The Floral Notebook My Beloved Empress Blouse Review- Positive

Last month I placed an order with a small Vietnamese brand called The Floral Notebook. Today I am finally getting around to reviewing it! To order from The Floral Notebook, you will need to search their name on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/TheFloralNotebook 

Ordering Process and Communication

The ordering details are under the 'notes' section of their Facebook page. Essentially, all you need to do is send them a message saying you want to place an order and request an order form. The order form is very straight-forward and I had no troubles filling it in. The blouses are custom sized and so the order form has a lot of different measurements that are required. It may look like a lot of measurements, but they are useful for getting a better fitting blouse. I sent my order form back on the 6th of January and the blouse was completed on the 16th. I think 10 days is a very quick amount of time, considering the blouse is custom sized. My messages were always responded to promptly and I was kept up to date with the process. 

Shipping

I got my tracking number on the 22nd and the blouse arrived on the 29th. I don't have much experience with ordering from Vietnam, but I don't think 7 days is that long. I did however have issues using the VN Post tracking, because it stopped working once the parcel left Vietnam and Royal Mail had issues tracking the parcel once it got to the UK.

My blouse was wrapped in sturdy paper packaging, which seemed suitable for the contents. It was taped up well and even finished with string. The blouse inside didn't have any room to move about, so it was packaged very well.

Inside the outer packaging, my blouse was wrapped well in plastic. 

This is the blouse I ordered. It is the My Beloved Empress blouse in ivory. Overall I paid $52 for the blouse, which I think is very cheap for a custom sized blouse of this style. The chiffon material is lovely. It is not as soft as a few of my other chiffon blouses, but it still feels very silky. The colour is a pretty shade.

I mainly got this blouse for the princess style sleeves. I think they have the right level of flare for my personal tastes. The chiffon is layered beautifully and the hem lines are very neat. There is a good amount of stretch in the gathered elasticated parts. The bow detail adds a touch of cute to the design.

Apologies for the picture quality here! This photo shows how the sleeves look when I hold my arm up. As far as the custom sizing goes, the only issue I had was the sleeves were a bit too long. This may have been due to me not knowing how far down to measure though, so it was probably my fault! But when worn, I don't think the sleeves look too bad and the elastic parts mean I can push the sleeves up a bit. Apart from this very small issue, I was very impressed with the blouse sizing. It feels good to have a blouse that fits my wide shoulders comfortably. 

The stitching is generally very neat. You can see the odd messy bit of thread at the corners, but overall I am happy with the quality. It looks good on the outside, which is the most important thing.

I adore the ruffled neckline. It has been done beautifully. It is gathered well and the chiffon is layered brilliantly. The gold buttons are a bit simple. Maybe some rose shaped gold buttons would look good here?

So overall, I think this blouse was well worth the $52 price tag. The design is beautiful. The sleeve length could have been better, but as I said, this may have been my fault. The brand owner is very friendly and communicates very well. I would definitely order from The Floral Notebook again and would highly recommend this brand to all of my friends. Please do check them out, as they have lots of wonderful blouse designs. I look forward to seeing how this brand progresses in the future.