Taobao Haul and Review - Haruhi Clover, Cutie Creator, Loris, Little Dipper

I got a major accessories haul today from two of my favorite go-to taobao brands, Cutie Creator and Loris, and 2 brands I have never ordered from before, Haruhi Clover and Little Dipper.  I use taobaotrends exclusively as my taobao agent, and I have never had any issues with them.  Perhaps I should try out some different agents, but I have such a good thing going with taobaotrends that I don't really feel like switching or experimenting.  However, I will note that I have only ever ordered full-price items on taobao, never any items that require deposits with a full payment due later, so I do not know how they handle that.

First, I will show the thing I got from Cutie Creator (Sweet Dreamer).  Every time I make a taobao order, I get some hair accessories from them.  They are such high quality for the price, and I am especially in love with their headbands!  I got 5 new headbands today, and all of them are beautiful:

 What else can I say, I never gone wrong with the brand.

Next, I will show my items from Haruhi Clover.  My mean reason for making this taobao order is that I wanted more hats, especially after enjoying the Metamorphose one I got recently in my Spring Set.  I wanted some hats that would go with more of my Spring coords, and even though Spring is mostly over now, I still should be able to wear them some this Summer yet.  I discovered Haruhi Clover when looking for hats on taobao, and when I saw that they have all kinds of other accessories as well, I decided to take a chance on a large order because the prices are so good!

Overall, the quality is not on the level of Cutie Creator, but still good for the price.  I am happy with the items I got, though they aren't all perfect.  First, the hats:

 The hats came with slightly bent brims, which I'm not sure yet how I will straighten.  I don't know whether they were sent this way from the brand, or if this is a result of how taobaotrends packed them.  The ribbons are not removable and I was kind of disappointed that the bows are not sewn onto the ribbons, or detachable; they are hot glued.  They also are not that comfortable.  I guess I just got used to my Meta hat, but the fact is that my Meta hat at full price would cost many times more than what these hats did.  They are serviceable for the price and do have the appearance I was looking for.

Next, I stocked up on bow headbands:

 I ordered one green velvet headbow, which I plan to wear at Christmastime and which looks very nice.  Then, I stocked up on these side bow headbands because they were only a couple dollars and come in a very wide variety of colors with different charms on them.  I'm pretty sure someone could find a bow for any coord with all the options they had!  I think I made a mistake ordering 2 of the light blue ones....they are definitely what was on my order, but I think I intended to order a purple one instead of 2 in blue.  The blue ones do have different charms, though...one has a star and the other has a cross.  Not shown is a mint-colored one with a deer charm.  It came with its pearl chain broken.  It will be fixable with jewelry pliers, but I need to get a pair.  I'm not terribly upset that it came broken since it was part of a large order, is fixable, and was very cheap.

 Next, I have a set of purple hairclips, a pair of black star shoe clips, navy wristcuffs, and wristcuffs with purple and blue bows.  I also got a star hairclip that I did not order, so it must have been a free gift:

These items are of fair quality.  The purple and blue bows on the wristcuffs are actually pinned on instead of sewn on, so they are detachable, but I feel like it kind of detracts from the quality.  The wrist cuffs fit and are comfortable.  I think each of these items were only a couple dollars each, and the quality reflects that but is still decent.

I also ordered a collection of berets to wear this fall and winter:

 I have a small collection of berets from Cutie Creator and also one from Lady Sloth and one from Innocent World.  These berets cannot compare to the IW or Lady Sloth ones, and they aren't quite as high quality as my Cutie Creator ones either, but they are close enough.  The best thing about these berets is that they come in so many colors and styles!  It took me quite a while to decide on these particular ones.  The wine-colored one is the highest quality and has a matching ribbon of the same style on the brim as well.  The bows on the purple and pink ones are detachable, and the white ribbon on the black beret is hot glued on.  I am happy with these berets, and one thing I noticed is that the actual berets themselves seem to be the same ones Cutie Creator uses...they even have the same unpleasant smell, which I hope will fade.

I did not want my taobao order to get outrageously expensive, so I tried to hold off on bigger items, but I wanted to get a couple blouses from Little Dipper in colors I don't have to fill out my wardrobe:

 I cannot recommend these blouses enough!  They are my first purchase from Little Dipper, and I will be looking at their products more often for sure.  The quality is amazing, and there is bird embroidery on the colors.  The color, size, and construction exceeded my expectations.  These were ready stock that was almost out.  The next time they release a blouse in many colors, I might have to get in on the preorders!

Last, I got 2 bags from Loris to complement my purse collection:

I have ordered bags from Loris before, so I knew what to expect.  Most of their bags seem to be replicas, but the price makes them irresistible, especially since bags can get beaten up so easily.  I did not have any gothic bags or blue bags in my wardrobe, which is why I decided to get these.  The blue heart bag's design is generic enough, but I'm pretty sure the bat bag is a replica.  Luckily, the bat bag does not actually have a brand name on it (I will not buy bags that have a brand name on them when they are not actually that brand).  Both of these were worth the price, and since I don't go out in lolita much, I don't like to spend much on bags though I do sometimes like to use them in coord photos even when I'm not really "using" them.

This was quite a haul and it makes me feel like my wardrobe is so much bigger now!    I will likely order from Haruhi Clover again, but not for items that I want for big events since the quality isn't excellent.  My Little Dipper blouses are amazing, and Loris and Cutie Creator will continue to be mainstays for me!

Strawberry Coord #1

In my previous post about the Mary Rose coord, I showed at the end all of the strawberry coords I put together to wear this spring.  Today I wore the first of these, and I plan to show all of them!

Skirt, headdress: Diamond Honey

Blouse: Yilia

Socks: MuFish

Corsage: Innocent World

The skirt I am wearing is actually originally a JSK.  It is Diamond Honey's Strawberry Garden JSK, which I fell in love with at first sight, and was actually one of my early dream dresses.  When I got the dress, I was devastated with how short and tight the bodice was, with no possibility for adjustment (without major alterations).  I still loved the strawberry embroidery so much that I couldn't give up on it or sell the dress, and since it wasn't an expensive or rare dress to begin with, I decided to ditch the bodice and turn it into a skirt!  As you can see, this worked out well for me...it makes for a skirt with a nice length!  As-is, the waistband sits below my natural waist, and would require more skilled alterations to make it sit correctly, but that would also mean a shorter fit.

I also bought the matching headdress from Diamond Honey, which features the same strawberry embroidery as the skirt!  The blouse is from Yilia, but I bought it from Lolita Collective at Tekko (the Collective doesn't seem to offer this blouse online, so they may have it for convention sale only).  Normally I wear shoes for my coord pictures, but I wasn't planning to go outside in this and I love so much how the bottom of these socks looks.  Shoes kind of ruin the look!

Super Simple Coord: IW Mary Rose OP

Yesterday when I got home from work, I knew I wanted to put on a lolita coord, but I didn't have anything planned out, and I wanted something super quick and simple.  At times like that, I usually want to reach for a one-piece dress instead of a jumperskrt, but I really don't have many OPs at all (and 2 of the ones I do have are too short...and I'm still waiting on an underskirt to arrive!).  So, I reached for my trusty Mary Rose long-length OP from Innocent World.  I own this dress in both the purple and green colorways, and they are always what I go for when I'm feeling kind of lazy.  They are also super comfortable!

OP, headband, socks: Innocent World

Cardigan: Bodyline

Shoes: offbrand

Even though this dress is officially purple according to the brand, it never looked purple to me.  The hair accessory I am wearing is shown with the dress I am wearing in its stock photo from Innocent World, but the ribbon on the hairbow is actually a true purple!  At any rate, it's a great choice for when I don't really want to think about what to match.  The socks I chose have "purple" flowers that match the odd purple of the dress.  I wanted to go outside to read, but it was chilly so I threw on the Bodyline cardigan for warmth.

The reason I didn't want to spend long on my coord last night was because I wanted to do something I've been looking forward to for months....getting out all my strawberry coords!

These consist overwhelmingly of items from taobao, with 2 Innocent World dresses also in the mix, and some Bodyline items as well (1 blouse, and several of the headdresses and socks).  There is also a bolero from Dreamv and some socks from Anna House!  I may post and break down these coords more when I actually wear them!