HELLOOOO!!! AHHH! Sorry for starting out yelling at you guys! I'm just so excited! I remember (vaguely) at the beginning of 2015 last year when I decided I wanted to start my own blog :3 such fond memories. I just wanted to do a short little appreciation post for everything and everyone of this past year ^.^
Last year I said I wanted this space to be a place I can record my thoughts and share interesting things and whatnot! I think I really did achieve that goal (though not very consistently but nobody's perfect, right? LOL) and I can't wait to experience all the fun things in these next fresh months to come! I hope you are all looking forward to great things in your life (and on this blog :3) as well ^__^
Shout out to my friends (especially Kim who keeps up with all my posts :')) and family (who I don't actually read my blog or know about it but I'm just going to keep it that way lol) who have given me unconditional love and support through this year >__<
And last but not least, thank you to all my lovely lovely readers out there! Thanks for taking the time to scroll through my blog and comment and everything! It truly means a lot! I don't really mention this but perhaps if you enjoy reading my posts and want to keep up with them you can subscribe to my posts and get notifications in your email? I have two totally awesome followers accounted for right now but I know there are people out there who follow my blog consistently and aren't signed up, that's totally ok too! I appreciate all of you! Even you one timers :D I'm truly truly grateful to all of you!
Here are some posts you can (hopefully) look forward to seeing here in the next couple of weeks!:
-Blogger appreciation posts (some of my favorite bloggers!)
-My AM/PM skincare routine
-Updated daily makeup routine
-More beauty reviews (hair, lips, cheek, skin)
-fashion DIY's!!
If you're thinking about starting a blog like I was at the beginning of 2015 last year, I definitely recommend it! It's a great place to collect memories and it's easier to manage than a diary (in my opinion at least lol). You don't have to do it for anyone else, it could be all for you! Or it can be one that helps others! Whatever! Just be careful about what you put out there online about your life and yourself, as always <3
Thanks so much for a great year and see you all in 2016!! Wishing you happiness, clear skin, and peace of mind (that's what I want anyways hahaha) ^__^ YAYYY!
xoxo Abby
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Friday, December 18, 2015
~Online Shop/Makeup Review: Glossier Priming Moisturizer and Perfecting Skin Tint~
Hello everyone!! Finals and fall quarter are done for me and I can BREATHE again!! Hoorayy!! Get ready for a bunch of new posts!! :-D Today I've got a super cool double purpose review for both the online shop/makeup section of this blog ^>^
If you haven't been following any of my previous makeup or skincare posts, lemme just say, I absolutely loveeee anything skincare! Masks, toners, creams, etc. I think they're all fabulous! I usually put skincare before anything makeup related so I will sometimes skip makeup days when I think my skin really needs it. So today I'm super excited to do a review about this company Glossier which was started by a fellow beauty blogger Into The Gloss! Perhaps I'll do a post about all of the blogs I've been following over the years that have inspired me to become a blogger? For now I'll just say that I loved scrolling through ITG and looking at all the beauty and skincare tips! And I still go on there and browse the new posts and things when I have the time hahaha ^.^
The idea behind a lot of their products is the 'natural cool girl' kinda thing where the packaging is minimal but still cute and the ingredients are all natural and apparently not tested on animals! Cool! This post was originally going to be about their Mask Set Duo but I ended up taking pictures for their Phase 1 Set first so I'll do the masks for the next post lol~
The website itself is set up pretty nicely and easy on the eyes. They really go for that minimalist style and focus on pastels, especially their signature light pink! I ordered from them twice, once to get the Phase 1 set and Mask Duo Kit (as well as an extra Soothing Face Mist for my sister because she loves face mists ^.^), and a second time to get another mask duo set as a gift for a friend :3 The first time they were having a Black Friday thing going on so it was 25% off the whole site and I also had a referral code from someone (I have one at the bottom of this post for all you lovelies! <3) and got another 20% off so I ended up paying around $70 for all my stuff in the first order plus free shipping! Right now on the website it says free shipping for over $50 but I'm not sure if that's just because right now is last minute Christmas shopping is happening and they want to get all of their orders out ASAP. When I ordered I had free shipping with no minimum so that was awesome!
Now onto the makeup review!
The Phase 1 Set is supposed to be the ultimate makeup kit for people who want a very natural no-makeup-makeup look. In particular I'll be talking about the Priming Moisturizer and Perfecting Skin Tint! I'll discuss the Balm Dot Com and Soothing Face Mist with the masks in the future skincare post!
I actually received a free sample of the Priming Moisturizer in the mail when I found they give samples on the Into the Gloss website! Unfortunately that sample must've been squished and squeezed along the way because by the time it got to me it was a sticky mess and all the primer had been squeezed out of the tiny packet T___T saaaaad faaaacceeee~ Each order comes with a sample of the Priming Moisturizer and some stickers though! So I used up the other sample before breaking open the actual tube. OH YEAH. Did I mention they give you these super cool stickers?! I love free stickers lolol~
Also sorry in advance for the poor lighting throughout this post! I was getting ready to go to the movies with my fraaans and I decided to do makeup review shots in the poor lighting of my window on a very gloomy day lolol~
Before makeup shot! I don't have a lot of actual acne right now, most of what you see is scarring 3:
The primer claims to be a build able moisturizer type thing. And it really is build able! What does that even mean??? Sometimes when I put on primer or just moisturizer on my face I find that it doesn't sink all the way in and just sits on top of my skin. This primer sinks in and moisturizes while leaving my skin smooth and prepped for makeup! This is actually my most favorite thing of the Phase 1 set! The Smashbox primer I mentioned in previous posts was smooth but it left me feeling really oily in the t-zone and sort of sat on top of my skin. The Benefit Porefessional was great on my t-zone but too dry for the rest of my face, which gets dry and flaky from the acne treatment I had been using. This primer is just like putting smooth lotion on my face and it isn't sticky or too thick and it doesn't irritate my skin at all! Super!
After using any priming or moisturizing products I like to wait 5-10 minutes to let it sink in! I've noticed doing this has helped my makeup look less streaky and it stays put throughout the day a lot better.
Now the Skin Tint!! Skin tint?? That sounds...weird. What is it? This was the product I was most interested in trying out from the Phase 1 set >.<
Like I said, this is a veryyyyy natural look they are going for here! The idea is to enhance the look of your natural skin! I would totally be down for this personally if I was confident with my face and skin, but I'm just not there yet :3 And that's ok! But they do tell you that this tint isn't full coverage at all and all the little things on your face are going to show through! So if you're a person who has freckles and redness and you like the former just not the latter, this kit is nice because it reduces redness while letting your cute freckles show through! Yay! For people like me with acne and acne scars though, this isn't so yay if you don't want those blemishes to be seen! Still, in a ton of reviews on Youtube and on blogs a lot of the people using the Phase 1 kit didn't seem to have my kind of skin that had tons of unwanted marks and whatnot. I'm not saying they had flawless skin and that this product should only be used for people who have flawless skin, buuut with a lot of the reviews I wasn't able to tell how much coverage or change this tint actually did because their skin already looked pretty nice compared to mine. So I had to test for myself how much red this reduces and how much actually shows through:
Blend up and out with fingertips:
I checked in the bathroom mirror and a bit of my redness was gone. Mostly it just made me look a shade darker (not in natural lighting apparently but in the bathroom light I looked tanner than usual!). I think my green BB cream does a better job of anti redness as well as giving me a bit of coverage though :P I'll probably use this tint more in the summer when it actually fits me and my skin tends to be better in the summer anyways hahaha ^__^ I did end up putting foundation over this for a fuller coverage!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Primer pros and cons:
PROS: Buildable. Light and not greasy. Moisturizing. My makeup doesn't look streaky or ashy by the end of the day! Doesn't irritate my skin!
CONS: It smells like old yogurt kind of? Or dusty milk? If you buy it on it's own it's $25...still kind of expensive for a nice moisturizer IMO.
Would buy again?: If I'm feeling spend-y and desperate and I haven't found anything to replace it lol.
Tint pros and cons:
PROS: It's rather translucent so it feels like you're putting nothing on your face! And even if you get the wrong shade it's hardly noticeable at all!
CONS: It feels like you're putting nothing on your face! It's hardly noticeable at all! $26 and comes in only 5 shades. (But hey, they used to have only 3 shades so I guess two more is somewhat better!)
Would buy again?: Nahh
Webshop pros and cons:
PROS: Easy to navigate website. They give lots of information about everything and are pretty open about their company goals and ingredients of their products and whatnot. Quick and easy to reach and friendly customer service! No complaints with customer service! Hooray!!
CONS: $$$ Like with most independent and natural brands you're going to be shelling out quite a few clams, if ya know what I mean hahaha. Once you set a certain coupon sometimes that is the coupon it makes you use which I thought was kind of weird on one hand (what if I find a better coupon and change my mind?!) but also kind of handy (I don't need to type the code in every single time!)
*************************************************************************
Overall: The Phase 1 set is not really worth it personally for the amount they sell it for on the website ($80!!??) ;__; If you are confident with the look of your skin and are very minimal with your makeup routine go for it! The only thing I think is worth it from this kit is the Priming Moisturizer, everything else is just kind of ok. And if you do buy anything at all from here I suggest you use a code and/or wait until they have one of their (very rare) sales so you can discount stack (they allow external codes to be added on top of any automatic website discounts) because that's the only way it's worth buying to me tbh.
Thanks so much for reading lovelies!! Like I said up above I have a referral code that gets you 20% off your first order! And I doooo get $10 if you buy something with my code so it's a win-win for both of us ;-D
Referral Link: here! <3
xoxo Abby
If you haven't been following any of my previous makeup or skincare posts, lemme just say, I absolutely loveeee anything skincare! Masks, toners, creams, etc. I think they're all fabulous! I usually put skincare before anything makeup related so I will sometimes skip makeup days when I think my skin really needs it. So today I'm super excited to do a review about this company Glossier which was started by a fellow beauty blogger Into The Gloss! Perhaps I'll do a post about all of the blogs I've been following over the years that have inspired me to become a blogger? For now I'll just say that I loved scrolling through ITG and looking at all the beauty and skincare tips! And I still go on there and browse the new posts and things when I have the time hahaha ^.^
The idea behind a lot of their products is the 'natural cool girl' kinda thing where the packaging is minimal but still cute and the ingredients are all natural and apparently not tested on animals! Cool! This post was originally going to be about their Mask Set Duo but I ended up taking pictures for their Phase 1 Set first so I'll do the masks for the next post lol~
The website itself is set up pretty nicely and easy on the eyes. They really go for that minimalist style and focus on pastels, especially their signature light pink! I ordered from them twice, once to get the Phase 1 set and Mask Duo Kit (as well as an extra Soothing Face Mist for my sister because she loves face mists ^.^), and a second time to get another mask duo set as a gift for a friend :3 The first time they were having a Black Friday thing going on so it was 25% off the whole site and I also had a referral code from someone (I have one at the bottom of this post for all you lovelies! <3) and got another 20% off so I ended up paying around $70 for all my stuff in the first order plus free shipping! Right now on the website it says free shipping for over $50 but I'm not sure if that's just because right now is last minute Christmas shopping is happening and they want to get all of their orders out ASAP. When I ordered I had free shipping with no minimum so that was awesome!
Now onto the makeup review!
The Phase 1 Set is supposed to be the ultimate makeup kit for people who want a very natural no-makeup-makeup look. In particular I'll be talking about the Priming Moisturizer and Perfecting Skin Tint! I'll discuss the Balm Dot Com and Soothing Face Mist with the masks in the future skincare post!
I actually received a free sample of the Priming Moisturizer in the mail when I found they give samples on the Into the Gloss website! Unfortunately that sample must've been squished and squeezed along the way because by the time it got to me it was a sticky mess and all the primer had been squeezed out of the tiny packet T___T saaaaad faaaacceeee~ Each order comes with a sample of the Priming Moisturizer and some stickers though! So I used up the other sample before breaking open the actual tube. OH YEAH. Did I mention they give you these super cool stickers?! I love free stickers lolol~
Also sorry in advance for the poor lighting throughout this post! I was getting ready to go to the movies with my fraaans and I decided to do makeup review shots in the poor lighting of my window on a very gloomy day lolol~
Tube of Priming Moisturizer! See that pretty pastel pink? |
OK I have crazy eyes here lol >.< Oh well |
From Glossier's website: Priming Moisturizer info! |
The primer claims to be a build able moisturizer type thing. And it really is build able! What does that even mean??? Sometimes when I put on primer or just moisturizer on my face I find that it doesn't sink all the way in and just sits on top of my skin. This primer sinks in and moisturizes while leaving my skin smooth and prepped for makeup! This is actually my most favorite thing of the Phase 1 set! The Smashbox primer I mentioned in previous posts was smooth but it left me feeling really oily in the t-zone and sort of sat on top of my skin. The Benefit Porefessional was great on my t-zone but too dry for the rest of my face, which gets dry and flaky from the acne treatment I had been using. This primer is just like putting smooth lotion on my face and it isn't sticky or too thick and it doesn't irritate my skin at all! Super!
This is about how much I use for first application on my face! I usually only put one layer on and then add a tiny dab more if I need it for especially dry areas on my face. |
The directions say blend up and away from face haha~ |
BAM! Done priming! |
Now the Skin Tint!! Skin tint?? That sounds...weird. What is it? This was the product I was most interested in trying out from the Phase 1 set >.<
Like I said, this is a veryyyyy natural look they are going for here! The idea is to enhance the look of your natural skin! I would totally be down for this personally if I was confident with my face and skin, but I'm just not there yet :3 And that's ok! But they do tell you that this tint isn't full coverage at all and all the little things on your face are going to show through! So if you're a person who has freckles and redness and you like the former just not the latter, this kit is nice because it reduces redness while letting your cute freckles show through! Yay! For people like me with acne and acne scars though, this isn't so yay if you don't want those blemishes to be seen! Still, in a ton of reviews on Youtube and on blogs a lot of the people using the Phase 1 kit didn't seem to have my kind of skin that had tons of unwanted marks and whatnot. I'm not saying they had flawless skin and that this product should only be used for people who have flawless skin, buuut with a lot of the reviews I wasn't able to tell how much coverage or change this tint actually did because their skin already looked pretty nice compared to mine. So I had to test for myself how much red this reduces and how much actually shows through:
It's a dropper bottle type thingy and it reminds me of those bottles we use for some chemicals in chem hahaha |
It's even thinner than my L'OREAL green BB cream!! |
Face: me thinking "OH NO this is too dark I've made a big mistake lolol" |
I put it on just this side of my face first to compare. Not much change huh? |
Now it's on both! |
AFTER! |
BEFORE! |
I checked in the bathroom mirror and a bit of my redness was gone. Mostly it just made me look a shade darker (not in natural lighting apparently but in the bathroom light I looked tanner than usual!). I think my green BB cream does a better job of anti redness as well as giving me a bit of coverage though :P I'll probably use this tint more in the summer when it actually fits me and my skin tends to be better in the summer anyways hahaha ^__^ I did end up putting foundation over this for a fuller coverage!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Primer pros and cons:
PROS: Buildable. Light and not greasy. Moisturizing. My makeup doesn't look streaky or ashy by the end of the day! Doesn't irritate my skin!
CONS: It smells like old yogurt kind of? Or dusty milk? If you buy it on it's own it's $25...still kind of expensive for a nice moisturizer IMO.
Would buy again?: If I'm feeling spend-y and desperate and I haven't found anything to replace it lol.
Tint pros and cons:
PROS: It's rather translucent so it feels like you're putting nothing on your face! And even if you get the wrong shade it's hardly noticeable at all!
CONS: It feels like you're putting nothing on your face! It's hardly noticeable at all! $26 and comes in only 5 shades. (But hey, they used to have only 3 shades so I guess two more is somewhat better!)
Would buy again?: Nahh
Webshop pros and cons:
PROS: Easy to navigate website. They give lots of information about everything and are pretty open about their company goals and ingredients of their products and whatnot. Quick and easy to reach and friendly customer service! No complaints with customer service! Hooray!!
CONS: $$$ Like with most independent and natural brands you're going to be shelling out quite a few clams, if ya know what I mean hahaha. Once you set a certain coupon sometimes that is the coupon it makes you use which I thought was kind of weird on one hand (what if I find a better coupon and change my mind?!) but also kind of handy (I don't need to type the code in every single time!)
*************************************************************************
Overall: The Phase 1 set is not really worth it personally for the amount they sell it for on the website ($80!!??) ;__; If you are confident with the look of your skin and are very minimal with your makeup routine go for it! The only thing I think is worth it from this kit is the Priming Moisturizer, everything else is just kind of ok. And if you do buy anything at all from here I suggest you use a code and/or wait until they have one of their (very rare) sales so you can discount stack (they allow external codes to be added on top of any automatic website discounts) because that's the only way it's worth buying to me tbh.
Thanks so much for reading lovelies!! Like I said up above I have a referral code that gets you 20% off your first order! And I doooo get $10 if you buy something with my code so it's a win-win for both of us ;-D
Referral Link: here! <3
xoxo Abby
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
~Online Shop Review: Cloud 97 (Long post)~
Hello all! Today I have another shop review and it's not a Storenvy one this time ^.^ I've been following this shop (via e-mail notification) for a while now and I noticed they had some things that I wanted that I had previously seen in other Storenvy stores but were overpriced. So I decided that I should try buying from them since I also came upon a 10% off coupon and free shipping! You can't beat that!! xD
Like with all online shops, especially ones that have "One size" items and ship from overseas, I was skeptical about whether some of these things were going to fit me haha~ If you've read through any of my past review posts (especially my popular Dog Dog review) you'll see my size range is L-XL for average US clothing sizes. Sometimes even 2XL if it's a particularly fitted garment/runs small/I want it to be looser etc. With that being said, one should wonder why I even bother to buy "One size" items from Asian brand websites, as their XL sizes are notorious for being a US medium at best. And despite my third order from Store Dog Dog, which was bad in terms of size, I was foolish enough to order from Cloud 97 anyways! YAY...
Here's what I ordered (partial screen shots from the Cloud 97 website):
If you haven't read any of my past store reviews, my measurements are (approximately) as follows:
(Over) Bust: 104-106 cm
(Under) Bust: 96 cm (give or take a cm)
Waist (smallest): ~106 cm
Waist (largest): ~116 cm
Hips: ~119 cm
Preferred length (shirts): From shoulder to bottom of shirt, about 55 cm-70 cm(sweatshirts) and 40ish cm for crop tops
Preferred lenth (skirts): 45-50 cm
Height: about 5"-5"1'
I mainly look at the bust measurements (especially when there isn't a waist measurement provided) and length (especially with skirts).
I had a feeling the skateboard tee and sunflower sweatshirt were going to be too tight like my Back to the Future sweater from Dog Dog T^T:
OH NOOO! Online order sadness repeat 3: Now let's take a looksie at the measurements of these garments:
The bust measurement for the Skateboarding tee was about 44 cm across the front and 45cm across the back for a total of 89 cm around the shirt for bust. This is 17 cm off from what the website measurements were! The length of the shirt was approximately the same though! I measured about 59 cm and theirs is 60 cm.
This was the thinnest shirt and the one with the most defects in the stitching and whatnot:
Now on to the Sunflower sweatshirt!
Once again the bust measurement is wrong for this sweatshirt as well. Sigh.
Both the Sunflower and Skateboard tops were a disappointment to say the least. But what about the third sweatshirt?
A concern I had about the Earth sweater was that in some pictures it looked like the sweatshirt said "Barth" and was printed instead of embroidered on. I contacted a different shop that also sold this item and she said the sweater was embroidered and it does actually say "Earth" on it. SO without asking the shop I'm actually buying the sweatshirt from, I just bought it anyways and assumed it would be fine:
I'd like to note that this was the "loosest" of all the tops I bought, as it should be according to the given measurements on the website, but it was still very fitted on me.
I REALLY had high hopes for this sweatshirt because the bust size listed on the website is wayy over my measurement! If you read my other store review I did recently for MEI NU you would see that the Hot Dog Sweatshirt had a measurement of 120 cm on the website and I could actually fit into that sweatshirt nicely! So I should've been able to fit this one as well...but alas~ At least it didn't say "Barth" lol.
The bust measurements were off for this garment as well. At this point I'm not even surprised.
Aaand this one is pretty thin as well.
Ratings:
Customer Service 7/10: The seller responded in a somewhat timely manner:
Three days ain't too bad I suppose! And they responded that their sweatshirt shipments were a bit later than usual but they would ship out my order pronto! I actually sent this e-mail originally because I didn't receive any notice of my order being shipped or an approximate date or anything. I wish they had sent me an e-mail at least that the sweatshirts were going to be a bit late because that affects the time my order might be received. (read shipping down below)
Accuracy of measurements (Fit?) 3/10: I measured Bust and Length because those are the two I'm usually most concerned about (and waist measurements if they are given, but they usually aren't) and the only measurement that was accurate were the lengths of the Earth sweatshirt and Skateboard tee. The bust measurements were especially wayyy off! I don't know how these sweatshirts were measured because when I measured around them and simply front and back I didn't get very close to the given measurement on the website.
Quality 3/10: I was expecting a much different quality of garment than what I received. Ideally I thought it was going to be like those Gildan or Hanes type sweatshirts with embroidery on the front. At the very least it could have been as thick as my Hot Dog sweatshirt from MEI NU. But no, I received neither of those. Think of those thin layering long sleeve tee shirts that are semi-sheer, that's what this is. I really was not expecting them to be this sheer or thin at all! I will say that the embroidery looked nice at least.
Price 8/10: The prices are what I liked best about this web shop compared to some other ones. This one sells them for slightly lower prices than some other places (and now with the quality of the garments I see why they were so much cheaper lol).
Get what you paid for? (Worth it?) 5/10: Two of the items on this site were much cheaper compared to other shops that sold the same sweater (Sunflower sweatshirt and Skateboard tee) and the Earth sweatshirt was only a bit cheaper. The cheapness really shows through (literally--get it? because they're so sheer! Did I mention how sheer they are? lol) especially with the Skateboard tee. I really expected the Earth one to turn out nice because it was the most expensive and other web shops sold it for about the same D-: In total I paid about $47 with a code I found via Tumblr (pro tip! always check Tumblr for codes before paying full price for web shops!)
Buy again? Maybe: I don't think I will buy anymore shirts or clothing in general from this shop. I might take a look at the adidas dupes and a few accessories to see the quality of those though! I hope it won't disappoint!
Shipping 5/10: When I first discovered this shop quite a while back they didn't ship to WA and I was sad, but now they do! And shipping is free! So I was stoked about that. My real shipping concern happened when I sent the e-mail above. I suppose it's partially my fault that I didn't remember details of when I placed my order. I see free shipping and just jump right on it. But I hadn't noticed there was a free option shipping and then right below it a shipping option where you can also get "tracking info" for your order (which you do have to pay for). I checked the about page:
There wasn't an info about having to pay for tracking information as an option besides free shipping. I think that's an important thing to add in the about section so people can take that into consideration when they place their order or forget that was an option like I did. So not only did I not know the day my order was shipped (which is the least they should include so I can know approximately when my order should be here since I didn't order tracking info! I mean the about page says contact them if you don't get your order 40 days after your package is shipped, but how will I know when to start counting if I don't get an e-mail about when my packaged is shipped?) So did I get it on time? I think so? I'm not exactly sure when it shipped but I got my order receipt on Oct. 8 and I got the package on approximately Nov. 19 (it was delivered to the office of my apartment complex and that's what the manager told me at least). Between the 55 days it supposedly should have taken from ordering it did come on time.
It is mentioned when you are checking out though (albeit, somewhat discreetly) in the tick box right under the "Free Shipping" option under Shipping Options:
Basically, yes there is free shipping but if you want to be safe just buy tracking info to avoid complications and hassle.
Overall 5/10: I understand online buying is risky, especially with overseas brands, you don't always get what you think you're going to get. And when you buy from websites that don't use pictures personally taken by them you don't really know if you're getting what you want. Buying online is a gamble and a struggle! Unfortunately with this store I struck out and lost, with these tops at least. I do acknowledge that these stores are best for XS-M sized people in general though, mostly because of the limited range of sizes overseas brands come in.
**Learn from my review! If you are larger or equal to my measurements these shirts will be tight! If you have smaller measurements than mine it could fit loose to tight depending on how much smaller than me you are!**
I was really excited for my package to get here and I've been waiting for months but now I'm just sad is basically my experience.
<3 Tips for people running these stores (Please!): Have the quality and/or material in the description of your garment, or at least describe something your customers can compare the quality to if you don't know exactly the kind of fabric it's made out of. And say things like "stretch" or "no stretch" and "sheer". ---Having actual photos taken by you on your site would also be nice!
-If you have anything like paying extra for tracking info as an option on your site, add that to your about page please!
(p.s. just for Cloud97: the sponsorship e-mail wasn't working for me? I don't know if that is still going on or not but if not maybe you should take it down from the about page for now?)
This was my complete and honest review for this store! I wasn't paid to do this review and this isn't a sponsorship or anything. I just thought these clothes would actually fit and you all might want to see a range of people trying to buy these clothes because the target buyers for these tend to be thinner people. Now ya know!
Thanks for reading lovelies! If you have any questions please comment down below!
xoxo Abby
Like with all online shops, especially ones that have "One size" items and ship from overseas, I was skeptical about whether some of these things were going to fit me haha~ If you've read through any of my past review posts (especially my popular Dog Dog review) you'll see my size range is L-XL for average US clothing sizes. Sometimes even 2XL if it's a particularly fitted garment/runs small/I want it to be looser etc. With that being said, one should wonder why I even bother to buy "One size" items from Asian brand websites, as their XL sizes are notorious for being a US medium at best. And despite my third order from Store Dog Dog, which was bad in terms of size, I was foolish enough to order from Cloud 97 anyways! YAY...
Here's what I ordered (partial screen shots from the Cloud 97 website):
I ordered a L with Length: 69cm, Bust:108 cm, Shoulder: 50 cm. |
Length: 65 cm, Bust: 118 cm, Shoulder: 63 cm. |
Length: 60 cm, Bust: 106 cm, Collar opening: 16 cm, Shoulder+sleeve: 36 cm. |
If you haven't read any of my past store reviews, my measurements are (approximately) as follows:
(Over) Bust: 104-106 cm
(Under) Bust: 96 cm (give or take a cm)
Waist (smallest): ~106 cm
Waist (largest): ~116 cm
Hips: ~119 cm
Preferred length (shirts): From shoulder to bottom of shirt, about 55 cm-70 cm(sweatshirts) and 40ish cm for crop tops
Preferred lenth (skirts): 45-50 cm
Height: about 5"-5"1'
I mainly look at the bust measurements (especially when there isn't a waist measurement provided) and length (especially with skirts).
The shirts I ordered! |
I had a feeling the skateboard tee and sunflower sweatshirt were going to be too tight like my Back to the Future sweater from Dog Dog T^T:
Is it just me or does the embroidery look off center? I think it's supposed to be that way though ahha~ |
Let's play a game: can you tell what bra I'm wearing?? LOL |
OH NOOO! Online order sadness repeat 3: Now let's take a looksie at the measurements of these garments:
The bust measurement for the Skateboarding tee was about 44 cm across the front and 45cm across the back for a total of 89 cm around the shirt for bust. This is 17 cm off from what the website measurements were! The length of the shirt was approximately the same though! I measured about 59 cm and theirs is 60 cm.
This was the thinnest shirt and the one with the most defects in the stitching and whatnot:
LOOK.HOW.THIN. |
Oh look my hand! And lot's of loose threads. |
62 cm I measured for the length vs. 69 cm on the website. Also note how I measure length from the highest point on the garment. |
45 cm across the front bust and 47 cm across the back= 92 cm bust vs. 108 for "L" on the website means a difference of 16 cm! |
Also quite a bit thinner than I expected. |
A concern I had about the Earth sweater was that in some pictures it looked like the sweatshirt said "Barth" and was printed instead of embroidered on. I contacted a different shop that also sold this item and she said the sweater was embroidered and it does actually say "Earth" on it. SO without asking the shop I'm actually buying the sweatshirt from, I just bought it anyways and assumed it would be fine:
OH GLOB. (or should I say "OH GLOBE"? LOL) |
I REALLY had high hopes for this sweatshirt because the bust size listed on the website is wayy over my measurement! If you read my other store review I did recently for MEI NU you would see that the Hot Dog Sweatshirt had a measurement of 120 cm on the website and I could actually fit into that sweatshirt nicely! So I should've been able to fit this one as well...but alas~ At least it didn't say "Barth" lol.
64 cm. compared to 63 cm on the website= OK! |
About 49 cm across the front+ 52 cm= 101 cm bust measurement compared to 118 cm on the website. 17 cm off again, so at least they're consistent? Hahaha~ |
Aaand this one is pretty thin as well.
Ratings:
Customer Service 7/10: The seller responded in a somewhat timely manner:
A screenshot from my e-mail haha >.< |
Accuracy of measurements (Fit?) 3/10: I measured Bust and Length because those are the two I'm usually most concerned about (and waist measurements if they are given, but they usually aren't) and the only measurement that was accurate were the lengths of the Earth sweatshirt and Skateboard tee. The bust measurements were especially wayyy off! I don't know how these sweatshirts were measured because when I measured around them and simply front and back I didn't get very close to the given measurement on the website.
Quality 3/10: I was expecting a much different quality of garment than what I received. Ideally I thought it was going to be like those Gildan or Hanes type sweatshirts with embroidery on the front. At the very least it could have been as thick as my Hot Dog sweatshirt from MEI NU. But no, I received neither of those. Think of those thin layering long sleeve tee shirts that are semi-sheer, that's what this is. I really was not expecting them to be this sheer or thin at all! I will say that the embroidery looked nice at least.
Price 8/10: The prices are what I liked best about this web shop compared to some other ones. This one sells them for slightly lower prices than some other places (and now with the quality of the garments I see why they were so much cheaper lol).
Get what you paid for? (Worth it?) 5/10: Two of the items on this site were much cheaper compared to other shops that sold the same sweater (Sunflower sweatshirt and Skateboard tee) and the Earth sweatshirt was only a bit cheaper. The cheapness really shows through (literally--get it? because they're so sheer! Did I mention how sheer they are? lol) especially with the Skateboard tee. I really expected the Earth one to turn out nice because it was the most expensive and other web shops sold it for about the same D-: In total I paid about $47 with a code I found via Tumblr (pro tip! always check Tumblr for codes before paying full price for web shops!)
Buy again? Maybe: I don't think I will buy anymore shirts or clothing in general from this shop. I might take a look at the adidas dupes and a few accessories to see the quality of those though! I hope it won't disappoint!
Shipping 5/10: When I first discovered this shop quite a while back they didn't ship to WA and I was sad, but now they do! And shipping is free! So I was stoked about that. My real shipping concern happened when I sent the e-mail above. I suppose it's partially my fault that I didn't remember details of when I placed my order. I see free shipping and just jump right on it. But I hadn't noticed there was a free option shipping and then right below it a shipping option where you can also get "tracking info" for your order (which you do have to pay for). I checked the about page:
There wasn't an info about having to pay for tracking information as an option besides free shipping. I think that's an important thing to add in the about section so people can take that into consideration when they place their order or forget that was an option like I did. So not only did I not know the day my order was shipped (which is the least they should include so I can know approximately when my order should be here since I didn't order tracking info! I mean the about page says contact them if you don't get your order 40 days after your package is shipped, but how will I know when to start counting if I don't get an e-mail about when my packaged is shipped?) So did I get it on time? I think so? I'm not exactly sure when it shipped but I got my order receipt on Oct. 8 and I got the package on approximately Nov. 19 (it was delivered to the office of my apartment complex and that's what the manager told me at least). Between the 55 days it supposedly should have taken from ordering it did come on time.
It is mentioned when you are checking out though (albeit, somewhat discreetly) in the tick box right under the "Free Shipping" option under Shipping Options:
Basically, yes there is free shipping but if you want to be safe just buy tracking info to avoid complications and hassle.
Overall 5/10: I understand online buying is risky, especially with overseas brands, you don't always get what you think you're going to get. And when you buy from websites that don't use pictures personally taken by them you don't really know if you're getting what you want. Buying online is a gamble and a struggle! Unfortunately with this store I struck out and lost, with these tops at least. I do acknowledge that these stores are best for XS-M sized people in general though, mostly because of the limited range of sizes overseas brands come in.
**Learn from my review! If you are larger or equal to my measurements these shirts will be tight! If you have smaller measurements than mine it could fit loose to tight depending on how much smaller than me you are!**
I was really excited for my package to get here and I've been waiting for months but now I'm just sad is basically my experience.
<3 Tips for people running these stores (Please!): Have the quality and/or material in the description of your garment, or at least describe something your customers can compare the quality to if you don't know exactly the kind of fabric it's made out of. And say things like "stretch" or "no stretch" and "sheer". ---Having actual photos taken by you on your site would also be nice!
-If you have anything like paying extra for tracking info as an option on your site, add that to your about page please!
(p.s. just for Cloud97: the sponsorship e-mail wasn't working for me? I don't know if that is still going on or not but if not maybe you should take it down from the about page for now?)
This was my complete and honest review for this store! I wasn't paid to do this review and this isn't a sponsorship or anything. I just thought these clothes would actually fit and you all might want to see a range of people trying to buy these clothes because the target buyers for these tend to be thinner people. Now ya know!
Thanks for reading lovelies! If you have any questions please comment down below!
xoxo Abby
Thursday, November 12, 2015
~Storenvy Store Review: MEI NU Store~
Hey guys! It's been awhile since I did a store review! Mostly because everything I've been ordering has been from Amazon and they've been beauty products lol. I haven't been ordering from Storenvy since my experience with Mountain Deer. But I recently discovered a few cute stores that I wanted to check out and they have a lot of buzz on Instagram and Tumblr so I thought I'd give it a go!
***HINT: If you want to skip my mini guide on how I shop and whatnot, just scroll to the part with the pictures! <3***
I don't have much background info on MEI NU store. All I know is that it's (now) a pop up shop type store that is only open the first week (7 days) of every month. This is due to the owner of the shop going to school and being busy in general. If you don't know what Storenvy is, it's basically a platform that allows independent brands and people to sell all their cool things! MEI NU has a few rules that are all easily accessible and understandable in the FAQ section that talks about shipping and stuff so make sure you look at that before buying! And under every description of a garment there is a notice talking about how MEI NU only accepts Paypal so if you don't have one it would be a good idea to sign up if you want to buy from here ^.^ Just a heads up!
I don't know if anyone has noticed by my style has changed quite a bit from the beginning of the year til now. Maybe I just notice it because I see myself everyday and know about what my personal style is haha. I use to prefer buying a TON of printed things (OK I still do) especially if it was a really cute print like a bunch of cats or popsicles and things. So those were the only types of things I would buy. As I continue to experiment with my style I've been noticing that buying print means I end up wearing a lot of double prints, which I used to think was the bomb! But now it's not really my jam and I'm aiming to wear more of my printed clothes (which I still love a lot) just with less printy things~ So when I looked at these new Storenvys like MEI NU, Bread N Butter, Milk and Sugar (is this a grocery list? LOLOL), etc. I saw cute but also simple clothing items. And I think they were really aiming for that kind of cute but minimal style at the same time thing, ya know? SO without further ado, here are the things I bought at MEI NU Storenvy.
Customer service: I follow Wendi, the girl (or one of the girls maybe?) that runs the MEI NU Storenvy, on Instagram and I almost bought a dress off her personal Instagram sale page (but it seemed to run small for me huhuhu T___T) and she was very nice and helpful on there so I thought I might try and buy something from her main shop since I didn't buy her dress hahaha. One of the first things I did was I scrolled through all the items and put the ones I liked in the cart without looking at size or price. This is my shopping process you guys lolol. I'm terrible.
THEN I go through all the things I put in there and click on each one and look at the measurements, size options, and sometimes even color options to see if they fit the bill! My measurements are:
Bust: 41 inches (over not under my bust)
Waist: 44 inches (widest)
Comfortable length: most things around 70 cm (unless I specifically want a crop top! I don't really like super long things)
But most of the time I'm looking at the bust and waist measurements since those are the areas I most often run into problems with. Especially in places that sell things that are One Size only. This usually occurs in places that sell items from overseas like from China, Japan, and Korea to name a few popular places.
Once I have the garments with comfy measurements (which usually ends up paring my cart down quite a bit anyways lol) I go through and check the prices of all the items and assure that they're reasonable. Here's my list to check to see if a garment is reasonable for me or not lol:
-How many things can I wear this with?: If it's above $15 I should be able to wear it with at least five different outfits with it($5 per outfit). If it's below $15 I can usually justify it if I can wear three outfits with it.
-Is it in a color scheme that goes well with some of the clothes I already own? If it's a jewel tone, for example, and most of the stuff in my closet is pastel (it's not, I have a jumble of colors and that's why I'm shopping so strictly now lol) then I probably can't justify the jewel tone unless I'm trying to redo my wardrobe.
-Is it unique?: If I've been having a hard time trying to find a particular style in regular stores like Forever 21 and H&M I like to look online~
-Can I buy this somewhere else or buy something similar for a better price? A lot of the times Storenvy stores stock some of the same things, so it's smart to browse around and check to see if another vendor is selling something for a cheaper price!
-Can I make this myself? This is a question I ask (and my family and sometimes friends ask as well) all the time and it can get frustrating because then I get to thinking if I really can make it and I pan out my supplies and consider the if making it would be cheaper etc. But it's also a good thing because it prevents me from buying so many things that I easily forget about later. I'm a joke lol.
Those are some of my main bits of criteria anyways lol.
I originally bought a graphic tee from an independent designer, tote bag, embroidered striped dress, and hot dog sweater from MEI NU but Wendi e-mailed me and told me the dress was out of stock so I could switch it for something else of the same price or get a full refund on it! That was actually SUPER nice and helpful of her since not all stores are willing to go out of their way to tell you that something is out of stock until you've received your packages and find out it's not there! So I ordered an embroidered skateboard shirt in black ^.^ Which was unfortunately sold out as well T__T haha~ So in total I just got the tote, graphic tee, and hot dog sweater!
My package finally arrived today! (Nov. 12) and I'm a super happy camper because I was initially a bit worried that the package had gotten lost somewhere after it was shipped from China. When I last checked the shipping service it's target destination was apparently the UK o.O I e-mailed Wendi about it and she said if it doesn't arrive by Nov. 14 (approx. 40 days after my order was shipped) I should e-mail her so I can get a refund for the items I didn't receive. Oh yes, an important thing to note: it's quite common to receive your order in separate packages even if you ordered them all at once because they are often from a bunch of different vendors! So I actually got my graphic tee a couple weeks after I ordered and the only things I had been waiting for were the hot dog sweater and tote!
The material of the bag is thick! As in stiff. It's a good size for everyday wear if you want to go shopping and need to bring your wallet, chapstick, phone, maybe a cardigan or something, and umbrella, and a snack? Those are my purse staples (OOOO REMINDING MYSELF: do a what's in my purse in the future? :D)
TL;DR:
Customer service 10/10: One of the best I've had so far in terms of online shopping! Especially with shops that get their clothing from overseas. She would always respond within a day or less and she was always super helpful with trying to work out the issues with my order~ Thanks Wendi!
Fit 9/10: The Hot Dog Sweater listed online had the same measurements as the actual sweater! Super! I don't think you can buy this particular item on the web shop anymore because they're in their winter collection right now. From the items that I bought the measurements were correct, give or take a cm error.
Quality 7/10: Tbh for the price the clothes are semi- worth it. The graphic tee was definitely worth it, I love original art <3 The Hot Dog sweater is a nice quality, it fits me nicely, the colors are the same as online, and it's a good thickness for a sweatshirt.
Price 5/10: Buying overseas can get pricey at times, especially when there's shipping and things. I think the clothes and style of MEI NU are super cute and I want to wear them all, but they're a bit on the pricey-er side? Keep in mind that I'm a super cheap-o though ok because sometimes I don't eat if food is too expensive LOLOL. I mean, you're supporting an online business run by normal everyday people so I guess you kind of know where some of your money is going.
Shipping 8/10: Like I said, things ship separately often and it took a very long time for the rest of my order to get here. HOWEVER! All of this information is discussed on the "About" page of the website so it's always good to look on those pages to see how long it might take for your order to arrive. I knew what I was getting into when it said 2-4 weeks on the about page hahaha. So make sure you keep that in mind! Even though it took awhile I gave it 8 stars because it was all stated on that page and you probably shouldn't order if you're worried about delayed shipments or you're really impatient (like me lol) because those happen alllll the time xD Shipping is free internationally though so that's pretty awesome :3
Overall 7/10: Will I buy here again? There are some pretty cute things in their web shop right now but I think I'll hold off on purchasing more things from here for awhile. Partially because I'm too impatient to wait again (LOL) and partially because the web shop is actually closed until next year right now! ^__^
I hope this review was helpful! Even though it was such a small order to do a review on hahaha >.< Please let me know if you have any other questions about this store! :3
xoxo Abby
***HINT: If you want to skip my mini guide on how I shop and whatnot, just scroll to the part with the pictures! <3***
I don't have much background info on MEI NU store. All I know is that it's (now) a pop up shop type store that is only open the first week (7 days) of every month. This is due to the owner of the shop going to school and being busy in general. If you don't know what Storenvy is, it's basically a platform that allows independent brands and people to sell all their cool things! MEI NU has a few rules that are all easily accessible and understandable in the FAQ section that talks about shipping and stuff so make sure you look at that before buying! And under every description of a garment there is a notice talking about how MEI NU only accepts Paypal so if you don't have one it would be a good idea to sign up if you want to buy from here ^.^ Just a heads up!
I don't know if anyone has noticed by my style has changed quite a bit from the beginning of the year til now. Maybe I just notice it because I see myself everyday and know about what my personal style is haha. I use to prefer buying a TON of printed things (OK I still do) especially if it was a really cute print like a bunch of cats or popsicles and things. So those were the only types of things I would buy. As I continue to experiment with my style I've been noticing that buying print means I end up wearing a lot of double prints, which I used to think was the bomb! But now it's not really my jam and I'm aiming to wear more of my printed clothes (which I still love a lot) just with less printy things~ So when I looked at these new Storenvys like MEI NU, Bread N Butter, Milk and Sugar (is this a grocery list? LOLOL), etc. I saw cute but also simple clothing items. And I think they were really aiming for that kind of cute but minimal style at the same time thing, ya know? SO without further ado, here are the things I bought at MEI NU Storenvy.
Customer service: I follow Wendi, the girl (or one of the girls maybe?) that runs the MEI NU Storenvy, on Instagram and I almost bought a dress off her personal Instagram sale page (but it seemed to run small for me huhuhu T___T) and she was very nice and helpful on there so I thought I might try and buy something from her main shop since I didn't buy her dress hahaha. One of the first things I did was I scrolled through all the items and put the ones I liked in the cart without looking at size or price. This is my shopping process you guys lolol. I'm terrible.
THEN I go through all the things I put in there and click on each one and look at the measurements, size options, and sometimes even color options to see if they fit the bill! My measurements are:
Bust: 41 inches (over not under my bust)
Waist: 44 inches (widest)
Comfortable length: most things around 70 cm (unless I specifically want a crop top! I don't really like super long things)
But most of the time I'm looking at the bust and waist measurements since those are the areas I most often run into problems with. Especially in places that sell things that are One Size only. This usually occurs in places that sell items from overseas like from China, Japan, and Korea to name a few popular places.
Once I have the garments with comfy measurements (which usually ends up paring my cart down quite a bit anyways lol) I go through and check the prices of all the items and assure that they're reasonable. Here's my list to check to see if a garment is reasonable for me or not lol:
-How many things can I wear this with?: If it's above $15 I should be able to wear it with at least five different outfits with it($5 per outfit). If it's below $15 I can usually justify it if I can wear three outfits with it.
-Is it in a color scheme that goes well with some of the clothes I already own? If it's a jewel tone, for example, and most of the stuff in my closet is pastel (it's not, I have a jumble of colors and that's why I'm shopping so strictly now lol) then I probably can't justify the jewel tone unless I'm trying to redo my wardrobe.
-Is it unique?: If I've been having a hard time trying to find a particular style in regular stores like Forever 21 and H&M I like to look online~
-Can I buy this somewhere else or buy something similar for a better price? A lot of the times Storenvy stores stock some of the same things, so it's smart to browse around and check to see if another vendor is selling something for a cheaper price!
-Can I make this myself? This is a question I ask (and my family and sometimes friends ask as well) all the time and it can get frustrating because then I get to thinking if I really can make it and I pan out my supplies and consider the if making it would be cheaper etc. But it's also a good thing because it prevents me from buying so many things that I easily forget about later. I'm a joke lol.
Those are some of my main bits of criteria anyways lol.
I originally bought a graphic tee from an independent designer, tote bag, embroidered striped dress, and hot dog sweater from MEI NU but Wendi e-mailed me and told me the dress was out of stock so I could switch it for something else of the same price or get a full refund on it! That was actually SUPER nice and helpful of her since not all stores are willing to go out of their way to tell you that something is out of stock until you've received your packages and find out it's not there! So I ordered an embroidered skateboard shirt in black ^.^ Which was unfortunately sold out as well T__T haha~ So in total I just got the tote, graphic tee, and hot dog sweater!
My package finally arrived today! (Nov. 12) and I'm a super happy camper because I was initially a bit worried that the package had gotten lost somewhere after it was shipped from China. When I last checked the shipping service it's target destination was apparently the UK o.O I e-mailed Wendi about it and she said if it doesn't arrive by Nov. 14 (approx. 40 days after my order was shipped) I should e-mail her so I can get a refund for the items I didn't receive. Oh yes, an important thing to note: it's quite common to receive your order in separate packages even if you ordered them all at once because they are often from a bunch of different vendors! So I actually got my graphic tee a couple weeks after I ordered and the only things I had been waiting for were the hot dog sweater and tote!
The graphic tee came with a little card with care instructions which I thought was pretty cool ^.^ I got the Gildan tee in XL! You can choose between American Apparel or Gildan. |
It's a pretty long shirt so I plan on tucking it into skirts and whatnot >.< haha |
Sorry for not posting a full body pic of this shirt, I was too lazy to take more and this one is from my Instagram haha~ |
The Hot Dog sweatshirt and Tote bag came wrapped in plastic in a normal plastic parcel thingy :3 |
The material of the bag is thick! As in stiff. It's a good size for everyday wear if you want to go shopping and need to bring your wallet, chapstick, phone, maybe a cardigan or something, and umbrella, and a snack? Those are my purse staples (OOOO REMINDING MYSELF: do a what's in my purse in the future? :D)
Nice little pocket, somewhat deep. I could put my phone in there nicely with my chapstick for easy access ^.^ |
It's actually pretty long as well! I wasn't expecting this sweater to be so roomy! :-D (also this was taken before bed so no makeup on! Just toner and then face lotion on top :3 |
TL;DR:
Customer service 10/10: One of the best I've had so far in terms of online shopping! Especially with shops that get their clothing from overseas. She would always respond within a day or less and she was always super helpful with trying to work out the issues with my order~ Thanks Wendi!
Fit 9/10: The Hot Dog Sweater listed online had the same measurements as the actual sweater! Super! I don't think you can buy this particular item on the web shop anymore because they're in their winter collection right now. From the items that I bought the measurements were correct, give or take a cm error.
Quality 7/10: Tbh for the price the clothes are semi- worth it. The graphic tee was definitely worth it, I love original art <3 The Hot Dog sweater is a nice quality, it fits me nicely, the colors are the same as online, and it's a good thickness for a sweatshirt.
Price 5/10: Buying overseas can get pricey at times, especially when there's shipping and things. I think the clothes and style of MEI NU are super cute and I want to wear them all, but they're a bit on the pricey-er side? Keep in mind that I'm a super cheap-o though ok because sometimes I don't eat if food is too expensive LOLOL. I mean, you're supporting an online business run by normal everyday people so I guess you kind of know where some of your money is going.
Shipping 8/10: Like I said, things ship separately often and it took a very long time for the rest of my order to get here. HOWEVER! All of this information is discussed on the "About" page of the website so it's always good to look on those pages to see how long it might take for your order to arrive. I knew what I was getting into when it said 2-4 weeks on the about page hahaha. So make sure you keep that in mind! Even though it took awhile I gave it 8 stars because it was all stated on that page and you probably shouldn't order if you're worried about delayed shipments or you're really impatient (like me lol) because those happen alllll the time xD Shipping is free internationally though so that's pretty awesome :3
Overall 7/10: Will I buy here again? There are some pretty cute things in their web shop right now but I think I'll hold off on purchasing more things from here for awhile. Partially because I'm too impatient to wait again (LOL) and partially because the web shop is actually closed until next year right now! ^__^
I hope this review was helpful! Even though it was such a small order to do a review on hahaha >.< Please let me know if you have any other questions about this store! :3
xoxo Abby
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