Sophilicity: Cute

Hey guys! I'm trying to get some time to sort out my life so I'm aiming to get at least 1 blog post completed each week! But we will see how that goes... I've recently been doing a lot of things in my life, but a journalism workshop I participated in with News Associates definitely gave me more determination to find time to blog more!

For this week's blog, I thought I'd highlight an awesome store which opened just over a month ago in the UK! I've personally always wanted to have a store to purchase Asian clothes and cosmetics which was easily accessible but also cheap. Although I'm technically a student anymore (well till next September), I'm Asian enough to always be seeking for those cheap deals for some super cute clothes!

And here we have it! Drumroll please...

Here we have...
Cringying!

If you have any questions in regards to the store, you can contact them here. You will also find the FAQs section as well through the link.

Luckily for you guys, I managed to get an exclusive interview with the founder of Cringying, Ying Xue. Despite her busy schedule, working part-time whilst working hard to provide you guys with the best stock for the Cringying, she is also currently studying hard for A-Levels. I'll give it to her, she sure knows how to balance her life better than me! Anyways, onto the interview!

What made you decide on creating a store like Cringying?
Honestly, it was a decision made in the spur of the moment. At the time, I was browsing on various sites for clothes, but I wasn't able to purchase anything because the clothing prices and the cost for shipping were incredibly insane. So I decided to make a more affordable site for broke students like myself!

How did you come up with the name, Cringying?
It's just a combination of the word "cringe" and my name, "Ying". I was initially going to sell very cute clothes - stuff I would never wear myself, as I'm very tomboyish, hence the "cringe".

What are your aspirations/goals in regards to the store?
Hm.. I would like to help provide affordable clothes of many different styles to people all over the world and make lots of new friends!

Are there any particular influential figures which help inspire your store? if so, who may they be?
Honestly, I'd have to say my mother, She has shown so much support since day one and she is always there to help me send parcels and check that I'm coping with the store.

If you were to pick one item from the store to buy, what would it be?
Definitely the Unisex Natural Born Disaster T-Shirt, I am terribly clumsy and awkward so I think this would be the ideal t-shirt to wear out to warn people...

How did you decide upon what would be brought to the store in regards to stock?
Instagram followers! My Instagram followers and promoters have been so helpful when advising me with what to add to the store. I'd particularly like to thank my friend and promoter, @chan.egg.yeolk for frequently keeping an eye out for trends and making sure I'm informed - I'm always late to the hype train!...

I hope you guys enjoyed that interview from the founder of Cringying, Ying Xue! And also take the opportunity to check out the store and purchase some items too!

All the links to her site can be found on my Affiliate page here!
You can also use my code "sophilicity10" to get 10% off your purchase. Enjoy!

PS: If I had to choose an item from the store to buy, I'd personally choose... Wait I don't think I can choose one... oops.

1. Long Plaid Shirt Inspired Cardigan - Like Ying, I dress quite tomboyish myself, so I would totally pair this with a shirt, high-waisted jeans and of course, my converses!

2. Casual Striped Crop Top and Skirt Set - Although, I dress quite tomboyish, I make some exceptions. I love simple clothes, and sets are super cute because I love co-ordinating my outfits.

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So as you guys may have known from my previous LoveJojo post, I attended the LoveJojo launch party event as a photographer for the event. I'm not going to lie, as a result I took over 1500 pictures for the entirety event and my camera died near the end of the last performance...

Anyways... I thought it would be a good chance to write an overview of the event! The LoveJojo launch party event was held on the 7th of May, coinciding with the Free Comic Book Day which takes place on the first Saturday of May every year. Before the event even started, there was quite a few preparations to take place, and I'm not gonna lie I struggled with some of the tasks just because of height - RIP. From making LoveJojo banners to organising seating, there was a lot of preparation involved beforehand, Jojo was definitely thankful for all the help she could get!

But moving onto the actual event, there were various stores set up around the venue, from LoveJojo to Dengeki Co to Littlest Sweet Shop. Everything "kawaii" all in one place. I literally wanted to buy so many things if I actually had the money... #brokestudentlife

If I'm honest, during our preparations we even had a small struggle trying to keep the balloons up in the air. Some of the balloons decided to deflate or just preferred being on the ground and the amount of the times we ran out of ribbon... Oh dear...

And thus the event commenced. When I first arrived to the event, I thought I was overly dressed, wearing red lenses, red cat ears and a red lolita style dress. But once the event started, everyone got ready, got dressed up and many of the visitors were all dressed in such "kawaii" clothes. It was really interesting seeing all the different styles involved, and all the different outfits people put together.

Since the event had only just opened to our guests, a few of the acts were still going through sound checks, such as Kelsey Ellison who I managed to capture amidst her sound check.

Thus finally the show began. Our MCs for the night included Aisha (a journalist well-known for Japanese culture at Aisha Anime as well as a cosplayer herself - you may know her as a presenter of Machinima SBOC) along with Ich Loc (an inspirational speaker - you may recognise him from this year's London Chinese New Year festival where he was also the MC!). We were also introduced to the host of this event, Jojo, the founder of LoveJojo!

We have to give Jojo along with all her volunteers and more for working hard on this event. It probably wouldn't have worked out if the organisation wasn't done as well as it was. I know there were ups and downs during the set up process including before the event but the final result was amazing!

So for our first act, we had Leader Looi with her back up dancers, Cat and Anya who are best known as members of Milae3! They performed renditions of K-Pop tracks, particularly G-Dragon songs and one Japanese song as well.

As a first performance I feel like there are certain expectations which you have to meet. I've performed live before and it's the question whether you would rather be first or last or in between, so I give these guys a round applause for going first! The audience responses weren't as live as they hoped considering the type of performance it was but it did get much better throughout the day.

The performance was then followed by Kadeem from Manifest Nation. He presented us with a dance solo which incorporated his own freestyle techniques and break dancing moves.

Before the interval, the MCs had a short discussion with our very own Hello Kitty star, James. If you've guys seen Hello Kitty around particularly at MCM Expo you may have seen James! The interactions were great and we even got to watch some dancing take place which was incredibly entertaining.

As the interval proceeded, this was the time where people were able to have a look around the stores. People were also given the opportunity to grab pictures with each other as well as socialise. I had a chance to get so snacks and drinks which were provided to the side - the cupcakes made by James and hi mum were on pointe! Also, I managed to have a chat with a few photographers like myself. Other than Tobi (TobiNinjaFox) I also met Anty and Orleans (Shadow Dinosaur). The interval was about an hour, and I even got the chance to talk to Kelsey Ellison, she's a lovely person to converse with aha!

As the interval ended, we proceeded onto the next performance in the line up. We had a chance to listen to Strange Chocolate, an indie band who played us some great tunes. Unfortunately we didn't have the whole band with us on that day, but even so, Daryl and Harriet played us a great set!

Following their performance, our MCs introduced an opportunity for the guests to win some prices from LoveJojo, specifically plush toys! But what did the guests have to do? Contestants who volunteered themselves for the contest, were made to compete in a dance competition to win the plush toys. It was definitely an interesting sight to see and I couldn't help but laugh. It was very entertaining and everyone seemed to enjoy the dance off, as shown from the audience's reactions. They decided on the winner's depending on who received the loudest cheers.

We had some interesting dance moves, and you could see who was teaming up in the dance off. Kadeem who participated unfortunately wasn't able to compete for a prize considering he was a dancer himself however he joined in anyways and you can see some well-known moves being shown off - some you may recognise the move above, performed by Kadeem and James as the "Nae Nae"!

As the dance off continued, we even had the MCs join in themselves. If I was filming the dance off the video would of probably demonstrate me laughing really loudly and cause the camera to shake as well. Ich dancing through the stage sidewards was a sight, and Aisha even formed a "Can-Can" with the contestants, along with the addition of Orleans who joined on the other end.

However, despite the dance off, we had a remaining two contestants who competed for the top prize. The contestants would compete in a 1 on 1 dance off. We had Sonic vs. Dan, who do you think won?

One of the highlights of the event would have to be the dance competition to be honest. The final dance battle was very tight, and the result led to Dan placing first place and Sonic second, although the cheers from the audience were indeed close!

After the announcement for the dance competition we moved onto the best dressed of the night. No one knew who had been chosen to judge the best dressed, but I can't deny that they chose a definite winner. There were so many people who dressed amazingly for the event, but the winner's particularly classic style was a winner for me.

Thus we continued with the performance line up, with a performance from Elle and Leila of LOST Girls! What can I say? Isn't it a dream to be able to perform with your best friend on stage, especially if you both have a passion for performing. These guys presented their first ever live performance together at the LoveJojo launch event, and I can't help but say they did amazingly! These girls' vocal ranges are unbelievable and as a Sword Art Online fan myself, I totally rate their song choices! They also completed a dance performance of "Romeo and Cinderella" - Any Vocaloid fans may of heard of this! Well done you two! Following this opportunity, they have also performed as backup dancers for Kelsey Ellison at the Yorkshire Cosplay Con! You go girls!

Following the LOST Girls performance, Jojo and the MCs worked together to present the raffle prizes. The prizes included a cushion, a popin cookin kit,a cute strawberry printed outfit, a Sailor Moon figure and and two plush toys differentiating in size!

And to end the show, we had our final performance of day! Presenting, the one and only, Kelsey Ellison. She performed for us her very own original songs such as the Pom Pom (Humplepups Remix)! Her unique style and dance moves definitely caught the audience's attention and I can say that the final performance got the most cheers. Despite it drawing to the end of a long day, the audience still displayed great enthusiasm!

You can check out Kelsey's video of the event below:

Overall, I personally really enjoyed the event. I'm not going to lie, my legs were probably dead the next few days from standing around taking photos all day, but it was worth it, and I can't help but thank everyone for organising the event. Jojo even gave all of us helpers our own goodie bags to take home which included a few cute accessories, a box of Hello Panda and more!

I can even say I had fun after the event ended, we all had time to socialise amongst each other and even had Ich's brother playing the piano and all of us singing and laughing around. Another highlight of the day, especially after a long working day, laughter definitely is the best medicine for it!

Thank you for tuning into my blog posts, I'm trying hard to get as many posts done over this summer but on top of work and travels, it's quite difficult to find time to put up content so I'll try my best for my readers! Don't forget about my blog anniversary giveaway which was mentioned in the last post! I have collaborated with LoveJojo to giveaway prizes to you guys as readers!

On another note, don't forget to check out LoveJojo's website below! At LoveJojo they sell a variety of cute items particularly alpacas which are the most popular purchases!
http://lovejojo.com/

If you would like to check out anymore images from the event you can check my Facebook albums below:

LoveJojo's Launch Party: Part 1
LoveJojo's Launch Party: Part 2
LoveJojo's Launch Party: Part 3

Thank you for reading, and I hope to update you guys soon!

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