Taobao Order August 2015- Picture Heavy

It is time for my latest Taobao review! I placed this order right at the start of July, but it only arrived last week, as some head bows I ordered were holding things up (At the time of writing this, they still hadn't arrived at Taobao Spree, so I just decided to leave them out of the review). Everything else arrived at Taobao Spree in a reasonable amount of time. This time my Taobao Spree agent was Cici. I have been so used to getting Ray lately! I remember really liking Cici, although after getting Ray so many times, I have noticed Cici is a little bit slower and Ray is a bit friendlier and more willing to help. But Cici is still a very good agent and I still received a good service.

Here is how my box looked when I first opened it. The box could have done with a bit more padding, especially considering some of the items in my order. The box was well sealed up though, to the point that I had trouble getting in to it.

My first items are these squishy doughnut key chains I got from here which are for an upcoming meet I am hosting. You do not get to pick the colours you receive, so I ordered a few, just in case I got some of the less popular colours. Thankfully, I don't think the colour choices I received are that bad. There are definitely some stranger looking colour combinations available. These key chains were super cheap and as expected, they are perfectly squishy! I was a little confused as to why I had to attach the strings myself, especially as the macaron ones already had them attached (see below).

I also got these squishy macaron key chains from the same store. This time I was allowed to pick the colours I wanted. The blue colour is a bit darker than I anticipated, but otherwise I really like the key chains. These key chains are properly sealed up, so I haven't opened them. But I can see the macarons have a nice appearance to them and they are very satisfying to squish!

The bags the doughnuts came in were not sealed up, so I was able to pull one out to show in this post. Sadly the sprinkles are a bit loose, so some of the sprinkles did fall off. They could do with something to help seal them, so they stay in place a bit better. As mentioned, these key chains were super cheap, so I do feel I got a reasonable amount of value for the price.

Next up is a head bow from a store I have purchased from before- Kira Kira. I will be honest, I am not too happy with Kira Kira this time around. I wanted to order this other hair clip from them but after initially saying it was okay, I was then told it wasn't available. And after just checking their page, I see this clip is still pictured on their site. So either it has become available again or they have not bothered to take down the listing. But back to the head bow I did manage to order, I think it has a lovely shape to it. It is a bit bigger than I was expecting though. It is a proper head-eating bow! The gold lace and trim used is of a reasonable quality and similar to that I have seen used by the Japanese brands. The lace does sit a little strangely on the bow in places though. I think it is because of the way the bow material has been gathered in the centre. The star charm dangling on one side is cute and also of a good quality. The star charm is fairly small though, and gets a bit lost in all the lace and the sheer size of the bow. The head band feels a comfortable size for an adult's head and was covered neatly in fabric, which is a nice touch.

The stitching on the bow is quite neat. I feel the seam in the centre of the bow could have been concealed a bit better, but otherwise it is a fairly nice bow. I do find that because the bow is so big, it can be a little bit difficult to balance on my head though.

And next up is my latest purchases from Mu Fish who I buy from quite frequently. I have reviewed the ankle socks on the far left before, so I wont review them again. I am ordering another white pair not because there is anything wrong with the quality (which is good) but because some colour transferred from my shoes and I was unable to fully get the mark out. So I am really glad the price is good!

I also got these navy crew length socks. I was expecting them to be a bit longer in length, but I am sure I will find a use for them. The pattern on these socks is pretty, although the "transparent" part of the socks has a lot of golden shimmer to it, which is quite noticeable. It didn't look as obvious in the stock photos. The other thing I find a bit weird is the ruffle at the top. I am not sure if I am meant to fold it over or wear it as it appears in this photo! The size of the socks was quite generous. My feet are actually slightly bigger than the socks are intended for, but they fit me fine with a bit of extra stretch to spare.

These are the transparent diamond socks that Mu Fish recently added to their store (worn over blush coloured tights). This time the transparent part of the socks is in fact a bit more transparent, although there is still a bit of tell-tale sheen there. I got both colours and I have to say, I am very surprised by the difference in quality between the 2 colours. The black socks are perfect with neatly defined diamond shapes. The lines start getting a little fizzy near the top, but otherwise the black ones are perfect. 

The white socks however, had a lot of issues. As you can see in this picture, the diamond edges are a lot messier on the white socks and there were even some random blotches of white in the middle of some of the transparent diamonds. The quality is so bad, I am not even sure I am going to keep the white pair. I don't really understand how the quality can vary this much, just because they are a different colour. Perhaps I just got given a bad white pair. But I definitely wont be ordering another white pair to find out. As for the size, both pairs fitted me but there is a limited amount of stretch to the socks. These are definitely not plus-sized friendly. The socks are a good length for me, but I am only 5'4'' and with the limited stretch it may not be worth getting these socks if you are a lot taller than me. 

Finally from Mu Fish, I got these strawberry print tights. I was surprised to see the bottoms of the tights were yellow, as this wasn't shown that clearly in the stock photos. The tights were a good size and I found them to have plenty of stretch. Although the print looks a bit faded in my photos, I could have pulled the tights down a little bit to stretch the print a bit less. I feel the print looks a lot better in person than it does in my photo. Unfortunately, I was having troubles getting decent photos of these on my own! The print is very cute and I am looking forward to wearing them. After the disappointments I had with some of my other Mu Fish stuff, I am relieved these tights turned out fine.

Next up today is these shoes from Angelic Imprint. These were not my first shoe choice, but sadly the store I wanted to order from decided to they wanted to stop making shoes in my size (so frustrating!). I received the shoes in a zip-lock plastic bag and the heels were suitably padded with tissue paper. I was a bit annoyed that no attempt was made to pad the shoes with bubble wrap or something similar though.

My shoes arrived covered in a layer of dust. This was easy enough to remove, but it still isn't too great. It makes me wonder how long they have been sat in a warehouse before I ordered them. The heel feels quite sturdy, although you may be able to see in this photo that the sole has been attached a bit wonky and has little air bubbles. So I am a little concerned about how well the shoes have been constructed. The stitching on the shoes seems relatively neat and the bows are a cute shape.

And here comes the annoying bit. When you put the shoes on, the strap with the bow on does not un-do or have a buckle anywhere. It is simply elasticated. So when you put the shoes on, you have to stretch this elastic and slip your foot in. This wouldn't be a problem, except the elastic is quite tight and does not stretch a great deal. I have wide feet and I had some serious issues trying to get my feet through this elastic loop. It just seems like such a terrible way of doing things and probably done to keep things cheap.

Eventually, I managed to get my feet inside the shoes and after walking about for a few hours to break them in, I can say these shoes are quite uncomfortable. I am hoping once I have worn them a little bit more I will find them more comfortable but so far, it is not looking good. 

Here is a little side view of the shoes. Don't be fooled by the little gap at the back of these shoes. That is just the way my feet seem to want to sit in the shoes when I wear them. They actually seemed an okay size at first. These shoes arrived with some free gel cushions and I can now see that this should have been a warning sign. I wont be buying shoes from this store again. The main issue is definitely the elastic and the narrowness of the shoe itself. I am supposed to be wearing these shoes at Regalia. Wish me luck...

And just when I thought I had had enough disappointments with this Taobao order, I finish today's review with these Fuwa Boom over-skirts. If you look at the listing, you will notice they are very careful not to show a back view of these over-skirts when worn by one of the slim models. I was about to discover why. At first glance the over-skirts look quite cute and the material they are made of is quite soft with no stiffness to it. I feel the pleats at the front are a bit too straight, but the over-skirts hang fairly nice from the front view, as you will see below. You can wear the over-skirt with the detachable bow or without if the dress you are wearing already has a waist bow.

The stitching is done neatly and the lace is of a good quality. Look at how tidy the edges are. Although I am not overly fond of the pleats, I do like the shaping along the opening at the front.

Unfortunately, the elastic leaves a lot to be desired. It is cheap and sloppily done. The over-skirt is one-sized but I found the size to be far too big. I am hardly plus-sized, but I am not the thinnest lolita either. This over-skirt is huge on me. I also found the bow on my navy over-skirt was poorly shaped and was crooked.

The 'fastenings' are messy and also a bit confusing. The listing for the over-skirts does give a good idea of how you are meant to use the hoops and the buttons, but I found it didn't feel that secure. On a positive note, I was given some spare buttons and some additional pearl beads, so I could alter these over-skirts if I so desired (and I probably will have to).

I decided to give the white over-skirt a go with my Sugary Carnival JSK. For reference, I am wearing my Classical Puppets bell-shaped petticoat underneath, which is giving me a reasonable amount of volume underneath. As you can see, from the front it does not look too bad.

From the side however, there is visible signs of drooping. I didn't notice until after I took this photo that there were button holes on the over-skirt meant to be used with the waist tie buttons (this of course, depends on the dress or skirt having waist tie buttons). If I had spotted these holes sooner, perhaps the back would not have been slipping down so much in the photo. However, when I tried this out later, I still found the over-skirt was too big for me and the elastic puckered strangely. The elastic is simply no good at all. It is cheap and does nothing. So for me to wear these over-skirts I am probably either going to have to replace the elastic or alter it some other way. If anybody has any suggestions then let me know.

So as you can tell, I have been left feeling a bit disappointed by this order. The tights, some of the socks, the head bow and key chains turned out great but the rest of the order has a lot of problems with it. I even had issues with my white diamond mu-fish socks, and they are usually my go-to Taobao store for socks. I don't really know what else I can say about this order. I just hope my next order goes better. And that the head bows I am waiting on don't turn out disappointing too.