Dress/Service Review & Day Out-Chess Chocolate (replica)

Hey lovely readers! Today I wanted to talk to you about a dress I recently acquired. I would like to post-face this blog with the fact that I know the replica debate is never ending, I know why people hate replicas, etc etc. Please waste someone else's time trying to fight them over replicas. Inflammatory comments will just be deleted honestly.

Now on to the post!

Chess Chocolate in mint has been my holy grail dress since I first started lolita. I love it. I love everything about it. I wasn't 100% a fan of the cuts offered though and have never been a size that would allow me to wear the actual Angelic Pretty dress. I waited years and years for it to turn up on the second hand market in my size and it never did. I finally caved and ordered it straight from Oo Jia. Now, we all know Oo Jia I assume, but in case you don't, she is well known for making custom sized replicas of popular lolita prints (mostly Angelic Pretty).

My experience with her was not great honestly. She was VERY slow to respond to my messages, took much longer than promised to make my items (though, in her defense, she was making me a custom hat in a style she had never tried before and apparently had some difficulty with it), took much longer than promised to ship my items, and honestly, they aren't exactly what I wanted. I did a custom style of JSK that doesn't exactly match any of the options AP had. I asked for a beret and a head bow. The beret sits a little strangely? I have a weird shaped head though and it could very well be a result of my head and not the hat itself. I'm really not positive. The dress is MUCH too short and I'm not really sure how that happened. In order to wear it as proper lolita I will have to invest in an underskirt at some point. In the mean time I have worn it a few times in more casual outfits that are much more "inspired" by lolita than....actual lolita. I can't put a petticoat under the skirt because it is so short (I probably could if I had a short petti but my petti is the size of most of my skirts, i.e. slightly below my knee.) It fits a little strangely around the arms and in the chest as well. Other than those details I am pretty happy with it, it just isn't what I wanted.

Now that the rant is over let me show you some close up details of the dress and accessories!

The actual print is fairly crisp, though the gold is smeared in many places. It isn't hugely noticeable however. The bow near the top is not removable. There is this gold lace around the sleeves that is quite itchy if not worn with a full coverage under-shirt.

The lace is beautiful, though obviously not true to the original design.

There is a SMALL built in petti underneath. It doesn't give much poof at all but it does allow for a nicer shape than it would have otherwise.

Here are the accessories I ordered as well! The beret had the small bow attached to it but it looked strange and the bow is not nicely shaped so I took it off. I tend to wear it with star clips or pins instead.

I went out with some friends of mine in this dress and tried to make a more "proper" lolita outfit for the occasion. This was the sole time I tried with a full coordinate (minus the petti) and, while I was happy with how the outfit looked, it still didn't feel right to me. I prefer this dress worn more casually because I really CAN'T do a full coord.

A bonus photo featuring my friends and I at the Tridge in Midland, MI.

Overall I would give my experience working with Oo Jia 2/5 for communication, 3/5 for speed, and 4/5 for execution. I hope this review will be helpful to someone, though I really really do recommend buying replicas second hand if you are going to purchase them at all.

Have a wonderful September and I will update you all again next month!

-Kayla <3

Restyle (Lolita Collective) Haul & Review!

Hello everyone! I recently made a purchase from the Lolita Collective. I've ordered from them a few times in the past and they're pretty straight forward as far as lolita sites go. They always have an amazing selection of items, including some that are custom sized! This time most of what I ordered was from the brand Restyle. They're not strictly a lolita brand but quite a few of their items are loliable. I've been looking for a few items for a coord I'm working on and they had EXACTLY what I was looking for! There were a few other items I couldn't resist as well. Most of this is stuff I will wear outside of lolita but I think, for the most part, they'll work with lolita as well!

To save time reviewing each item, which I don't feel is necessary, I will just say that, overall, every single item exceeded my expectations by a mile. Everything is heavy duty and sturdy. With the exception of the lavender bow ring, all of the jewelry I received is metal! The preview images made them look plastic so I was very surprised (and delighted) to realize I was mistaken. The purse I bought has removable straps and multiple ways to use them. Now on to the items!

The Restyle logo zipper above is very sturdy and has a nice weight. The bag is PU (faux leather) and seems sturdy. I have not had a chance to use it yet.

Do you see the skull? The band has the moon phases on it as well.

The moon phases!

Sorry for the blurry photo!

All of the above items are from the Restyle brand. This last ring is not! I do not remember which brand, if any, it came from. I am still trying to get lavender items together for a coord though and couldn't pass this by for the price! It IS made of plastic but the plastic is thick and sturdy. The band bends slightly that allows accommodations for larger fingers.

It is about 3x bigger than I expected. OTL

The last item I ordered was a set of lolita art postcards. They are on wonderful paper and came to me in much better shape than I expected. I have a wall that I decorate with cute art and letters so I bought these for that! They look adorable as decoration. You can buy a set like I did or individual cards.

I hope this was informative for you. I highly recommend LC after several orders that have always exceeded my expectations.

Thank you so much for reading! 

-Kayla

Custom design and custom size!

Hello sweetlings! I rececntly came across someone on a Facebook group who does custom pieces. As a plus size lolita, I am always keeping my eyes out for people who make quality custom pieces. I looked through her work and loved some of the cuts. She didn't have exactly what I wanted though so we worked together to get what I would really love. She started by going to a fabric store and sending me every insect themed fabric she could find. (As a side note: I'm obsessed with bugs and insects and spiders and everything creepy crawly to be honest. There are a very very limited number of lolita prints that fall into this interest.) I chose my three favorites, explained what design I wanted, and she started immediately to draft the patterns. Later on I chose the lace and accents as well. From first contact to delivery it took less than a week! That was so incredibly fast that my mind was blown.

I've been working on putting together casual coords with them. I've worn two of them so far. Casual Fridays at my job is where I've donned them so I haven't done complete/proper outfits with them because my comfort and convenience is more important to me at work.

The fabrics I chose were an entomology print that I had made into a skirt, a butterfly print with metallic accents that became a JSK, and a bee print with shiny crowns that ended up an under-bust dress with a black panel.

Close up of the print that became a skirt!

The finished skirt (uncoordinated).

Butterfly JSK casual coord

Close up of necklace (thrifted)

Under-bust dress with bees and crowns.

The seamstress allowed for one free alteration on each piece if they arrived and didn't fit or meet my expectations. They came and fit my measurements perfectly! There were no issues with the garments and they looked exactly how I wanted. As with any home made piece there were a few loose strings and what not but they were easily snipped away. She also threw in some free bracelets and an extra bow! Overall I was very happy with everything and I would definitely order from her again.

Want to commission her too? Check out her Facebook or Etsy for details.

What is your favorite brand that offers custom sizes? Let me know in the comments! Until next time, much love. <3

Innocent World: My first direct brand purchase

Hello everyone! I recently returned from my trip to China and am now just finding time to update this blog. Today I want to talk about my first experience with ordering directly from a brand site. A while back Innocent World had a sale going and I took the chance to try ordering from them. Obviously I don't fit into their dress but there were a few hair accessories I'd had my eye on.

Tags and a lovely letter they included.

The ordering process took me a few minutes to figure out but honestly was pretty easy and straight forward. They have clear instructions in English. It takes a while for your order to be confirmed (I think mine was a few days). Compared to what I've heard about ordering from some of the other brands, this seems like a good brand to start with if you're nervous.

I ordered a brown headbow and two navy blue hair clips because these pieces will fit well with the main pieces in my wardrobe. It took quite a while for the package to get to me but if you've been in lolita for any length of time you are probably used to the dreadful wait times. I didn't need them in a hurry so I wasn't worried. I wouldn't be hopeful if you need a rush delivery though!

3300 and 2800 yen originally

I will start with the brown headbow. First of all, it came slightly lighter than it appeared on the site. It will still work for what I need but be aware that some of the colors are obviously not exact (even things like your monitor settings can change that though).

The fabric is really nice and the gold details came without any snags or issues. I was expecting a little more for the price and reputation though. The headband it came on is pretty cheap and a little painful to wear because of the ridges.

As you can see here, the ridges are quite large and sharp.

The bow is securely attached so it does not move around. This is both good and bad. I'm glad I won't be losing the headband or having my bow move in the middle of a meetup but it is stuck at the one angle and spot so you really have to plan around it compared to bows with a little more flexibility.

The blue hair clips I got are small and cute. You get a set of two when you buy them but make sure you pay attention because that isn't always the case!

The material is a little shiny but not enough to make it look tacky. There are small IW logo charms sewn to the middle. They seem to be attached pretty well and did not fall off during a day's wear. There are also stars attached to the corner. These aren't attached quite as well as the logos so I am worried that over time they may need to be reattached. Again, after a day's wear they did not fall off.

The back has alligator clips to secure them to your hair (or wherever else you may want to wear them). I wish they were two way clips (having both a pin and hair option) so they had a little more versatility but that is probably only because I've been spoiled with most of my items having multiple wear options.

Overall I was pretty happy with what I got and I know they'll get plenty of wear. These did not quite live up to the price tag and the expectations I have for brand items however. I would probably order from Innocent World again if they were having a sale but otherwise I will probably stick to second hand.

I hope this was helpful, interesting, or informative for some of you. Have a wonderful month and I'll see you in April!

Cloudberry Lady Review-Moth Dress

Cloudberry Lady is an indie lolita brand running out of Finland. I wasn't really aware of them until I saw the dress I bought pop up in one of the groups I'm following (either lolita updates or rufflechat, I don't remember which now). I immediately fell in love with the dress and saw it came in custom size. There was no going back to be honest.

The ordering process was fairly simple. I sent them my order (color, style, and basic measurements). They asked me a few more measurement questions and I paid a down payment. Later, once the dresses were made and ready to ship, they invoiced me for the rest of the payment. Then they shipped it and it got here a week or so later. Easy peasy.

I took some unboxing photos for you guys, so you can see how it came packaged.

Here's the box!

This earned me a dirty look from the mail lady :))))

Wrapped dresses in tissue paper and a fancy envelope!

A letter and some wonderful post cards.

The pieces came individually wrapped in plastic.

Head bow

 

Back of head bow. Did not come with a headband.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dress has a pocket!!!!

 

Front bow. Not detachable.

The straps are adjustable!

There is shirring, back corseting, and a zipper.

The lace is a beautiful off white.

Overall I had a very positive experience. I was worried because the price was quite high in my opinion but I am a low budget lolita. I think it was definitely worth the money. It fits great and the details are so so beautiful. They included extras and the dress was made and sent in a timely manner. Honestly if you see something from this brand you like I highly recommend them.

Thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments if there is anything else you want to know about the dress.

I will post a coordinate I put together some time this week so check back!