Bibelot Rose Club Subscription Box Unboxing and Review

Stop. Everything. There are subscription boxes for lolita fashion? That is the kind of world I want to live in!

When Kyra from Bibelot Rose messaged me asking to review the accessory subscription box her shop was launching, I couldn’t say no. This is basically like getting a (slightly more tailored) lucky pack and I love lucky packs, plus the offer satisfied both my inner magpie and my desire to promote indie brands. A perfect opportunity that I really could not be more grateful for.

About the Subscription Box

The accessories subscription box is part of the Bibelot Rose Club, a welcoming community which aims to make everyone feel special within lolita fashion and find their place within it. Other than the subscription box, Bibelot Rose also has lolita starter packs for complete newbies - the box is better suited to those who already have some coords and are merely lacking in accessories or looking to expand their collection. Upon purchase you can choose the substyles you wish to include in yours, and if you decide not to do that, you will receive something from every substyle: sweet, classic and gothic.

The box runs quarterly, so if you purchase now, it will be shipped in March. For customers based in the United States postage is included in the price, which is $75. For everyone else postage is calculated based on your location. Each box includes accessories by independent creators from the Bibelot Rose team, as well as additions by collaborating indie brands (both for my box and the March one these are Fluffy Tori and Twylite Fashion), so this is not a large sum for what you get every three months. However, understanding that this is a significant commitment, the subscription T&C’s are flexible and instead of signing up for a particular length of time, you only buy one box at a time. After the first purchase, you will be asked to opt in again for the next one, leaving the choice up to you.

More importantly, the subscription box gets you more than just cute new shinies. Buying even one box gives you access to the Bibelot Rose Club, an exclusive group on Facebook. This is literally the community that Bibelot Rose is curating, creating a safe space to enjoy lolita fashion, as well as connect other subscribers for a chance to share their excitement or trade pieces with each other. The community is still quite small for now, however, I imagine that it will grow as news of this box will spread further.

My Review: The Box

I have opted for my box to include items from all three substyles. My aim was to get a feel for what sort of things there will be to give others a more well-rounded idea on what to expect, as well as hopefully receive some items that I wouldn’t have picked for myself. This is precisely why I go for lucky packs too - sometimes you get the most use out of something you least expected to like, and keeping an open mind is how you grow.

The contents of my box.

Rather than review each item individually, I will talk about them per the substyles they belong to. The contents of the box will inevitably vary from person to person, as well as from month to month (although so far the boxes are not themed), so this seems the most fair as you might end up with completely different items. Of course, I will still mention the quality of individual pieces, but my focus is to give you an overall idea of what you might receive.

Gothic

Even though it's not my colour scheme, I can't help but enjoy how cohesive it is as a colour scheme.

Starting with my three goth items: the Night of the Misty Violet art print by the Bibelot Rose artist Mika, the Gothic Lolita Bird iron-on patch by Fluffy Tori, and the Bat Moon Dangle hair clip by Twylite Fashion. My immediate impression is that the gothic section is aimed more at the cuter kinds of goth. The example photo of the gothic box on the Bibelot Rose shop also leads me to think that the gothic selection at the moment may be leaning more in that direction. Whilst there are items in the Bibelot Rose shop that would work with a more elegant kind of goth (like the stained glass rose jewellery), I think that the range overall is better suited to the goths who wear mostly Angelic Pretty rather than the hardcore Moitie goths, the sleek Atelier Boz goths or the intimidatingly elegant Atelier Pierrot goths. But as with all subscription boxes and depending on the future collaborating brands, this is something that could change, so if you are one of those goths and are interested in the service, I suggest checking the page quarterly.

I can't help but laugh at myself at how much I like this (just not to the extent where I'd get things just to match it).

You know the whole pin craze? If we channeled it into an iron-on patch craze, I wouldn't be mad.

She looks so elegant and like someone that I realistically might know and would hang out with, I love that.

Considering that I am a classic goth, even if purely by virtue of being unable to create any other knd with what I have, the items that I received in this section are a challenge for me. These are definitely things that I wouldn’t have picked myself, but I am very excited to give them a go. The art print is quite easy to deal with, since for the time being it joins my stash of brand postcards and other art prints that don’t quite match my wall display, to figure out its fate later. It is beautiful though, I really love Mika’s style here and had my display included similar colours, I wouldn’t hesitate to add it. The iron-on patch is something that I really would love to use somewhere and keep it. I can’t think of any clothes to add it to and I’m not an ita bag kind of person, however, I’m thinking of sticking it on one of my event tote bags since those are not going anywhere. I have a couple of black ones that this would look good with, so unless I come up with a better idea, that’s probably what I’ll go with. As for the dangle clip - it’s simultaneously my favourite and the most challenging of the goth items. It’s so incredibly well made, I couldn’t stop playing with it and it makes such a satisfying noise. But black, lavender and bats? Those are three things I have the least of (and bats not at all). For now my only potential coord idea would be to wear it with Sugar Plum Fairy Princess and the Babysong Lolita lavender blouse. It wouldn’t be the most balanced coord, but it would be workable enough. However, if I can’t make that or something else happen with this clip, then I plan on gifting it to a friend for whom this would be absolutely perfect!

Classic

Another extremely satisfying colour story.

If I was picking the next subscription box, I’d go for classic and sweet, since those are the two substyles I wear the most. The boundaries between the two get a bit blurred in my wardrobe and kind of in this box too, since I struggled to identify which ones were meant to be which. However, now that I look back at what I received and check it against the list, I think the intention was not only to have an even number of items per substyle, but also to have as even a distribution of brands per substyle as possible. As such I deduced that my classic items were: Classy AF Classic Lolita Bird pin from Fluffy Tori, Classic Gold Rosette by Vironica (Bibelot Rose), and the Gold Lace Hair Bow by Twylite Fashion. And again, this to me reads as your more cuter classic rather than the super minimalistic or vintage-looking type. But since I wear all kinds of classic, this is less of a hurdle for me than the gothic pieces.

This is why we need indie creators. Because let's be honest with ourselves, most of us would not have the patience to do this many pleats!

That bronze undertone of the ribbon adds an extra layer of versatility, since the colour could pass off as gold or brown, depending on what else you had going on in the coord.

The duplication is unfortunate, but I can't deny that this pin is perfect for me. Even though I already own it, I'm stil very happy that this is what was in my box.

What I love about these is that, whether intentionally or not, all three pieces would work beautifully in a coord together, as well as in separate outfits. The gold colour scheme is very neutral, able to complement multiple other colours. The quality of the pieces is fantastic! I can’t get over how much work must’ve gone into that rosette to pleat it so tightly and neatly. It reminded me of that time around maybe 2015-ish when rosettes were one of the must have accessories and everyone wanted AP’s Loyal Rosette and the subsequent MTOs of Chocolate Rosette. In fact, this would go perfectly with either of those prints and especially with the latter one you could easily throw in the bow clip too, since the spoon charm works perfectly for chocolate-themed outfits. The Classy AF pin ended up being a double, I had already received one from Joelle, so this is the item that I tried to trade. Whether so far there weren’t any other classic lolitas getting the subscription box or whether people love everything they got too much to offer something for trade, I still have both for now.

Sweet

Aaaaand here's a total mish-mash for a change!

Of the three substyles the sweet selection of my box seems the most varied. Again, I’m unsure of the selection process when the boxes are put together. I’ve seen someone else in the group whose box was exclusively sweet have a lighter, pink and white colour palette. The choice could indeed be random and simply taken from the appropriate substyl pile. Or there could have been a bit more thought put into it, e.g. since my box was to include all three substyles, that could’ve influenced the colour choices. I don’t know that. So whilst as a group of items within a substyle these three bits look a little odd together, arguably the least cohesive lot compared to the other substyles, in a way I feel it may be the most versatile - at least for my particular wardrobe. The items are: Snowflake necklace in mint by Bibelot Rose artist Kyra, Shooting Star dangle clip by Twylite Fashion, and Angelic and Petty Button with Holo Glitter by Bibelot Rose artist Mika.

This is my absolute favourite item from the box - and yet I haven't worn it once yet, shame on me!

Time to revive the dangly clips in 2021 Anno Domini.

It literally took me until now, when I uploaded this picture, to notice that this says "Petty" and not "Pretty". Time for an eye test...

Would you believe that of these three the button badge is the one I’ve gotten the most wear out of so far? Especially knowing that there was a mahoosive snowflake necklace to compete with it? Yeah, I can’t quite believe it myself, but two coords last months to the badge vs zero to the necklace can’t lie. This is mostly coincidence, determined more by what I was in the mood for wearing in January, because there is no way that this necklace will collect dust on my watch. As such, the one I’m least certain of is the dangle clip, though only tentatively so. I know that it will get worn sooner or later: the colour scheme is great for my navy pieces, I like star themes and while I may not wear lots of dangly clips I do like them a lot. So it’s merely a question of when rather than if I will wear it.

My Review: The Facebook Group

Since the subscription box includes access to the group as well as the actual accessories, I thought I’d give you a bit of an insight into that. Because when I say that this was the part I was the most excited about, I do genuinely mean it. Whether I will buy a subscription box in the future is unsure, but I am certain that I will continue engaging with the group and want to see how it grows - being somewhere from its inception is always exciting.

Bearing in mind that everything is still very new and starting out, the group has put a lot of effort into looking active. At the time of writing it is very small, counting 11 members myself included, but the more people subscribe to the box, the more that community will grow. Up until the boxes shipped, there were loads of discussion topics started, ranging from seasonal (like Thanksgiving and what were people thankful for in lolita), general (introductions, sharing your online presence etc.) and coincidental (sharing unrelated media which nonetheless resonates with lolita fashion). The topics were broad, allowing everyone to join, whether they were in the fashion for years or only a few months.

Since the boxes have shipped, there was both a thread for sharing the excitement and an official trading thread. My thinking behind the quietness of the latter tends to lean towards thinking that everyone liked what they got and prefer to keep it - however, I’m also not oblivious to the fact that trading with someone outside of your country during a pandemic for small accessories feels more like a bother than an exciting thing. On top of this, whatever projects Bibelot Rose is planning, this group gets first dibs on or at least early notice to start on.

To me, as someone who knows what it’s like to moderate a community, the fact that this group is so small is actually quite appealing. Yes, there is a risk of the group being drowned out by bigger ones which appear more active - however, a smaller group means that the interactions are a lot more meaningful. So far the membership appears to lean more towards lolitas with at least a few years under their belt, so when the subscription box service picks up and some newcomers join, I think they could feel confident in trusting the opinions and advice they receive there.

Overall Impressions

The accessories I received confirmed my initial impression of the idea: the subscription box would be perfect for beginner lolitas. Every single item is a fantastic staple, well made and neutral enough within its chosen substyle to prove to be a versatile addition. They’re great for either spicing up an outfit or filling a gap you may already have. Whilst so far everything I’ve seen, both within my own box and elsewhere, leads me to believe that the items you will receive will lean towards the cuter, more kawaii side of styles, this is literally the very first box that Bibelot Rose released and there is still a world of possibilities ahead of them. If you are someone who is more into more sleek, minimalistic, elegant, vintage etc. things, I would suggest contacting Bibelot Rose to ask if they plan on including more things like that in their offer or collaborating with brands that do things like this. Just make sure that when they do, you follow through and support them by either buying the individual items from their shop or getting the subscription box. The same goes for the group: having just started, there is so much room to grow and Bibelot Rose are committed from the beginning to cultivating a community that makes everyone welcome. And that I can’t help but wholeheartedly support.