Queen of Snow by Alice and the Pirates

Last week I took a look at Baby's Queen of Snow and this week it is the turn of Alice and the Pirates. AatP's Queen of Snow series includes 2 dresses, a skirt, a blouse, a head bow, socks and a necklace.

This is JSK I. The bodice is a nice shape and looks very well fitted. However, the bodice carries on a little underneath the waist and I wonder if this will affect the skirt shape when worn. The bodice has a line of ribbon running horizontally across it, about halfway down. The ribbon is a bit shiny, but it looks like it is good quality. It looks very neat. This ribbon line is topped by a bow in the middle. The bow is a nice shape with tidy edges. It may be slightly droopy, but it is not really that noticeable and it still holds its shape well. The thing that concerns me is how well this line of ribbon will sit on the wearer. It looks as though it will sit just below the bust on most wearers, but it has the potential to be a bit awkward. I get the impression that it wont suit somebody with a larger bust. The neckline is decorated well with some good quality lace. I also think it is good to have this lace to help balance out the use of darker colour on the rest of the dress. The neckline also has a ribbon bow. It is pretty, just like the other bow, but I don't think the neckline bow is really needed. The ribbon straps on this dress are very thin. I think slightly thicker straps would have been better, just so that they offer a bit more support. The back has a panel of shirring, which is concealed well by a ribbon corset.

The skirt generally has a lovely rounded bell shape to it. The stock pictures show it has the potential to hold a lot of petticoat. However, the material then goes inwards again near the bottom hem, so I would think carefully about what petticoat shape to use. The skirt has a pearl chain dangling near the waist area. It looks very pretty, but without being too distracting.

This picture shows the details of the pearl chain hanging from the skirt. The pearl chain is beautiful. As we can see, the chain also has snowballs hanging from it. I do think the snowballs look very pretty. However, I do think that it would have been better if they had used tear drop shaped charms instead. The necklace from this series has a lovely tear drop shaped bead and I think this chain would have looked stunning with that same shape.

The bottom hem has a tulle ruffle, which gives the bottom a soft edge. This ruffle is topped with rose lace, which looks beautiful and hides the edge of the tulle well.

This is JSK II. The bodice looks like it fits well. I do think the overall shape of the bodice is a bit odd. I don't know if it is just the stock photos but it sort of looks like a fan shape. The straps on this dress are also a bit too wide, especially with additional lace along the edges. The waist bow is also a bit on the big side and could possibly benefit from being a little smaller. But despite this, the bow does have a good shape to it and it looks very sturdy. Thankfully, the wearer has the option of detaching the waist bow and I think the dress looks fine without the bow attached. The waist also has two lines of thin lace running along it. I think the width between the two lines of lace is good, as it makes it look a bit like a belt. It looks very neat and tidy. The neckline has a line of good lace and is topped with 3 ribbon bows. While this has the potential to look too overcrowded, I actually don't think the 3 bows look too bad, especially when the waist bow is detached.  The 3 bows are a nice size. If they were any bigger then they probably would look too OTT. The middle bow has the AatP logo in the middle, which looks pretty and is a nice subtle way to include it. The back of this dress also has a panel of shirring, which is concealed by a ribbon corset. It looks very tidy and helps the wearer control the fit better. The skirt has a nice bell shape to it. It flares out well and will hold a decent amount of petticoat. The skirt is free from clutter, so the print is displayed well. The bottom hem is finished off simply, but neatly, with a line of good quality lace.

And here we have part of the print close-up. This print comes in green, navy, bordeaux and black. I really love the navy as it really emphasises the icy theme of the print. But I also think the black version looks beautiful with the lavender details in the print. Whilst I appreciate the inclusion of the lesser-seen green, I am not too fussed by the way the green version looks for this series and I don't think it works as well. The print itself is very pretty, but I prefer Baby's version of Snow Queen. The AatP version features boxed parts but I think Baby's continual border print looks a lot better. However, I do still like the AatP version. The frames around the box edges are very detailed. I also like how with one frame, the snow queen comes out of the frame (which can be seen on the left of this picture) as it gives it a more 3D appearance. The pictures inside the frames are drawn well. I love the picture of the castle, although I think the castle on the Baby print is drawn better. I am not too keen on the icy letters at the bottom. I do like how the frames have icy rose vines growing in the background growing in the background though. 

I think the necklace for this series is beautiful. It looks very elegant and grown-up. I think this necklace is better than the jewellery released for the Baby Snow Queen series. It has a more mature feel. I also love the shape of the beads. They also catch the light beautifully and turn the beads all sorts of colours. The snowflake charms are also done beautifully. They are very detailed with a great shape.

Whilst there are a few details that I like in this series, I think Baby's take on the Queen of Snow is a lot better than this AatP version. It's not as if I dislike this series, I just wouldn't get it myself because I would rather get the Baby series. The series are a bit too similar for me to want both. But I do love the necklace from this series. I had a hard time deciding which dress I liked best from this series, but I think I would pick JSK I. I would either go for the navy or black. If you ignore the Baby series, this is still a very strong and pretty AatP series. But I still wont be adding this to my wishlist.