Taobao 2018 - the accessories edition

This year I am participating in the Seagull Secret Santa on CGL, and decided that for part of my gift to my match I wanted to pick up some accessories from Sweet Dreamer. Then, of course, since I had an open order I just had to add in a few things for myself...and a few more...and maybe a few more...

In the end this was a wholly jewellery and accessories order, which is great because they're the pieces I need most at the moment. Most items are badly needed wardrobe staples, and some are entirely frivolous! I ordered from a handful of different stores, so I'll show you everything and link to each shop.

As usual, I ordered with TaobaoTrends, and they were fine. I had a bit of an issue paying for the order at first (I added money to my account, but then could use it!) but that resolved itself in a day. not quite sure what happened, but whatever. Ultimately, my order came in while I was at work on 20 November. They were sensible with packing, and put most items inside the hat I ordered to save space but they did bend the hat a bit to fit it in the box, so there's that.

Let's start with the items from Sweet Dreamer, since getting a couple of things for my Secret Santa from there was the original purpose of the order. For my match I bought a pair of wristcuffs (which I own myself and love) and a gorgeous velvet barrette bow. For myself I grabbed some sweet-themed necklaces, one strawberry and one biscuit. No pictures of the gifts, since I'm leaving them in their packaging, but oh my goodness the necklaces are adorable! Like seriously, how ridiculously cute are they? The pendants seems pretty sturdy as well, though the chains are quite thin.

Then I ordered a few items from Sweet Heart Square, another store I really like and buy from basically every time I do a Taobao order! I did get one thing for my match here, the floral barrette (they said they're into larme and it seemed appropriate...and hey, if not, there's more to the gift) which again is not pictured. Then I also picked up a pearl and cherry bracelet (plus earrings) for myself, and a pair of mint-and-brown bow clips. I have these same bow clips in I think four different colours now, I really love them! I think the mint is a bit too dark to match well with Teddy Chocolatier though, but oh well. The bracelet is also quite small, like previous ones I've bought from here, but it's still cute so I don't mind.

All the stores from here are ones I hadn't bought from before, so this was exciting! First I grabbed a mint green beret (because I will never have enough berets) and a black and red choker necklace from Kuma P Handmade. The beret is pretty standard, though a bit thicker and tighter than my other ones. But the choker is adorable! Like seriously, how cute is it? And yes, of course it's berry themed...

The next store was Azusa Handmade House, where mostly I bought a lot of rings (they were like a dollar each, don't judge me!) as well as a bracelet and a straw hat. The hat was mostly bought so I could do more country style looks with my new Meta dress and I really wanted to get one decorated with green flowers, but I made the sensible decision to go with the more versatile (and cheaper) option with just an off white ribbon. Which is still super adorable and certainly will be more versatile. Both the bracelet and the rings are cute but not massively noteworthy. But I'm so glad I got them! Look at me, expanding my wardrobe options ^__^

After that I bought yet more cute jewellery! This store (the name of which is translating to Don't come to a piece of meat? which is just confusing) really tempted me, and I wanted to grab so many more things, but in the end I forced myself to be realistic about it and only got two bracelet sets and one necklace. Though admittedly the cat paw bracelet set doesn't match anything I own but it's a cat paw! How could I not? The other bracelets were a good basic set and the necklace is a rainbow! A rainbow! Probably not going to use it for lolita too much, but in case you didn't know...I really like rainbows! The chain clasp bit at the back is broken though, so it's straight into my mending pile.

Then the accessories that I chose from Ribbon Cake were kind of silly. I mean, yes the ring and donut clips will match things of mine, and I suppose the lollipop necklace might as well, but they just feel a bit silly! But they were cheap and are cute so I'm not complaining ^__^ I'm actually kind of stupidly in love with the lollipop necklace, and the donuts are really spongy!

My Little Song tempted me into buying another couple of cute necklaces for the sweeter side of my wardrobe, and they are both very cute and feel quite sturdy. I realised when I was opening everything that I kind of doubled up with this strawberry necklace and the Sweet Dreamer one but I don't mind! They're still different enough, and I actually really especially love the beaded chain on these necklaces.

And from the last store, Sharon's Rose, I got a more classic style floral necklace. I did want to get a rose necklace too but it went out of stock. I guess this really goes to prove something that I'm realising about myself as I'm wearing lolita more often - I'm really more into sweet than classic! (though I do love both).  But I'm not sure if I wasn't thinking clearly, or made a mistake, because I didn't think I ordered it in this colour...and I also thought it was a bracelet. I honestly don't know what I did, lol! Oh well, it's still pretty and it's very different from anything else I own so it's fine.

On top of everything else, I'm not sure where they came from but also included were a shell necklace and a little notepad. I love cute freebies!

All in all I'm very happy with my new wardrobe additions. I've practically doubled my selection of necklaces and rings with this order, which is something I did want to do this year. So I'm a happy Roli right about now ^__^

2017 Taobao Haul (aka that's a lot of fawn fur)

Who bought pretty things? I bought pretty things! I got some items from my wardrobe goal list, significantly enhanced my fawn fur collection, got some new accessories and also ventured into using Taobao to buy non-lolita things – in this case steampunk skirts.

A sneak peek at what I got...

A brief shopping services review before I go onto sharing my new wardrobe additions; TaobaoTrends was fine and easy to use once again. I was sent one item in the incorrect version, but I did have the chance to correct that and did not. Also, with google translate being what it is I may have just ordered the wrong one... Anyway, I paid for my order on 13 October, it all arrived and I was sent photos (still really love this part of the service!) on the 25th and once I paid shipping I received a tracking number on the 26th. I chose EMS and it arrived on the 30th, packed down nice and tight in a securely taped box.

I’ve been planning a Taobao order all year really. I’d been wanting to pick up a few more accessories mostly and had played around with a fantasy shopping cart on TaobaoTrends for ages. But a few things took this out of fantasy and into reality. The first was the fawn fur items from Sweet Dreamer – they spawned a mighty need in me. Secondly, I got some money for my birthday. And third, while I had some time off work around my birthday I basically bet myself and James that if I could finish the first draft of our novel then and there, rather than writing gradually for the rest of the year, I would get a nice reward. I succeeded. So with all those factors combined I actually finalised and placed this order!

I kept my order restricted to only a few stores, so let’s start with the things from Sweet Dreamer. As I mentioned fell in love with their new fawn fur items and got myself three different pieces: a scarf, a headdress, and a pair of ears. The ears on their own were a last minute addition. I had decided against them but at the last moment before confirming the order I had a hunch I would regret not getting them, so I added them to the order.

All the fawn fur things are beautiful, well made, and super soft and fluffy! I am incredibly happy to have added them to my collection ^__^ The headdress in particular was a pleasant surprise because it actually looks really good on me, which I was not entirely expecting, and it's pretty comfortable to boot (I wore it to work for the Halloween party so that's 8 hours with no major discomfort). Another thing that pleases me is that the floral bows on the ears and the headdress are detachable so I can ditch them, or really overload an outfit by using all the bows from whatever I'm not wearing elsewhere on my outfit. Or I can just use them independently. Such versatility!

Moving from bolstering a part of my wardrobe that really didn’t need it to things I did actually need, I also bought two pairs of wristcuffs – one ivory and one black. Getting these has been on my goal list for a while so I’m glad I finally got them. I am very pleased with these, though I'll probably remove the charm from the black ones. Not too much to say about these; they are accurate to the stock photos and though they’re a little larger than I like they are still very good quality and I’m chuffed I get to tick them off my goal list.

I also picked up some new headbows, most of them black! They are all well-made and exactly as anticipated. The only negative is that the one with the lace spray is made for a  head size smaller than my own so there is not quite enough lace to lay nicely across the head and instead it bunches up a little. It still looks mostly fine so I’m not too put out, and I may end up replacing it or something down the line.

Along with the headbows I picked up this cute bow and flower clip in two colours. The pink one in particular I really needed, as I’m starting to wear a bit more pink but don’t actually own anything that’s floral and actually just a regularly pink-pink. The other one I thought may be a good match for Anniversary Rose, which it kind of is, though I’m coming to realise nothing is ever going to perfectly match that JSK. Colour matching aside these are both really high-quality and I love them to pieces already.

Last of all from Sweet Dreamer I picked up a pair for floral lace stockings in brown. To be honest, I thought these were OTKS and am a bit bummed that they aren’t. They seem to have decent length and stretch to them but I haven’t tried them on because I’m definitely too big for them at the moment and don’t want to damage them. However, that aside I think they’re very pretty and I’m glad to have bought them!

Next I got some simple and cute accessories from the same store I got a bunch of things from in my last Taobao haul, Sweetheart Square. This time, in addition to some bows that I felt were good additions to my ever growing collection of bow clips, I got a necklace and a bracelet. Slowly but surely I will develop my jewellery collection to be a bit bigger and more versatile. Every is really nice and I particularly love the bracelet but something I didn’t realise is that the necklace had bells on it! Right under the bow in the middle the dangly things are little bells! I’m leaving them for now but will probably remove them before I actually wear it out because I think it would get very annoyed very fast. I should also mention that the jewellery clasps are quit stiff, but that doesn't bother me overmuch.

And then I found something else from my goal list – fawn fur boot toppers! It does bug me a little that my fawn fur items are different patterns, but I don’t think anyone but myself will notice too much when I’m actually wearing things. It also helps that these are really super pretty and cute and fluffy! These are the things where I got sent hr wrong version – there was this version with fluffy balls on velvet ribbons and a version with satin ribbons and I ordered the satin ones (I think). However, I only went with that version because I thought it was a bit more neutral/versatile so I don’t mind getting this one. I also grabbed a lavender beret from this store but didn’t take a photo of it.

Lastly I stepped away from lolita and purchased two skirts to use for steampunk photoshoots, and last of all, on a whim right as I was placing my order I decided to order some laces from Cock Robin’s Song. I don’t have any big sewing projects on the horizon but I just wanted to get the lace. No reviews or pictures on these, as they're already stashed away in the relevant places, but I'm happy.

So that’s my recent Taobao haul! The terrible (wonderful?) thing is that I’ve already started putting together a new fantasy shopping cart so who knows, maybe I’ll place a little order in the 11/11 sales…

Have you ordered from Taobao recently?

Taobao haul time again!

It's been a while since I last did this, but recently I made a little taobao haul made up of two pairs of shoes, two boleros and a bunch of different accessories. This is only my third taobao order ever, and I don't think I blogged about my second one at all. The main difference between this order and the last two is that I have switched shopping services from Yoybuy to TaobaoTrends.

Before I go onto reviewing the items I just want to say a little about that change. I really liked Yoybuy to start with, but they seemed a little dodgy with how they handled the money in your account. After hearing some horror stories a while ago, coupled with my not-quite-right feeling I decided not to use them again. I chose TaobaoTrends on a bit of a whim, I was in the store spreadsheet on the CGL taobao threads, clicked to their site, and they seemed fine so I ran with it. And I am exceptionally happy with that choice! Their site was simple to use, the fees, exchange rate, and shipping seemed very reasonable, and they check the items before sending them to you. One of my items was in the wrong colour and they checked to see if I was okay with it (which I was) and then, before I paid for international shipping they sent photos of everything. I feel like that's a really good service to provide, and I fully intend to use TaobaoTrends for my future taobao orders.

But enough about shopping services... onto the clothes and things!

First up, two pairs of shoes from Sosic Shop. Both pairs arrived in good condition and looked just like the stock photos. But I managed to order myself the wrong size, so I'm going to be putting both pairs up for sale quite soon. However, as I say, the quality is quite nice so I guess this just means I'll have to do another taobao order soon to get some in the correct size. Poor me, having to shop more...

Then I took the opportunity to pick up some matching accessories for my Jam Paradise JSK from Rococo Soul. I got both the headbow and a pair of two-way clips so I have multiple options. The headbow is actually the first wired headbow I've owned, and it's so fun being able to adjust the shape!

To try and fill the gap in my wardrobe, I also ordered this long sleeved black bolero. It's a pretty obvious Innocent World rip-off but I didn't mind. However, it's not particularly great quality and the sleeves are three-quarter length on me, so I'll be selling it and am back on the prowl for another long-sleeved black bolero.

However, I also ordered a cute white lace bolero which is gorgeous! Just like the stock photo, rally cute and comfortable, I'm super happy with this. Though now I have it I'm realising I may not get all that much wear out of it because it's very white, but I can always tea dye to ivory if I decide that's a better idea.

I got some hair accessories from Cutie Creator/Sweet Dreamer/Ciciworks (I never remember which name is most recent) which I'm two-thirds happy with. The thing I'm not happy with is the lavender headbow because of that giant gold start in the middle which was not in the stock photos. Also, it doesn't match Jurassic Party, which I got it for, but that was a gamble anyway with colours matching. But ugh, that star.

The other two things, the strawberry headband and the two-way flower birdcage clip and very nice, well made and accurate to the stock photos. I got the birdcage clip hoping it would match well with my Meta Rose birdcage skirt and it coordinates, though it's not a proper colour match.

Last, but certainly not least I got a whole lot of other accessories from this shop, too many to fit into one picture! First up, a bundle of hair clips. Because I totally didn't have enough bows already. No such things as enough bows!

I also got some wrist accessories. I don't tend to wear wristcuffs much, but do occasionally, so thought getting a white pair was a good idea. And the bracelets were super cheap so I grabbed a few.. but they are tiny. I am a big girl, but my wrists are still pretty slim for my size and these are still about 3cm too small. Still wearable though, but I may end up taking of the beads and re-making them.

Overall, I'm very happy with all the accessories from that shop. They're quite cheap and very good quality or the price. The only thing I'm bummed about it that the set of strawberry clips with red lace instead of white was meant to have a red flower, but TaobaoTrends did alert me to this and ask if I wanted it sent back and I said no. Next time I'll say yes because the two sets are so similar I'm only going to keep one.

So that's my most recent taobao haul; all in all quite a positive experience!