Taobao Haul!~♥ (PIC HEAVY)

I've finally gotten through the spring semester and had time to finish my Taobao Haul post (which is a few weeks overdue, I apologize!)

I hope you enjoy!~

As with my past Taobao orders, I used Bhiner! 

Timeline 

 ♥ Order/First Payment: 4/9/2015 ♥

 ♥ Second Payment (after items all arrived at the Bhiner warehouse): 4/20/2015 ♥

 ♥ Shipped: 4/21/2015 or 4/22/2015 ♥

 ♥ Delivered: 4/30/2015 ♥

When I received the box it was really heavy! It was about 4 kg, which is roughly 8 or 9 pounds. (shipping was a nightmare, a bit more than $70 ha)

This is everything out of the box and the shoes I took out of their shoeboxes! I usually have my shoes shipped without shoeboxes, but without the shoeboxes the overall weight of my package didn't change much, so Bhiner just shipped them with the shoeboxes. 

(heh you can see my bra! thinness test we'll call it~)

The first item I opened up was the cream/white top! It really needed to be ironed haha, but it fit surprisingly well, the sleeves weren't too short, and the overall the style was extremely cute and pretty! It was thin, but not in a bad way! I'll happily wear this on chillier Spring days and especially during the Fall time~ This was around $9 so it was well worth the price!

♥ I give this a 9.5/10! ♥

The next item I opened up was this American Apparel knockoff backpack c:! The original AA backpack is somewhere up to $50 while this knockoff was around $14! The quality is AMAZING and the denim feels really similar to the original. The zippers work cleanly, there was a sort of smell that easily went away a few hours later, and it even had a "Made in USA" tag much like the original! This knockoff was really great and I've been using it for the last few days of school, I bring it to work with me, and I'm planning on taking it with me to Anime Expo in California!~

It's easily found on Aliexpress for around $20-30 if you don't want to go the Taobao route~

I give this bag a 10/10! ♥

The next item I opened was this Angelic Pretty Cosmic Series (?) replica! I fell in love with the print as soon as I saw it and was really excited to receive it! In person, the print is really clear, the dress is a nice chiffon and a cream/beige color, and the collar is really ruffly and cute! It also had dress ties on each side!

The only thing I didn't like was how puffy the sleeves were..

The dress also came with two different detachable bows and they were both a sparkly black c: 

Here's a few photos of me in the dress:

Without the tie, the dress is really shapeless (even more-so than a babydoll-style dress) and with the tie, the dress seems too tube-like :c The puffy sleeves will make it harder to wear normally but with my oversized cardigans it seems like it'd be a cuter look! I'm not sure if I want to sell this or keep this, but for now I'll be keeping it! 

Since it's such an open fit (and I believe meant for Lolita coords and petticoats I suppose?) it looks a bit awkward on my petite frame, but I'm sure that if I wasn't wearing it so casually it'd look much better so I don't blame anything! 

I give this a 7/10! ♥

I also got these American Apparel knockoff spandex croptops! I've gotten a polka dot once from Taobao before and it's one of my favorite shirts ♥ They're comfortable, quality, and I needed basic colors and I'm happy that I got these!~

I give these a 10/10! ♥

The cosplay glasses were around $2-3 and I can't really say anything for or against them! I found it strange that they didn't come with lenses, but since I'll be wearing circle lenses and false eyelashes, it's probably for the best that they don't!

I give them a 7/10 ♥

My cosplay for Seo Yuzuki was also something I looked extremely forward to! It was a ready-to-ship already made cosplay in sizes S-L, and I ordered L after looking at the size chart~ (Chinese sizing is small than US sizing haha). 

The fit of the cosplay is just a wee bit bigger than me, but it's nothing a few alterations won't fix in like an hour or so ♥ 

Aside from the sizing, the quality of this cosplay is really great! 

There weren't any loose ends on any of the fabrics or pieces, my pleated skirt was sewn perfectly and the pleats were nice and crisp! I'm most likely going to buy my own white button up shirt (especially with short sleeves) because this white button up was really huge on me! The jacket was huge on me too, but like I said it's nothing a few alterations can't fix ♥

Seo's wig was EXTREMELY voluminous, the color was spot on with the listing photo, and it was really thick and pretty! There weren't any tangle issues and it could be used right out of the package! (I'm going to style the bangs a bit better though because the side piece was a bit long and I had to tuck it behind my ear.)

The indoor shoes were really quite inexpensive ($2-3) and for the price I didn't expect much! They're comfortable, helped me realize my correct Chinese shoe sizing (I'll get to this in a second!!!), and the only flaw that I could see with them was the blue glue stain at the front! They're really lightweight and comfortable, like I said, so I can't wait to wear these with my cosplay (and future cosplays!)

I give the cosplay an 8/10 ♥

I give the wig a 9.5/10 ♥

I give the indoor shoes an 8/10 ♥

Here are some test photos!:

My apologies for using repeat photos, but I wasn't able to remember to take photos of the bow shoes that I ordered! I had hoped that I ordered the correct size, but I didn't once again haha;; They were a bit too small for me wide feet and they were really uncomfortable! I have since sold them to a friend and ordered a new pair from Aliexpress in the next size up! They were way cheaper from Taobao, but considering fees and shipping it would've been around the same price if I had reordered from Taobao instead of Aliexpress!

The indoor shoes I ordered were a size EU 40, while these were a size EU 39! I'm normally a US Women's 8, but I sometimes go up a half size, depending on the width of the shoe! Since Chinese shoes are usually very narrow, I mistakenly thought that ordering my US size counterpart (EU 39) would be ok, but it wasn't! They fit my feet PERFECTLY, which is personally a huge issue for me because I like my toes to have space! The indoor shoes gave me that space and made me realize my actual Chinese shoe size! The EU 40 counterpart is roughly a US 9, so I'm sure that it'll fit! 

The shoes were of perfect quality and quite perfect! I just ordered the wrong size and can't wait for my new size shoes to come in a few days  ♥

Without my error on sizing in this mix, I give the shoes themselves a 9/10! ♥

I hope that this post was a sufficient start to the summer (well summer for me anyway)! I'm hoping to write more and more since I'll have a bit more time on my hands, but we'll see because I'm trying to get a second job to save up more money!

Also, please look forward to upcoming posts as I'll have a few reviews of items that I've purchased!
Here's a few more things I've added to my "upcoming posts" list to review on the left side of my blog (if you're on desktop mode, not mobile you'll see it!)!

I'm planning on reviewing these shoes once they deliver to me! 

My next blog post will either be another short filler like the last or another picture heavy post! If all goes well, my "Tips on Starting a New Wardrobe/Style!" will be next!!!!~

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions/comments leave them below or send them here!

Taobao Talk: What I Ordered!~♥

2015 has been going pretty ok for me and I've decided to make another Taobao order (this will be my...fourth one I believe?)! My last one was for mainly cosplay and wigs (I'll make a blog post of my cosplays for this year and where I'm going!), but this one will be a sort of mixed bag! As always, I'm gonna be using my shopping service of choice, Bhiner! 

(sorry for the bad quality photos)

The first item in my Taobao order was this Angelic Pretty Cosmic series one piece dress! I've seen it before, but had no idea it was still available on Taobao and decided to order it as soon as possible c: It's SO cute and I love the constellations and moons printed all over it. It's a lolita dress I believe, but I'm not into lolita so I'll be wearing it casually as a sort of babydoll-style dress! ♥ Note this is a REPLICA, not the official Angelic Pretty version..I don't even think that version is sold anymore, but I could be wrong? 

The next item I ordered was this sort of lace collar top/dress! I originally found this on Aliexpress ages ago, but wasn't willing to pay almost $20 for it, but luckily I found it in the 'mori girl' (forest girl) section of Taobao for around $9 ;v; It's one of the pieces I'm excited for the most!~ 

I've ordered an American Apparel crop top replica from the person I'm getting these plain white and plain black crop tops c: I have the polka dot one sitting in my closet and it's one of my favorite tops (so comfy), so I thought it was about time I got more!~ 

 

The next items I ordered were some shoes! I've had the pink shoes before, but I ordered the wrong size (I got them on eBay, but they were SO much cheaper on Taobao- around $6 each?) so I sold them! This time I ordered the correct size and got a pair in black as well c: I had them 2 years ago, but they were so cute in person and very comfortable (they would've been more comfy if I had my right size though haha!) I can't wait for these to come c:~ I love kitten-heeled shoes! ♥

Another American Apparel knockoff that I got was the denim backpack! I've always wanted it, but never got it because it's pretty pricey in stores! I got this knockoff for around $14 though! I'm hoping to use it to carry around things when I go to a con this summer!

The next few items that I bought were all for cosplay! I'm going to Anime Expo in California this summer with my mother and I'm really freaking excited, so I chose 4 cosplays of some of my favorite characters! (I'll talk about my cosplays in another post!) For now though, here's what I got c:

I got some super cheap cosplay glasses for my Peko Pekoyama (from Super Dangan Ronpa 2) cosplay! These were only like $2-3 thank goodness. 

In honor of one of my favorite manga series getting licensed to the United States the other day, I decided to drop the cosplay I planned in order to cosplay my absolute favorite girl, Seo Yuzuki from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun! She's my "best girl" from the manga/anime and I'm so excited to cosplay her ;v; ♥

               

Buying entire cosplays from Taobao really pay off and it's much cheaper than buying them from eBay, Aliexpress, or "specialty" cosplay websites! This is just my personal opinion however! My entire cosplay uniform was $25, the wig was only $13, and the shoes (Yuzuki doesn't wear socks and I didn't want my feet to hurt while walking around so I chose to cosplay her in her indoor shoes!~) were on sale for $2! ♥

All in all, I'm really excited about this Taobao order c:! It took me days to finalize it all into this and I'm really content with everything! I just paid my first payment total (which was a little less than $150 for all of this nice nice!) and when they all arrive to Bhiner's warehouse I'll pay the shipping to me! ♥ 

If you have any questions feel free to shoot me an ask here!

How to Order from Taobao Using Bhiner! 

Above is a portion of my Taobao tutorial which I made last year! Feel free to check it out c:

Thanks so much for reading!