A review revisted.

As I recently posted, I got a bit of negativity over posting links to my Personalizationproduct reviews on EGL. So in the light of that, and also my growing experience of lolita through our Bodyline and Fanplusfriend purchases I wanted to do a bit of a revamp and recap of my reviews. I've never been a fan of rescinding an opinion because it is met with an opposing opinion, so the reviews are going to remain up in the original form, and my opinions are pretty much still the same.

What I find humorous though, is that though some people disagree with me on the garment quality, mostly I just got crap for thinking the coat was a dress. Sure, that was silly of me, but it's just an honest mistake. Big deal.

For reference, the original reviews are here and here.

The Pros:

• I love eBay. I love buying from eBay. It's a great site and for me being able to make my first lolita purchases from a familiar site, if not a familiar seller, was a big plus.
• The fabric used in both garments is a fairly thick and sturdy cotton or maybe cotton-polyester blend, and the [mostly cluny] lace on the coat is decent as well.
• Construction is very sturdy. Neither item is lined, but all the seams are overlocked and I didn't notice any flaws in the sewing at all
• The red dress is not a onepiece exactly, but an overdress with an underskirt. This is great because I can change the underskirt to wear the dress in different styles.

The Neutrals:

• They are both replicas. This is a touchy issue, I know. Some people care and some don't.
• Sizing is on the larger side of accurate, which is much better than it being too small, but still not perfect.
• Postage was fairly quick. I'm putting this down as a neutral because while it was fast for an eBay international purchase, I've received other packages from various countries faster.
• Pricing was decent. Each garment was $45AU including postage. I said this before in one of the original reviews - I'm a fairly experienced sewer and factoring in price of materials and the time it would take, I couldn't do it for better.
• The red dress initially puckered a little along the underbust seams. However, with ironing this came out but it's probably going to be a bit of a recurring annoyance.
• The corset lacing ribbon on the red dress is unfinished, but nail polish prevents fraying so it really doesn't matter.

The Cons:

• The lining on the right side of the neckline of the red dress refuses to stay inside the dress, even after a good ironing. But with a few hidden stitches I can make it stay down so it's not a major issue - though if I couldn't do simple hand sewing it would kind of be a deal breaker.

Despite these garments not being quite as amazing as I thought when I first saw them, I still do not think they are anywhere near terrible. Sure, there are better out there, and you can get cheaper from Bodyline - but you couldn't get this coat or this dress from Bodyline. And these were the items I wanted to get to dip my toes in the gleaming waters of lolita.

My long-winded point is basically buy whatever the hell you want, from wherever you want. If you want to buy from this eBay store you'll most likely get something rather decent. Not brilliant, not horrible, but definitely more than okay. And most of the time, I'm okay with things being just okay.