Holley Tea Time Review- Positive!

Today I will be reviewing my new tights from Holley Tea Time! Holley's website is here- http://holleyteatime.com/ and she has lots of cute designs! Don't worry about products being sold out, because she does restock a fair bit. I recommend following Holley Tea Time on Twitter and Facebook to keep updated on stock. Holley Tea Time is getting a bit of a following in the J-Fashion community. Her designs are perfect for Fairy-kei and sweet lolita. Overall, with shipping included, I paid about £30 for one pair of tights. It is worth baring in mind that a lot of the big Fairy-kei brands sell out of their tights quite fast, and I believe that Holley has found a nice gap in the market.

Ordering Process

Holley's website is pretty straight forward. I had to reserve the tights I wanted (sold out again!) but all I had to do was put the tights I wanted in the cart and I was sorted. No issues at all. It was all very easy to do. You can pay with Paypal, so I was reassured that my order was secure.

Communication

The main issue I had was with the communication. I got my Paypal email confirming I had paid and then I heard nothing. There was an estimated date for the tights to become available and that date passed. I wasn't worried, but then I started hearing stories from friends saying their tights had been shipped and Holley said that she was sending out invoices over the next few days. Then she said the rest would be shipped out the following day and I still hadn't heard anything. I sent Holley a message via her website and she responded to me once my tights had been shipped (which was not long afterwards). Her message put my mind at ease but I think there is something lacking in her communication. You see, when you order from her you have to keep an eye on your Paypal payment because she will update the status to say that your order is shipped. Apparently, this is normal. Because this was my first order I did get a bit concerned when I heard nothing for a while and I thought I had done my order wrong. But it is worth remembering that Holley Tea Time is run by Holley alone and from my understanding, she sometimes gets help from her mum. Considering how many orders she must get, she must be busy, especially when she runs stalls at conventions too. It is not too big a criticism but perhaps this is an area that could be worked on in the future.

Shipping

Once my order was marked as shipped, my tights arrived quickly. I was expecting the tights to take about 2 weeks to arrive (average time between America and England) but they took significantly less time than that to arrive. I was pleasantly surprised by that.

My tights were very securely wrapped in a bubble envelope. It was all sealed tightly, so I knew my tights were very safe inside. My parcel was sent by air mail and I didn't need to sign for it. I also noticed that the value appeared to be marked down, so I didn't get hit by customs. Brilliant!

You get given a free gift with every order. I love the cute little kitty badge and postcard I got! Holley also provides some washing details for the tights, so you know how to care for them.

Here they are! My Pastel Party tights. When Michelle showed me her tights a while back, we talked about how thick the tights are and how they don't really ladder. On closer inspection, I stand by my initial feelings. The material is very thick for tights and they are almost like leggings.

The pattern is very clear. Whilst the print is not anything new design-wise, it is very cute.

I love all the balloons! My favourite is the moon one. I actually got these with Dream Sky in mind. I think these tights are going to look really pretty when I finally get around to finishing a Dream Sky outfit.

Holley Tea Time uses tights from We Love Colours, which have a good reputation. After getting these tights I am seriously considering getting some We Love Colours tights in the future. They are very stretchy.

The colours of the tights are not as vibrant when worn, but that is to be expected. You can still see the pattern really well (sorry, I rushed the photos). The tights also appear to remain opaque when worn.

I am really happy with my tights and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for future Holley Tea Time designs. The tights are good quality and the designs are cute and fun. The communication was a bit of a let-down, but that has not put me off ordering again, especially when I have the security of Paypal. So overall, this was a positive experience!