Hello cuties! For my very first blog post I thought I would share my big Taobao haul with you all! I would also like to apologize for how late this post is. I was on vacation and didn't have much time to work on it before I left.
I was so excited when my taobao order finally arrived and couldn't wait to open it and see everything inside. It was also my first time ordering from taobao, and I was a little nervous about placing such a big order. I thought I would share how my first experience went with you cuties.
You can find almost anything your heart desires on taobao for super cheap prices. But most taobao shops you can't order from directly, so that's when you need to use a shopping service! It seems intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it it's really simple. There are also many tutorials on how to use a shopping service if you need help! It's also important to read the reviews of the shop and items so you know the quality of the items you're purchasing. Some taobao shops can steal stock pictures from other sites so be careful and do your research before ordering!
I'm going to be reviewing most of the items I ordered along with the review of the shopping service I used which is taobaoring. I was slowly building up the order over the period of a few months due to some items being pre-orders and reserves. Because of this I'm not going to give a timeline of everything since there would be way too many different times to list!
But to give an idea on shipping time I sent my final payment to cover shipping costs (I used EMS) on July 16th. My order was then shipped on the 18th and I received the package on July 22nd!
Now let's get onto the items!
I received my package on the 22nd and I couldn't believe how big it was!
After I finally got it open~
Everything was wrapped individually in plastic nice and safe. They put some of my smaller jewelry items together in a purse I ordered to keep them from breaking. Then it was time for the fun part! I just started randomly taking things out of the package c: I won't be showing every single thing I bought just because not all of it is very interesting, so I picked out the best things!
The first item I pulled out was this Monobear messenger bag! I was pretty surprised by the quality of the actual bag. The shoulder strap is also adjustable which is nice.
Even better it has two different pockets! I have used this bag a few time since I've gotten it and it's worked fairly well. Both of the pockets are a pretty good size so a decent amount can actually fit in there!
The only problem I have with this bag is that the print is pixelated quite a bit, but it's not noticeable unless you look closely.
The next item is this adorable Magic Tea Party blouse! They had a few really cute blouses listed and I had trouble picking out which one I wanted to get. ;u; The blouse is slightly sheer and there are detachable waist ties! I'm fairly small so I ordered the smallest size and it fit me pretty well, though it's a little tight around the arms so I can't lift them very high. The sleeves on this blouse are really adorable, but they never want to stay down in the right place while I'm wearing it :c
Cute little rose buttons! They're not sewn down very sturdy so I'll probably end up going through and giving them all a couple of extra stitches. (I have horrible luck with buttons falling off on me)
They provided me with a few bows and the detachable waist ties in a separate bag~
I have to say I do love this necklace. All the small details are adorable and it's very nice quality. The spoon isn't too heavy for the necklace or anything and doesn't pull it down!
This bracelet was made from the same seller as the necklace above. I have tiny wrists so I didn't think it was going to fit me properly, but to my surprise it did! Really happy with this one also.
When I first pulled these out of the package I was a little worried about the material the macaroons were made from. My main concern was the macaroons falling apart, they're made out of a soft foam type of material? Not exactly sure how to describe it, but after looking at them more, I found they are actually put together really well! They are really light weight which is especially nice for the earrings since they don't tug down on your earlobes at all!
When I initially bought the earrings to my surprise the price was only for one earring, not as a pair. So just keep that in mind when buying earrings and double check the listing! This when having a shopping service that takes pictures of your order after it all arrives comes in handy. After I inspected the photos and realized there was only one, my shopping service ordered another one for me so it was no problem c:
These tights are pretty thin, but they were super cheap so I'm not going to complain. I think they were worth it for the price I paid. I wouldn't recommend these tights if you're a little taller though!
This is a beret is from the ever so popular taobao shop Bobon21. I was actually really impressed with the quality of this hat! It's super soft and there a few different ways you can wear it. I originally wanted this hat in white, but they sold out of that color before my shopping service purchased my order. So I decided to go with this light brown color instead, and I'm really happy with it!
I was not expecting this headpiece to be so made so nicely, really it's beautiful. The owner of this shop hand makes so many different head pieces, and they're all adorable. They might look slightly different from the picture because they are handmade, but that's normal when it comes to items like this. I'll definitely order something from this shop again if I need a headpiece to finish off a coord! I like the cute little strawberry that was added on top.
This adorable sailor moon lingerie was one of the items I was most excited for in my haul. I believe they are Peach John replicas, which the material looked pretty shiny when I saw them and just couldn't justify spending that much on underwear :c. The material looks shiny in the picture, but it's actually nice and doesn't look so shiny in person! There was also an option to purchase this in a swimsuit, but I wasn't sure how well the shape would hold up after being in the water. I'm really happy with these, I wished I ordered them in a few different colors as well.
The idea of these tights were really adorable but unfortunately the quality isn't as good as some of the other tights I ordered. The material on the bears is really weird. Also on the black side the material looks a little stretched out? That might just be from my thighs though.
This dress I ordered from chess story when it was on reservation quite awhile ago, even though now I think there are still a few leftovers available but a bit more expensive. I've seen some differing reviews on how well Chess Story's quality is, but when I saw how adorable this print was I just had to give them a try. I really love prints with animals on them and I completely fell in love with the print as soon as I saw it! I ordered it in a size M, which was the smallest size they had available.When I first pulled the dress out of the package I was really surprised by the length. I'm 4'11 and without a petticoat the dress was already an inch or two above my knee. The dress is also really wrinkled., that can be easily fixed though.
The lace is pretty good and has some cute detailing
Look at the fawns! uwu
Close of up of the print, eeep so cute! The printing is really nice and crisp!
I was really please with everything until I looked at the dress more and...
Yeah.. the seams don't match up at all. This was definitely a little upsetting. I looked at the reviews on the taobao listing and found that others had the same problem, I saw some seams that also looked worse than mine. I guess it just came down to luck on this one. :c I'm hoping it won't be too noticeable when worn since I really love this print.
Tights:
♡
Just a T-shirt so not much to say about it other than the awesome design. I had to get it when I saw it as psycho-pass has become a favorite anime of mine!
The printing quality is really nice!
More design on the back of the shirt~
I have always always wanted a long sundress like this one. Every time I tried one on it would be way too long for me and just looked really unflattering overall. When I saw this on taobao, I thought I would give it a try since the sizes are smaller and there was a better chance of it fitting me, not to mention it looked adorable in the stock picture!
To my surprise it really did fit me perfectly! I was so excited to finally find an adorable sundress that fits me. I already wore this out recently and got a lot of compliments on it c:
All of my other bathing suits are pretty worn out so I figured it was time for a new one! I thought all the ruffles along with the colors were so adorable. I was hoping that the ruffles on the bottom piece would provide me with a little more coverage on my butt since I'm self conscious about it. ;-; It didn't cover as much as I was hoping for, it's still adorable regardless. The material is nice and thick, I can't wait to wear this next time I go swimming!
There were a few different colors of this bag so I had a difficult time choosing which one I wanted, but I'm happy with my choice. You have the choice of carrying the bag around by the handle, or choosing from two different strap lengths. The bag seems pretty sturdy and was a lot bigger than it looked in the picture. I haven't used it out yet so hopefully it holds up well!
I haven't gotten the chance to wear this out yet, It's pretty short so I'm a little nervous doing so. This dress would be even better if there was a pair of shorts added in the bottom like some other dresses that are the same length.
The shoulder straps button in the back. It would be nicer if there was another one lower down for the option of making the straps shorter. If they were a little tighter it would fit me a lot better, but I'm used to clothes never fitting me properly. ;u; so I'll just move the buttons down to fit me better.
The shoulder strap is two parts sewn together for some reason? It has this random seam in the middle, and it's sewed on pretty messy.
I did a bit of searching before I found my favorite tights in this style from the stock picture, and I'm not disappointed with these! They're surprisingly soft and fit my legs pretty well, they're also not too thin either and are breathable. I love the design of them and the print quality is really nice.
I'm usually not a big fan of heels but my wardrobe was lacking some cute shoes so I thought I would try these. The heel on them isn't too tall and is a little thicker which I like (and because I'm super clumsy)
The "hearts" on the side of the shoe are pretty messy, most of them don't even look like hearts close up.
Something strange about these shoes is how they buckle? I feel silly for not knowing how these exactly work but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.
Here's a worn photo of the shoes in an outfit I put together~
My first thought when I pulled this out of the package was wow.. it's tiny. It looks even smaller when laying out but once it's worn not so bad. I just wish I had gotten a bigger size now! The material is a bit itchy especially near the arms.
This was a dress from Little Dipper. I'm not sure what happened, but shortly after this dress went on reservation they took down the other colors and changed it to black and white only. I didn't think they would make any in the colorway I ordered after that, turns out they did though! I'm not sure why it was changed to that, but I haven't noticed any defects in the fabric yet. I thought the top of this dress was so adorable, I do kind of wish I bought the jsk instead though since I feel quite limited. Also this type of dress really has no shape to it so it can be a bit unflattering. It did come with detachable waist ties but they really didn't do much in this case.
I used TaobaoRings size conversion chart on their website and also checked a few others to make sure I was getting the right size. It would be horrible if they ended up being too small! I normally wear a size 6 in US size but always have always ordered and fit into size 22.5cm for some reason. Size 22.5 seemed to translate to size 36 so that's what I went with! This shop is very popular for their tea party shoes and I was not let down! I'm very happy with the quality of these. I have gotten a good amount of brown in my wardrobe recently, so these will be perfect for future coordinates.
I spent a lot of time looking for a cute chocolate colored blouse to wear with a new dress I bought recently and I'm very happy with my choice! I ordered a size small and it's a little tight but other than that fits nicely! Even though the first time I attempted to put it on, I was stupid and didn't unbutton all of the buttons and accidentally made on pop off. :c They weren't sewn on sturdy in the first place and it was also my fault it came off. Good thing they provided me with a few extra buttons!
It has cute little heart buttons!
It also comes with a bow that you can add onto the collar if you would like, it looks so adorable when worn.
This dress blends in with my blanket a little so sorry if it's hard to see!
The dress has a few of these strange markings. I'm not sure what they are or why the fabric turned out this way, thankfully it's not very noticeable when worn and I'll still get some good use out of this dress. The zipper is pretty bad on this dress, it always gets stuck when I'm trying to put it on or off.
Not much to say about these, just some cute ankle socks! Although after I ordered these I realized they were actually children socks. I remember thinking the sizes were really small when I was selecting but that didn't stop me apparently (I wasn't thinking straight). I ordered the biggest size and they still fit me. So they will fit you if you have tiny feet like me!
This dress desperately needs to be ironed after being in all that packaging, but it's still adorable regardless! The material is comfortable and it says "fairy" on front of the dress. There were two other dresses of the same style available but in different colors one saying "doll" and the other saying "baby". But I liked how fairy looked the best and I'm definitely happy with my choice.
These socks are transparent with some pink detailing. The color looks a little more peachy in person compared to a more baby pink color that was in the stock photo. The material isn't the most comfortable, but it's not exactly uncomfortable either. I probably wouldn't want to wear these for an extended amount of time.
Pair of black ankle socks with lacing at the ankle. The socks are really adorable and not to mention comfortable! They look adorable with tea party shoes c:
Sorry for not having a better picture of this dress. :c I have worn this a number of times and I really like it! The material isn't too thin and is actually pretty think. The transparent part of the dress though is really itchy which can be pretty annoying.
I thought this skirt was going to look obnoxious and shiny but after seeing it in person I'm very pleased with it. I have a lot of shirts that will look really nice with this!
I thought it looked kinda cute with my psycho-pass shirt :3
This bow detailing on the back of the blouse. At first I thought it was a little weird but wasn't too bothered by it but then I noticed there was an opening in the back? I thought that was a little strange but It's still a really cute blouse
The blouse has some pretty nice detailing that I didn't notice in the stock picture. The collar looks a bit different from the stock picture though. I was never provided with the ribbon in the picture, unless I missed it when unpacking somehow. Overall I'm happy with this blouse, if I fix up the collar a bit I plan on wearing it under some dresses.
I received a few freebies in my order and I'm not sure which store sent what but this cute little bone clip is one of them.
Another set of adorable underwear because I can't resist them! ;-; The material isn't itchy or uncomfortable to wear and I'm really happy to own another adorable pair of underwear c: The shop I bought this set has a huge selection of adorable underwear and I would definitely suggest checking it out!
Now onto the review for the shopping service I used, which was Taobaoring! I did my research before choosing a shopping service and thought that TaobaoRings website looked like it was the easiest to use! All you need to do is copy and paste the link of your desired item into their website, choose your size or color, and that's it! I also decided to use TaobaoRing because of their service fee. Every shopping service charges a service fee based, Taobaorings service fee is 8%. It's really simple once you get the hang of it and everything is translated once you copy and paste it into their site.
Communication
The way to contact the agents seems a little strange at first. You need to go into your orders list on the website and under a specific order there is a "Messages to TaobaoRing" box. You just type your message into the box and when they respond I believe it sends their response through an email. Sometimes when I tried this method I didn't receive a response, or I wasn't notified if I got a reply. What I found to be the easiest and quickest way to message them is by emailing them directly.. The communication wasn't very concistat though. One day I would get a response within in a few minutes, or sometimes my order wouldn't be confirmed until a few days later. I had to send the same message once or twice after not receiving a response within a few days. Once I did receive a response though they were always helpful and very nice. I worked with a few different agents and they were all extremely patient.
Packaging/Shipping
Taobaoring offers a good selection of shipping options. Keep in mind though that shipping is expensive and when you get shoes like I did it can make the price go up a lot. It would be like this with any shopping service though, just something to remember. All of my items were individually wrapped in plastic and nothing was damaged during shipping. I really appreciated that they put some of my smaller jewelry items in places where they wouldn't be crushed. The box didn't have any holes or rips when it arrived and had masking tape wrapped all around the box to make it extra safe.
Website
After looking at some other shopping service websites, Taobaorings has been my favorite and looks like it's the easiest to use. All you need to do is copy and paste the link of the item you want it and translates everything for you, It's really helpful for someone who hasn't used taobao before!
Overall
I really appreciate how helpful and patient they were with me and will be using them again in the future. I may try a few other shopping services though, we'll see!
Thank you so much for reading this very long review! Now that I'm back from my little vacation I have more reviews planned, and I'll be getting those out soon. Thanks for reading cuties and enjoy the rest of your day!
