couldn't find it for the picture) and I liked it so much I immediately bought the mint set off of a friend who got the same pack, haha.

When I got the ring I was like "oh that's cute, but it doesn't match anything I own". Lo and behold, Holy Lantern was re-released shortly after in grey and I immediately bought it. So it matches something now LOL. The headbow is absolutely gorgeous and I was so happy to get it! It matches perfectly with my Eternal Rose Bouquet JSK.

The tops luckypack, which contained this:

Two cutsews, which was what I hoped for! The red one came with navy(??) bows which I immediately snipped off. The stripey bow is detachable and will get some use, just not on this top haha. The lavender one (which, really AP, this counts as a cutsew for you?) is suuuper airy and light, and I was hoping to get a lavender top. So I'm really happy with it.

My favourite piece in the pack! I've wanted to get some brand cardigans for ages but I just never got around to it. Now I have one! And it matches my wardrobe super well. I'm guessing they put it in the lucky packs because the pink polkadot strip was hard to match?  I tend to wear mint and pink together so it doesn't bother me at all.

And the Romantic Rose Letter special set:

I was in the train to Paris when I saw they would be having this set on sale, and I may or may not have screeched. I LOVE this print and I'd already given up on ever getting it. And here it is!! I adore the lace, especially the lace on top of the bodice, but I'm a little confused by the cake lace on the bottom...

I adore luckypacks! I love most stuff AP puts out, especially the plainer pieces most people don't like. Also I can sew, so I don't mind getting pieces with details I don't like because I can just alter them. I already have plans to give the red cutsew normal sleeves and move the bows on the lavender one. Overall I'm happy with what I got and I'd buy the again if I had the chance!


I do intend on going back to the AP tea party next year, and if possible with our whole group! It was expensive, but if you look at what you get for the price -goodiebag, raffle ticket, entry to the Ritz and pastries made by their cooks, the most beautiful place in Paris to take pictures, a chance to see Maki, Asuka, RinRin and Risa in real life- it honestly doesn't seem *that* expensive to me. I think it was worth every cent!