By the Floral of Greyskull: A Level Up Review

July 12, 2016 Nina PenalosaLeave a comment

Hey my little ponies! Level Up’s been churning out some pretty sweet loot within the past few months! In the video above I go over the items from April (“Quest”), May (“Power”), and June’s (“Dystopia”) subscriptions. Make sure to check it out to see the fun stuff they’ve sent out. 🙂

Of the three, May’s subscription items were my favorite! Down below you can see how I styled the Super Mario infinity scarf and Masters of the Universe t-shirt! And for June’s you can see how I styled the Ghostbusters wearable item.

For April’s subscription, I remember being super stoked about it because I had been hoping for something along the lines of their “Fantasy” themed Loot Crate box from last year. The “Fantasy” box came with items from Game of Thrones, The Princess Bride, Harry Potter, and Dungeons & Dragons, so I had visions of some sort of Harry Potter or Game of Thrones accessory/wearable stuck in my head. And in a promo email I got, it said stuff from Harry Potter and the Labyrinth would be included, but then I learned that that was for the Loot Crate box, not the Level Up subscription. – le sigh – But most of the fandoms included in the Level Up subscription were things I was a fan of like The Legend of Zelda, Goonies, and The Princess Bride. I was little thrown off that Star Trek was included as the lady loot item since January’s “Invasion” already had a Star Trek BFF necklace. I’m not completely immersed in the Trekkie ‘verse — I’ve only seen the newer movies with John Cho and Simon Pegg, and thoroughly enjoyed them. The Star Trek items they’ve come out with have been really cool, like the galaxy print leggings from “Quest,” but I’m hoping to see a bit more diversity within the next few subscriptions as far as fandoms go. It seems like Super Mario and Marvel has made an appearance a few times too. Of course I don’t mind that since Mario was practically part of my childhood, and I’m a big fan of Marvel. Bleh. I’m just being biased. 😛

Other than the Star Trek overload, I really dig the stuff Level Up comes out with and I’m not just saying that ’cause they send it to me (see FTC disclosure below). Everything I’ve ever received has always been top quality. But I digress.

So, without further ado, here are some of the ways I styled items from the past few subscriptions:

Look #1: By the Floral of Greyskull

May’s “Power” t-shirt subscription came with a pretty rad He-Man t-shirt featuring his loyal pal Cringer (aka Battle Cat when He-Man zaps him with the Power of Greyskull) lookin’ fierce AF. He-Man’s silhouette is actually in the middle of Cringer, but you can’t see him in my outfit since I tucked the tee into my skirt. I really dig the design on this tee; the greens are so vibrant! I felt slightly weird about wearing it since I was more into She-Ra than He-Man as a kid, but when worn like this it seems inconspicuous enough. Green and pink is one of my favorite color combos, so I paired the tee with this cute floral skirt and pink statement necklace.

Look #2: Ghostbuster Chic

In my unpacking video review, I initially said that the wearable item from June’s “Dystopia” subscription looked a little too big since it’s a unisex XL. It fit me alright, but I looked a little boxy when I tried it on the way it’s supposed to be worn. In order to make it more feminine, I rolled the sleeves up a little and tied a knot in middle like I usually do with some of my cardigans. If I watch the new Ghostbusters movie, I know what I’m wearing to the theater!

Look #3: C’est Un Dress

Okay, so I’m pretty damn proud of myself about this outfit because I turned the Super Mario infinity scarf (that I totally forgot to show in the video. D’oh!) that was part May’s Lady Loot subscription into a mo’fookin’ dress! Er… well kind of, anyway. I was super excited about Yogurtland’s Nintendo campaign, and really wanted to wear the scarf when I went a few days ago. But it’s summer and I live in the Central Valley of California and it’s stupid hot over here. BUT I WANTED TO WEAR THE SCARF. I wore a black dress as a base and attempted what felt like a bajillion different styles (probably only four though) until I came up with what you see in the picture above.

If you’re into geek fashion, I definitely think Level Up is worth checking out. Plus you can save 10% off your subscription by using the code LEFANCYGEEK during checkout. Wee! 🙂

photos taken by Caitlin Hamer

FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post as Loot Crate/Level Up sent me items to review and will gain a little bit of compensation for those who purchase subscriptions through the links provided.

geek style

Level Up “Versus” Review

April 19, 2016 Nina PenalosaLeave a comment

Last month’s Level Up subscription theme was “Versus” and you know what? I felt like it was me versus effing iMovie because it did NOT want to let me edit my damn unpacking video! I got so angry, I had to walk away and color in some pages of my Star Wars coloring book. I managed to prevail in the end though! So iMovie can go suck it 😛

Check out my video to see all the cool stuff it came with! I also go into further detail about Level Up in case you’re not familiar with it. If you’re reading this via email and not on my actual site, I noticed that my YouTube vids don’t show up, so you can watch it here.

I’ll be posting different ways I accessorized the items later this week! 🙂

Don’t forget: if you’d like to subscribe to Level Up, you can save 10% by using “LEFANCYGEEK” and please be sure to use this link when you subscribe 🙂

This month’s theme is “Quest” and will feature items from The Princess Bride, Goonies, Star Trek, Legend of Zelda, and Kingdom Hearts. So if you’re reading this before 9pm PST, there’s still time to get it!!! So hurry because today’s the last day!! AAAHHH!!!!

Geeky Fashion Finds @ SDCC

July 30, 2015 Nina Penalosa11 Comments

I can’t believe it’s already been 3 weeks since San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) happened! I feel like I’m still recovering from it and that it only ended a week ago. My suitcase is seriously still hanging out on my bedroom floor and I haven’t unpacked everything yet… except for my dirty clothes which I laundered, of course. <– that’d be so gross if I had a week’s worth of dirty clothes just hanging out. Eww!

Anywho, let’s talk about fun fashion-y geeky things now!

Conventions like SDCC definitely helped influence my personal style ever since I started attending in 2004. Naturally, I’m all kinds of excited to see how fashion targeted towards lady geeks (and dudes, but mostly ladies because I am one — duh!) continues to grow more and more each year!

Fashionable con attendees don’t have to wait until July to fulfill all their geeky fashion needs with stores like Hot Topic, Spencer’s, Torrid, and online retailers such as Think Geek, and the abundance of Etsy stores and indie geek clothiers online like Gold Bubble Clothing that have tons of great fandom related clothes and accessories. But that still doesn’t stop me from looking for brand new geek inspired attire and accessories at SDCC though! 🙂

Well-known geek retailers such as Her Universe and We Love Fine are always a no-brainer when looking for something super cute and nerdy. As you know from a previous post, Her Universe nearly took all my monies! Both companies had two booths this year (2 of which were located in the Star Wars pavilion). I was THIS close to picking up the Han Solo skater skirt (pictured below), but then I stopped myself since my friend already made one for me. And the R2 knitted pullover is something I regret not going home with. – le sigh –

Loungefly also had a booth at the Star Wars pavilion with tons of cute coin bags, backpacks, wallets, and purses. They had two exclusive SDCC items this year, one being a sparkly Darth Vader coin bag (which seems more like a wristlet to me) and a hot pink Stormtrooper coin bag. I picked up the sparkly Darth wristlet because resistance was futile (I KNOW. Wrong Star franchise reference).

Another great geek fashion line I came across was Lace & Lore. I remember passing by their booth at Anime Expo, but I didn’t get to take a look at them until SDCC. Lace & Lore has tons of fun skater dresses and leggings that are similar to Gold Bubble Clothing and Black Milk Clothing. Some are obviously geek themed such as their pastel pink dress with 20-sided dice printed all over it (I don’t play Dungeons & Dragons, but I want it!), 8-bit hearts, and a few Naruto prints, but there’s also a few designs with kawaii Asian cuisine, donuts, and strawberry shortcake. Everything about their booth made me squeel with delight! From the novelty purses, the sweet pastel hues of their dresses, right down to the decorations of their booth — SO. FLIPPIN’. CUTE. I don’t know what else to say but that.

The one panel that I was able to go to was the Business of Geek Fashion that included Ashely Eckstein of Her Universe, Sara Scargall from We Love Fine, Ed Labay from Hot Topic, Jed Seigle ThinkGeek Solutions, and Arthur Gibree from Sanshee. It was interesting to see how many big name franchises have the licence to create tees and other apparel geared towards women, but they never did anything with it because they didn’t think there was a market for it. Like Julia Roberts said in Pretty Woman, “Big mistake. Big. HUGE!” There definitely is, and the fashions that are out in stores and online for us geeky fashionistas just keeps growing thanks to those that were on the panel. I also love the fact that Ashley Eckstein specifically stayed away from the color pink in Her Universe’s first few lines to show that us fangirls don’t always want to wear pink. I personally love the color, and Ashley said she did too, but it was very important that the color be used in limited amounts during Her Universe’s early days to stay away from the stereotype.

You can watch the full panel here thanks to the folks of Fashionably Nerdy : Geek Chic TV!

What are some of your favorite companies or stores to shop at for geek apparel that I might not have mentioned? I definitely know I wasn’t able to get everything, so lemme know in the comments section!