Tuesday 6 January 2015

McCall's Pattern Order Review

I got some money for Christmas from my father and lovely step-mother, so I decided to order some patterns I had had trouble finding in my local Spotlight stores.

So I found the website, and navigated throught it, which was nice and easy. I knew I wanted to buy the Elsa/Anna from Frozen, I also then looked for a few more that could come in handy. 

I ended up ordering the following products:

Frozen: Elsa/Anna costume pattern (M7000) in size Misses - http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m7000-products-48617.php?page_id=915

Sailor scout Disney Princess type costume? (M7101) in size Misses - http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m7101-products-49296.php?page_id=915

Lined and Unlined Cape (M4139) - http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m4139-products-1275.php?page_id=915

I made the order on the 17th December 2014 and I promptly recieved an email confirming this. Then, on the 18th I recieved a shipping notification with a tracking number.

I finally recieved my patterns Monday 5th January 2015.

I rate the contact a 5/5 as there wasn't any extra contact that was needed with McCalls's as they sent the tracking number the next day (they are in America so it would have been sent the day when I probably paid at night). 

As for the shipping time, I give a 5/5 as it came from America to Australia within 20 days of ordering. 

Now for picture of the packaging.


They were sent in a plain envelop that had bubble wrap on the inside (forgot to take a pic of that) and when I pulled them out they had a paper on each side. 

For packaging I would give a 5/5, they were posted in a envelop with bubble wrap to allow no damage.

Now for the contents of the packge ;)

I got the McCalls mini mag and a Butterick one also.

The Elsa and Anna costume pattern

The lined and unlined Cape pattern 

The disney princess sailor scout? Patterns

As you can see there was no damage done to any of the patterns except a slight bend on the bottom right corner, and I believe this would have been due to the post. I give them a 5/5 for producs and can't wait to make these.

So my full and short review on McCalls is a 20/20, their contact was efficient as was their shipping time. Their products came as described.

This is my outfit for work today as I am writing this review :) I am wearing a top I got in the Boxing Day sales, and a Innocent World high waisted skirt with some black flats.

Hope this review helped :) xox 








Monday 5 January 2015

Second Aliexpress Review

So, after my first experience with Aliexpress, I decided to take the leap and order once again. This time I decided to order the rest of the sailor scout dresses (I have Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Moon from Living Dead Clothing so I will do comparison).

So, the produc I bought was from seller: International Trade Shops - the items purchased: all of the Sailor Scout dresses except Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Moon in Free size (link: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Explosion-models-Europe-and-America-Star-Empty-Digital-Printing-Wholesale-Sailor-Moon-Pleated-Dress-Brand-designer/2041320051.html) 

I ordered on the 22nd November 2014, I had gotten a bit excited and hit buy the day before I got paid. I made contact with the seller and advised I would pay on the 23rd, the seller was understanding. I paid on 23rd November 2014 and awaited a shipping confirmation. I still had no shipping confirmation so messaged the seller on 3rd December 2014, the seller shipped my items that day. I recieved my items today (Monday 05/01/2015)

For communication I got the seller 3/5, they did respond to my messages however never let me know why the shipping was "delayed". 

Here's the picture of how I received the package and products


The packaging was pretty good, not only was it super hard to get the tape of the package but each dress was individually wrapped and tied with some ribbon. Nothing got damaged, however it could have. 

I give packaging a 4/5 as some bubble wrap or additional wrapping could stop any possibly damage in the future. 

Now for the review of the products, all the items can be found under the link above so I will just do each sailor scout then a combined review at the bottom. I will compare them all to the Living Dead Clothing Sailor Jupiter skater skirt in M that I have. 

So first I will post the Living Dead Clothing Sailor Mercury skater dress in M.
Front, Side view (as you can see, the point from the back half of the skater matches almost perfect with the front) and back.

Close up details of the collar, bow on the chest and how on the back plus skirt colouring. Plus what the inside stitching/hem/tag looks like.

The fit of the LDC skater is perfect, great length too. The way they have printed the colour and skirt with the darker and lighter lines plus the shading on the skirt has definitely added some depth to a normal skater. The bows are outlined well so you can clearly see the top and bottom, same with the back bow. The bottom is hemmed night with a tag telling size and care instructions.


Aliexpress Sailor Mini Moon
Front, Side view (as you can see, unlike the LDC skater the side points do not match) and back


Now close ups of the front bow, collar, back bow and skirt colouring. Plus the tag, inside sewing and this one had some marks on the inside that are not viewable on the outside.

The Sailor Mini Moon from Aliexpress clearly has a few flaws, one being that the side don't match up with their points, the collar at the back doesn't look anywhere near as good as the LDC collar. The printing on the fabric however is quite good and they did the fading in the skirt just like LDC. The skirt part is not as full as the LDC skirt.


Aliexpress Sailor Mars
Front, Side view (once again the sides do not match up) and back


Now close ups of the front bow, collar, back bow and skirt colouring. Plus the tag, inside sewing.

So the AliExpress Sailor Mars is much like the Mini Moon dress, however the bow at the back of the sailor Mars dress is hardly visible as they did it the same colour as the dress. The printing is quite good apart from the bow again and the collar yet again looks nothing like the nicer collar on the LDC dress. This skirt didn't have any fading, but I believe it looks good with the dark and light. The skirt part is not as full as the LDC skirt.


Aliexpress Sailor Venus
Front, Side view (once again the sides do not match up but it's not as noticanle/bad as the previous dresses) and the back


Now close ups of the front bow, collar, back bow and skirt colouring. Plus the tag, inside sewing.

The Aliexpress Sailor Venus is just like the other two dresses in make and sizing. However the collar on the Sailor Venus dress has the collar a bit different, it's fades from the top (a light orange to a dark orange), which none of the previous dresses have done. The bows are both printed nicely and the skirt has the dark and light much like the Sailor Mars dress. The skirt part is not as full as the LDC skirt.


Aliexpress Sailor Saturn
Front, Side view (the sides on this one almost match up perfectly, definitely the best so far out of the order) and the back


Now close ups of the front bow, collar, back bow and skirt colouring. Plus the tag, inside sewing.

The Aliexpress Sailor Saturn is just like the other dresses in make and sizing. However the collar on the Sailor Venus dress has the collar a bit different, it's fades from the top (a light purple to a dark purple), which none of the previous dresses have done and no white lines at all. The bows are both printed ok, however some more outlining in the bows would have made them pop more as the bow on the bust is a little hard to tell what part is what and the skirt has the dark and light and the fading which is very effective. The skirt part is not as full as the LDC skirt.


Aliexpress Sailor Neptune
Front, Side view (the sides on this one are yet again miss matched) and the back


Now close ups of the front bow, collar, back bow and skirt colouring. Plus the tag, inside sewing.

The Aliexpress Sailor Neptune is just like the other dresses in make and sizing. However the collar on the Sailor Neptune dress, much like the Sailor Saturn has the collar a bit different, it's fades from the top (a light blur/white to a dark) and no white lines at all. The front bow is ok, however some more outlining in the bow would have made them pop more as it is a little hard to tell what part is what, the back bow is almost invisible on the skirt much like the Sailor Mars dress, so outlining would have helped with that. Thethe skirt has the dark and light and the fading which is very effective. The skirt part is not as full as the LDC skirt.


Aliexpress Sailor Pluto
Front, Side view (the sides on this one are almost matching) and the back


Now close ups of the front bow, collar, back bow and skirt colouring. Plus the tag, inside sewing.

The Aliexpress Sailor Pluto is just like the other dresses in make and sizing. However the colour of the Sailor Pluto dress are grey instead of black. The bows are ok, however some more outlining in the bows would have made them pop more as it is a little hard to tell what part is what. The skirt has the dark and light and slight fading which could have been more more effected if there was more black/very dark grey.  The skirt part is not as full as the LDC skirt.


Aliexpress Sailor Uranus 
Front, Side view (the sides on this one are not matching) and the back


Now close ups of the front bow, collar, back bow and skirt colouring. Plus the tag, inside sewing.


The Aliexpress Sailor Uranus is just like the other dresses in make and sizing. However the collar on the Sailor Neptune dress, much like the Previous few has the collar a bit different, it's fades from the top (a light blur/white to a dark) and no white lines at all. The front bows look a lot better on this as they are appropriately outlined. Thethe skirt has the dark and light and the fading which is very effective. The skirt part is not as full as the LDC skirt.

So, my review for quality of the product is a 4/5, I have not given a perfect 5 due to the few bits of printing on bows where an much better outline would have made it pop more. Also the variations of collars was not very good in my opinion as half the dresses had a white bit on the collar and other don't. However the printing of the skirts does look good on all skirts. Also it would have been better if they were hemmed. 

Shipping, my score for shipping would be 3/5 as the seller did not ship until I asked them too and that was 10 days after payment with no notice as to why it had taken so long, and I had to ask them to ship it they didn't just do it and send me the shipping information. I recieved the items over a month after I paid and I believe I would have received it sooner if it had been sent on time.

A round review for this seller is 14/20, I probably would recommend this seller if you don't mind contacting them to ship your products and a nice $7 dress. The product itself was good quality, however I believe I could get better from another seller but for the price this was a fair experience and the quality was better then could have been. 


That's me for this review, after a bad day of work this definitely took my mind of off it and I hope it was helpful :) xox



Friday 2 January 2015

Adelaide Lolita "Merry Christmas" picnic meet

So, on here 21st December 2014, the lovely sisters Angela and Kairii had organised for a cute little Christmas picnic meet up for the Adelaide Lolita community. We have a very decent turn out and they had also organised a gift exchange, where everyone bought a stocking and everyone bought a small gift for each of the other participants I made my own stocking as I couldn't find the one my lovely grandmother had sewed for me as a child. It was my first time seeing a stocking and it was done without any pattern, just comptely free hand,. I am quite happy with the results. 

So, ones we arrived a the lovely little park on South Terrace in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, we were able to hang our stockings on a big tree the picnic was next too and all the presents were put at the base of the tree. 

Everyone was to bring a plate of food to share, we ended up with a nice mix of sweet and savoury and only one lot of cupcakes (we use to get almost half the people coming to the meets bringing cupcakes) . I forgot to take pictures of the food.

Any who's after everyone had full bellies, the lovely Angela and Kairii handed out all the gifts and there were some really really cute gifts given and everyone was so generous, I also hoped they liked the gifts I gave. I have added pictures of my gifts wrapped up, they included a little Christmas tree decoration, 2 mini packs of nerds and 4 bits of taffey laffey. And then underneath that is all the presents I recieved. 


And don't forget the candy canes ;) 

Now, for the group shot, this was taken just before people started leaving luckily 

And, the moment I have most been waiting for, the outfit shots, and let me tell you, some of the lolita community have e most amazing style :)

First and foremost, there is my outfit, I wanted a more casual outfit, so I had made my very first skirt, found the cute tshirt at Kmart and the little Santa hat was from a Spotlit Christmas costume set. Of course I was also wearing my bodyline heels and my Angelic Pretty laced socks. Next to me is the gorgeous miss Alyssiumbaby (check out her amazing blog here: http://alyssiumbaby.com/). Alyssiumbaby is wearing the Present Box JSK and the matching bow.

Then we have the cute couple Dalestair (check out her Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/dalestair.ophelia.kidd) and Alec. Dalestair was wearing AATP Black Cat Witch Apple Tree Vest and Skirt and Alec's vest was by Phaze. Then the wonderful Olivia and her bubbles. Olivia was wearing the Aneglic Pretty Chess Chocolate JSK with matching socks and a lovely hand made antler headpiece. 
 

Next was the gorgeous Sarah (whose blog can be found here: Oh-so-kawaii.com). Sarah was wearing the Bodyline Carousel Print in sax JSK, matching socks and headbow. Next is the lovely Lisa, who was wearing a lovely BtSSB JSK with off brand and handmade accessories for a red reindeer themed outfit that was very cute.

Corinna was wearing the BTSSB Claudia the fairytale princess OP and hand made antler flower crown.

There were lots of other lovely outfits, I have not got permission to post these so for the moment I won't. The day was not only lots of fun but also a lovely day. If you are in South Australia and interested in lolita, I definitely recommend joining the Adelaide Lolita Community on facebook and attending some of our events :).

 

Thursday 1 January 2015

wig-supplier.com Review

I am doing a review on a a wig website - http://www.wig-supplier.com - I was shown this website by my lovely friend Jessie (her blog can be found here: ). 

We decided to make a combined order from this site, obviously I can only review the products I ordered, however I will also review the packaging, postage and communication.


My order was as follows:
"Blonde" 50cm long clip in ponytail - http://www.wig-supplier.com/50cm-long-6-colors-big-clip-on-ponytail-hairpiece-extension-wavy-p-1388.html
"Beige fade" 70cm long Rhapsody wig - http://www.wig-supplier.com/70cm-long-rhapsody-in-beige-fade-curly-cosplay-hair-wig-zy30-p-2086.html
Vampire/Werewolves fangs - http://www.wig-supplier.com/fright-fangs-tooth-caps-for-vampire-werewolves-jy01-p-1389.html 


The order was made and paid on the 22nd October 2014, I received an email shortly afterwards confirming the order was made.


I then received this email from the seller, regarding an item being out of stock. 


And I spoke with Jessie and she asked if I could ask for discounted EMS shipping because of the delay, so I sent the following response straight away and received another prompt response 


Jessie did not want to pay the extra shipping so we just waited for the products to be sent, in the mean time, I received this shipping confirmation on the same day for the contacts as they had to send them seperate.


And then the shipping confirmation for the rest of the order was received on 28th October 2014.


I recieved everything except the contacts on 5th November 2014. I also soon after recieved this email from the seller and promptly sent a response about not receiving the contact lenses yet and received a prompt response again (my response is in the bottom of the second picture). 





And finally on 28th November 2014 I received the contacts. 

Below I have added picture of the packaging for each of the products and the postage bags they were sent in. 



 

Unfortunately I forgot to take picture of the contacts but they were wrapped in bubble wrap in the postage bag.

So my review for the communication from wig-supplier.com is 5/5, the main person that contacted me, May was very prompt with responses and also checking to make sure I had received my products and re sendin the contacts tracking number so I could check up on it. 

My review for the postage time is a 3 1/2/5, as the contacts took well over a month even though they were sent 6 days before the rest of the order, they ended up being received 23 days later.

My review for their packaging is 5/5, everything was packged to fit comfortably in the bag and there was no damage to any products.

Now for review on the products.

First, the Beige fade rhapsody wig, I did not get any close ups of the way this was sent, however the top half where the fringe and as far down as they could get wasin a wig net and the rest was nicely put intone bag, I wore this wig for a convention called Supanova in Adelaide, South Australia. It didn't get too matted, how every it did get a bit messy compared to when I first put it on, but almost 5 hours at a convention will do that. I give this wig a 5/5. The colour and length was exactly as described, the bangs are also long which will allow them to be cut or styled if the buyer wants. I have added some pictures of it being worn below. The first picture is the stock picture.





Now for the blonde clip in ponytail, this is a really good product and I would highly recommend getting it if the colour options avaliable match your hair colour. It was completely put in a bag with a wig net around the whole thing. I have worn it out once, but not as a ponytail (I will add the pictures at the bottom of this paragraph), when I wore it it did not matte and was not too heavy to wear (which I did for a whole day). I give the clip in ponytail a 6/5, the colour is a perfect match to my hair and the length plus style looks great and exactly like the picture and it looks natural on. The first picture is the stock picture.



 
This is the clip in ponytail put up like a ponytail (I needed my roots re done at this stage).
This is how I wore it to the wedding, I put the clip to the side of my hair so my normally shortish hair was nice long and curly.

I am currently unable to write a review for the fangs as I have not had time to file them to size (they don't fit my teeth) so once I have done this I shall post a picture and review them against another pair of fangs I have.

With that being said, my full review of wig-supplier.com is a 5/5, I gave them a 5 as I have a feeling the contacts took longer due to reasons out of their hand, everything was shipped promptly, and tracking numbers were sent with both lots of shipping. Their contact was prompt and they made options avaliable when we asked with the delay. I definitely recommend buying from wig-supplier.com and will possibly be buying a costume from there next.