10 May 2016

Soufflesong Ice Prism Chiffon Blouses review


I ordered these what now seems like forever ago. However, even though it's been a while, I thought it was still worth getting the review up.




Price and shipping

I ordered directly from Soufflesong’s Taobao page using FreeShoppingChina.com as my shopping service. The blouses themselves weren’t particularly expensive, at the time they came up to something like 187.44 CNY each (approximately £19.80-20), so considering that princess sleeve high collar blouses aren’t that common for that price, I gave it a go.

The entire order process took a lot longer than I anticipated because of shipping on Soufflesong’s part. Not being able to read Chinese (only guessing the simple parts based on my knowledge of Japanese) I didn’t know that they claimed shipping to take about 45 days! Overall, it took just under 2 months for the blouses to arrive from the moment I placed the order. More specifically:
  • Order placed on March 1st and paid that same day;
  • It arrived at FSC place on March 30th and paid for postage on that same day;
  • It was shipped out with EMS on April 1st, and reached the UK on April 3rd – but it took nearly 10 days for Parceforce to let me know that there’s tax to be paid and process that;
  • It finally arrived on April 20th, after the usual ordeal of Parcelforce delivering when nobody’s home and making you order a redelivery.

I can’t compare FreeShoppingChina with other Taobao shopping services, so I’m not sure if they’re cheaper or not. However, I do find them quite easy to use and I like their search tool. I’ve also never had problems with them, although considering that they realise their customers aren’t likely to be able to reach Chinese, they could put a bit more effort into letting you know about things like unusually long dispatch times set by the Taobao shops – at least they are quick to respond when you do message them with a query.

Parcel and item itself


I must’ve opted for them to keep the original packaging, because once the EMS bubble envelope was removed, a gorgeous printed box was revealed. If Soufflesong uses that design for all their parcels, it definitely makes for a lovely ordering experience, plus it withstood the shipping process quite well, with only one or two minor dents.

The first thing which you’ll probably notice is that the white blouse is missing its cameo on the photo. I noticed that instantly too. The good news is that the cameo was still in the bag – the bad news is that since then it fell of the bow on the navy blouse as well. It’s not that much of a big deal, as you can simply glue it back on, but it’s not the best testament of the quality that Soufflesong put into their clothing.

Despite that minor setback, the blouses aren’t actually too bad. The lace is on the stiffer side, but not so stiff as to scratch, and the chiffon is also a little cheaper, not as soft as for example Infanta’s chiffon blouses (which are so gorgeous to the touch you want to keep petting them all day), and a little bit see through, so you might want to wear a camisole underneath if you’re not pairing it up with a JSK. Considering the price tag of about £20 per blouse, you’d probably get better quality for your money from other Taobao brands, certainly ones like Infanta or Magic Tea Party, but it’s definitely wearable and ok (maybe closer to Bodyline? I’ve never seen Bodyline do chiffon), and as I said, I really liked the design so I don’t mind that.



And it’s the design that’s the real winner here. The bow at the neck is detachable, revealing a soft and elegant high collar, and in all fairness, that neck bow could make for a nice head piece. However, it’s the sleeves that are the main piece here. They are fabulously opulent and wide, giving you a truly royal, flowy feel. The two rows of lace around the bottom of the sleeves are actually two different designs, the top one being something of a dotted-line scalloped effect (almost chandelier like) and the bottom one featuring more scallops topped with bunches of tiny roses. They compliment each other very well, but also allow you to play the blouse up to different kinds of coords just based on the lace you’d like to accentuate.

A slight downside is the sizing. As you can tell, I ordered size L which should fit a bust of 96cm and a waist of 84cm, and it features corset lacing at the back to adjust. My measurements are more like 94cm bust and recently about a 78cm waist, yet when I tried the blouse on it pulled ever so slightly on my boobs, clearly wanting to gap, and it felt just a wee bit tight once I buttoned it all the way down. I’m not sure how this blouse reflects on Soufflesong’s sizes in general, but if you’re thinking about getting this one, I recommend sizing up for comfort. Having said that, the elastic around the elbow, where the bell sleeve starts, is nice and stretchy, it didn’t particularly bother me, so you should be good there.

The colours are also true to the stock pictures, although you may not be able to tell that as I took my photos on a surprisingly sunny afternoon. The white is as crisp as it gets, and the navy is lovely and deep and rich, exactly like on the stock photo. Soufflesong definitely made a good decision by creating seven different colour options – with such a classic cut the variety of colours allow Lolitas of all styles to pick one which would match their wardrobes best.

When first trying it on, I only put on one of my circle skirts, but if you’d like to see this blouse in some Lolita action, simply check out the last Lolidrobe Reassessment Post, where I teamed the navy one with Crystal Dream Carnival. In here I only tried to show the neckline and the sleeve as best as I could.

Didn't have the best face on :P

Overall

Price: 4/5 – for that price you could get better quality, but Soufflesong does have some designs which I haven’t really seen elsewhere
Shipping: 5/5
Item quality: 3.75/5 – I felt like 4/5 would’ve been too generous, considering the feel of the fabric and lace, and the falling off cameo, but 3.5/5 would’ve been too harsh. At the end of the day, they’re nice blouses, and had they been a bit cheaper (maybe £15 each?) I probably wouldn’t have picked on the quality quite so much.


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