Patisserie Pink Review

If there is one thing I probably have enough of and should stop buying - it’s brooches. So what do I go off and do? Buy more brooches. The ways I justify that to myself vary. This time it was a “support small indie brand owned by friends” kind of justification.

About the Shop

For those of you old enough to remember Tea Party Club events in the UK, Patisserie Pink is run by the key figure behind those, Kyra. You may have noticed it more for the Victorian-style boots with all kinds of prints on them, which I think majority of my friends either bought or contemplated. However, the brand also sells jewellery, as well as miscellaneous items (notebooks, phone cases, water bottles etc.), so there really is a lot for people to pick from. And fortunately Patisserie Pink also carries things suitable for all substyles, with an obvious skew toward classic, but still plenty of cute and pink pieces for sweet lolitas, and dark and spooky stuff for goths.

Order Process

Patisserie Pink has its own web shop, which works just like every other web shop. You can create an account or check out as a guest, you simply add things to cart, select a payment method and then wait. Since the brand is based in the UK, everything happened within days for me. I ordered on the day the brooches were released, which is the evening of October 18th. They were posted with a courier on October 22nd, and then arrived to me on October 24th. So whilst I can’t comment on international postage arrangements or speed, certainly not at times when pandemic is affecting all that, everything was super quick and super easy for me as a UK-based customer.

What I Got

Before that, can we stop and appreciate the extent to which Patisserie Pink went with their branding? Never in my life have I received an envelope this damn fancy! I really don’t want to just chuck it in the bin, that’d be such a waste, but what on Earth am I to do with it? But just seeing how fancy my order looked made me feel extremely valued as a customer, I got the boujie experience, which surely is what all of us seek in lolita. So big props to Patisserie Pink! First impressions matter and you’re creating an unforgettable one.

I've had some "oooh" moments at colourful envelopes, but never an actual "holy hell, this is FANCY" moment. Other brands better step up their game.

And it didn’t stop at the envelope, oh no! The entire process of unwrapping this was like Christmas come early. The care and thought that went into the branding and the packaging is absolutely clear, so just like I won’t throw the envelope away, I will keep this hella fancy, custom printed tissue paper. Especially given that my own initials are also PP, so whilst I’m not going to reuse the tissue paper for evil, I will happily hoard it, feeling like it’s mine on an extra special level.

Oh hello there, fancy tissue paper!

How fortunate that your initials are the same as mine...

Wrapped with care, so that even if these weren't for me, I wouldn't have to worry about giftwrapping.

But to the point! I have ordered two brooches: the Bookshelf one in the Jewel colourway and the Bottled Stardust one in the gold colourway. There were some inner debates happening inside of me, one being whether to get the Bookshelf brooch in this colourway or the Antique one, as the browns and golds were appealing to my recurring phases of being into brown. The second one was whether I could even justify getting the Bottled Stardust one, since I had little idea what I would pair it with. But I guess the Halloween vibes affected me too, since I’ve been feeling some kind of witchy way, so I shrugged this off and got it anyway.

The brooches are quite big, the Booshelf one is roughly the size of the palm of my hand. These are very much statement pieces in their own right, although no doubts that these particular designs can also be subtle.

Both brooches are made out of acrylic, however, the Booshelf one is additionally coated in resin, which gives it this glossy shine. This does make it extra reflective, so I may have to be a bit more mindful when taking photos to avoid having a beacon of light on myself, but it’ll be worth it. Just look at this! The colours are perfectly me and without a doubt this brooch will find a good home in my wardrobe. The glitter in some of the acrylic is subtle, but definitely noticeable, even under the glossy shine from the resin coating. And just look at the swirls of colour in the blue and the red! They create such magical depth and almost add movement, depending on which angle you look at the brooch from.

Be it because of the resin or glitter, you can't describe this brooch with any other word except for: SHINY.

I could get lost in the oceans of that swirly blue, it's mesmerising.

The Bottled Stardust one, on the other hand, I ordered without the resin coating, although it was possible to add that for a small extra charge. However, to me it looked perfect without it and I quite like the more matte effect on the brooch itself. Whilst this colourway was described as gold, and I certainly see that, it is more of an opal and creamy type colour, lighter than what I would think of as gold and closer to white. Which seemed perfect for me, as it would stand out nicely against darker dresses and add some depth to lighter coordinates. This one also has some glitter in the acrylic, but it is much more subtle than on the Bookshelf brooch, it sort of reminds me of a bottle filled with fairy dust. Kind of the point of the design, I guess.

The light colourway makes this perfect for witchy/magical themes, as well as astronomy ones, it has a distinctly dreamer/romantic feel to it.

I tried to capture the glitter in this one, but it is significantly more subtle. You can, however, see the opal effect very well here!

Both brooches have the brand name, design name, colourway and issue number on the back, as each was part of a limited run. I’m not sure whether the numbers on the back of mine reflected the order of orders placed, as both of mine are the final ones of their run, but I don’t think so seeing as the Jewel colourway of the Bookshelf brooch is still in stock on the website. Not that it matters, I probably got whichever ones were within reach when preparing the order and I got what I wanted, so this is just an interesting tidbit I found. I can always brag about getting the last ones of the first run later. I’m no pro, but it seems to me that the pins themselves have been attached with resin, rather than hot glue, which would mean that they will last longer and will be less prone to the pins falling off.

The issue number makes you feel like you're part of a special secret club.

Though on a more serious note, it's a great idea, especially if you're gifting these, as it lets the receiver know exactly what they got.

Overall, both of those brooches are extremely high quality, finished with attention to detail and truly exquisite in their own right. I have only just started dipping my toes into the world of acrylic jewellery, but from what I can see Patisserie Pink seem on par with the more established creators in that niche, like Hello Crumpet (the only one I can actually make a direct comparison myself). They are also priced similarly to other acrylic brooches that I have seen. These ones were £22 each, which is a very reasonable price for this level of finish, this standard of customer experience as delivered by the packaging, and for handmade creations.

There are still plenty of acrylic brooches available on Patisserie Pink’s webshop, so if this post has awakened any needs within you, I highly recommend them. I know that I will definitely keep an eye on them so that whenever new designs are announced, I can add them too. Because this is an absolute 10/10 would buy again!