A Print Double

And... once again, my favourite brands are releasing prints faster than I can discuss them. So scroll down further to see my thoughts on Little Royal Icing by Baby.

First up today though, is Angelic Pretty's Strawberry Whip. This series includes 3 dresses, a head bow and socks.

First up is the Short Sleeve OP. The bodice seems well fitted and the shape is quite cute. I love how the short sleeves have just a slight amount of puff to them, giving them a really sweet look. The lace on the sleeves has a nice design and is of a good quality too. I like the stripy bows on the sleeves too, but perhaps would have liked them to be a little bit smaller. Maybe the bodice shape is a bit old-school, but it works. I like the square neckline and I think the detachable neck straps finish the neck area off well. There is a waist bow, which I think is far too big, but I admit the shape of the bow is pretty. For a bow of its size, it holds its shape well, and the thin floral lace used neatly on the waist bow has a lovely design. I do think it is a shame that the waist bow doesn't seem to be detachable though. The main part of the bodice features just 2 lines of vertical lace, which given how busy the print is, it not necessarily a bad thing. The neckline is then finished off with a line of lace layered on top of a chiffon ruffle. I think this is a nice idea, but looking at it on the dress, it seems to stick out at an odd angle and it sits funny on the dress. There is also a small stripy bow on the neckline, which is a cute shape and size. The back of the dress is fully shirred, which means lots of size flexibility but it isn't too attractive to look at. I especially think the fully shirred back looks bad with this particular print, as it makes the strawberries look really wrinkly. The stock photos show that the skirt is generous in volume and it flares out well. I love the full, plump bell shape in the stock photos, so I think this dress has a lot of potential. The skirt is then kept simple in design, so the print is displayed excellently. The bottom hem is then finished off with spiky looking polka dot lace. Perhaps AP thought strawberry themed lace would be too obvious...

Here we have the JSK. The bodice doesn't look particularly well fitted and I think the shape of the bodice is a bit dull. The straps seem to be a good, supportive width, although it is a bit hard to tell with all those ruffles. I like the use of lace on the outsides of the straps, as it has been well gathered and shaped nicely. There is also the very gathered lines of lace on the insides of the straps which then continue down the bodice until the waist area. This gives the straps a very frothy, frilly appearance, which is quite cute. The waist bow is again quite large, but has a nice shape and use of the floral lace. Once again, I really wish the waist bow was detachable, because I think this is the one thing that is really putting me off this dress design. Inside the 2 ruffles of lace on the bodice, there are 2 lines of lace running horizontally across. The design looks quite pretty and I like the lace used. I feel the bows on top of these lines of lace look a bit poorly placed though. I don't know why, but there is something about the way these bows look on the dress which doesn't look quite right. The neckline is finished off with a gentle chiffon ruffle. The back features a panel of shirring, which has been neatly topped with a ribbon corset. The stock photos show that the skirt has plenty of volume and it flares out well. There should be plenty of petticoat room. The skirt is again kept simple in design, so the print is displayed beautifully. The bottom hem is then finished off with the spiky edged polka dot lace (really not a fan of this choice of lace) layered on top of a chiffon ruffle. I think if I liked the choice of lace a bit more, the bottom hem could have been quite pretty. The bottom hem is also topped with several stripy ribbon bows, which have been well positioned and sit nicely on the dress.

This is the Standard OP. The bodice looks well fitted, but I am not fond of the sleeve shape teamed with that bodice. I much prefer the shorter, puffier sleeves on the other OP, but if this OP had the same sleeves then I guess the dresses would look too similar. The sleeves are finished off nicely with some pretty lace and stripy bows, although I wish AP hadn't then placed an additional pair of bows on the shoulder area. I really don't get the point of the shoulder bows. Unless somebody had a bird's eye view of the dress, you are not going to really notice them. Once again, the waist bow has a nice shape but is too big in size and I am disappointed it is not detachable. The bodice features many lines of lace, which are set out neatly. I especially liked the daisy shaped lace, which is a good match for the print. There is also some criss-crossed ribbon in the middle, which is well spaced out, and the ribbon only has a slight sheen to it. I am not really sure what is going on with the chest area of this dress. It looks like there is a layer of lace and then on top, AP have gathered a piece of the main dress fabric to mimic the shape of the bow. The problem is, the gathering hasn't been well executed, so the bow laces any real shape. The end result looks a bit messy. This OP also comes with a matching choker, but the choker design is quite basic and is nothing to write home about. I have seen similar chokers on Taobao. The back offers no shirring, so size flexibility is limited. The print does at least seem to line up well along the zip line, but I am not sure I would have bothered with the ruffly lace on the back. The stock photos show that the skirt is plump with volume and it flares outwards generously. The wearer should be able to create a great shape. The skirt is again kept simple in design, so the print is displayed quite well, although with the gathering it perhaps isn't as well displayed as it is on the other dresses. The bottom hem is then finished off in the same way as the JSK and my feelings towards that are exactly the same.

And here we can see what the print looks like. This series comes in ivory, lavender, pink and red. These are quite standard choices for a berry print, with the exception of the lavender. My guess is that after seeing lavender work quite well with Drained Cherry, they would try using it again for this series. At least there seems to be a good amount of variety. The print itself is very cute. I love the cakes at the bottom and the berries are also drawn very well. My main complaint with this print is that the berries for the non-border part of the print are too big, which makes the print look too crowded. If these berries were taken out, or were made a lot smaller, then maybe it would have worked a bit better. I guess then, the print would be more of a cake print, which happens to features strawberries. But maybe that would have been okay. Cake prints tend to go down quite well anyway and with so many strawberry prints released every year, they can sometimes get a bit overwhelming. The good news is, this print doesn't have any crosses in it! That automatically makes me like this series a lot better than a lot of the recent AP releases.

So I feel that whilst there are bits of this series that I like, but I am overall a little bit disappointed. I think the dress designs could have looked a lot better if AP had just made the waist bows detachable for starters. The print also looks a bit too busy for my tastes. I would love AP to do a strawberry print in a similar style to Drained Cherry, with a simpler print and dress cuts. I think it is safe to say I wouldn't buy this series. My top choice would be the Short Sleeve OP in Ivory. 

Next up today I am looking at Little Royal Icing by Baby the Stars Shine Bright. This series includes 3 dresses (one non-print), a skirt, a head bow, socks, a blouse, a cutsew, a necklace, brooch, hair pin and a ring. 

This is JSK I. The bodice seems well fitted and the shape is simple, but lovely. The straps are a suitable width and look very supportive. I actually quite like the scalloped edge of the outside of the straps, because it has been done subtly and the lace lining the straps softens the design. The bodice features a raised chest panel which has a scalloped edge. This is all lined and decorated with cute heart shaped lace. The scallops are well shaped and the lace has been used well. I think it would have looked fine if it wasn't for the fact this area is then topped with a large bow. This chest bow is too big and I think it is a bit of a weird shape as well. I can't imagine this massive bow being that flattering. This chest bow is detachable, but then the chest area looks a bit plain and flat without it. Underneath the chest details, there is also an additional 2 bows on the bodice with wide lace on either side. The bows are a cute shape, but they could do with being a bit smaller. I am also not overly fond of the choice of lace used here either, as I think it is a bit boring. The back has a panel of shirring which has been neatly topped with a ribbon corset. The stock photos show that the skirt has a lot of volume to it and it flares outwards beautifully. There is lots of potential to create a lovely shape here. The skirt is then kept simple in design, so the print is displayed excellently. The bottom hem is then finished off with 2 pretty ruffles and a discreet line of heart shaped lace. These ruffles look so soft and fluffy, but I would have preferred them to be under-stitched instead of over-stitched.

Next up is JSK II. The bodice looks reasonably well fitted, but I think the shape is a bit odd. It looks oddly tube-like in shape, and I don't like the neckline shape and lace either. The straps are an okay width. They could have perhaps been a little bit wider and some lace could have livened them up a bit. The waist line has a band of polka dot lace, which sort of makes it look like the waist has a belt. I like that it breaks up the main dress colour and helps to define the waist a little bit. There is a really large waist bow which unfortunately seems to be really saggy. I don't think the shape of the bow helps its droopy appearance either. It just doesn't feel like Baby put much effort in to this bow at all. This waist bow is thankfully detachable, and the dress looks so much better without it. The bodice then features this raised panel with a scalloped edge, which features a polka dot lace overlay. Personally, I think the entire panel and its details look weird. The shape is a bit bizarre and I also think the panel looks as if it sticks out at an odd angle. This panel is then further topped with a large bow. It is definitely overkill having this chest bow and the waist bow. But I do wonder if maybe this chest bow will make the dress look too top-heavy when the waist bow is detached. I am also not fond of the shape of the chest bow and think it is strange how only some edges of the bows have been lined with lace. This bow has a cute Baby logo charm dangling from it, but that is about the only positive thing I can think of to say about this bodice. The back is fully shirred, which means plenty of size flexibility but it isn't too attractive to look at. The stock photos show that the skirt has plenty of volume and it flares out brilliantly. There is plenty of petticoat room and I really like the shape in the stock photos. The skirt is also kept very simple, so the print is displayed perfectly. The bottom hem is then finished off with a line of simple, but good quality lace. It is a shame I hate the bodice, because the skirt part is lovely. 

Finally, here is one part of the print...

... and another part. This series comes in ivory, pink, mint and sax blue. All 4 colours compliment the print theme, but I do worry with the lighter colours that some of the print details may look a bit washed out. I struggled to see some of the print details in some of the pictures. As for the print itself, I really like the individual cookies. The 'royal' theme is continued throughout the print well with the choice of objects used on the cookies. The lacy fan shaped cookie is my personal favourite. I would love to be served a cookie like that! The border part of the print is perhaps a little bit cluttered though. Although the ribbon bows are drawn beautifully, perhaps they could have been a bit smaller, so they were a bit less prominent. I really like the piped icing used for the non-border part of the print. It is a shame they only seem to be easily visible on the mint version.

So overall I think the print is very cute, but it is too washed out on certain colour ways. I don't feel this print has been done to its full potential. I also think both of the dress cuts are a bit weird. Would I buy this series? Probably not. My top choice would be JSK I in mint, purely because that is the only colour I feel truly does the print justice. I am a bit annoyed Baby didn't do a brown or black version. The cookie accessories from this series are adorable though, so those are worth checking out.