Customising Shoes

Recently I have been thinking about my outfit for the DMC Tea Party and those little extra details I can add to an outfit. I have narrowed my dress choices down to 2, but for one of the outfits I am having a bit of a shoe dilemma. I am not sure I can wear the pair I want to wear without screwing up the colour balance in the whole outfit. At the start of the year I remember saying about how there isn't always a great deal of footwear choices for sweet lolita. A lot of sweet shoes tend to be AP Tea Parties (or similar variants).

So I got to thinking, how can we mix things up a bit? How can we make that same pair of shoes look a bit different? These are the ideas I brainstormed. You will find they are of varying levels of difficulty, but there should be something here that any of my readers can try for themselves.

Change the laces- If your shoes feature laces then the easiest way to change things up is to swap the laces out. You could go for another colour that appears in your outfit. Another option is to experiment with various trims. Ribbon is a simple option and there are so many different types to choose from. If you were feeling a bit braver, perhaps a more risky trim could work? How about trying lace, for example?

Change the straps or add extra ribbons for straps- Sometimes you will find that you can remove certain straps and then you can replace them, just like you would with laces. Alternatively, if your shoes did not feature any ankle straps, you could glue a length of ribbon to the inner back of the shoe lining and add your own set of criss-crossed straps. If you go for a longer length that goes up your legs, just remember to consider how you will keep the ribbons in place (like maybe using sock glue).

Shoe Clips- Another simple option is to buy some shoe clips. There are loads of different designs to choose from, which can totally change the appearance of your shoes. I made a small collage to show just a few examples.

Use alternating colours- I have noticed that sometimes lolita like to wear different coloured shoes on each foot, which can be quite bold and striking. If you own 2 pairs of shoes in the same style and different colours, see if you are able to pair those colours together in an outfit and use one shoe from each pair. This can be a bit challenging and it is important to balance the colours right. But if you are a confident co-ordinator, it may be worth giving it a go.

Stick on additional decorations- If you wanted something a little more permanent than shoe clips, perhaps you could attempt to glue on some additional decorations. Things like pearls can look cute going along the curves of a shoe, or you could go for an all-over look like with the shoes below.

Add a ruffle or pleat- I added a photo below to demonstrate what I mean. These shoes feature a pleat going along the edge of the insides of the shoe. If you know how to do pleats it should not be too hard to make a pleat for shoes. They don't even have to be positioned in this exact way. Frustratingly, I found the perfect picture on Lolita Updates of these shoes with pleated ruffles on the toes, but I can no longer find it! But hopefully the picture below gives a rough idea of what I am trying to suggest.

Change the colour of your shoes- If you have a pair of shoes that are looking a bit tired or that you don't really wear, perhaps changing the colour can give them a fresh new look. Make sure that you get appropriate paint/dye for the material your shoes are made of. Also be careful to make sure the colour is 'sealed' properly. You don't want the paint rubbing off on to other things.

Those are the ideas I managed to come up with. I am not sure if this has helped with my outfit dilemma, but I am a frequent user of shoe clips anyway, so perhaps I will find a way around my issue if I use another pair of shoes and decorate them. As somebody who usually ends up being one size too big for Taobao shoes (most go up to 40 and I usually take a 41!), or who is the biggest size in some shoes but finds that size sells out super quickly, I understand how frustrating shoes can be in lolita fashion sometimes. It doesn't help that I have wide feet too, so I have to go a size up! So I am always open to new ideas when it comes to shoes. If you can think of any ideas which I haven't mentioned above, feel free to share them. Your advice will be greatly appreciated!

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.

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.

Double Aliexpress Review- Negative

Today I shall be reviewing my first and last experience ordering from Aliexpress. I ordered 2 pairs of shoes from 2 different Aliexpress stores. I will review both pairs of shoes separately. The negative experience mainly stems from the pink shoes but the purple shoe order was not a great deal better (although the shoes were much better than I expected). If I was being generous, I would say the purple shoes order was more of a neutral than a negative experience but I still feel it deserves a negative rating.

My general opinions of Aliexpress themselves is that I didn't feel that my money was ever as "secure" as they made it out to be. With Alixexpress you pay by credit card, not Paypal which means you are relying on Aliexpress if things go wrong (which they did). You can open disputes but the seller can simply refuse your dispute and then you are stuck until you can reach an agreement. If the seller doesn't respond then eventually the dispute will be escalated directly to Aliexpress. I didn't have the opportunity to do this because both of the sellers responded to their disputes right at the last minute. The general feeling I got was that both shoe sellers were not willing to put the effort in to providing good service but were very determined to do whatever possible to hold on to your money.

First up, I shall review the pink shoes I ordered from here- Pink shoes 

I placed this order on the 4th of March and I was given a processing time of 3-5 days. The first thing I noticed is that the shoe chart given on the listing seemed incorrect. I literally had to guess which size I would be and thankfully I did guess right. It didn't exactly fill me with confidence though. So I waited for the order processing time to finish and Aliexpress give a little countdown clock to say when the processing time finishes. If the processing time clock reaches zero then the order is automatically cancelled. The seller was taking their time processing the order so I decided to open a dispute just as a sort of prompt to get things moving. Right at the very last moment, the seller "shipped out" (the quotation marks will become apparent in a moment) the shoes and then refused my dispute, saying the shoes had already been sent out. So I had no option but to accept that the shoes were coming and I couldn't seem to cancel this order no matter what I said in my dispute to Aliexpress. I paid a bit extra for EMS shipping because I wanted the shoes quicker and the waiting time for this shipping option is 5-10 working days. I trust EMS and I was given a tracking number for my order. Immediately I was suspicious because my tracking number did not work at all on either the Chinese EMS website or the UK Parcelforce website. Then, out of the blue on the 23rd of march, I got a message from the shoe seller saying they had given me the wrong tracking number and here was my correct tracking number. So I put this new tracking number in and discovered my package (which was supposed to have been shipped when they refused my dispute) had only been posted on the morning of the 23rd! So the seller had lied about shipping my shoes to me to get around the Aliexpress processing time. I was so angry at this dishonesty. If they can't abide by the terms that Aliexpress puts in place then they shouldn't have a store on there and it amazes me how easily the sellers can get around these rules. My shoes eventually arrived on the 27th- 15 working days after I placed my order and much longer than stated on the website. But what upset me the most was the dishonesty of the seller.

My shoes arrived wrapped in a plastic bag which was very well sealed up. I gave the parcel a gentle shake and the shoes didn't seem to move inside.

Inside I found the shoe box and the shoes inside were wrapped up in little fabric pouches. I think they should have stuffed the toes with tissue paper to help maintain the shape.

And here are the pink shoes. At first glance they look quite cute. The colour is not quite what I was expecting from the listing. The listing gives the impression they are a bit more pastel pink (at least that is how they appeared on my monitor). The shoes were a bit narrow but I had managed to get the correct size. I like that the straps had a bit of elastic to offer more size flexibility, although the elastic isn't that attractive looking.

And after examining the shoes I spotted this big chip where the colour has come off. You can also see a slight tinge along the sole line where the glue is visible. I was very angry about this because I felt that after everything the seller had put me through, I should at least have received damage free shoes. It just made me feel like the seller didn't care about my order at all and was determined to drag it out as long as they could. I put in a second dispute, this time to get a partial refund. As most of the cost was shipping and not the shoes themselves, I felt I could only put in a refund request for about $6. I received an email saying the seller refused my dispute but later found that they had in fact offered to refund me. But it is alarming to think that the seller can simply refuse a dispute and get away with sending damaged shoes. There was no way I was sending the shoes back because I would have to pay for the shipping.

So I decided to test the shoes and after a few hours of wear I found the shoes to be quite comfortable. This was just walking around my house though. I dread to think how they will handle a downpour so that will be interesting to find out.

Next up is the purple shoes which I got from here- Purple shoes 

This order was also placed on the 4th of march. Unlike the pink shoes, the purple shoe seller marked the shoes as dispatched long before the Aliexpress processing time had ended. I was given the tracking number but once again, it would not work. I waited 10 business days after the shoes had been supposedly been shipped and when they didn't arrive, I opened a dispute. The seller refused the dispute and asked me to give the shoes a bit more time. Out of the blue, I decided to give the non-working tracking number another go and I was surprised to find out that it was now working... and the shoes had only been sent out that morning. So once again, the seller had lied about sending the shoes out. The seller was clearly in a panic and stalling for time so I wouldn't escalate the claim directly to Aliexpress. The shoes did eventually turn up on the 30th of March. I was really unimpressed.

Again the shoes were quite well wrapped up when they arrived and the package was well sealed. The shoes had no room to move inside either.

I opened up the shoe box and strangely, only one shoe was wrapped in a bag. This picture is literally how I found the shoes when I opened them up. I was pleasantly surprised that the colour was exactly what I was expecting. And this time, the colour was not chipped or damaged in any way. In fact, the shoes were in perfect condition.

The only issue was that the shoes fasten in a weird way and I couldn't quite figure them out. Again, the strap was elasticated but the elastic is well hidden, as the photo shows.

I wore the shoes around my house for a couple of hours again and they were quite comfortable. They seem quite sturdy. I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison with my Bodyline purple shoes to compare the colours. I discovered the lavender colour of my Aliexpress shoes is a good match for Sugary Carnival. The shoe design is a bit more attractive than the Bodyline ones too.

So I have to say, I have been put off putting in any more orders with Aliexpress. I know this is only 2 sellers but I thought I was going to get better service than I did. And the dispute progress that Aliexpress use does not fill me with confidence. I would be really concerned if my demands were not met because there is a possibility that your money is not as protected as they claim. The pink shoes are not what I was expecting but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the purple shoes. So I wont be recommending Aliexpress to any of my friends. It is not worth the stress.

Bodyline Boots 225 Review

Today I am reviewing the new boots I have ordered from Bodyline. These boots are SHOE 225, or as I know them, the rose boots. I have wanted to own these boots ever since they first appeared on the Bodyline website so I am glad I finally own them. They had been restocked but had unfortunately had run out of my size, so I went half a CM up.

The boots arrived in one of Bodyline's plastic shipping bags and I was really concerned my boots had been packaged with no protection at all. 

However, when I opened up the parcel I did find the boots were wrapped in bubble wrap. Considering in the past I have received Bodyline shoes merely wrapped in tissue paper, I was quite relieved to see my boots did actually have a bit of protection during shipping.

Inside the boots were stuffed to help keep the shape.

The roses are held in place by simple clips. I am a little worried the roses are not very stable. When I opened the boots some of the roses had fallen off so I wonder how they will hold up when being worn. I have heard that some people received their boots with squished roses, but mine seemed to be in good shape.

There were some marks on the boots where the rose clips are attached. I suppose this is probably wear and tear from where the clips dig in. It does mean that I am hesitant to wear the boots without the clips though, because although the marks are small, I know they are there still.

The zips were very easy to undo and didn't get caught at all. I have experienced boots with tough zips before, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

The boot material is pretty much the same quality as my other Bodyline shoes. I imagine that for the price I paid, they will hold up well and I will get a decent amount of wear out of them. My main complaint about the boots is the calf circumference. I do not have large calves, but they are very toned and muscular. I did find that the boots zipped up a bit tight around my calves. These boots would certainly not be suitable for a plus sized wearer. Even some larger regular sized wearers may find that these are a bit of a tight fit. The other concern I have is the way the boot material creases when worn. I wore these boots for a short time and they started to crease around the ankle area. I am worried that over time these creases will leave permanent wrinkles. In the end, the extra half CM by going up a size didn't make a massive amount of difference because of the way my feet sit in the boots. When I felt the toes of the boots you could tell my toes didn't reach the end of the boots but I felt this wasn't a real issue. Aside from being slightly tight on the calf, the boots were otherwise comfortable. I wanted to get the boots in black too and I am tempted to go half a CM size up for those as well because at least I know this size feels comfortable.

So overall, I feel that although I am happy with my boots, they probably deserve a neutral rating. The boots are definitely for those with a small calf measurement, but I was still able to wear the boots and felt comfortable. I am more concerned that over time the boots will wrinkle and crease. I think the rose clips could do with being a bit more secure too, but maybe after a few wears I will have a better idea of how well they hold up. I am still looking to buy these boots in black too, and my experience with these boots has not put me off going ahead with that purchase.