11/14 - Where I like to shop + My christmas gifts to myself Pt 1 (And some of part 2)

 Hi everyone!! I usually post hauls and I think in the past I've posted in the past where I shop, but I figured why not detail the most up to date shopping spots!

I'll start with the shopping and then detail my haul below for the first half of my xmas gifts. I usually spend a stupid amount of money on myself every Christmas because I work a really rough Q4 every year. I also gave into the lolita fashion demons so that's like... a lot of my xmas gifts to myself.

Ok, the simple answer might be "mercari JP"", but I think the more important part is how I search on mercari JP. There is of course looking up specific brands, but I've also found some really cool stuff by looking up more basic terms like "pink one piece" or "kyaba dress". Sometimes I use just the categories or sometimes I use just the search terms. Not every piece is labeled w/ a brand, or has a brand name to it. Sometimes I'll even look up gal brands who moved onto jirai because you'll find an older piece for sale and can nab it. So many ways to search!!

I also look for hours. on Hours. On hours. I am a shopping addict because I love to window shop to de-stress. I also create bookmarks to help track items I like and I put them in folders. I used to use tab groups in safari, but I've moved to duckduckgo on my phone and their app doesn't have tab groups like safari does. Then like once every few weeks I flip through my bookmarks to see if I still want to keep the item in mind, or remove it because I don't like it or it sold. 

Other site's I've used include

• In this haul
• Direct from JP websites. It's not secondhand so I only like to do this with items that I cannot find secondhand. I've done this w. Prisila in this haul. But I've also bought from gyarumy and honeys. Luckily my shopping service Japan Rabbit is so helpful with all that!!
• Xianyu - which I call chinese depop. I've used this twice before and you REALLY need to translate every seller's caption to ensure they're actually selling it and not renting it or looking to buy it. So much confusion on there... I swear. I use Superbuy for when I wanna buy from there. You also have to be aware there's a chance you will get a replica. Especially if you're going for ma*rs.
• Not in this haul:
• Bunjang for korean secondhand goods, it's a pretty smooth process. 
• Directly from korean websites.
• Taobao for chinese stores
• I have made one successful depop purchase in my life (thank u cindy).
• Directly from US gal brands
• Fril and Yahoo Flea. I rarely look as it seems Mercari JP is the hot spot, but sometimes you find something that wasn't listed on Mercari JP.

I don't actually buy from a lot of western seoondhand stores a lot. Usually because the stuff I'm interested doesn't end up there, or if it does, it's priced up the wazoo and it's still better priced if I buy it overseas pay the crazy shipping and pay the duty fees. Wild. Also because I always have a proxy to deal with sellers for me when I shop overseas... hehe.

My searching skills on the other websites... not as great as Mercari JP. Maybe I need to get like that w/ taobao tbh.

Ok!!! Onto the haul!! The haul started w/ a kyaba dress and an ISO, and I added a few small things as well!

Everyone please enjoy the item I will probably wear the most this winter: Usagi PJs. It's funny, I have so many gal clothes but it's the chiikawa clothes I rewear over and over and over again. I think it's because they're not super OTT and I can wear them casually. I actually  added this set last to the haul as a "is there any usagi clothing I want?". I think by the end of 2026 all my non OTT gal clothes will just be usagi, chiikawa, and hachiware clothing... LOL!! I'm actually wearing this set right now. It's super plush and comfy, and the top has a hood!!!

To be honest, this was a hehe haha purchase. I don't really have any christmas outfits and I find it so funny that there's a lot of gyaru novelty santa outfits. I got this one because I could probably get away with wearing it for pride in the future too!!! I am told my friend Eli will be hosting a xmas party so I will definitely be wearing this there hehe. I normally don't wear a lot of gal xmas week because I now have started a tradition of watching a dog the week of xmas and new years LOL!!! 

Speaking of looking through jirai brand listings for old pieces, I got an older dear my love shirt! I got this with the idea of wearing it under my squirrel party JSK, but alas... the pinks are not the right color (screaming emoji). I am predicting I'm going to end up getting another JSK in 2026 that will probably work with this. I may still try to make this work with the squirrel party JSK. This actually works quite well with the shoes I got from savers... interesting...

Prisila rope wigs in liye because I wanted to up the ponytail game even more. Also because I don't have any liye rope wigs and after getting one in tmgx I was like ooo... need this in liye.

Ya girl loves... LOVES... the cream kyaba dresses!!! I saw this while flipping through for 40 buckaroos!!! Wahoo!!! I will say the older kyaba dresses were made in a less quality way and this dress will need some repairs here and there, but it's ok. I will need to plan a fun fancy dinner to wear this to for sure. 

And finally.... the big christmas gift of part 1.... ma*rs dress... This was a pricey boy (about 180?? 200ish?? )but I swear I had saw a listing for like 500 at one point and I remember even seeing this one at 300 at one point. I decided to just bite the bullet. Sometimes I just decide it is ok to spend a lot of money on a dress. The nice thing about this dress is I paid it all upfront along w/ the rest of the haul awhile ago!! So I did not end up in further credit card debt!!! I am going to try to style this tomorrow for a day out with my friends aiming for some casino handpays!!!!

And thiiiis... is a preview at part 2. Ya girl is a bit insane. The crazy thing is I think all of the secondhand listings and this dress in general were more than the list price. And it's just like.... I decided to be insane again. I'm actually considering taking this to wear to a pre-wedding dinner thing at the end of December... oh boy. 

One the dress above and other items come in... that'll be xmas part 2. There may be a part 3 because I worked 16 hours in one day out of pure frustration even though no one told me to... LOL.... but I think that also depends on how well I do tomorrow... which tomorrow is big money day soooo....