Recent Hauls- August 2016 (picture heavy)

It has been a while since my last haul post, mostly because I was waiting for stuff to come in. Whilst my last haul was full of quite practical wardrobe building stuff, this time it was all about splurging on items that I really wanted! I have a new cardigan and 2 new dresses. Although I am selling a couple of pieces to make room for the dresses, so I don't feel that guilty about getting them. I now know my space limitations and I hope to keep more on top of this in the future. 

First up is this Innocent World chess cardigan from 2008. I wasn't even wearing lolita in 2008! It is one of those items that was never on my wishlist, but I always admired it. It is a bit nerdy, but I like it! After getting a few pieces this cardigan could go with, I looked more seriously in to getting it, and I happened to find it on the Japanese auctions. I was warned that this cardigan was sadly showing its age and I was told beforehand that this cardigan had a lot of piling. But after deciding to go ahead, I was pleasantly surprised to find the cardigan's piling was nowhere near as bad as stated. It was never going to look brand new after 8 years, but I can see this cardigan has been well-loved and cared for. 

The black colour still looks deep and vibrant. The pattern on the cardigan looks very clear as well.

Size-wise, the cardigan generally fitted me, although as you can see in the picture it does not reach the very bottom of my torso. So it is surprising to see that the sleeves comfortably reached my wrists. It fitted me well elsewhere too, although it will be interesting to try out this cardigan with a dress or blouse which has a lot of voluminous details. I am still very satisfied with this cardigan and I think I will be wearing it both with lolita, and outside of lolita.

Next up is this Angelic Pretty Airy Girl cutsew dress, which I got in the sale. I was going to buy this to wear to a family wedding, but I didn't have the money at the time. So luckily it stayed up on the site long enough to get reduced and for me to replenish my funds. I had a hard time deciding between the black and navy! In the end, I went for the black because I felt it would be more versatile. The cutsew dress materials are exactly as you would expect them to be. The cutsew material is thick, comfortable to wear and has a bit of stretch to it. However, with the over-skirt being sewn in to the dress, you do not want to be going over the recommended waist measurement. The bust area is quite stretchy, although I don't really have the bust to try and test it to its furthest limits! I actually found that the material hangs a bit loose on me at the back. There are no waist ties or anything to make the dress smaller, although thankfully the dress still looks okay when I wear it. 

I found that there was plenty of room to put a petticoat underneath, and the dress can be worn with or without petticoat. Personally, I prefer the dress with a petticoat. I guess that is the lolita in me! The over-skirt hangs a little below the bottom hemline of the cutsew dress, but I really like how it looks. 

I tried the dress on as soon as I got it and yes, I know I need to iron the bow! The bow is a good shape and aside from me needing to iron it a bit, it does sit well on the dress. The ribbon used isn't shiny as well, which is a huge bonus.

Here is what the sleeves look like when worn. For some reason my arm was determined to disappear in to the wall, no matter how many pictures I took. I think they look pretty good. I like the pearls, although I would have maybe liked a few more pearls (only a few more though, otherwise that would be over-doing it). 

The over-skirt material is soft and lovely to touch. The ruffle has been done very neatly too, with lots of gathering to create a lovely frilly look.

A close up of the chest area. I really like how the cutsew fabric and the sheer shoulders have been done. The pearl "necklace" thing maybe didn't sit as well as I was hoping. It sometimes gets a little lost in the ruffle, or tucks itself inside the dress. I think the chain needs to be just a little longer. It is detachable though, and it is very easy to detach it. I would be tempted to detach it and add my own necklace.

Here is a picture to show the different dress layers. As you can see, the cutsew dress underneath is a very basic design. It is the over-skirt that really makes this dress. Even though this is a cutsew dress, in all honesty it looks quite 'dressy' in person. It is maybe not as extravagant as your typical lolita dress, but this cutsew dress can really hold its own.

The zip is very well concealed at the back too. I am so satisfied with my purchase and I really wish I could have gotten the navy before it sold out.

Finally... I gave in. I got Milky Swan. I kept trying to tell myself that I didn't want it, but deep down I knew I did! It is so romantic looking floaty. I keep having to stop myself from touching the dress, it is so soft! I will say that this dress can go smaller than the official measurements. Supposedly, I am underneath the minimum waist measurement for this dress, but I still found myself having to loosen the ribbon at the back a little. I had a little look at the dress measurements after trying the dress on, and I am not 100% convinced it can go to the maximum measurements stated. Or maybe it can, but it will just be quite stretched out. It is very difficult for me to comment on, as I am below the maximum measurements. Despite what some people have said about the lavender colour way (I saw somebody say that it reminded them of their grandma's house decor. Well, I guess I will be rocking the grandma look then!) I think the colour looks absolutely gorgeous. I will admit that I came very close to getting the pink though.

The dress arrived with some pretty bad creases on the bow and over-skirt. James and I had to iron this dress so carefully, which was a of an adventure in itself. Let's just say it was a 2-person job, with one of us having to hold the dress in place as the other ironed (For the record, we ironed it with a thick towel on top so it would not get damaged. These materials are lovely, but delicate). It was really fiddly because of the way the bow is sewn in to place. But despite the ironing kerfuffle, I really like the bow and how it sits on the dress. It is properly sewn in to place. I remember commenting on my Milky Swan discussion post that I was unsure about the waistline lace, but it really does do a good job of making the waistline look tidy.

The bodice details generally sit very nicely. The lace is of a good quality as well. If I was being picky, I would say the strap details look a little bit bulky when the dress is worn. The organza sticks out a lot more than I was expecting it to.

And... a close up of the print without the over-skirt obscuring it! I really love the JSK design and I purposely went for it despite knowing the over-skirt wasn't detachable. However, I do feel this gorgeous print deserved at least one picture where it wasn't covered. As you can see, this layer has a few slight wrinkles in it as well, although not as bad as the deep crease I had to iron out of the over-skirt.

It was this part of the print that swayed me in to buying it! I know they are meant to be swans, but they look like ducklings!

The lace on the over-skirt was done very neatly. There was just one very small loose thread on the entire dress, which was on the over-skirt.

This photo is to show the various layers this dress has. There are actually 2 linings underneath the print. I assume the first lining is to give the print fabric a more solid background and the lining underneath that is supposed to be the actual dress lining. Despite all these layers, the dress is very light to wear. 

One thing I was not expecting was the pocket. I just assumed that because of the over-skirt, doing a pocket would be too awkward. But there is one! I think this pocket may be part of the reason why the over-skirt is not detachable. The over-skirt is stitched to the skirt at the sides as well.

I also got the matching head bow in anticipation of the dress being a completely different shade of lavender to everything else in my wardrobe. No surprises here- the dress is a much cooler lavender than the rest of the lavenders in my wardrobe! But at least I have the bow. Personally, I think this bow is a bit of a weird shape. It was difficult to get the bow tails to sit on my head in a way I was satisfied with. The lace is pretty though.

I was slightly disappointed with the level of care that has gone to the stitching of the head bow. I am so relieved the dress isn't like this. It just looks a bit carelessly done. Whilst I know nobody is really going to be looking that hard at the back of my head bow, it is still annoying knowing it is there! But despite this little problem with the bow, I am excited to wear the dress. Milky Swan seemingly didn't seem to sell that well, but I love it.

So those are my latest purchases! I hope my descriptions and reviews have been thorough enough. Do let me know if I have missed anything out. I think at the moment, my wardrobe is looking pretty good and my wishlist is starting to dwindle. So the next haul post may not be for a while. Who knows, maybe I will end up buying a lot. At the moment, I really don't have a clue what I want to buy next.

Recent Haul- Late June/ Early July 2016

So as I sort of promised, I am doing another haul post of things I have purchased outside of my usual Taobao and other shopping reviews, mainly my auction buys and anything I have brought from shops I have purchased from loads and no longer feel the need to dedicate a blog review to. 

Lately I have been pushing myself to fill in the necessary gaps in my wardrobe. Although I have lots of off-white and ivory blouses, this Innocent World blouse is my first long sleeved off-white blouse that isn't chiffon. As much as I love my chiffon blouses, it is very awkward wearing them with skirts, as you then have to wear a camisole underneath to stop your underwear from showing. Although I have been okay with doing this in the past, I just wanted to own a good, cotton blouse that I could just wear by itself. Also, I find I don't always want to wear a super floaty chiffon blouse, as it doesn't always fit the overall feel of an outfit. This Innocent World blouse had been hanging around on the Japanese auctions for ages and I finally decided to go ahead and get it. I initially put a bid on, despite the buy it now being reasonable, as I see no harm in trying to get something for a little bit cheaper. Unfortunately, the second I put a bid on, it seemed to spur other Japanese bidders to have a go for it as well (typical!). So I ended up doing the buy it now anyway. There was a bit of confusion, as the seller accidentally got 2 auctions mixed up and sent Japonica the wrong blouse. Luckily, Japonica were able to handle the mix up brilliantly, and I got the blouse I won eventually.

My initial thought was that the cotton felt super soft. I have so many crispy paper-like Bodyline blouses, that I had sort of forgotten how lovely brand cotton blouses can be. The lace is lovely too. I got one of the trump button blouses (I don't know the exact release, as IW have done a few of these trump button ones). The buttons are so pretty, but I have to admit that I found them really annoying to actually button up! They can be a bit fiddly.

Once I had conquered doing up the buttons, I was relieved to find that the blouse fitted me okay. This blouse was missing the ties that help make the blouse smaller, but I seemed to have gotten the ideal size for me anyway. As you can see, the arms are a good length on me as well. I think the blouse is ever so slightly see-through, but not so much that a camisole is needed. I will be testing this out with a nude bra and the camera flash before I wear this out though!

I love the rose lace on the collar. The collar is perhaps a bit bigger than I was expecting, but I quite like it.

I had a bit of an accident with my long-sleeved black Bodyline blouse which saw the colour run, so I got this Angelic Pretty blouse as a sort-of replacement. It was only when I put this AP blouse next to my Bodyline one that I realised how faded my Bodyline one had become. The cotton was again very soft, as was all of the lace.

A picture with the flash, just to show up all the details. The ribbon has buttons to detach it. As this blouse is a little bit sweeter than my Bodyline blouse, I like that one of the cutest details is at detachable. Perhaps I will be able to use this blouse in a more varied way. 

There is even lace running up the arms! 

The collar is again maybe a bit bigger than I was hoping, but I think it looks pretty good worn. Please excuse the hastily tied bow.

I have to admit though, that I am disappointed with the fit. The blouse is maybe a bit smaller on me than I would have hoped, but my main issue is the torso length is quite short. I decided to add this photo to demonstrate this point. I have a feeling I will mainly be wearing this blouse under JSKs, rather than with skirts... Although weirdly, the arm length was absolutely fine on me. I guess I will just have to be careful.

Who doesn't love a bit of AP logo lace?

I also managed to get hold of AP's Cosmic necklace in navy x gold, which came shortly after my last haul post. Well, it is meant to be navy, but in person it actually almost looks black. If you hold it up to the light you can see a slight tinge of blue. I am not going to lie- I intend to wear this as if it were black! The cluster of stars on the chain is a nice touch too, and the star charm at the top is stamped with the AP initials as usual. I absolutely love this necklace and I want to get it in clear x gold as well. I am also still on the lookout for the matching ring. If you see it then please let me know.

Finally, I got a pair of Bodyline shoes in beige. The style number is S519. A part of me was secretly hoping they would be less beige, as they look almost off-white in the stock photos. I suppose it serves me right for trusting Bodyline stock photos. I was very annoyed to discover that my shoes had arrived with marks on them, and one patch was even a bit sticky. The marks came off okay with no damage, but this is not acceptable. This is why I very rarely order from Bodyline now, because the quality control is appalling. 

The bows are quite well shaped, and I like the heart scalloping. The stitching is generally quite neat. There was a slight glue mark on the inside of one shoe, but it was quite small.

I like that there is a slight heel. The heel has generally been done to satisfactory level. It feels quite sturdy.

The straps are a good length with plenty of holes to adjust them. These shoes have poppers like pretty much all of the major brand and Bodyline shoes. Size-wise, I found this style ran true to size. I got my usual 25cm size and they fitted me fine. I have only worn these for a few hours around the house so far, so I can't really judge how comfortable they are yet. So far, they seem quite comfortable and on the same level as other Bodyline shoes. 

So I have managed to successfully fill a few wardrobe holes and tick yet another item off my wishlist. The shoes were a little disappointing though, with the colour being quite a dark beige and them coming with those stains. I am also pleased to say that I went and brought a bottle of YSL's Black Opium Nuit Blanche, after featuring it in my recent post about perfume. I have done pretty well shopping-wise lately, and I am eager to go out and find some bargains soon.

Regalia Purchases Reviewed- Picture Heavy

I thought today I would go in to detail about what I purchased at Regalia. I could have quite easily brought a lot more but I was very fortunate to have some very wise friends with me who talked me out of buying a few things that I wasn't sure about! It is a good job that I didn't buy too much as 2 days later, my dream bolero popped up on auction! But here are the items that did make the cut.

First up this strawberry themed brooch from Mossmarchen. Strawberries are starting to become a bigger theme in my wardrobe again and I really like the more classic look of this brooch. The embroidery has been done so neatly. The strawberries have crisp, sharp details to them and I thought it was quite clever using the ribbon to make the leaves. The brooch has an interesting texture to it as well, which is something you wouldn't normally see on a brooch.

Here is a little side view. It looks pretty tidy from this angle as well.

The backing for the brooch is very heavy and has an interesting design to it. I found the fastening a little bit stiff at first but I find it is getting easier to un-do the more I open it. 

Next up is another macaron ring from Sweet and Tiny! I have brought many times from Mo's store so I know what sort of quality to expect. I loved the shopping bags and packaging that Mo used this time. It really suits the theme of her products. This macaron looks good enough to eat! It looks quite realistic.

The ring is of a generous size. I like that the strawberries have a glazed finish to them. All the bits of the ring feel secure and it doesn't feel likely that they would break off.

The backing for the ring has a lovely design to it as well and it is sturdy enough to support the weight of the ring. I like that the ring base is adjustable too.

Next up is my only Bring and Buy purchase. It is a Metamorphose cardigan which came with the tag still attached, so I am guessing it hasn't really been worn. It is quite a recent release as well. The material has a nice thickness to it that would suit Autumn and early Winter. I don't think it would hold up too well when it gets very cold though! The material also feels very soft and it feels very comforting when worn. It is also quite stretchy and I feel it would be a suitable size for most standard sized wearers.

The ruffles stop the cardigan from looking too plain. They have been done very neatly too. The buttons are a little bit simple in design though. I also feel that the embroidered logo on the front could have been clearer, as you can't really make out what the swirly writing says.

The arms were the perfect length for me. The only issue I could see with the cardigan is that it is full length, so it may not be suitable for wearing over a typical lolita silhouette.

This headdress is from Summer Tales Boutique. I have to give a special mention to the store holder who was very helpful and showed me all the different headdresses. She was super friendly too! I really like this headdress, although I think the top and the veil parts are a little unbalanced. The round top of the headdress is quite big and I feel the veil part needs to be a little longer in length. 

I can't fault the choice of materials. The feathers seem to be of a good quality. I like that the ribbon used for the bow is matte and the chiffon is really soft. I purposely went for the veil without the giant cross charm and at first I was a little unsure about the beads, but I do feel that the beads help to disguise the ends of the feathers. The bow is a little bit uneven in this photo, but that is easy to reshape.

The ends of the veil were generally quite neat with the only messy bit being a few loose threads that appeared on one of the corners. After carefully snipping the thread away it looked a lot better. I liked the choice of lace too.

I am pleased that there are 2 clips instead of the usual one clip you usually see on these kinds of veils. Considering the size, this headdress definitely needs both of them! I might even add more pins when I wear it, as I wasn't keen on the way it sat on my head. My main criticism is that the clips are not sewn down to one place and they tend to slide along the little line of ribbon. So overall, I do have a few issues with this headdress but nothing bad enough to put me off buying from this shop again.

Next up is the Innocent World blouse I managed to get after IW reduced everything by 50% (score!!!). The slightly sheer chiffon blouse is so soft to the touch. It feels really silky and luxurious. 

The details on the blouse are so pretty. The ruffles have a lot of texture and movement to them. The pleats are neat and everything about the blouse is neatly laid out. There were just one or two small loose threads, but nothing too drastic. The only thing I would change is to maybe have a loop of thread on the back of the neck to help hold the velvet neck tie in place. The neck tie is decent length to tie a small bow and I love the star charms.

When I got to the stall they only had a size L blouse left. I could have maybe gotten away with a M size blouse but the L size fits me quite well. And I like that there is a tie near the bottom of the blouse to help pull it inwards if I need to.

I thought I would include a close up of the neck area without the neck tie. If I was being picky, I would say the button design is a bit plain. I love the use of ruffles around the collar though. They sit so neatly and look pretty when worn.

And once again, the sleeves are a generous length. In fact, they may have even been a bit long on me, but with the style of cuffs this is not too noticeable. I would definitely consider getting an Innocent World blouse again, especially if I get another chance to get one so well priced!

And my final purchase was these OTK socks, also from Innocent World. I had been eyeing them up on the IW site for a while, so I decided to buy them whilst I had the chance to get them in person. The strange thing about these socks is that they are actually made of tights material. So I would base your decision to buy these socks on how well you fit brand tights, as I found the sock sizing very similar to full tights I own from Juliette et Justine and Metamorphose. 

As you can see from the photo, the pattern and colours on the socks are quite bold until we reach my knee area. It is a little bit better around the knees when my legs are not bent like they are in the photo. Most lolita pieces reach the knees anyway, so I guess it is up to the wearer to decide if this bothers them or not. I am about 5'4'' and the socks reach a little bit over my knees. My only concern is how well the socks are going to hold up, as I don't feel the elastic at the top of the socks is strong enough to hold them up for long periods. I guess I will have a better idea of how they stay up once I have worn them to a meet. So far, I really like these socks but I am not 100% convinced by them just yet. I need to see how well they wear first.

I don't feel that any of my purchases have caused me any serious feelings of regret and I am really looking forward to trying these items out in my outfits. It definitely helps to have friends around you to be the "voice of reason" when you go to these events. There were some very interesting stalls at Regalia and it will be interesting to see who returns next year.